Jockstrip: The world as we know it.

Rumsfeld honored, Emanuel snubbed

WINNETKA, Ill., Dec. 3 (UPI) -- An Illinois high school's first-ever "Hall of Honor" awards for alumni gave accolades to Donald Rumsfeld and actor Rainn Wilson but snubbed Rahm Emanuel.

The New Trier Township High School in Winnetka released its list of honorees Wednesday, including former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and "The Office" star Wilson, but missing from the "Hall of Honor" were school alumni Rahm Emanuel, former chief of staff to President Barack Obama and now a Chicago mayoral candidate, and actress Ann-Margret, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday.

The school, which described the Hall of Honors members as displaying "inquiry, compassion and service," also gave honors to Playboy executive Christie Hefner, Nielsen chief executive Arthur C. Nielsen Jr., Nobel Prize-winning physicist Jack Steinberger, cancer researcher Todd Golub, dancer Anna Halprin, cataract surgeon Geoffrey Tabin, former U.S. Ambassador Richard Williamson and Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois president Sam Harris.

The school said another round of inductees will be chosen next year.

Oswald's wooden coffin for sale

FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The deteriorated pine coffin that once held the body of Lee Harvey Oswald has been put up for sale by the Fort Worth mortuary that owns it, officials said.

Oswald was exhumed in 1981 and reburied in another coffin; the auction company selling the coffin and other Oswald memorabilia says it has received a bid of $5,000, CNN reported.

Other items for sale by Nate D. Sanders Auctions of Los Angeles include an Easter card signed by Oswald, an embalming table that held his body, mortuary instruments and the first draft of Oswald's death certificate.

The funeral director who assisted at Oswald's original embalming, Allen Baumgardner, 68, purchased Miller Funeral Home and all its property.

"He felt the time was right to sell," said Laura Yntema, auction manager at Nate D. Sanders. "What strikes me about it is what a simple pine coffin it is." She said the company expects the coffin to go for $70,000 to $100,000.

Oswald's body was exhumed during a legal battle between his widow, Marina, and his brother Robert. There was speculation a Soviet agent was buried in the grave.

Pathologists confirmed the decomposed remains the casket were Oswald's.

The draft death certificate said Oswald died after being fatally shot by "Jack Rubenstein," but that was scratched out because Rubenstein, better known as Jack Ruby, had not yet been tried. A new death certificate was later filed.

Yntema said the death certificate could sell for as much as $20,000.

Bedbug Web site provides free services

NEW YORK, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- A bedbug warrior Web site said it is partnering with extermination companies in giving away free bug-control treatments to needy families.

BedBugCentral.com, teamed up with approximately two dozen companies to provide free services, the New York Daily News reported Thursday.

"It's to give back to the community," said Peter Scala, owner of Parkway Exterminating in Long Island.

Last year, Scala's firm cleaned a Hungarian immigrant's apartment in Manhattan, and he's offering the same services to another family this year, the Daily News said.

Bedbug extermination costs at least $600 for a moderate apartment infestation, and $3,000 to service a private house, said Jeffrey White, an entomologist with BedBugCentral.

"You see a lot of sad situations where people are trying to feed their family while dealing with a bedbug infestation," White said.

BedBugCentral is also providing Interfaith Furnishings, a New Jersey non-profit that donates used furniture to needy families, with bedbug-killing heating chambers. The charity had to stop accepting donated mattresses because of bedbug issues.

The Web site said those who wish to apply for a free bedbug treatment should send a description of why they need the services in 300 words or less by email to beddy(at)bedbugcentral.com.

Four show dogs stolen with van recovered

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Four show dogs stolen with the van that served as their temporary kennel at a Los Angeles-area motel have been recovered, police say.

Two Akitas turned up Wednesday afternoon in Compton along with the van, Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, said. Two Corgis were recovered Wednesday evening, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"The good news is that the dogs are fine," Whitmore said. "They are in good condition. They have been returned to their rightful owners."

Kristina Rickard and David Peek, who live in Redding, Calif., had come to Los Angeles for the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship, to be held in Long Beach this weekend, and events leading up to it. They stayed in a Motel 6 in Bellflower with a Boxer puppy, a Parson Russell terrier and a Brittany, while the other four dogs remained in the van parked just outside.

They woke Tuesday morning to find the van was gone.