UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Woman tried to turn ID into license

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla., Feb. 22 (UPI) -- A Florida woman who pleaded no contest to a drunk driving charge also admitted to turning her state ID card into a fake driver's license.

Denise Boman, 62, of St. Augustine pleaded no contest last week to felony driving under the influence, driving while license permanently revoked and unauthorized use of a driver's license, the Orlando Sentinel reported Wednesday.

Boman, who was given three five-year sentences to be served concurrently, crashed into a utility pole in June and handed police a Florida identification card she had attempted to turn into a driver's license by replacing the picture and writing "Driver License Class E" over the words "Identification Card."

She was found to have a blood alcohol content of 0.277, well over the legal limit of 0.08.

Zoo moves ducks to protect from hawk

WHEATON, Ill., Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Officials at a zoo in the Chicago suburbs said they have relocated 11 small ducks to protect them from a nearby Cooper's hawk.

Zookeepers at the Cosley Zoo in Wheaton said the ducks were moved to an enclosed aviary with its own ponds after the hawk was spotted stalking the area around the zoo's duck pond, the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday.

Zoo director Sue Wahlgren said the ducks will remain in the enclosure until the migratory birds return in the spring and provide the hawk with a more acceptable food source.

Wahlgren said the zoo has previously lost a small chicken to a Cooper's hawk, and zoo workers suspect the bird stalking the ducks could be the same hawk.

Couple save salamanders from busy road

JACKSON, Miss., Feb. 22 (UPI) -- A biologist couple in Mississippi said they and a group of volunteers are protecting local salamanders by helping them cross the road.

Tom Mann, a zoologist at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, and his wife, Debora, a biology professor, said they and volunteers spring into action every time it rains during the late winter and early spring to help the salamanders cross a stretch of Natchez Trace Parkway near Jackson, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The Manns said the salamanders are trying to get from their burrows to the seasonal ponds on the other side of the road, but the heavy traffic means many of the small reptiles wouldn't make it to the other side without help. They said they scoop the amphibians up on quart-size freezer containers and carry them to the ponds so they can carry on their mating ritual, which takes place only once a year.

Man buys jetbluepark.com for $8

FORT MYERS, Fla., Feb. 22 (UPI) -- A Florida man said he bought the domain name jetbluepark.com for $8 when he heard about the new Boston Red Sox training facility and linked it to the Yankees.

Eric Engelman, 30, of Fort Myers said he bought the domain using his wife's godaddy.com account when he heard about JetBlue winning the naming rights for the Fort Myers facility, which has now been dubbed JetBlue Park at Fenway South, last March and he recently decided to link the page to the New York Yankees home page as a joke, the Fort Myers News-Press reported Wednesday.

Engelman, who described himself as a Chicago Cubs fan, said he has no hate for the Red Sox or love for the Yankees but he thought the domain name prank would make a funny joke.

Sam Kennedy, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Boston Red Sox, said Tuesday he would like to talk to Engelman about the domain.

"We can make a deal. Or maybe we can make a deal."