UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Couple collects outhouses as garden accent

SAUKVILLE, Wis., Aug. 10 (UPI) -- A Wisconsin couple said they have amassed a collection of six antique outhouses to adorn the exotic gardens at their home.

Andrea and John Jaeger of the Town of Saukville said they purchased their first outhouse more than 20 years ago at a Mequon, Wis., auction for $5 and friends soon began bringing aged outhouses to their garden to turn the single accent piece into a full-fledged collection, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported Monday.

"We don't really want to collect them," John Jaeger said. "But we hate to see them being destroyed, because they're part of history."

Jaeger said he considers his outhouse collection to be complete, but he might be willing to make an exception if a particularly interesting piece catches his attention, such as a double-decker outhouse or one made from brick.

"I don't really need any more," he said.

Man jailed for yawning in court

JOLIET, Ill., Aug. 10 (UPI) -- An Illinois man received a six-month contempt of court jail sentence for letting out a yawn as the judge was sentencing his cousin.

Clifton Williams, 33, was at the fourth-floor courtroom at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet when he yawned audibly while Circuit Judge Daniel Rozak was sentencing his cousin to 2 years' probation on felony drug charges, the Chicago Tribune reported Monday.

Williams, who was locked up July 23, was sentenced to six months in jail and must serve a minimum 21 days.

"I was flabbergasted because I didn't realize a judge could do that," Williams' father, Clifton Williams Sr., said. "It seems to me like a yawn is an involuntary action."

Chuck Pelkie, a spokesman for the state's attorney's office, quoted the prosecutor in the courtroom as saying "it was not a simple yawn -- it was a loud and boisterous attempt to disrupt the proceedings."

Rozak is well known for dolling out contempt of court charges. There are 30 judges serving in the 12th Judicial Court, but more than one-third of all contempt charges brought since 1999 originated with Rozak.

Bedbugs guilty of infesting courthouse

NEW YORK, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- A state courts representative says an infestation of bedbugs at a 109-year-old courthouse in New York resulted in a thorough fumigation.

State courts spokesman David Bookstaver said after a bedbugs infestation was discovered at the Appellate Division courthouse a few weeks ago, the largest extermination company in the city was tabbed to prosecute the pests, the New York Post reported Monday.

An investigation by the company last week ended with a fumigation of the legal site on Thursday, Bookstaver said.

"The problem has now been adjudicated," the courts official joked.

The Post said the bedbug infestation was suspected of being centralized at the courthouse's clerks office on the building's second floor. The office typically hosts scores of attorneys as they file appellate motions every Monday during the summer.

British official has 'Nazi' license plate

LONDON, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- A top member of the whites-only British National Party has come under criticism for a car license plate bearing letters and words resembling the word "Nazi."

Julian Leppert, a councilor with the far-right party, commonly drives to meetings in a black Ford Focus bearing the license plate registration "NA51 ZCY," a combination many criticized as similar to the word "Nazi," the Daily Mail reported Monday.

"When I first saw the number plate on his car I couldn't believe my eyes. It is sickening and appalling," opposition councilor Veronica Cole said.

Howeber, Leppert said he did not notice the plate's resemblance to the word "Nazi" until it was pointed out by critics. He said the registration number was automatically assigned to him and was not a personalized plate.

"I needed to buy a car in a hurry a couple of years ago and found one for sale online," he said. "The number plate was blacked out so it wasn't until I arrived to pay that I saw it."