The truth and nothing but: Former Secretary...

The truth and nothing but: Former Secretary of State George Shultz said he doesn’t expect everyone who reads his memoirs to be happy. “I have to tell it the way I see it, as I felt it at the time,” he said. Shultz has contracted with Charles Scribner’s Sons for a reported $2 million to write two books: one a memoir and the other on the art of diplomacy.

* Foiled: The computer showed no one won the $28 million jackpot--the largest in the history of the Massachusetts lottery. So when Ralph Brunner, 25, of Newton, allegedly added the winning numbers to his ticket with a dot-matrix printer and tried to claim the prize, he was arrested and charged with forging a lottery ticket. “I guess he figured he was going to walk away with the money,” lottery spokesman David Ellis said.

*Exemplary: Axel Hanson of Chippewa Falls, Wis., capped a perfect 72-year driving career with what officials called a rare act: voluntarily giving up his driver’s license at age 88. “I figured at my age I might make a wrong move sometime or other,” Hanson said. “I thought it was a good idea to give up my license for my own safety and for other people, too.”

* Dog days: Rowena Russell of Chesterfield, Mass., has had enough. Twice in 14 months, dogs left in the cab of pickup trucks while their owners dashed into the General Store, uphill from her house, have knocked the vehicles out of gear and sent them careening into her yard. Russell has asked selectmen in her town to put up a barrier to protect her house, and they’re sympathetic. “(What she’s gone through) is a bit much,” said Police Chief Gary Wickland.

* Send it to the round file: Atheist Rob Sherman asked the McHenry County Clerk in Illinois to eliminate references to God on complimentary marriage certificates her office gives couples who wed. Clerk Rosemary Azzaro declined, saying the paper had no legal value and “if anyone objects, they can throw it away.”