Editorials

The groundhog’s shadow 

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) — Punxsutawney Phil may have a hard time not seeing his shadow next year. 

Hoping to mirror the success of other public art displays such as Chicago’s cows, Cincinnati’s pigs, Los Angeles’ angels and New Orleans’ crawfish, officials in Punxsutawney are planning to place 30 facsimiles of the weather-predicting woodchuck around town. 

“When people come here they want to see things related to Phil and the weather,” said Marlene Lellock, executive director of the Punxsutawney Chamber of Commerce. 

Like in other places, Punxsutawney officials will ask people to sponsor the groundhog statues, which will be decorated by artists and named with an emphasis on — what else? — the weather. 

Artist David Seitzinger was given the job of designing the statutes of the furry forecaster. 

Seitzinger has three sketches of a possible statute, based on a chubby groundhog that lives near his studio and emerges to eat apples. 

Hitchcock’s birds 

EVERETT, Wash. — Officials here are hoping $4,000 will be enough to rid their six-story courthouse of noisy, smelly, dive-bombing pigeons and seagulls. 

Hundreds of birds have been roosting atop the downtown building in this town about 25 miles north of Seattle, often raising such a racket that workers said they couldn’t concentrate even with the windows closed. 

Dozens of birds took to swooping down for anything they could get from lunchtime leftovers, and nothing was safe from droppings. 

Foul odors from the birds permeated offices and courtrooms, leading to complaints of respiratory problems. 

“It’s been getting progressively worse over the last four or five years,” said Larry Van Horn, the county’s director of facilities. 

In the latest effort to make the birds take flight once and for all, the county recently bought a BirdXPeller, which broadcasts bird distress calls from a tiny microchip over two speakers. 

It’s OK to jog naked 

BANGOR, Maine — Female streakers: On your marks, get set, go. 

A judge ruled Wednesday that two undergraduates at the University of Maine did not violate the state’s indecent conduct law by jogging naked. 

Debra Ballou, of Island Falls, and Kathryn Mann, of Fayetteville, N.Y., won the case without hiring a lawyer and by asking just one question of the prosecution’s only witness. 

Maine law states that people are guilty of indecent conduct only when they “knowingly expose their genitals in public.” 

Ballou, 20, asked the arresting officer whether he saw her genitals Nov. 2. 

“Not that I recall,” replied Orono police officer John Ewing. 

“That’s all I have,” Ballou told the court. 

Judge Jesse Gunther, of the 3rd District Court in Bangor, then ruled that a woman naked in the street is not an indecent act under Maine law because a woman’s genitals are primarily internal. 

Gunther grinned slightly as he said, “I would assume the Legislature will probably be addressing this issue.” 

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EDMONDS, Wash. (AP) — Carpet cleaner Jim Nelson thought he had found a sweet way to supplement his income when business was slow. 

For two Fridays in a row, he got up at 4 a.m. and drove the two-hour roundtrip to Issaquah to pick up dozens of Krispy Kreme doughnuts to sell in his store, Nelson Professional Carpet Cleaning, in this suburb north of Seattle. He even hung up a sign announcing their arrival. 

He raised the price and made a profit, selling a dozen for $12 instead of the usual $5.49 a box. 

“It seemed logical,” said Nelson, 50. “People didn’t stop when they saw a sign for carpet cleaning. But they sure stopped when they saw a sign for Krispy Kremes.” 

Krispy Kreme’s parent company, ICONN in Chicago, soon got word of the sweet venture, and told Nelson to stop. He complied. 

No one is authorized to sell the famous treats except Krispy Kreme, which has only one store in Washington state, in Issaquah, east of Seattle. 

Nelson isn’t the only guilty one, Krispy Kreme officials say. Coffee shops, espresso stands and cafes in the area are doing the same thing, said ICONN President Gerard Centioli. 

“We’re usually tipped off when someone calls to complain, or at our factory when a customer comes in on a regular basis to buy large quantities,” Centioli said.