Watercooler Stories

Runner proposes at end of marathon

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- A runner in the Philadelphia Marathon stopped just short of the finish line to ask his girlfriend and fellow runner for her hand in marriage.

Bryan Pitcairn, 23, of Michigan was running alongside girlfriend Katy Pellani, 23, of Bryn Athyn, Pa., during Sunday's marathon when he dropped to one knee only about 10 feet from the finish line, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Monday.

Pellani, a student at Oakland University in southeast Michigan and Pitcairn's girlfriend of three years, immediately accepted the proposal.

The pair of now-engaged runners completed the marathon hand-in-hand.

Large boa caught in New York park

NEW YORK, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- New York Emergency Services officers said they captured a large boa constrictor in a city park.

Officers said Monday they did not know the exact measurements of the reptile.

The snake was spotted Sunday on a bridge in Springfield Park in the city's Queens borough, the New York Post reported.

Emergency Services said the officers lured the non-venomous giant into a Parks Department laundry bag and handed it over to a local veterinarian for care.

"I've seen strange creatures around here, but that's scary," park visitor Lawrence Emerson, 37, said.

Store has second deodorant theft in a week

ATHENS, Ga., Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Police in Georgia said a man attempted to steal several deodorant sticks from a pharmacy that was struck by a similar crime a week earlier.

Athens-Clarke County police said the man was caught on a security camera fleeing the store Friday with nine sticks of deodorant in four varieties stuffed into his cargo pants, the Athens Banner-Herald reported Monday.

Police said the incident took place exactly one week after employees stopped a woman from stealing 12 deodorant sticks from the shelves.

Police were searching for the latest thief.

Missing steer sculpture found in Minnesota

ST. PAUL, Minn., Nov. 23 (UPI) -- "Blackie," an 8-foot, 500-pound steer statue made of fiberglass that has been missing for three months, has been found, its Minnesota owner said.

Norb Anderson, of St. Paul, said Monday his sculpture was found north of Cambridge and the Isanti County Sheriff's Office is preparing for its retrieval, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

The sculpture, reportedly worth $12,000, has been a mainstay of the State Fair's daily parade, but his disappearance before this year's event kept him out of the festivities.

"I really doubt there will be any damage because these things are strong as hell," said Anderson, who started making fiberglass animals nearly three decades ago. "The fair is tickled to death that I got it back."

Who stole the statue remains a mystery.