Odd briefs 7/11/04

Man finds treasure stove of old coins

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I.-- A landlord is sure glad he looked in an old stove before he threw it out. Inside were vintage coins and nearly $4,000 worth of gold and silver bars. Vincent Bilotti came across the stove when he was cleaning the apartment of Ben Mizera, a tenant who had died recently. Inside the stove were several wrapped parcels and cans. The cans had plastic bags with valuable pennies -- wartime zinc, Indian head and wheat. The parcels had 133 one-ounce gold and silver bars. Bilotti said he'll make sure the valuables get to either Mizera's wife or a relative.

Airline loses fisherman's prize halibut catch

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Something fishy happened to Ray Bolanos' luggage. Somewhere between Anchorage and Seattle, about 40 meticulously wrapped and packed 1-pound pieces of fresh-caught halibut vanished from his checked bags. Bolanos said his bags appeared on the luggage carousel at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport almost immediately after he arrived June 24. But one of the two coolers of fish was missing the rope he'd tied around it in Anchorage. Inside, Bolanos found his rope and a few halibut scraps. Bolanos complained to Continental Airlines and both airports, but so far there have been no clues to what happened to the fish he caught on Kachemak Bay.

-- From wire reports