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Woman receives ticket for cursing

GRAPEVINE, Texas, July 12 (UPI) -- A Grapevine, Texas, mother received a ticket for using profanity in an argument with another mother at a water park in front of children.

Kristy Dugray, 34, said she was talking to a woman when another mother interrupted their conversation, instigating a heated argument requiring multiple officers to report to the water park, KXAS-TV, Dallas/Fort Worth reported.

"I have a nice vocabulary," Dugray said. "It just came out. I told her what I thought about her ... She was telling me how awful I was and how I had a horrible heart inside and I was a terrible, ugly person inside. So I told her she was an ugly person on the outside."

"It's just not the kind of language that we felt was appropriate," Grapevine police Lt. Barry Bowling said. "The cursing was what was offensive to not only the victim but the bystanders who were in the area at the time."

Dugray received a ticket for disorderly conduct. She said she plans fight her ticket in court without cursing at the judge.

Man sues over middle finger arrest

NEW YORK, July 12 (UPI) -- A New York man who wants to become a lawyer is suing the city after he was arrested for giving the middle finger to three police officers.

Robert Bell said in his federal court lawsuit he was using an "obviously protected form of speech" under the First Amendment when he flipped the bird at three police officers who had their backs turned to him, the New York Post reported Thursday.

Bell said his subsequent arrest was a violation of his civil rights and could prevent him from receiving admission to "the law school(s) of his choice."

The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages from the city.

"We have not yet received the lawsuit, and at this point, these are simply allegations," a city Law Department spokeswoman said.

Woodchucks steal flags from graves

NEW YORK, July 12 (UPI) -- Officials in a New York town said police cameras set up to identify flag thieves at a Civil War cemetery recorded woodchucks stealing the flags.

Hudson police said they set up surveillance cameras at the Cedar Park Cemetery to discover who was taking the U.S. flags from the graves of Civil War veterans in the days leading up to the Fourth of July holiday and they offered a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest of the thieves, the New York Daily News reported Thursday.

However, officers reviewed the camera footage and soon discovered the flags were being carried off by woodchucks.

Hudson Mayor William Hallenbeck Jr. said he contacted the manufacturer and discovered a substance used in the flags was attractive to the furry animals.

Male organ carved into stump

WYOMING, Mich., July 12 (UPI) -- A Michigan woman said police showed up at her house after her stepfather carved a part of the male anatomy into a tree stump in her yard.

Mariah Cordes, who recently moved into a home on Clyde Park Avenue in Wyoming, Mich., said her stepfather carved the male organ into the stump as a prank and her neighbors were not entertained, WOOD-TV, Grand Rapids, Mich., reported Thursday.

"Cops came a couple of times," Cordes said. "We decided to take it down."

Cordes said her stepfather removed the stump bearing the offending image.

Police said they would have contacted the city attorney's office about possible disorderly conduct charges if the stump had not been removed.