Watercooler Stories

Big NYC guy sues over lack of jail uniform

NEW YORK, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- A New York City man says wearing the same set of clothes in jail for eight months is just wrong even though he was too big for the largest institutional duds.

Elias Diaz, 55, filed a $1 million federal lawsuit alleging jailers made no effort to find a jumbo jail uniform he could wear rather than the single pair of sweats and T-shirt he wore every day of his incarceration.

Diaz, who weighs 400 pounds, had to wash his clothes in the shower. Adding insult to alleged injury was the fact the Vernon C. Bain Center has a tailor on staff, the New York Daily News said.

"No one has issued me institutional clothing or made any attempt to measure me, to attempt to make the clothing, or borrow, purchase or anything else besides talk about getting me institutionally issued clothing," Diaz said in court documents.

Diaz was a size 7X when he was sentenced on a gun charge. His suit alleged the jail never seemed to be able to find a jumpsuit larger than 6X. He also claimed friends tried to send him clothing, but the packages were also rejected.

Pub bounces German-speaking Beefeater

NORTHBOROUGH, England, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- A British army veteran says he was thrown out of pub recently for speaking to his daughter in German.

Tom Sharp, 71, told The Daily Telegraph he wasn't sure what was going on after the landlady allegedly flew into a rage as he spoke to his adult daughter in German.

"I honestly couldn't believe she was telling us we couldn't speak German," said Sharp, who was ejected from the Packhorse in the village of Northborough despite the protests of fellow patrons.

Sharp spent 26 years in the army and has since been a Beefeater, one of the ceremonial guards at the Tower of London. He told the newspaper he is married to a German native and his daughter was raised speaking German so he didn't see any harm in shifting to "Deutsch" once in a while.

"It's not as if we were always speaking German and being rude," Sharp said. "I could understand if it was all the time and looking at her as if we were plotting something, but we weren't."

SoCal city fears fast-food encroachment

LOMA LINDA, Calif., Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Some folks in Loma Linda, Calif., say allowing a McDonald's to open in their community will taint their reputation as one of the healthiest towns in the nation.

The city council recently approved the inclusion of a McDonald's in a redevelopment project, a move that has sparked some intense opposition from leaders of the large and clean-living Seventh Day Adventist community.

The Los Angeles Times explained Sunday Adventists eschew drinking and smoking and are largely vegetarian. Loma Linda doesn't have a liquor store and has banned smoking for nearly three decades.

The Times said opponents, led by physicians at Loma Linda University Medical Center, have been chastising the council and discussing a ballot measure that would head off any further encroachment by the dreaded fast-food industry.

"McDonald's does not fit the Loma Linda brand of health and wellness," said Dr. Wayne Dysinger, head of preventive medicine at the medical school. "Compare it to smoking laws: There's no question that smoking is harmful to people's health. Exposing people to fast food also is harmful to their health."

Not everyone agrees. Many conservatives in the San Bernardino County city are leery about restricting businesses and point out Loma Linda supermarkets sell fresh red meat, and plenty of burger joints are already just outside of town.

Police: Driver too drunk to know tire gone

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla., Jan. 21 (UPI) -- A Florida man charged with drunken driving was so out of it he did not realize the left front tire of his Lexus was missing, police said.

Kevin Blazer, 34, was arrested Wednesday morning in New Port Richey, the Tampa Bay Times reported. A Pasco County sheriff's deputy said he pulled Blazer over after noticing smoke and sparks coming from the place where the tire should have been.

Blazer's blood alcohol level tested at .131, well over the Florida limit of .08.

He was released from jail later Wednesday.