Watercooler Stories

CAR ADS BECOMING MORE POP-ORIENTED

It's difficult to escape the incessant, repetitive, electronic-produced sound of the pop culture in today's car ads. With increasing frequency, ad agencies are using the raucous sounds of clangs and pops and bangs as the soundtrack for a new generation of auto and sport-utility vehicle ads pitched to a much younger audience.

The Miami Herald says one popular new ad shows two musicians in their late teens going out with "tape" equipment to capture sounds of a new car, then turning it into a "symphony."

The publication says many people in the 18-35 buying demographic are being "numbed" by the ads they do hear, many featuring the sounds and attitudes of the older generation.

Actress Sally Field flips that around, saying ad agencies are missing the boat. She says they are increasingly pushing their products at young people with sounds that alienate baby boomers ... the people who really have the money.

POT MAY BE CAUSE OF ATTACK ON HANDICAPPED MAN

A young man under investigation in the wake of an attack on a man in a wheelchair might have been looking for medical marijuana. Police officials in Seattle tell the Post-Intelligencer the man who was attacked is in his mid-40s and was listed in serious condition at the Harborview Medical Center.

Investigators say the man, confined to his chair, was struck on the back of the head by a baseball bat.

Additionally, detectives are trying to see if reports are true three students from nearby Chimacum High School might have been involved in the attack.

A car owned by one of the students was later seized. It had been seen leaving the apartment complex where the attack happened, shortly after the man was beaten.

A 20-year-old man was booked at a county jail while the investigation continues.

SCHOOL HAS SPENT $500,000 IN 'KNIGHT SUIT'

Indiana University officials say the school has spent a half-million dollars in legal suits stemming from the firing of former coach Bobby Knight. School records obtained by local media show the Hoosier college has spent about $533,000 in dealing with the lawsuits generated after the controversial coach was fired.

Knight continues to contend he was fired without due cause. Additionally, he claims the school's administrators did not obtain the proper quorum of directors necessary under Indiana state law to properly terminate his contract.

Much of the school's legal fund also went toward fighting a suit by Indiana's largest daily newspaper, the Indianapolis Star, which asked for a large number of school records and transcripts related to the firing.

UNION WORKERS INDICTED IN DETROIT

A Detroit federal grand jury has indicted four union representatives and one employee of a local union office for fraud. The Detroit Free Press says the indictment charges the five with working on the construction of private homes while technically on union time.

The publication says two of the five who were indicted were charged with making false statements. To make matters worse, the statements reportedly were made to federal level investigators.

Three of the five are in their 40s, two of the men are in their mid-to-late 50s.

The wording of the indictment states the five constructed a home in 1997 while they were "clocked in" working on union activities. The technical charge is "misappropriation of union assets."