‘His Deeds Are Living’: A Message In A Bottle Provides Healing

Beth Dalbey
The driver of a pickup transporting 100 monkeys pulls a crate of monkeys off of state Route 54 at the intersection with Interstate 80 near Danville, Pennsylvania, Friday after the pickup and trailer were hit by a dump truck. (Jimmy May/Bloomsburg Press Enterprise via AP)
The driver of a pickup transporting 100 monkeys pulls a crate of monkeys off of state Route 54 at the intersection with Interstate 80 near Danville, Pennsylvania, Friday after the pickup and trailer were hit by a dump truck. (Jimmy May/Bloomsburg Press Enterprise via AP)

Good morning! It’s Tuesday, Jan. 25, and world health experts say there are promising signs the COVID-19 pandemic is entering a more manageable phase. We’ll have more about that, but here are some of the other stories we’re following on Patch:

  • A bottle that washed up on the shore in Ireland is helping the Maryland boy who tossed it into the Atlantic in the summer of 2019 cope with the death of a friend.

  • All 100 monkeys are accounted for after several escaped when a truck transporting them to a federal quarantine center collided with a dump truck.

  • A disabled veteran in North Carolina played his fortune cookie numbers in the Mega Millions lottery game and won big.

Healing Balm Of Message In A Bottle

A couple in Ireland expected an adventure filled with intrigue when they found a bottle with a message and a couple of $1 bills tucked inside that had washed up on the shore of their northwestern Ireland vacation town.

What they didn’t know is that tracking down Sasha Yonyak, who tossed the bottle in the ocean off the coast of Maryland 2½ years earlier with his friend Wayne Smith, would help him cope with Wayne’s death in
August.

They were more alike than one might have expected, with five decades between their ages, and they formed a strong friendship over fishing.

“He was still grieving, and this brought back fond memories,” Rita Simmonds, who found the bottle, told The Washington Post. “We think somehow Wayne had a part in bringing us all together.”

"This bottle reflects the friendship of Mr. Wayne and Sasha,” the boy’s father told The Maryland Coast Dispatch. “ Mr. Wayne is no longer with us, but what he did with Sasha is. His deeds are living.” » Message In A Bottle Travels 3,200 Miles, Helps Boy Cope With Loss, via Annapolis, Maryland, Patch

Last Of Escaped Monkeys Found

Three macaque monkeys that escaped when a pickup truck transporting them to a federal quarantine site crashed with a dump truck near Danville, Pennsylvania, on Friday have been euthanized, though authorities haven’t said why.

The truck was transporting 100 monkeys to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quarantine facility after their arrival in New York on Friday from Mauritius, an Indian Ocean island nation.

All of the lab monkeys have been accounted for now, The Associated Press reported. » Missing Lab Monkeys: The Latest, via Pittsburgh Patch

Changing Fortunes

Gabriel Fierro’s fortune certainly did change when he played the numbers he received in a fortune cookie at a Charlotte, North Carolina, restaurant in the Mega Millions lottery game and won a $4 million jackpot.

Fierro, a disabled combat veteran and retired master sergeant who spent 32 years in the Army, said he doesn’t usually play his fortune cookie numbers, “but I tried them on a whim.” » Disabled Combat Vet Plays Fortune Cookie Numbers For $4M Prize, via Cornelius, North Carolina

Hopeful COVID-19 Signs — Maybe

World health officials are offering hope that the ebbing of the omicron variant wave could give way to a new, more manageable phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, even as they warn of difficult weeks ahead and the possibility of another, more-dangerous coronavirus variant arising.

In the U.S., cases have crested and are dropping rapidly, following a pattern seen in Britain and South Africa, with researchers projecting a period of low spread in many countries by the end of March. Though U.S. deaths — now at 2,000 each day — are still rising, new hospital admissions have started to fall, and a drop in deaths is expected to follow.» Hope Seen Once Omicron Wave Increases Global Immunity, via Across America Patch

Related

Like many parents, Julie Hynes, of Bridgewater, New Jersey, struggled with the decision to vaccinate her children. She did, explaining why in a letter we’ve reprinted on Bridgewater Patch. (Photo courtesy of Julie Hynes)
Like many parents, Julie Hynes, of Bridgewater, New Jersey, struggled with the decision to vaccinate her children. She did, explaining why in a letter we’ve reprinted on Bridgewater Patch. (Photo courtesy of Julie Hynes)

Around ‘The Patch’

3 Firefighters Killed, 1 Critical: Four firefighters were trapped when a vacant townhouse collapsed while ablaze in south Baltimore Monday, officials said, via Baltimore Patch.

Mustang Slams Lamborghini Crowd: A Mustang veered out of control and drove into a crowd at a Lamborghini dealership, via Sarasota, Florida, Patch.

'The Gilded Age' Has Familiar Scenes: Portions of the show set to premiere on HBO were filmed in historic properties across Newport, via Newport, Rhode Island, Patch.

Wave Of Slush: A snowplow driver sent a torrent of slush onto 40 vehicles, injuring 12, on the Ohio Turnpike, via Cleveland Patch.

National Headlines

Here are some of the top national headlines from Across America Patch and elsewhere on our platform:

Today In History

In one of the most closely followed trials of the time, cult leader Charles Manson and three of his followers, Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkle, were convicted on Jan. 25, 1971, of the brutal 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others, via History.com.

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This article originally appeared on the Across America Patch