A Mixture of Things

Truck Crash Spills Penguins on Road

MARSHALL, Texas - A truck transporting zoo animals overturned Tuesday, spilling about two dozen penguins, tropical fish and an octopus onto an east Texas highway.

Kelly Hodge carries a penguin at the accident scene Tuesday in Marshall, Texas. Four of the animals were killed.

"We had a penguin wreck," Department of Public Safety trooper Richard Buchanan said.


The driver, Kelly Hodge, and a passenger sustained minor scratches and bruises. The Indianapolis Zoo employees were taking the animals to Moody Gardens in Galveston when Hodge lost control of the truck on U.S. Highway 59, Buchanan said.

The penguins were traveling in heavy tubs, which broke open when the truck crashed. Three penguins were killed by oncoming traffic; one died in the crash. Another penguin suffered a broken wing.

The octopus and fish were being transported in water-filled plastic bags. The octopus survived, but some of the fish died when the bags burst, Buchanan said.

"They were doing remarkably well for what they had been through," he said.

Is it just me or does Kelly Hodge look way too young to be driving a truck like that? The other drivers thought there were a bunch of dwarfed nuns gone wild on the highway!!!!







Dixie Chicks Cancel 14 Shows on Tour

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Several concerts on the Dixie Chicks' "Accidents & Accusations" tour have been canceled after slow ticket sales, but the group says it has replaced them with other dates.

Kansas City, Houston , St. Louis, Memphis and Knoxville are among 14 cities no longer on the original schedule released in May. Other shows, including Nashville, Los Angeles, Denver and Phoenix, have been pushed back to later dates.

The North American leg of the tour kicked off July 21 in Detroit. Billboard magazine and other trade publications have reported lackluster sales in some markets, particularly in the South and Midwest. Group spokeswoman Kathy Allmand said several Canadian cities have been added in place of the U.S. shows.

The trio released a statement last week attributing the changes to attempts to "accommodate demand" and said more dates might be added next year.

After Natalie Maines' statement in London regarding President Bush, country radio stations dropped them from their playlists and have been slow to welcome them back, despite strong sales of their latest album, "Taking the Long Way."

In case you don't know the story on this, Natalie Maines told a London audience in 2003 on the eve of war in Iraq that the trio was "ashamed" President Bush was from their home state of Texas. The point here is they were outside of the United States when they stopped singing to give their political statement. That statement is OK when you are in the United States, but not when you are outside the States. Shut up and sing!!!








Judge admonished for 'Go Seahawks' Cheer

OLYMPIA, Wash. - A state panel has disciplined a judge who ordered cheers in court for the Super Bowl-bound Seattle Seahawks before issuing a manslaughter sentence.

Pierce County Superior Court Judge Beverly Grant asked about 100 people in court to say "Go Seahawks" before taking their seats on Feb. 3. Dissatisfied with the low volume of the response, she repeated the request.

That same day, Grant sentenced Steve Keo Teang to 13-1/2 years for manslaughter in the 2005 shooting death of Tino Patricelli, 28.

The Seahawks played in the Super Bowl that weekend. Patricelli's stepmother said she was offended in part because the game fell on the anniversary of her stepson's death.

Grant, who was appointed to the bench in 2003, apologized the following Monday.
"Although my intentions were to defuse the courtroom situation, I realize now the inappropriateness of my opening comments," Grant told the commission.

And judges were attorneys before they became judges so the intelligence required to be a judge is not much!!!







It’s primo, man — real gouda stuff!

U.S. border cops expecting to find drugs instead grab stash of cheese

PHOENIX - Puzzled U.S. border police arrested a Mexican smuggler with 88 pounds of cheese hidden in a special compartment in his truck, police said Friday.

Customs and Border Protection spokesman Roger Maier said officers at the port of entry in Columbus, N.M., referred a Chevrolet pickup for a routine secondary examination on Wednesday.

Officers using an X-ray machine saw the outline of 16 bulky packages stashed in a secret compartment behind the seat, which they initially believed were packets containing illicit drugs.

"Generally if you see something (with the X-ray machine), you expect it to be narcotics, but this turned out to be cheese.

Police arrested the 38-year-old driver, seized the cheese and confiscated the truck because he failed to declare his cargo.

As the police were taking the truck the driver was screaming "Give it back, it's nacho cheese"








Giant Panda Sets Records With Cub

BEIJING- A giant panda in China has given birth to the heaviest cub born in captivity after the longest period in labor and elsewhere twin pandas each gave birth to twins, Xinhua news agency reported.

Six-year-old Zhang Ka delivered the baby on Monday at the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center in the mountainous southwest, Xinhua said.

The cub weighed just 218 grams, or half a pound, but was still the heaviest panda ever born in captivity, where most cubs are born at between 83 and 190 grams, Xinhua said.

"It is very rare for them to be even near 200 grams," it said in a report late on Monday.

But the size and the fact that it was Zhang Ka's first meant a "painstaking and eventful" birth for the mother, who was born in the wild.

"The whole process lasted about 34 hours and was the longest in the history of panda reproduction. Both mother and baby were doing well," the agency said.




You know how I like to keep up on the bear stories!!!!!!!!!!!!!





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