Record snowball fight failed

A group of college students in Wisconsin failed in their attempt to have the worlds largest snowball fight.

Freshman organizer Mike Basak had hoped the epic snowball fight would break a 2006 record set by 3,700 students at Michigan Technological University, but acknowledged Saturday that the turnout at his school was disappointing.

Basak guessed that 2,000 or more students showed up, but other observers put the total at hundreds of students, not thousands.

"It was definitely huge and it was a great event," he said.

In advance of the fight, more than 4,000 people had joined the event's Facebook group, and word continued to spread as rival dormitories got ready to rumble in the center of campus.

School officials also prepared, recruiting a student group of volunteer emergency medical technicians to be on the scene.

Basak said no one was hurt in the melee, although "there were a few bumps and scrapes."

It is thought that the chilly temperatures and a basketball game caused the numbers to be reduced. The organizer said that he will try again next year.

Perhaps he should offer free hot chocolate to the participants.

He should have flown south

Earlier this winter I expressed worry for the geese that did not fly south and what would happen to them when it got cold. Well, a goose here in the Detroit suburbs had to be rescued after it froze in a river.

Sgt. Dan Willis, of the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office, said someone reported seeing the goose in the river in the park, which is located in the Clinton River Drive and Gratiot area in the southern end of the city

When divers and a marine officer arrived, they first tried to put warm water around the goose which was trapped in the ice. As rescuers worked to free it, the goose let out loud quacks as if to say “get away” but then quieted down, Willis said. Within a hour of the 7:30 p.m. run, divers were able to chip away the ice and the goose was free, Willis said.

The goose then waddled over to a group of geese sitting in open water nearby.

“It let out a couple of good quacks and it was on its way,” Willis said. “It swam away with the rest of the pack.”

Poor thing. I'm glad that it's ok. Next year he should fly south where he can't get stuck in a frozen river.

Boy gets his tongue stuck to a pole

A student in Indiana learned a lesson on peer pressure after being dared to stick his tongue to a pole.

Police were called to the 3900 block of Hohman Avenue shortly after 8:30 p.m. and found the 10-year-old with his tongue stuck to a streetlight pole.

The Field Elementary School fourth-grader managed to mumble to police that a friend had dared him to lick the fixture.

By the time an ambulance arrived, the boy had managed to yank himself away from the light pole, police said.

Medics explained to the boy's mother, whom they described as "pretty upset," how to care for his bleeding tongue.

So, if you're the parent, do you get mad at your child or the child who dared your child? Perhaps we should be teaching our kids to just say no to dares?

Man dangled from ski lift without pants

A man who just wanted a nice skiing vacation ended upside down without his pants after a ski-lift malfunction.

It appears that the chairlift's fold-down seat was somehow not in the lowered position, which caused the man to partially fall through the resulting gap. His right ski got jammed in the ascending chairlift, and that kept him upended since his boot never dislodged from its binding.

The poor guy hung like that for around seven minutes until he could be rescued.

Moose crosswalks

The Alaska Moose Federation has several new ideas of technologies they would like to implement to keep moose off the road.

"Everybody loves moose and they taste a lot better when they're not marinated with antifreeze," Olson said.

One of the plans promoted by the non-profit calls for crosswalks with flashing lights that would warn motorists when moose are crossing the road. Another plan would install mats near roads that would shock moose walking on them and a third scheme would create groomed trails leading moose to feedlots far from roads.

Really? Moose cross walks? What are they doing to do with moose jaywalkers?

Caution: driving plow on ice can lead to job loss

A man in Minnesota has been fired after driving his loader onto a frozen river.

Mike Raymond was clearing snow from county parking lots early Monday when he decided to also clear off a boat ramp on the frozen Red Lake River in Crookston.

Raymond says he wanted to make it easier for people who pull fish houses on trailers onto the river. He so happens to have a fish house on the river himself — but told the Grand Forks Herald that's not why he wanted to clear the area.

The John Deere 544 loader slid down the cement ramp, through the ice to the river bottom.

Raymond was quickly rescued but it took much longer to retrieve the vehicle.

Poor guy, who would have thought that driving an extremly heavy loader onto ice would be a bad idea.

Man trying to defrost snow with a blowtorch sets house on fire

A man in Massachusetts set his house on fire while trying to remove snow. He was removing the snow with a blowtorch.

This guy is smart.

Fire Capt. Scott Kruger tells The Standard-Times of New Bedford that no on was injured during Monday's incident at the three-story home.

Kruger says the man was using a torch hooked up to a 20-pound propane cylinder. He got too close to the building's wood frame and ignited the vinyl siding. The fire quickly spread into the building's second- and third-floor apartments.

He is not facing criminal charges. I bet his insurance company isn't happy with him.

Snowmen protest at city hall

A group of snowmen showed up at city hall in Anchorage Alaska to protest the possible demise of snowzilla.

A group of protesting snowmen carrying signs like "Snowpeople have rights" made a brief appearance at city hall in Anchorage, Alaska, this week.

The 3-foot-high snowmen appeared Christmas Day, the Anchorage Daily News reported. By Friday morning, they had been removed and their signs placed in the trash.

They threw the snow-people in the trash. That's terrible.

Powers' denys being the creator of the snowmen protesters and also denys being the creator of snowzilla. He said that the snowmen protesters were very cute.

Other signs carried by the snowmen included "Heck no we won't go" and "Snowzilla needs a bailout."

The snowzilla saga continues.

Snowzilla Returns!

Earlier this week we told you of Snowzilla a sixteen foot snowman that was banned by city council in a snow town in Alaska.

Well Snowzilla is back!

This year, Snowzilla is estimated to be 25 feet tall. He's wearing a black stovepipe hat and scarf.

"Have you seen him?" Powers asked when reached by telephone at his home, the sound of excited children in the background. "He's handsome."

Snowzilla has consistently risen outside Powers' modest home. His children — he is the father of seven — collected snow from neighbors' yards to make the snowman big enough. Each year, Snowzilla got a bit bigger.

Powers' claims that he did not build snowzilla and does not know how it appeared in his lawn.

Was it the local teenagers or Powers' himself? We may never know.

Snowzilla must go

A family in Alaska has recieved a cease and dissist order for their snowman. The family builds a sixteen foot snowman every year.

A few weeks ago, city code enforcers left three red signs at Snowzilla's bottom body ball telling its builders to cease and desist.

The city also tacked a public notice on the door of the Powers family home at 1556 Columbine St. The Powers family and some of their neighbors have been building Snowzilla in the Powers' front yard since 2005.

When the notices went up, Snowzilla still didn't have a full torso or head.

"The kids had spent hours and hours of work on it," Billy Powers said on Sunday.

The city declared that the snowman is a safety hazard and that the traffic it generates is dangerous and town council members have been told to watch out for covert snowman building at the Powers' house.

Poor Snowzilla.