Watercooler Stories

Woman selling 'Virgin Mary' rock

BROOKSVILLE, Fla., May 16 (UPI) -- A Brooksville, Fla., woman is attempting to sell a rock that she says bears the image of the Virgin Mary cradling baby Jesus.

Dena Patterson, 79, said she found the rock while walking through the woods in West Virginia in 1996. She has been using it as a doorstop ever since, The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune reported.

Patterson said she decided to sell the rock to raise money for a trip to visit family members in West Virginia.

"I expect to get a lot of money," Patterson said.

"This is a rock. It's not like it's a piece of cheese," she said, making reference to the infamous grilled cheese sandwich that allegedly bore Mary's image and sold for $28,000 on eBay.

Patterson said she is seeking local buyers because she does not own a computer and does not know how to use eBay.

N.C. judge drops cursing case

DURHAM, N.C., May 16 (UPI) -- A Durham, N.C., judge has dismissed a case against a 72-year-old man cited under a city code barring use of profanity in public.

Edward Laskody had planned to fight the law, which was enacted in 1964, but Judge James Hill dismissed the case after a key witness -- the state Alcohol Law Enforcement officer who issued the citation -- was running late for court, The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer reported.

Laskody said he used profanity outside of Cinelli's Pizzeria and Restaurant after law enforcement officers told him he could be cited for cursing.

"I didn't even use the F-word," he said.

He said he was outside the pizzeria to protest his alleged "rude" treatment at the hands of store employees, who said he was far from a model customer.

"He's a nasty old man," Gaitano Cinelli, the restaurant owner, said Wednesday. "He was making sexually explicit remarks to my waitresses and to the patrons."

Prof. reprimanded for talking to parent

LANCASTER, England, May 16 (UPI) -- A professor at England's Lancaster University has been reprimanded after he shared information on a student's progress with the student's mother.

Geraint Johnes shared information with Jackie Gardner after she complained that her son, Christian, wasn't making enough progress toward his economics degree and was "quite addicted to alcohol, smokes and has spent a great deal of time over the last nine months asleep," The Daily Mail reported.

Johnes sought to reassure Gardner by sharing her son's study modules and telling her about regular meetings he had with the student.

However, Christian Gardner, 18, complained that he hadn't given permission for his information to be shared.

"Given the seriousness of the accusations raised by Mr. Gardner's mother, I do accept that you felt you had to respond to her in some way," Andrew Okey, Lancaster's data protection officer, said in a letter to Johnes.

"However, faced with this requirement you should have: i) gained Mr. Gardner's explicit consent to disclose his details to Mrs. Gardner; or ii) answered Mrs. Gardner's concerns only in generic terms," Okey said in the letter -- which warned the professor that he could face dismissal if there is another data breach, The Daily Mail report said.

Baseball team giving away free funeral

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas, May 16 (UPI) -- Officials with a Grand Prairie, Texas, minor league baseball team will give away a free funeral at an upcoming game.

The Grand Prairie AirHogs announced the funeral -- complete with a headstone, casket and burial plot -- will be given away to a fan at the team's June 3 game, the Dallas Morning News reported.

"Even though it's going to be a funny promotion, on the flip side there is some seriousness to it," said Dave Burke, team vice president and general manager. "With funeral services you're talking about savings of thousands of dollars."

The funeral will be provided by Chapel of Roses Funeral Home in Irving, Texas, and Oak Grove Memorial Gardens.

Officials with the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball team said the promotion is just the first of what is likely to be many quirky marketing strategies.

"We're going to try to be a little edgy," said Mark Schuster, the AirHogs' managing partner. "The criteria is what will get people talking about us in general conversations around the water cooler."