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Man celebrates 90th b-day with skydiving

EXETER, Maine, July 16 (UPI) -- A 90-year-old Maine man who flew planes for the Navy and Coast Guard celebrated his 90th birthday by going sky diving.

Retired Navy Capt. Lester Slate of Exeter, who flew planes for the Navy and Coast Guard for 40 years, said his tandem jump Sunday at Pittsfield Airport through Central Maine Skydiving was the culmination of a dream he's had ever since he first trained as a pilot, the Bangor Daily News reported Monday.

"The Navy taught us how to use (parachutes) but they wouldn't let us, unless it was an emergency," Slate said before his jump.

Slate, who said he was inspired by former President George H.W. Bush celebrating his 85th birthday with a parachute jump, said he might consider repeating his stunt.

"When I get to be 95, or maybe 100," he said after landing on the ground.

'Parade' moves pipe organ parts

ROCHESTER, N.Y., July 16 (UPI) -- Members of a New York state church said the congregation will use a "pipe organ parade" to carry its 1,200 organ pipes into the building.

Carlos Mercado, a longtime member and unofficial historian of the Christ Church in Rochester, said about 15 to 20 members of the church will participate in the "pipe organ parade," which will travel only a short distance from a truck to the church, The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported Monday.

"We have a practical need. We've got to get 1,200 organ pipes into the church," Mercado said.

Mercado said the pipes are the final parts of a 1893 Hook & Hastings Romantic Organ shipped from Portland, Maine.

The organ will be used by the church and the Eastman School of Music, which purchased the instrument and expects to spend $250,000 to $300,000 restoring the organ.

Cafe owner kills nearly 28,000 slugs

BRALANDA, Sweden, July 16 (UPI) -- A 76-year-old cafe owner in Sweden said he has killed nearly 28,000 slugs with an ice scraper since the start of summer.

Sven Lagergren of Bralanda said the Spanish slugs, commonly known in Sweden as killer slugs, appeared in the gardens of his cafe, Gula Huset, at the start of the summer and he soon began using an ice scraper to chop the invaders in half, The Local.se reported Monday.

"They've taken over, it's absolute madness! I've killed almost 28,000 this summer," Lagergren said.

The slugs first appeared in Sweden in 1975 and have no natural predators.

"It's this damned weather's fault! It's been raining so much this summer that they're everywhere. Today's quite sunny, I've only killed 100... but on one rainy day I killed 4,700," Lagergren said.

He said he tried putting poison down in the garden, but nothing seems to stop the slugs from trying to ruin his garden.

"What can you do? They don't stop coming! They even eat the ones I've killed. They're disgusting," he said.

Men rescued from 50-foot manhole

OLDHAM, England, July 16 (UPI) -- Emergency responders in Britain said they rescued two men who climbed into a manhole and were unable to get back out on their own.

Firefighters and a mountain rescue team in Oldham, England, said the two men, who are in their 20s, used a thin piece of garden twine to climb 50 feet down in the manhole, soon discovered they were trapped and called the emergency 999 number, the Manchester Daily News reported Monday.

"It was a crazy thing to do. They could have killed themselves," said Dave Bowler of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service. "They had gone down a length of pressure hose they had tied to a scaffolding pole with a piece of blue garden twine. The hole was made of concrete and would have been very unforgiving if they had fallen. The reason why they went down there was a mystery to everyone involved in the rescue."

Mick Nield, leader of the mountain rescue team, said alcohol was apparently a factor in the men's actions.

"I think they had been on the beers and decided it was a good idea to monkey swing down there. It took us about an hour to get them out. One of the men had fallen about 10 feet but neither of them was hurt seriously," he said.