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Mike Pingree

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April 29, 2001

YOU'RE MARRYING WHO? Two baby girls were sent home from a Virginia hospital with the wrong parents in 1995, but the case has now brought the two families together in a most unexpected way. Through DNA tests in a child-support case three years after the switch, it was discovered that the daughter of Paula Johnson and her now-ex-boyfriend, Carlton Conley, was being raised by Kevin Chittum and Whitney Rogers, and that the Chittum girl was being raised by the breaking-up couple. 
The matter was resolved, but, during a recent visitation hearing, it was revealed that Carlton Conley is now going to marry Kevin Chittum's sister, Pam.

OTHER THAN THAT, IT'S HARD TO TELL THEM APART: Oklahoma City authorities are looking for a man has been impersonating Police Chief M.T. Berry in order to scam the elderly.  Police are somewhat surprised that the man has had any success at all in his criminal endeavor. 
The police chief is black; the impostor is  white.

THE CASE OF THE MISSING OUTDOOR STUFF: For several years, police in West Vancouver, Canada, have been seeking a thief who stole hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of doormats, plastic lawn furniture, garbage cans and roadside recycling boxes from homes in one of the wealthiest suburbs in the nation. It turned out to be a man who lived in that very neighborhood. They found hundreds of the items hidden in his back yard. It had taken a long time for the thefts to even be reported because the victims were so wealthy the loss to them seemed minimal. A police spokesman said,  'It's not like you're going to call up and say, 'Officer, I'd like to report a stolen doormat'." One family had had 15 doormats stolen. 
The thief's motive was unclear. 

SOME CASES ARE EASIER THAN OTHERS: Wymore, Neb., Police Chief Bryan Davidson found a purse filled with illegal drugs right on his own front porch. The pocketbook also contained its owner's driver's license. He called her, and, to his surprise, she readily admitted that the purse - and the drugs - did indeed belong to her. 
She was arrested.

OOPS! TERRIBLY SORRY, BANG! Donald Russell, angry at his former girlfriend and anxious to take his revenge, broke into what he thought was her Waterbury, Conn., apartment and shot the man he found there, critically wounding him. When he saw the man's wife, Russell, 25, realized he was in the wrong domicile.
In remorse, he killed himself a few hours later.

Mike Pingree writes another Looking Glass column in the Boston Sunday Herald. You can read it by clicking here:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists.html

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