Yule Tree Just Hanging Around

--Christmas may be the season to be jolly, but it is not without problems--and offbeat solutions. Take the case of Steve and Corrina Atterton of Portland, Ore. They wanted to keep their 14-month-old daughter Shara, who “gets into everything,” from toppling the family Christmas tree. So they hit on the idea of hanging it from the ceiling--upside down. “We didn’t want to say, ‘No, no,’ all the time, so we selected a tree that would hang down to a point she could barely touch it,” Atterton said. They even figured out how to keep the noble fir in water--with a special can caulked around the tree base. In Great Barrington, Mass., a nursery has come up with a novel way to discourage Christmas tree thieves. It is selling a mixture of food coloring and lime that temporarily discolors evergreens and spruces, making them look, well, dead. “Just when a tree gets to be six, seven, or eight feel tall it becomes a target, said Michael Ward, the nursery’s vice president. “Residents want their trees to look nice, but at this time of year, that could be hazardous.” The mix is sprayed on a tree and takes effect within hours. It washes away in the rain.

--Exit polls can often foretell the outcome of an election even before the final tally. So it may come as no surprise that the bluegill was the clear winner for the title of state fish in a poll of 800,000 Illinois schoolchildren, netting 28% of the vote. As 14-year-old Coree Parks of Newberry Math and Science Academy said after casting her ballot: “I voted for it because it’s a pretty fish and I like to eat them too.” The election was called by the state General Assembly for children from kindergarten through eighth grade as a way of teaching youngsters how to vote. Swimming behind the victor in the polls was the largemouth bass (23% of the vote), channel catfish (23%), coho salmon (9%), carp (9%) and white crappie (6%). Write-ins accounted for 2% of the vote. An aquarium containing a school of the winners was unveiled by Jayne Thompson, wife of Gov. James R. Thompson.

--The gallows in Douglas, Wyo., have finally gotten the ax. Built by local businessmen as part of the town’s centennial celebration last summer, the old-time Western gallows were chain-sawed into firewood after the local Chamber of Commerce refused to buy liability insurance for the tourist attraction. The businessmen, who call themselves the Wild Bunch, vow that the gallows will swing again. “If we can find a suitable spot and buy insurance, I will be here in the spring building a new, bigger and better set of gallows,” Wild Bunch member Steve Park vowed.