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Letter to the editor

The skinny

By Times Wires
Published December 28, 2007

Don't blame the tots

Spuds lead to firehouse in flames in Idaho

It's always a little embarrassing when the firehouse catches on fire. But when the firehouse catches fire because the firefighters in Idaho left potatoes burning on the stove, that is just an irony perfecta. The crew was cooking up some Tater Tots when they got a call, and the safety system that is supposed to turn off appliances when they leave didn't activate, and the Tots set cabinets on fire. A damage estimate was unavailable, but a bag of Tater Tots runs a couple of bucks, and they were destroyed. Otherwise, no one was hurt.

Kettle capers

Generous donor getting brazen

Every year since 1978, an anonymous someone has donated a $1,000 bill to a Salvation Army kettle in Morgantown, W.Va. So this year, when the person called the Salvation Army and told them the drop would be between 1 and 3 p.m. Saturday at the Wal-Mart, Major Richard Hathorn went down and kept an eagle eye on the kettle and was sure he saw nothing. Then they looked inside later and found a Grover Cleveland wrapped inside a $1 bill. Tricky.

Criminally stupid

Hey! These cars are all open! Score!

A man in Madison Heights, Mich., thought he hit the jackpot when he found a parking lot loaded with unlocked cars that had all kinds of neat stuff in them. What might have slowed him down was that they were all police cars, and it was the parking lot of a police station, but it didn't. Police caught him in the act.

I'm doing something dumb, bring camera

Police say that James Skelton tried to ram his truck into a jail in Hamilton County, Tenn., according to Chattanoogan.com. And they have good evidence, because before he tried to do it, Skelton apparently called the local television station and told them to send a cameraman down. They did, and its all on video. He was pulled from the truck before he could make his final approach. Early signs point to alcohol being involved.

Updates

Tuition bandits

Two Ohio college students who claimed they were trying to raise tuition money through armed robberies were sentenced to 20-year prison terms and told that dire financial straits don't justify breaking the law. Andrew Butler and Christopher Avery pleaded guilty to robbing $130,000 from a bank in Reading on July 17.

Monkey on plane

The small monkey that was smuggled from Peru to New York stashed in a man's hat has died, but federal health authorities don't know why. The fist-sized tamarin showed no signs of illness during a quarantine period. The quarantine had been lifted, and officials were trying to find the animal a home when it died.

Compiled from Times wire services and other sources by staff writer Jim Webster, who can be reached at jwebster@sptimes.com.

[Last modified December 27, 2007, 23:00:10]