$5,000 Just Fine After Rampage

--Robert Redden thought $25 was too much to pay for repairs to the odometer/speedometer on his $36,000 Jaguar. So, police in Paramus, N.J., said, he drove the car through the metal doors of the repair shop, rammed a parked police cruiser and sped away. His car was found later, and Redden turned himself in the next day. Police Chief Joseph Delaney said Redden’s repair bill now totals $20,000--$7,500 for repairs to the aluminum doors, the patrol car and a 1983 Jaguar he pushed out of the way, and $12,500 for repairs to Redden’s 1985 Jaguar. He was charged with two counts of criminal mischief and one count of leaving the scene of an accident, which carry a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $5,000 fine. “If there was a charge for stupidity, we’d charge him for that too,” Delaney said. “He would have been better off kicking the tires.”

--A counterfeiter confronted by federal agents at Florida’s Walt Disney World did his best to get rid of the evidence, police say: He ate it. Peter Gerard was arrested at a ticket window after a cashier noticed irregularities in the $100 bill he presented, the Secret Service said. When authorities arrived, Gerard swallowed the bill, then ate another $100, a $50 and a $10 while being detained, said Ken Keene, head of the Secret Service office in Orlando. Keene said agents found $1,400 in counterfeit currency on Gerard and at his hotel room. He was charged with attempting to use counterfeit currency.

--Wadley, Ga., has 2,740 residents, two liquor stores, one red light and too much profanity, Mayor B. A. Johnson says. He ordered police to arrest anyone using vulgar language in public. No arrests have been made, but the mayor says he is serious about the cussing crackdown. “I’m monitoring the situation real close,” said Johnson, a retired high school principal. “I think everyone around town is getting the idea.”

--Palm Beach, Fla., is less concerned with earsores than with eyesores: It wants to tone down the color of newspaper racks. The town’s Ordinance, Rules and Standards Committee recommended that newspaper companies be asked to paint all their racks the same color. Committee chairwoman Nancy Douthit said 131 of the boxes can be found in 21 clusters around town, in hues including yellow, dark green, blue and brown. “It looks like Coney Island at best,” she sniffed. The official color has not been chosen, but at least one color is out of the question. “Just as long as it’s not that dreadful green that we paint the trash cans,” Mayor Yvelyne (Deedy) Marix said.