Watercooler Stories

Former sex worker enters N.Y. gov. race

NEW YORK, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Former sex worker Kristin Davis, dubbed the "Manhattan Madam," said she intends to run as a Libertarian in the race for governor of New York.

Davis has help from a well known Republican operative, Roger Stone, who worked with former presidents including Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and both Bushes.

"This is not a hoax, a prank or a publicity stunt. I want to get her a half-million votes," Stone said.

Davis has talked about running against former Gov. (and alleged former client) Eliot Spitzer.

In 2007, Stone tipped off the FBI to Spitzer's predilection for prostitutes, landing Davis nearly four months on Rikers Island while Spitzer resigned in disgrace but escaped indictment, the Daily News said.

"But now that it looks like he won't run, Kristin still wants to use her celebrity to highlight a reform agenda," Stone said.

Davis' image belies her credentials, which include 10 years in finance, the report said. She says she is a natural Libertarian, defining "taxation as confiscation," and says legalizing prostitution and marijuana could provide $2.5 billion in revenue.

Stone denies he is using Davis to lure votes away from Democrats.

"The (presumptive) Republican candidate, Rick Lazio, is a turkey," Stone said. "Kristin will get as many gun votes from the Republicans as pot votes from the Democrats."

N.Y. seminary employee alleges boss stinks

NEW YORK, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- A former employee of New York's Jewish Theological Seminary complains her ex-boss stinks -- literally -- due to flatulence.

Roberta Feinsmith, 67, of Fairlawn, N.J., an executive assistant at the seminary for 12 years, filed suit alleging Alan Cooper, her supervisor since 2007, emitted "constant barrages of ... flatulence" in her work space, the New York Post reported.

Further, Cooper staged yelling and cursing "fits" on a daily basis, the suit alleges.

Feinsmith said she objected to Cooper's behavior, but then discovered Cooper had sent a mass e-mail in May to the seminary's staff recommending that older employees quit.

The e-mail allegedly said baby boomers "have created a kind of bottleneck in the work world. The frustration this poses for the young and talented should be obvious."

The next day, Cooper fired her, Feinsmith said.

JTS has not returned calls for comment, the newspaper said.

Woman crawls under tracks to leave home

CALLAHAN, Fla., Feb. 8 (UPI) -- A Florida woman, 66, said she has to crawl between two railroad cars to go anywhere from her home after being trapped by the cars.

Aretha Brown said a train parked 40 cars on the tracks that run in front of her Callahan house Dec. 27 -- and just left them there, the Jacksonville (Fla.) Times-Union reported.

Brown said she must crawl under the cars even to go to her mailbox, or else walk 20 minutes to get around the train. She struggles to keep her Sunday best clean when she goes to church. It's very difficult making her way under the train with a bag of groceries, the newspaper reported.

"My house is falling apart and I can't get anyone to come and make repairs because they won't climb under the train," Brown told the Times-Union.

She said she banged her shoulder crawling under the cars and it hurt for weeks.

Brown said her parents bought the old white house more than 30 years ago. Her sister and niece, Mae and Rita Hailey, lived in an adjoining house before they moved out in frustration a few weeks ago. Her brother, Frank Cheavers, still lives in the adjoining house.

"I really don't think anyone would want to buy this," she laughed when asked if she would sell the homes.

Mae Hailey said she asked CSX Transportation to move the cars, or at least disconnect them in front of Brown's house, but the railroad declined to do so.

CSX preferred to locate a new destination for the train, and also intends to build an access road that would permit Brown to reach the street without having to cross the tracks, CSX spokesman Gary Sease said.

Police: Man lied to hide act of charity

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn., Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Police in Tennessee say a man who did not want his wife to know he gave $5 to a homeless man falsely reported being robbed.

Timothy Ray Sutton, 23, of Clarksville was charged Thursday with filing a false police report, The Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle reported. Bail was set at $1,000.

Sutton reported being robbed Feb. 1, telling police he felt something hard being pressed against his back by a man who demanded money. He said the robbery occurred as he unlocked his car door in a parking lot.

While Sutton gave police a description of the robber, he said he never saw a weapon. A detective investigated the robbery and determined it never happened, police said.