ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

Dutch sends message to public: Don’t pee on the royal palace

AMSTERDAM

If you’re caught short on Amsterdam’s historic Dam Square, the Dutch government has a message for you: Don’t pee on the palace.

The Dutch royal family uses the stately Royal Palace in downtown Amsterdam as a working palace, not a residence. But the building’s dark arches provide a favored spot for urination, often at night, out of sight of police who regularly patrol the palace vicinity.

After a multimillion-euro renovation ended in late 2011, people began urinating against the palace’s sandstone facade. That prompted authorities to put up a fence.

But the Interior Ministry recently called the fence “unworthy” of the historic location. It is now installing lights and movement sensors to deter people from relieving themselves.

The government also warned that peeing in public is punishable by a $175 fine.

If those measures don’t work, authorities are considering installing a urinal near the palace that rises out of the ground at night and sinks back below the sidewalk during the day.

Other possible moves include a raised set of steps featuring a “pop-up” fence or fine mesh screens to block off access to the arches after dark.

Mom, daughter return home with new babies together

FORT MYERS, Fla.

A Florida mother and daughter who gave birth at the same hospital on the same day have returned home with their new babies — together.

Heather Penticoff, 40, and her 20-year-old daughter Destinee Martin discovered they were pregnant the same day.

They had the same due dates and, for separate medical reasons, doctors at Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers decided to induce both of them last Tuesday. Each ended up giving birth last Tuesday.

Penticoff’s daughter Madeline was born first,and Martin’s son Damien was born almost three hours later, making Penticoff’s grandson roughly the same age as her newborn daughter.

Penticoff told WZVN-TV that the births are “like having twins without carrying twins.”

On Thursday, they all returned to their Lee County home, with Damien across the hall from Madeline.

Martin told WZVN-TV that she wasn’t thrilled initially when her mother announced her pregnancy.

But she says the shared experience turned out “a lot nicer than if it wouldn’t have went that way.”

Associated Press