Lost diamond ring returned to its owner

A diamond ring that a South Florida department store sales associate found inside a shoe has been returned to its owner. Susan Ray said she thinks she lost her great-grandmother's engagement ring while she was looking at shoes at a Loehmann's store. A sales associate, Maria del Carmen Servin, found the piece of jewelry in a Cole Haan pump.
Servin gave the ring to loss-prevention employees, and Ray soon contacted the store.

Ray, a retired tax attorney, said the experience "made me really rethink how I think about people."

For turning in the ring, Servin will be featured in a company newsletter and get a Loehmann's gift card. She will also receive $10 from a store program.

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Landlord removed tenant's toilet as a penalty for avoiding eviction

A landlord was fined nearly $10,000 for removing the toilet and other fixtures from a basement apartment to get his tenant to move out.

The Rockland Board of Health issued the fine to Fausto Pinos on Wednesday. He had been charged with 24 housing code violations for conditions in the building in Spring Valley, a town north of New York City.

"The people living there were subjected to appalling conditions that were not fit for human habitation," said Dr. Jeffrey Oppenheim, the health board's president. "It was just disgusting."

Pinos, of Bushkill, Pa., did not appear at the meeting, but his brother, Jesus Pinos, speaking on his behalf, said the landlord did not dispute the charges. He said Pinos thought that removing the toilet, bathtub, sink, oven and countertop would force the woman and her child to move.

County officials had been tipped off to problems in the apartment in early November by an agency that was trying to help the woman. Inspectors found numerous health and safety violations, including a roach infestation and sewage in the bathtub.

The Department of Health issued emergency violations letters to Fausto Pinos on Nov. 5, according to records. When inspectors visited the apartment again Nov. 17, they discovered that the toilet and other fixtures had been removed.

The tenant told inspectors that Pinos removed the items the day before and told her to leave. But she said she had no other place to go.

The Department of Social Services helped relocate the woman and her child.

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Goat arrested for robbery

Police in Nigeria are holding a goat on suspicion of attempted armed robbery.

Vigilantes took the black and white beast to the police saying it was an armed robber who had used black magic to transform himself into a goat to escape arrest after trying to steal a Mazda 323.

"The group of vigilante men came to report that while they were on patrol they saw some hoodlums attempting to rob a car," Kwara state police spokesman Tunde Mohammed told Reuters by telephone.

"They pursued them. However one of them escaped while the other turned into a goat.

"We cannot confirm the story, but the goat is in our custody. We cannot base our information on something mystical. It is something that has to be proved scientifically, that a human being turned into a goat."

Belief in witchcraft is widespread in parts of Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation.

Residents came to the police station to see the goat, photographed in one national newspaper on its knees next to a pile of straw.

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106 years old woman eat chocolate to stay young

SHE may be Doncaster's oldest woman – and she has just celebrated her 106th birthday.
Sylvia Lindley has lived through two world wars and the reigns of five monarchs – and once worked playing the piano in Doncaster's cinemas for silent films.

She cut her birthday cake with daughter Nadia and grandchildren Miles and Gina at the Armthorpe home where she now lives.

Sylvia, a resident at Rose House on Church Street, was born on January 22, 1903, and grew up in Thorne after her parents moved from Derbyshire.

She and husband Reginald ran the town's Lindley's garage for a living and Sylvia later set up her own florists shop.

She reckons her long life has been helped by her love of chocolate, say care staff at Rose House.

Rose house manager Pam Castle said: "Sylvia does eat a lot of chocolate and she likes to talk when she's in the mood. She's marvellous

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Dead footballer emerged during gathering

A historic football club held a minute's silence for an ex-player only for it to emerge later that he was still alive and kicking.

Tributes were paid to Tommy Farrer, 86, in Bishop Auckland FC's programme and his death was noted in the local newspaper.

But the former England amateur who played in three Wembley finals for the County Durham side was very much alive and well, enjoying his retirement in Maidstone, Kent.

He played down the mistake, preferring to "let it die", he said.

But earlier, he told the Northern Echo newspaper: "We are not upset, but we did think it was a bit of a joke at first."

He and his wife Gladys celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary last month.

The couple learned of the mistake when a club official telephoned her to pass on his condolences. Confused, Mrs Farrer said her husband had just popped out to buy a newspaper, and that if the caller waited a few minutes, she would fetch him to speak over the phone.

The former player, who skippered a Bishop Auckland team which took on a barefoot team of Nigerians in 1949, was particularly touched by the programme notes, which described him as a "legend".

He won eight amateur caps and was on the losing side three times in three FA Amateur Cup finals in the post-War years, when Bishops were among the best known non-league sides in the country. He went on to play for Walthamstow and settled in Maidstone in 1970.

Bishops held a minute's silence for Mr Farrer before their Northern League game against Newcastle Benfield last week, which they lost 4-0.

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Student auctioned her virginity to pay for school fees

A US student who is auctioning her virginity to pay for her studies has seen bidding hit £2.5million.

Natalie Dylan, 22, is selling herself to fund her master's degree in Family and Marriage therapy.

She claims her offer of a one-night stand has persuaded 10,000 men to bid for sex with her.

Last September, when her auction came to light, she had received bids up to £162,000 but since then interest in her has rocketed.

The student who has a degree in Women's Studies insisted she was not demeaning herself.

Miss Dylan, from San Diego, California, USA, said she was persuaded to offer herself to the highest bidder after her sister Avia, 23, paid for her own degree after working as a prostitute for three weeks.

She said she had had a lot of attention from a wide range of men, including "weirdos", "those who get really graphically sexual about what they want to do to me" and "lots of polite requests from rich businessmen".

She said: "I know that a lot of people will condemn me for this because it's so taboo but I really don't have a problem with that.

"My study is completely authentic in that I truly am auctioning my virginity but I am not being sold into this. I'm not being taken advantage of in any way.

"I think me and the person I do it with will both profit greatly from the deal."

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