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News of the Weird

The Associated Press
Tuesday April 23, 2002

ERIE, Pa. (AP) — Police are looking for three very unwelcome wedding guests. 

Two men and a woman were caught on surveillance tape at an Erie conference center stealing a basket containing wedding cards and money that police estimated at $5,000 to $20,000. 

Deepika Segu and Robert Lofgren were in the midst of their 90-minute Indian ceremony on Saturday when the three thieves, dressed as wedding guests, struck, police said. 

The couple’s friend and wedding planner, Melissa Taylor, said she saw the man who stole the basket but couldn’t run fast enough to catch him because she’s eight months pregnant. 

“It’s just instinct. I turned, I saw him. I knew he shouldn’t have the basket and I just took off after him,” Taylor said. “I’m just mad I couldn’t waddle fast enough. I used to be pretty quick.” 

 

 

DALLAS — Maybe the caffeine keeps him going. 

John Winter Smith didn’t just awaken one morning and decide to visit every Starbucks in the world. As he puts it, “It built up steam gradually.” 

Smith, 30, said his mission may have been sparked by a conversation with a Starbucks employee about the company’s plan to have 2,000 stores by 2000. 

By January 1998, he was scanning phonebooks in search of uncharted Starbucks. In August 1999, he hopscotched across the United States and Canada for three weeks, taking time out only to attend a few concerts. 

In late 1999 he started a Web site, delighted with a Starbucks manager’s suggestion that he photograph each store and post the pictures. 

And, no, he says, the stores are not all the same. Even though they share standard design elements, at least one item — maybe a lamp or wall design — differs slightly. Some display local artwork or incorporate design elements from a pre-existing building.