Watercooler Stories

Man's ashes fulfill parade dreams

COLUMBIA, Tenn., April 7 (UPI) -- A walking horse trainer's desire to ride in Tennessee's Mule Day Parade was fulfilled this past weekend -- months after he died.

The ashes of James Carson, who died last May at age 83, were aboard a wagon pulled in Saturday's parade by Shorty, a 6-foot-6 mule believed to be the tallest his species has to offer, the Columbia (Tenn.) Daily Herald reported.

Friends of Carson, who outlived all of his close family members, described the man as an animal lover who had long wanted to participate in Columbia's Mule Day Parade.

"He was a good man," said former neighbor Martha Derryberry. "We need some more like him."

Carson's ashes were scattered during a private ceremony after the parade.

Woodchuck causes $1,800 damage to car

OMAHA, April 7 (UPI) -- A Nebraska woman said a woodchuck that found its way under the hood of her car caused $1,800 in damage to the vehicle.

Merrilee Faubel said the woodchuck was discovered after her car would not start and tow truck driver Rosie Grabow raised the hood of the Honda, the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald.

"You see pretty much everything in this business," Grabow said. "But I've never seen a woodchuck in an engine -- I didn't think it would fit."

Wayne Rapp, service manager at O'Daniel Honda, said the damage caused by the woodchuck was the worst animal-related car damage he had seen that did not involve a deer. Workers said they could not find a wire under the hood of the car that had not been gnawed by the rodent.

Faubel said her insurance is covering all but $250 of the repair costs.

Beards raise $3,000 for charity

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 7 (UPI) -- Two California men said they raised $3,000 for a charity that builds wells in Africa by simply growing out their beards and soliciting donations.

Friends Jon Sontag and Greg Miller of San Jose, Calif., said they hatched their beard-growing scheme last fall at a bachelor party and decided to chronicle their whiskers on the Internet, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

The men said they added a PayPal link to the Web site so users could donate to Water Wells for Africa. They said word spread about their charitable facial hair and they gave a check for $3,000 to the charity Sunday, 31 weeks after they started growing their beards.

"I look like a pirate," Sontag told the Mercury News before he and Miller shaved their faces for the first time in months. "He looks like Santa."

Man arrested after fish hits boater

FORT PIERCE, Fla., April 7 (UPI) -- Police in Florida said they arrested a man after he allegedly threw a dead fish that struck a boater in the head.

Richard Hughes Corley, 39, was arrested and charged with a felony count of throwing a missile into a vehicle and a misdemeanor count of battery after the late Saturday incident in Fort Pierce, TCPalm.com reported.

The alleged victim and two witnesses told police Corley was fishing with a large group on the North Bridge and had asked the man to move his boat. The man, who refused to move his vehicle, claims he overheard Corley say: "I will make him move his boat."

Corley then allegedly threw a fish that appeared to have been cut in half and it struck the man in the head before falling to the deck of his boat.

Witnesses said Corley used his fishing line to reel the fish back out of the boat. A police report said Corley admitted to officers that he had thrown the fish.

The suspect was released after posting $15,000 bond.