ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Someone has told the city of Anchorage what it can do with its cease-and-desist order to prevent Snowzilla — the giant snowman — from rising up again this winter in an east Anchorage neighborhood.
Snowzilla — thought to be no more — is yet again. Someone again built the giant snowman in Billy Powers' front yard. Snowzilla reappeared overnight.
Powers is not taking credit. When questioned Tuesday afternoon, he said Snowzilla just somehow happened, again.
However, he will tell you what Snowzilla means to him, a father of seven, and the children in the neighborhood.
"The snowman is about having all these kids, a lot of kids with big smiles on their faces," he said reached by telephone at his home, the sound of excited children in the background.
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Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Grinch that Stole a Family Christmas
A CRUEL thief who broke into a Woree family's home and stole all their Christmas presents left three children Brooke, Tyreece and Skye Thompson were heartbroken to find all their presents gone.Kate Baker came home from Christmas party with friends about 10pm on Sunday to find her children and young grandchildren sobbing and inconsolable over the mean-spirited crime.
The shock triggered a heart attack that led to the single mother being rushed to Cairns Base Hospital that night, before being released yesterday afternoon.
Just three days out from Christmas, the family now has to come up with the cash to buy all the presents again.
Ms Baker said although the total value of about 10 stolen gifts would have been about $1000 … including a gold watch with a dragon on the face, a fairy statue and two gift packs of Hilary Duff perfume … it was the fact someone could commit such a low act on her family that hurt the most.
"It’s not how much it cost me, even though I’m a single parent and work six days a week so I work pretty hard for it," Ms Baker said.
"It’s the fact that my three little grandkids have been adding to the pile each day, getting more excited every day and counting down the sleeps.
"Then to walk in and see it all gone, to see their little faces, it’s not fair.
"Who would do that?"
The presents were stolen when Ms Baker’s son Odin, 15, popped next door to his older sister Nicole Ryan’s house for dinner about 9.20pm for 20 minutes, leaving the house unoccupied but forgetting to lock the front door.
The teen yesterday said he kept thinking about what he would have done if he’d returned in time to catch the thieves.
"I wish I had. I would have done whatever it took to stop them," he said.
The family reported the thefts to police and door-knocked their Toogood Rd neighbors on Sunday night, but said so far nobody had reported seeing the thieves.
A small consolation came when the largest of the Christmas parcels, containing a battery-operated children’s car, was found in a rubbish bin across the road where it had obviously been discarded.
Other Christmas gifts that were not theirs were also found in the bin.
"It seems somewhere along the line they’ve done the same thing to a couple of other houses," Ms Baker said.
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Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Driver banned for having a untidy car
Police have banned a woman’s car from the road - for being too untidy.The Vauxhall Astra was so full of junk, magazines, old clothes and even bits of furniture that they could barely see the driver at it roared down a motorway in Dusseldorf, Germany.
The driver - who has not been named by police - has been banned from taking the car on the road again until it has passed a tidiness test.
Police said the car was so full of junk the woman's face was pressed up against the front window as she drove.
"I'm sure this will make most people feel a lot better about leaving the odd sweet wrapper lying around in their car," joked one police source.
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What's up Doc?
Meet Vincent the rabbit born without ears.For a moment teenager John Haig thought a guinea pig had found its way into his family of young rabbits.
One of the young animals that came bouncing out of a hutch with the rest of the brood was lacking something - a pair of ears.
But the little creature was indeed a rabbit, otherwise healthy and part of a family of ten brothers and sisters.
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The cutest bunny I have ever seen.
Parents of nine girls finally have a son
Mother of nine girls, Sally Laycock of Welwyn Garden City, Herts, has the Christmas present she's always wanted - a baby boy. Mrs Laycock, 34, finally gave birth to tiny Lewis after her husband John quit his job as a chef after 20 years. After nine girls in a row, the couple had resigned themselves to being a totally female household.Mrs Laycock, 34, finally gave birth to tiny Lewis after her husband John quit his job as a chef after 20 years.
After nine girls in a row, the couple had resigned themselves to being a totally female household.
But as soon as John, 37, retired after two decades in hot kitchens, delighted Mrs Laycock fell pregnant with a boy.
"I'm so excited to have a boy at last," said Sally, who has been pregnant for ten of the last 17 years."
She said that she had been told that the hot conditions in which Mr Laycock used to work could have been to blame for the couple's failure to give birth to a boy.
However, she did not believe temperature had played a part until he gave up work and she became pregnant with a boy.
Mr Laycock, of Welwyn Garden City, Herts, said: "I had to give up my job because I had two heart attacks in the space of six months and couldn't work.
"It was a hard time for us, as we're such a big family.
"But it's finally brought us a boy. We're all so excited."
The family of 12 are having an extra-special Christmas to celebrate, despite the worry of having another hungry mouth to feed.
Family and friends are buying plenty of boy's toys as presents after years of stocking up on dolls, clothes and make-up.
Baby Lewis was born a healthy 7lb 12oz on December 9.
The family are coming to terms with having a boy in the already busy household.
Mr Laycock said: "We've got a bit of planning to do because we've only got four bedrooms.
"Now we have a boy it's going to be difficult.
"I've even started building a shed in the garden to make extra space for the older girls."
The couple cope with their brood, aged two to 17, by running a military like operation each morning and bedtime, with the oldest girls helping the younger ones.
Each week they run up a £200 shopping bill and get through two loaves of bread just for breakfast.
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City code officer slays Snowzilla
Giant snowman deemed a public nuisance, safety hazard. Anchorage's famous giant snow man, Snowzilla, finally met its match.It wasn't the weather. It wasn't angry neighbors bearing shovels and pick axes.
It turns out Snowzilla's biggest foe -- the one who felled the controversial but much-loved giant -- was notice by the city code enforcement officer.
That's right, Snowzilla was abated.
It was just a few years ago that 16-foot-tall Snowzilla arose in a residential yard in Airport Heights, launching an annual of local and international media blitz.
Billy Powers, posing with his 16-foot snowman, was served a cease-and-desist order. Under the city’s nuisance abatement order, if he tries tobuild another snowman, he could get arrested.
Snowzilla Slideshow
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Monday, December 22, 2008
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