Monday, June 14, 2004

Polygamy rife among town's cops

More than half of the police officers in a US town have more than one wife, an investigation has revealed.
The eight month investigation into police polygamy in Hildade, Utah, was ordered by Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.
He told the Salt Lake Tribune: "Hildale has 13 officers who are certified by Utah, seven by our records are polygamists."
But Shurtleff admitted that none of the seven officers would face criminal charges: "We just don't have the resources to start charging bigamy," he told the paper.
The mayor of Hildale, David Zitter, callied the investigation "a nuisance" and accused Shurtleff of making "a direct assault on polygamy".
"I don't know how you can see it any other way," he said.
The population of Hildale is a stronghold of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which practices polygamy.
The more well-known Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has disavowed its previous doctrine that polygamy was acceptable.

HARTFORD, Conn. -- You can reasonably bet that Larry Olmsted is pretty sick of seven-card stud.

The Vermont native sat at a poker table at Foxwoods Resort Casino at Mashantucket at 1:22 p.m. Thursday and remained there for the next 72 hours, taking occasional bathroom breaks but never leaving the poker area.

Olmsted's feat was intended to set the record for the longest casino poker session, one that has yet to be certified by Guinness World Records to become official.

"It's not for the girls, and not the money. It's for the glory," Olmsted said.

Under Guinness rules, Olmsted, 38, was required to play almost every hand, except for one 15 minute break every eight hours.

He sat down with $100 in poker chips and ended with around $1,000 in winnings, although he gave most of it away in tips to the Foxwoods staff. He played seven-card stud, with a 50 cent ante and a $1 forced bet with a $5 max.

He ate cheeseburgers and grilled cheese sandwiches at the poker table and drank more than 30 cups of coffee, six ice teas, four strawberry shakes and a couple of spicy Virgin Marys.

Olmsted's concentration waned in the last 12 hours, as did his ability to stay awake.

"I got to a point where I couldn't read the numbers on the cards," he said.

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