Watercooler Stories

Parents worry about park's smokers

EVANSTON, Ill., Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Parents worried about heavy-smoking by mental health patients say they're keeping their children away from an Evanston, Ill., city park.

The city's Grey Park off Main St. has teeter-totters and a tot lot but it is virtually unused because parents are worried about cigarette smoke and uncomfortable encounters with residents of the nearby Albany Care treatment facility who also use the park for breaks, the Chicago Tribune reported.

One parent, Mike Jackson, told the newspaper the patients "have essentially taken ownership of that park" while health center administrator Dennis Tossi says some residents "just have a fear, and I think it's unfounded."

The Tribune said city officials were trying to reach a compromise by holding public forums and exploring ways to attract more visitors to the park. Evanston Parks Director Douglas Gaynor says the city has created conceptual drawings to upgrade the park and is open to suggestions from residents.

Among the ideas are eliminating the playground, designating a smoking area and revamping a dilapidated community garden in Grey Park.

Fla. officials made prank sex-line calls

DELAND, Fla., Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Officials in Volusia County, Fla., confirmed an Arkansas phone sex operator complained about prank calls from a county government line.

Dave Byron, a Volusia County spokesman, said the woman reported receiving multiple phone calls to her hotline from a number identified by officials as an outgoing trunk line for the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Center, the Daytona Beach (Fla.) News-Journal reported.

Byron said the report could be a hoax, but the professional demeanor of the complainant led officials to believe her story. A county e-mail said officials were unable to determine which phone the calls came from or which employee was responsible for the pranks.

County officials and the woman declined to give specific details about the calls.

Byron said no investigation is being pursued due to the costly nature of such an undertaking, but officials will look further into the issue if complaints about prank calls persist.

Haunted house in home where boys died

RIALTO, Calif., Oct. 27 (UPI) -- A California woman says she is turning the charred home where her two young sons died in a fire into a Halloween haunted house as a tribute to the boys.

Viviana Delgado, 27, said the Rialto, Calif., home will be both a haunted house, complete with flashing lights and creepy decorations, and a memorial for her sons Mario Cisneros, 5, and, David, 3, with their toys and pictures mixed in with the Halloween items, The Sub, San Bernardino, Calif., reported.

"This is the way I'm coping with the loss of my two kids," said Delgado, whose sons died in a fire at the home May 29. "It's my way of saying happy Halloween to my kids."

However, some neighbors have expressed concerns about Delgado's decorations, especially the pair of tombstones in the front yard representing the young boys.

"It's not cool," Harry Cass, 49, said of the haunted house. "I disagree with it."

Delgado said the haunted house will be open for the next two weekends for an admission price of $3.

Couple find knife in Subway bread

SARASOTA, Fla., Oct. 27 (UPI) -- A Florida couple said they are considering going to health authorities with a sandwich from Subway that had a knife baked into the bread.

Richard Curtin, 70, of Sarasota, said he purchased a foot-long chicken teriyaki sub for his wife Aug. 3 and she discovered the 5-inch knife baked into the bread just as she was about to take her first bite, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported.

"She was just about to bite into it when she discovered the knife with her finger," he said. "She could have had a nasty cut and a trip to the emergency room."

Curtin said Subway employees refunded his money, made a replacement sandwich and told him the knife, which the restaurant uses to mark bread lengths, must have been mistakenly baked into the roll.

He said he is considering reporting the find to the Sarasota County Health Department.

Mallorie Johnson, the Subway branch owner, said the employee who made the sandwich was fired and steps are being taken to prevent a repeat of the incident.

"It was absolutely unacceptable that the employees didn't notice that mistake," she said. "It's never happened before and I don't foresee it happening again."