Strange but True

READING, Pa. — One registered Republican won’t be able to vote in the next election unless he appears at a Berks County Elections Board to explain the signature on his registration form.

The man is registered as Paul S. Sewell, but his form is signed "God.”

County Solicitor Alan S. Miller said Sewell claims his "God” signature is merely a legal mark like the "X” used by people who are illiterate.

Sewell, 40, said he will be happy to explain. As the owner of a bail enforcement agency, he finds fugitives, he said.

"Whenever I go to arrest somebody, they say, ‘Oh, God, give me another chance. Oh, God, let me go. I’ll turn myself in tomorrow,”’ Sewell said.

He said he thinks his designated mark is legal. "PennDOT accepted it on my driver’s license. I have a credit card with it,” he said. "It shouldn’t be a problem.”

Cell phone acceptence

OMAHA, Neb. — High school students aren’t waiting for the mail each day to find out if they’ve been accepted at Creighton University — they’re looking at their cell phones.

Since November, 700 students — or 44 percent — of those admitted to Creighton have been notified through a text message. The school added the option on application forms last fall.

The university is trying to respond to the needs of its students, said Mary Chase, director of admissions and scholarships at Creighton.

"Students are so interested in having instant information,” she said.

Opting for the text message allows students to know the university’s decision up to a week earlier. She said text messages are sent to students within 24 hours of the admission committee’s decisions, whereas letters can take several days to draft and then arrive in the mail.

Katie Infantine, 17, of San Diego, says she ran to her family members and showed them her acceptance message.

"Text messaging is really popular with my friends,” Infantine said. "So the fact a college would do that is really cool.”

World record cleaning

MANILA, Philippines — Nearly 11,000 school children brushed their teeth at a seaside park in an attempt to break a world record for a simultaneous brush-off, organizers said.

About 10,800 students from eight metropolitan Manila grade schools, guided by 187 dentists, used soft-bristle tooth brushes for nearly three minutes Sunday at the Rizal Park, then playfully tossed red caps into the air.

The mass brush-off, sponsored by a toothpaste company and health and education officials, was an attempt to break the Guinness World record set by

10,240 Chinese students in 2003,

organizers said.

"We also want to make oral cavity prevention relevant to the general public,” said dentist Angel David II.

Tooth decay and poor oral hygiene are prevalent among many young and adult Filipinos, either because of poverty or a lack of awareness of healthy practices, David said.

Hedonism brew

LANCASTER, Pa. — The microbrewery calls it "cutting-edge artwork.”

But a few distributors are refusing to sell a Pennsylvania microbrew called "Hedonism,” or are wrapping the cases they do sell in plain brown paper because of its risque package design: a cartoon image of bare-torsoed characters kissing and caressing.

"I sent it back because of the graphics,” said Bob Dano, who owns Engleside Beverage Mart in Lancaster. "My wife thought it was obscene and so did I.”

Others call the reaction overblown.

"It’s just a cartoon,” said cashier Connie Rutt of Wheatland Beer Distributors in Lancaster. "It shows hedonism. It depicts the name of the product exactly.”

The backlash surprised Reading-based Legacy Brewing Co., which readily reported the controversy on its Web site, http://www.legacybrewing.com, including photographs of a store display with a stack of paper-wrapped cases.<