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Krauses are  

pit-spitting royalty 

EAU CLAIRE, Mich. — The Young Gun was a little better than the Pellet Gun. 

Rick “Pellet Gun” Krause — a 12-time winner of the annual Cherry Pit Spitting Championship — was defeated by his eldest son, Brian “Young Gun” Krause on Saturday. 

Brian Krause, 24, spit a cherry pit 61 feet, 2 inches to beat his 48-year-old father, who topped out at 55 feet, 10 inches. 

Rick Krause’s youngest son, 19-year-old Matt “BB Gun” Krause, was third with a distance of 45 feet, 2 1/2 inches. 

“This is the first time we ever did that,” Brian Krause said of the one-two-three finish. Brian’s son, Braden Krause, won the under-5 division with a spit of 14 feet, 4 inches. 

The Krauses have come to embrace their status as pit-spitting royalty. Rick Krause appeared for his turn to spit wearing bright red tights and riding a sparkling purple motorcycle as rock music played in the background. 

Everybody knows Sally 

STOLLINGS, W.Va. — Sally Wall is more than a waitress. She’s a fixture at Morrison’s Drive-In, so popular with customers that the establishment offers $1 gift certificates with her picture called “Sally Dollars.” 

“She’s been here so long, I thought she’d die right there on the curb,” said Bob Mayhorn, Morrison’s owner and the son-of-law of co-founder Leonard L. Reffeitt. 

But Morrison’s soon will lose its star waitress. Wall turns 75 on Aug. 13, and she has decided it will be her last day on the job. After 47 years, she is putting away her order pad for good. 

“She’s fantastic,” Mayhorn said. “She’s great for public relations. I’ll probably have to hire two people to replace her. Everybody in town knows Sally. When people pull up, she orders for them. She knows what everybody wants.” 

Donkey is a democrat 

ST. LOUIS — In case anyone in Tom Bauer’s ward wonders if the alderman is a Democrat, the politician’s donkey should be a giveaway. 

And if Bauer has his way, he’ll ride Dan the donkey all the way into another term in the city’s 24th Ward. 

Bauer walks or rides the 4-year-old pet donkey more than three miles a day through the neighborhood, often getting a double take or two. 

Dan has replaced Bauer’s beloved Scotty, a 10-year-old donkey that died unexpectedly last summer while Bauer was vacationing. Scotty had been a neighborhood fixture, carrying Bauer door-to-door as a campaign gimmick on behalf of Bauer or another Democrat the alderman backed. 

Bought in Paris, Tenn., Dan also is being groomed to one day hit the campaign trail for Bauer, running for re-election next spring, or for other Democrats running locally before then.