Watercooler Stories

Florida student sues college for slander

TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 2 (UPI) -- University of Tampa student Andrea Knight is suing her teacher and school for slander, saying a "kangaroo court" decided she was guilty of plagiarism.

Knight says she wasn't allowed to defend herself.

Officials claim Knight didn't use proper citations for sources she used in a paper for a criminology course. The Tampa Tribune reports the university panel said although she may not have plagiarized on purpose, "the student's lack of proper citations ultimately results in plagiarism."

Attorney John Campbell, representing UT, told the newspaper if it defames a student for a teacher to say an answer isn't right or is false, that's "the day we close the door to every university in the United States."

Knight says the professor has a grudge and that she used proper citation methods. She is seeking more than $15,000 in damages, and she wants the charge and failing grade expunged.

The Internet site turnitin.com checked the paper and found no plagiarism, the newspaper said.

Card company removes unfunny e-card

NEW YORK, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- A Halloween e-card was pulled from a U.S. company's Web site after complaints it wasn't funny-ha-ha but funny-creepy -- as in cyber-stalking.

American Greetings said it was "truly sorry" for concern the e-greeting caused and the company never meant to diminish the issues of stalking and domestic violence, ABC News said.

The company received complaints about the card -- in which the sender supplied information about the recipient -- from many women, including ABC correspondent Lynn Sherr and author Letty Cottin Pogrebin, a "Ms. Magazine" founder. Although the company said it removed the card from its Web site during the weekend, Sherr said she sent the card to herself Tuesday.

Sherr said she showed her finished product to a colleague "who had to turn her head." The card takes about 2 minutes to cycle through as the message appears a line at a time on a black background.

Sherr's card read, in part,

"does it bother you that I know your beautiful blue eyes

"your soft blonde hair

"you can turn this off, you know

"and I'll be gone

"or will I?"

Man mistaken for similarly named suspect

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- A Grand Prairie, Texas, man was jailed for several days after police mistook him for a man with a similar name.

Adron Wilson, who was serving probation for a 2003 possession of a controlled substance charge, was confronted by police while visiting his probation officer, the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram reported Wednesday.

Officers told Wilson there was a warrant for his arrest in Smith County, Texas, for aggravated assault and arrested him. However, the warrant in question was for Adrian Wilson -- not Adron -- and the police report of the incident had said the suspect was already in custody, the newspaper said.

Officials eventually noticed the error and informed Wilson's family that his release was being processed. However, when Wilson's relatives contacted jail officials, they found that the release papers were mistakenly being processed for Adrian Wilson, the Star-Telegram said.

"I am so mad and hurt because I didn't want this, no one does," Wilson wrote in his blog after his release. "I'll admit it's not as extreme as some of the people executed or serving multiple years in prison for crimes they did not commit. Well, the fact is it's not different in terms that (the authorities) are wrong and something must be done."

Moms use business trips as vacations

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- The executive director of a McLean, Va., non-profit organization has said mothers of young children "feel conflicted about business travel."

Erin Fuller, executive director of the National Association of Women Business Owners, said it can be particularly difficult for mothers to leave very small children behind, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

However, many women say business travel can be like a short vacation.

"I can go home and deal with two screaming 6-year-old twins and a grumpy preteen," New York mother and portfolio manager Lucia Skwarek told the Times. "Or I can go to the Four Seasons in Mexico City and drink cognac in the bathtub."

"You do feel so cool when you have a few minutes to be a human being, not in full corporate mode and not in mommy mode," said Maureen Borzacchiello, the owner of a trade show display company in Lynbrook, N.Y. "When I can have a few moments to steal away, I do enjoy it. I'm not going to lie."