Rancher Lassos Bike Thief Outside Oregon Wal-Mart

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EAGLE POINT, Ore. (AP) — A rancher jumped on his horse Friday morning and lassoed a man who was trying to steal a bicycle in the parking lot of an Oregon Wal-Mart, police said.
Robert Borba was at the Eagle Point store loading dog food and a camping tent into his truck when he heard a woman screaming that someone was trying to steal her bike, the Medford Mail Tribune reports (http://goo.gl/L5PTLm). 

The 28-year-old said he quickly got his horse, Long John, out of its trailer. He grabbed a rope, rode over to the man who was reportedly struggling with the bike gears and attempting to flee on foot. Borba lassoed the man around the legs and when he dropped, Borba dragged him to one end of the parking lot. 

“I seen this fella trying to get up to speed on a bicycle,” Borba told the Tribune. “I wasn’t going to catch him on foot. I just don’t run very fast.” 

Borba said the man tried to grab a tree and get away, but he kept the rope tight and the man in place. 

                                                    KTVL CBS 10 News, Medford

“I use a rope every day, that’s how I make my living,” Borba said. “If it catches cattle pretty good, it catches a bandit pretty good.” 

Eagle Point police Sgt. Darin May said officers arrived and found the lassoed man and bike on the ground in the parking lot. 

“We’ve never had anyone lassoed and held until we got there,” May said. “That’s a first for me.” 

Police arrested Victorino Arellano-Sanchez, whom they described as a transient from the Seattle area, on a theft charge. 

Arellano-Sanchez is jailed in Jackson County. Staff members at the jail say they don’t think he has an attorney.

Oregon Man Behind Decision to Blow up Whale Dies

 Technology Oregon Man Behind Decision to Blow up Whale Dies 

An Oregon highway engineer whose 1970 decision to use a half-ton of dynamite to blast away a beached dead whale became an Internet sensation has died. George Thomas Thornton was 84.

The Oregon Department of Transportation says Thornton was a highly respected engineer who worked for the agency for 37 years.

In November 1970, he got the call to remove a 45-foot-long sperm whale that washed up near Florence. He decided to use dynamite to disintegrate the animal. The blast rained down pieces of whale that covered spectators and flattened the roof of a car.

A Portland TV station filmed the explosion, and it was broadcast widely. The video of the whale explosion remains a popular feature on YouTube.

Perl Funeral Home in Medford confirmed Thornton died Oct. 27. His family declined to comment.