Watercooler Stories

One month's phone bill: $201,000

MIAMI, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- A Florida woman who added her brother to her cellphone plan said the two weeks he spent in Canada resulted in a $201,000 bill.

Celina Aarons said she added her brother, Shamir, a college student who is deaf and mute, to her T-Mobile phone plan recently and she received a bill last month for $201,000, WSVN-TV, Miami, reported Tuesday.

Aarons said she found Shamir had not turned his data roaming off during his two-week vacation in Canada, causing him to incur fines of $10 per megabyte while sending and receiving more than 2,000 texts as well as using the Internet and watching videos on his phone.

WSVN-TV said it spoke to officials at T-Mobile, who agreed to drop the bill to $2,500 and give Aarons six months to pay it. The company said Shamir was informed via text message of the fees for data roaming, but his sister said he must not have noticed them.

Officer to face discipline over pot joke

CRESSKILL, N.J., Oct. 19 (UPI) -- A New Jersey police department said an officer will face discipline for a 5-year-old photo of him smoking a fake marijuana joint in uniform.

The Cresskill Police Department said Detective Lt. Joseph Trumbetti will keep his job but will face disciplinary action over a photograph of the officer smoking an imitation marijuana cigarette as a joke at the Battle of the Bands Concert at Cresskill's recreation center five years ago, The (Woodland Park) Record reported Tuesday.

"There was no traces of drugs -- there was nothing illegal," Chief Edward Wrixon said. However, "he shouldn't have been doing that in uniform."

The picture was given to police recently by Gregory Levitzki of Dumont, father of former officer Brad Levitzki, who was fired in June after a hearing officer found him guilty of six charges of misconduct on duty.

Al Wunch, the attorney representing Brad Levitzki, said the photo was evidence of hypocrisy on the part of the department.

"The hearing officer made a big deal about a photograph that Brad had put on a computer screen in the police station," he said. "The charge against Brad was that this was a pornographic photograph. But I said that there's all these types of photos that are far worse throughout the department and nobody makes a big deal about them. The Trumbetti one was just one of them."

Wedding couple poses with protesters

CINCINNATI, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- A bride and groom on the way to their wedding paused to pose for pictures with "Occupy Cincinnati" protesters prior to tying the knot.

Nathan Lee and Carolyn Hyatt said they decided to pause in Piatt Park for a photo shoot before their Saturday wedding to recognize the historical significance of their wedding date, WLWT-TV, Cincinnati, reported Tuesday.

"It's just so important to make your voices heard, whatever it is you're saying. I think it's great," Hyatt said.

"I've got a bunch of friends that have been down here all week, but I've been so busy with -- you know -- having a wedding coming up. We were actually planning already on being down here for pictures, and we thought it would be that much cooler to have this sort of memory and this connection with everybody down here that we support so much." Hyatt said.

The protesters are part of the larger "Occupy the World" movement that began with Wall Street in New York and has since spread to several U.S. cities, including Cincinnati.

Couple marry at coffee shop

CHICO, Calif., Oct. 19 (UPI) -- A California couple married in the parking lot of the drive-through coffee shop where they shared many dates -- and even their marriage proposal.

Ethan Cole said he and his bride, Bryer, were introduced at a Dutch Brothers Coffee shop on a blind date and they spent many of their dates during the next two years at another Dutch Brothers location in Chico, KRCR-TV, Redding, reported Tuesday.

Cole said he proposed to Bryer at the Chico location and so they decided to hold their Saturday wedding in the parking lot of the cafe.

"I like things to be fun and exciting," Bryer said. "A wedding is a celebration. It's supposed to fun and funky and totally about the couple, and that's why this is perfect for me."

The couple said the owners of the coffee shop picked up the tab for everything in the ceremony -- except the bride's gown.