Watercooler Stories

Bank finds tunnel but no robbers

MOSCOW, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Officials, during a routine security check of a Moscow bank vault, discovered a 50-meter tunnel ending just outside the cement wall of the bank's basement.

Impexbank officials discovered the tunnel using seismic listening devices similar to those the U.S. military used to detect Taliban caves in Afghanistan, The Moscow Times reported Wednesday.

The tunnel, which starts in a garage across an alley from the unmarked bank facility, is about 7 feet high, 3 feet wide and about 7 feet underground.

"The tunnel was lined with wooden planks, and whoever built it had even installed electricity," a police source told the Times. A shovel, a wheelbarrow and plastic bags were found in the tunnel, the source said.

Police staked out the area for three days, waiting for someone to return to the garage, but said they believe a bank employee tipped the diggers. Police have been trying to locate the owner of the garage.

Because no attempts were made to break into the bank, and tunnel building itself is not illegal, police and prosecutors were trying to determine what criminal charges they could bring against any suspects.

'Peck on the cheek' cost: $35,000

BRISTOL, England, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- A British postal worker who kissed a female acquaintance while on the job has been cleared of sexual assault and battery charges.

A Bristol, England, judge issued a directed verdict dismissing the sexual assault charge against Alan Pearson, 41, while the jury deliberated 15 minutes in finding Pearson not guilty of battery.

The six-year postal worker denied allegations by the married woman, who claimed he grabbed her and kissed her despite her objections last August.

Pearson's attorney called the incident "a harmless peck on the cheek."

Pearson told The London Telegraph the experience was a "nightmare" and criticized the decision to prosecute him, costing him $35,000 to defend himself.

"Where there is a victim, we have a duty of care to protect them in every way we can," a spokesman for Avon and Somerset police told the newspaper.

While still working, Royal Mail officials said the two-year suspended dismissal for Pearson still stands.

'Ragtime' to go on with racial slurs

INDIANAPOLIS, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- School officials in Perry Township, Ind., said a production of the musical "Ragtime" would go on despite controversy over its content, including racial slurs.

Officials had previously removed sexual and religious references from the script for Perry Meridian High School's presentation of the musical, which won four Tonys in 1998. Members of the Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis protested that racial slurs had been left in, and school officials responded not by eliminating the racial language, but by restoring the sexual and religious bits, the Indianapolis Star reported.

Leaders of the local black community said they will pray in protest when the musical opens Thursday.

"There is no cultural and historical merit to 'Ragtime,'" said state Rep. William Crawford, who joined the clergy group in denouncing the choice of the musical earlier this week. "The larger issue is whether a public school that gets taxes from all people should be allowed to have a play that has racial and ethnic slurs in it."

"Ragtime," based on a book by E.L. Doctorow, depicts tensions among blacks, immigrant Jews and upper-class whites in 1906 New York.

Enzo crash grabs celebrity, auto worlds

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- A Ferrari Enzo worth more than $1 million crashed at 120 mph outside Los Angeles -- setting off a search for the driver and drawing howls from auto fans.

While speculation abounded that the owner could be a Hollywood star, Los Angeles County, Calif., authorities said Swedish millionaire Stefan Eriksson, 44, is the owner. Police were investigating whether Eriksson is the noted game designer and driver who has raced Ferraris in Europe.

Eriksson said he was just a passenger, and that a German acquaintance was driving when the car slammed into a Pacific Coast Highway power pole and broke up Tuesday. Eriksson said the driver ran away, but investigators said only the driver's side airbag had deployed in the crash.

Authorities were investigating reports the Ferrari -- one of just 400 of its kind ever made -- was racing a Mercedes.

"He destroyed one of the finest cars on Earth, maybe the finest," Ferrari owner and author Chris Banning told the Los Angeles Times.

"It's like taking a Van Gogh painting and burning it," said Banning, whose "Mulholland Experience" touches on the cult of racing sports cars along the mountainous Pacific Coast Highway.