Duke Energy Corp. (DUK) News

XENIA, Ohio, July 30 (UPI) -- Officials in an Ohio county said they have given up replacing Wildman Road street signs, which had become a popular item among thieves.

Greene County Engineer Robert Geyer said his office has stopped replacing the signs on the rural road because they last less than 24 hours before they are stolen, the Dayton Daily News reported.

"You could put it up today and it'd be gone tomorrow," Geyer said. "It's out in the boonies and easy to steal."

Geyer said his office spends thousands of dollars each year replacing stolen or destroyed street signs. The engineer said he believes most of the signs end up as decorations in garages, bedrooms and dorm rooms.

Joseph Litvin, Montgomery County engineer, said his office put oft-targeted street signs, including Stoner Drive and Snake Street, on higher posts to deter thieves.

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio, July 30 (UPI) -- Fire officials in an Ohio city said a man sparring with a punching bag inadvertently caused a natural gas leak when he knocked the meter off his wall.

Middletown Fire Department officials said they responded to Jackson and Midway streets Tuesday and began evacuating the surrounding homes, while one of the two men inside the house at the time of the leak was taken to Atrium Medical Center complaining of nausea, the Middleton Journal reported.

"This was an extremely dangerous situation because this house could have easily blown up and at least three or four houses nearby could have suffered significant damage," Deputy Fire Chief Tom Snively said.

Snively said Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK PRA) (NYSE:DUK) crews were able to shut the gas off about an hour after the leak began, and residents were allowed to re-enter their homes at about 8 p.m.

NEW YORK, July 30 (UPI) -- A 59-year friendship that began as a school assignment to write a letter to a soldier stationed in Korea finally has culminated in the pair meeting in New York.

Barbara Rohl, 69, of New York said she first sent a letter to Orville Schumacher, 80, of Nebraska -- then a soldier stationed in Korea -- as a school assignment when she was 11 years old in 1951 and the two continued exchanging letters for 59 years, the New York Post reported.

Rohl and Schumacher met in person for the first time last week.

"I'm getting past 80 now and I figured if there was a time I was ever going to meet her, it's now," Schumacher said.

Rohl said she had strong emotions about meeting her longtime pen pal for the first time.

"I can't even explain how I feel about this whole thing," she said. "It's a beautiful thing."