From the Bismark Tribune: Firefighters in Great Bend, N.D., have decided to use their $30,000 pension fund to help pay for a new $90,000 fire truck. Almost all of the department's 30 members gave up their retirement money.

"We stuck a fair amount of money into (the old truck) every year," said Fire Chief Tim Fenske. "It was just old and slow and not the most reliable."

The department also used gambling revenue from two area bars and money raised through its annual fish fry.