Watercooler Stories

13-year cicadas expected in middle Tenn.

NASHVILLE, March 16 (UPI) -- Entomologists in Tennessee said periodic cicadas expected to emerge this spring will likely be concentrated in the center of the state.

The experts said the last cicada outbreak in the state, about seven years ago, was concentrated in Knoxville, in the eastern part of the state, but the batch expected to emerge beginning in May are believed to be centered in the middle part of the state, The Knoxville News-Sentinel reported Tuesday.

The entomologists said the cicadas that emerged in 2004 were part of Brood X, which breeds every 17 years, and the noisy insects slated to appear this year are part of Brood XIX, which emerge every 13 years.

Frank Hale, entomologist with the University of Tennessee's Agricultural Extension Service in Nashville, said central Tennessee is expected to be filled with the cicadas this season.

"For us in Middle Tennessee, this is definitely the big one," Hale said.

Bag of oregano results in suspensions

CHESAPEAKE, Va., March 16 (UPI) -- A Virginia father said he was outraged his son was suspended for possessing a plastic bag of oregano at his middle school.

Patrick Grass said his son, Adam, was suspended Thursday from Hickory Middle School in Chesapeake and recommended for expulsion after he was spotted passing the spice to another student, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot reported Tuesday.

Grass said his son did not bring the baggie to school, instead he was simply asked by another student to pass it along to its owner.

The bag of oregano, which resembled marijuana, was labeled an "imitation controlled substance" by the school and four students were suspended.

Grass said he contacted the Rutherford Institute in Charlottesville, which labeled the suspension "a travesty of justice."

The father said he is scheduled to meet with school officials to ask for the suspension to be lifted and the matter expunged from his son's record. Officials with the Rutherford Institute said they might file a lawsuit if Grass's effort is unsuccessful.

Suit: $19,000 preschool 'a complete fraud'

NEW YORK, March 16 (UPI) -- A New York woman's lawsuit against her daughter's preschool claims teachers did not do enough to prepare the girl for an Ivy League future.

Nicole Imprescia's lawsuit against the York Avenue Preschool claims school officials promised to prepare her daughter, Lucia, "for the ERB, an exam required for admission into nearly all the elite private elementary schools," the New York Post reported Tuesday.

However, the lawsuit, which states "getting a child into the Ivy League starts in nursery school," claims the school's "promises were a complete fraud" and the facility "proved not to be a school at all but just one big playroom."

Imprescia said she pulled Lucia from the school after only three weeks but officials refused to refund her $19,000 tuition.

"What are they keeping the $19,000 for when the child was in school for under a month?" said Mathew Paulose, the mother's lawyer. "It's ridiculous."

Bill Wachtel, a lawyer for York Avenue Preschool, said officials were "surprised and disappointed" when Imprescia removed her daughter from the school but the institution has a no-refund policy.

Teen sells candles with macho scents

MARYSVILLE, Ohio, March 16 (UPI) -- A 13-year-old Ohio boy said his business, Man Cans, has sold about 500 candles geared toward men, with scents such as gear head and fresh mitt.

Hart Main of Marysville, who founded the business in November, said he has so far sold 500 of the products on the Internet and in local stores, WCMH-TV, Columbus, Ohio, reported Tuesday.

"My sister was selling candles for school and I was making fun of her because they were really girlie scents and the idea came to me that there weren't any man-scented candles," Main said.

He said each candle costs about $2.50 to make and he sells them for $5 each.

Retailers said many of his customers are women.

"You don't have many guys coming in and getting them. Sometimes you hear them say, 'My husband or boyfriend will love them.' But a lot of ladies are buying them because they like the smell," shop owner Eric McCauley said.