Bar Banishes Problem Drinker but He’s Not Fur Away

--Ben the beer-loving bear has been banned from the only saloon in Lahoma, Okla. “Somebody squealed,” said Bob Prince, the bartender and proprietor. He bought the 170-pound black bear a few weeks ago and said he figured Ben would attract business. “Then the health department said the only animal allowed in a bar was a Seeing Eye dog,” Prince said. “I told them Ben’s pretty smart and I was teaching him to be a Seeing Eye bear, but they wouldn’t have it.” Gary Collins of the Garfield County Health Department said the bear’s presence in the bar was a violation of the state’s health code because the tavern also serves food. Prince said the fur never flew between Ben and the customers. “He’d just kind of lie under the pool table and every once in a while reach out and slap somebody’s leg. Playful, you know. Just playful.” Ben now drinks his beer alone in a drafty old barn, Prince said.

--The Gumboot Boogie Band understandably proved too dissonant for Princess Diana at a Melbourne, Australia, concert and she held her hands over her ears while they performed. The band is made up of 70 youngsters who pound away at a variety of “instruments,” including tin cans full of peas.

--Oil magnate J. Paul Getty II told the Sunday Times in London that as long as he has money, he’ll keep giving it away. The reclusive billionaire, who has become Britain’s biggest philanthropist, said he has no use for an income of $144 million a year and takes pleasure in giving endowments. Getty was interviewed in the private London Clinic, where the paper said he has spent more than a year receiving treatment for phlebitis, an inflammation of the veins.

--With the traditional circus introduction of “ladeeeez and gentlemen, children of all ages,” Kristopher Antekeier, 28, was presented in the center ring at the Chicago Stadium as the new ringmaster of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. “I was so surprised, the adrenaline shot up,” said an exuberant Antekeier, after circus producer and owner Kenneth Feld pronounced him the winner after months of auditions. “The circus has always been the love of my life,” said the lanky Antekeier, who sported a bright red blazer for the occasion. He was among seven finalists flown in from across the country for Monday’s final audition. Each was asked to give a short performance. Feld said it was Antekeier’s booming baritone, stage presence and rendition of “A Sucker Born Every Minute” that made him stand out.