Watercooler Stories

Texas neighborhood mascot found in trash

AMARILLO, Texas, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- A Texas woman said Wilbur, a stuffed neighborhood mascot she made in the image of her late husband, was rescued from a garbage bin and returned to her.

Imogene Genetti, 86, of Amarillo, who made the life-sized cotton-stuffed mascot in the image of her late husband, Herman, who died in March 2007, said Wilbur vanished from her porch in early September and was returned to her home Tuesday by a man who said he found it in a garbage bin, the Amarillo Globe-News reported Wednesday.

"A fella comes to the door and he says, 'Is Wilbur yours?' and I said, 'Well, yeah,'" she said. "So he says 'Well, I've got him out here.'"

Genetti said the man told her he found Wilbur in a garbage bin and returned it to her after reading a Globe-News article about the missing mascot.

She said Wilbur's old outfit, denim overalls with a button-up shirt, baseball cap and glasses, was missing when he resurfaced and he was instead dressed in a a green Aeropostale T-shirt and saggy jeans with blue boxer shorts hanging out.

"I kind of think that he lived a pretty wild life for the month," Genetti said. "He just had such a dead life at home, he had to go out on the town."

Police: Couple had sex on restaurant table

ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Police in Florida say they arrested a man accused of fighting with a restaurant manager after having sex with his date on a table in front of other patrons.

Orlando police said Tom Murphy, the manager at Paddy Murphy's restaurant in Orlando, called police after Jeremie Calo, 32, and his date were seen having sex on their table out on the patio while other patrons, including children, were eating in the same area, WKMG-TV, Orlando, reported Wednesday.

Murphy said the couple stopped when he called police, but officers arrested Calo for fighting with the manager and refusing to pay his $101 bill.

The couple were not charged for the alleged public sex because none of the other restaurant patrons wanted to write statements for police.

Man nears halfway of 18,000-mile run

PRINCETON, Australia, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- An Australian man on a globe-trotting mission, averaging about 31 miles per day, said in New Jersey he is nearing his halfway mark.

Tom Denniss, who has made it his goal to travel the world, running until he reaches 18,000 miles upon his return to his hometown of Sydney, said Wednesday in Princeton he is about halfway done, and will visit New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts before taking a plane to South America to continue his 700 consecutive days of running, The Times of Trenton, N.J., reported Wednesday.

"I'm really good. Things are going better than expected," Denniss said. "It's really nice in New Jersey. There's lots of nice forests and countryside and certainly Princeton is very nice."

Denniss, whose wife is accompanying him on his journey and acting as his support crew, following him in her car, said his run is raising money for the international charity Oxfam, which aims to help communities become sustainable.

"I'm a little bit homesick, but I'm approaching the halfway mark," Denniss said. "I'm just starting to get a sense of that 'being over the hump feeling' coming through."

Lottery prize claimed after 6 years

SYRACUSE, N.Y., Oct. 17 (UPI) -- New York state lottery officials said a pair of brothers cashed in a 6-year-old ticket with a $5 million prize only 11 days before it would have expired.

Officials said brothers Andy Ashkar, 34, of Camillus purchased a $500,000,000 Extravaganza scratch-off game ticket six years ago at his parents' Green Ale Market in Syracuse and came forward last March 1, 11 days before the prize would have expired, The (Syracuse) Post-Standard reported Wednesday.

Ashkar hung onto the ticket for so long because he was concerned the prize "could negatively influence his life if he did not plan properly before being publicly introduced," the lottery said.

Officials said Ashkar did not want his new-found wealth to affect his engagement and subsequent marriage.

While waiting to redeem the prize, Ashkar decided to share the ticket with his brother, Nayel, 36, of Cicero.

"The younger brother also said that during that time, he decided to share his winnings with his brother, Nayel, to show his appreciation for all that Nayel had done for him during his life," the news release said.