AN AMERICAN woman, Marlene Kiraly asked her husband to hide a 3 1/2 karat, uninsured diamond ring. Her mother had given her the ring just before she died 23 years ago. The problem was, he did such a good job that no one could remember where it was.
That was until the new owner of the house, John Kilcooley was renovating a bathroom last month. Tucked away in a bag, behind a light fixture, Mr. Kilcooley found a 3 1/2 karat diamond ring. Instead of keeping it, he tracked down the home's previous owner who sold the house in 2004. His wife called Mrs. Kiraly and asked if she lost something during the move. "She started crying and said her mother's ring," Mr. Kilcooley said.
The Kiralys unsuccessfully searched the house before they moved and had tried numerous ways to jog their memory.
As a reward, the Kiralys said they would fix the Kilcooleys' hurricane-damaged outdoor screens.
AN 81-year-old American, Myron Manders, wants the US Social Security Administration to know that he still is alive in Cleveland, Ohio. The problem is, it doesn't seem to be listening.
Last November, Manders was preparing to leave a hospital where he was treated for pneumonia when a social worker said his insurance company would not pay the bill because it believed Manders died on September 1.Manders sought to clear up the problem by showing up at a Social Security office. The in-person appearance did not help.
The Department of Veterans Affairs, recognizing that Manders served in the Army during World War II, notified Eunice that she is a beneficiary on his Veterans Affairs (VA) life insurance policy and that Social Security had notified the VA of Myron's death.
The latest correspondence from Social Security addressed to Eunice, advised that she is entitled to monthly widow's benefits.
RESIDENTS of one Hartford neighbourhood, in Connecticut, US hope Beethoven and Mozart will help drive drug dealers and prostitutes out of a local park.
Activists propose playing recordings of classical music in Barnard Park in hopes of annoying petty criminals so much that they'll leave. They also hope the music will make the park more pleasant for other people once it is cleaned up.
But to University of California-Los Angeles musicologist Robert Fink, the plan makes Hartford's crime-fighting efforts look desperate. "Beethoven is not going to save you," he said. "It's ironic that some of the greatest composers in history are now being viewed as some kind of bug spray or disinfectant."
