Sweet Revenge | Bromance

• Ted Pelkey of Westford, Vermont, has been battling the Westford Development Review Board for months over his proposal to erect a building on his property for his truck repair and monofilament recycling business.

But he told WCAX News that the city keeps putting up barriers to the development, so Pelkey has instead installed a message to the board and the people of Westford: a giant sculpture of a fist with the middle finger raised.

"It's very big. Everybody got the message," said Fairfax resident Carol Jordan. Pelkey, who spent $4,000 on the public rebuke, said he hopes the citizens of Westford will take a "really long look at the people who are running their town."

In the meantime, the select board told WCAX that because the sculpture is considered public art, they can take no action against it. [WCAX News, 12/4/2018]

• Anthony Akers, 38, and the Richland (Washington) Police Department embarked on an amusing meet-cute of law and fugitive on Nov. 28 when the department posted a wanted photo of Akers on its Facebook page. Five hours after the posting, National Public Radio reported, Akers responded with: "Calm down, i'm going to turn myself in."

When Akers was a no-show, the department messaged him the next day: "Hey Anthony! We haven't seen you yet." Officers even offered him a ride.

But Akers couldn't be bothered: "Thank you, tying up a couple loose ends since i will probably be in there for a month." He promised to surrender within 48 hours. When the weekend passed without any sign of Akers, officers wrote: "Is it us? We waited but you didn't show." To which Akers replied: "Dear RPD, it's not you, it's me. I obviously have commitment issues. ... P.S. You're beautiful."

Finally, on Dec. 4, Akers arrived at the Richland police station, posting a selfie with the caption: "Thank you RPD for letting me do this on my own." Aww, ain't love grand? [NPR, 12/7/2018]