Kids pose with the snapping turtle they found on Patrick Johnston Lane, near the end of Pine Road, on Sunday. (Lisa Combs photo)

Greg and Meg O’Brien, and their children Maggie and Oliver, were on their way home from the Concert on the Green Sunday night when they came across an unusual sight – a large snapping turtle.

The turtle, about 15 to 18 inches in diameter, was strolling down Patrick Johnston Lane at the end of Pine Road.

This snapping turtle was spotted on Patrick Johnston Lane. (Lisa Combs photo)

The O’Briens rescued the turtle despite his (or her) impressive snaps of protest. After much admiration by many of the neighbors in Cabin Woods, we put a call in to neighbor Mark Stanback, a biologist at Davidson College. Mark said he plans to take the turtle, which he estimates is at least 20 years old, to the biology department at the college.

— Lisa Combs

WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT PARAKEET ?

While we’re on the subject of wildlife, we have an update on that colorful lost parakeet that Anita and Jimmy Lassiter of Walnut Street have been caring for.

Lost. (David Boraks photo)

The Lassiters found the bird about 10 days ago while strolling in the Mimosa Cemetery near their home. They kept it on the back screen porch for several days, while contacting neighbors, friends and the nearby Davidson Elementary School in hopes of finding its owner. An article on DavidsonNews.net also helped get the word out.

We heard that a boy at Davidson Elementary had gone on the morning announcements last week to report a lost bird, and there was briefly hope that we might make a match. (Apparently he lost a gray cockatoo.) After more than a week, Anita Lassiter said she and her husband decided they couldn’t keep the bird any longer.

On Friday, they took the bird to Sea Shell Pet Shop in Mooresville.  “The owner was happy to get it and put it in a cage with other parakeets. He said the bird was female, about 6 months old.”

CASH CLAIMED

Here’s a heart-warming lost and found tale. On the morning of May 6 we got a tip from a Davidson resident who had found a large sum of cash on the sidewalk downtown. He turned the cash in to police, who said it might be difficult to find the owner. He asked if DavidsonNews.net might help.

We wrote about the lost money in our Police Blotter column the same day. (May 6, 2009, “Did you lose some cash on Main Street?”) Police said it’s difficult to find owners of lost cash because there’s nothing to connect the money with a specific person – except the amount.

As it happens, a local businessman had been taking the cash down the street that morning to deposit it in the bank. When he arrived at the bank, he couldn’t find it. He returned to the office and searched frantically, with no luck.

That afternoon, a co-worker arrived at the office and logged on to DavidsonNews.net. Laughing, he asked his colleague if he had found the missing cash.

He hadn’t.

“I know,” said the co-worker, “it’s right here on DavidsonNews.net.” A short while later, the man claimed the cash at the police department by correctly identifying the amount: $400.

HINT HINT: TIME TO RE-LANDSCAPE

Neighbors of Matt and Suzanne Churchill, of South Street, had a little fun at their neighbors’ expense one recent evening.

The Churchills had a large tree removed in front of their house, and in its place or the past couple of months has been a wide circle of mulch – an inadequate substitute for a tree.

The Neal family next door also had a tree removed around the same time. Within days, Charlotte Neal was out planting a new maple and seeding the brown earth. The new tree is growing and the yard has quickly filled with green.

That got the neighbors, including Jay and Charlotte Neal and Christine and Steve Lamb, to teasing about the circle of brown. “It’s a helicopter landing pad,” someone suggested. That prompted a prank.

That evening, the neighbors grabbed a can of purple paint and sprayed a broad circle of purple. In the center, they painted a big “H.”

The next day, someone else (it may even have been the Churchills themselves) put a pair of toy helicopters in the middle.

The incident gave the whole neighborhood a good laugh – and maybe spurred a bit of action. Last week, workers were out in front of the Churchills’ home re-landscaping, planting new trees and shrubs and laying new sod.

So much for the helipad.

DOWNPOUR? NO PROBLEM

Kids played in an unexpected downpour Saturday during a block party on North Faulkner Way in the St. Alban's neighborhood. Luke Waters pours water over Marshall Graham's head as Lily Waters watches. With them are Jillian and Justin Lauder. (Rodney Graham photo)

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