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Big albino muskie landed in Wisconsin

LADYSMITH, Wis., Oct. 20 (UPI) -- It wasn't quite Captain Ahab's great white whale Moby Dick, but a Wisconsin angler reeled in a huge white fish -- a rare 51-inch albino muskie, officials say.

Paul Parise caught the white muskie Oct. 6 in the lower Flambeau River in Rusk County, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Tuesday.

"That is a pretty fantastic catch," Tim Simonson, co-chairman of the state Department of Natural Resources' muskie committee, said in a news release.

"Albino muskie are pretty rare to begin with, and for one to survive to that size is pretty uncommon given they don't have the protective camouflage to hide from predators or sneak up on prey. This fish stood out from Day 1, but through luck and maybe some skill, it survived."

The DNR said the fish is the second albino muskie taken in Wisconsin waters in recent years. In 2005, a DNR fisheries crew netted a 32.7-inch white muskie during population surveys.

Albinism is a heredity condition in which there is a total or partial lack of pigment that gives color to the skin, hair and eyes.

Police: Fire god mascot set fire to float

CALIFORNIA, Pa., Oct. 20 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania college student who portrays his school's fire god mascot is accused of setting a broken-down homecoming parade float ablaze, police said.

Investigators said James Schaffer, 20, was dressed in the costume of Vulcan, the mythical god of fire, for the California University of Pennsylvania homecoming parade and he set fire to a float that had broken down in the street once the parade was over, WTAE-TV, Pittsburgh, reported Wednesday.

Police said Schaffer was arrested and charged with arson.

A spokeswoman for the university said the student is undergoing an evaluation at a "medical facility."

"This young man is a well-known and well-liked member of the campus community. The university acknowledges the serious nature of the charges he is facing, but our immediate concern is for his health and well-being," the school said in a statement.

Man with coke asked cop for ride

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Police in California said a man who asked a police officer for a ride home was arrested after apparently forgetting he had cocaine in his pocket.

The San Mateo County District Attorney's Office said Ongley Raymond Ocon III, 19, approached a police car in Redwood City after leaving a party early Sunday and asked for a ride home to Danville, the Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif., reported Wednesday.

The officer asked if Ocon was carrying anything illegal, Chief Deputy District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said.

"He said yes, but then paused and said no," Wagstaffe said.

Ocon consented to a search and the officer discovered a bundle containing a small amount of cocaine in the suspect's pocket, Wagstaffe said.

Ocon was arrested and charged with felony possession of cocaine.

Victoria: Birthplace of the license plate

VICTORIA, British Columbia, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- A Canadian man said Guinness World Records officially certified a license plate he owns as the oldest vehicle license plate in the world.

John Roberts of Esquimalt, British Columbia, said the No. 6 license plate was issued in Victoria, B.C., in 1884, 18 years before the first cars came to Victoria, The Victoria Times Columnist reported Wednesday.

He said Guinness World records confirmed the porcelain-on-steel plate, bearing the No. 6, is the oldest in the world.

Roberts said the plate was for a hackney carriage, an ancestor of the taxi cab, and was issued as a means of tracking the carriages to protect tourists from being overcharged. He said he purchased the plate for $1,000 a few years ago from a man who said he got it from a garage sale.

"Victoria gets on the map in so many different and interesting ways," said Mayor Dean Fortin. "This town is full of wonderful amateur historians and historical sleuths. For this gentleman to go out and find out we are the birthplace of the license plate is great."