Election Section

Tabby owner tracked down 

ELKHART, Ind. — A tiger-striped tabby is home after 10 months thanks to factory workers who took in the wayward feline and tracked down its owner. 

The gray-and-silver cat, named Mercedes, disappeared after running out the door of Beverly VanZandt’s mobile home in Osceola on an unseasonably warm January day. When a snowstorm three days later lowered temperatures to almost zero, VanZandt figured she had seen the last of her cat. 

But on Wednesday, VanZandt got a phone call from an employee at Monaco Coach Corp. in Elkhart. 

Mercedes somehow wandered to the recreational vehicle factory 10 miles east of Osceola, and had been staying there for the past month. The cat was wary of humans for weeks, but finally let a worker get close enough to read its tag so its veterinarian and then VanZandt could be traced. 

VanZandt and Mercedes were reunited Thursday at Monaco Coach. 

“It’s like she died, and now she’s alive again,” VanZandt said. 

Candy thief finally caught 

DETROIT — A retiree paid $100 as reimbursement for stealing candy from a school pantry 55 years ago. 

The 1947 Detroit Southeastern High School graduate anonymously mailed a letter and a $100 bill to the school district a few weeks ago. 

The donor admitted raiding the pantry while doing chores in the lunch room a couple times a week. 

“I am a retired professional who has been highly respected all my life,” the letter read. “I have certainly been guilty of much greater offenses over the years, but that basic breach of trust has remained in the back of my mind.” 

The thief admitted taking Hershey bars and a few handfuls of almonds. 

The donor noted that the value of the food “might not have been as much as a dollar at that time.” 

Detroit Public Schools Chief Executive Kenneth Burnley plans to take the money to Southeastern on Friday to teach students that’s its never too late to right a wrong. 

Mistake makes glass collectible 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A mistake on the first run of the 2003 Kentucky Derby glass has apparently created a collectible. 

The glass mistakenly lists 1932 Derby winner Burgoo King as a Triple Crown winner and neglects to note that 1937 Derby winner War Admiral did win the Triple Crown. 

Churchill Downs officials said Tuesday that 100,440 glasses, about 20 percent of the glasses that will be produced for next year’s race, contain the error. 

The bad glasses, which retail for between $2 and $3, were expected to be more valuable than the corrected glasses. 

“It’s Christmas morning for those who collect them,” said Churchill Downs spokesman John Asher. “It adds to the fun. We’re unhappy they’re out there — we want everything we market to be perfect — but it’s exciting for the collectible community.”