oddly enough

oddly enough

Ex-caretaker to stand trial in Pa. stolen whiskey case

GREENSBURG, Pa.

The former live-in caretaker of a Pittsburgh-area mansion will stand trial on charges he drank more than $102,000 worth of old whiskey that he was supposed to be guarding.

On Wednesday, a district judge ordered 62-year-old John Saunders of Irwin to trial on theft charges after hearing from the owner of the South Broadway Manor Bed and Breakfast.

The owner found nine 12-bottle cases of whiskey hidden in the century-old mansion built by industrialist J.P. Brennan after she bought it last year. The Old Farm Pure Rye Whiskey was produced in the early 1900s and appraised at more than $2,000 a bottle.

After Saunders moved out last March, the owner discovered 52 empty bottles, and police found Saunders’ saliva DNA on some of the bottles.

Saunders’ attorney argued the value of the whiskey was “pure speculation.”

Would-be mermaid banned from Fla. pool

LITHIA, Fla.

A Florida woman has been banned from swimming in her community’s pool because she wants to wear a mermaid tail.

Jenna Conti, who lives in the FishHawk Ranch subdivision, had been in the Aquatic Club pool with her custom-made tail once before with the staff’s approval. But last week, employees told her it violated a policy against swim fins. On Monday night, the FishHawk Community Development board voted to keep her out of the pool because of the swim fin policy.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that Conti’s dream is to swim at the Florida Aquarium, which features mermaid performers.

The full-time hair stylist hasn’t been a mermaid for very long. She and her 10-year-old son saw the mermaids at the Tampa Bay Renaissance Fair earlier this year, and she says she was “enthralled.”

Lake Geneva gets mail delivered by boat jumpers

LAKE GENEVA, Wis.

The only mail delivery in the country that uses teens and college students who jump back and forth from boats is nearing its 100th summer.

The carriers are hired to jump to piers, hustle to mailboxes on the docks and scurry back to the boat — without falling in.

A never-stopping boat delivers to the 60 or so mansions on Lake Geneva in Walworth County, southern Wisconsin.

The boat can carry about 150 people each morning and runs from mid-June to mid-September.

The U.S. Postal Service pays Gage Marine, which runs Lake Geneva Cruise Line, $1 a year to deliver the mail.

It’s been done every summer since 1916. The captain of the boat, Neill Frame, has been doing it for 40 years.

Associated Press