Watercooler Stories

Unusual laws in central Ohio

BEXLEY, Ohio, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Experts say the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, have some unusual laws still on the books, including laws banning the feeding of grackles and clinging to trains.

Officials said the suburb of Bexley has a law against feeding a flock of grackles, while New Albany bans putting laxative in someone else's food, Hillard bars clinging to the side of locomotives and Grove City outlaws growing a wild-carrot or white-top-daisy patch, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

"The code book is very interesting because of when the codes were put into effect," Bexley City Attorney Lou Chodosh said of his city's ban on feeding the specific variety of bird. "Many of (Bexley's) laws involving begging go back to the 1930s. It's all a matter of history and the context of when it was done.

"Quite honestly, some of these get passed because an individual has a concern, and council says, 'Sure, we'll pass that,' not thinking it will be on the books forever, though it doesn't have to be," Chodosh said.

Chodesh said Bexley passed four ordinances in 1940 that are still in effect that dictated allowed behavior in bars. However, the city currently does not contain any bars.

Police seek more pay for using computers

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Their union says police officers in Framingham, Mass., need to be paid more for filing their reports on laptop computers given them by the city.

The union is asking for $41,000 to settle its claim that a new requirement to file reports on the computers represents an unlawful change in working conditions, WCVB-TV, Boston, reported.

Union officials said the new filing requirement means increased training and record-keeping, all of which mean police should be paid a stipend for the extra work.

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, disagrees.

"Police officers have a critical job and they get paid for that," Widmer said. "But these extra creative ways of padding the paycheck really are not appropriate, and undercut the bond with the taxpayers."

Restaurant closed after deer butchered

HAMBURG, N.Y., Oct. 28 (UPI) -- A Hamburg, N.Y., Chinese restaurant was closed by authorities after employees were found butchering a deer inside the facility, authorities said.

The Erie County Health Department, which shut down the China King restaurant Friday after an inspector saw the employees butchering the deer, said investigators do not know whether the deer was road kill or whether it had been hunted, the Buffalo (N.Y.) News reported.

"From our standpoint, it doesn't matter," Health Commissioner Anthony Billittier IV said. "They can't do what we think they did."

New York state law forbids butchering animals in restaurants for reasons including the possible spread of diseases like E. coli.

Billittier said authorities do not believe any of the deer meat was served in the restaurant's food.

"I don't think they were far enough along," Billittier said. "They were in the butchering process. They didn't get to the meat yet."

Authorities said they expect a hearing to be held next week.

Chinese man, 81, marries Internet date

BEIJING, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Internet dating isn't just for the young -- ask an 81-year-old Beijing man who has married a woman he says he met and courted online.

The Beijing News said Wu Jieqin, a retired art professor, married Jiang Xiaohui, 58, Monday, culminating a relationship that began with an online personal ad.

"The Internet does not just belong to the young," Wu said. "There's no rule saying the elderly can't find love on the Internet."

He said he met Jiang after a series of other virtual dates, adding, "I was smitten when I first saw her photo." The Chinese news agency Xinhua said the couple chatted online before Wu traveled to Sichuan Province to meet Jiang in person, and that he eventually proposed to her on bended knee.

There was one hitch -- Jiang had to overcome strong opposition to the union from her parents, aged 85 and 86, Xinhua said.