CROOKSTON, Minn., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A Polk County, Minn., worker was sent home Tuesday after the front-end loader he was driving on frozen Red Lake River fell through the ice.

Witnesses said Mike Raymond apparently was trying to clear snow around his ice-fishing house when the ice gave way, the Crookston (Minn.) Times reported.

Problem was, he wasn't supposed to take the loader on the ice.

Raymond escaped injury and was sent home after Tuesday's incident, Polk County Highway Engineer Rich Sanders told the Crookston Times. Sanders didn't elaborate about the situation or any punishment.

Raymond was clearing snow from county-owned lots in town and detoured to a public boat launch, where he planned to clear snow from around his ice-fishing house when the ice gave way, the newspaper said.

Lots of heavy equipment were hooked together to heave the front loader from its watery abode. It was still idling when it was pulled from the river, the newspaper said, but any damage was unknown.

KYOTO, Japan, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Kyoto residents and restaurant owners have organized to protect the Japanese city's geishas from pushy and obnoxious tourists.

Geiko, as geishas are called in Kyoto, and maiko, or apprentices, complain they are often followed on the streets and sometimes surrounded by entire groups eager to get unsolicited photographs, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

Higashiyama Ward is the location of Gion Kobu, the ancient city's teahouse district, where tourists congregate. The patrols go through the area at the busiest times and warn tourists of inappropriate behavior.

Some tourists seem to have the impression that Gion is a theme park, and geisha and maiko are walking the streets as part of a performance, a ward official said.

Rikiya Yamamoto, who owns a restaurant in the area, said he has sometimes seen maiko, who wear the traditional high-soled wooden sandals, come close to falling as they tried to escape tourists.

The tradition of the geisha has had a resurgence of popularity in Japan because of recent television shows. Kyoto had a record 49.44 million tourists in 2007, setting another record on one night when 920,000 foreigners stayed in the city.

ROME, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Two of Italy's most notorious mob bosses have fan pages on Facebook, with one group calling for Bernardo Provenzano to be made a saint.

The phenomenon has infuriated relatives of those killed by Provenzano and Salvatore Toto Riina, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Maria Falcone's brother, Giovanni, was a magistrate assassinated in 1992, a killing ordered by Provenzano and Riina.

''Unfortunately, evil still fascinates our young people, she told Repubblica. Certain messages on the Internet and certain films are not helping.''

Riina, serving 12 life sentences, has been imprisoned since 1993. Provenzano, also a native of Corleone in Sicily, succeeded him as the Mafia super boss and was arrested in 2006 on the sheep farm where he was hiding.

Riina's Facebook fan club site has more than 2,000 subscribers. They have posted Christmas messages that tell him he is great.

Provenzano has one site with 202 subscribers who celebrate his 40 years in hiding. Another site with a smaller membership calls for his canonization.