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FOXED Part 4
by CHRIS WILKINSON, London 1956
Red fox - painting by Rosemary G Conroy
It would all be A.J.’s fault if I didn’t pass these exams. After all it was he who persuaded me to take Science.
Spring wore on into summer and final examinations were fast approaching. In those days the vast majority of students had done national service, but I was an exception, so most of them were two or three years older. In fact for my first year I was the youngest student at Westminster, so they seemed to me a very mature lot. However, they were not beyond asking A.J. veiled questions to glean information about the impending examinations. But A.J. saw through it.
‘So you want me to tell you the questions you’re going to get, do you?”
Grins all round.
‘All right, ...
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Wolf attack - legend or legacy?
Authorities are in an Alaska Peninsula village this evening investigating whether a 33-year-old school teacher, found dead on a road leading out of town, was killed in a wolf attack, according to state and local officials.
The body of Candice Berner, of Pennsylvania, was discovered Monday evening off a roughly seven-mile gravel road leading to the Chignik Bay airstrip.
Though state officials say they haven't determined the cause of death for sure, school district Chief Operating Officer Rick Luthi, who is in King Salmon, said Alaska State Troopers and state Department of Fish and Game officials are looking at the possibility the woman was attacked by wolves.
A special education teacher based in Perryville, Berner had just arrived in Chignik t ...
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Jeff King - archive photo
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Four-time winner Jeff King has taken over the lead in the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
King, of Denali Park, was first to leave the Nikolai checkpoint, departing from the Athabascan village at 3:08 p.m. Tuesday for the 54-mile run to the next checkpoint at McGrath. Canada's Sebastian Schnuelle, who was leading earlier, left nine minutes later, followed shortly after by Kotzebue veteran John Baker, then 2004 winner Mitch Seavey of Seward.
Defending champion Lance Mackey of Fairbanks was the eighth musher out, departing at 4:56 p.m. from Nikolai. Mackey, a throat cancer survivor, is seeking his fourth consecutive win.
Four of the 71 mushers in the race scratched Tuesday. Michael Suprenant of Chugiak and Zoya DeNure of ...
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Iditarod - archive photo
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Every human competitor now running the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race will be tested for alcohol and illegal drugs on the trail for the first time in the history of the 1,100-mile race — a change defending champion Lance Mackey believes is directed at him.
"I know for a fact," said the three-time winner.
Mackey, who has been open about using medical marijuana on the trail, on Tuesday was among the early front-runners in the race, which began with 71 teams Sunday in Willow. Four-time winner Jeff King of Denali Park was in the lead, the first to leave the Nikolai checkpoint Tuesday afternoon for the 54-mile run to the next checkpoint at McGrath. Canada's Sebastian Schnuelle, who was leading earlier, left soon after, followed by Kotz ...
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Too many laws have been introduced that bear down on the law-abiding without making any difference to the problem they were supposed to address
'At his feet, sat a white-coated, red-eyed dog, who occupied himself, alternately, in winking at his master with both eyes at the same time; and in licking a large, fresh cut on one side of his mouth, which appeared to be the result of some recent conflict." Thus Charles Dickens introduces Bull's-eye, the cur belonging to Bill Sikes in Oliver Twist. The possession of a fierce dog among the criminal underclass of Victorian London is replicated today in many sink estates around the country. The problem of fighting dogs is a real one and Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, is right to highlight it. But his proposed remedy is wrongheaded and is a c ...