Watercooler Stories

Builders find skeletons beneath home

POTTERS BAR, England, April 22 (UPI) -- A Potters Bar, England, woman says workers building an addition on her cottage have discovered 10 skeletons beneath the floor -- and they expect to find more.

Catherine McGuigan said a group of five workers discovered the first of the bones while digging beneath her dining room three weeks ago, The Daily Mail reported.

"The men said they had found what they thought was an old pipe but when they pulled it out of the ground they realized it was bone," she said. "Then they looked down and there in the earth was a skull and the rest of the skeleton."

McGuigan said more skeleton discoveries followed and the current total stands at 10. However, she said she has been told there may be as many as 40 skeletons buried under the home.

Police were initially called to investigate, but the bones were found to be more than 100 years old and research performed at the local library revealed a Quaker burial ground used to exist in the space now occupied by the cottage, McGuigan said.

The unclaimed bones have left McGuigan with another problem -- disposing of them. She said she has been told it could cost more than $60,000 to cremate the bones in a manner that would be satisfactory to Quakers.

City mulls 'snout house' garage bylaw

LONDON, Ontario, April 22 (UPI) -- How far a garage's "snout" can stick out from a new house is coming under scrutiny in the Canadian city of London, Ontario, a city official said.

So-called "snout houses" have been criticized for turning residential streets into rows of unattractive garages that erode a sense of community by blocking sightlines, the London Free Press reported.

The chairwoman of the city's planning committee, Judy Bryant, said there are no regulations in place to limit how far a garage can protrude from the body of the house, but a proposed bylaw was being discussed.

"When you come out your front door, you can't even see down the street to your neighbors' houses," Bryant said. "You get no sense people are living in these houses."

The proposed bylaw would limit the projection of a garage beyond the main front door to a maximum 9 feet, she said.

Bryant said if the bylaw is enacted, it will take effect Nov. 1 and apply only to future developments, not subdivisions already under construction, the newspaper said.

School teaches pot cultivation

OAKLAND, Calif., April 22 (UPI) -- A California man who started a school that teaches marijuana cultivation and care says the institution is aimed at preparing students to operate pot clubs.

Richard Lee said his school, Oaksterdam, is intended to train students in the sale of marijuana and food items made from it, to people who have medical recommendations from their doctors, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

"We're doing this to show our cities we can be good neighbors," Lee told one of his classes. "That we've got nothing to hide. That we can run a business on the up-and-up, and it's nothing to fear."

Lee said the two-day course offered at Oaksterdam teaches students how to grow marijuana indoors and offers instruction on how to harvest and cook with the plant. He said the classes feature lecturers on the complex legal issues involved with operating a pot club, which were approved by California's Proposition 215 but remain illegal under federal law.

Dutch prisoners offered dating service

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, April 22 (UPI) -- An organization for imprisoned convicts in the Netherlands announced it is creating a dating agency to help those behind bars find love.

A representative of the organization said prisoners are being offered the opportunity to send in their personal details and the organization will help match them with women, Radio Netherlands reported.

"Relationships often break up during detention and it is difficult to find a new partner," the representative said.

The organization said romantic relationships can help ex-convicts released from prison to keep from re-offending.