Spider-Man to the Rescue!

By The Associated Press

BANGKOK —

Thai firefighter Somchai Yoosabai put on a Spider-Man costume to rescue a superhero-loving autistic boy who climbed onto a third-floor balcony and dangled his legs over the side because he was nervous on his first day of school.

Somchai was called in after the 8-year-old boy's teachers and mother failed to coax him off the ledge on Monday, he said.

"He was nervous about the first day at school, and he was asking for his mother," Somchai said. "He cried and refused to let any of us get close to him."

Overhearing a conversation between the boy's mother and his teachers about his love for comics and superheros, Somchai rushed back to the fire station to change into a Spider-Man costume used to liven up fire drills at schools before swinging into action.

"I told him Spider-Man is here to save you. No monster will hurt you now," Somchai said. "Then I told him to walk slowly toward me. I was very nervous that he might have slipped if he got too excited and ran."

The teary-eyed boy broke into a smile and started walking into his arms, Somchai said.


The fictional Spider-Man was created by comic-writer Stan Lee in the early 1960s. The character gained worldwide popularity in recent years thanks to the trilogy of Hollywood films starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.

Parrot Awarded for Yelling about Choking Baby

DENVER — A parrot that alerted his owner about a baby who was choking was recognized as a hero by the Red Cross. Willie the parrot was given the Animal Lifesaver Award during the "Breakfast of Champions" event attended by Gov. Bill Ritter and Mayor John Hickenlooper.

Willie received the award Friday for his actions in November, when he and owner Megan Howard were baby-sitting a toddler. Willie repeatedly yelled "Mama, baby" when Howard went to the bathroom and the toddler started to choke on her breakfast.

Howard saved the baby by performing the Heimlich maneuver but she said Willie "is the real hero."

Rhythmic Movement Routines

Okay you guys. This is the session to which many of you have been looking forward, others dreading; time for you to create your own rhythmic movement routine!

Remember: 5th graders must make some kind of object or objects an important part of the routine. Last year's class used balls, wands, sticks, umbrellas, ropes and hoops. See video bar at right for examples. If those don't inspire you, check out the videos below...

Juggling

Jump Rope

Tinikling

Woman Buys Used Couch, Finds Cat Inside

SPOKANE, Wash. — The mysterious mewing in Vickie Mendenhall's home started about the time she bought a used couch for $27. After days of searching for the source of the noise, she found a very hungry calico cat living in her sofa.

Her boyfriend, Chris Lund, was watching TV on Tuesday night and felt something move inside the couch. He pulled it away from the wall, lifted it up and there was the cat, which apparently crawled through a small hole on the underside.

Mendenhall contacted Value Village, where she bought the couch, but the store had no information on who donated it. So she took the cat to SpokAnimal CARE, the animal shelter where she works, so it could recover, and contacted media outlets in hopes of finding the owner.

Sure enough, Bob Killion of Spokane showed up to claim the cat on Thursday after an acquaintance alerted him to a TV story about it. Killion had donated a couch on Feb. 19, and his 9-year-old cat, Callie, disappeared at about the same time.

The Power of One

At number 2 on the list of the greatest athletes ever to play at the U. C. Berkeley (Cal) is Joe Kapp.


Joe Kapp was a football player. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. One of his coaches, John Ralston, once said that Kapp was the only player he'd ever seen that could start at all 22 positions for his team. As starting quarterback, he lead the Cal Bears to a Rose Bowl, won a Canadian Football League Championship with the British Columbia Lions and lead the Minnesota Vikings to a Super Bowl.

While with the Vikings, he once threw seven touchdown passes in one game, a National Football League record.

Kapp was a great leader. He is known for catchy motivational sayings like "40 for 60" (40 players playing hard for 60 minutes) and "the Bear does not quit, the Bear does not die." (after a miraculous last second Cal win over Stanford in the 1982 Big Game).

He was also very tough. Most quarterbacks try to avoid getting tackled as much as possible. Kapp didn't. Instead, he would try to run over defensive players in order to gain a couple extra yards.

During one game he was asked why he hit an opposing player instead of running out of bounds. Kapp replied, "running out of bounds is for white boys." Joe Kapp is hispanic.

Kapp's stardom never went to his head. He once refused an MVP award because he didn't believe individual awards. He was always a great teammate no matter what the sport. In fact, this story is not about football at all, but how Joe Kapp won a basketball game without playing a single minute.

While at Cal, Kapp played both football and basketball. He wasn't a very good basketball player. In fact, he was, in his own words, "the 12th player on a 12 man team", meaning he rarely got to play. The Cal team, however, was very good.
One of Cal's best players was guy named Earl Robinson.


In 1958, Robinson was one of the few African Americans to be awarded an athletic scholarship at a major American university. In those days, many opposing teams and players were unable to accept this.

During one game, opposing players decided to pick on Robinson. They pushed him, elbowed him and threw racial taunts at him.

Kapp watched this from the bench and fumed. The taunting seemed to affect the whole Cal team. When the first half ended, Cal was far behind.

When the Cal team met in the locker room between halves, Joe Kapp was nowhere to be seen. He had gone to the opposing team's locker room instead.

There, he told the opposing players that he was sick of watching how they were treating Robinson. "Now you have to deal with me," he said, challenging the whole team to a fight, "who wants to go first?"

Nobody answered. In fact, nobody would make eye contact.

When the two teams went back into the gym to warm up for the second half, Kapp didn't shoot around with his teammates. Instead, he stood with arms crossed, glaring at the other team.

Kapp's actions fired up the Cal team. They played the second half with great intensity, came back and won the game.

Afterwards, a reporter asked the Cal coach (the late, great Pete Newell) what he said to motivate the team.


"I didn't have to say anything," said Newell, "Joe Kapp did all of our talking for us."