Watercooler Stories

Divorced couple spars over Braves tickets

ATLANTA, June 8 (UPI) -- An Atlanta judge urged a divorced couple to settle their dispute over Atlanta Braves tickets out of court.

Psychologist H. Elizabeth King accused her ex-husband, lawyer Charles Center, of violating their 2002 divorce agreement by improperly dividing the coveted baseball tickets, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The couple had entered a three-way arrangement with other Braves fans while they were married to divide up tickets to 82 home games each season. King and Center ended up with 27 home game tickets, and after the divorce agreed to split the tickets so Center got 14 each year and King got tickets to 13 games. After one of the partners died last year, King expanded her ownership to get tickets to 27 games each year.

However, King claimed Center, who was in charge of distributing the tickets, intentionally tried to give her tickets to games he knew she could not attend due to conflicts, or her skin cancer.

Superior Court Judge Melvin Westmoreland ruled that Center was not in contempt of court and encouraged the pair to settle their dispute out of court.

Lincoln letter to top general displayed

WASHINGTON, June 8 (UPI) -- A note from Abraham Lincoln to his top general after the battle at Gettysburg was shown at Washington's National Archives, where it was unseen for decades.

Lincoln's note to Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck was written July 7, 1863, after the defeat of Gen. Robert E. Lee at the Pennsylvania battle site and the fall of Vicksburg, Miss., ABC News reported Thursday.

Historians knew of the note because Halleck cited it in a telegram, said Trevor Plante, the Civil War specialist who found it three weeks ago.

"We have certain information that Vicksburg surrendered to (Gen.) Grant on the (Fourth) of July," the note said. "Now, if Gen. Meade can complete his work so gloriously prosecuted thus far, by the (literal) or substantial destruction of Lee's army, the rebellion will be over."

Meade took over Union forces just before Gettysburg, a battle cited as the turning point of the Civil War.

Plante found the document while gathering information for a Discovery Channel documentary about Gettysburg.

"I was looking for something else and frankly where I found it was in an obscure place," he said.

Illinois school district releases diplomas

GALESBURG, Ill., June 8 (UPI) -- Administrators of district 205 in Galesburg, Ill., have released five diplomas that they had held back because some people were too loud at graduation.

The move came just one day after attorney Jeff Green said he would represent all five students for free in court, The Peoria Journal Star reported Thursday.

"I'm so happy, I can't even explain it," said graduate Amanda Kelley after receiving her diploma from Galesburg High School.

The school held onto diplomas belonging to Kelley, Nadia Trent, Caisha Gayles, Monique Williams and Dayvon Lampkin after administrators said the audience was too loud when they walked across the stage during their graduation.

The noise was a violation of a "contract" that all students and parents were required to sign for a graduate to walk. The contract said diplomas would be withheld because of excessive noise.

The students and their families said they felt the move was racially motivated. Four of the students are black and one is of mixed descent.

Alabama senators get physical

MONTGOMERY, Ala., June 8 (UPI) -- A political dispute got physical Thursday in the Alabama senate when Republican Charles Bishop decked a Democratic colleague, Lowell Barron.

Bishop said Barron had called him a "son of a bitch."

"If he calls me that again, it'll happen again," Bishop told the Birmingham News.

Barron approached Bishop during a recess and the two men were deeply involved in a conversation when Bishop threw his punch. Patrick Harris, the senate secretary, said he grabbed Barron and pulled him away from Bishop.

Bishop was hit so hard that he fell backward over a desk.

A political blogger on Birmingham Weekly Mixed Media said he was conflicted about which senator to support -- "Bishop, the crotchety old blowhard who loves on slavery and hates on Mexicans, or Barron, the Democratic Party boss who has killed more good bills than there are Mexicans in Alabama."