Watercooler Stories

Naval artifact stolen from park

OAKLAND, Calif., May 16 (UPI) -- Authorities in a California city said thieves took a piece of a battleship weighing more than a ton from a public public park and may try to sell it for scrap.

Stephanie Benavidez, an Oakland Parks and Recreation employee, said the brass ring, once used to port torpedoes on the USS Maine, was broken from its concrete base last week and was taken Friday night, the Oakland Tribune reported Monday.

The USS Maine sank in 1898 in an incident credited with helping the United States enter the Spanish-American War.

"We lose enough history as it is ... when structures are torn down as the population grows, and we need to accommodate it," Benavidez said. "We may not be in agreement with war, but people sacrificed their lives, and some things should be left untouched."

Benavidez said the thieves may be planning to sell the ring for scrap.

"I would hope the recycling people will recognize that one, this isn't something somebody had in their attic or backyard or got at a yard sale. The hope is they'll contact us and say, we know where it's at, come get it," she said.

Dead rabbit found in school urinal

GREENWICH, Conn., May 16 (UPI) -- Authorities in Connecticut said a dead rabbit was found in the bathroom at a school in the hometown of an actress who once famously boiled a rabbit in a film.

A school resource officer for Greenwich High School said a 17-year-old student was arrested for creating a public disturbance after a dead rabbit was found in a boys' bathroom urinal, shelton.patch.com reported Monday.

"The rabbit caused alarm to school staff. The rabbit was roadkill and offended students," the officer wrote in the arrest summons.

Greenwich is the hometown of actress Glenn Close, who famously boiled a rabbit while playing stalker Alexandra Forrest in 1987's "Fatal Attraction."

Store urinater called himself Bruce Lee

CLEAR CREEK, Wis., May 16 (UPI) -- Authorities in Wisconsin said a man accused of urinating inside a convenience store identified himself to deputies as "Bruce Lee."

The Eau Claire County Sheriff's Office said a deputy responded to a convenience store in the town of Clear Creek and a pair of employees said a highly intoxicated man had urinated on a door marked "employees only" and knocked over a prepaid calling card display before leaving the store, the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram reported Monday.

The employees took down the man's license plate number and deputies tracked the plate to an address in Augusta where they found the 26-year-old suspect.

The man, whose real name was not released, identified himself as martial artist and movie star Bruce Lee, who died in 1973, deputies said.

The man was arrested on misdemeanor charges of lewd and lascivious behavior, disorderly conduct and obstructing an officer.

Police: Man took pink bike after release

GLENDALE, Calif., May 17 (UPI) -- Police in California said they arrested a man seen riding a stolen pink bicycle mere hours after his release from jail.

Glendale police said Michael Toplin, 31, was spotted at about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, a few hours after his release on parole on a receiving stolen property charge, riding a 10-year-old girl's pink bicycle that had been reported stolen 10 minutes earlier, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

Officers said Toplin was still wearing a black jumpsuit given to jail inmates who do not have their own clothing.

Police said Toplin, who allegedly told the officers he received the bike from a friend, was arrested on suspicion of receiving stolen property and petty theft with a prior conviction.