Watercooler Stories

Woman: 1,000 pounds 'a fantasy'

OLD BRIDGE, N.J., March 17 (UPI) -- A New Jersey woman who weighs 604 pounds says she wouldn't mind getting bigger.

Donna Simpson, 42, of Old Bridge, said she submitted paperwork to Guinness World Records seeking to be named the heaviest woman to give birth after she had a daughter in 2007 at 532 pounds, and the organization said it is considering the category and Simpson's application to be named the world's heaviest living woman, the New York Post reported.

"I have fans who send me baklava and cheese cake and everything else you can imagine," Simpson, told ABC News. "I'm heavy and I wouldn't mind being heavier."

Simpson, a model for SupersizedBombshells.com, gained fame this week when the U.K. Daily Mail profiled her in a story suggesting she wanted to gain another 400 pounds.

"The whole thing about the 1,000 pounds is a fantasy I provide to my fans," Simpson told ABCNews.com.

She said her boyfriend, 150-pound Philippe Gouamba, 49, encourages her to eat.

"I think he'd like it if I was bigger," Simpson said. "He's a real belly man, and completely supports me."

MTV show's penis sculpture irks locals

TRUCKEE, Calif., March 17 (UPI) -- Officials and residents of a California town are complaining about a giant penis snow sculpture built downtown by an MTV reality show crew.

Truckee Town Manager Tony Lashbrook told the community's Sierra Sun newspaper that representatives of the MTV series "The Dudesons," which features pranks and stunts, assured officials the sculpture created March 6 for a segment of the series would be tasteful.

However, residents and officials told KXTV, Sacramento, the sculpture is anything but family friendly, depicting a giant penis with water shooting out in full view of passersby.

"Needless to say we were surprised and dismayed they misrepresented what they were going to do here in our nice, cute, wholesome town," Chamber of Commerce President Lynn Saunders said.

New Remote Productions, which produces "The Dudesons," wrote in a special event permit application that the show creators wanted to use the historic train depot in the city's downtown to film a segment involving cast members freezing their tongues to a flagpole and building an 8-foot snow sculpture. Representatives of the production company were unavailable for comment, KXTV said.

Unmarked police cars targeted for towing

NEW YORK, March 17 (UPI) -- Police detectives in New York said unmarked police cars have been towed by the department on at least 180 occasions.

Michael Palladino, head of the Detectives' Endowment Association, said tow operators with the New York Police Department's Internal Affairs Bureau have been meeting their daily quota of four tows by hauling away unmarked police cars, the New York Daily News reported.

Palladino said most of the tows occurred while the cars were legally parked or double-parked out of necessity. He said the tows have taken place while police were working on important business, including the arrest of a murder suspect and escorting a witness to a crime scene.

"It's embarrassing," Palladino said. "It takes our detectives four to six hours, often on overtime, to get the car back. In the meantime, another detective has to be called to come pick up the detectives who are stranded, or that third detective has to drive to court, or wherever, with the other two detectives and wait in the car."

He said the tows appear to be part of a City Hall crackdown on cars bearing city-issued parking permits.

"The department wants us to reduce crime, solve our cases and make arrests, and sometimes that requires us to park illegally," Palladino said. "If the practice continues, escapes and injuries are inevitable."

Man rejects plea deal in senior fight

NEW YORK, March 17 (UPI) -- An 83-year-old New York man accused of beating a 99-year-old man during a dispute about parking rejected a plea deal that would have kept him out of jail.

Gersh Gofman turned down a deal offered by prosecutors Monday that would have resulted in a probation sentence in exchange for pleading guilty to second-degree attempted assault, the New York Daily News reported.

Prosecutors said Gofman attacked Steve Pulwers, 99, Jan. 19 after Pulwers asked the younger senior to move his car because it was blocking the driveway to the doctor's office beneath his apartment. Pulwers suffered two black eyes, a broken nose and damaged ribs.

Michael Pate, Gofman's lawyer, said his client is hoping for a better plea deal.

"He's sorry this ever happened and would like to have it behind him," Pate said. "He sustained injuries, too -- he was scratched, bitten and bruised."