Saw That Coming
Hey, they say you shouldn’t let coming into money change you, right? On April 28, James Farthing, 50, of Kentucky, was presented with an oversized check for winning the $167.3 million Powerball jackpot. The next day, Farthing was arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges after an incident at the TradeWinds Resort in St. Pete Beach, Florida, that included kicking a sheriff’s deputy in the face and attempting to flee. The Smoking Gun reported that Farthing, an ex-con whose record includes convictions for theft, drug trafficking, and engaging in an organized criminal syndicate, got into a drunken argument with a male patron at the resort and punched that man in the face, then assaulted the deputy as he attempted to break up the fight. The police report said Farthing “appeared very intoxicated and was yelling, screaming, and making incoherent statements.” The newly minted millionaire’s bond was set at only $10,000, but he remains behind bars on felony and misdemeanor charges for violating his parole.
Shell on Wheels
When staff at the Museum of Natural History in Halifax, Nova Scotia, recently noticed that Root, a wood turtle who has been in captivity for 20 years, was beginning to show signs of wear on his bottom shell after years of walking on a front leg that is missing a foot, it was time to get creative. CBC/Radio-Canada reported that’s when naturalist interpreter Tessa Biesterfeld, inspired by a recent Lego exhibit at the museum, crafted a wheeled platform made of Legos to fit under the turtle and enable him to tootle around while saving wear and tear on his underside. “We thought that’d be so great because we know it’s nontoxic,” said Biesterfeld. “We know that we can replace the parts as we need, and should his shell change or grow, we can change the shape and size of that. It’s very modular.”
Tough Cookies
As Kristen Savage was walking her dog near her home in Sanford, Florida, on April 25, the pair were beset upon by a black bear, WKMG News 6 reported. While the bear made every effort to snatch Ringo, a 13-pound Chihuahua mix, away from his owner, Savage spun around, dangling Ringo in the air, and fell to the ground before using the only weapon she had at hand: a bag of cookies she had just been given by her mother, who lives down the street. “I whacked the bear across the face with it, and then I threw it,” said Savage. “She put her head down and sniffed the cookies and we ran to the front door.” Both owner and pet — as well as the bear — were safe after the run-in. Bear encounters are fairly common in Savage’s Markham Woods neighborhood, with more than 300 reported so far this year; Savage herself has doorbell video of a bear on her front steps. “From now on, I will always carry something,” Savage said. “An air horn, whistle, something that can scare her off.”
Déjà Vu
Ewan Valentine, 36, of Solihull, England, was devastated to discover on the morning of Feb. 28 that his beloved black 2016 Honda Civic Type-R had been stolen overnight. Determined to replace it with an identical ride, Valentine told the BBC that he searched until he found a perfect match — same color and year, even the same custom exhaust system, but obviously a different VIN number — for sale from a Honda garage, and shelled out $26,000 for it. But as he drove it home, he noticed several familiar artifacts in the car, including candy bar wrappers and a tent peg; investigating further, Valentine found that the car’s GPS had logged stops at his home and those of his partner, his parents, and his partner’s parents. Technicians at a Honda dealership were able to confirm that the VIN was fake and that Valentine had, in fact, purchased his own stolen car. The police are working with Valentine’s insurance company to straighten the whole situation out.
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