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Food drive supports fired fairy

ST. CHARLES, Mo., Nov. 15 (UPI) -- A resident of a Missouri town said he is organizing a food drive to show support for the Sugar Plum Fairy, who was fired by the city for cursing at a drug test.

Mike Swart of St. Charles, whose Facebook page aiming to save Laura Coppinger's job has thousands of "likes," said his food drive will focus on both traditional food donation items as well as sweets, the St. Louis (Mo.) Post-Dispatch reported Tuesday.

Coppinger, 29, who has portrayed the Sugar Plum Fairy for the past six years at the city's annual Christmas Traditions festival, was fired recently for using profanity while taking a drug test mandated for all city employees.

Swart said he is hoping the food drive will convince city officials to change their minds.

They can bring a bag of sugar, a pack of cookies, some candy -- things the Sugar Plum Fairy might endorse -- or canned goods," Swart said. "I think we should harness the passion and the excitement everybody has here and do something good with it."

Coppinger said she has been touched by the outpouring of support since her firing.

"It's very exciting to know that Sugar Plum Fairy has inspired so many people and has made people's Christmases and that people are standing up for her and for me as the actress playing her," she said.

Italian town's cheese bound for Mass.

CONCORD, Mass., Nov. 15 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts cheese store said it will be receiving a 400-pound wheel of Crucolo cheese, a popular asiago cheese made in only a single Italian town.

The Cheese Shop of Concord, which said the wheel of Crucolo cheese it received last year sold out in two weeks at about $20 per pound, is expecting this year's wheel to arrive Dec. 1, the Boston Globe reported Tuesday.

The cheese has been made in the Italian town of Rifugio di Crucolo for more than 250 years. Peter Lovis, owner of The Cheese Shop, said it takes the cheese wheel about a month to make the trip from Italy to Massachusetts.

Lovis said the wheel was specially made for his shop in March.

Deputies: Man punched airport kiosk

KENNER, La., Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Authorities in Louisiana said a frustrated traveler punched an airport checkout kiosk, shattering the screen when he couldn't find his flight information.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office said the Washington man, identified as Albert Pratt IV, 30, punched the screen of the Continental Airlines check-in kiosk Sunday morning at Louis Armstrong International Airport in Kenner and took the terminal out of commission by shattering its screen, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported Tuesday.

A deputy located Pratt, who allegedly admitted to punching the kiosk because he was frustrated at not being able to find his flight information. The deputy said Pratt was bleeding from fresh cuts on his hand.

Pratt was taken to the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna on a charge of simple criminal damage $500-$5,000. He was released Sunday after posting $5,000 bond.

Flamingos rescued in Siberia

SEVERSK, Russia, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- A pair of flamingos that landed in rural Siberia have been turned over to a Russian zoo to save them from the harsh weather conditions.

Hunter Ivan Metla and farmer Ivan Dyachkov told ITAR-Tass they each rescued one of the birds from a lake in the Tomsk region where daytime temperatures Friday were about 12 degrees F, The Moscow Times reported Tuesday.

Experts said flamingos are known to migrate over Siberia, but they rarely land due to the dangers from the harsh temperatures.

The birds were taken to a Seversk zoo.