Priest punches best man; hospital claims woman who is alive is dead; and Uber driver returns poker player’s money | Viral Now

Inmate sentenced for contraband-loaded football scheme

An inmate involved in a plan to toss a football filled with drugs and cellphones over the fence of a Michigan prison will spend an additional three to five years in prison.

MLive.com reports Monday that 22-year-old Myles Alexander was sentenced Wednesday for his role in the plot. He already is serving up to four years in prison for a 2012 felonious assault and discharging a weapon case.

The football contained marijuana, heroin, the phones and chargers. It landed between two security fences, but short of the prison exercise yard in June 2014 at the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility in Jackson.

Christen D. Moore, who threw the football, was convicted of furnishing contraband to a prisoner. The 24-year-old Moore was paroled in November.

Woman receives card from hospital that says she’s dead

A Virginia hospital is apologizing after accidently sending a sympathy card to the family of a woman who’s still alive.

WVIR-TV reports that Marilyn Mullins received a card from the chaplain Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital almost a month and a half after her three-day stay there. The card, which was addressed to Mullins’ family, said her family was in the hospital’s thoughts after her death.

The only problem is that Mullins is still alive.

The hospital blamed the incident on a clerical error. Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital said in a statement that an official accidently clicked the box for a deceased patient instead of “discharge to home” in the electronic medical record.

The hospital said the erroneous information was not sent to any outside organizations or government agencies.

Holy punch! Cyprus priest punches best man at wedding

The best man slapped the groom on the back, which is an old Cypriot wedding custom. The priest punching the best man would be an innovation.

But Cyprus police said Monday they are investigating an allegation that this happened at a wedding over the weekend.

Police say the victim —the groom’s 22-year-old brother — was taken to a hospital but wasn’t seriously hurt and that his family filed a complaint.

A family member — speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing — said the priest had initially gestured with a raised hand for the slapping to cease, then punched the brother in the chest and face when the warning went unheeded.

The family member told The Associated Press that the wedding unraveled during the ceremony’s Dance of Isaiah, when the priest, holding the Gospel, led the couple around the altar three times. With the backslapping continuing, the irate priest put the gospel down and unleased on the brother.

“It’s a tradition that I don’t condone, but that was uncalled for. ... He could have just interrupted the ceremony,” said the family member. He said although the priest hastily abandoned the ceremony after the kerfuffle, the couple did receive a marriage certificate.

“The wedding was spoilt after that with many people not showing up for the reception after word spread, but we made the best of it,” the family member said.

Bishop of Paphos Georgios backed the priest, whom he hailed as one of the best clerics in his Diocese. He told the state-run Cyprus News Agency that the backslapping custom, dating from Ottoman times, doesn’t befit the island’s Orthodox Christian traditions.

The bishop said he had instructed priests to interrupt any ceremony where family or guests didn’t demonstrate the appropriate respect. He added he would investigate the matter.

Uber driver returns lost money to World Series Poker player

A World Series of Poker player says he hit an “emotional jackpot” thanks to an Uber driver who returned his $7,000 ante.

Jacob Brundage, of Lakeland, Florida, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he lost a tote filled with cash and playing chips June 1.

The 39-year-old says he realized the bag was in an Uber car that he rode from The Venetian to the Rio.

Brundage failed to reach the driver through the app and enlisted a group of waiting Uber drivers to help.

The driver, who wants to remain anonymous, called Brundage and returned the bag.

Brundage gave him $200 as a reward.

Uber spokeswoman Maui Cheska Orozo says this is likely the most expensive item ever left in an Uber car in Las Vegas.

Former New Hampshire speaker runs for, against new office

A former speaker of the New Hampshire House is running for a new office — by running against it.

Salem Republican Donna Sytek, who served 23 years in the House before retiring in 2000, signed up this week to run for Rockingham County register of probate. Her platform? Eliminate the obscure, essentially meaningless position.

“We have a title with hardly any responsibilities,” said Sytek. “I said, ‘That’s a job for me! I can do that!’”

In the past, registers of probate in each county oversaw the administration of courts that handled estates, name changes and adoptions and managed all estate records. After a 2011 reorganization to streamline the judicial system, the county probate, district and family courts were folded into the circuit court system, and the number of clerks was reduced from 52 to 18.

But because the state constitution requires the election of registers of probate, lawmakers retained the position, stripped away virtually all its responsibilities and set the annual salary at $100 per year — compared to the roughly $100,000 in salary and benefits the state paid to the full-time registers.

In 2014, a Dartmouth College senior won the Grafton County seat with 20 votes after his fraternity brothers launched an impromptu write-in campaign on Election Day.

Sytek is pushing for a constitutional amendment to eliminate the position. It takes a three-fifths vote of the Legislature and two-thirds vote by the electorate to amend the constitution.

“Voters ought to be given an opportunity to look at this and say whether this historical title that is now meaningless should be taken from the constitution,” she said. “When I tell people about this, they say, ‘What? There’s an office that has no responsibilities and pays $100 a year? Sign me up!’”

Under state law, a probate register’s only remaining duty is identifying historically significant documents and sending them to the state archives. In at least one county, the register has never even been to the courthouse, said longtime probate Judge David King. In other counties, the positions are held by former full-time registers who now work for the courts in other capacities.

Having the register of probate positions be elected didn’t make sense even under the old system, said King.

“It’s hard to run a court, when your clerks — which is really what the registers are — have to run for office every two years,” he said.

He said he has great respect for Sytek and hopes her effort succeeds.

Freeport police officer chases chicken, fowl manages to flee

A South Texas police officer has chased a chicken across a road but the fowl managed to flee.

Freeport police posted video online of Officer Curtis Land trying to catch the chicken Monday night.

A police statement says Land lost sight of the bird near a chicken restaurant. Land was seen using a pole with a loop on the end in the failed attempt to capture the chicken.

Police say the fate of the chicken wasn’t immediately known, after the bird dashed near some gas pumps and under a patrol vehicle before slipping away.

Authorities didn’t immediately say who’s believed to own the chicken.

Freeport is 60 miles south of Houston.

This story was originally published June 14, 2016 at 10:32 AM with the headline "Priest punches best man; hospital claims woman who is alive is dead; and Uber driver returns poker player’s money | Viral Now."