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News & Notes

A nuisance as common as a Starbucks sign

By Times Staff
Published April 18, 2006

The familiar green-and-white sign in front of the newly opened Starbucks in Tampa's Seminole Heights neighborhood spelled out a nasty message Monday morning, the work of vandals. Someone spray painted over and changed letters in Starbucks Coffee, resulting in an obscene statement. Starbucks wrapped plastic around the words to disguise the defaced sign. Store manager Susan Newsome said the company had not filed a police report for the incident. The Starbucks, which residents in Seminole Heights had lobbied for, opened April 7.

The funeral for Pvt. Jody Missildine, a Plant City soldier killed in Iraq, will be Friday. Missildine was killed April 8, when an explosive device detonated beside his Humvee in Iraq. He was 19 and in the infantry. Visitation will be 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at First Baptist Church, 503 N Palmer St. The funeral will be at the church at 11 a.m. Friday.

The police report sums up the mall fracas in one line: "A patron was attacked by the Easter Bunny and Easter Bunny personnel." The line to visit the bunny closed 10 minutes early last weekend at a Fort Myers mall. Parents got upset. The bunny's assistant, the real-life wife of the bunny, stepped in. Punches. Hair pulling. Children watching. The assistant and a mom tussling on the ground. Then the 6-foot, 280-pound Easter Bunny took off his head, hopped in and popped the woman arguing with his wife, according to the police report. Both the bunny and his wife were released from jail on Easter.

Today's tip: if you steal a van, please observe all traffic laws. Deputies in Citrus County found a stolen van in a store parking lot, and as they searched inside, they found two traffic tickets that had been issued to Michael Jonathan Peterson Jr., 30, of Homosassa Springs. They read the address on the tickets, went to the home and found Peterson. According to an arrest report, he admitted stealing the van and committing other crimes.

The odds of getting into Harvard are better than winning a license to sell hard liquor in the Panhandle's Santa Rosa County, which recently legalized the sale of same. Almost 1,700 applicants have applied for 17 available licenses in Santa Rosa County. After detailed checks, the state will run a lottery to see who wins a license.

[Last modified April 18, 2006, 01:48:05]