Worst-ever tuition fund-raising effort
 

Dare proves costly for would-be streaker
Canadian Press
Friday, November 8, 2002 – Page S5

Lethbridge, Alta. -- The would-be streaker who knocked himself out when he hopped naked onto the ice at a Calgary Flames hockey game says he was trying to make some money to put toward his education. Tim Hurlbut said he needed to buy new textbooks and, when two strangers offered him $200 to jump over the boards wearing only his red socks, it seemed like the perfect solution. But the plan went awry when Hurlbut slipped on the ice, knocked himself out and had to be carted off on a stretcher. Three weeks later, the 21-year-old Lethbridge Community College student has yet to see the money, owes $400 in ambulance bills and is facing mischief charges. "I was going to be up $200, but it kind of backfired on me," Hurlbut said. "Now I really can't afford those books."

He should sue the book manufacturers for backing him into such a corner with their HIGHLY overinflated prices.

Another "worst-ever" contender
 

Posted: 11/9/2002 5:12:00 PM ET


FBI begins probe of pick six, could entail other races, other people


The New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation became involved in the Breeders Cup Ultra Pick Six investigation on Thursday afternoon, and FBI offices in Chicago and Baltimore are also working on the case, one that could widen to entail other races and other individuals, said FBI Special Agent Joe Valiquette.

"We’re always attentive that the investigation may grow and cast a wider net than is indicated right now," Valiquette said.

Valiquette said Saturday that the individuals being investigated about the pick six wager and two other incidents could be facing charges of conspiracy and wire fraud if they altered tickets after races had been run.

The investigation of the Breeders’ Cup Ultra Pick Six and two other incidents involving multiple race wagers was passed on from the New York State Racing and Wagering Board to the United States Attorney General Office’s Southern District of New York Friday. The Southern District encompasses Manhattan and Westchester, Rockland, Sullivan, Orange, Ulster, and Putnam Counties.

The investigation centers on 29-year-old Derrick Davis of Baltimore, who stands to collect more than $3-million if his $12 winning ticket on the Ultra Pick Six, the only winning ticket, is deemed valid. He has the equivalent of six winning $2 tickets, each worth $428,932, as well as 108 of the 186 winning pick five consolation tickets, each worth $4,606.20.

Also being investigated are 29-year-olds Chris Harn and Glen DaSilva, who were Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity brothers of Davis when they attended Drexel University in Philadelphia in the mid-1990s.

Harn was fired by Autotote, the company that processed Davis’s winning bet via a telephone account with Catskill Off-Track Betting Corp., on October 31.

DaSilva, who lives in New York, is being investigated regarding his winning tickets on an October 3 pick four at Balmoral Park, a harness track in Crete, Illinois, and an October 6 consolation pick six at Belmont Park in which he had eight tickets. He, too had a phone account with Catskill OTB.—Bill Heller

Perhaps this should be on the "Chit Chat" board... but....

Are the prices really so overinflated? After all, it's not a novel. Textbooks take years to write, and have a very limited distribution. The authors usually hold doctorates, and for them to even want to write a textbook, there has to be some financial gain - after all, it comes out research time, and research is the real backbone of universities. I know a professor that recently published a textbook, because he felt all the others were too overpriced - and it still was $96 (CDN).

Of course, you could go after them for wanting to republish the book every year with a new edition. But not sue. People sue too much.

Unfortunately in our society sueing is the only LEGAL means of recourse (especially when we're talking financial stuff). I *really* think that new editions are a load of BS. You add a chapter that says "international" and sudddenly no used books! Turn around and sell it for $50 more.

This summer I bought my textbook for Corporate Video Production (a 150 page paperback) for about $35 dollars. The other store on campus ran out of them and the rest of the class had to pay $50 for them?!