What's Love Got To Do With It?
Even a romantic date like Valentine's Day is fodder for commercial, criminal and outright bizarre behavior.
SLIP UP IN NEW JERSEY
It may be Victoria's Secret, but some New Jersey residents say the store’s displays leave little to the imagination.
Westfield , N. J., residents are objecting to a storefront Valentine’s Day lingerie display they consider too risque, particularly for young children walking past.
The store has been the subject of complaints since it opened last fall and one resident has even gathered 250 signatures on a petition urging people to boycott the store.
The Ohio-based company said in a statement its goal “is to be a good neighbor in every community where we do business'' and a store spokesman said Valentine's Day is reserved for “the sexiest stuff.”
LOVE LETTERS TO A CITY
New York, the city with a long-standing reputation for being more than a little rough around the edges has suddenly found itself the focus of numerous, gushing Valentine's suitors.
At a benefit sponsored by The Atlantic Monthly magazine Monday at the Algonquin, a group of celebrities read love letters to New York. Among those who wrote letters were actor and director Tim Robbins, musician Mark Anthony Thompson, former mayor Ed Koch and author Frank McCourt.
All of the original letters will be auctioned on eBay, with the proceeds earmarked for Foster Care Youth United, a publication for adolescents in the city's foster care system.
A VALENTINE'S DATE
James Bacon’s Valentine plans give a whole new meaning to the word “courting.”
While many couples are planning romantic dates on Valentine's Day, Bacon will face his sweethearts in court on Feb. 14, when he answers the bigamy charges filed against him.
The 33-year-old Hornel, N.Y., man was arrested earlier this week after two women walked into police headquarters and claimed to be married to Bacon. Officials say they both had marriage certificates.
RETURN TO SENDER?
The cards many people get on the most romantic day of the year are not from a Valentine, but from themselves.
One in nine love missives received on Valentine's Day were sent by people to themselves “to save face on the dreaded V-day,” according to a survey released by online retailer Amazon.co.uk.
Amazon, which questioned more than 1,000 people in Britain, France and Germany, also found one in three cards was received by a parent and one person in 10 admitted to stealing a card from a sibling or housemate.
Amazon said Germans were the least romantic, with 69 percent saying Valentine's Day was unimportant, compared to 54 percent of Britons and 46 percent of French.
SIGNS OF LOVE
Some New York cabbies are offering up a unique way for couples to show their love for each other for Valentine's Day.
A person can put their message on top of a taxi and have it driven arond town on Feb. 14.
There is a $25 charge for having your personalized love message to appear on the cab's electronic billboard.
There are 100 cupid cabbies equipped with the electronic display. On Feb. 14th, the love messages will flash five times an hour.
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