UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

7-foot gingerbread man found in pieces

HAVERHILL, Mass., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Police in Haverhill, Mass., said they were searching for the vandal or vandals who stole and broke up a 7-foot-tall plywood Christmas gingerbread man

Police said the Christmas decoration was one of four created by Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High students and placed in Columbus Park for Haverhill's annual Christmas Stroll, the Boston Herald reported Friday.

Investigators said the gingerbread man disappeared from the park and was recovered in pieces Wednesday. Police said they are reviewing security tapes.

"I don't understand why someone would want to break it," said Keyla Mottram, 17, who was part of the group painting the gingerbread men. "It's not necessary."

Lawyers punished for e-mailed insults

TAMPA, Fla., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The Florida Supreme Court sanctioned two lawyers who engaged in a series of heated e-mail arguments that included personal insults.

The Florida Bar, which brought the complaints against Nicholas Mooney, 50, of Tampa, and Kurt Mitchell, 36, of Palmetto, said the men were on opposite sides of a lawsuit against Volkswagen of America and were exchanging e-mails to schedule hearings and depositions in May 2008 when the messages turned insulting, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported Friday.

The name-calling began when Mooney, who was representing the car company, referred to Mitchell as a "junior" lawyer and the younger attorney responded by calling him an "old hack," the report said.

The Florida Bar said the insults continued with Mitchell accusing Mooney of "retardism" and Mooney, who has a disabled son, responded by implying Mitchell's children might not be his own.

The lawsuit was later dismissed by a judge.

Mitchell was suspended for 10 days and ordered to complete an anger management class. Mooney received a public reprimand and was ordered to take a class on professionalism.

Motorist in stuck car had no pants

OCALA, Fla., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Police in Florida said a 42-year-old man whose car became stuck while he was driving along some railroad tracks was wearing nothing but an inside-out shirt.

Ocala police said the man, whose name was not released because he was not arrested, was driving his 2005 Mitsubishi Gallant along some railroad tracks when the vehicle became stuck in gravel and bushes about 1:30 a.m. Thursday, The (Ocala) Star-Banner reported Friday.

Investigators said the man tried to call for help by honking his horn but the noise was not heard and police were not called until about 7:49 a.m.

Police said they arrived to find the man was wearing nothing but an inside-out knit shirt.

The man said he has driven by the railroad tracks before without incident. When asked why he was nude from the waist down, he said: "No reason."

Officers said the man's ill mother, for whom he is the only caretaker, was a factor in deciding not to charge him with obstructing or interfering with a railroad track.

"I won't do this again," the man said.

Couple renew vows at NYC's Grand Central

NEW YORK, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A New York woman whose hopes for a Grand Central Terminal wedding were dashed by prices 10 years ago finally received her wish as an anniversary gift.

Thomas Trumbley, 41, said he surprised his wife, Kristy, 33, with a vow renewal ceremony Thursday on the balcony over Metro-North Track 23 to deliver on her 10-year-old wish to wed at the station, the New York Daily News reported Friday.

"It's our place. We would always meet at Grand Central after work," Thomas Trumbley said.

He said he talked his wife into putting her wedding dress on Thursday, the couple's 10-year anniversary, for some photos at the station and she was shocked when they were met by the Rev. Annie Lawrence.

"It's bliss," Kristy Trumbley. "It's New York. It's an icon. It's beautiful."

Thomas Trumbley said the price tag of the vow renewal -- free -- was far less than the $10,000 they were told they would need to hold their wedding at the location a decade ago.

"This is your Christmas present, your anniversary present and your birthday present," Trumbley joked to his wife. "I am covered for the next 20 years."