Jockstrip: The world as we know it

Feds pass Minn. marijuana case to state

ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. authorities have handed a case involving 157 pounds of marijuana found in the gas tank of suspected drug smugglers in St. Paul, Minn., to local police.

Local authorities said they found it unusual that the federal government would decline to prosecute a case involving such a large amount of marijuana, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

"I think it is unusual," said Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom. "This is a significant quantity of marijuana that these people were caught with."

Kent Bailey, head of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's Minneapolis field office, said the organization does not forward marijuana cases to the U.S. attorney's office unless the amount involved exceeds 500 pounds. The St. Paul case involved 157 pounds of the substance, which was discovered by auto mechanics when the suspects took their vehicle in for service.

"It's a big case by state standards but a small case by federal standards," said defense attorney Fred Bruno, who is not involved in the case but has dealt with similar cases. "That amount would raise just about every eyebrow in the state judicial system, but maybe not many in the federal system."

Felony charge for school slingshot attack

TAVARES, Fla., Feb. 23 (UPI) -- A Florida sixth-grader faces a felony charge for shooting a fellow student with a homemade slingshot.

Kevin Cottle, a student at Tavares Middle School in Tavares, Fla., spent four days in juvenile detention after his arrest last week on charges of shooting or throwing a deadly missile.

A judge ordered him released to his parents' custody Tuesday.

On Thursday, a Lake County judge granted prosecutors an additional week to investigate the case, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

The 11-year-old's parents think the case has gotten way out of hand.

"He's an 11-year-old who made a mistake -- he shouldn't be a convicted felon," said Anson Cottle, Kevin's father.

Pranksters disrupt N.M. mass

SANTA FE, N.M., Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Pranksters duct taped CD players loaded with sexually explicit messages to the undersides of pews in a New Mexico church, disrupting Ash Wednesday services.

Police said the compact disc players began blaring the offensive recordings about 12:22 p.m. Wednesday, as believers celebrated mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe.

Police Capt. Gary Johnson told The New Mexican the recordings were made on store-bought blank discs.

Police blew up two of the CD players in a grassy area near the church and kept the third for analysis after determining it posed no danger.

Man finds 'Declaration' scroll for $2.48

NASHVILLE, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- A Tennessee man was right to buy the scroll he found in a thrift shop was worth the $2.48 asking price -- it's a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence.

The Nashville Tennessean reported that Michael Sparks, a music equipment technician, found the scroll marked "1823" at the Music City Thrift Shop, took it home and began researching it on the Internet.

He found that in 1820, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams commissioned 200 copies of the Declaration. The one Sparks found was printed by William Stone in 1823.

"I'm told that it could go for between $200,000 and $300,000,'' Sparks told the Tennessean.

Sparks plans to sell his find through Raynors' Historical Collectible Auctions of Burlington, N.C., which specializes in historic documents. Bidding is set to begin at $125,000.