UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Red Sox fans can get logo on coffins

BOSTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Loyal fans of the Boston Red Sox can now back their team even in death thanks to new coffins featuring the MLB team's logo, a funeral director says.

Magoun-Biggins Funeral Home co-director Dan Biggins said his site in Rockland, Mass., has received the first-ever officially licensed Red Sox coffin and will begin offering the sports-related funerary item to diehard Sox fans, The Boston Globe said Monday.

"It's really a beautiful thing," Biggins said. "It's really neat."

The logo of the popular baseball team is featured on the coffin's lining and pillow, as well as on its exterior so the world can know the deceased's true Sox dedication.

Biggins' father and fellow funeral home director, Bob, said the familial pair first came across the Eternal Image product at a 2007 National Funeral Directors Association convention in Las Vegas.

"As soon as we saw it, we knew we wanted it," Bob Biggins said. "We fell in love with it."

The Globe said the specialized coffins retail at $4,499, while die-cast urns featuring a baseball and home-base plate are retailing for $799.

N.Y. demands permit for outdoor Xmas trees

NEW YORK, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Those New York residents who are considering decorating a Christmas tree in front of their homes in the city limits should think twice, officials say.

Officials said the trees themselves are typically allowed to reside on city sidewalks, but the holiday trees become illegal once the traditional ornaments and Christmas lights are added, The New York Daily News said Sunday.

Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said the regulation against decorated sidewalk trees has been around for decades and typically is only enforced when decorations threaten the tree's health.

"We are neither Scrooge-like or Grinch-like as long as the tree is okay," the official said, adding violators are rarely fined.

Those wishing to avoid a conflict with the parks department can attempt to obtain a permit for a decorated sidewalk tree, Benepe said.

Frances Vella-Marrone of the Dyker Heights Civic Association questioned why such a little-known regulation was even in place in the city.

"They didn't ask for the tree but then if they want to decorate it, they need to get a permit," the association president told the newspaper.

Prayer book finds way home after 150 years

BEAUFORT, S.C., Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Two brothers in Utah say they returned a prayer book their great-grandfather found more than 150 years ago to its rightful owner in Beaufort, S.C.

Tom Chidsey and his brother, Stephen, of Sandy, Utah, said their great-grandfather, Charles, found the Episcopal prayer book while burying dead soldiers following a Civil War battle near Sharpsburg, Md., The Salt Lake Tribune said Monday.

A dead Confederate soldier was carrying the book, which was embossed with the name Mary Gibbs Barnwell.

As the prayer book stayed in the Chidsey family for more than 15 decades, the family tried to locate the book's true owner.

Stephen Chidsey finally tracked the Barnwell name to South Carolina and was able to find a viable owner after working with a historian and religious leader there.

Bob Barrett, the family historian for the Barnwell family, said his correspondence with Chidsey led to the return of the Civil War memory to the South Carolina family.

"It was kind of hands across the divide after a century and a half," he told the Tribune. "It was touching and impressive."

Booze cheaper than water in British stores

LONDON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Thirsty consumers seeking to wet their whistles can pay less for booze than bottled water at leading British supermarkets, research indicates.

The British government announced plans last week to tackle a binge drinking epidemic in the country by banning bars and shops from having "irresponsible" price promotions. But the anti-substance abuse charity Addaction says its research shows that discounted store-brand alcohol can be had for as little as 35 cents per can, The Times of London reported Monday.

The newspaper said Addaction analyzed a shopping basket of popular alcoholic drinks from supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury's and ASDA, finding that although the array of cheap alcohol has shrunk over the past year, grocers are still offering their own brands of "value booze."

For instance, Addaction found hard cider sold by the three supermarkets cost 90 cents per liter, less than a bottle of Coca-Cola, The Times reported.