UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Sommeliers award honors to tap water

LONDON, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- London's top sommeliers underwent blind taste tests of water, and ranked tap water third among a number of rivals that cost up to $100 a bottle.

The survey by Decanter, a high-end magazine on wine and spirits, conducted the blind taste test employing England's top palates to review 24 of the most expensive bottles of mineral water and gave top honors to tap water.

Some of the top waters sample include 420 Volcanic, which fetches $100 per liter and California's Bling H20, with the princely sum of $80 per liter.

The survey comes as the National Consumer Council embarked on a campaign to persuade restaurants to offer free tap water as designer bottles are increasingly common place among London's top Michelin rated restaurants, the Telegraph said.

The panel voted the tap water, at the price of 2 cents per liter, third behind Waiwera from New Zealand at $18 per liter and Vittel from France at 80 cents a liter.

Decanter editor Guy Woodward said most of the tasters preferred tap water.

420 Volcanic and Bling H20 placed 18th and 22nd, respectively.

Valet crashes Porsche into BMW, Mercedes

MADRID, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- A Porsche 911 owned by a soccer player with a Spanish premier league team was damaged by a parking valet who used it for a short -- and expensive -- joyride.

The valet at Soko restaurant in Madrid reportedly called friends and offered to take them for a ride after he was entrusted with the car while its owner, Javier Casquero, was in the restaurant, The Guardian reported Monday.

The valet jumped in the driver's seat and two others entered the expensive automobile before the valet floored the pedal and immediately lost control of the car. The Porsche slammed into six parked cars, including a BMW and a Mercedes, before stopping, the newspaper reported

The driver was reported to have minor injuries after the incident and his two friends were said to be unharmed.

Casquero, a member of Getafe, didn't seem too worried about the future of his damaged automobile.

"These things happen," he said in The Guardian. "That's what insurance is for."

Judge clears woman in swearing case

SCRANTON, Pa., Dec. 17 (UPI) -- A Scranton, Pa., judge ruled a local woman didn't break the law when she swore at her overflowing toilet and a neighbor who told her not to curse.

Magisterial District Judge Terrence Gallagher wrote that although Dawn Herb's language during the Oct. 11 incident "may be considered by some to be offensive, vulgar and imprudent ... such representations are protected speech pursuant to the First Amendment," the Scranton Times-Tribune reported Monday.

Officer Patrick Gilman, a neighbor who was off duty at the time of the incident, testified at a hearing last week that he overheard Herb using profanity toward her malfunctioning appliance. Gilman said he shouted "Watch your mouth," which he said earned him a profane request that he leave her alone.

Herb claimed her neighbor used profanity when asking her to be quiet and she responded with "Mind your own business."

Attorney Barry Dyller, who represented Herb and the American Civil Liberties Union in the case, welcomed the judge's decision. He said multiple cases involving "colorful language" have resulted in rulings finding that the words are not illegal.

Stolen parrot returned to its owners

NEW YORK, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- A beloved pet parrot stolen from a New York pet boarding house was returned to his rightful owners by a woman who bought him on the street.

The parrot, named Franklin, was taken from the boarding house the day before Thanksgiving and sold the next day to a waitress named Elizabeth, The New York Post reported Monday.

Elizabeth, who asked the Post to withhold her last name, purchased the bird for her children but later read in the newspaper that Leigh Ann and Lee Frankel were missing a pet parrot and offering a $10,000 cash reward for his safe return.

"My husband thought the call was just another empty lead but I knew there was more to this one," Leigh Ann Frankel said.

The Frankels said they knew for sure that the bird in question was their missing Franklin when the waitress told them the animal she purchased would say "goodbye" when she put on her coat and often sang a cell phone ring tone.

"It was so overwhelming. I never thought I would get him back in this huge city filled with so many people," Leigh Ann Frankel said.

She said her family -- including Franklin -- would be eating Christmas dinner at Elizabeth's family restaurant.