Bangor, Maine (AP) – Police in Bangor, Maine, are making use of a 1970s progressive rock hit by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band to encourage people to clear the snow off their cars before driving. Sgt. Tim Cotton posted on Facebook on Tuesday that the group’s song “Blinded By The Light” can serve as a reminder of how dangerous it is to drive with vision obscured by snow. He says he thought of re-naming the song “Blinded By The White” to make the point. He says it’s a “crude attempt to connect the rock ‘n’ roll classic to one of our local problems.” Bruce Springsteen originally wrote and recorded “Blinded By The Light” for a 1973 record. Manfred Mann covered it in 1977, and their version was a worldwide hit that became a radio staple.
German man’s front door walled up overnight
Berlin (AP) – Police say a man in western Germany ran into a wall, literally, as he opened his front door to leave the house earlier this week. The man was heading out of his house in Mainhausen, near Frankfurt, on Monday morning but found that unknown perpetrators had – it seems quietly and without attracting anyone’s attention – built a wall in the doorway during the night. He had to tear down the wall to leave. A police statement said the man “must have felt like a Berliner in August 1961,” referring to East Germany’s unannounced sealing of its border with the Berlin Wall. Police spokesman Ingbert Zacharias told news agency dpa late Tuesday that officers don’t know whether a prank, a dare or an act of revenge was behind the wall.
Bison caught on camera charging pack of wolves in Poland
Warsaw, Poland (AP) – A pack of wolves in eastern Poland made a wrong choice of prey when it tried to attack a herd of bison, but was dismally chased away. An online camera installed by state forestry authorities at a clearing in the Bialowieza forest caught the bison standing up for their own and charging the wolves on Wednesday. In the footage, wolves are seen chasing some galloping bison into the clearing. The attackers retreat when more bison appear and engage them, tails raised in warning. Bison are Europe’s largest endangered mammals. Over 1,500 of them live under protection in eastern and southern Poland. Foresters installed the camera at a feeding site to allow the general public to observe bison and other scenes from animal life.
Online:
Bison webcam:
http://www.lasy.gov.pl/informacje/kampanie_i_akcje/zubryonline
Town’s only snowplow driver quits, so residents grab shovels
Parsonsfield, Maine (AP) – Residents of a tiny hamlet knew what they had to do when the only snowplow driver in town quit after a massive storm: They grabbed shovels and got to work. The only plow truck driver for most of Parsonsfield quit after a storm dumped 25 inches of snow on the town on Dec. 30. Local officials described the lack of a plow as an emergency for the southern Maine town of about 1,900. But residents volunteered to help pick up the slack, and the roads were close to fully cleared by Thursday afternoon, Select Board member Tiffany Brendt said. The Maine Department of Transportation, local plowing contractors and residents of neighboring towns also chipped in, she said. An ice storm that arrived after the heavy snow didn’t deter anyone, Brendt said. “People got together in our town and went out, plowed, salted, sanded, pushed back the banks, and went back out after the ice storm to make sure everything was good,” she said. “They just did it.” A spokeswoman for the town said earlier in the day that workers from the nearby town of Cornish also helped get the roads cleared. Roads will be in good enough shape to collect trash and recycling Friday, the town’s website said. The town is also working on a new long-term snowplow contract so it isn’t left without a snowplow driver again, Brendt said.
