UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Fla. lifeguard may get job back

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla., July 5 (UPI) -- The company behind the firing of a Florida lifeguard for participating in a rescue outside of his coverage zone said it is reconsidering the decision.

Jeff Ellis, president of Jeff Ellis Management, said he is investigating the circumstances surrounding the firing of Hallandale Beach lifeguard Tomas Lopez, who was let go after leaving his coverage zone to help a man who was struggling in the water about 1,500 feet from the contractor's protected beach area, ABC News reported Thursday.

Lopez's firing led six other lifeguards at the beach to quit in protest. Company officials said Lopez was fired because his actions left beachgoers unprotected and could have led to lawsuits.

"This event caught me by surprise just as much as it did everyone else," Ellis said. "We're reviewing everything that has occurred, and we will either concur with that or we will override what happened based on what we find out."

"If he left his chair and we had a beach full of people and they were left unprotected, that would be one thing," he said. "If he left his beach and another guard immediately took over and covered so that the beach was protected, that would be an entirely different thing."

Man blames caffeine for groping

SEATTLE, July 5 (UPI) -- A Washington state school bus driver said at his sentencing hearing he groped teenage girls and women because he had consumed too much caffeine.

Kenneth Sands, 51, who was charged with five counts of fourth-degree assault, told the judge at his Tuesday sentencing he had consumed too much caffeine prior to the events of Oct. 18, KOMO-TV, Seattle, reported Thursday.

"That caused a psychotic episode," Sands said. "My son-in-law and daughter had never seen that kind of behavior from myself."

The Lewis County sheriff's office said Sands, a driver for the Rainier School District, was attending a volleyball game in Onalaska Oct. 18 as a spectator, not a driver, when he allegedly touched a 46-year-old woman's breasts three times and grabbed her buttocks when she tried to get away from him.

He also allegedly grabbed a 15-year-old girl's buttocks outside of a bus after the game and slapped a 16-year-old girl's behind as she was boarding the vehicle.

The sheriff's office said Sands got onto the school bus and touched a girl in an inappropriate manner before being kicked off by the driver.

Sands was sentenced to 30 days in jail for each count.

Marine halfway to 1 million push-ups

MIAMI, July 5 (UPI) -- A U.S. Marine in Florida said he is more than halfway toward his goal of completing 1 million push-ups during 2012 to raise money for veterans.

Sgt. Enrique Trevino said his quest began as a New Year's fitness resolution and he soon turned it into a fundraiser for the Wounded Warriors Project, which helps veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq adjust to civilian life, WTVJ-TV, Miami, reported Thursday.

"People who are suffering from PTSD (port-traumatic stress disorder). Those are scars that are not seen, but people don't notice every day," Trevino said. "I'm just trying to bring awareness to those veterans who're transitioning into civilian life, and just make sure they're never forgotten."

Trevino said he has thus far raised more than $9,000 for the organization.

"My goal is to reach $20,000, but if we can do more than that, which I know we can, I'm all for it," he said.

Woman ticketed for non-existent bike lane

NEW YORK, July 5 (UPI) -- A New York business owner said she decided to pay a $115 ticket for parking in a bike lane that doesn't exist because she can't afford to close her store.

Phyllis Cannon, 72, owner of Superior Paint and Hardware, said she received the ticket two months after parking her son's 1998 Honda in front of 1820 Hone Avenue and thought the citation must be a mistake because there are no bike lanes anywhere in the neighborhood, the New York Post reported Thursday.

Cannon said she twice tried challenging the ticket online, but was denied both times. She said she decided to pay the ticket Monday -- after five months of trying to fight it -- because she can't afford to close her store for the time it would take to make a court appearance.

"It's like they have a quota they have to get and that's it," Cannon said.

City Councilman James Vacca, the chairman of the transportation committee whose district includes the stretch of Hone Avenue, said he wants Cannon's money to be refunded.

"It shows you we have overzealous traffic agents, or traffic agents who don't know what they're seeing," Vacca said.