UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Gold tooth led to Mets toilet mishap

NEW YORK, May 20 (UPI) -- Sources with New York's Citi Field said a fan attending a Mets game wound up with her arm stuck in a toilet while trying to retrieve a fallen gold tooth.

The sources said stadium security guards and emergency medical responders found the woman screaming in the restroom Wednesday during the game against the Atlanta Braves, the New York Post reported Wednesday.

The woman told security officers her gold tooth had fallen into the toilet and her arm became lodged in the commode while she was trying to retrieve it.

The sources said a Cardoza Plumbing employee had to travel from the company's headquarters 7.2 miles from Citi Field to free the woman. Cardoza is the company that installed the 646 ultra-low-flow toilets at the stadium.

It was unclear whether the toilet, near Section 338, was destroyed during the rescue.

'Bored' man walked out of jury duty

HILLSBORO, Ore., May 20 (UPI) -- An Oregon man arrested for walking out of jury duty told police he left the courthouse because he was "extremely bored," a police report said.

Washington County Circuit Judge Gayle Nachtigal issued a warrant for the arrest of Grant Faber, 25, of Hillsboro, after he failed to return to jury duty after a lunch break, The (Portland) Oregonian reported Wednesday.

The police report said officers confronted Faber near his home May 7 and he told them he skipped out on jury duty because he was "extremely bored" and "just couldn't take it anymore."

Faber, who was arrested on a contempt of court charge, is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.

Nachtigal refused to comment on the case, but she stressed the importance of jury duty to fair trials.

"It think it is one of the most important civil responsibilities that citizens ... have," Nachtigal said.

Man helps ducklings down from ledge

SPOKANE, Wash., May 20 (UPI) -- A Spokane, Wash., man has become a hero to waterfowl fans by helping a young brood of ducklings off a 12-foot-high ledge to the pavement below, witnesses say.

Joel Armstrong, a loan officer for Sterling Savings Bank, and some co-workers had documented on the Internet the births of the ducklings, whose mother had built her nest on a concrete awning of the bank building, gaining them a fan following on Web. But last weekend came a moment of truth as the 12 ducklings left the nest and needed to drop down to street to follow their mother to water, The (Spokane) Spokesman-Review reported.

Like the baseball player he once was, Armstrong stationed himself beneath the ledge and caught the ducklings as they fell, gently placing them on the ground as onlookers cheered, the newspaper said.

The hen duck and the ducklings, with Armstrong and his bank co-workers running interference, reportedly then crossed the street amid a crowd gathered for the city's annual Lilac Festival parade and successfully reached water at nearby Riverside Park.

"That was a deal," Armstrong, also known as "Duck Man," told the Spokesman-Review. "We did it. I never thought we'd make it."

Police: Dentures repossessed at gunpoint

CLIFTON, N.Y., May 20 (UPI) -- A New York man who purchased dentures for his business partner is accused of taking the false teeth back at gunpoint, police said.

A spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan said Joseph Nativo, 47, is accused of confronting business partner Gennario Sibbio, 40, at the victim's Atec Environmental office in Clifton, N.Y., at about 7 a.m. May 7, the New York Post reported Wednesday.

Nativo allegedly brandished a revolver and demanded that Sibbio hand over the dentures. He also allegedly took $1,200, a pair of cell phones, a Bluetooth device and Sibbio's jacket from the office.

Nativo, who denies there was a gun involved in the incident, said his actions were not a crime.

"I didn't steal (the teeth). I asked for them back because I paid for them," Nativo told The Post. He said he purchased the false teeth for his business partner because "he didn't look respectable when he talked to customers."

Nativo was arrested Monday.