November 14, 2008 10:59 am
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A bank robber in York, Pa., threatened to file a complaint with bank management because the tellers’ cash drawers were empty when he attempted to hold them up.
Springettsbury Township Police Lt. Scott Laird says the tellers were waiting for their cash drawers to be filled when a man entered a Susquehanna Bank branch Thursday morning and demanded money. The first teller fainted and the next two showed him their empty cash drawers.
Laird says the robber then threatened to file a complaint with bank management before leaving.
A customer at the drive-through called 911. A 48-year-old Windsor Township man was arrested about 10 blocks away and was held in the York County Prison in lieu of $25,000 bail. He is charged with criminal attempt to commit robbery.
— Remember our Mid-Daily Items tip last week: Always keep some duct tape around.
Well, workers cutting a 45-foot evergreen to be displayed as Milwaukee’s city/county Christmas tree needed some tape this week aftter they took a little too much off the top.
Yolanda Alvarez donated the tree from her yard in the Bay View neighborhood and was watching as the crew cut it Thursday, then lifted it with ropes and a crane and tried to lower it onto a flatbed to be moved downtown.
“It was just almost on the ground and ‘crack!’” she said.
The 8-foot section at the top had snapped right off.
But in the end, all was well.
The crew drilled holes in the sections of trunk, put in a metal pipe and put the tree back together with some duct tape.
It’s expected to be in fine shape for the tree lighting ceremony Nov. 20 in Red Arrow Park.
— The Salvation Army in Colorado Springs, Colo., is experimenting with a plastic alternative for folks who don’t have cash to throw in a holiday red kettle.
This season, five bell-ringers in El Paso County, Colo., will be the first to accept debit and credit cards along with spare change and bills. Salvation Army officials say the kettle tradition needs to be tweaked as consumers increasingly carry only plastic.
Bell ringers are giving the credit card-kettles mixed reviews. But some shoppers who saw the new kettles liked them, saying they’ve walked past kettles in the past and wanted to donate but had no cash.
— And finally, nobody puts Rebecca Willis in a corner.
The small mountain town of Marshall, N.C., has agreed to pay $275,000 for banning her from a community hangout after residents complained about her dirty dancing.
Willis, then 56, was told to stay away from the Marshall Depot community center eight years ago.
According to court documents, she was accused of gyrating and simulating sexual intercourse with her partner while wearing a skirt so short it exposed her underwear. Willis described her dance style as “exuberant and flamboyant” but not obscene.
She’s still not allowed to return to the refurbished train station where she once danced and socialized, but she said that’s OK with her.
Her attorney, Jon Sasser, said the town strongly opposes lifting the ban.
“They said they’d burn the place down before they let her come back, so we decided to see if they’d put a monetary price on the right,” he said.
The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Legal Foundation announced the settlement Thursday.
Larry Leake, an attorney for the town, said Marshall’s insurance company advocated the settlement. The town believes it did nothing wrong and would have prevailed in a trial, he said.
Willis said in a statement that the settlement sends a message that the town should allow for diversity and free expression.
“I am very happy with this settlement and relieved that the lawsuit is finally over,” she said.
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