Small Town Misfit

Appleton, WI
Theft from yard: An Appleton man told police that six lawn imps or gnomes, valued together at $160, were stolen from his backyard in the 200 block of N. Locust Street between Sunday afternoon and Tuesday morning. Police said another Appleton resident reported the theft of five gnomes on Sunday.

Found in the Appleton Post-Crescent

Grass Valley, CA
At 12:55 a.m., a caller from a bar on Neal Street reported a man standing at the intersection of Mill and Neal streets was threatening to fight. He said he was an Ultimate Fighting Championship champion. His had been kicked out of the bar, and another bar would not let him in. Police located the 22-year-old man and arrested him on warrants.

Found in the Union

Durango, CO
11:08 a.m. A man on Westwood Place said his girlfriend was beating a miniature Chihuahua with a spatula.

Found in the Durango Herald

Cleveland, OH
A handgun was reportedly used in a robbery May 4 on Oak Park Avenue. Stolen was a carry-all bag valued at $30, a credit card, $1,500 in cash and a wedding ring with a listed value of $3.

Found in the Sun News

Columbia, SC
A man in his 60s reported on May 5 that someone had dumped about 100 used tires on his property. No evidence was found on the scene.

Found in the Free Times

New Richmond, OH
For 12 years, Big Bad Bob rode through parades in Greater Cincinnati and passed through New Richmond streets, towering over proceedings from the back of a green pickup truck.

Bob wasn’t just a fiberglass mascot, but an icon.

But on Thursday, the mascot was no longer home on his range. Bob was gone.

Towering seven feet tall, weighing about 350 pounds, Big Bad Bob was buffalo-napped sometime between midnight and 8 a.m. from the parking lot of the Rivertown Market IGA store on Old U.S. 52, New Richmond Police said.

Bob belongs to Cindy Cassell and David Uible, who own Vista Grand Ranch, a New Richmond buffalo farm that sells meat to businesses throughout Greater Cincinnati.

When Cassell drove by the parking lot Thursday morning, she discovered Bob was nowhere to be found and the floor boards that nailed her to the truck were pulled out.

“Why would anyone do that? That’s just mean,” she said.

“And how did they even do it? It’s bigger than the truck - it’s humongous.”

Cassell and her husband, Uible, purchased Bob for $800 from an Indiana farmer when they first bought their farm 12 years ago.

Since then, the mascot has been the heart of their business’s marketing and promotion.

“It’s like a hot dog on the back of the hot dog truck. And now it’s gone and we’re really upset about it,” Cassell said.

“We use it quite a bit -we’ve used it in the Reds Parade. It’s our logo.”

Police had no leads Thursday evening but Cassell is hoping the kidnapping was just a high school graduation prank and Bob will be returned soon.

Found in the Cincinnati Enquirer

Thanks Luann!

Rio Grande, NM
12:13 a.m. — A shirtless man was sitting on top of a light pole on Calle Vigil, a caller reported. Police made contact with the man, who denied climbing the pole.

Found in the Rio Grande Sun

Grass Valley, CA
At 2:21 p.m., a woman in the police station lobby reported that, while she was at the post office, someone placed a bumper sticker on her car that read, “My child was inmate of the month at county jail.” The sticker came off.

Found in the Union

Lodi, CA
4:28 a.m.: A live mariachi band was playing in an alley off the 800 block of South Cherokee Lane.

Found in the Lodi News-Sentinel

Brea, OH
A Sandstone Ridge Way woman and her 11-year-old daughter were sitting at the dinner table May 6 when they heard a loud bang that sounded like a gunshot. The two looked out the window and saw two men across the street in the clearing near the woods. The woman and her daughter ran into the basement and called police.

Police discovered several bullet holes in the house. As they walked into the clearing, officers heard another seven or eight gunshots. Police discovered a primitive shooting range near a house on a neighboring street and confronted two young men.

The men admitted to shooting the gun and appeared surprised and concerned when they learned they struck a house in the nearby development.

Found in the News Sun

Frederick, MD
A Baltimore man said a truck driver used slingshot 6:30 p.m. Friday during a road rage incident on I-70 near Md. 27, according to Maryland State Police.

Chandler Denison, 25, told police he was driving west on I-70 in his Subaru when he accidentally cut off Larry Field, 60, of Friendsville. Denison then heard a loud thud against the right side of his car.

Denison wrote down Field’s license plate number and called police Saturday after finding a large dent on the side of his car, Sgt. Bob Calo said. After further investigation, a McHenry trooper was sent to Field’s address Sunday where he was questioned.

Field admitted to driving aggressively Friday and let the trooper search his truck, police said. The trooper found a slingshot, which Field said he used to fling an object at Denison’s car.

Calo said Field will be charged with second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, firing a projectile object from a moving vehicle and destruction of property.

Found in the Frederick News-Post

Rio Grande, NM
9:56 p.m. — A man said someone broke into his vehicle at La Cocina Restaurant and “stole his man purse.” Police filed a report.

Found in the Rio Grande Sun