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Odds & Ends 11/15
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Couple is auctioning off much-wanted tickets for their much-wanted baby
    CANTON, Ohio — With fans scrambling to obtain tickets to Saturday’s Michigan-Ohio State football game, a couple is auctioning off their seats to raise money to adopt a boy from Guatemala.
    Ken and Kristie Sigler have season tickets in the closed end of Ohio Stadium, about 10 rows from the field. They have put the two tickets up for sale on eBay, hoping the payout helps defray the $12,500 cost to begin processing their adoption paperwork.
    They set the minimum bid at $1,000, with an option to purchase the tickets directly for $1,500. No bids had been made as of early Tuesday.
    At first, the couple thought it would be difficult for them to sell the tickets, but with adoption fees mounting — costs total about $30,000, including the paperwork fee — the decision became easier.
    The top-ranked Buckeyes and second-ranked Wolverines are both undefeated, and the winner advances to the national championship game.
    ‘‘It’s just one day, one game, compared to changing this little boy’s life with us,’’ Kristie Sigler said.

Ceramic deer can't stand against the real one 

    OOSTBURG, Wis. — A ceramic deer came out the loser when attacked by the real thing.
    Ruth Hesselink reported that the deer replica in her yard was destroyed in the attack that happened Sunday about 6:45 p.m., according to Capt. Dave Adams of the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department.
    Hesselink told authorities a buck took on its ceramic counterpart.
    A deputy who went to the scene in the town of Holland found ‘‘obvious track marks’’ that supported Hesselink’s account, Adams said Monday.
    Among the damage, the head of the ceramic deer was knocked off.
    When deer are in their fall rutting season, the desire to mate can make bucks more aggressive with other males and less cautious when pursuing does.

Sexual activity while in the air makes couple face charges on the ground 

    RALEIGH, N.C. — A California couple are facing federal charges after allegedly taking membership in the mile-high club a little too seriously.
    Carl Warren Persing, of Lakewood, Calif., and Dawn Elizabeth Sewell, of Huntington Beach, Calif., were indicted after refusing to stop ‘‘overt sexual activity’’ during a flight to Raleigh.
    The couple was charged with interfering with flight crew members during their Sept. 15 Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles.
    According to court documents, flight attendants saw Persing and Sewell kissing, embracing and ‘‘acting in a manner that made other passengers uncomfortable’’ while the plane was stopped in Phoenix.
    A flight attendant asked them to stop. They obeyed initially but resumed the behavior during the flight from Phoenix to Raleigh, authorities said.
    When the flight attendant again requested them to stop, Persing allegedly told the flight attendant: ‘‘I’m going to give you one warning to get out of my face.’’
    Persing and Sewell continued the verbal harassment after a flight attendant refused to serve Persing alcohol, according to court documents.
    Law enforcement officials were waiting for the couple when they arrived at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. Messages left by The Associated Press for Persing and Sewell’s attorneys were not returned.

Lost dog tags are returned to rightful owner  

    NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — Army veteran Victor D’Amato doesn’t remember losing his dog tags. After all, it was more than 60 years ago that they somehow vanished during his service in New Guinea and the Philippines in World War II.
    He had never given the tags a second thought since returning home to Connecticut from the war in 1946. But earlier this month, he got a strange phone call.
    Ruth Brown, of Lubec, Maine, tracked down D’Amato and called him to say his name was on a dog tag she inherited from her mother-in-law. D’Amato and the tag were reunited last Monday when he received a letter from Brown that included the tag.
    ‘‘These things didn’t seem important at the time, but in retrospect, 40 or 50 years later, you say, ’Gee, what a treasure,’’’ said D’Amato, 82, of Southington. ‘‘It’s strange how this could show up 62 years later.’’
    It turns out that Brown’s brother-in-law, Milton Brown, served in the Army and gave the dog tag to his mother shortly before he was killed in Germany at the end of World War II.
    But how Milton Brown obtained the tag remains a mystery. He served in a different division than D’Amato, who said he did not serve in Germany and never knew Brown.
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