Watercooler Stories

Woman faces eviction for Easter decor

BOULDER, Colo., June 22 (UPI) -- An attorney for a 59-year-old woman says his client should not be forced to leave her apartment in Boulder County, Colo., in a dispute over Easter decorations.

Attorney John Pineau, who represents Carol Burdick, said his client's decision to keep Easter decorations on her apartment door 15 days after the holiday ended should be protected as a "religious statement," Boulder's Daily Camera reported.

"You can't evict somebody for Easter bunny decorations," Pineau said. "An Easter decoration is a religious statement and should be protected -- even if it is just bunnies."

Pineau said his client was informed by her landlord several days after Easter that her door decorations, which included Peep marshmallow candies and bunny stickers, needed to be removed.

After Burdick refused, apartment managers posted a notice outlining a lease provision mandating residents keep their living areas clean and sanitary, the attorney said.

"They're calling her decorations garbage," Pineau alleged.

Pineau told the Daily Camera his client, who is scheduled to be in Boulder County Court Wednesday, was supported in her efforts by many of her neighbors.

Obama, daughters head for ice cream

WASHINGTON, June 22 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama and his two daughters enjoyed an ice cream outing in Alexandria, Va., taking home "puppy pops" for the first dog.

Obama, daughters Malia and Sasha, and their security detail Saturday visited The Dairy Godmother, an ice cream parlor in the Del Ray section of Alexandria.

Malia had a waffle cone of vanilla custard, Sasha a cup of vanilla custard and the president a cup of vanilla custard with hot fudge and toasted almonds, a clerk at the store told the White House pool reporter.

The Obamas, departing to applause from staff and patrons inside the store and a small crowd outside, took home a bag of frozen "puppy pops" for their dog, Bo.

British schools told to scrap 'i before e'

LONDON, June 22 (UPI) -- British elementary schools have been advised to scrap one of the most venerable rules in English spelling: "I before e except after c."

The word was given this week in a National Strategies document, "Support for Spelling." The 124-page document includes a lot of words of wisdom for teachers working with young children, like using puns to teach the distinction between pair and pear.

The document has harsh words for the "i before e" rule.

"The i before e rule is not worth teaching," it said. "It applies only to words in which the ie or ei stands for a clear ee sound. Unless this is known, words such as sufficient and veil look like exceptions. There are so few words where the ei spelling for the ee sounds follows the letter c that it is easier to learn the specific words."

Masha Bell, a campaigner for simplified spelling, said there are other more useful guides, like "one collar, two socks" to teach the spelling of necessary. But she said children are being asked "to fill their heads with this rubbish" instead of being taught English with sensible spelling.

Body found in shuttered funeral home

SAN ANTONIO, June 22 (UPI) -- The body of an elderly woman dressed for a funeral and enclosed in a coffin was found in a closed funeral home in San Antonio, a mortuary employee said.

Ada T. Young died in 2004, the San Antonio Express-News reported Saturday. She was given a service in the chapel at the Forest Park Funeral Home but was never buried because her family did not pay for the service or interment.

Willy Hardy, a manager at the funeral home, said he had cared for the body.

"I have always carried that body," Hardy said. "Every time we went to a new location, I had that body with me. I helped them."

But he said his life has now become too stressed.

"I have a very ill sister, and she's at hospice, and I had a tough week from an illness perspective, and I didn't get around to doing anything about it," he said. "But she's been dead since 2004. And her granddaughter has not done anything about it."