Why Meadow can lark
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. | Meadow the yearling Black Angus calf spends her days frolicking in northeastern New Mexico’s cattle country with her prosthetic hind legs.
The bucolic scene seemed impossible just a few months ago when rancher Nancy Dickenson and her stepdaughter, Martha, found Meadow on a neighbor’s property. The 11-month-old calf had lost her back hooves and half of her ears to severe frostbite.
The Dickensons found the calf’s owner, bought Meadow and persuaded veterinarians and students at Colorado State University to help her.
Doctors amputated a portion of Meadow’s hind legs in August and fitted her with the prosthetics, a rare procedure done on livestock typically destined for the food supply. Meadow is thought to be the first bovine calf fitted with double prosthetics.
Please leaf a message
ASPEN, Colo. | A man found his missing cell phone at a trash dump after dialing the number and listening for the ring.
Billy Boyd said he dropped the phone recently while raking his yard and unknowingly scooped it into a bag of leaves.
He said he didn’t realize his mistake until after he left the leaves at a city recycling center.
Boyd said he could hear the phone ringing but couldn’t reach it because of a grate across the recycling bin. By the time he reached city officials, the bin had been emptied onto a massive leaf pile at the dump.
After a half hour of dialing, listening and sifting at the dump, Boyd found his phone.
Dressed for the part
OXFORD, Ohio | A man dressed as a Breathalyzer test for Halloween found himself blowing into one after police stopped him for allegedly driving the wrong way without headlights on a one-way street.
Police say they stopped James P. Miller, 20, on Halloween night and found beer in his front seat and in the trunk.
Police say Miller had a 0.158 percent blood alcohol level on a Breathalyzer test. The legal limit for driving is 0.08.
Time’s up
KISSIMMEE, Fla. | A thief with a peculiar penchant for Rolex watches faces up to 25 years in prison.
Leonardo Perez, 36, pleaded guilty to charges he stole eight gold Rolex presidential edition watches, each worth $50,000, over four months in 2007. The thefts began just after Perez finished a 17-year sentence for stealing Rolexes in South Florida.
The Miami native is so loyal he has the Rolex logo tattooed on a forearm. Investigators say he’s been able to glimpse and follow drivers wearing the watch from the other side of the road.
Sculpted in what?
WELLINGTON, New Zealand | A sculpture of a government minister crafted from cow manure sold for $2,220 on an auction Web site.
The bust of New Zealand Environment Minister Nick Smith, sculpted as a protest by artist Sam Mahon, attracted 112 bids before being picked up by an anonymous buyer Friday.
Mahon said he created the sculpture, and chose the medium, to protest what he considers Smith’s too-soft stance on pollution created by dairy farms. He said the bust did not smell and would last forever.
Adding to the problem
VALLEJO, Calif. | The California Highway Patrol said a man stole a car to make a court appearance on a previous auto theft charge.
Highway Patrol investigator Chris Linehan said he arrested Samuel Botchvaroff, 24, last week as he sat inside a stolen 2000 Range Rover at the Vallejo courthouse. Botchvaroff had just left his arraignment on auto theft charges stemming from an Oct. 31 arrest.
Authorities say Botchvaroff told officers his car had been impounded and he had no other way to get to his arraignment.
| Star news services
@Nyx.CommentBody@