Side show

THE TALE OF TWO MASKED MEN: Michael Jackson recently went to the Harry Winston store in Beverly Hills to commission a diamond necklace for himself.

He noticed that Winston exec Dawn Moore had a photo of the Lone Ranger on her desk and asked why. She told him her father was Clayton Moore, TV's Lone Ranger.

Jackson then told Moore the Lone Ranger is his hero and he has always lived his life by "The Lone Ranger's Creed," the New York Daily News says.

Either touched by Jackson's sentiment or desperate to cement a big sale, Moore gave Jackson her framed and signed copy of the creed, which goes:

I believe that to have a friend, a man must be one.

That all men are created equal

and that everyone has within himself

the power to make this a better world.

That God put the firewood there

but that every man

must gather and light it himself.

In being prepared

physically, mentally, and morally

to fight when necessary

for that which is right.

That a man should make the most

of what equipment he has.

That "This government,

of the people, by the people

and for the people"

shall live always.

That men should live by

the rule of what is best

for the greatest number.

That sooner or later . . .

somewhere . . . somehow . . .

we must settle with the world

and make payment for what we have taken.

That all things change but truth,

and that truth alone, lives on forever.

ADDENDUM: Among the things Moore tactfully didn't ask Jackson about his allegiance to the code was if the singer, who has made many plastic surgeons rich, just skips over the part about "a man should make the most of what equipment he has."

SOB STORY: Nick Carter won't admit to crying like a baby, but he will say he was "basically in tears almost" when he was arrested at Pop City in Tampa.

The Backstreet Boy and Ruskin native made his first public statements about his Jan. 2 encounter with police in a phone interview with MTV's Total Request Live this week.

"Basically I can tell you I did not do anything wrong," Carter said.

Police said they handcuffed Carter, 21, after he refused their 10th request to stop arguing with a woman and leave.

At least one alleged witness said Carter was in tears once police got ahold of him. Police said Carter became calm and cooperative.

"Sometimes things get blown out of proportion, as everybody knows, but if I disrespected a cop in any way, I apologize," Carter told MTV. "People who know me know I'm not a bad person."

He's charged with resisting an officer without violence. Court date: March 4.

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