oddly enough

oddly enough

Man uses phone glitch to bond out of Fla. jail

TAVARES, Fla.

Authorities say an inmate at a central Florida jail used a glitch in the facility’s phone system to bond himself out.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office says 32-year-old Larry Stone discovered the glitch earlier this month. The phone system charges inmate accounts for calls but refunds the money if the call doesn’t go through. But the system was reimbursing inmates twice for incomplete calls.

Authorities say Stone repeatedly made calls and hung up until he had more than $1,250 — enough to bond out of jail. Stone had been arrested in April on property-crime charges.

Stone was free for only a few hours before he was re-arrested. Officials became suspicious by the inmates’ increased phone use.

The software error has been fixed and accounts restored to their previous totals.

Ohio pool’s employees include 4 sets of twins

SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio

Families are doing double duty this summer at an Ohio pool with four sets of twins on staff.

The crew at the Bexley Park Pool near Cleveland includes two sets of identical twins: 17-year-olds Anna and Maia Wachter, and 18-year-olds Ariana and Amara Jester.

Pool manager Lauren Meek tells The Plain Dealer newspaper of Cleveland she has no trouble telling the Jesters apart but can get confused by the Wachter girls, both lifeguards.

The pool’s two other pairs are fraternal twins.

Meek says it’s common for siblings to work at the pool, but having four sets of twins is very unusual.

The pool in South Euclid has 34 employees, meaning nearly one out of every four is a twin.

Hot-air balloon lands off Mass. Turnpike

AUBURN, Mass.

It was an unusual sight for rush-hour motorists on the Massachusetts Turnpike: an emergency landing by a hot-air balloon.

State police say the balloon carrying seven people touched down about 7:30 a.m. Thursday on a ramp leading to a highway- maintenance area in Auburn.

No one was injured.

Police say the pilot told officials he was having trouble controlling the balloon and wanted to bring it down before it reached a crowded urban area, such as nearby Worcester.

The balloon was removed within about 30 minutes, and the ramp is reopened. It’s not known from where the balloon had taken off.

Associated Press