Man Wrestles Deer In Hair Salon

Philly Edge’s Joe Student passed along a tale of some “breaking news” in Quakertown: A man wrestling with a deer.

Randy Goepfert, 36, had just finished paying for his haircut at Holiday Hair in Quakertown Plaza off Route 309 when he heard a loud thump. He turned around and saw that a buck with four to six inch antlers had rammed against the salon’s glass window. A second later the deer burst through the glass door within feet of two young children, sending employees and the handful of customers shrieking.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God!,’ ” said 9-year-old William Frei of Haycock, who was playing a hand-held video game in a waiting area when the deer rammed through the door within a yard of him. “Me and my mom jumped on our chairs.”

As the deer slid and stamped about, knocking shampoo and mouse bottles from a display rack, Goepfert, a sturdily-built 5-foot-10, tackled the animal and gripped it in a headlock. He wrestled with the animal for about two minutes, but the deer eventually kicked him hard in the back and broke free.

Hey, instead of just saying, “Won’t someone think of the children,” Goepfert went out there and protected the children. By putting a deer in a headlock. “I didn’t get one during hunting season,” Goepfert said. “And then here’s one today.” Indeed. Somebody give that man a medal.

BREAKING: Patron protects children as deer barrels into Quakertown hair salon [The Intelligencer]

Breaking News From CNN

This is from earlier today. Apparently the Pelican is a supporter of Barack Obama, and said some inflammatory things.

CNN Breaking News [Something Awful Forums]

Breaking: Major ‘Metro’ Movement

Three hundred-word stories don’t write themselves, and earlier this week PW looked at Metro and how it’s changed in the eight years in town: “Over the last two years the Metro quietly reinvented itself as a daily niche publication attempting to reach young Philadelphians through stories about indie bands, the future of the city, pseudo-mayoral candidates with mohawks and the anticasino movement.”

Well, yeah. Word trickling out of 30 S. 15th Street is Metro laid off at least two editorial staffers and several business-side staffers today, sadly. The company lost $9 million in its U.S. operations last year.

That other rumor going around, about the Inquirer building being sold to Drexel and the newspapers moving to the South Philly waterfront or the Comcast Center is, I think, BS.

CBS 3: Officer Shot Yesterday Has Died

CBS 3 is reporting Charles Cassidy, the officer shot yesterday during a hold-up, has died. The 25-year veteran of the force was 54. My regrets and sympathy to his family and friends. (Link fixed.)

Police Shooting In West Oak Lane

Hey, not fun news update: A second cop has been shot in Philadelphia for the second time in the past day; he was shot in the head at Dunkin’ Donuts in West Oak Lane. If you can get to a TV, the coverage is weird and surreal; going from, say, Guiding Light to coverage of a cop being shot, then back to the soap opera. This shooting was near a plaque dedication of fallen officers, which had to be postponed. (Update: Clarified that previous sentence.) That means there were a lot of officers nearby, and they’re chasing after the suspect. The officer shot in the head is in critical condition.

NBC 10 is going from the morning news magazine show with everyone dressed up in Halloween costumes to the coverage. Meanwhile, last night a police officer responded to a shooting at 15th and Sansom — hey, right outside the PW offices — and was shot at 22nd and Sansom in the shoulder. He’s going to be okay, reports say.

The suspect in the shooting last night at 9 apparently dove into the Schuylkill and died.

Philadelphia Police Officer Shot In Head [NBC 10]
Cop wounded by suspect in shooting of 3 [Inquirer]

Breaking: Marimow New ‘Inky’ Editor?

Rumor has it that Bill Marimow, who just signed on as NPR’s ombudsman, is the new editor of the Inquirer.

Marimow is a former Inquirer reporter from 1972 - 1987. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1985 for investigative reporting, adding it to another one he had won for distinguished public service with a co-writer in 1978. He was editor of the Baltimore Sun in the early 2000s and was managing editor of the paper for the six years before that.

Brian Tierney is meeting with the Inquirer troops at 1:30 p.m. Marimow would be replacing Amanda Bennett, it seems.

More TK, of course.

Update, 12:57 p.m.: Marimow’s appearance in building a coincidence? Half-hour until meeting? What will happen??? Developing, as they say…

Bill Marimow [NPR]

Hip? Face? Lip? Who Knows, It’s Breaking News!

A police officer responding to a bank robbery was shot this morning after a bank robbery at 3rd and Packer in South Philly. That much we know. As for where he was shot, well, let’s go to the stations…

NBC 10:

Police said the officer was shot at Garritt and Second streets around 10:15 a.m. and was transported to Jefferson Hospital in unknown condition. He has a graze wound to the lip.

6 ABC:

Early reports indicate an officer suffered a graze wound to the face.

KYW 1060:

The officer, who suffered a graze wound of the hip, was rushed to Jefferson Hospital in a patrol car for treatment. One other officer and two civilians were also being evaluated for unspecified minor injuries.

Let’s hope the officer is okay, regardless of what body part was shot.

Cop, Civilian Shot During Attempted Bank Robbery [NBC 10]
Reports: Officer Shot in Face [6 ABC]
Officer Wounded by Bank Robbery Suspect in South Philadelphia [KYW 1060]

Your Evening Commute To Get A Lot Worse

An underground explosion has shut down pretty much all of Center City. A 36-block radius — 13th to 18th, Walnut to Vine — is closed. (The explosion also took out power to PW. Oh, the horror.)

Thousands of people have been evacuated after an underground explosion and then fire at S. 15 Street. KYW 1060 is reporting that a cable had a fault in it at 15th Street, and then someone tried to switch the load to another cable — but instead switched it to the faulty cable. (Got all that?)

Now there are fires at 15th and Ranstead and 13th and Chestnut. Of course, if this really affects you, you’re probably out in front of your building and not reading this, are you?

Update, 3:10 p.m.: Fire commish says one person is injured; also has hilarious “has to turn down his radio” moment during the presser, as if he were on sports talk radio.

Underground Electrical Explosion Rocks Penn Center Area [KYW 1060]

Best to read it every day for your central and western Pa. newspaper hiring-related news

From the front of the Philly.com’s news update page:

I’m happy for Ms. Muthler and Mr. Madurski, but I can’t help but think there might be some bigger news in Pennsylvania today. But, maybe not.

News [Philly.com]