Please wait. Contacting image service... loading

Article text

THE LAW
Layman's
line
catches
cleric
MUNFORDVILLE,
Kentucky (AAP~).-Now
you can claim the one
that got away as officially
yours, according to a
ruling given in a Hart
County Court yester
day.
Last February, a
preacher, the Reverend
Otha Dura, out walking
and contemplating the
goodness of creation and
next Sunday's sermon, was
suddenly distracted by. an
apparently ownerless fish
ing rod careering wildly
around on a river bank.
With remarkable enter
prise, the preacher seized
the rod and hauled in a
record 511b fish
Mounted as
his own work
Jubilant, the preacher
proceeded to have the fish
stuffed, varnished, mounted
in a glass case and labelled
as all his own work.
But retribution was at
hand.
The owner of the rod
and line, Mr Quentin
Vance, took the preacher
to court on the grounds
that he had "unlawfully
detained" the fish.
After deliberating for
nearly an hour, the jury
decided that once the fish
had taken the bait it be
came the property of Mr
Vance and ordered the
preacher to pay $750
(LA334) damages.
$