Pennsylvania golfer cleared of not yelling 'fore'

CARLISLE, Pa. -- A golfer plunked in the face by an errant ball was unable to convince a jury that the man who hit him was negligent for failing to yell "Fore!" James A. Tomkins claimed fellow golfer George Long didn't yell the standard warning when he hit a wayward shot on the Cumberland Golf Course in 1999. The ball hit Tomkins in the right eye, knocking him out of his golf cart. Jurors deliberated two hours Tuesday before deciding that Long was not negligent. Long, who claimed he did yell a warning, said golfers in Pennsylvania would be happy with the verdict. "When you play golf, you take a risk," he said. Potential jurors were asked if they were golfers, and about half of those picked to hear the case said they were either casual or serious about the game.

Conn. church focuses on precise weddings

VOLUNTOWN, Conn. -- Couples with cold feet can back out of a wedding in one step at a Connecticut church. The Church of Christ sits atop Ekonk Hill Road, straddling the town line for Voluntown and Sterling. It's also on the New London County-Windham County border. Couples have to ensure they're standing on the correct side of the building during the wedding ceremony so that they're in the town that issued their marriage license. Otherwise the marriage is not legally binding, the Rev. Ron Fleet said. The boundary is determined by the middle divider in the center pews, and for years, young lovers have obeyed.

Man presumed dead calls daughter at wake

TORONTO -- Dane Squires was late for his own funeral. At least it seemed that way after people gathered Thursday at a Toronto funeral home to mourn the retired welder from Newfoundland whom they believed had been hit by a train. Relatives of Squires were watching the casket being loaded into a hearse when his daughter Trina got a phone call. Her father was on the other end. "She totally, totally lost it," Squires' brother Gilbert said. "She said, 'There's a ghost talking to me on the phone.'" Squires was initially identified as the man who was hit by a commuter train last Friday night. The body was badly mutilated in the accident but still fit Squires' description, police said. Authorities haven't yet identified the victim.-- From wire reports

Dog drives off as owner watches hockey

WHITEHORSE, Yukon Territory -- An exuberant dog left in a truck while the owner watched Canada win the World Cup of Hockey managed to throw the vehicle into gear and coast down a city hill. A man out for a walk called police after seeing the vehicle coast by with a black Labrador retriever behind the wheel. Police arrived to find the truck in the middle of a road, blocking traffic, with the dog still at the wheel. No one was injured and there was no damage. Going door to door, police managed to track down the owner. "Subsequent investigation indicates that the dog was celebrating the Canadian victory in the world hockey game and knocked the truck into gear, causing it to roll down the hill," Whitehorse Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Wednesday in a firmly tongue-in-cheek news release. "No word yet on how the dog is doing studying the rules for negotiating the new traffic circle."

-- From wire reports