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A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 31 december 2019
Alligators, pricey bananas and naked people: 2019 in Florida

By TAMARA LUSH cause the unusual is met
Associated Press with a chuckle and shrug
ST. PETERSBURG (AP) — In precisely because it's so
2019, Florida Banana man- normal. (Honestly. In 1986,
aged to eclipse Florida the state's official tourism
Man. From alligator antics slogan was "Florida ... The
to naked people doing Rules Are Different Here").
wacky things, Florida did Consider Patrick Eldridge of
not disappoint in the weird Jacksonville, who parked
news department this year. his tiny Smart Car in his
(So. Many. Naked. People.) kitchen because he was
In December, a Miami worried it would blow away
couple spent more than during Hurricane Dorian.
$100,000 on the "unicorn of The owners of a Port Or-
the art world" — a banana ange funeral home gave
duct-taped to a wall — away a free cremation as
during Art Basel. The piece part of its grand reopening.
was widely copied and A toilet exploded in Port
mocked on social media, Charlotte when lighting
and then someone at the struck the home's septic
art fair ripped it off the wall In this Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2019 photo provided by Paul Bedard, Bedard raises a 9-foot alligator tank. No one was injured,
over his head at a home in Parkland, Fla.
and ate it. Associated Press and homeowner Marylou
Italian artist Maurizio Cat- Ward expressed relief: "I'm
telan sold three editions of things. Sunshine, beaches swimming pool in Parkland. ways. One reptile knocked just glad none of us were
"Comedian," each in the and oranges. The magic Bedard "played" with the on a woman's door the on the toilet."
$120,000 to $150,000 range. of Disney and the glam- 8-foot long reptile until it night before Thanksgiv- Folks attacked one anoth-
"We are acutely aware of our of South Beach. It's also became tired. Then he lift- ing in Fort Myers. In Martin er with all manner of items,
the blatant absurdity of known for having the most ed it out of the water and County, two men poured including (but not limited
the fact that "Comedian" bananas news in the Unit- held it over his head for an Coors beer into an alliga- to): pancake batter, Pop-
is an otherwise inexpen- ed States. Instagram photo. tor's mouth. They were ar- Tarts, a fake Christmas tree,
sive and perishable piece As they often do, alligators "I haven't had a good-sized rested. swords, McDonald's condi-
of produce and a couple topped the list of odd sto- gator in a swimming pool in Alligators weren't the only ment packets and roach
inches of duct tape," one ries. Perhaps the most visu- probably a year, so I was animals making headlines spray.
couple that purchased the ally interesting happened kind of looking forward to in Florida. In the city of Port Richey,
banana said. "Ultimately in October, when Paul Be- this when I got the call," he In August, a restaurant in two mayors were arrested
we sense that Cattelan's dard, who is contracted said. The alligator was relo- Stuart canceled its "Mon- in the span of 20 days —
banana will become an with the state's nuisance al- cated to a wildlife park. key Mondays" when a one on charges of obstruc-
iconic historical object." ligator program, respond- Humans tangled with ga- 9-month-old capuchin tion of justice; the other, on
Florida is known for many ed to a call of a gator in a tors in a multitude of other named JoJo bit a child's allegations he was prac-
finger. ticing medicine without a
Test shows citizenship question had Also in August, a Lake Worth license in his home.
Beach man began feeding Lest you think all Floridians
impact with subgroups a kinkajou (a raccoon rela- are strange, a few did some
tive with a prehensile tail remarkably kind things.
that's native to Central and Chicago Bears linebacker
By MIKE SCHNEIDER Asian; and neighborhoods last October that prelimi- South America), but one Khalil Mack went to his
Associated Press that received bilingual ma- nary results showed the day, it attacked his leg. "It hometown of Fort Pierce
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Al- terials. test questionnaire with the was not a nice kinkajou. It and stopped by a Walmart
though a test showed that Self-response rates for the citizenship question had a was super aggressive," the store in December. He paid
adding a citizenship ques- test questionnaire also self-response rate of 51.5 man's girlfriend told The off all the layaways, to the
tion to the 2020 Census were lower with a citizen- percent, and the question- Palm Beach Post. tune of $80,000, according
wouldn't have had an im- ship question when respon- naire without the citizen- And a Labrador retriever to the Chicago Tribune.
pact on overall response dents mailed in their an- ship question had a self- somehow got behind the A Florida 9-year-old gave
rates, it did make a differ- swers and within New York response rate of 52.0 per- wheel of a car and did his third grade teacher all
ence in neighborhoods and Los Angeles. When a cent. doughnuts in Port St. Lucie. the feels when he offered
that were bilingual and citizenship question was on At the start of the test, the Some claim Florida's weird his $15 of birthday money
had substantial numbers of the test form, the propor- Census Bureau didn't know news surfaces because as a solution to the prob-
non-citizens, Hispanics and tion of respondents who if the question would be al- of the state's open public lem of teachers being un-
Asians, the U.S. Census Bu- identified as Hispanic also lowed since it was being liti- records laws, while others derpaid.
reau said Monday. was lower, the bureau said. gated between the Trump chalk it up to the fact that In Gulf Breeze, a 73-year-
In its final report on a test The test was conducted administration, which was it's the third largest state, old man wanted to "take a
conducted last summer, this summer as part of an pushing for the question, with more than 21 million little bit of stress out" of the
the bureau said there were effort to fine-tune planning and civil rights groups and people packed on a pen- season for his neighbors
lower self-response rates for the 2020 head count several Democratic state insula — many wearing and secretly gave $4,600
when a citizenship question next spring. attorneys who opposed it. scant clothing because of to help 36 families pay their
was added to a test ques- Test questionnaires were Critics said it would reduce infernal heat most of the water and gas bills.
tionnaire in neighborhoods mailed to 480,000 house- participation by Hispanics year. But it's the weird that at-
where 5 percent or more of holds across the U.S. Half and immigrant groups. Whatever the reason, tak- tracts the most attention
residents weren't citizens; of the questionnaires had The U.S. Supreme Court ing stock of the year's here. A number of people
where almost half the pop- a citizenship question and ruled in late June that the strange stories in Florida is were nude, or partially
ulation was Hispanic; where the other half didn't. question couldn't be on the a time-honored tradition. nude, when they made the
5% to 20% of residents were The bureau announced 2020 questionnaire.q This year's no different, be- news.q