Earnhardt lives on:
In June, an Interlachen, Fla., farmer named a goat (which he said came from a long line of show goats) Li’l Dale when it was born with a white marking in the shape of a “3” on its brown coat (and which the hundreds of Floridians who flocked to see it thought was surely a divine sign about the late NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt). (Babe Ruth also wore number 3, but the visitors seemed certain the goat did not refer to him.)
Visit sunny Kashmir:
The Jammu and Kashmir State Cable Car Corp. continues to run its gondolas at the mountain resort of Gulmarg (according to a July Washington Post dispatch), passing within three miles of the “Line of Control” that separates Indian and Pakistani forces in Kashmir (and despite the gondolas occasionally picking up ground fire); business is down considerably for skiing, hiking and golf, but still, frolickers show up.
Crack a window, please:
Among people who have recently forgotten that they had kids locked up in hot cars (which Centers for Disease Control said has killed at least 27 toddlers since 2000): Tarajee Maynor, age 25 (her two kids died while she kept a three-hour hair salon appointment, Southfield, Mich., June); Jorge Villamar, 59 (left his 16-month-old granddaughter in a sweltering car for an hour-and-a-half, Central Islip, N.Y., July); and two parents who on July 8 had left kids in hot cars in Fort Worth, Texas (fatal to a 6-month-old boy), and Scarborough, Ontario, but whose names had not been released at press time.
Best in Show:
Simply Dapper, age 6 months, won four prize ribbons at the American Fancy Rat and Mouse Association show in Costa Mesa, Calif., in May. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the rodent’s “shiny beige coat, sweet temperament and a blood line dating back 12 generations” were the main factors in his success. Contest rats have fancy names (e.g., “Himalayan” rat) but cost only a few dollars to acquire and are genetically the same as ordinary, Dumpster-diving Norwegian rats.
Least Competent Criminals:
Eight-year fugitive John Thomas Boston, 39, who mailed a note in March to Louisville, Ky., police just as he crossed into Canada, informing them that they would never catch him, was arrested in April in Dallas and charged not only as a fugitive but for the first time with three 1994 rapes. Boston’s main error (other than returning to the U.S. from Canada) was to lick the envelope containing the taunting note; his DNA allegedly matched evidence from the rapes.
Off-roading:
Melodie Morsicato, 45, was arrested in New Britain, Conn., in March after she crashed through the front door of a Target store at 4 a.m. in her Nissan Stanza and, once inside, continued to drive around the store. And a 37-year-old woman drove into the Ginger Inn Chinese restaurant in Durham, N.C., in April in her Honda SUV and, once inside, continued driving around the dining room. And two men in their early 20s were arrested in El Dorado, Ark., in April for riding their horses into a Wal-Mart and around the store for a few minutes; police said alcohol was involved.
Also, in the Last Month:
BellSouth telemarketer Maria del Pilar Basto became a hero, calling Leonardo Diaz to sell him more minutes for his out-of-minutes wireless phone, and happening to reach him as he was trapped in a blizzard in the Andes Mountains and had almost given up hope of being rescued (Bogota, Colombia). Pakistani officials arrested leaders of a tribal council that had ordered an 18-year-old woman gang-raped as revenge against her brother, who had been seen walking beside a woman of higher status (Punjab province, Pakistan). Vandals struck the First United Methodist Church with hate graffiti, but had trouble with Satan (“Satin”) and Rebel (“Reble”) (Prestonburg, Ky.). 2002 CHUCK SHEPHERD
This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2002.