Last Laugh. In Olivette, Mo., Garage Owner Walter Broeker was defeated for re-election to the town's board of trustees, promptly hiked rent for the town's fire truck from $80 a month to $250.

On the Fairway. In Sacramento, William V. Vineyard decided to swear off golf after he was 1) hit in the midriff by a drive during a morning round, 2) knocked out by another that afternoon.

Waiting. In Edmonton, Alberta, a jobhunter advertised in the Edmonton Journal: "Back East they say, 'Go West, young man.' Well, I'm here. Now what?"

Near Miss. In Natchez, Miss., Secretary of State Heber Ladner, addressing the League of Women Voters, solemnly began: "It thrills my soul whenever I come to the historic city of Vicksburg," discovered that he had begun reading the wrong speech.

Point System. In London, Dr. Gabriel Mouchot, a Frenchman writing in the British Medical World, advised Britons to concentrate on love, urged that "a ministry of matrimony be set up immediately and everybody given a marriage coupon."

Lesson for Today. In Montgomery, Ala., the Rev. Dallas Haygood discovered that his car had been stripped of headlights, battery, tail lights, two tires and two wheels, decided to devote his Sunday sermon to the subject of stealing.

Sales Trend. In Los Angeles, Albert Zubrinski's chain market was robbed of $900 by holdup men who grumbled, "Business must be bad," was robbed of $4,650 a week later by the same men who commented, "Business is picking up."

Bookkeeping Entry. In St. Paul, Minn., after Thomas J. Palmer had run up a $2 bar bill in the Jolly-O Tavern, he touched a match to the tavern's credit records, causing a $35,000 fire.

Escalator Clause. In Biggleswade. England, C. J. Jeeves asked permission of an astonished judge to increase his estranged wife's weekly allowance from -L-2 155. to -L-3 ($8.40), because of the increased cost of living.

The Finer Things. In Cincinnati, Dr. Lowell Keirle, 26, won a divorce from her husband, Dr. Alfred M. Keirle. 29, on her charge that he brought home champagne, orchids and $500 worth of tropical fish when what they really needed was food.

Field Test. In Durham, England, engineering students had it all figured out on paper that 20 men could outpull one elephant until Jumbo, a circus animal, ruined their calculation by pulling both students and teaching staff 20 dusty yards on the end of a tow rope.

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