Whistle in Dixie

“I just try to stay moist.”

John Ruggieri, Competitor in the International Whistling Convention

Photo by Steven Depolo (Creative Commons)

Pucker up and blow.

There aren’t many places where you can say that and not get slapped, or seduced. But you’re safe in Louisburg, North Carolina (population 3,699) this weekend. That’s because that’s where the International Whistling Convention is being held, and there’s a whole lot of puckering and blowing going on.

In its 39th year, the Whistling Convention attracts over five dozen competitors from 20 states and five countries. The whistling warblers range in age from elementary school to over 90. And their musical selections are just as wide ranging. One guy has mastered Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” and another whistles a happy tune while performing magic tricks.

The get-together in Louisburg isn’t the biggest whistling convention in the world, or the oldest. But it is a sentimental favorite. Because what better place than a charming Southern town to whistle in Dixie?

To put a tune in your heart and a smile on your face, here’s a little whistling wonder from Japan:

Whistling Wonder

 

Read more → Allen G. Breed, Whistlers pucker up and blow into town, WTNH.com, April 19, 2012.

Grown-Up Gators

“Now they’ve grown and they’re not cute anymore.”

Humane Department officer Tina Petix

Photo by Tim Pearce (Creative Commons)

Any Harry Potter fans out there? Remember when Hagrid hatched a baby dragonette and it quickly grew into a full-size, fire-breathing dragon with a nasty disposition?

Except for the fire-breathing part, folks in Kennett, Missouri (population 10,547) are living the story. But it’s not so funny in real life.

Fourteen months ago, a guy set up a clandestine pet shop out of a trailer in a parking lot and sold 50 baby alligators. Humane Department officer Tina Petix says that although the alligators were “cute” when they were the size of a pencil, they’re not so cuddly when they’re three feet long with big teeth, big appetites and bad attitudes. That’s why they’re illegal in Kennett.

Struggling to get the growing gator problem under control, Ms. Petix is offering an alligator amnesty to anyone willing to turn in their pets—no questions, no penalty. But so far only three alligators have been turned in.

Forty-seven to go.

Read more → Jim Salter, Grown-up gators a challenge for Missouri town, Business Week, April 6, 2012.

Quiet Life in a Small Town

“The adventure is over.”

Don Sammons, Buford, Wyoming

Photo by Mark Brennan (Creative Commons)

It’s a small world. Especially for a man living alone in a small town in Wyoming.

Don Sammons moved to Buford, Wyoming in 1980. The day he drove into town in his Lincoln Continental, old-timers said he wouldn’t last six months. They were wrong. Mr. Sammons outlasted them all, bought the town and lives there today as its one and only resident.

But one is a lonely number, and Mr. Sammons decided to sell his beloved Buford so he could move closer to his son in Colorado. What had been a quiet life in a small town up until that point suddenly became big news around the world.

The story of Mr. Sammons and his one-man town was told in 84 countries. On day the town was auctioned, Mr. Sammons received offers from buyers in 46 countries. He sold to the highest bidder for $900,000. It was all over in 11 minutes.

The new owner is a man from Vietnam. When asked why he wanted to buy Buford, the man said he wanted the American dream: live a quiet life in a small town.

Read more:

■ Lauren Williams, Seller of tiny town tells his tale, Daily Pilot, April 14, 2012.

■ Wyoming town with 1 resident sold to private bidder for $900,000, 680News.com, April 9, 2012.

Case Cracker

“I have no idea.”

Bob Bridges, Selectman and mystery buff

Photo by Jenny Lee Silver (Creative Commons)

Here’s one for the mystery buffs. Last week officials in Milton, New Hampshire (population 4,633) cracked the case of the long-locked safe.

For generations the safe has been tucked away in Milton’s old “townhouse,” an 1815 church turned meeting hall. The safe’s contents and combination were long forgotten, and anyone who might’ve known them, long gone. Bowing to curiosity, officials called in a safecracker to unlock both mysteries.

History buffs hoped the safe held the town’s long-lost, gold-tipped Boston Post Cane, given in the past to the oldest resident. Restoration buffs hoped it held a pot of gold, desperately needed to restore Milton’s beloved townhouse.

Alas, when the safe was opened it held neither gold-tipped cane nor pot of gold. What it did hold was a treasure trove of historic city documents dating back to 1858.

Mystery solved. But city officials are still curious. Now that they know what’s inside the safe, they want to know how the safe got inside the townhouse. It’s too big for the doors and windows—they checked. Looks like they’ve moved on to next mystery: the case of the oversize safe in the too tight townhouse.

Read more → Safecracker brought in to open NH town’s vintage safe that had been locked for decades, Washington Post, April 14, 2012.

Wrong Number

“It’s just kind of a thing of the past.”

K & M Telephone Co.

Photo by Daniel R. Blum (Creative Commons)

What next? Small towns across the country are losing their schools, their churches and their grocery stores, and now in Chambers, Nebraska (population 287), the phone company wants to pull the plug on the town’s one and only pay phone.

It’s not personal, says the phone company. It’s a dollars and sense decision. Last year the pay phone in Chambers brought in only a little over 3 dollars, so it makes sense to discontinue service, especially considering it cost the phone company 700 dollars a year to maintain the darn thing.

But not so fast. There’s a rule in Nebraska that requires at least one pay phone in every community across the state. The rule hearkens back to the day before cell phones, and the phone company says it’s outdated. That’s a valid point, seeing as how over two-thirds of the phone numbers in Nebraska are cell numbers.

The phone company hopes the Public Service Commission dials in on a decision soon. Because there’s one thing landline phone companies and pay phones have in common: both are struggling to avoid becoming a “thing of the past.”

Read more → Peter Salter, Company wants to pull small town pay phones, Lincoln Star Journal, April 7, 2012.

Unbeatable Blotter

“Petite piles of poo prompted protests to police.”

Item in the Dutch Harbor Telegraph Police Blotter

In the unlikely town of Unalaska, Alaska (population 3,580), there lives an unassuming police officer who has the unenviable task of writing typically uninteresting police reports for the town newspaper. But this officer has an unusual way with words, and the uncommon stories she tells have become an unrivaled favorite feature in the paper each week.

Police Sergeant Jennifer Shockley has been writing the police blotter for the Dutch Harbor Telegraph for six years. When she patrols the town, also known as Dutch Harbor (of Deadliest Catch fame), she’s not only thinking law and order. She’s thinking laughs and disorder.

In Ms. Shockley’s blotter, public intoxication suspects become “extremely intoxicated and giggling louts” and a routine animal complaint turns into a protest about “petite piles of poo.”

Readers like it. On the days the blotter’s published, the newspaper’s website enjoys a huge spike in visitors. All looking for the unbeatable blotter from Unalaska, Alaska.

Read more → Alexandra Gutierrez, Small town's police blotter is a riot, NPR, April 7, 2012.