Watercooler Stories

3 extraordinary grads walk at Tenn. school

MEMPHIS, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- The University of Memphis has graduated three Tennesseans for whom completing college was an out-of-the-ordinary achievement, the graduates said.

Sheila Toler-Davis, 46, dreamed of getting a college education while a single mother raising four children, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported Sunday.

Toler-Davis crossed the stage in Saturday's commencement ceremonies with her son, Cory Davis, 23, a high school dropout who was inspired by his mother's determination to achieve academically, the newspaper said. The two received bachelor's degrees, the mother in human services, and the son in education.

"But then I would think about my mother, and I thought, 'If she can do it, I can do it,' and that kept me going. I'm very proud of her," Davis said.

Also graduating that day was Jack Childs, 73, who took 55 years intermittently to go through college. He enrolled in 1954 in what was then Memphis State University but dropped out to work and raise a family.

Childs graduated after getting serious about his education at age 70. He wrote all his papers by hand and finished with a 4.0 grade point average, the newspaper said.

"He's so proud of himself, which makes me even more proud of him," Pam Childs-Hollahan, his daughter, said, adding that it was important to her dad to demonstrate how important education is to his six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

In Washington, even snow gets political

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- A friendly snowball fight in Washington lured about 200 people Saturday, including a group of masked anarchists, some carrying protest signs, authorities said.

Witnesses said things got nasty after the anarchists started heaving snowballs at cars driving by. One of the vehicles, a Hummer, was driven by a police detective who got out and, at one point, let onlookers see the gun inside his jacket -- possibly by accident, WJLA-TV, Washington, reported.

Then somebody called police to report a man with a gun, and the police officer who responded drew his weapon -- but he holstered the gun when he recognized the armed man as a detective.

The snowball fight was organized online as a record December storm paralyzed the nation's capital.

"No one meant any harm, no one meant anything by -- just having fun," said Tisha West.

She called the police response "unfortunate" and said, "We're Washingtonians and we like to play in the blizzard."

Sticking out your tongue ruled illegal

ROME, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Italy's highest court of appeal has affirmed it is illegal to insult someone by sticking your tongue out.

The case brought before the Cassation Court involved a farmer whose tongue gesture was captured by a cellphone camera held by the neighbor with whom he was arguing. The farmer, Carlo O., had been convicted by a justice of the peace of insulting the neighbor, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

The Cassation Court let stand the conviction and ordered Carlo O. to pay his neighbor's court costs of $1,863.81. He will also have to pay damages, which will be set in a different trial, the news agency said.

Italian courts often find people guilty of offending someone's honor, ANSA reported.

Mobile strip show to hit the road for tour

LAS VEGAS, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- A mobile strip show banned in Las Vegas will take its act on the road, its originators said.

The "strippermobile," a large truck with bikini-clad women pole dancing in its Plexiglas-enclosed cargo area, made late-night runs along the Las Vegas Boulevard to advertise a local strip club, the Las Vegas Sun reported.

Clark County officials complained the moving strip act was unsafe for the strippers inside and for rubbernecking drivers, the newspaper said.

The Deju Vu strip club, which owns the vehicle, agreed to park it, but club owners have a new idea, they say -- a national tour.

The Deju Vu company operates about 60 clubs in 15 states and plans to have the "strippermobile" visit them all, with a film crew taping the tour for cable television.

The owners expect the "strippermobile" to make its first stops in Southern California Jan. 10, the Sun said.