Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe S.C. woman, 89, wards off robbers BLENHEIM, S.C., July 26 (UPI) -- An 89-year-old South Carolina woman said she used her .38-caliber pistol to ward off two men who broke into her home. Advertisement Ruby Hodge of Blenheim said she heard knocking on her door just after 8 a.m. Monday and was on her way to answer when two men forced their way through the door, the Florence Daily News reported Wednesday. Hodge said she retrieved the gun, which belonged to her late husband, from beneath her mattress and the men arrived at her bedroom to find her pointing the revolver at them. "They take off and run," she said. Hodge pressed the emergency alert button on her Lifeline necklace and Marlboro County Sheriff Fred Knight arrived within minutes. "I was just amazed," Knight said. "When she told me she met the intruders with a handgun pointed at them, she said they went out faster than they came in. She is my hero!" Advertisement Knight said Ronnie Henry Stevenson Jr., 31, and Nelson Hawkins, 42, were later arrested after a neighbor took down their license plate number and turned it over to authorities. Las Vegas Wedding Wagon delivers nuptials LAS VEGAS, July 26 (UPI) -- A pair of Las Vegas men said they are offering curbside nuptials from the back of their Las Vegas Wedding Wagon van for only $99. Andy Gonzalez and James Cass, who became ordained to perform weddings on the Internet, said they decided to get a piece of the 7,000 to 9,000 weddings held each month in Las Vegas and chose to take the business mobile, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday. "We both saw the potential," Gonzalez said. "There could be real money here." The men said they charge $99 for a 10-minute wedding. Gonzalez and Cass said the van will drive anywhere in the city to perform the ceremonies. Six Flags plans record swing ride AGAWAM, Mass., July 26 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts zoning board said Six Flags New England is seeking permission to build the world's largest swing ride. Jennifer Bonfiglio, senior clerk for the Agawam Zoning Board of Appeals, said the theme park wants to build a 400-foot-tall ride based on playground swings and needs permission to build anything over 200 feet tall, The Boston Globe reported Wednesday. Advertisement Bonfiglio said officials are visiting the theme park Wednesday and expect to make a decision as early as Monday. The clerk said Six Flags New England may also need to seek approval from the Federal Aviation Administration and may be required to put a red beacon atop the ride to ward off planes. The proposed ride would beat the world record for a swing ride, the 383-foot Prater Turm in Vienna, Austria. Escaped alligator triggers alarm PROVIDENCE, R.I., July 26 (UPI) -- Animal Control officers in Rhode Island said a store has been ordered to get rid of its 4-foot gator after the beast escaped a cage and set off burglar alarms. Providence police said they responded to Migz Wireless in the Silver Lake neighborhood around 1 p.m. Monday when the burglar alarm was triggered and they arrived to find the store's alligator mascot had escaped from its cage and set off the store's motion detector, WPRI-TV, Providence, reported Wednesday. Police said they called Animal Control for assistance and the reptile was back in its cage by 2 p.m. Animal Control officials said they have told the owners of the store to find a new home for the alligator. Advertisement
