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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MAY 12, 2017
ODDS AND ENDS
Associated Press
Daring deer licks barrel of
Indiana turkey hunter’s shotgun
Teen's plea for free Wendy's
nuggets sets retweet record
RENO, Nev. — A Twitter plea from a Nevada teen for a year
of free chicken nuggets from Wendy's is now the most retweeted
post of all time.
Carter Wilkerson asked the fast food chain on Twitter last
month how many retweets it would take for him to get free nug-
gets for a year. Wendy's replied, "18 million."
Wilkerson's screenshot of the exchange has moved past Ellen
DeGeneres' viral tweet from the 2014 Oscars on Tuesday with
more than 3.4 million retweets. Twitter confirmed the record to
The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy's says Wilkerson has earned the
nuggets despite not hitting the 18 million mark.
Wilkerson appeared on DeGeneres' show last month. She
gave him a year's worth of Ellen-branded underwear and a televi-
sion, but threatened to take the gifts back if he passed her.
AP Photo/Michael Dwyer
A Wendy’s restaurant in Providence, R.I. A Twitter plea
from a Nevada teen for a year free chicken nuggets from
Wendy’s became the most retweeted tweet of all time.
Australia warns travelers to not
bring in hitchhiking toads
Sam the missing python slithers
back to Alaska home
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A 17-foot python that had caused
concern in a community north of Anchorage, Alaska, since it
went missing two weeks ago has returned home.
Matanuska-Susitna Borough Animal Care reports that Sam
slithered back into view Monday in the living room of its owners'
home in the town of Meadow Lakes.
Sam had attracted international media attention after it went
missing 14 days ago.
One of its owners tells the borough's Animal Care department
that Sam was fed a 25-pound rabbit before it disappeared.
Animal Care Officer Darla Erskine reported that the owner
did not know where Sam had been hiding.
There are no wild snakes in most of Alaska.
Norway reverse 40-year-old
prohibition on reptiles as pets
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The Norwegian government
has reversed a 40-year-old ban to allow 19 kinds of reptiles to be
held as pets.
Norway's Agriculture and Food Ministry which also han-
dles laws concerning domestic animals published a list Thurs-
day allowing nine species of snakes, seven kinds of lizards and
three types of turtles as of Aug. 15. Amphibians are still not legal
in Norway.
According to Norwegian Web-based news site Nettavisen,
the Norwegian Food Safety Authority estimates there are about
100,000 illegal reptiles and it was difficult to enforce such a ban.
Iceland is the only other Nordic country banning these animals,
Netavisen said.
DANVILLE, Ind. — Some daring deer approached a group of
hunters in central Indiana and one was so unafraid that it licked the
barrel of a shotgun and allowed one of the men to stroke its neck.
Perhaps they knew the men were hoping to bag a turkey?
Leon Champine says the young animals didn’t have their
mother with them “to teach them what is dangerous.”
Champine, of Indianapolis, told WXIN-TV that he and his
friends encountered the inquisitive animals over the weekend in
Hendricks County.
One of the men, Corey Cook, recorded video showing the
deer wandering toward the camouflaged men who are hidden in
the undergrowth. The video shows one nuzzling the barrel of a
gun in the waning afternoon sunlight.
Champine calls it a “once in a lifetime encounter.”
Darla Erskine/Matanuska-Susitna Borough Animal Shelter
A 17-foot python north of Anchorage, Alaska that had
caused concern in a community since it went missing two
weeks ago has returned home Monday.
CANBERRA, Australia — Australian quarantine authorities
on Thursday urged travelers through Asia to avoid bringing in
hitchhiking amphibians after a passenger arrived at an airport
with a dead Indonesian toad in his shoe.
The Department of Agriculture of Water Resources warned
travelers to check their luggage and other belongings for biohaz-
ards after toads from Thailand and Indonesia were found recently
at three Australian airports. Authorities are confident that all the
passengers were unaware they were carrying toads and were not
smuggling wildlife.
The department's head of biosecurity Lyn O'Connor said a
sniffer dog reacted to a shoe that an Australian was wearing as he
arrived at Cairns Airport in northeast Australia.
The black-spined toad found by a biosecurity officer inside the
shoe had only recently died and was probably alive when the pas-
senger put the shoe on in Indonesia, O'Connor said in a statement.
A live banded bullfrog was found in a passenger's shoe at
Perth Airport on Australia's west coast after a flight from Thai-
land, the department said. Officials could not immediately say
on Thursday whether the passenger was wearing the shoe or had
packed it in luggage.
A live black-spined toad arrived on a flight from Thailand at
Melbourne Airport in southeast Australia where it was found in a
woman's luggage, the department said.
The black-spined toad could significantly damage the Aus-
tralian environment and could carry exotic parasites or disease,
O'Connor said.
Australia has some of the world's toughest quarantine regula-
tions in a bid to keep pests and diseases from infiltrating its iso-
lated borders and destroying the country's unique wildlife. The
strict quarantine policies captured global attention in 2015, when
Johnny Depp and his then-wife, Amber Heard, were charged with
illegally bringing their pet Yorkshire terriers into Australia, where
Depp was working on a movie.
Mormon church pulls older teens out of Boy Scouts
By BRADY MCCOMBS
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — The
Mormon church, the biggest
sponsor of Boy Scout troops in
the United States, announced
Thursday it is pulling as many
as 185,000 older youngsters
from the organization as part
of an effort to start its own
scouting-like program.
The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints said the
move wasn’t triggered by the
Boy Scouts of America’s deci-
sion in 2015 to allow gay troop
leaders, since Mormon-spon-
sored troops have remained
free to operate according to
their religious teachings.
Instead, the church said it
wanted a new, simplified pro-
gram more closely tailored to
Mormon teenagers.
Boys ages 14 to 18 will
no longer participate in Boy
Scouts starting next year,
according to the church. The
Boy Scouts said the deci-
sion will affect 130,000 teens;
the church put the number at
185,000.
About 280,000 Mormon
boys ages 8 to 13 will remain
in the Scouts while the church
continues to develop its own
program, the Mormons said.
The Boy Scouts put the num-
ber at 330,000.
The loss is only a frac-
tion of the 2.3 million youths
in the Boy Scouts of Amer-
ica, but the organization has
been grappling with declin-
ing membership for years and
has enjoyed an unusually close
bond with the Mormon church
for more than a century.
Joining the Boy Scouts is
practically automatic among
Mormon boys, with the church
covering the cost of troops for
congregations and strongly
encouraging participation.
Boy Scouts of Amer-
ica spokeswoman Effie Deli-
markos said the organization
is saddened by the decision
but understands the church’s
desire to customize a program.
For years, the church has
been working to create a scout-
ing-like program it could use
around the world, since more
than half of its nearly 16 mil-
lion members are outside the
United States. Scouting is
available only in the U.S. and
Canada.
The church did not pro-
vide a timeline for the rollout
of the program for younger age
groups.
Like other conservative
religions, the Mormon church
opposes gay marriage and
teaches that being in a homo-
sexual relationship is a sin.
The church initially said it was
“deeply troubled” by the Boy
Scouts’ policy change on gays
but stayed with the organiza-
tion after receiving assurances
it could appoint troop leaders
according to its own religious
and moral values.
Despite worries that that
policy change would cause
Boy Scouts membership to dip
even further, the organization
reported a strong 2016, with
the number of Scouts close to
stabilizing after a prolonged
decline. The vast majority of
units affiliated with conserva-
tive religious denominations
have remained in the fold, still
free to exclude gay adults.
In a statement, the church
said that the Scouts’ programs
for teenagers 14 to 18 have
historically been difficult to
implement with the religion,
and that the new program will
be tailored to foster Mormon
teenagers’ “spiritual, social,
physical and intellectual”
development.
Mormon teenagers who
want to continue working
toward the Eagle Scout rank
will be able to that on their
own while also participating
in the new program, said
church
spokesman
Eric
Hawkins.
HAPPY NURSES DAY!
Thank you to our heroes in scrubs
‘It takes up the whole river!’
US ports greet
giant cargo ship
Associated Press
SAVANNAH, Ga. — The
largest cargo ship ever to visit
ports on the U.S. East Coast is
so long the Statue of Liberty
and Washington Monument
could fit end-to-end along its
deck and still leave room for
Big Ben.
The COSCO Develop-
ment arrived Thursday at the
Port of Savannah after cruising
past dozens of onlookers who
cheered and took photos of the
1,200-foot (366-meter) vessel
from Savannah’s downtown
riverfront.
Former ship’s officer
Andrew Evans exclaimed to
his wife: “It takes up the whole
river!”
The giant ship stopped in
Norfolk, Virginia, earlier this
week. From Savannah, it’s
heading to Charleston, South
Carolina, before returning to
Hong Kong.
National Nurses Day is May 12.
Join us in thanking our nursing professionals
for their dedication and compassion.
The nursing profession has changed tremendously over the past few
decades. Nurses now work in a high touch and high tech environment.
To keep up with the rapid pace of change, CMH’s nurses learn new
techniques and refresh existing skills throughout the year.
We are proud of the quality and professionalism of our nursing caregivers.
Thank you to all of our direct caregivers for the compassion you show to
our patients.
Steve Bisson/Savannah Morning News
The container ship COSCO Development is guided under the
Talmadge Bridge Thursday morning in Savannah, Ga, as the
vessel sails up the Savannah River to the Port of Savannah.
It comes as Savannah
and other U.S. ports
scramble to deepen their har-
bors so such large ships can
pass with full loads even at
low tide.
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