Fighting for every penny

By The Daily Progress

Published: November 15, 2008

A $40 medical bill might seem small but a West Virginia man says his five-year battle over paying it was a matter of principle.

Sam Juniper says his health benefits weren’t supposed to change after he retired in 2000 from M&G Polymers.

But he received a $40 bill in 2002 after the company’s new provider, Aetna Insurance, refused to cover the cost of some blood work.

He challenged that in Mason County court in 2003 and won every decision all the way to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. The appeals court ruled in his favor on Oct. 10.

Lawyer Mark Underwood handled Juniper’s case for free and says small bills like this add up over time.

Juniper says he is still waiting for his $40 refund check, which he plans to frame and hang on his wall.

Dancing for dollars

A small mountain town, Marshall, N.C., has agreed to pay $275,000 for banning Rebecca Willis from a community hangout after residents complained about her dirty dancing.

Willis, then 56, was told to stay away from the Marshall Depot community center eight years ago.

According to court documents, she was accused of gyrating and simulating sexual intercourse with her partner while wearing a skirt so short it exposed her underwear. Willis described her dance style as “exuberant and flamboyant” but not obscene.

She’s still not allowed to return to the refurbished train station where she once danced and socialized, but she said that’s OK with her.

Her attorney, Jon Sasser, said the town strongly opposes lifting the ban.

“They said they’d burn the place down before they let her come back, so we decided to see if they’d put a monetary price on the right,” he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Legal Foundation announced the settlement Thursday.

Dog-gone tourist trap

A travel guide’s list of the best places in the world to be entombed includes a cemetery for animals in a New York City suburb.

“Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2009” includes the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery with the Taj Mahal and the Great Pyramids among the 10 “best places of rest.”

A spokesman for Hartsdale says it’s “delighted to be in such esteemed company.”

The guide says the headstones at the pet cemetery are fascinating to read. One says, “Sport: Born a dog, died a gentleman.”

There are 70,000 creatures and several bereaved humans in the 112-year-old pet cemetery, which is 20 miles north of New York City.