EUGENE, Ore. -- A woman is accused of pouring boiling oil on her boyfriend's face in an argument over a Bible verse. Angela S. Morris, 19, was charged with domestic violence assault and jailed on $250,000 bail. Her 31-year-old boyfriend, whose name was not released, was hospitalized with severe burns on his face, neck and chest.

The two were reading the Bible at the boyfriend's apartment May 13 when Morris went to the kitchen to prepare french fries, police said.

Morris told police that they continued to argue and that her boyfriend grabbed her from behind. Police said he then went to his bedroom to lie down. Morris followed and threw the oil on him, police said.

Father, child lived in Portland city park for four years

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. - A man and his 12-year-old daughter spent four years living in a remote hillside in Portland's Forest Park, until they were spotted by a runner last month, police say.

Tipped by the runner, officers found a tarp-covered, wood-framed shelter deep in the park, covering sleeping bags, a Bible, a stack of old World Book Encyclopedias, and tools. A rope swing, a tilled vegetable garden and a small creek were nearby.

A police dog found the pair huddled behind a tree about 50 yards from the camp. They appeared clean, well-fed and healthy, police Sgt. Michael Barkley said, and the girl was well-spoken beyond her years.

The man identified himself as Frank, and told police he was a 53-year-old Marine Corps veteran and college graduate who served in Vietnam. He came to Oregon with his daughter, Ruth, from Tacoma with no job and virtually no money.

Rather than live on the streets and expose Ruth to alcohol and drugs, Frank said, they hiked deep into Forest Park and built the shelter. During the four years they lived in the park, they left the park twice a week to bank, attend church, buy groceries and clothes from Goodwill. Frank, a devout Christian, said he taught his daughter using the old encyclopedias. They lived on a $400-a-month disability check.

They grew vegetables and used the nearby creek to keep clean. They stored perishable foods in a small pool of water at the creek's edge. The man and girl told police that the runner was the first person to find their camp in four years.

Their biggest worry was being split up, Barkley said.

"Please, don't take me from my daddy," the girl told the 26-year police veteran as they sat on a log talking for at least 30 minutes.

Barkley, who has a 6-year-old daughter, said he was struck by the relationship between father and daughter.

"Their living conditions were unacceptable, but their relationship was a real deep love and caring for each other," Barkley said.

A pediatrician found the girl healthy, with no sign of physical or sexual abuse. A criminal background check came up empty.

Police persuaded them to leave the camp, and they spent two nights at a homeless shelter. Then Barkley found the man a job and a place for the two to live on a friend's horse farm in Yamhill County.

Now, Barkley said, they are living in a mobile home and adjusting to life with heat, electricity and running water. Frank mows lawns and is learning to drive a tractor, and the pair ride bicycles to a nearby church on Sundays.

"The amazing part of this was the fact that Sergeant Barkley really evaluated what was best for these people," North Precinct Cmdr. Scott Anderson said. "Sometimes police would be a little quicker to hand things off to state workers. But instead … he saw this through to the end."

Boy fends off alligator that 'took bite out of my head, big chunk out of my ear'

Associated Press

DELTONA, Fla. -- An alligator dragged a 12-year-old swimmer underwater in a lake, but the boy punched the reptile and swam safely to shore.

Malcolm Locke was treated for cuts and scrapes that were not considered life threatening.

He was bit while swimming Wednesday in Lake Diana, near his grandmother's house just north of Orlando.

He saw the alligator's tail first, he said. "It was coming right at me," he told NBC's "Today" show Thursday.

Malcolm, who is 5 feet, 4 inches tall, tried to swim away, but the alligator, which was 4 to 6 feet long, attacked his head and pulled him under water, officials said.

"It took a bite out of my head and a big chunk out of my ear," Malcolm said.

He punched the alligator, and "it just squirmed away," he said. He swam to shore, and a neighbor drove him to a hospital.

A trapper was sent to the lake to remove the alligator.

The boy's mother, Misty Warren, said the family has seen alligators in the area before, but none had ever bothered them.

The best thing to do during an alligator attack is struggle, make noise and create confusion, said Joy Hill, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission.

"Malcolm did the right thing," Hill said. "He fought the alligator and it let him go."

California town that created online bidding frenzy finally sold

Associated Press

BRIDGEVILLE - The tiny Humboldt County town that sparked an ill-fated eBay bidding war nearly two years ago has finally been sold - this time for real.

A Southern California financial adviser is the proud new owner of what he called an "absolutely gorgeous" 82-acre piece of land among the redwoods, about 270 miles northwest of San Francisco and 30 miles from the Pacific Ocean.

The $700,000 deal was finalized Wednesday, said Bruce Krall, who lives in Laguna Hills in Orange County.

He said he had no idea the town was "quasi-famous from the eBay thing."

For Krall, it was just a good deal.

"There's a mile-and-a-half of river frontage. It's very green and beautiful. Great weather," he said. "In San Francisco, $700,000 doesn't buy you a one-car garage."

In December 2002, Bridgeville became the first town "sold" on eBay. Almost 250 bids were cast during the town's month on the electronic auction block. Bidding started at $5,000 and went well beyond the asking price of $775,000 to close at $1,777,877.

But the buyer never came out to see the property, no check arrived and the deal fell through, real estate agent Denise Stuart said.

"He got cold feet and backed out," she said. "A lot of people didn't realize there is a lot of work to be done up there."

A dozen more potential deals failed, prompting Stuart to post the property last year on more standard listings that brokers routinely share.

Enter Krall. Or, more accurately, his father, who saw the listing on the Internet - not at eBay.

Krall said he was looking for property for two associates, whom he preferred not to identify.

"They were looking for some remote kind of acreage so they could get away and build on and live on," Krall said. "My dad was on the computer playing around. He had printed out this flyer on Bridgeville and he said, 'Look, why don't you buy this?"'

Krall said he called the agent, she never called back and he filed the brochure away.

Several months later, he rediscovered the advertisement.

"It hadn't sold yet, so I went up and bought it," he said.

The town - a former Pony Express stop - was booming about 80 years ago, Krall said. It boasted a general store, a 24-room hotel, a saw mill - and 100 residents.

It's been "severely neglected," Krall said. His associates plan to move this summer to start cleaning it up, and will live there as caretakers.

Stuart said residents are excited about Krall buying the town.

"He'll breathe life back into it," she said.

No plug nickel, this: Liberty Head with colorful past sells for $3 million

Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS -- A 1913 Liberty Head nickel that was minted under mysterious circumstances, owned by royalty and celebrated in an episode of TV's "Hawaii Five-O" was sold Thursday for $3 million.

"Many argue this is the most important coin in our history," said Bruce L. Smith of Blanchard and Co., which brokered the sale. "I think it's the most beautiful."

Neither the buyer, described as both a collector and investor, nor the seller was identified.

At least two other coins have sold for more, both at auction. In 1999, an 1804 silver dollar sold for $4.14 million. Two years ago, a 1933 $20 gold piece went for $7.59 million.

The $3 million coin is one of only five Liberty Head nickels minted in 1913. The design had been discontinued in 1912 and the mint was switching over to the Indian Head nickel.

The U.S. Mint sometimes ran off coins as tests, and the coins may have been struck that way, Smith said. They surfaced in 1920 in the possession of Samuel Brown, a former mint employee, and have soared in value ever since.

"The innocent view is that it was the test of a handful of coins," Smith said. "The less innocent view is that Samuel Brown knew he would have a valuable investment down the road."

During the Depression, Texas millionaire B. Max Mehl sparked dreams of wealth by offering a $1,000 reward for one of the 1913 Liberty Heads. The offer was said to have regularly caused traffic jams as streetcar conductors took time to examine the nickels passengers paid as fare.

One of the nickels sold for $1 million in 1993, another went for $1.5 million in 1996, and a third fetched $1.85 million in 2001.

The coin sold by Blanchard is considered the second best in quality, but the one with the most colorful history.

Called the Olsen Specimen for a previous owner, it once belonged to King Farouk of Egypt, an avid coin collector. It was also owned by Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss, and was the subject of a 1973 episode of "Hawaii Five-O," titled "The $100,000 Nickel."