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pic: http://web.archive.org/web/20070618004154/www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/27/ufo.park.ap/index.htmlROSWELL, New Mexico (AP) — Businesses here have been cashing in on the UFO craze for years — paintings and replicas of unidentified flying objects and space aliens adorn downtown buildings, and even the McDonald’s and Wal-Mart are UFO- and space-themed.

Now city officials want to take it to another level with a UFO-themed amusement park, complete with an indoor roller coaster that would take passengers on a simulated alien abduction.

“Nobody will be harmed and everybody will be returned, hopefully, in the same shape,” concept designer Bryan Temmer said Friday.

The park, dubbed Alien Apex Resort, could open as early as 2010. The city has received a $245,000 legislative appropriation for initial planning, but the park would be privately built and managed. Requests for proposals will be advertised next month.

The proposed park initially will cover 60 to 80 acres with room to expand to 150 acres. It will feature other rides and attractions, including an exhibit hall with information on scientific exploration of the universe.

“It’s not just about the Roswell Incident and did it happen,” said Temmer, of Land O’ Lakes, Florida.

The Roswell Incident, of course, has brought the southeastern New Mexico city worldwide acclaim. It centers on a purported UFO crash on a nearby ranch in July 1947, which the military later claimed was a top-secret weather balloon.

Temmer, who describes himself as a fan of theme parks and science fiction, pitched the concept to city leaders two years ago. “I knew there was only one place on the planet, probably in the universe, where this idea would work,” he said.

City Planner Zach Montgomery said the project will cost “several hundred millions of dollars,” but a more accurate figure hasn’t been determined. A roller coaster similar to the one Temmer proposed is under construction at another theme park for almost $100 million, Montgomery said.

Montgomery said the city is considering six potential sites but declined to identify them. He also wouldn’t name potential operators, but said at least four major corporations approached about the idea are excited.

The town’s biggest tourism attraction is the International UFO Museum and Research Center, which has drawn 2.5 million visitors since opening in 1992. Beyond that, it’s largely boutiques like the one run by Welz.

Some business owners believe the theme park is necessary to keep tourists returning.

Sharon Welz is a co-owner of the Roswell Space Center, a T-shirt and souvenir shop just off Main Street. She said visitors often complain they’d like to see and do more during trips to the town of about 50,000 people.

WEST SACRAMENTO, California (AP) — Two humpback whales that made a 90-mile river journey from San Francisco to the outskirts of Sacramento have injuries that appear to have come from a propeller, marine experts said Wednesday.

The condition of the whales, believed to be a mother and her calf, was diagnosed by researchers from the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California, using photos taken Wednesday in the Port of Sacramento and enlarged on computer screens.

“The injury on the female is about 2 feet long, 6 inches deep, and has sharp edges typical of a propeller wound. We don’t think it’s life-threatening,” said Frances Gulland, director of veterinary science at the center, the group that has taken the lead on the attempted rescue of the whales. “The calf has a wound that looks a little bit more severe than the female.”

The calf’s wound was difficult to assess because it is on the animal’s underside, below the water line, Gulland said.

Although the injuries appear to be growing, the whales will probably not need treatment if they can be returned to their natural seawater habitat, researchers said. The salty ocean water is cleaner than the fresh water in the port, helping to heal such cuts in the mammals. (Watch whales make their way to Sacramento )

Biologists planned to play the familiar sounds of humpback whales underwater Thursday to lure the whales out of the basin and toward San Francisco Bay, Gulland said. They will play the sounds from a boat as the tide goes out.

Shipping and small boat traffic were halted in the canal, which is 30 feet deep and 200 feet wide. One freighter remained docked at the port, known primarily as an export terminal for California rice.

The next ship was not expected to dock until May 23, giving authorities time to try to escort the whales back to the Pacific, said Teresa Bledsoe, administrative clerk at the Port of Sacramento.

Biologists had feared the larger whale was entangled in fishing gear, but what appeared to be an object wrapped around it is actually blubber, Gulland said.

The wounds, which were likely suffered as the whales made their way up the Sacramento River, appear to go only as deep as their blubber, rather than their muscle.

INTERIOR, South Dakota (AP) — Charles Kruse knows he’s lucky to be living and ranching in a place where other people take vacations — just south of the stark spires and buttes of Badlands National Park.

But his voice rises in agitation when he talks about the invaders that swarm over his private land each summer and trash it: prairie dogs, not tourists.

“It’s like a moonscape out there, but this should be the greenest, nicest part of the year,” said Kruse, who has cut his cattle herd in half because of a lingering drought and the continuing prairie dog invasion.

Only a few years after state and federal officials first took steps to control the vast prairie dog colony in Conata Basin, just south of the badlands, Kruse and other ranchers say the damage to public and private land is just getting worse.

Sixteen families that run cattle in the 20-mile-long basin depend on the grass that grows on their land and the pastures they lease on the adjacent federal Buffalo Gap National Grasslands.

After prairie dogs have stripped the grass from the public land, hordes of the rodents migrate every spring to the adjacent private land, Kruse said.

“It’s the most wonderful place to raise a family and the most wonderful place to live,” Kruse said. “I just wish I had neighbors who weren’t such terrible neighbors. What do you do when your worst neighbors are the federal government?”

The U.S. Forest Service, which manages the national grasslands, is studying whether to expand prairie dog poisoning. Kruse said ranchers doubt there will be enough poisoning to thin the population.

Jonathan Proctor, a Denver field representative for Defenders of Wildlife, said drought is the major culprit of reduced livestock grazing, so prairie dogs should not be killed as scapegoats.

Proctor also said the prairie dog colony and its bare ground support a wide range of other animals, including the endangered black-footed ferret, which has been reintroduced in the area and eats prairie dogs.

“When somebody says prairie dogs destroy the land, I question that,” Proctor said. “What does destroy mean? When you look at what prairie dogs do to the land, they create. They create amazing wildlife habitat for many animals that depend on it.”

The U.S. Forest Service is caught in the middle. Its job of managing the national grasslands demonstrates the government’s difficulty in trying to satisfy both sides.

In 2000, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said prairie dogs might be in trouble. But in 2004, the agency decided not to give them protection because new population estimates indicated they are not likely to become extinct anytime soon.

In the meantime, the Forest Service was not allowed to poison prairie dogs on public land. The drought and the moratorium on poisoning led to a population explosion in the Conata Basin, and the prairie dogs invaded neighboring private ranches.

The basin, which stretches from Badlands National Park in the north to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the south, has extra restrictions because it’s the most successful reintroduction site of black-footed ferrets. Prairie dog shooting is banned on public land.

For the past two years, the Forest Service has allowed poisoning of prairie dogs on half-mile buffer zones next to private ranches, and the state has poisoned any critters that ventured onto private land.

Ranchers complain that the poisoning has been too limited, partly because it is not done until fall each year. Migrating prairie dogs move back into the poisoned areas the next spring and eat the grass until the next fall’s poisoning, they argue.

The ranchers have asked that prairie dogs on the national grasslands be poisoned back a full mile. They also have a lawsuit pending that asks the state to compensate them for their losses due to prairie dogs.

Don Bright, Forest Service supervisor in Chadron, Nebraska, said he sympathizes with the ranchers and is doing what he can. The area is in its seventh year of drought, he said.

“We are trying to be a good neighbor, but Mother Nature is probably throwing us the worst we’ve seen in a long time,” Bright said. “With little moisture, the grass doesn’t have a chance to grow, and conditions out there continue to look pretty harsh.”

Ranchers, who have seen their income drop as they have cut their cattle herds, are looking for help soon. “I think the most endangered species in North America is the farmer-rancher,” Kruse said.

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) — “Bubba” Ludwig can’t walk, talk or open the refrigerator door — but he does have his very own Illinois gun permit.

The 10-month-old, whose given name is Howard David Ludwig, was issued a firearm owner’s identification card after his father, Howard Ludwig, paid the $5 fee and filled out the application, not expecting to actually get one.

The card lists the baby’s height (2 feet, 3 inches), weight (20 pounds) and has a scribble where the signature should be. (Watch Bubba use his gun permit as a teething ring )

With some exceptions, the cards are required of any Illinois residents purchasing or possessing firearms or ammunition within the state. There are no age restrictions on the cards, an official said.

Illinois State Police oversee the application process. Their purpose, said Lt. Scott Compton, is to keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons, those under an order of protection and those convicted of domestic violence.

“Does a 10-month-old need a FOID card? No, but there are no restrictions under the act regarding age of applicants,” he said.

Ludwig, 30, of Chicago, applied for the card after his own father bought Bubba a 12-gauge Beretta shotgun as a gift. The weapon will probably be kept at Ludwig’s father’s house until the boy is at least 14.

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (AP) — Ryan Lipscomb lived to tell how it felt to have a truck run over his head. “Really strange,” he said.

Lipscomb, 26 of Seattle, suffered a concussion but was otherwise unhurt. He was shaken up, especially after he saw his mangled helmet.

Lipscomb, a graduate student in medical physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was riding down a bike path in Madison on Friday afternoon. As he approached an intersection, he said, he noticed the oncoming delivery truck preparing to make a right turn in front of him.

The truck wasn’t going to stop, Lipscomb said, so he slammed on his brakes, flipping his bike and landing in the street.

A moment later the truck rolled over his head.

“I didn’t see it coming, but I sure felt it roll over my head,” he told The Capital Times newspaper. “It feels really strange to have a truck run over your head.”

His black helmet was flattened, tread marks visible on the cracked frame.

Lipscomb was taken to a hospital and released about three hours later.

Police initially declined to call the incident a hit-and-run, saying it was unclear whether the driver knew someone had been hit. But Sgt. Bernie Gonzalez later updated the accident report to include the designation.

Police spokesman Mike Hanson said Tuesday there hasn’t been an arrest because investigators haven’t been able to identify the driver.

In a telephone interview Tuesday with The Associated Press, Lipscomb said he has had some lingering headaches and a stiff neck.

“All things considered, that’s about as good as it can get,” he said.

Despite the close call, he said, he has to focus on school because his qualifying exam for the Ph.D. program is next week.

“I think it will probably hit me when I’m done with exams,” Lipscomb said.

Lipscomb does plan to ride again, he just prefers to wait until after exams are over.

“After that, I’ll go out and get a new helmet and be back on my bike,” he said.

HAYS, Kansas (AP) — At the age of 95, Nola Ochs is now the world’s oldest person to receive a college diploma. But her studying days might not be over just yet — she is considering a master’s degree.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if I started it,” said Ochs.

Ochs received her bachelor’s degree in general studies and history during Saturday’s graduation ceremony at Fort Hays State University.

When she was handed her degree by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, the crowd gave her a standing ovation, breaking a rule against applauding until all the names of all 2,176 graduates were read — including that of her granddaughter, Alexandra Ochs.

Relatives from as far away as California wore “Nola’s #1 Fans” T-shirts, cheered and waved American flags as she walked across the stage.

“I was just another student,” Ochs said in a news conference after the graduation.

However, none of the other graduates will be entered in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s oldest person receiving a college degree. The former record holder was Mozelle Richardson, who earned a degree from the University of Oklahoma in 2004 at the age of 90.

Ochs is the matriarch of a family that includes three sons — a fourth died in 1995 — along with 13 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.

She started taking classes occasionally at Dodge City Community College after the 1972 death of her husband of 39 years, Vernon. After moving to Fort Hays last fall from her farm southwest of Jetmore, she completed the final 30 hours required for her degree.

Kansas Board of Regents member Dan Lykins addressed the graduates and praised Ochs’ accomplishments.

“Follow (in) the footsteps of people like Nola … never give up,” said Lykins.

CORTE MADERA, California (AP) — He has flippers instead of feet — and certainly no sneakers or hiking boots. But that didn’t stop a sea lion from joining schoolchildren on a walk-a-thon.

The marine mammal apparently noticed children doing laps Friday morning around a course they had set up at the Marin Country Day School next to the shores of the San Francisco Bay. The 185-pound Steller sea lion waddled ashore, shocking students and teachers.

“He did a whole lap,” said Kelly Watson, director of constituent relations and web communications at the private school.

It was the latest brush with humans for the 1-year-old sea lion, called Astro by staffers at the Marin Headlands-based Marine Mammal Center.

Astro’s mother abandoned him at Ano Nuevo Island off the San Mateo coast in June, prompting biologists to bottle-feed the pup. They released the adolescent on April 25 with a radio tag.

But Astro keeps returning to civilization. About a week ago, he swam under the Golden Gate Bridge to the shores of Corte Madera. The Marine Mammal Center again picked him up and released him in the Farallons, 27 miles from San Francisco.

But returned again Friday, just in time for the walk-a-thon.

“They are very intuitive, like dogs, and he was able to find his way back,” said Marine Mammal Center spokesman Jim Oswald.

Astro’s run-ins with humans could pose danger to both species, so the center will try to find him a permanent home, possibly the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, which keeps threatened Steller sea lions.

“This just shows the effect human contact can have,” Oswald said. “It’s not a happy story for Astro.”