Watercooler Stories

Officer inadvertently shoots wife in butt

HARRISBURG, Pa., June 1 (UPI) -- Prosecutors in Pennsylvania said a police officer who shot his wife in the buttocks was showing his gun to family and friends when it discharged.

Dauphin County District Attorney Edward M. Marsico Jr. said Harrisburg police officer William Owens was showing off his gun at his home around 6 p.m. Saturday when the firearm accidentally discharged several times, striking Lakita Owens once in the buttocks, The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, reported Thursday.

Marsico said investigators are working to determine whether alcohol played a role in the incident, and charges could be filed if the shooting is determined to have been reckless.

Owens, who was suspended without pay, declined to comment on the investigation. He said his wife is recovering from her injury.

Littering case over dollar dropped

CLEVELAND, June 1 (UPI) -- Cleveland prosecutors have dropped their case against a man who was ticketed for littering when he dropped a dollar he was attempting to give a disabled person.

Chief City Prosecutor Jonathan Cudnik dropped the case Thursday against John Davis in Judge Angela Stoke's courtroom, saying the city does not consider money to be trash, WJW, Cleveland, reported Thursday.

Davis said he was relieved by the decision, as the $344 littering ticket was approaching $500 with court costs factored in and he would lose additional money from missing work and attorney's fees.

Davis said his attorney, Marcus Sidoti, will donate all fees to the Different Needz Foundation charity.

Man running as VoteforEddie.com

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., June 1 (UPI) -- A Florida man running for U.S. Congress is being listed under the name he legally adopted in January -- VoteforEddie.com.

VoteforEddie.com, who had his name legally changed from Eddie Gonzalez, is running in Florida's 25th Congressional District as a no party candidate against incumbent Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, The News Service of Florida reported Thursday.

The candidate said state election officials originally sent him a letter saying he had forgotten to give them his name and provided him with a copy of the rules forbidding nicknames on the ballot. However, he said they are now listing him as VoteforEddie.com after he provided them with court documents from having his name legally changed to the Web address in January.

VoteforEddie.com said his candidacy is serious and his top priority is "ending America's addiction to oil."

"I, along with a majority of Americans ... feel that career politicians have lost touch with the working class," he said on his eponymous Web site. "The 249 millionaires and 202 lawyers that are in Congress are not a true representation of this nation as a whole. They are the silver spooned elite that are guiding this country on an unsustainable course. We cannot continue to follow them into record deficits, crushing debt and endless dependence on oil for their own personal gains or indifference."

Volunteers rescue injured eaglet

LARGO, Fla., June 1 (UPI) -- A group of volunteers in Florida rescued a baby bald eagle that was unable to make its first flight due to a problem with its eye.

The Birds of Prey center said the eaglet hatched April 12, late in the season, high up in a 40-foot pine tree outside the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Tampa Bay shelter in Largo and last week volunteers noticed the baby bird appeared to be having problems with its eye that could prevent it from being successful in flight, the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times reported Thursday.

Volunteer Art Finn scaled the tree Wednesday and placed the 5-pound bird in a bag that he was then able to lower to the ground. Birds of Prey center volunteers said they believe the eaglet's eye may have been injured by a crow.

Experts said the eaglet would not be able to survive in the wild without two good eyes for hunting and the center said it will live in captivity if veterinarians are unable to repair its eye.