Watercooler Stories

City tears up $50 lemonade stand ticket

NEW YORK, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- New York officials say they will dismiss a $50 ticket given to a 10-year-old girl for operating a lemonade stand without a permit.

Clementine Lee and her father, Richard, opened their lemonade stand in Riverside Park Saturday to take advantage of the hot summer weather and within 20 minutes they sold 10 glasses of ice-cold lemonade, the New York Post reported.

"It was such a hot day I figured people would want a cold drink," Lee said.

Lee's father said when he and his daughter were initially approached by the parks department agents, the city officials were less than friendly.

"They approached us nonchalantly but then surrounded us," the elder Lee told the Post. "They were very hostile as soon as they approached, saying 'Where's your permit? Where's your permit?'"

While several onlookers came to the father-daughter duo's aid, the two officers issued the pair a summons for selling food without a license.

Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe told the Post the agents did not properly enforce city regulations and the ticket will be dropped.

Man threw pizza at daughter, faces felony

GAINESVILLE, Fla., Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Police in Gainesville, Fla., say they have arrested a man who allegedly threw a slice of pizza at his daughter's head after hurling a racial slur at her.

The 38-year-old man used language containing racial and sexual expletives in telling the girl to switch off the music on a computer, police said. The girl, whose age was not reported, then called 911, the Gainesville Sun reported.

The father was arrested Friday and charged with the felony of child abuse without great harm, said the Alachua County Sheriff's Office.

The man's name is being withheld to protect his daughter's identity, the newspaper reported.

No copter rescue for hiker with hurt thumb

RANDOLPH, Texas, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- New Hampshire authorities told a mountain hiker Saturday an injured thumb didn't qualify him for a helicopter rescue.

The 50-year old Texan injured his thumb while hiking with a group on the 3,251-foot Mount Crescent in the Icy Gulch area.

Authorities, who did not release the man's name, said members of his hiking party were headed to help him, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported.

The Gorham Fish and Game office got a cell phone call from the man.

"An officer from Gorham talked to the individual, who wanted a helicopter, and advised that for a thumb injury, and especially with a group of people heading up to help him, that it would not be practical to send in a rescue helicopter," conservation officer Matt Holmes said.

Holmes said this isn't the first request for a rescue for injuries that are less than life-threatening. Some people ask for emergency services to carry their dog, and one woman called to be rescued because she couldn't find her shoes.

Holmes said he couldn't risk spreading rescue workers thin by sending a rescue team for a minor injury.

Man trades in Maserati as 'clunker'

GOLDEN, Colo., Aug. 17 (UPI) -- A Colorado car dealer got a shock when a man drove in with a 1985 Maserati BiTurbo, wanting to trade it in under the cash-for-clunkers program.

The car is in almost pristine condition, KUSA-TV, Denver, reported. There are only 18,480 miles on the odometer.

The Italian sports job qualified under the program and the owner got a $3,500 rebate on a new Subaru Impreza from Go Subaru, the TV station said.

Wes Guthrie said the owner complained the Maserati would need work after being driven for 10 minutes. He had been trying to sell it for months and finding no takers.

However impressive it looks, the Maserati is destined for the same place as the other clunkers traded in to Go Subaru. Since the goal of the federal program is to remove gas-guzzling older cars from the roads, the engine will be disabled and the car crushed.

"Its one of those cars where you go, 'Wow, I wish it didn't have to be crushed, but unfortunately it does,'" Guthrie said.