[Leonardo Mystic]

Is That a Crowbar in Your Pants?


SWEETWATER, Tenn. (AP) — A woman has been charged with possession of burglary tools after police said a crowbar slipped out of her pants as she was lurking around a church.

McMinn County Sheriff's Deputy Rick Shadrick pulled into the church parking lot early Saturday morning after he spotted a car parked near the building.

He found Jennifer Hunt, 35, walking from behind the building, where she said she was going to bathroom. When she was walking to her car to get her ID, a crowbar dropped from her pants

The officer also found Hunt had a screwdriver and observed pry marks on church doors. Hunt was being held on $2,000 bond pending a Tuesday arraignment.



Rescue Group: Please Adopt Donkeys


ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — Instead of finding homes for abandoned dogs or cats, one animal rescue group is asking Minnesotans to adopt donkeys. Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue has more than 1,000 donkeys, including abused and neglected domestic donkeys and wild burros.

Most of the organization's adopted donkeys are kept at sanctuaries in western states such as California. But Peaceful Valley would like to find Midwest landowners willing to serve as satellite adoption centers, meaning they would agree to foster six donkeys at a time and find adoptive homes for them, said Vice President Rachael Komulainen, a Bemidji native.

Peaceful Valley also hopes to eventually get landowners to donate land for a Midwest sanctuary, Komulainen said.

The landowners provide fencing, shelter and care for the animals and are reimbursed for hay, vaccinations and other costs.

Komulainen said some people question whether donkeys really need to be rescued.

"Our society — we have really looked down upon the donkey, and it's really a shame," Komulainen said, adding that donkeys have little monetary value and are often neglected.

Donkeys are gentle, intelligent, social animals and don't deserve their reputation for stubbornness, she said.



Ribbit! This Green Isn't Part of Salad


NEW YORK (AP) — You just don't want to eat some greens. That's how a Brooklyn mom felt when she found a tiny frog comfortably nestled in the leaves of organic lettuce she was preparing to eat.

"I jumped away," said 39-year-old Yvonne Brechbuhler, who described the green critter as no bigger than the tip of her pinky finger.

"I didn't know what it was. But once I realized it was a frog, I was OK," she told the Daily News in Thursday editions.

Intrigued, she named the frog "Curious."

Brechbuhler, a stage actress, said she bought the lettuce at her local food co-op and kept it in the refrigerator three days before using it last week.

Brechbuhler and her 7-year-old daughter, Orla, placed the frog in a jar on a bed of lettuce leaves and water, and fed it fruit flies they collected at a nearby garden. Afterward, they decided Curious would be happier at an animal facility specializing in reptiles and amphibians. The facility, Sean Casey Animal Rescue, has put it up for adoption.

An employee at the food co-op said it was the first such incident in memory.




Chocolate Room Heralds Valentine's Day

NEW YORK (AP) — Don't lick the walls. An all-chocolate room was unveiled in Manhattan on Tuesday — a pre-Valentine's Day creation complete with furniture and artwork made of the sweet stuff.

"It's the perfect bit of sin," said Ali Larter, star of TV's "Heroes," of the Godiva chocolate "pearls" that are her private daily indulgence.

Here, they were dripping off the chandeliers above the dining table, which was a sea of stars, truffles and crescents — all chocolate, of course, under glass.

Larter is the celebrity face hired by the Belgian chocolatier for its annual Valentine's Day promotion contest. This year, anyone who buys the winning box of chocolates — for $23 and up — may win the chocolate room. It is to be re-created in a suite of Manhattan's Bryant Park Hotel for a pampered getaway weekend for two in May.

The winning box — sold only in North America — will contain a note informing the buyer of his or her good luck.

While no doubt a shameless commercial promotion — created by Los Angeles designer Larry Abel — the demo chocolate room set up on the sixth floor of an East Village building packed a tasteful, artsy punch.

Hanging in the "living room" was a painting built entirely of multicolored chocolate pieces inspired by Gustav Klimt's painting "The Kiss." Above the dining table was a "canvas" dripping with brown and white chocolate — a takeoff on Jackson Pollock's signature "drip" paintings.

And instead of words, books opened to a mound of chocolates.

You could actually sit on the plush sofa, which was chocolate-graced only on its sides, and the walls are made of chocolate.

There were a couple of "dont's" in the room: lighting the fireplace (with its chocolate logs and mantle) and the candles (all chocolate).

In addition, sinking into the easy chairs was discouraged — unless you wanted to rise with a chocolate-covered derriere.