Goober Pyle actor dies at 83
Goober Pyle actor dies at 83
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — George Lindsey, who spent nearly 30 years as the grinning Goober on “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Hee Haw,” has died. He was 83.
The Marshall-Donnelly-Combs Funeral Home in Nashville said Lindsey died early Sunday morning after a brief illness. Funeral arrangements were still being made.
Lindsey was the beanie-wearing Goober on “The Andy Griffith Show” from 1964 to 1968 and its successor, “Mayberry RFD,” from 1968 to 1971. He played the same jovial character — a service station attendant — on “Hee Haw” from 1971 until it went out of production in 1993.
“America has grown up with me,” Lindsey said in 1985. “Goober is every man; everyone finds something to like about ol’ Goober.”
He joined “The Andy Griffith Show” in 1964 when Jim Nabors, portraying Gomer Pyle, left the program. Goober Pyle, who had been mentioned on the show as Gomer’s cousin, replaced him.
“At that time, we were the best acting ensemble on TV,” Lindsey once said. “The scripts were terrific. Andy is the best script constructionist I’ve ever been involved with. And you have to lift your acting level up to his; he’s awfully good.”
Bodies found in missing kids case
WHITEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities were working Sunday to identify two bodies found at a Mississippi residence associated with a man suspected of abducting a woman and her three young daughters.
The FBI has said two bodies were found over the weekend at a home connected to 35-year-old Adam Mayes in Guntown, Miss., but agents have released few other details. Authorities believe that Mayes abducted the woman, Jo Ann Bain, and her three daughters, ages 8 to 14.
On Sunday, forensic scientists with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation searched the garage and backyard at the Hardeman County, Tenn., home where Bain, her husband and their children lived.
An AP reporter saw the agents searching before being told to leave the street where the home was located. Bain’s husband declined to comment Sunday. Meanwhile, a Bain family friend said Sunday that the woman and her daughters were moving to Arizona because two of the girls had asthma.
Linda Kirkland, a cook at the Country Cafe in Whiteville, Tenn., said that the Bains and their daughters were back in the Whiteville area taking care of some business after a death in the family.
Tennessee authorities said the family had not yet moved.
Bain had frequented the restaurant and never indicated anything was wrong.
“She seemed so happy,” Kirkland said.
“Jo Ann and the kids, everyone loves them. We’re just hoping to hear that they’re safe.”
Hikers who were held in Iran marry
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Two Americans who were detained and accused of spying after hiking near the Iraq-Iran border three years ago have been married in Northern California, a family friend said Sunday.
Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd were married at 4 p.m. Saturday at an undisclosed location, San Francisco attorney Ben Rosenfeld said. About 200 people attended the wedding — a “beautiful ceremony” that was held in a setting “chosen for its pastoral beauty,” he said.
Bauer, Shourd and Josh Fattal, all University of California, Berkeley graduates, were arrested on July 31, 2009, and held in Iran.
Iran accused the three of illegally entering the country and of spying. All three said they might have accidentally wandered across the unmarked frontier but they strongly denied espionage.
Bauer proposed to Shourd in January 2010 while both were in prison, fashioning an impromptu ring out of threads from his shirt.
Bauer and Fattal were sentenced to eight years after being convicted on spy-related charges, but were released after more than two years. Shourd was released on health grounds after 14 months.
Girl, 14, held in
4-year-old’s death
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indianapolis police say a 14-year-old girl found covered in blood faces a preliminary murder charge in her 4-year-old cousin’s stabbing death.
Police spokesman Kendale Adams said Sunday the girl was arrested after being questioned by officers. She’s being held on a preliminary murder charge at the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center.
Prosecutors will determine whether she’ll be formally charged in the death of Leon Thomas III.
Officers were called about 11 p.m. Saturday to an Indianapolis apartment, where they found the bleeding boy. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Police later found the 14-year-old girl, covered in blood and walking along a nearby street.
Adams says the boy and his 11-year-old sister were at their grandparent’s apartment at the time of the attack.
Surviving exotic animals returned
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio zoo on Friday returned five surviving exotic animals to a woman whose husband released dozens of wild creatures last fall before he committed suicide.
Two leopards, two primates and a bear have been held at the Columbus zoo since October. State officials had ordered the animals be quarantined on suspicion of infectious diseases. Ohio’s agriculture director lifted the order last Monday, and Marian Thompson of Zanesville, who had appealed the order, retrieved the animals Friday from the zoo.
Thompson took them back to the eastern Ohio farm where her husband released 56 animals — including black bears, mountain lions and Bengal tigers — before he committed suicide. Authorities killed 48 of the animals, fearing for the public’s safety.