Watercooler Stories

Largest polygamist community changing

COLORADO CITY, Ariz., Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Changes, including a polygamy bed-and-breakfast, are coming to Colorado City, Ariz., and nearby Hildale, Utah, the largest polygamist community in the nation.

A beauty salon and tanning parlor opened recently in the frontier Arizona town where women traditionally have not cut their hair, and both men and women are clothed from wrist to neck to ankle, the Arizona Republic said.

Colorado City's high school put a basketball team on the court for the first time last season. The next business planned for Colorado City's frontage along Arizona 389 is a bakery with pastries and fancy coffee.

One local resident is even pondering opening a bed-and-breakfast with a polygamy theme. A hearing is planned to pick a new board to assume virtually all financial duties of both towns.

Meanwhile, the search continues for Warren Jeffs, the fugitive leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, indicted on sexual misconduct charges.

Denver suburb limits sex shops

DENVER, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The Denver suburb of Centennial plans to limit sex businesses to a 10-block "Red Light" district to keep them from covering the town.

Without the ordinance on where and when strip clubs and adult bookstores could operate, City Attorney Robert Widner said, sexually oriented businesses could start up almost anywhere,

If not for a moratorium, he told the Denver Post, "We could have gotten 100 or 200 of them in our town."

Incoming adult businesses would be restricted to a "Red Light" district of eight industrial sites between East Arapahoe and East Geddes Avenue, an area that includes several hotels and restaurants.

Strip clubs would face other limitations. Patrons would be required to stay six feet away from dancers, and tips would be put in a tip box, not a G-string.

The City Council is expected to vote on the ordinances Aug. 15.

NASA gets thumbs-up from Duct Tape Guys

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Aug. 5 (UPI) -- NASA has been given a big thumbs-up for once again using duct tape in space by two authors known as "The Duct Tape Guys."

Tim Nyberg and Jim Berg, authors of six books extolling duct tape's virtues, told the Huntsville (Ala.) Times a makeshift hacksaw aboard the shuttle Discovery wasn't used Wednesday in removing material hanging from the bottom of the spacecraft, but it was ready for use regardless.

NASA "usually sends it along for a reason," Nyberg said.

The space agency's use of duct tape was made famous when the crew of Apollo 13 had to rig up an air-purification system on their troubled 1970 mission.

"Duct tape is used in life-saving missions every day," Nyberg said. "It's called 'HMO on a roll.'"

The pair's next book, "Stump the Duct Tape Guys," will be published next month.

Canadian banker given sensitivity training

TORONTO, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The chief economist for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce World Markets has been given sensitivity training for remarks that offended some Muslims.

The Canadian Council on American Islamic Relations suggested Jeff Rubin stereotyped Muslims.

Predicting in April that oil prices will double in five years, Rubin said, "This time around there won't be any tap that some appeased mullah or sheik can suddenly turn back on."

The Toronto Globe and Mail reported Rubin has been sent to an in-house training course.

His forecast has also been changed in its language.

"This time around, with suppliers already running full tilt, there's no tap that can suddenly be turned back on," it says.