Watercooler Stories

Dug-up skull of woman reburied with body

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Florida police said a woman's skull was displayed in a Florida gravedigger's living room until they discovered it and arranged for its reburial.

Gary S. Thomas, 60, of St. Petersburg, Fla., had the skull in his home for more than 20 years, the St. Petersburg Times reported Thursday.

Thomas said his co-workers were digging a grave when the skull of Ruth Keaton, who died in 1948, was exposed.

"So they grab the skull and they ended up bringing it over to me because I was known as 'the Gravedigger.' I didn't think much about it. I just hung onto it. Kind of cool," the retired gravedigger said.

Mark Keaton, 52, Ruth Keaton's nephew, observed the exhumation of his aunt's grave and the reburial.

Keaton said the situation was very odd but he thanked the sheriff's office for solving the mystery and said he has no hard feelings toward Thomas and the others involved.

Police: Love letter sparked teacher fight

REX, Ga., Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Two Georgia middle school teachers face charges after fighting in front of students over a love letter posted on Facebook, police said.

Investigators said the two teachers at Rex Mill Middle School in Rex, Ga., face misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges for the profanity-laced fight on school grounds, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The fight also resulted in simple assault charges against one of the women.

The police report gives few details of the incident, but investigators said the confrontation revolved around a male teacher and a love letter posted on Facebook.

A Clayton County Public Schools representative did not return calls from the Journal-Constitution.

Somali man, 112, takes teen bride

GURICEEL, Somalia, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Talk about your December-May marriage: A 112-year-old Somali man has taken a 17-year-old bride.

Ahmed Muhamed Dore, who has 13 children by five previous wives, said he would like to have more offspring with his new wife, Safia Abdulleh, the BBC reported.

After their wedding in Guriceel, Dore said, "God helped me realize my dream."

Abdulleh's family said she was "happy with her new husband," the British broadcaster said.

The new couple are from the same village and Dore told the BBC he had waited for her to grow up before proposing to her.

"I didn't force her, but used my experience to convince her of my love; and then we agreed to marry," he said.

Dore's oldest son is 80 and he has more than 100 grandchildren. Three of his wives have died.

Judge takes chicken in lieu of service

JOLIET, Ill., Oct. 30 (UPI) -- An Illinois judge says he is "eating his words" after a man took him up on a joking offer to pay off his community service hours by feeding the court.

Will County Judge Robert Livas said Darrius Logan, 24, came into his courtroom in August and said he had completed his community service sentence for misdemeanor battery and criminal trespass charges by working 100 unpaid hours at Uncle Joe's Jerk Chicken in Chicago.

The judge said he told Logan to return in two months with proof of completing the service hours elsewhere and joked that he would waive the service hours if Logan instead brought enough jerk chicken to feed the court, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Livas said he was shocked when Logan came in to his courtroom Oct. 6 with a tray of Uncle Joe's jerk chicken, bread and two sides of hot sauce.

"A defendant took something I said as a joke literally," Livas said. "It forced me to keep my word and accept his original (community service) letter. I give him credit -- he made me eat my words."

Some legal experts said Livas' actions in the case may represent a minor violation of the judicial code of conduct.

"This was a stupid mistake for the judge to make," DePaul University law professor Jeffrey Shaman said. "It's perhaps a minor violation. But ... it makes a mockery of what judges are supposed to do."