Superhero Dogs Scare Off Scaredy Cat Cougar

A big cat picked the wrong little dogs for a fight.

Chiquita the Chihuahua and Rosie the border terrier chased off a cougar that strayed into a small town near the Oregon State University campus. The dogs’ owner, Loren Wingert, said Chiquita and Rosie are tough, but lucky.

The cougar pinned down Rosie, who squealed, but Chiquita convinced the big cat to flee by barking ferociously.

Wingert lives in a cul-de-sac atop a hill that backs up to a wooded area with deer trails. Warning signs about cougars are posted on the trails.

Wingert said the dogs are fine.

Missed High-Five Called Assault

What do you call a high-five that misses?

Many would just call it awkward, but an El Paso school principal calls it assault. The misfire came last week when schools superintendent Lorenzo Garcia was giving principals high-fives while celebrating state test scores. When Garcia came to Barron Elementary School principal Mary Helen Lechuga and she didn’t raise her hand, he tapped her on the head instead.

But Lechuga — a former district administrator who was recently demoted — filed a police complaint saying she felt pain and feared what he might do next.

Garcia said she’s a disgruntled employee and her complaint is petty.

The El Paso Times reported that school district police are investigating.

McDonald’s Orange Juice Dispute Leads To 911 Calls

An Oregon man spent Memorial Day in jail after dialing 911 to complain that a McDonald’s worker was rude and didn’t give him an orange juice he ordered.

Raibin Osman was accused of improper use of the emergency telephone number.

The Oregonian newspaper reports that the 20-year-old bailed out of the Washington County Jail could not be reached for comment.

Sheriff’s Sgt. David Thompson said Osman ignored deputies who told him the emergency number isn’t to be used for straightening out fast-food orders.

A McDonald’s employee also called 911 during the incident to complain that Osman and the people with him were blocking the drive-thru lane and knocking on the restaurant windows.

Thong-Wearing Man Charged With Burglary

Deputies said a man who was caught wearing a woman’s thong was charged with a burglarizing a home.

Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said deputies caught the 42-year-old man only wearing panties in an abandoned farm house. The officers followed his footprints from a nearby Andersonville home where a burglary had been reported.

The man was charged with aggravated burglary, auto burglary and vandalism and was held on a $65,000 bond in the Anderson County Detention Facility.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reported the man was released from the same jail May 21 after being arrested in Norris for property crimes.

Brazen Parrot Makes Off With Man’s Passport

Polly wants a passport — and isn’t above stealing one.

A brazen parrot, which spotted a Scottish man’s passport in a colored bag in the luggage compartment under a tour bus, nabbed the document and made off into dense bush with it, the Southland Times newspaper reported.

The bird — a parrot of the Kea variety — made its move while the bus was stopped along the highway to Milford Sound on South Island, New Zealand, and the driver was looking through the compartment. Milford Sound, which runs inland from the Tasman Sea and is surrounded by sheer rock face, is part of Fiordland National Park, a world heritage site and major travel destination.

Police told the newspaper the passport has not been recovered and is unlikely to be located in the vast Fiordland rain forest.

“My passport is somewhere out there in Fiordland. The Kea’s probably using it for fraudulent claims or something,” the passport owner, who did not want to be named, told the newspaper.

Would-Be Suicide Jumper Pushed After Holding Up Traffic

A Chinese man was pushed off a bridge by an angry passer-by after his threat to commit suicide held up traffic for five hours, Chinese media reported.

Retired soldier Lian Jiansheng, 66, broke through a police cordon and reached out to shake the hand of would-be jumper Chen Fuchao before shoving him off the bridge.

“I pushed him off because jumpers like Chen are very selfish. Their action violates a lot of public interests,” Lai was quoted as saying by the China Daily newspaper.

“They do not really dare to kill themselves. Instead, they just want to raise the relevant government authorities’ attention to their appeals.”

Chen, 2 million yuan ($293,200) in debt because of a failed building project, fell 8 metres (yards) onto a partially inflated emergency air cushion and was hospitalized with wrist and back injuries. Lai was detained by police.

Chen was at least the twelfth person since early April to threaten suicide at the same spot, the Haizhu bridge in Guangzhou. But none jumped and — until Lian gave Chen a helping hand — none was pushed.

Well She Said To ‘Bite Me’

An analyst at the Connecticut Police Academy says a co-worker responded literally to her “bite me” remark and chomped on her.

Former Waterbury police Capt. Francis Woodruff was charged with disorderly conduct and released on a promise to appear in court. He’s accused of biting academy license and applications analyst Rochelle Wyler on April 24.

A police arrest report says Wyler had teeth marks and bruising on the back of her left arm.

Wyler’s complaint alleges Woodruff was annoying her by calling her a clerk. She says she responded with “bite me” — and he did.

Woodruff also is a training coordinator with the 130-member police department in Meriden, just south of Hartford. He says he was joking around.

Maybe It Should Be Called The ‘Tour de Bastille’

Close to 200 prisoners will cycle around France next month, watched by scores of guards on bicycles, in the first penal version of the Tour de France.

The 196 prisoners will cycle in a pack and breakaway sprints will not be allowed. They will be accompanied by 124 guards and prison sports instructors. There will be no ranking, the idea being to foster values like teamwork and effort.

“It’s a kind of escape for us, a chance to break away from the daily reality of prison,” said Daniel, a 48-year-old prisoner in the western city of Nantes, at the official launch of the event. His last name was not given.

“If we behave well, we might be able to get released earlier, on probation,” he told reporters.

The prisoners’ Tour de France will take them 2,300 km (1,400 miles) around the country, starting in the northern city of Lille on June 4 and stopping in 17 towns, each of which has a prison. However, participants will sleep in hotels.

The finish line will be in Paris, following Tour de France tradition.

“This project aims to help these men reintegrate into society by fostering values like effort, teamwork and self-esteem,” said Sylvie Marion of the prison authorities.

“We want to show them that with some training, you can achieve your goals and start a new life,” she said.

Rare Pink Dolphin Stands Out In The Crowd

What’s pink, has red eyes and leaps around a Louisiana shipping channel long enough for you to believe your eyes?

A rare albino bottlenose dolphin. Bottlenose dolphins are common in the lower Calcasieu Ship Channel, feeding in the deep water and riding on top of boats’ waves. And when the pink one jumps amid four dark gray dolphins, it’s easy to spot.

The albino is just the 14th reported worldwide, and the third in the Gulf of Mexico, according to biologist Dagmar Fertl of Plano, Texas.

It was first reported by Wesley Lockard of Rayville, La., as a small calf in June 2007. Lockard, 26, said he and family members were fishing when they were stunned by the sight. “Something comes up and you say, `Wow! Did I just …?’ Then he comes up again and you say, `Yeah! I just saw a pink dolphin!’” he said.

Now, the mammal is as much a part of the channel south of Lake Charles as boats and fishermen.

“We see him on a pretty regular basis,” said Roddy Blackburn, crewman and relief captain of a boat that ferries pilots to ships.

Yiddish-Hating Israel Finally Embraces European Language

Oy Gevalt! Yiddish has been uttered in the Israeli parliament!

Long disparaged in Hebrew-speaking Israel as the native tongue of Diaspora Jews, the centuries-old lingo made a comeback with the first ever Yiddish Culture Day.

Marking 150 years since the birth of Sholem Aleichem, the popular Russian-Jewish author of Yiddish literature, and 20 years since the establishment of the Yiddish theater in Tel Aviv, lawmakers gathered to discuss ways to preserve and promote the German-based language written with the Hebrew alphabet.

It was the language of Jews of eastern Europe. They were decimated in the Nazi Holocaust of World War II, just as the founders of the Jewish state were promoting Hebrew and ridiculing Yiddish, leaving the language without a wide base.

At Israel’s parliament, organizers handed out a Yiddish handbook to lawmakers so they could study poignant Yiddishisms, and guests were treated to a Yiddish concert.

Yiddish traces its origins to the 10th century and flourished among Jewish Ashkenazi culture in the 20th century before the Holocaust.

Sholem Aleichem’s Yiddish stories about Tevye the Milkman were the inspiration for the 1964 musical “Fiddler on the Roof.” The most notable Yiddish writer of recent years is Isaac Bashevis Singer.