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Boy, 9, lands 150-pound shark

BURIEN, Wash., Aug. 12 (UPI) -- A 9-year-old Washington state boy said it took him almost an hour to land a 150-pound sixgill shark while fishing with his grandparents near Burien.

Cosmo Miller, 9, said he used a 30-pound test line to reel in the shark while fishing last week with his grandparents in Puget Sound, The Seattle Times reported.

"It was really hard," Cosmo said, "but I had a really big fishing pole."

The boy, who released the shark after taking pictures for posterity, said it wasn't his first encounter with a sixgill shark. He said he broke two poles fishing for sharks before he landed his prize catch using dogfish as bait.

Dave Woltz, his grandfather, said watching Cosmo wrestle with the shark was quite a sight to behold.

"It was quite a thrill watching a 9-year-old kid pull in that fish," he said. "We had been fishing for about four hours and were ready to come in when all of a sudden he hooks this big thing. His face was beet red, and I offered to help him, but he said no."

Cosmo said the shark was the largest fish he had ever hauled in, far surpassing his previous personal record of a 27-pound salmon.

Police: Man tried to sell fake TV

SAN LEANDRO, Calif., Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Police in California, acting on a tip that a man tried to sell a flat screen TV for $100, said they detained a man and found a TV box containing an oven door.

San Leandro police said the man was pulled over last week and officers noticed a box in his car purporting to contain a brand-new, 37-inch Sony TV -- but all they found inside the box was a glass oven door disguised as a television, the Oakland (Calif.) Tribune reported.

Police said they pulled the man over because of an anonymous call from someone who said a man tried to sell him a TV for $100 out of his car in a Wal-Mart parking lot and gave police a description of the beige 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass.

The man, Anthony Myles, 52, was arrested on a charge of driving on a suspended license. Police said no other charges were filed.

Lost tortoise found nearly a mile away

NORTH LINDEN, Ohio, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- An Ohio couple said their beloved pet tortoise is home again after almost a week of wandering following its escape.

Lisa Dupler and Nicole Zahrndt of North Linden said they tirelessly covered the neighborhood in more than 100 "missing-tortoise" signs and offered a $100 reward for the safe return of Ophelia -- a male African Spur Thigh tortoise -- after the tortoise tunneled underneath their backyard fence Wednesday, the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch reported.

The pair said their lucky break came when they got a phone call from Stacy Sturgill, whose boyfriend, Louis Maher, had seen a story in the Dispatch about a missing tortoise and spotted the animal outside Sturgill's apartment, nearly a mile from the tortoise's home.

Dupler and Zahrndt said they were so delighted by Ophelia's return they upped the finder's fee to $120, which Sturgill and Maher said they plan to spend on an air-conditioner.

Ophelia's family said they plan to make their fences deeper because African Spur Thigh tortoises can burrow up to 30 inches deep and make tunnels up to 10 feet long.

Man crosses tracks during live safety spot

LANGLEY GREEN, England, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- The makers of a BBC TV spot about crime and safety on British railways said the live special accidentally featured a man running across the path of a train.

BBC reporter Richard Westcott had been delivering the message at a Langley Green, England, railroad crossing when a man appeared over his shoulder, ducked under the lowering level-crossing barriers and walked across the tracks in the path of the oncoming speeding train, the Daily Mail reported.

A Network Rail spokesman said people running across the tracks while fast-moving trains approach is far from uncommon in Langley Green.

"Youngsters and adults alike break the law jumping over the barriers," he said.

The spokesman reiterated that ignoring barriers and warning lights is a dangerous pursuit.

"Trains in this country can run as fast as 125 mph and take up to half a mile to come to a halt," he said.