Watercooler Stories

TSA: Pistol design on purse not allowed

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Airport security agents say a replica gun is a replica gun, even if it was just a design on a Florida teenager's purse.

The Transportation Security Administration says its agents acted appropriately when they ordered 17-year-old Vanessa Gibbs to check her designer purse at the Norfolk, Va., airport because of the image of a pistol it had on it.

The agency said "replica weapons have been prohibited since 2002," and that means even a very obvious replica, said News4 Jax.com in Jacksonville, Fla.

Gibbs remains flabbergasted at the hassle, which she says caused her to miss her flight home and wound up flying into Orlando instead of Jacksonville, much to the consternation of her mom.

"It's my style, it's camouflage, it has an old western gun on it," Gibbs told New4.Jax.com.

What irked Gibbs the most was the fact she had taken the bag on the flight to Norfolk without any trouble from the TSA.

"It's a purse, not a weapon," she said.

9 kids found in stolen truck in Canada

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Police in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, say when they caught up with a stolen truck they found a 14-year-old driver with eight other children along for the ride.

Along with the boy who was driving, there were six boys and two girls, ages 8-14, in the truck, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Saturday. Provincial police said the vehicle had been stolen Wednesday and officers spotted it about 7:50 p.m. Friday.

"The 14-year-old male driver tried to evade police after the initial stop, but was unable to get traction on the icy road surface," police said in a news release Saturday. "He got out of the vehicle and was apprehended immediately."

Police said five of the children were in custody, charged with various offenses. The other four, ages 10 and under, were taken home.

Because of their ages, their names were not released.

Stick shift foils carjackers

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Two would-be carjackers in St. Petersburg, Fla., had to make a getaway on foot because they were unable to drive a stick shift.

The robbery occurred at about 1 a.m. Friday at a business with a locked gate, the St. Petersburg Times reported. The victims were a man who had dropped off a work truck there and his girlfriend, who had come to pick him up driving her manual transmission Nissan.

The couple told police two men approached them as the man returned to the car after locking the gate. One of the men pointed a gun at them and told them to get out of the car and hand over their money and cellphone.

The men got into the car and tried to drive away but were foiled by the stick shift. They ran off with a cellphone but without the car.

Plumbing, protests sink Chicago restaurant

NAPERVILLE, Ill., Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The president of Show-Me's restaurant says it was plumbing problems rather than community outrage that closed its location in suburban Chicago.

The Show-Me's in Naperville closed this week after less than a year in operation due to plumbing and other mechanical issues, company President Ron Cote said.

Show-Me's brief tenure in Naperville was an eventful one. Protesters quickly zeroed in on the scanty dress code for wait staff as a threat to the city's family-friendly image, the Chicago Tribune said.

Although Cote said the protests were not the reason the location was closed, a spokesman for the franchise owner said the ongoing protests by neighbors were a major factor.

"We're well aware of the fact it just wasn't accessible for the neighborhood, they weren't proud of it being here and ultimately it led to the closure," said Dennis Wittek, regional manager for the franchisee, RJD Management. "We want to work with the city and neighborhood and not against them."

The Tribune said Show-Me's closure cost 15 jobs, although the former employees will receive another month's pay.