Virgin Marys go missing in Minnesota town

WAITE PARK, Minn. -- Joe Fautsch was mowing his lawn when he came around a corner and expected to see the Virgin Mary. The Holy Mother wasn't there. "I don't think she walked away by herself," Fautsch said. "Who would take her?" He found out last week that his Virgin Mary statue was one of four that have been stolen in this central Minnesota town within the past few weeks, investigator Ben Theisen said. They can be worth up to $400, he said. Fautsch's statue had stood on his lawn for about five years. He estimated the cost at $125. "I wouldn't want to die and be judged for stealing Mary," he said. "Mary would come along and wonder, 'How come you stole me?"'

Lost parakeet returns home after four years

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. -- Four years after flying away from home, Fred the parakeet has returned to roost -- and he still remembers his name. The bird with the chipped beak recently was reunited with its owner, 11-year-old Aaron Edwards of Parkersburg. Fred flew away when Edwards took him to his used car lot in Parkersburg. Ever since, Edwards, who also drives a tow truck, has asked customers if they had seen a green bird. Several said they had at their feeders; one sighting was in a junkyard. But hopes grew dim as the winters passed. Recently, Kenny Balderson, a friend of Edwards', saw Fred at his Pettyville home. He called the bird by name and it flew down to him. When Balderson telephoned that day with the news, Edwards thought it was a cruel joke. "I didn't believe it until he showed up at the door," he said. As Balderson entered the home with the bird, Edwards said, "Is that really Fred?" The bird then climbed up and snuggled to his chin.