Dog survives accident on the railroad tracks

ROSEMOUNT, Minn. -- If cats have nine lives, then this dog has at least three.

A wee dachshund from Rosemount earned the nickname Railroad Joe recently, after running away from owners Tom and Cindy Caruth.

The stubby-legged dog took up life on the tracks and made a legend of himself by getting run over by freight trains at least three times in five days -- twice by the same conductor.

The steel wheels nipped one of his floppy ears and sliced off part of his tail. But each time he ducked low enough between the rails for the trains to clear him.

"It's hard telling how many trains went over that poor little dog," said Union Pacific conductor Terry Vanderlinden, the man who ran over Joe twice.

Vanderlinden thought he killed Joe the first time in early November, about a mile from the Caruths' home.

"We saw him, and he was feisty. He was barking at us," Vanderlinden said. "I said, 'Oh boy, this is bad.' We just mowed him down."

Five days later, he was riding the tracks in the opposite direction, heading for South St. Paul. He spotted Joe on the tracks within a mile of where he first encountered him.

"We couldn't believe it. It was the same brown dog with a green tag, only this time he's not feisty," Vanderlinden said. "We plowed him down once again."

This time, Vanderlinden circled back to the area in his own vehicle. After walking on the tracks, he found Joe shivering in weeds, near starvation.

"He was bones when I found him," he said.

Tom Caruth said his family's 3-year-old pet "looked like a wet rat" when they were reunited through the tag on the dog's collar.

"He laid by our fireplace for two straight days," Caruth said. "His tail's a little shorter now. But he's fine."

Taxpayer fund repaid after false harassment claim

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Seen dating again, a woman and her ex-boss have paid back $35,000 in taxpayer funds she received after accusing him of sexual harassment.

Julie Dalton resigned as chief deputy of Lee County Property Appraiser Ken Wilkinson in March 2002 after her affair with Wilkinson became public.

Dalton claimed in her harassment complaint that Wilkinson pursued the sexual relationship then dumped her after the press found out.

Wilkinson, she said the complaint, "clearly used his position as my boss to influence me to have a relationship with him. When he no longer desired to have this relationship he wanted me to resign."

Dalton was paid the settlement out of taxpayer funds, with $10,000 compensating her for what was described as "mental anguish, injury to reputation ... and stigma." The rest went to her attorney.

She also got back a job in the office, not directly supervised by Wilkinson.

When a reporter told Wilkinson Tuesday that he and Dalton had been seen together on Christmas Eve, Wilkinson said: "I've atoned for my sins. It cost me a marriage."

On Wednesday, Wilkinson and Dalton sent checks of $23,100 and $13,100 respectively to Lee County Risk Management, the county's self-insurance fund.

"We jointly request the press respect our private life," read a message attached to copies of the checks sent to the Fort Myers News Press.

Eye-popping look at what's lost and found

ASPEN, Colo. -- In a resort town that caters to some of the nation's biggest spenders, even the stuff in the lost-and-found department can be eye-popping.

Five boys found a check for $23,901 in the snow and turned it over to police on Wednesday.

"The boys came in their ski gear and said they had found a large check, and we expected it to be for a few hundred dollars," police spokeswoman Kathy Tolle said. "They handed it over, and it was for $23,000."

The check was written by an Aspen investment group on a local bank. Both were notified of the find, Tolle said.

Police also took the boys' phone numbers, in case a reward is forthcoming.

-- From wire reports