Palatka Daily News - Bomb Scare Report

Bomb scare evacuates Interlachen post office;
turns out to be turntable player
By Ron Bartlett

The Interlachen post office was evacuated for more than four hours Friday morning because of a suspicious package, pulling in bomb squad units from the Alachua and Marion County sheriff’s offices, according to the Interlachen Police Department.
The briefcase-sized package, which turned out to be an old turntable record player, was discovered in the lobby of the post office just after 8:30 a.m. After inspection revealed no forwarding or return address, the post office manager notified Interlachen police, who locked down the building and evacuated all employees.
“It was a good size box and even the bomb squad, when they showed up, said, ‘don’t blame me for not wanting to touch it,’” said Palatka Postmaster Alan Foster, who was on the scene for most of the day.
After Interlachen police notified the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, PCSO Lt. Richard Harrell arrived on scene and notified the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, whose bomb disposal unit serves the area.
One bomb removal specialist arrived from the sheriff’s offices of both Alachua and Marion counties, who together used a bomb squad robot to investigate the parcel.
Over the course of several hours, the two deputies retrieved, removed and opened the package, which turned out to be an old-fashioned phonograph record player.
The scene was finally considered secure at 1:30 p.m.
A postal inspector was called in and will continue the investigation. Foster said that 24-hour surveillance tape active during the night will be scrutinized for possible clues.
Anyone with information should notify the Interlachen Police Department at 684-2164.

Jeffery Hen - Her Appetite Gets BIG

After Panda's first night on the perching rod, Roo got up and flew to the top of the tree to announce the beginning of another day. When the roosters came in from their hunt, Roo stopped crowing.

The first thing Jeffery Hen did was to go outside, as quick as she could, and start eating immediately. She was eating like never before.

Roo looked down from the tree, saw her and flew out to join her. He was wondering why was she there without Bear and Panda being with her.

Roo went into the hen-house and woke them up to join in for their morning meal. While they were out there they noticed Jeffery Hen was eating like crazy. Bear and Panda didn't know why she was eating so much.

But Roo knew that another one was on the way. He thought to himself, "Will there be room in the hen-house for another chick?"

Posted by Aunt Meaner

Some Halloween Links

Here are a few links to websites I've run across that may be fun for Halloween:

Pumpkin Carving Simulator - Carve you pumpkin online, less mess. Fun for the kids.

Haunted Places - Has a state by state listing of haunted places.

Here are a couple of haunted places I found in Kentucky:

Mt. Sterling - Old Windsor Nursing Home - The old Windsor nursing home is the old nursing home that is abandoned now. The story is that if you go up there late at night, you can peek in the windows and see the old wheelchairs rolling around. You can here moaning and screaming. This nursing home was shut down in the 80's because they had a large amount of patients dying and found out it was abuse. So their lost souls roam the halls.

Mt. Sterling - Stepstone Church - In an abandoned church on Stepstone. The church still stands but the inside of the church was gutted by a fire long ago. A few men hung 4 teenage girls on a cross in the loft and set fire to the church. If you go at night, it is said you can hear them laugh, cry and see the shadows of them flying around. It is also known that if you do something to upset the girls, you will find hear them scream in rage.

The last one has nothing to do with Halloween, except maybe for the fact it will haunt someone for the rest of his life. Check out the YouTube Video of the fellow who missed the first question on 'Who wants to be a Millionaire?"

Sign Me Up For Art Class

I happened across this news story earlier today:

WYNN POKES ELBOW THRU PICASSO LAS VEGAS (AP) - You know the saying: "You break it, you bought it." But for casino mogul Steve Wynn it's: "You break, you keep it." Wynn accidentally put his elbow through a Picasso painting which he had agreed to sell for a record $139 million. Wynn was showing the painting to friends at Wynn Las Vegas, when he gestured and hit it with his right elbow. The painting now has a silver dollar-sized hole in the canvas. Wynn paid $48-million for the 74-year-old painting. An aide says Wynn will keep it and pay to have it restored.

I was curious what a $139 million painting looked like, so I did a Google search and found several pictures of it:

I'm signing up for Art Class today.

Losing Something in Translation

When we were sitting on the front porch, listening to Dad's tales about riding the train on Road Creek, Jeffery was scribbling furiously, trying to get them written down so we could put them on The StalkerClan. The following are her transcripts of two of the stories Dad told:

Train Ride Lon Venters-engineer Dad, Teet, Estil asked to ride the train to the mouth of Road Creek. Lon told them that the brakes were not working right, but if they wanted to ride they could. They grabbed onto the sides of a coal gon and the train took off. Lon had told them to listen and if he blew the train whistle it meant he had lost control of the train and to jump off. When he got to the end of the bridge, he blew the whistle and set the brakes. The fire flew from the wheels and they jumped off and rolled down the side of the tracks on the gravels. Lon and the train went on down the tracks.

Train Story II Dad had gotten dressed up to go to town to see a show on Saturday night. They asked Lon of they could ride the train to the mouth of the creek. Lon told them to get them some cardboard and get up on top of the last coal car and ride to the mouth of the creek. They wouldn't get dirty that way. They did just what he suggested and waited for the train to move. The train engine took off and as the car in front of them moved forward they realized their car was not attached to the train.

Compare these versions to the video of Dad below and it's easy to see they lose a lot in the transition to paper. I guess it just shows what a 'Master Storyteller' can do with a good tale.