Chuck Shepherd

Jason Sexton told KFSM-TV in Fort Smith, Ark., recently that he alone had been digging the massive hole that neighbors noticed, now 34 feet deep and with separate tunnels extending off the main hole. Police had come to check it out, since it was on another person's private property — and not the city's, which Sexton had assumed. He said he had been digging off and on for three years to get an answer to whether "the Spanish" had been in Fort Smith centuries ago, mining iron, and, if so, the site should therefore be a lucrative tourist destination. Sexton said he felt he had to give his explanation: "Nobody in their right mind," he said, "would dig a hole [this big] for no reason."

Overkill?

A June 2016 police raid on David Jessen's Fresno County (California) farmhouse caused a $150,000 mess when sheriff's deputies and Clovis Police Department officers "rescued" it from a trespassing homeless man — with the massive destruction leading to Jessen's lawsuit announced in March. The misdemeanant helped himself to an ice cream bar, some milk and half a tomato, but was otherwise "unarmed"; however, by the time the police standoff ended, the "crime scene" included more than 50 cop cars, a SWAT team (and backups), two helicopters, standby ambulances, a police robot and a crisis negotiation team. Windows, walls and wrought-iron doors were destroyed; tear gas and a "flash bomb" were employed. Jessen suspects that the farmhouse's isolation enticed police to decide that it presented an excellent training opportunity.

Crime report

• At a time of growing awareness that some people seem almost addicted to their cellphones and instant 24/7 communication, police in Brookfield, Wis., released surveillance photos of a woman in the act of robbing banks on March 25 and 27 — while standing at teller counters and talking on the phone during the entire episodes. Acting on a tip from the photos, police arrested Sarah Kraus, 33, on March 28.

• Paul Perry Jr., 39, sound asleep behind the wheel of his car with the motor running at 6 a.m. on April 2, was in no position to talk his way out of a DWI ticket, but did offer a gentle challenge to the Youngstown, Ohio, police officer. Several times, according to the police report, Perry offered to "thumb wrestle" the officer to get out of the ticket. From the report: "Perry was advised officers would not thumb-wrestle him."

Leading economic indicator

The eight elite Ivy League universities are better thought of as "hedge fund(s) with classes," according to a March report by the activist Open the Books, and thus there is little reason for taxpayers to have given them the more than $41 billion in grants and entitlements they received over a recent six-year period. The schools are already legendary for their $119 billion "endowments," based on donations from alumni and aggressive investment. Those endowments are enough, according to Open the Books, that, assuming donations continue to arrive at the same pace, schools could provide free tuition to every student in the eight schools — in perpetuity. (Even if no new donations are made, the eight schools could provide such free tuition for 51 years.)

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