Month: February 2012

Missouri Department of Natural Resources sponsoring mercury drop-off site in Hannibal

Posted by mpoletti – February 28, 2012

Don’t toss that old thermometer or thermostat in the trash. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is sponsoring mercury drop-off sites throughout the state, including a site in Hannibal.

The DNR is working with fire departments and county health offices to provide drop-off locations where people or agencies can leave mercury-containing instruments like thermometers, thermostats, blood pressure cuffs or switches. It’s part of a statewide DNR roundup to rid homes of mercury.

If you want to drop something off at the site, secure it in two zip-top plastic bags and then place it in a crush-proof container like a coffee can, margarine tub or plastic beverage bottle. Then bring it to the Hannibal Fire Department’s Station 1 at 206 S. 4th.

For our friends further to the northwest, there’s also a drop-off site at the Kirksville Fire Department’s central station, 401 N. Franklin.

If you’ve got a lot of items to drop off at the site, or if you’re at all uncomfortable with transporting mercury instruments, call the DNR’s spill line at (573) 634-2436.

The mercury roundup will run through May 31, at which time DNR staff will collect the dropped-off items and transport them to their Jefferson City headquarters. There, they will recycle what they can and properly dispose of the rest.

The DNR has more information about the mercury round-up and about the health effects of a mercury spill around the house.

Palmyra man admits to keeping exotic animals

Posted by mpoletti – February 28, 2012

How’d you like to live next door to an alligator? Apparently it happens far north of the bayou.

Brandon Boyles of Palmyra pled guilty last week to keeping exotic animals in violation of a city ordinance. He was arrested Jan. 30, and his menagerie of pets removed from his home, after an anonymous call to the Palmyra Police Department tip line, Chief Eddie Bogue said in a release.

During the course of the investigation, in which the Missouri Department of Conservation and the St. Louis Zoo assisted, more than 30 exotic animals were discovered in Boyles’ home, Bogue said. They included several species of poisonous snakes and constrictor snakes (makes you hope the ophidiophobic Indiana Jones wasn’t his neighbor), as well as caimans, alligators, scorpions and spiders.

I suppose it’s a good thing he wasn’t keeping wild cats, which would be much harder-pressed for space, but a private home in town isn’t a safe place to keep our reptile and arachnid friends — for humans’ or animals’ sake. It’s doubly problematic when city law prohibits their being kept in town.

Thankfully, it doesn’t sound like anyone was injured by any of the animals. With any luck, they’re on their way to a new home — perhaps shoring up the St. Louis Zoo’s offerings.

In the meantime, if you really want to channel Dr. Dolittle, don’t do it in Palmyra. Do it in unincorporated Marion County, where you only need to register your exotic animals with the sheriff and you’re in business.

Val Kilmer coming to Mark Twain Museum

Posted by mpoletti – February 26, 2012

So Val Kilmer, Mark Twain, Mary Baker Eddy and Cindy Lovell walk into a bar …

Just kidding, but the four will come together in an unlikely Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum event in early May.

Actor Kilmer will visit the museum May 2 for “An Evening with Val Kilmer,” where he will discuss his film now in development about the relationship between Hannibal’s favorite son and Christian Science founder Eddy.

Tickets are $30 for the 7 p.m. event and can be purchased at marktwainmuseum.org or by calling museum staffer Mai Conrad at (573) 221-9010, ext. 401.

Kilmer has starred in numerous films since the mid-1980s. Here’s a trailer for one of his most memorable roles of that decade.

Hannibal man takes top honors in Phillips 66 video contest

Posted by mpoletti – February 24, 2012

A Hannibal man’s unique billiards skills have won him $1,000 cash and gasoline for life from Phillips 66.

Chris Dryden took first grand prize in the gas station giant’s “Local Legends” video contest, which encouraged patrons in five states — Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico and Texas — to submit videos of their special areas of expertise.

Dryden’s expertise? Trick shots in billiards. Watch the video here.

Congratulations, Chris, and start planning that road trip.