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The skinny

By TIMES WIRES
Published July 25, 2007

Ripped off

Robber, victim wait in line together

The purse of a 59-year-old woman in Prescott, Ariz., was stolen, and when one of her credit cards was used to purchase $200 worth of DVDs at a bookstore, she went to complain. Standing next to her in the customer service line was a man who wanted to return eight DVDs. But he didn't want the card he used to buy them to be credited. He wanted cash. A manager had to be called to deal with both transactions, and she quickly put 2 and 2 together. "It was as if the world had stopped," customer Susan Murphy told the Daily Courier in Prescott. Realizing he had been made, the man ran, but was caught by police.

Robbers didn't need cash, just pizza

The Wichita Eagle reports that a Domino's pizza joint there was robbed. The two men didn't take any money, but they got away with three large pizzas, two bottles of Sprite, 20 chicken wings and 20 chicken "kickers." Police are unlikely to ever recover the evidence. "It was a lot of food - about $58 worth of stuff," Lt. Alan Prince said. If they had a coupon, it probably would've been more like $48.50.

Rules of the road

Bus driver tries to keep eyes on road

A bus driver in Lindau, Germany, had safety on his mind and was doing his best to keep it that way. So, when he looked in the mirror and saw an attractive woman and what was passing as her outfit, he acted. Here is the woman's account of what happened, as told to Bild: "He opened the door and shouted at me: 'Your cleavage is distracting me every time I look into my mirror and I can't concentrate on the traffic. If you don't sit somewhere else, I'm going to have to throw you off the bus.' " She moved, but was pretty upset about it. The bus driver was unavailable for comment, but a spokesman for the company said that if she was distracting him, he did the right thing.

Stamping out crime

Even Stan Lee has to pony up 41 cents

There may soon be a superhero in your mailbox. The postal service will release its second set of comic book heroes on Thursday at a comic book conference in San Diego. This year's set of 20 stamps will honor Marvel heroes Spider-Man (and -Woman), the Hulk, Captain America and others. Last year's release featured DC Comics characters. Stan Lee, the legendary creator of many of the Marvel icons, said he was thrilled with the honor, but disappointed in one thing. "The only problem is this won't get me a discount at the post office."

Compiled from Times wire services and other sources by staff writer Jim Webster, who can be reached at jwebster@sptimes.com.

[Last modified July 25, 2007, 01:00:48]