The Nooz: Football player up for queen

JOHNSTOWN, Colo. — When Hillary Cito began kicking for the Roosevelt High School football team, she would tuck her hair into her helmet so opponents wouldn’t know they were playing against a girl.

Her booming leg, trained on the soccer field, caught the eye of Roosevelt football coach Ed Eastin during last year’s powder puff game.

“I looked at one of the guys and said: ‘What is that? Who kicks the ball like that?’” Eastin said. “It went way far.”

Eastin tracked her down, and Hillary jumped at the chance to join the football team.

“I knew they’d protect me,” Hillary said. “They treat me like family, like I’m their little sister.”

Their “little sister” has turned into a prolific kicker, with just one missed field goal and one missed extra point after a touchdown this season.

“In practice, she’s kicked up to a 42-yarder,” Eastin said. “She’s got the leg, and when she hits it right, it’s good to go.”

It wasn’t her goal, but Hillary also ended up a finalist for homecoming queen at Roosevelt’s homecoming game Friday night.

She already had kicked two points after touchdowns by halftime when she doffed her helmet to be escorted to midfield for the ceremony.

The tiara went wide left, to a classmate standing next to Hillary. She wasted little time congratulating the winner before jogging back to the locker room to join her team. Her brown hair fell down below her helmet, partly covering the number 7 on her jersey.

“I want to keep it down,” she said. “Let them know.”

In the second half, Hillary kicked field goals of 36 and 38 yards to help her Roosevelt Roughriders defeat the Windsor Wizards 20-7.

— KUSA, Denver

Scouts return purse, cash missing four years
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — A trip down the Saco River four years ago turned into a costly vacation for Michael and Delia Dionne. Their canoe capsized with their keys, money and cards inside.

The Dionnes, of Hudson, thought they would never see that purse again. But that changed Tuesday when members of North Andover Boy Scout Troop 86 showed up with Delia Dionne’s purse, with $600 still inside.

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Scouts Nick Cote and Kyle Skelton were on a Boy Scout trip in Maine to clean up the river when they discovered the purse. They laid the $600 on the rocks to dry.

Kyle’s dad, Tim, the troop’s leader, said the experience gave new meaning to the phrase “scout’s honor.”

“This is a great example of you do the right thing, you do the honorable thing in a situation,” Skelton said.

One hundred dollars was destroyed by water damage, but the rest was in good condition. The Dionnes donated half to the Boy Scouts, who in turn donated it to a local elementary school for a nature trail.

— WHDH, Boston

Company burns diapers for energy
MORGAN, Utah — Those Romans, who invented cement, never imagined using Little Mermaid Huggies for fuel. It took a Utah cement company for that.

Devils Slide Cement saves nearly $1 million a year burning diapers to help convert limestone into cement, said Keith Krugh, the plant manager.

The traditional fuel is coal. Devils Slide adds chunks of rubber tires and chopped-up waste plastic. Much of the waste is from Kimberly-Clark's Huggies factory — leftover disposable diapers.

Besides reducing coal consumption by 30 percent, Krugh said, “We’re also keeping a lot of material out of landfills that would normally go there.”

When asked if Devils Slide burns poopy diapers, the company replied, “They’re all pre-consumer.”

— KSL, Salt Lake City, Utah

Woman dressed as cow sentenced to jail
MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — A Middletown woman will spend 30 days behind bars for disorderly conduct while wearing a cow costume.

“I’ve never ever seen this before in my life. This is crazy,” said Melissa McGuire, who runs the apartment complex where residents reported Michelle Allen, 32, chasing children and urinating in public. “She’s had it on for a week.”

Middletown police said they warned Allen to go inside and stay there. But a short time later, more calls came in, and police found Allen blocking traffic in one of Middletown’s busiest intersections.

“You do have the cow costume at that point,” police Sgt. Steve Ream said. “But you also have to protect the public and get her out of the roadway, and they were professional in doing that.”

Allen’s sister, Devona Wilkerson, said her family wanted to get Allen help to keep incidents like this from happening again. “I guess we just have to try to help her. That’s the best thing I can say,” Wilkerson said. “I feel sorry for my sister, but I don’t know what else to say. She’s just always been like that.”

Allen pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct last week. In addition to 30 days behind bars, the judge also ordered her to pay a small fine.

— WDTN, Dayton, Ohio

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