Watercooler Stories

8 hospitalized after eating pot brownies

ISLIP, N.Y., July 8 (UPI) -- Police in Ocean Beach, N.Y., said eight people were hospitalized after ingesting what they believed to be marijuana-laced brownies.

A man at the home in Fire Island phoned authorities Friday night to seek assistance for respiratory problems and seven others in the house complained of similar symptoms when medical responders arrived at the scene, Newsday reported Tuesday.

Ocean Beach Deputy Chief of Police George Hess said the eight people, who told responders they had eaten brownies laced with marijuana, were transported by helicopter and boat to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital in East Patchogue and Southside Hospital in Bay Shore. He said all of the victims were treated for non-life-threatening conditions and released.

One of the four co-owners of the house said the victims had rented the residence for a vacation and no owners were present at the time of the incident.

Police did not release the names of the victims and did not specify whether they were tested for marijuana ingestion.

Family sues over lost piccolo

WICKLIFFE, Ohio, July 8 (UPI) -- The family of a Wickliffe, Ohio, high school student has filed a lawsuit after the student's piccolo went missing during a school band trip to Orlando, Fla.

Sandy Rolf said her daughter, Stephanie, went on the bus trip with about 58 other members of the Wickliffe Blue Devil Swing Band to march at Disney World and compete in band contests in 2007, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Tuesday.

The students' instruments were locked in the luggage bins of the charter bus overnight while the students stayed in a hotel and the next morning, it was discovered that a bag containing two piccolos -- including the one belonging to Stephanie -- was missing.

Rolf said school officials and the driver of the bus failed to report the incident to police and officers later refused to file a report when Rolf and her family traveled to the area.

The family's lawsuit, which seeks compensation for the $700 piccolo as well as $4,300 for the time Stephanie has been without the instrument, names former school Superintendent Robert Smith, who the family claims denied the district was responsible for the missing instrument, as well as the charter bus company, Highway Coach Ltd., and travel agency Kollander World Travel Inc.

Huge rats move into neighborhood

CASSELBERRY, Fla., July 8 (UPI) -- Residents of a Casselberry, Fla., neighborhood said their homes are being invaded by rats the size of softballs.

The residents said the rats, which they believe are coming from a nearby abandoned home with an overgrown backyard, have been chewing through the walls and screen doors of their houses, WKMG-TV, Orlando, Fla., reported Tuesday.

"Now, they are in my house and eating through screens and biting through walls," neighbor Bob Huck said. "We've never had a rat problem and we've been here six years. I'm sure if we quit mowing our grass, someone would be on our butts to make it clean."

Huck and at least one other resident, David Fulton, said they are putting out poison pellets and traps in and attempt to curb the invasion.

A municipal representative said a city contractor has been hired to mow the overgrown yard of the abandoned house next week.

Family gets refund after kicked off plane

PHOENIX , July 8 (UPI) -- Southwest Airlines officials said they have offered a full refund to a family kicked off a flight in Phoenix due to disruptive children.

Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Christi Day said the family was told Monday that the full cost of their one-way tickets from Detroit to Seattle with a stopover in Phoenix will be refunded after they were not allowed on a plane in Phoenix, KPHO-TV, Phoenix, reported Tuesday.

"I am furious about it," Wendy Slaughter, whose family was removed from the plane, said after arriving home in Seattle. "I just couldn't believe they could do something like that, and then, leave us completely stranded with no money and no way to get anywhere."

Slaughter said the flight marked the first time her children -- Henry, who suffers from autism, and Gracie, who suffers from cerebral palsy -- had been on an airplane and the experience made them excitable.

"The children were a little bit out of control on the flight. They were restless and excited and worked up, and they're kids."

However, the airline said the ruckus-causing kids were too much for the flight crew to handle.

"And for the safety of our customers and flight crew decided to not allow them to travel on to Seattle at that time," Day said. "Typically if it's a threatening behavior, it's not safe to travel at 30,000 feet in the air in a contained environment."