Different kinds of stories, the offbeat from 2017 in Harford County

From a deer with a jug on its head to a fish normally found in the Pacific caught off the shores of Ocean City, there were certainly some crazy stories for Harford County in 2017.

Jughead the Deer captured the attention of central Harford residents for more than a week in January.

The deer had been nicknamed "Jughead" by residents in the Glenwood Park Country Club community off Route 924 in Bel Air, where he had seen him roaming the woods.

The community had rallied to find the deer, which had a plastic jug stuck on his head. Residents posted about dialing sightings.

"At this point he's suffering. He can't see very well. He can't eat, he can't drink, he's stuck," Chris Beauchamp, who lives in the neighborhood, said.

Maryland Department of Natural Resources staff spent a good portion of the last weekend in January trying to find the deer to help. They were finally successful around 5:30 p.m. Sunday, when they were finally able to tranquilize him.

"We have him in hand. Standby," DNR Wildlife and Heritage Service director Paul Peditto posted on the community page.

"I can confirm that our Wildlife Response Team successfully freed the deer from the container, monitored him for more than an hour until he recovered from the tranquilizer, and released him into the wild with two new ear tags," Gregg Bortz, public information officer for the Department of Natural Resources.

And Jughead went happily on his way.

Early morning at Waffle House

New Kid on the Block and "Blue Bloods" star Donnie Wahlberg left some stunned Waffle House employees a more than generous tip late one night this summer.

Wahlberg, whose band had performed on a Sunday night in D.C., was on his way north when he and a handful of people stopped at the restaurant off I-95 in Edgewood to grab a late, or early, bite to eat.

It was 2:15 a.m. and three people – server Angi Silen, cook and grill operator Nick Funk and server Tyler Spangler – were working.

Wahlberg walked in and said "we're hungry, we're good people and we tip well," server Silen recalled.

"Tip well" meant a $500 tip to be split among Silen, Funk and Spangler, which worked out to $166.67 each.

Wahlberg was so pleased with his early morning service, he Tweeted a picture of himself with two of the staff with the caption ""Great crew at @WaffleHouse in Edgewater MD! Thanks for the awesome service! Night made! #WaffleHouse!"

Visit from the Donut Boy

Nine-year-old "Donut Boy" Tyler Carach stopped by the Harford County Sheriff's Office Southern Precinct one Friday afternoon in August.

The Florida youngster was on his mission to deliver doughnuts to law enforcement officers across the country.

"One day me and my mom went to a local store and I saw four cops and I asked if I could buy them mini donuts with my own money. So I did and it made them happy," said Tyler, who wore a cape decorated with pictures of doughnuts. "When we left, I told my mom, I want to buy doughnuts for every cop in America."

Tyler delivered 500 Munchkins and 500 doughnuts donated by Raj Patel, owner of Dunkin' Donuts in Abingdon.

"This is just so cool, this young man thinks enough of the men and women in law enforcement to travel around the country and through his gift of doughnuts, shows his appreciation for what law enforcement officers do every single day. It's very nice to see this," Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said.

Before Tyler left for his next stop, the sheriff presented Tyler with an agency patch to add to his collection of patches collected from all the agencies he had visited.

The concrete mass

The cause of severe flooding near Market and Baltimore streets in Aberdeen earlier this year was discovered in late September: A 120-pound concrete block.

Investigating the source of the flooding, city public works staff found a "conglomeration" of concrete block, gravel and stone inside a pipe. The biggest piece was 2 ½ feet wide and 1 ½ feet tall.

The Aegis: Top stories

Weekdays

Daily highlights from Harford County's number one source for local news.

There were also some larger stones, gravel, grit, blocks and other "stuff" backed up behind it, the city said.

The block was removed and the city said it would monitor the area during future rains.

Oh, an opah! No, two opahs!

In mid-November, Bel Air resident Austin Ensor and his fishing crew reeled in a 105-pound opah, a fish normally found in the Pacific Ocean, while they were fishing the waters off Ocean City.

Ensor and his three-man crew of the Primary Search had been searching for swordfish in 1,700-foot deep waters — they target marlin, tuna and sharks during the summer — when they hooked the opah.

Ensor, who recognized the opah by its reddish-orange with white spots on a flat body as they were reeling it in, said the fish is usually caught in the waters off the West Coast and near Hawaii.

As if catching one opah in Ocean City wasn't enough, Ensor caught a second one, weighing 159.6 pounds, in early December.