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'Polygamist colony' is focus of new tour

COLORADO CITY, Ariz., Sept. 19 (UPI) -- America's " largest and most -secluded polygamist colony" will be showcased in a new four-hour tour, organizers say.

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The tour will offer accounts from guides who had lived in "The Creek," the historic name for the community on the Utah-Arizona border that is home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

The tour's promotional literature promises answers to questions from the curious: "Why the prairie dresses and long braids? No makeup? More than one wife? All questions to be answered during 'The Polygamy Experience.'"

Richard Holm, who was exiled from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 2003, and his brother, Heber Holm, who left the community 35 years ago, will lead the tours. The first tour is set for Saturday.

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Richard Holm promised the tour would be respectful.

The community encompasses parts of in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., and passengers will ride aboard a bus between sites. Guides will explain the origins of fundamentalist Mormonism and the abandonment of polygamy by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They will also talk about historical and current events in the community.

Willie Jessop, a spokesman for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, hopes people can find better things to do than tour The Creek.

"They want to come into the community like it's a spectacle," he said of the tour's organizers, "when for us, it's like the circus is coming to town. We hope people have more of a life than to be suckered into that sort of scam."


City's rabbits headed for zoo -- as food

HELSINKI, Finland, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Officials in Helsinki, Finland, said they have reached a deal with the city's zoo to feed nuisance rabbits to zoo predators.

Helsinki's Building Services Unit and the Helsinki Zoo said lions, wolverines and vultures at the zoo will receive rabbits caught in the city's parks and green areas starting in October, the Helsingin Sanomat reported Friday.

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The zoo, which previously purchased its rabbits from Hungarian rabbit farms, said the deal represents a cheaper and more ecologically sound alternative. The Building Services Unit said the deal will also save money previously allocated for the disposal of the rodents.


Lawn workers lift car off woman

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla., Sept. 18 (UPI) -- An 84-year-old Florida woman said a crew of lawn maintenance workers lifted her car when she became pinned underneath it.

Yetta Cohen of Boynton Beach said she had just returned from shopping Wednesday and exited her car when the vehicle began rolling on its own, WPBF-TV, Palm Beach, Fla., reported Friday.

"And all of a sudden, the car starts to move and it starts dragging me all the way out from the one end of the garage all the way out to the street," Cohen said.

Maintenance supervisor Bob Nemeth, who witnessed the incident, said he and others nearby tried to use the jack from the car's trunk to lift the car off Cohen, but the plan did not work. He said the woman had been under her car for about 15 minutes when 14 members of a lawn maintenance crew walked around the corner and lifted the rear of the car.

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"We had to do it twice," Nemeth said. "It didn't work the first time. We didn't get it high enough. We lifted it up and over. Then, while they still had it up, I ran over and dragged her out from underneath."

Cohen said an ambulance arrived and took her to the hospital.

"They did all kinds of scans and X-rays and, fortunately, nothing was broken," she said.


Underwater billboards surface in Seattle

SEATTLE, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- A Seattle-based restaurant chain said billboards for eateries from around 1954 have been found anchored to the bottom of Puget Sound.

Officials with Ivar's said three billboards have been recovered from the bottom of the sound since the first was discovered Aug. 21 using permits and location maps believed to be the property of restaurant founder Ivar Haglund,

Haglund was known until his death at the age of 79 more than 24 years ago as Seattle's greatest self-promoter, The Seattle Times reported Friday.

"Ivar's Chowder. Worth surfacing for. 75¢ a cup," one of the billboards reads.

"Diver's special. Kids 12 & Under Eat Free* with regular entree. Includes Jell-O," another of the underwater ads says.

Bob Donegan, president of Ivar's, said the billboards could still turn out to be an elaborate hoax, but he denied the company would be behind it.

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"If I was smart enough to come up with this hoax, I'd be doing other stuff," he said.

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