NEW YORK – “Leaving Brooklyn? ‘Oy vey!’”
That’s what motorists now see as they cross the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan.
The huge sign, affixed to a beam of the bridge high above the bustling traffic, is a sweet victory for Marty Markowitz, president of the borough that is home to a large Jewish population.
Oy vey, Markowitz said, is a Jewish expression of dismay or hurt.
“The beauty is, every ethnic group knows it,” he said, and motorists who see it know it means, “Dear me, I’m so sad you’re leaving.”
When Markowitz first approached the Department of Transportation about the sign in January 2004, he was rebuffed because the agency felt it would distract drivers.
The department finally allowed the sign to go up two weeks ago, Markowitz said Wednesday.
Missing patient found in ambulance with dead deer
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man reported missing from a Florida hospital was found in North Carolina dressed like a doctor and driving a stolen ambulance with a dead deer wedged in the back, authorities said.
Leon Holliman Jr., 37, was reported missing from a River Region Human Services facility in Jacksonville in September.
The North Carolina State Highway Patrol found him driving the ambulance with the deer on Sunday.
“I don’t know how the man got it up in there,” said Sgt. Robert Pearson. “It was a six-point buck.”
It wasn’t known where Holliman got the deer, which had been dead for some time, Pearson said.
Holliman was admitted to a North Carolina hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. Police said they will decide whether to charge Holliman once that evaluation is completed.
More than century old sewer pipe to be fixed
SAN JOSE, Calif. – It’s no longer going to smell like ammonia and rotten eggs on one suburban street.
The area’s main sewage line – a handmade brick pipe – was installed in the late 1890s, before Teddy Roosevelt was president. It’s been collecting sewage and stench ever since.
“Sometimes, it’s just overwhelming,” accountant Nikki Warner said. “Sometimes you go outside and, ugh.”
Residents soon will be able to breath easier with the recent installation of reinforced concrete pipes. Filters also have been installed to move air out of the sewers and disperse the odor.
Within a short time, the area will no longer be, as Warner calls it, “the most smelly street in San Jose.”
Colonoscopes overseas value likely cause of theft
PITTSBURGH – Apparently, there’s a big market out there for used colonoscopes.
Four of the devices used to examine the human colon were lifted from a local hospital, at a cost of nearly $104,000. Authorities say the theft is likely driven by a large overseas market for the devices.
“If you go on the Web and type in ‘used endoscopes’ or ‘used colonoscopes,’ you’ll find dozens of suppliers selling used equipment,” said State College police Detective Ralph Ralston. “It’s kind of bizarre.”
State police are investigating last weekend’s theft from Armstrong County Memorial Hospital in East Franklin Township, about 35 miles north of Pittsburgh.
“We’re mystified by it ourselves,” said Bud Mitchell, the hospital’s director of facilities management.
State police said they have no leads.
From Herald news services
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