Strange But True

It seems the bear gorged itself on the remnants of fermented fruit, part of the debris dumped on the country property of Bill Arkush, formerly doing business as Glacier Valley Brandy, officials said Tuesday.

Arkush said he arrived home Monday evening to find a pile of debris, equipment and barrels at the entrance to his driveway.

"Two of the barrels were turned upside down and whatever was inside them was spread all over the place. And it smelled bad, with a capital B," he said.

He also recognized some air conditioning equipment that came from the building that had housed his bankrupt brewery.

The building's landlord, Russ Olson, said it was Arkush's stuff and "we delivered it to him. The mistake that we made was that when we took them out of the truck we tipped over some of the barrels."

Arkush called the sheriff's office, which dispatched the county's Office of Emergency Services to manage the stinky contents of the barrels, including possible animal waste and fermented fruit.

County officials decided to wait until Tuesday to remove the barrels. That's when the grizzly bear showed up.

Before finding the fermented waste, officials said the bear tore a door off a neighbor's chicken coop and rabbit hutch and tried to get into a building containing grain.

"The noise of the dogs woke me up," Arkush said, and one of his neighbors saw the bear.

Tim Manley, a bear expert with the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, set a baited culvert trap for the bear.

Poorly dressed robber

COLLIERVILLE, Tenn. - A mustached man donning a green sun dress made off with $4,000 from a bank, but he didn't make the best-dressed list.

Witnesses say the bank robber could have used a little fashion help.

But his girlie get-up helped him get away.

Police were searching Tuesday for the man who robbed a bank while wearing a woman's wig and dress.

"It was a leaf design, but muted," a woman who witnessed the holdup said of the robber's frock.

"He looked a mess," said another witness.

The witnesses said the robber was obviously male, given away by his muscular legs - and the mustache.

Police Capt. Tommy McCaskill said the robber threatened a teller at a branch bank in a Kroger store in this Memphis suburb but did not show a weapon. No one was hurt.

As the robber fled, he tried to cover the mustache with one hand while grasping what police said was $4,000 in the other.