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Vote chooses which Monopoly token to drop

PAWTUCKET, R.I., Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Rhode Island-based toymaker Hasbro is holding a vote online to decide which of its iconic Monopoly game tokens will be retired.

The "Save Your Token" campaign allows fans to vote on the game's Facebook page for their favorite token -- the Scottie dog, top hat, race car, battleship, wheelbarrow, shoe, thimble or iron -- and the object with the fewest votes will be retired from future releases of the board game, USA Today reported Wednesday.

The Facebook site also allows fans of the game to vote for the token that will replace the retired game piece, a cat, guitar, toy robot, helicopter or diamond ring.

Hasbro said the limited-run "Golden Token" Monopoly will be sold in mid-February and will be the last edition to feature all the classic tokens and the only edition to feature all five potential new pieces.

Voting ends Feb. 5 and the first Monopoly edition to feature the new token lineup will go on sale during the summer, the company said.

Drunken horse rider pleads no contest

BUNNELL, Fla., Jan. 9 (UPI) -- A man pleaded no contest to charges stemming from his alleged drunken ride through Bunnell, Fla., on a horse, authorities say.

Charles Larkin Cowart, 29, pleaded no contest Tuesday to obstructing an officer without violence and interfering with railroad tracks or equipment, the Daytona Beach News reported Wednesday.

Before he was arrested during the Sept. 24 incident, Cowart refused to dismount for police and ran across railroad tracks after his horse injured a leg, authorities said.

The State Attorney's Office said it agreed to drop animal cruelty and fleeing or attempting to elude charges in exchange for Cowart's plea.

Cowart, who had been in jail in lieu of $7,000 bail since the incident, was sentenced to 90 days of time served and three years of drug offender probation.

Swedish school has students play Minecraft

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- A Swedish school is requiring 13-year-old students to play the popular computer game Minecraft to encourage creative thinking.

Monica Ekman, a teacher at the Viktor Rydberg school in Stockholm, said the game teaches students many practical skills, The Local.se reported Wednesday.

"It's their world and they enjoy it," Ekman said. "They learn about city planning, environmental issues, getting things done, and even how to plan for the future."

Ekman said about 180 students are being given lessons surrounding the game.

"The boys knew a lot about it before we even started, but the girls were happy to create and build something too -- it's not any different from arts or woodcraft," Ekman said.

She said the school will continue using the game as a learning tool.

"It's been a great success and we'll definitely do it again," Ekman said. "We think it's a fun way of learning and it's nice for the students to achieve something."

Man gets duffel bag back after 68 years

MERRILLVILLE, Ind., Jan. 9 (UPI) -- An Indiana man said the he was reunited with the duffel bag he lost while fighting in World War II by a French teenager.

William Kadar, 92, of Merrillville, said he lost the bag in November 1944 while fighting in France, before he ended up in a German prisoner of war camp, and thought it was lost for good until his daughter, Arleen Haas, was contacted by a French teenager through a Texas military museum, WGN-TV, Chicago, reported Wednesday.

Haas said the boy told her the bag had been passed down to him from his grandfather. She said the teen was initially reluctant to part with an object he saw as part of his family history, but agreed to send it to Kadar when she promised to eventually return it to the teenager.

Haas received the bag in the mail last week and took it to her father Tuesday.

"Well, I finally got it!" Kadar said.