Doggone It! Car Bumper Can’t Fend Off Gator’s Fangs

--Man bites dog is news. But how about when dog bites sports car? Mike and Barbara Faw had owned their $14,000 Chevrolet Camaro Z-28 for only five hours when a 1-year-old bulldog named Gator lunged at it and took a $500 bite from the front bumper. Barbara Faw said she and her husband were backing out of their driveway in Valdosta, Ga., when they saw the bulldog jump a neighbor’s fence and run toward their car. By the time the dog “fled the scene,” according to a police report, the car had sustained damages indicating “an irritated dog.” Barbara Faw said, “The front bumper is made out of a plastic rubber material. He bit clean through it.” The damage estimate was $476, plus labor costs. “He’s bitten our old car’s mud flaps before,” she said of Gator, “but you can overlook a $1.98 mud flap. I’m more upset with General Motors than I am with the dog. In a $14,000 car they shouldn’t make bumpers that a dog can bite through.”

--Elton John has earned more than $19 million in royalties alone in the 18 years since he signed with music publisher Dick James, a music company lawyer said in the rock star’s suit in London against James. John, 38, contends that James exercised undue influence in getting John to sign an unfair contract when he was an unknown 20-year-old. James denies it. John’s lyric writer, Bernie Taupin, who also is suing James, made $1,380,858, the court was told. James’ lawyer, George Newman, said in the High Court that James’ companies made $14.5 million on John’s records and music. He said the figures do not include money John made by performing.

--Bahamian businessman Spurgeon Brown stumbled upon a bank robbery apparently in progress in Miami and disarmed the suspect with quick thinking and a manila envelope. Brown, 40, “confronted the man and pointed a manila envelope in his face, at which time he told him to freeze,” police officer Reginald Roundtree said. The suspect, Horace Elvin Hurt, dropped his knife and the $1,879 bag of loot. Brown then chased the man into the street, where he made the collar. A bank official said that they were happy to get the money back but that the bank doesn’t want to encourage such heroics. “Our bank policy is that we don’t go chasing people,” he said.