ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

Christmas message lands Boston worker in hot water

BOSTON

A Boston subway dispatcher who programmed an electronic message board in a station to scroll the lyrics of “Deck the Halls” instead of the normal service announcements on Christmas Day won’t face severe punishment.

Travelers seemed to get a chuckle out of the holiday levity. But Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officials weren’t amused and initially said the dispatcher could be strongly disciplined.

State Transportation Secretary Richard Davey told The Boston Globe on Tuesday any punishment will be light — perhaps just a reminder not to use the signs for anything other than their real purpose.

Davey says the dispatcher is a good and long-term employee of the transit agency and meant well.

At AA meeting, Ohio police arrest an intoxicated man

CINCINNATI

Police say an “extremely intoxicated” man who carried a can of beer into an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting faces charges after he refused to leave the building.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that police say the man came into a halfway house at 12:15 a.m. Monday.

Cincinnati police say Darrin Porter was asked to leave, then was carried out of the building by staffers.

After he returned, authorities say they charged the 45-year-old man with disorderly conduct while intoxicated and obstructing official business.

No phone number was listed for Porter, and no attorney was listed in his court record.

Associated Press