Jockstrip: The world as we know it.

String snags suspected sign-stealer

SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Salt Lake City police say a string attached to alarm bells led to a pre-Election Day arrest of a man who allegedly stole political yard signs.

Police said the victim placed the signs in his yard to support a city council candidate and several of them disappeared. Frustrated by the thefts, the man created a makeshift alarm system of string, bells and a video camera to catch the thief, The Deseret Morning News reported.

"He put a sign in his yard and put a string that went from the sign into his living room and had bells attached to the string," police detective Jared Wihongi said. "He slept the night in his living room fully dressed so he could be ready."

The man's persistence paid off in the wee hours of Saturday morning, when the tinkling bells woke him up. The camera captured an image of the thief's license plate and police were able to make an arrest.

The suspect, who gave no reason for his actions, was charged with attempted theft, a misdemeanor.

Voters prefer 'Wild, Wonderful' slogan

CHARLESTON, W.Va., Nov. 9 (UPI) -- A university student learned the power of one when he successfully launched an Internet petition campaign to change the state slogan for West Virginia.

When West Virginia University student Logan Wheatcraft launched a drive to replace the "Open for Business" slogan initiative by Gov. Joe Manchin, he figured he didn't have a chance of succeeding, The Charleston Gazette reported.

But through an initiative arranged by Manchin, nearly 49,000 West Virginians voted last week by computer or telephone to choose an official state slogan -- and the winner was "Wild, Wonderful."

"But I’m definitely happy that the petition actually made a difference," the student told the Gazette. "I didn’t start it as a really serious thing -- I was a little angry, and I thought if I was lucky, I’d maybe get a few people to sign."

Signs with the slogan "Welcome to Wild, Wonderful West Virginia" greeted visitors entering the state from 1969 to 1991, when they were replaced with the simpler, "Welcome to West Virginia."

Two years ago, the "Open for Business" slogan appeared, stressing Manchin's administration’s willingness to improve the state's commercial climate.

Police: 'No smoking' means no smoking

DANBURY, Conn., Nov. 9 (UPI) -- A man accused of openly smoking a cigar laced with marijuana inside the Danbury, Conn., police station learned no smoking means no smoking of any kind.

Police arrested Scott Snow, 24, charging him with possession of marijuana after finding two bag of suspicious-looking, plant-like material, The (Danbury) News Times reported Wednesday. Snow also was charged with possession 1,500 feet of a school zone because an elementary school was about a half-block away.

Police Capt. Robert Myles said Snow tooled into the police station lobby, walked up to the partition separating desk officers from the public, and blew smoke through the small opening in the glass. Unaware of exactly what Snow was doing, an officer told him smoking in the building was prohibited. Snow sucked on the cigar again, expelling another cloud of smoke through the opening then extinguished the cigar on the counter, the newspaper said.

This time, Myles said, police went to the lobby and caught a whiff of the smoke filling the room.

"As one of the guys said later, 'You can't make this stuff up,'" Myles told The News Times.

Police bust exotic animal ring

LIVONIA, Mich., Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Scores of stolen exotic animals -- some of them poisonous and some of the just strange variety -- have been recovered near Flint, Mich.

Raids on two Genesee County, Mich., homes netted 20 to 50 wild animals, including a kinkajou, wallaby, toucans, scorpions, tarantulas and a monitor lizard named Rupert, the Flint Journal and WDIV-TV, Detroit reported.

The raids also netted three twentysomething humans suspected of stocking their makeshift urban zoos with animals stolen from pet stores and sanctuaries in a string of break-ins dating back to February.

A Livonia, Mich., police sergeant told the Journal they weren't "100 percent sure" what the suspects planned to do with the animals.

Police were tipped by the owner of a Detroit-area animal sanctuary who spied his pet kinkajou in an Internet ad for a traveling wild animal educational show, the Journal said.