Contact The Editor
Articles By This Author
• The 95-year-old Giant Dipper wooden roller coaster at Belmont Park in Mission Beach, California, is a National Historic Landmark, but it, along with all of the other rides in the park, has been closed to riders since March.
To keep it in good repair and ready for reopening, the coaster must run 12 times every day, and park mechanics discussing how reopening would happen hit upon an idea: They loaded the coaster's 24 seats with giant plush animals from the park's midway games prize stash.
"People are loving it," Steve Thomas, the park's general manager, told The San Diego Union-Tribune. "We've seen tons of videos and pictures that people have been posting online."
Thomas said when the coaster reopens, he may keep the furry riders on board to help with social distancing rules. [San Diego Union-Tribune, 6/2/2020]
• An unnamed 29-year-old man in Berlin, Germany, triggered alarms at a supermarket on June 5 when he tried to leave without paying for $5.65 in merchandise.
The Associated Press reported that police had little trouble apprehending the man because, in his hurry escape, he left his 8-year-old son behind.
Not only did the burglar's "accessory" help police identify him, but the thief fell down as he was escaping and ended up in the hospital. [Associate Press via Norfolk Daily News, 6/8/2020]