A couple of items in the news this morning:


Grinch tries to dim holiday lights display

Bunn, N.C. ? A suspected Grinch is cutting the wires of a huge holiday lights display at 148 N.C. Highway 98 East in Bunn.

Jake Phillips, 68, has been creating the holiday wonderland in his front yard for about 30 years. Visitors come from all around to see it. …


Cumberland detectives seek ‘Cigar Bandit’

Spring Lake, N.C. ? Cumberland County sheriff’s officials are seeking a convenience-store robber they have dubbed the “Cigar Bandit.”

Investigators said that around 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 13, a man came into the Kangaroo store, at 801 N. Main St. in Spring Lake, and asked the clerk for Black and Mild cigars. When the clerk went behind the counter, he walked up behind her, pulled out a handgun and demanded she open the cash register.

The man fled on foot with the cigars and an undisclosed amount of cash, investigators said. …


People, people, people: if you want to get rid of Christmas displays, or take people’s smokes, or take their money, you must first be in government.

Sheesh, you’d think after the past few years folks’d know that by now.