ODDLY ENOUGH | Citation over front-yard toilet planter is dismissed

ODDLY ENOUGH

Citation over front-yard toilet planter is dismissed

OAK RIDGE, Tenn.

An eastern Tennessee man has won what became the battle of the bowl when the city cited his front-yard toilet planter as rubbish.

William Terry’s appeal of his citation went to City Court in Oak Ridge where a judge dismissed it Thursday, ruling the city’s definition of rubbish was overly broad.

Flush with success, Terry told the Knoxville News Sentinel he might celebrate by flanking his driveway with two more commodes.

Judge Robert A. McNees III praised the city’s effort to clean up neighborhoods and encouraged its continuation, but said the city must enact ordinances in language citizens can understand.

City code enforcement supervisor Denny Boss called the ruling an interpretation of who is right.

Man in Massachusetts uses fake leg to thwart armed robber

MIDDLETON, Mass.

A Massachusetts man who used his prosthetic leg to take down a robber says he didn’t have time to think, he just reacted.

Stephen Cornell peered through the window of his neighborhood convenience store in Middleton on Wednesday and saw a man pointing a gun at the owner.

He told The Salem News he intended to tackle the thief when he left JC Grill & Pizza, but instead stuck out his artificial leg and tripped him.

Cornell and owner Edson Andrade disarmed the thief and dragged him back into the store in a chokehold before calling police. The weapon was a pellet gun.

The 55-year-old Cornell lost his leg at age 12.

The man accused of the robbery, 23-year-old Eric Homen, pleaded not guilty to charges including armed robbery.

Conn. brush fire consumes firefighters’ pumper truck

KENT, Conn.

Connecticut firefighters responding to a brush fire instead watched one of their trucks go up in flames.

Kent Fire Marshal Stanley MacMillan says the pumper truck pulled onto a field Wednesday to battle a blaze when it had a mechanical problem and stalled. The wind picked up, the fire spread, and soon the truck was ablaze.

The vehicle and equipment on board, including half the department’s self-contained breathing apparatus were a total loss.

Fire Chief Eric Epstein told The Waterbury Republican-American he’s unsure what the truck was worth, but the volunteer department was talking about buying a new one for $450,000.

The good news is the blaze, sparked by a large grass mower, was brought under control and no one was hurt.

Associated Press