Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Bird lady ruffles neighbors' feathers FOX LAKE, Ill., March 30 (UPI) -- A 77-year-old Fox Lake, Ill., woman has been charged with illegally feeding birds. Advertisement Naomi Mitchell has been nursing injured Wooster Lake waterfowl back to health for more than 25 years, WMAQ-TV, Chicago, reported. She has been given the blessing of the state and federal government to practice her hobby. However, prosecutors in the Chicago suburb claim Mitchell's pastime violates village ordinances, creating a public nuisance by feeding migratory birds. A local court is scheduled to decide Mitchell's case Thursday. Residents complain the birds soil public and private property, leaving beaches unusable. They said Mitchell's care causes the animals to remain in the area and return every year. However, Mitchell said it is the pristine beaches and lawns that attract waterfowl to the village. "They're not here to get fed," Mitchell said. "There's no way I could afford or even carry the bucket down here to feed all of the geese." Two arrested in fire station burglary SEATTLE, March 30 (UPI) -- Two men have been arrested on suspicion of breaking into and burglarizing a Seattle fire station, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Wednesday. Advertisement One of the men was caught by firefighters while allegedly fleeing Station 25 early Tuesday with several pieces of stolen equipment. The other was arrested when police pulled him over for a traffic violation and found a first aid kit marked as station equipment in his back seat. Fire Department spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick said it appeared the men climbed through an open window at the rear of the building. She said theyr stole four portable radios, a digital camera, a pair of binoculars and a medical kit from a fire department aid car. The vehicle has been taken out of service due to damages sustained during the burglary. However, she said one of the burglars apparently pushed an emergency button on a portable radio, triggering an alarm at the dispatch center. Dispatchers alerted station personnel of the triggered alarm. Both men were being held Wednesday at the King County Jail. Car woes reveal Louisiana cocaine stash SLIDELL, La., March 30 (UPI) -- Louisiana authorities are seeking the owner of a $40,000 stash of cocaine that caused a car to malfunction when plastic wrapping clogged a fuel pump. A Slidell, La., woman brought her 1996 Toyota Camry to a repair shop last week when it started running poorly. Aechanic found two bricks of cocaine wrapped around the fuel pump, the Baton Rouge (La.) Times Picayune reported. Advertisement "That's a serious problem, because everyone knows fuel should be rated on octane, not cocaine," a St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office spokesman said. The mechanic called police. The woman said she knew nothing about the drugs, apparently stashed in the car she and her husband purchased near Slidell in 1997. "For the last eight years, they've been hauling around $40,000 worth of cocaine in the gas tank, oblivious to their illicit cargo," the sheriff's spokesman said.
