Advertisement

Jockstrip: The World As We Know It

By PENNY NELSON BARTHOLOMEW, United Press International
Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter

THEY CAME ON DOWN!!

Producers of the long-running CBS game show "The Price is Right" got a lot more than they bargained for when they presented the show's 30th anniversary celebration at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas last Thursday.

Advertisement

An estimated 5,000 people showed up, wanting to get in to see the show -- but there were only 900 tickets to go around. A spokesman for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told the Los Angeles Times that police managed to deal with the crowd-control issues.

"We got a call about 8:15 a.m.," said Vincent Cannito. "They ran out of tickets and people started yelling. We held over our graveyard (shift) officers and sent our day-shift patrols out a little early, but no one did anything destructive."

Cannito said many in the crowd were obviously irritated, but they generally behaved themselves. "These weren't bad people, by any stretch -- just tired, agitated people who stood in line," he said. "The show obviously has quite a following."

Advertisement

(Thanks to UPI Hollywood Reporter Pat Nason)


THINGS WE DON'T UNDERSTAND

The re-election efforts of Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr., D-Ill., son of the famed black politician, have been thrown off track by the recruitment of another "Jesse L. Jackson" to appear on the Democrat's 2nd Congressional District primary ballot.

While challenging the other Jackson's candidacy in court, the congressman and his political operatives are taking no chances. They have come up with a strategy to thwart those who oppose their guy in the March Democratic primary. Instead of "Vote for Jackson" buttons, the incumbent's supporters will be sporting campaign buttons reading simply, "Junior."

(From UPI's Capital Comment)


NEWS OF OTHER LIFE FORMS

A team of American scientists at a South Pole research site is using Weddell seals wearing video cameras to study the habits of two elusive species of deep water fish.

The "seal cams" allowed them to track the mammals' interaction with their prey. The data the researchers collected over the course of three summers showed the fish species -- toothfish and silverfish -- migrate and linger at different depths than previously thought.


TODAY'S SIGN THE WORLD IS ENDING

An attorney involved in the flap over a Martin Luther King plaque -- intended for actor James Earl Jones -- that mistakenly credited convicted assassin James Earl Ray with "keeping the dream alive" said no decision on any legal action has been made yet.

Advertisement

Instead of the actor's name, the plaque named the man who was convicted of killing King in 1968.

"We haven't let this go yet. We're looking at our options and during a further investigation," said William J. Cone, who represents Adpro Marketing of Lauderhill, Fla., which arranged for the plaque on behalf of the city's "King Day Task Force." "We're getting a lot of stories about how this could happened. We're wondering which one is the truth."

Merit Industries of Texas has apologized for the mistake.

Herbert Miller, sales manager for Merit Industries, said some of the company's workers are barely in their 20s and don't speak much English. He also said the engraver was working on another plaque for a man named Ray Johnson at the same time and that added to the confusion.

The task force elected to buy Jones a piece of African-American sculpture rather than give him a corrected plaque.


AND FINALLY, TODAY'S UPLIFTING STORY

NATO peacekeepers patrolling the Bosnian countryside outside Sarajevo this past weekend prevented the closure of a hamburger stand by the local mayor.

The German infantry patrol did not have to resort to force, but they did consume many sausages and hamburgers after the conflict was resolved.

Advertisement

It happened during a routine patrol, when they soldiers stopped at a hamburger stand -- essentially a tiny trailer with a small awning staffed by a war widow and her small child. That's when the patrol's leader, Master Sgt. Rene Lange, discovered some trouble: it seemed the local mayor had decided to partition the woman's 8-foot stand and give part to a friend.

The woman insisted to Lange that this would destroy her business.

Lange spotted the mayor drinking beer across the street, in the local football club headquarters, and paid him a visit while his men ordered sausages and cheeseburgers wrapped in flat Bosnian bread. When Lange returned a few minutes later, the widow had been told that the mayor has had a change of heart -- he has "decided" the woman will keep her stand.

Latest Headlines