Watercooler Stories

Magazine arrives in mail -- 25 years late

CORAL GABLES, Fla., Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Marc Smit of Coral Gables, Fla., says he often complains the mail's late, but never as late as the Ms. magazine that arrived Tuesday -- dated February 1976.

"I looked at the date, 1976, and I go, 'Whoa, talk about a late delivery,'" Smit told WPLG-TV, Miami.

The magazine -- featuring actress Glenda Jackson, photographed by Annie Leibovitz, on its cover -- offered many memories of bygone days from more than a quarter-century ago. Jimmy Carter was president, the United States was celebrating its bicentennial and gas was going for 59 cents a gallon.

"It was just like flashing back to the '70s," Smit, a sculptor, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

One article focused on Haitian refugees being turned away at the border, "U.S. Immigration: No 'Huddled Masses' Need Apply."

"Not much has changed," Smit said.

The magazine had been addressed to someone who lived at Smit's house before he and his wife moved in 25 years ago.

Smit said he'd read the entire magazine, then try to find out why it took so long to arrive at the house.

"My mailman tomorrow is going to have a riot because I'm always complaining to him like, 'The mail's always late; what's you guys problem?'" he said. "And now I have proof that definitely the mail is definitely late."

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Suspected N.M. drunken driver hogtied

FARMINGTON, N.M., Jan. 19 (UPI) -- A suspected drunken driver who narrowly avoided several head-on crashes in New Mexico wound up tackled and hogtied by a citizen before help arrived, police say.

San Juan County Sheriff's Sgt. Al Jamison said witnesses saw Justin Canuto, 22, nearly cause several crashes Sunday night and followed him into a parking lot to confront him, the Farmington Daily Times reported. The suspected drunken driver allegedly became angry and tried to run away, the witnesses told authorities, and that's when a 26-year-old man sprang into action and took Canuto down.

Deputies arrested Canuto and charged him with drunken driving, the newspaper said.

The witnesses "were all very adamant that they wanted something to happen," Jamison said.

"It sounded like we barely avoided another head-on collision," he said.

While authorities don't recommend citizens take matters into their own hands, Sheriff Ken Christesen said he appreciates the efforts of the unidentified man who subdued the suspect and the other witnesses who confronted him.

"I think they were trying to save lives and if you look at that intent, I'll stand behind them every day," Christesen said.

Nearly 100 hamsters taken from Mass. home

METHEUN, Mass., Jan. 19 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts animal shelter took nearly 100 hamsters from the home of a man who said he could not control their breeding.

The man, whose name was not reported, visited Methuen Animal Care and Adoption Center at Nevins Farm last week to ask for help with his burgeoning hamster population, The Boston Globe reported Tuesday.

"He couldn't afford them any longer,'' said Mike Keiley, director of the Noble Family Animal Care and Adoption Center. "He had gone hungry a couple nights in order to feed his hamsters.''

The man said he started off with two hamsters -- a male and a female -- but over time they continued to reproduce. He said he had to start keeping the animals in 5-gallon buckets, Tupperware containers and an empty cat litter box.

Many of the hamsters were put up for adoption at the Nevins center, though 48 were sent to other shelters across New England, the Globe said.

Hamsters can start producing babies at about 8-weeks-old with litters of up to 12 babies.

"Depending on the survival of the babies, that number can jump from two to 10 or 20, and then it becomes an exponential number,'' said Keiley.

Judge orders jury round-up from street

LONDON, Ontario, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- A Canadian judge invoked a rare legal option by ordering police to round up jurors from the street outside a London, Ontario, courthouse.

A trial for three men charged with assault, threats and forcible confinement fell one short of the 12 required jurors Monday afternoon after 130 people had been questioned by defense and prosecutors, The London (Ontario) Free Press reported.

Judge Kelly Gorman then ordered police to hit the streets outside the courthouse. She told them to "wrangle up members of the public," all of whom appeared for vetting Tuesday, the QMI news agency reported.

Of the 20 people dragooned, a female bank worker, was chosen for jury duty.

The jury was sent out of the courtroom to wait for most of the day while lawyers made legal arguments, the reports said.

The trial came to an anti-climax for the jurors at 3 p.m., when the three defendants entered guilty pleas and the judge dismissed the jury.