Watercooler Stories

$2,000 fine for each cigar smoked in apt.

NEW YORK, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- A New York man settled a lawsuit by agreeing to pay $2,000 to his neighbors if he is caught smoking a cigar inside his apartment in the future.

The $2 million lawsuit, filed in city Supreme Court by Russell and Amanda Poses, claimed next door neighbor Harry Lysons was stinking up their apartment by smoking cigars inside his domicile, the New York Post reported Thursday.

Lysons settled the lawsuit by agreeing to pay a $2,000 fine for each future incident involving indoor cigar smoking.

The Poses family said the smoke was causing health problems for their children, ages 3 and 6.

"Each party hereto shall afford the other party access to their apartment, upon reasonable notice for the purpose of verifying that the plaintiffs' apartment smells from cigar smoke which emanated from defendants' smoking cigars in the prohibited areas," the settlement states.

"They could have put in a million-dollar fine and it would have been fine with us, because my client won't be smoking any cigars in the apartment," said Jeffery Marcus, Lysons' lawyer.

Falling dishwasher part origins a mystery

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE, Wash., Feb. 24 (UPI) -- Experts identified a metal plate that fell onto the second-floor roof of a Washington state fourplex as a dishwasher part, but its origins are a mystery.

Mark Kauffmann, who heard the object land on the roof of his Mountlake Terrace building about 7 p.m. Feb. 9, said he called officials at nearby Paine Field, who took the panel and determined it did not drop from an airplane, The (Everett) Herald reported Thursday.

Kauffmann said the mystery only deepened when workers at the Appliance Recycling Outlet in Snohomish recognized the object as the reversible front panel from a dishwasher.

"Dishwashers don't fly. At least I'm pretty sure of that," he said.

Kauffmann said he does not believe the panel was simply thrown onto the roof due to the volume of the sound from the impact.

"It sounded like it was coming straight down," he said. "I'll bet we heard it coming from at least 100 yards."

Practice grenade prompts evacuation

CHICAGO, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- Chicago authorities said a suspicious item leading to the evacuation of a recycling and disposal facility was found to be a non-explosive dummy grenade.

Police said the Waste Management facility on the South Side was evacuated at about 6 a.m. Thursday after a worker discovered the object, which strongly resembles a real grenade, in a bin in a sorting area, WGN-TV, Chicago, reported.

A police spokesman said the object was eventually found to be a practice grenade with no charge and it was turned over to the Bomb and Arson Unit for disposal.

The Chicago Fire Department said workers were allowed to re-enter the facility shortly before 8 a.m.

Dolphins aid dog rescue

MARCO ISLAND, Fla., Feb. 25 (UPI) -- A Florida woman said her missing dog was found after a group of dolphins drew a neighbor's attention to the canine treading water.

Cindy Burnett of Marco Island said Turbo, an 11-year-old Doberman, escaped from her yard Sunday night and she and her sons were unable to locate him, WBBH-TV, Fort Myers, reported Thursday.

Burnett said a fatigued Turbo was finally spotted swimming in canal water when a group of dolphins splashing loudly drew a neighbor's attention to the distressed canine.

Burnett said Turbo, who was pulled from the water by the neighbor, could have been in the water for up to 15 hours. She credited the dolphins with helping to save his life.

"If he had to tread water all night long, I know he wouldn't have been able to," Burnett said.