A Fine Flap

Many a man has been corrupted by fine feathered friends, but one of the issues in the breakup of Robert and Dorothea Curley's marriage must be unique. Dorothea, 38, filed for divorce in Chicago after 18 years of marriage, three children and, at last count, 35 ducks. During a support hearing, she complained that the ducks her husband kept as pets upset the neighbors with their noise and untidy habits.

A sympathetic judge issued a court order for the removal of the birds in May. But last week Robert, 41, a former Chicago cop, told the judge that when he tried to give them to friends, there were no takers. Dorothea testified that her estranged husband actually had not tried very hard to get rid of the ducks and had been showing up at the house daily to feed them. Added her lawyer: "There are still 35 of them, and that doesn't include the duckling that got stepped on by the family dog and died." Robert's attorney, Leon Jumes, said of his client: "It's against his nature to destroy these ducks." The judge sentenced Robert to seven days in jail for contempt of court but stayed the punishment for a week, giving him one more chance to get quacking.

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