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Halogen lamps light giant pumpkin

ASPINWALL, Pa., Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania man said he uses three halogen lamps to light a giant Halloween pumpkin that weighed 1,261 pounds before it was carved.

Joel Keefer, 58, of Aspinwall, said the lamps not only light the pumpkin, which he purchased at the Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers weigh-off in Canfield, Ohio, but they also cook the gargantuan fruit, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.

Keefer said he sprinkled the inside of the pumpkin, which stands on his porch, with spices to create the smell of pumpkin pie while the lights cook the squash.

"With the heat from the lights, we have to add cinnamon and nutmeg and cloves inside it so it smells like pumpkin pie," Keefer said. "If you didn't put the spices in, after a while it would just smell like rotting fruit."

He said he bought his first large pumpkin, which weighed 420 pounds, on a whim 15 years ago and it was a hit with his neighbors.

"The kids and the neighbors kind of expect it, and I enjoy trying to find bigger and bigger pumpkins every year," he said. "It's kind of a tradition now."

Extremely bad parking job hits Internet

RICHMOND HILL, Ontario, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A Canadian woman may have set the standard for poor parking skills, driving her luxury sport utility vehicle over two parked cars, police say.

York regional police said Tripta Kaushal, 62, of Richmond Hill, north of Toronto, was charged Wednesday with leaving the scene of an accident, the Toronto Star reported. She was given a Dec. 1 court date.

Kaushal was charged within hours after a video of her alleged parking exploits hit YouTube. The Internet video showed a BMW SUV X5 climbing over 2004 Hyundai Elantra and a rental car outside a fitness center, the newspaper said. The driver then backs out of the space and rolls slowly out of the lot.

"It sort of sucks," said Todd Jamison, a gym employee whose car was heavily damaged in the Oct. 22 incident, which can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do6pmYfNco0.

Dueling 'hot wife' ads headed for court

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla., Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A Florida air-conditioning and heating company is suing a competitor for using an advertising phrase close to the company's "Your wife is hot" campaign.

Officials with Air Around the Clock of Coral Springs said the company put up billboards reading, "Your wife is hot. Better get your A/C fixed," in January and competitor All Year Cooling of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., put up billboards during the summer reading, "Your wife is not hot because you called All Year Cooling," the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

Michael Lang, operations manager for Air Around the Clock, said potential customers are confused by the slogans and the similar designs of the ads.

"I heard their guys went out on service calls and (customers) didn't realize until they paid that the bill wasn't from us," Lang said.

Lang said the suit is seeking to stop All Year Cooling from using the slogan and force the company to pay unspecified damages.

Sudoku prizes frozen during probe

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Organizers of a Sudoku championship in Philadelphia said the prizes from the final round have been frozen pending the outcome of a cheating investigation.

The Philadelphia Inquirer National Sudoku Championship Director Will Shortz and head of judging Nick Baxter opened an investigation Monday after questions were raised about the third place finisher in Saturday's finals, a walk-in competitor who gave his name as Eugene Varshavsky, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Varshavsky, whose performance and demeanor during the tournament were deemed suspicious by fellow competitors, won third place out of 646 contestants for a $3,000 prize.

Varshavsky gave his home address as Lawrenceville, N. J., where there are no telephone listings for the last name Varshavsky, and said he worked for a company called Magic Crafts in Trenton, N.J., which the Inquirer said it was unable to contact.

The newspaper said a man using the same name was suspected of cheating at the World Chess Championships. The allegations were never proven and Varshavsky was allowed to finish the competition. It is not known whether he is the same man suspected of cheating at the Sudoku tournament.