Offbeat

Man bonds with pay phone, needs ambulance

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. ““ A man and a pay phone were rushed
to a hospital after he got his finger stuck in the coin return slot
while trying to retrieve his 50 cents.

Emergency room doctors gave Emanuel Fleming a painkiller Monday
and pried his middle finger loose using a wooden device and
lubricant, ending the three-hour ordeal.

“The bone in my finger felt like it was going to break. My
finger was numb. It was very painful,” said Fleming, an
elementary school janitor.

Fleming had tried to call his wife, but the line was busy. Two
passers-by tried to help. When they failed to free him, Fleming
used his other hand to dial 911.

Emergency crews and a representative of the company that owns
the phone were sent to the scene. But they were also unable to free
Fleming.

With few options left, ambulance crew members cut the telephone
off at the base and took it and Fleming to St. Mary’s
Hospital.

“I’ve been in this business more than 30 years and
I’ve seen a lot of weird things, but never anyone trapped in
a telephone,” said Herb Simmons, manager of the ambulance
company.

Lost chopstick fragment discovered in man’s
face

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia ““ Malaysian surgeons treating a man
for an eye infection said they were surprised to find part of a
chopstick embedded in his face – the result of an assault five
years ago.

Doctors at a government hospital in the northern city of Ipoh
said they found the section of a wooden chopstick lodged in tissue
between his eyes during exploratory surgery to remove an unknown
foreign object, the national new agency, Bernama, reported.

Dr. Gurdeep Singh Mann, the hospital’s senior eye, nose
and throat specialist, said the man, Ng Keng Choon, was lucky to be
alive because the chopstick had been nudging against his brain.

Ng, 30, a parking garage attendant, was beaten up five years ago
by attackers who threw a shroud over his head. But he didn’t
seek medical attention until recently, when he developed an eye
infection that left him unable to move his right eye, Gurdeep
said.

“Someone stabbed him with the chopstick after covering his
face with a gunny sack,” Bernama quoted Gurdeep as telling
reporters in Ipoh. “A portion of the chopstick broke and was
stuck across from his right eye to the left eye near the nose, and
touched the brain.”

“If the stick had gone another half-centimeter (0.2 inch)
deeper, he could be dead,” he said.

Doctors detected a foreign object in Ng’s face and he
underwent surgery on Oct. 29, when they found the piece of
chopstick and removed it in a one-hour operation which Gurdeep
described as routine – except for the nature of the object.

“We have checked medical journals and found out that this
could well be the first time in the world where a chopstick was
found inside a patient’s face,” Gurdeep said.

Police luxury car line extended for a year

ASPEN, Colo. ““ Police in Aspen won’t have to feel
inferior driving around in their tony resort community “”mdash; they
can keep their luxury import cars, for now.

The Aspen Police Department has extended its deal with Saab that
will allow officers to drive the sleek silver sedans until Jan. 31,
2005.

“˜’We’re all set,” Assistant City
Manager Randy Ready said late last week. “˜’We have
extended the lease for one more year.”

After that, it seems unlikely the partnership will continue. For
a quarter of a century, the Swedish automaker has sold the vehicles
to Aspen at a loss.

Reports from Daily Bruin wire services.