Watercooler Stories

Students sue school board for potty breaks

CHICAGO, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Two middle school students are suing the Chicago Board of Education because their teacher denied them a bathroom break.

Cousins Seneca Ammons and Keefe Ammons Jr. were suspended from school for using the bathroom without permission after their teacher denied the whole class a bathroom break as punishment, The Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday.

The children are suing the board of education in federal court on behalf everyone in the class, alleging they were wrongfully denied bathroom access and could only drink water at lunch, the Ammons’ attorney, Blake Horowitz said.

City officials said they overturned the suspensions and are investigating staff at Cuffe Math and Science Academy, but would not comment on the lawsuit.

A school board spokesman said the school’s principal, John Jones, has insisted all students get access to the bathroom when they need it.

No city Halloween party for San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- San Francisco officials say the city will not serve as host of any official Halloween celebrations during October.

The annual Halloween bash in the city's Castro neighborhood was canceled after a shooting last year injured nine people, and a concert promoter pulled out of an alternative plan to hold an outdoor concert near AT&T Park, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

"There will be no party," said Audrey Joseph, president of the city's Entertainment Commission.

The city is also working to ensure that unofficial celebrations in the Castro neighborhood do not escalate. City Supervisor Bevan Dufty sent a letter asking 110 bar, restaurant and store owners to close their doors on Halloween to discourage potential celebrants.

"It's not a holiday in the Castro. It's a night in which the neighborhood is overrun by people who come to gawk, not celebrate, and unfortunately it turns into gang night out in the Castro," Dufty said.

Last St. Louis drive-in theater for sale

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- The St. Louis area’s only drive-in theater is shopping for buyers as rising land values begin to outweigh the outdoor theater’s profits.

The Skyview Drive-in has lasted more than 58 years and survived a tornado, but now it may be done in by change, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

"There is a point where the land becomes more valuable than the income from the theater," said co-owner Steve Bloomer. "We're exploring to see whether we've reach that point yet."

Bloomer said the theater has been on and off the market for five years, adding that this is the first time there had been two potential buyers.

The drive-in operator and insurance agent said it will be hard to sell Skyview, but at the same time it seems right.

"I'm 60 years old and the only one in the family really involved in the operation of the theater," he said. "My manager is 6 or 7 years older than I am. One day he's going to tell me: 'I don't want to do this anymore.' Finding an experienced drive-in manager is almost impossible because there are fewer drive-ins."

Thirst kills 1,300 sheep on Croatia island

ZAGREB, Croatia, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Authorities say they would remove as soon as possible the carcasses of 1,300 sheep that died of thirst on Croatia’s central Adriatic Murter Island.

Branka Gulin, veterinary inspector of Sibenik County on the central Adriatic coast, said preparations were under way to transfer the carcasses from the Kornati Archipelago, outside the port city of Zadar, to an inland site where they will be destroyed, the Croatian news agency HINA said.

Gulin said transport of the carcasses should begin by Sunday.

There were about 5,000 sheep in the Kornati national park and a two-month drought coupled with extremely high temperatures dried out natural watering places, leaving the animals to die of thirst. Authorities could not say how many sheep perished but they said they believed more than one-fourth of those in the national park could not survive.

A boat carrying fresh water from the coastal towns was headed for Murter, and two Croatian navy vessels also brought water to the island, HINA said.