Cemetery flag theif is a squirrel

A squirrel has been stealing the flags off of grave sites at a cemetery in Michigan.

Mount Hope Cemetery superintendent Ron Ceglarek said he witnessed the squirrel take one of the small flags from a grave site and transport it up a nearby tree to help build a nest with its mate, the Port Huron (Mich.) Times Herald reported Saturday.

"He plucks them right off," Ceglarek said. "If I didn't see it, and I didn't follow the squirrel, I never would have believed it."

The cemetery has grave sites for nearly 965 veterans and the small flags are traditional remembrances left at the sites on Memorial Day.

I think the squirrel wants some pretty decorations for his house. Why use sticks and leaves when you can decorate with the stars and stripes.

Yearbook publishes picture of girl with beer

A picture of a girl holding a beer somehow was placed in the school yearbook in Illinois.

The faculty had no idea the picture was included until yearbooks were handed out to students this week, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.

"It's clearly defiant and subversive and intentional," says spokeswoman Laura Blair.

Principal Linda Yonke did not consider the prank harmless.

"It sort of casts a pall over the whole yearbook," Yonke said.

The snapshot in question is of two girls hugging each other while one of the girls holds a beer can behind the other girl's back.

School officials say they'll take appropriate disciplinary action against those responsible for the prank, the Arlington Heights Daily Herald reports.

New Trier has a long history of senior pranks, says a New Trier alumni.

One year keys to the school were mailed out, forcing officials to change all the locks. In the 1960s, seniors disassembled a car and reassembled it in the first floor rotunda.

That's a prank, but not a good one. They should have been more inventive, and the yearbook instructor should have checked the pictures better.

Man shoots himself while trying to get party guests to leave

A man in Canada shot himself in the arm while trying to get his guests to leave a party.

Neighbors who heard the shot called police early Tuesday and the unidentified 37-year-old victim first told officers someone had shot him, said police spokesman Constable Blair Good.

However, it was determined there was no other suspect, the Winnipeg Sun reported.

"He was handling the handgun incorrectly and he shot himself in the (right bicep)," Good said.

The man said he wanted about eight guests to leave and so he brought out a gun, although his intentions weren't clear, Good said.

However, he was successful in clearing the house, as everyone ran after the shooting, the Sun said.

I think a supersoaker would have been just as effective and much less painful.

Alligator found in restaurant bathroom

A Florida owner was surprised when she found an Alligator in the bathroom of her restaurant.

Joan Peoples says that when workers prepared to reopen the restaurant, which had been closed due to unseasonable spring flooding from a nearby creek, workers found a 4-foot-long baby alligator hiding behind the commode in the men's bathroom, WJXT-TV, Jacksonville, Fla., reported Wednesday.

"I thought it was a fish or an eel or something, and all I caught was the back of the tail," Peoples told the station. "I got down and started looking, and he got in behind the commode … and I said, 'Oh my God, that's a baby gator!'"

They put the gator back in the local creek. He's lucky he didn't end up on the menu.

Man robs store with beer box on his head

A Nebraska man used a beer box as a mask when he robbed a convenience store earlier this week.

Lincoln police Capt. Bob Kawamoto said the man entered the Kwik Shop store at about 4:30 a.m. Monday with the box on his head and a green rag wrapped around his hand to imply that he was holding a weapon, the Lincoln Journal-Star reported Tuesday.

Kawamoto said the robber left the store with nine packs of Newport cigarettes, worth nearly $50.

I guess he really wanted those smokes. Probably to go with the beer.

Mask eye holes allow for suspect ID

A manager at a KFC in Memphis was able to ID a robbery suspect as one of his former employees because of the large eye holes in the robbers mask.

KFC manager Laketa Hollowell said she unlocked the front door of the restaurant Saturday morning after hearing a knock at the back door and a masked man armed with a knife rushed into the business and demanded money from a safe, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported Monday.

Hollowell said she recognized the man as Ezederick Jones, 18, an employee who had been fired the previous day, because of the large eye holes in his mask. Her hand was cut during a struggle with the man and he fled after she addressed him by name, investigators said.

That would be why it is never a good idea to rob someone that knows you.

Game store employees trapped inside by swarm of bees

Employees at a New York Gamestop were trapped inside their store after a swarm of bees formed outside their store.

Worried employees looked out the window of the Manhattan store while talking on the phone as the bees clustered Saturday afternoon. A sign in the window warned: "Look! ... closed due to bee infestation."

Most passers-by avoided the GameStop store near Union Square, one of the city's busiest shopping areas. But Edward Albers tried to help. Dressed in regular clothes, he lured many bees into a box without getting stung.

Eventually, bee specialist Tony Planakis arrived in protective gear and used the scent of a queen bee to collect the rest of them.

BZZZZZ! I'd be terrified of all those bees.

Komodo Dragons Terrorize Indonesian Village

A small Indonesian village is having problems with attacking Komodo dragons.

The stories spread quickly across this smattering of tropical islands in southeastern Indonesia, the only place the endangered reptiles can still be found in the wild: Two people were killed since 2007 — a young boy and a fisherman — and others were badly wounded after being charged unprovoked.

Komodo dragon attacks are still rare, experts note. But fear is swirling through the fishing villages, along with questions on how best to live with the dragons in the future.

Main, a 46-year-old park ranger, was doing paperwork when a dragon slithered up the stairs of his wooden hut in Komodo National Park and went for his ankles dangling beneath the desk. When the ranger tried to pry open the beast's powerful jaws, it locked its teeth into his hand.

"I thought I wouldn't survive... I've spent half my life working with Komodos and have never seen anything like it," said Main, pointing to his jagged gashes, sewn up with 55 stitches and still swollen three months later. "Luckily, my friends heard my screams and got me to hospital in time."

Komodos, which are popular at zoos in the United States to Europe, grow to be 10 feet (3 meters) long and 150 pounds (70 kilograms). All of the estimated 2,500 left in the wild can be found within the 700-square-mile (1,810-square-kilometer) Komodo National Park, mostly on its two largest islands, Komodo and Rinca. The lizards on neighboring Padar were wiped out in the 1980s when hunters killed their main prey, deer.

Luckily Komodo dragons don't breathe fire.

Reporter convicted for killing fish

A Danish reporter has been convicted of animal cruelty after she poured shampoo into a fish tank to demonstrate the toxicity of chemicals for a news report.

The Glostrup City Court says Lisbeth Koelster poured 0.3 fluid ounces (10 milliliter) of a shampoo containing an anti-dandruff substance into a fish tank for a TV program in 2004.

The show on public service broadcaster DR was aimed to expose the toxicity of chemicals used in some hair products.

Three days later, 12 of the 13 guppies in the tank had died.

A veterinarian reported her to the police two days after the show aired, but the case apparently didn't get any priority treatment and was only brought to court last week.

Tuesday's ruling said Koelster knew the fish would die because the experiment was based on a similar laboratory test. The court didn't fine her, however, saying her rights to a speedy trial had been violated.

Oh, come on, they're fish. Are they going to start fining school kids for doing experiments with microscopic bacteria because they knew they'd kill them? Or how about fining housewives for killing spiders and ants.