Lead Story
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
In June a lawyer (not named in the original news story) won a $3,000 settlement over an underwear purchase against the J.C. Penney store in Newport, Oregon. The man claimed that the first time he wore the shorts the inspection tag stuck to his penis so firmly that he could not remove it. After trying soapy water and rubbing alcohol, he went to a doctor, who removed the sticker with an adhesive dissolver, which, however, caused a rash. When the rash disappeared, a scar was left in the shape of the sticker. The settlement compensated the man for lost work time and for marital strife.
Last September police in Green Bay, Wisconsin, took a 16-month-old child into protective custody after his parents left him alone while they went barhopping. (A family friend reported that the baby had been left alone.) Even though police had taken the child before the parents returned home, they did not report the child missing until the next afternoon, following the conclusion of the Packers game on TV.
Charles W. Shinabarger, 31, got five days in jail in Webster City, Iowa, in July for sending a profane note smeared with excrement along with his payment for a traffic ticket for not wearing a seat belt. Judge G.D. Warland said it was his disgust at the profanity more than at the excrement that caused him to impose a jail term.
