Imperial walker replica is big hit
Imperial walker replica is big hit
PARMA, Ohio — A two-story, “Star Wars”-inspired Halloween yard display in Ohio is enticing kids to get toy lightsabers and attracting hundreds of visitors from across the state.
Elevator mechanic Nick Meyer, 39, spent about $1,500 and 10 hours a weekend for half a year to build a replica of the four-legged All Terrain Armored Transport, or AT-AT walker. He built it with his carpenter friend Anthony Paroda, and it’s been such a success that spectators are donating money for them to build another display next year.
At 19 feet, the replica is nearly as tall as Meyer’s home in Parma, a Cleveland suburb. The cockpit of the AT-AT walker is outfitted with lights that glow red at night, and a mannequin fashioned to resemble a “Star Wars” Stormtrooper soldier stands guard in front.
Meyer said he built it with plywood, hard foam and plastic barrels and based the design off a toy he bought online.
“We’re both pretty crafty, but it’s not rocket science,” Meyer said. “You just gotta be willing to do it.”
Too fat for prison
TAMPA, Fla. — The attorney for a 72-year-old Florida man who was convicted in a tax scheme is using obesity to try to keep his client out of prison.
Curtis Fallgatter wrote in a court filing on Monday that Stephen Donaldson Sr. doesn’t have an average man’s life expectancy because he’s 5-foot-9 and weighs 273 pounds. For that reason, the attorney wrote, it’s not right to make him serve 6 years and four months in prison. Fallgatter wrote that the prison term could translate to 61 percent of Donaldson’s remaining time on earth.
The Tampa Bay Times reports Donaldson was sentenced last week in Tampa for his part of peddling an offshore tax shelter that cost the IRS an estimated $10 million.
From wire sources
Sweet Surrender: Detroit-area man arrested with doughnuts
REDFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A 21-year-old man wanted for probation violations surrendered at a suburban Detroit police station — with a dozen doughnuts for officers.
The sweet gesture didn’t help Michael Zaydel. He still was sentenced to 39 days in jail Tuesday, a day after walking into the Redford Township police department.
Sgt. Duane Gregg says Zaydel had promised to turn himself in if a post on the department’s Facebook page was shared 1,000 times. The threshold was easily met.
Gregg says Zaydel was arrested when he appeared Monday with a bag of doughnuts and a bagel. He told TV station WXYZ that “cops like doughnuts,” and he wanted to reward them for any inconvenience.
Gregg got the bagel. Did other officers eat the doughnuts? The sergeant says: “No comment.”