Friday Snippets and Soundbites

Here in Nashville, metro students have just started the school year. We figure many of you have too—or will very soon. So what's a better way to end the first week back in school than with a few random stories we found in this week's news?

Nothing! So let's get the show on the road!

They found what?

Did your grandma ever tell you that old wive's tale that if you swallowed a watermelon seed, a watermelon would grow in your stomach? While that joke is always good for a few courtesy laughs, it's not true. Or is it? Recently a Massachusetts man had been suffering from poor health that seemed to just be getting worse and worse. He had emphysema, but had recently started having severe coughing spells. Then came the bad news: doctors noticed a mass in his lungs after doing some X-rays. Ron Sveden and his family feared the worst: cancer. Doctors decided the best plan of action was to get inside Sveden's lungs and find out what was going on. Minutes into the surgery, though, it became clear that Sveden's problem wasn't a tumor; it was a pea. Yes, a pea, growing in the moist, dark environment of his lungs. Doctors cleared away the sprout, drained fluid that had collected, and took action to restore the lung's capacity. A couple months later, Sveden is feeling fine. His doctors figure he simply inhaled the pea at some point. To learn more, go here.

It's too hot. 

If your weather has been anything like ours these last few weeks, you've probably been saying that phrase a lot. We know we have. But for two North Carolina men that phrase has taken on a whole new meaning. The two men work together at the Carolinas Medical Center laundry facility in the Charlotte, N.C. area. Apparently, at some point yesterday, one of the men noticed an item was jammed in the industrial dryer. So he went into the huge dryer to retrieve the item. But once he got in there, he was overcome by the intense heat. The second employee went in after him, but also fell victim to the heat. A third employee called 911. Firefighters responded and it took them about 30 minutes to free the two men. The men were taken to the hospital and treated; they're expected to be just fine. And we doubt they'll be hanging out in industrial dryers anytime soon! To learn more, read this story.

I do, but the charges still stand. 

Franklin Barndt had to face a judge last Friday on drug charges. He and his lawyer attempted to have evidence in the cocaine case against him dismissed, but the judge didn't agree. So, Barndt was sentenced to a 3-year mandatory minimum sentence. Then, the truly out-of-the-ordinary thing happened. In the same courtroom in which he'd just sentenced Barndt, the same judge officiated the marriage of Barndt and his girlfriend. She wore a gray suit; he wore his orange prison jumpsuit and handcuffs. Barndt's attorney,Gary Asteak takes full credit for the idea. The judge said he'd never gotten such a request before, but commented "we're a full-service court." To read more, go here.

And if today's edition of "Snippets and Soundbites" wasn't enough news of the strange for you, please check out page 38 in this month's (and every month's) issue of ec.