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90-year-old spends hours on Ferris wheel … Pre-Prohibition booze found in Mo. attic … Baby born in 7-Eleven parking lot … Baby panda born at Japanese zoo … The world as we know it from UPI.
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Published: July 6, 2012 at 6:00 AM

90-year-old spends hours on Ferris wheel

LANCASTER, N.Y., July 6 (UPI) -- A 90-year-old New York state woman spent hours on a Ferris wheel during Lancaster's Independence Days celebration, as she has done for the past couple of years.

Dorothy Wiggins, a Ferris wheel enthusiast, spent 6 hours on the ride Tuesday and even longer Wednesday, The Buffalo (N.Y.) News reported.

"I've loved the Ferris wheel since I was a little girl," said Wiggins. "I don't like any other rides."

The Ferris wheel at Lancaster's Independence Days festival is especially meaningful for Wiggins, as it dates to 1902 and Wiggins was born in 1921. She said it is similar to the one she rode as a child.

"It must have been this one," she said. "When I saw the rust spots, I knew it was my old wheel."

For the past few years, Wiggins' routine has been to go to the festival in the early afternoon and stay on the Ferris wheel until 10 p.m. and watch the fireworks. On Tuesday she had to leave early because she forgot her sweater.

"Yesterday was the first time I left before it closed. I almost froze," Wiggins said. "I didn't want to get sick so I [would be unable] to come back the next day."


Pre-Prohibition booze found in Mo. attic

ST. JOSEPH, Mo., July 6 (UPI) -- A Missouri man suspects the vintage pre-Prohibition whiskey he found hidden in his attic was stashed there by a former resident before he went off to rehab.

Bryan Fite and his wife, Emily, received a record of the owners of the house, which was built in St. Joseph in the 1850s, and discovered one of the owners had been shipped off to a sanitarium "for alcohol reasons."

Fite said the 13 bottles concealed under the floorboards were full and firmly corked and probably were intended for a personal welcome home party. "Unfortunately, he never got the chance," Fite told ABC.

The turn-of-the-century liquor was distilled before World War I and bottled in 1917. It includes four bottles of Hellman's Celebrated Old Crow and a few bottles of Gukenheimer rye. Whiskey made before the 1920s when Prohibition derailed the U.S. distillery business can fetch a good price from collectors.

The Fites aren't necessarily ready to part with the entire collection. They plan to sample some of it in 2017 when the bottles turn 100 years old.

"Part of the allure for me is having them in their original state," said Fite, a confirmed bourbon man. "I have high expectations of what they'll taste like, and I'm afraid if I open them I'll be disappointed."


Baby born in 7-Eleven parking lot

PALM BAY, Fla., July 6 (UPI) -- A Florida couple said their infant son was born in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven store when they were unable to reach the hospital in time.

Chad and Tye Malley said the contractions began at 8:45 p.m. June 23 and they were on their way to the hospital when Tye told her husband to pull over and he delivered his son in the parking lot of the Palm Bay convenience store at 10 p.m., the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel reported Thursday.

"We're both doing great. No problems at all," Tye Malley said Wednesday of herself and her newborn son, Cais, who was born at 9 pounds, 10 ounces.

She said she and the baby were taken to the Holmes Regional Medical Center and released after two days.

The couple also have a 6-year-old son and a 2-year-old daughter.


Baby panda born at Japanese zoo

TOKYO, July 6 (UPI) -- Officials at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo said female panda Shin Shin became the first of her species to give birth at the facility in 24 years Thursday.

The officials said Shin Shin gave birth Thursday afternoon and the mother and cub were said to be in good health, The Japan Daily Press reported.

The pandas are being monitored around the clock, officials said.

The Asahi Shimbun reported Shin Shin, who arrived at the zoo with mate Ri Ri in February 2011, is the first panda to give birth through natural breeding methods at the zoo. Three pandas were born at the facility in the 1980s through artificial insemination.

The gender of the newborn panda has not yet been released.

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