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Man learns casino losses not deductible
MERCED, Calif., May 24 (UPI) -- A sheriff's deputy examining a suspicious package outside a California courthouse found two toy guns and a live rattlesnake in a trash bag.
Merced County Sheriff's Deputy Tom MacKenzie said the venomous snake was an adult 3 to 4 feet in length, The Modesto Bee reported. It was turned over to Merced Animal Control after the discovery Friday morning.
Rick Jarratt, who works as a court bailiff, unknotted the bag to find the pit viper.
MacKenzie said investigators examined surveillance video and found images of a man dropping off the package. They believe he is a transient and have decided not to pursue charges because no crime appears to have been committed.
The guns were a replica .45-caliber handgun and a toy flintlock pistol, the kind of weapon used by movie pirates.
The sheriff's department was unsure what message, if any, the package was supposed to convey.
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MESA, Calif., Feb. 10 (UPI) --
Jesse Farrelly, the 20-year-old son of filmmaker Bobby Farrelly, has died in Costa Mesa, Calif., after a long battle with drug addiction, his family said.
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WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (UPI) --
A woman who says she had an affair with President John F. Kennedy wrote that she didn't feel at the time she was "invading the Kennedys' marriage."
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OTTAWA, Feb. 10 (UPI) --
A village in Canada with a population of 34 is disputing its disappearance as reported in Statistics Canada's census figures released this week.
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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the construction of two new nuclear reactors, the first to be built in the United States since 1978.
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