By: David Matthews
Right out of a movie
Now that the Oscar-winning film “Brokeback Mountain” has made sensitive cowboys hip again, why not let all of your friends know just how sensitive you are by driving around town in a pick-up truck used in the film?
Bidders on eBay had the chance to do just that recently when Canadian high school student Matthew Kennedy auctioned off a 1950 GMC half-ton truck from the movie. Kennedy bought the truck from the film’s producers last year just after filming completed because he liked the way it looked.
Unbeknownst to him, his new truck would be featured prominently in “Brokeback.” Once the film began garnering critical praise and award nominations, Kennedy thought that selling the famous prop just might pay his way through college.
He decided to put the truck up for auction on eBay with a starting price of $8,000. By the time bidding finished, the truck sold for $60,100.
Kennedy’s family said that one of the first classes he’ll be signing up for at college will be on capital gains.
Bewildering Blvd.
When police were called to a Casco Township, Mich., neighborhood recently, residents discovered the potential problems associated with having a misspelled street sign.
Police were called to check out a suspicious car and told it was located on “Lubahn” Road. When they arrived on the scene, they found the name on the street sign read “Lubuhn” Road, so they kept searching. Eventually the officers realized they were right the first time and that the spelling on the sign was just horribly mangled.
An investigation found that the road is named after Civil War veteran Christian Lubahn. In the late 1970s when maps were redrawn, the name was accidentally butchered beyond recognition into “Lubuhn,” which, of course, is not the name of any Civil War veteran, but rather an open-water, pelagic, schooling fish found in the Pacific Northwest. This resulted in the indecipherable street signs.
Police are now investigating what sort of technology the post office and pizza delivery men use to prevent such confusion.
Towed truck
If your vehicle has ever been towed, you’ve probably fantasized about marching down to the impound lot with a gun to get it back. In Savannah, Ga., last month, that dream became a stubborn reality.
It all started when 64-year-old Floyd Goldwire was spotted by police officers walking through busy rush-hour traffic with a loaded rifle. Officers approached Goldwire with their guns drawn and asked him to put down his rifle. Goldwire refused, explaining that he was upset about his truck being towed and was on his way to take it back. Police were finally able to make Goldwire listen to reason when a SWAT team member brought out a shotgun loaded with nonlethal beanbags.
Once he had time to cool down, Goldwire explained to officers why he got so upset about his truck being towed. He said that he was fed up with his friends’ questioning his masculinity whenever he drove his wife’s pink Volkswagen Beetle, so he had just purchased this GMC truck from some Canadian kid off eBay for $60,100.
