Snake

SO IS this Saddam's most diabolical move of all? Has he said "yes" to weapons inspections just to ruin President Bush's day - or has he become so rattled by the saber-rattling that he's agreed to something that could actually undermine the threat of his deadly weapons? How do you say "Beware of snake" in Arabic?

Bucks County may have another snake scare. Yesterday around noon, an 8-to-10-foot snake was seen slithering across Snowball Drive in Levittown. Or at least that's what a witness told police. In June of 2007, in Bristol, about five miles south, a nine-foot albino python was caught, and a 12-foot boa constrictor or python was reportedly hiding in a crawl space - and possibly eating newborn kittens. The latest snake, described as resembling a python, went into a small wooded area near the intersection with Shell Flower Road, perhaps headed toward Mill Creek, according to the witness.

Municipal Judge Seamus P. McCaffery had a snake in the grass in front of him. No, it wasn't a sneaky defendant. It was the case of a man allegedly caught selling pot while his pet python was wrapped around his body. McCaffery saw a picture of the suspect holding his pet after the man argued that he was too wrapped up in his snake to have been selling marijuana, as police claim. The cops say the snake attracted their attention at Bridge and Hawthorne streets on March 1, and they then watched Tyree May, 22, of 24th Street near Indiana Avenue, make a drug sale.

Q. I am presently incarcerated. My mother recently died and left a very nice house free and clear of a mortgage, but left almost no money. My brother became administrator of her estate since there was no will. He used the money to pay a few of her bills and her funeral expenses. My sister informed me that he got a buyer for the house for $140,000. I received information a little while ago that he actually sold it for $170,000. I called him and wrote to him about this, and he told me to consider myself lucky since he could easily have told us that he sold it for a lot less.

Part documentary, part re-enactment, "The Southern Cross" is a sort of essay on film, one that explores the awkward shotgun marriage of European Catholicism and Inca spiritualism. The incompatibility of the two religions, the movie observes, is evident in the way each regards the snake. Spanish missionaries attempted to explain to natives (often forcibly assembled) that Satan, master of the underworld, was known to appear in the form of the snake. As "The Southern Cross" wryly explains, the image of the snake must have brought a brief flicker of recognition to eyes of the Inca captives, but for the wrong reasons.

For you who toil in the rat race of life, dodging slithering supervisors and steering clear of yammering yes-men, perhaps the last thing you want to see on the weekend is another snake. But that is what the Academy of Natural Sciences is showing, starting Saturday and running - or creeping, as it were - through May 9. "Snakes Alive" will take its visitors on an educational and interactive journey into the world of venomous snakes. Part of the exhibit's raison d'etre is the explanation that snakes are crucial members of the animal world.

NEW YORK - A poisonous Egyptian cobra that disappeared from a Bronx Zoo exhibit was found yesterday after nearly a week on the lam, zoo officials said. The 24-inch snake was found coiled in a dark corner of the zoo's reptile house, said zoo director Jim Breheny. "As you can imagine, we are delighted to report that the snake has been found alive and well," he said. The reptile house had closed last Friday after the snake disappeared and zoo workers couldn't find her. The snake quickly became the stuff of urban legend.

A 38-year-old snake breeder who was shot in Ridley Township while trying to sell 20 pythons worth about $12,000 is a computer software engineer from Douglassville who has a snake-breeding business on the side. Mark L. Haas remains in intensive care with a collapsed lung at Crozer-Chester Medical Center after being shot Sunday in the parking lot of Woodlyn Shopping Center, said Ridley Police Lt. Scott Willoughby. His injuries are not life-threatening, he said. Haas was supposed to sell the snakes to a buyer from New York, but police still do not know if the deal went bad or Haas was the victim of a random carjacking.

It probably seemed like the perfect place to stash marijuana. After all, who would want to tangle with a 4-foot-long, red-tailed boa constrictor? But the pet's owner didn't anticipate the thoroughness of the Clifton Heights Police Department. When Clifton Heights police have a search warrant, they look everywhere. And that includes a tank occupied by a sleeping snake. Clifton Heights police obtained a search warrant and entered the apartment of Dino Neri, 29, of the first block of North Glenwood Avenue, at 11:15 p.m. April 4. They had received information that a man had bought a bag of marijuana from Neri in Clifton Heights earlier in the evening and paid with a check.

A snake slithering in her path drew a screech of surprise from Michelle Wie yesterday, but it took a delay because of thunder and lightning to get her off her game after a flawless start in the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship. The 14-year-old from Honolulu was 3 under par on the holes before a 50-minute stoppage and 2 over on those after it as stroke-play qualifying concluded on the Green Course at Golden Horseshoe in Williamsburg, Va. Wie, the defending champion, had a 1-under 71 and two-day total of 141, good enough to tie her for sixth with three others.

Q. I am presently incarcerated. My mother recently died and left a very nice house free and clear of a mortgage, but left almost no money. My brother became administrator of her estate since there was no will. He used the money to pay a few of her bills and her funeral expenses. My sister informed me that he got a buyer for the house for $140,000. I received information a little while ago that he actually sold it for $170,000. I called him and wrote to him about this, and he told me to consider myself lucky since he could easily have told us that he sold it for a lot less.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - You have waited all offseason to hear Roy Halladay's side of the story. Well, you won't be disappointed. The Phillies' ace was on a fishing expedition on the Amazon River with former Blue Jays teammate Chris Carpenter and others when they and professional fisherman Skeet Reese happened upon a . . . Well, Halladay says it is his favorite story, so we'll let him take it from here . . . "I was not wrestling snakes....

A 38-year-old snake breeder who was shot in Ridley Township while trying to sell 20 pythons worth about $12,000 is a computer software engineer from Douglassville who has a snake-breeding business on the side. Mark L. Haas remains in intensive care with a collapsed lung at Crozer-Chester Medical Center after being shot Sunday in the parking lot of Woodlyn Shopping Center, said Ridley Police Lt. Scott Willoughby. His injuries are not life-threatening, he said. Haas was supposed to sell the snakes to a buyer from New York, but police still do not know if the deal went bad or Haas was the victim of a random carjacking.

LAST YEAR, police in Delaware County dealt with a runaway cow, a drug-dealer's alligator and a Vietnamese micro potbellied pig named "Steve" that made national headlines. Yesterday, it was ball python snakes. Twenty of them. Cops in Ridley Township were searching last night for a gunman who they believe shot a Doylestown man in the Woodlyn Shopping Center during a $12,600 snake deal gone wrong. Police say the victim, who was in stable condition at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, had planned to meet a man from New York City who had agreed to purchase the pythons in the parking lot. But the deal apparently went bad. "It ends up the guy that was supposed to buy the snakes shoots him," said Ridley Police Detective Lt. Scott Willoughby.

A 38-year-old snake breeder who was shot in Ridley Township while trying to sell 20 pythons worth about $12,000 is a computer software engineer from Douglassville who has a snake-breeding business on the side. Mark L. Haas remains in intensive care with a collapsed lung at Crozer-Chester Medical Center after being shot Sunday in the parking lot of Woodlyn Shopping Center, said Ridley Police Lt. Scott Willoughby. His injuries are not life-threatening, he said. Haas was supposed to sell the snakes to a buyer from New York, but police still do not know if the deal went bad or Haas was the victim of a random carjacking.

Is this what you get for $100 million? Is this what you get when a stack of chips - all of them, we were told - were pushed into the pot? Is this what you get after 13 seasons of patience? The Eagles, following a pathetic 21-17 loss to the equally pathetic Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, have hit rock bottom. The mathematicians will compute that the playoffs are still possible, but even an eternal optimist would come to the conclusion that the 3-6 Eagles season is over.

ATLANTIC CITY - The latest casino promotion in Atlantic City gives new meaning to "going bust. " The Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort plans to give $25,000 worth of plastic surgery to the winner of a player's card contest. The lucky one can mix and match surgeries including breast enhancements, tummy tucks, liposuction and face-lifts, until the total hits $25,000. "We wanted to change the face of a typical casino promotion," said Kathleen McSweeney, senior vice president of marketing for Trump Entertainment Resorts.

BADIN, Pakistan - Flood victims camped out near inundated fields and crowded hospitals Monday as authorities and international aid groups struggled to respond to Pakistan's second major bout of flooding in just over a year. Monsoon rains since early August have killed more than 220 people, damaged or destroyed about 665,000 homes, and displaced more than 1.8 million people in the southern Sindh province, according to the government and United Nations, which Sunday made an emergency appeal for funding.

Despite the Soul leading Arizona for the majority of the game, the National Conference-leading Rattlers scored with 6 seconds left to win, 55-54, at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday night. John Booker caught a 1-yard pass from quarterback Nick Davila to win it as Arizona (13-2) won its sixth straight game. The Soul (5-10) trotted out kicker Jon Striefsky, whose 44-yard field-goal try went wide left. "It should be a lot easier to make that field goal than throw a 'Hail Mary,' " Soul head coach Mike Hohensee said.

NOXEN, Pa. - Residents and visitors in northeastern Pennsylvania spent the weekend developing a relationship with rattlers. The Rattlesnake Roundup in Noxen Township has been held for almost four decades, and the local fire company uses it not only as the year's biggest fund-raiser but as an opportunity to teach people about snakes. Becky Buenzli of Nazareth went on the snake roundup with friends and with some help managed to catch one and wrestle it into a bin. "The adrenaline rush of just seeing a snake just right there in your face was crazy," she said.