An essay that won a 6-year-old US girl four tickets to a Hannah Montana concert began with the powerful line: "My daddy died this year in Iraq”.
While gripping, it was not true - and now the girl may lose her tickets after her mom acknowledged to contest organisers it was all a lie.
The sponsor of the contest was Club Libby Lu, a Chicago-based store that sells clothes, accessories and games intended for young girls.
The saga began this Friday (December 28th) with company officials surprising the girl at a Club Libby Lu at a mall in suburban Garland, about 20 miles (30 kilometres) northeast of Dallas. The girl won a makeover that included a blonde Hannah Montana wig, as well as the grand prize - airfare for four to Albany, New York, and four tickets to the sold-out Hannah Montana concert on Jan. 9.
The mother had told company officials that the girl's father died April 17 in a roadside bombing in Iraq, company spokeswoman Robyn Caulfield said.
She had identified the soldier as Sgt Jonathon Menjivar, but the Department of Defense has no record of anyone with that name dying in Iraq. Caulfield said the mother has admitted to the deception.
"We regret that the original intent of the contest, which was to make a little girl's holiday extra special, has not been realised in the way we anticipated," said Mary Drolet, the CEO of Club Libby Lu.
Drolet said the company is reviewing the matter, and is considering taking away the girl's tickets.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Dead man 'sends' holiday greetings!
This one is from Ashland in USA. An Oregon man known for his sense of humour gave his friends and family a start recently when they received Christmas cards from him two months after he died.
Chet Fitch died in October at age 88. Weeks later Christmas cards, 34 of them began arriving- written in his hand with a return address of "Heaven".
The greeting read: "I asked Big Guy if I could sneak back and send some cards. At first he said no but at my insistence he finally said, 'Oh well, what the heaven, go ahead but don't (tary) there.' Wish I could tell you about things here but word cannot explain."
"Better get back as Big Guy said he stretched a point to let me in the first time, so I had better not press my luck. I'll probably be seeing you (some sooner than you think) Wishing you a very Merry Christmas. Chet Fitch."
A friend for nearly 25 years, Debbie Hansen Bernard said, "All I could think as, 'You little stinker."
"It was amazing," she said. "Just so Chet, always wanting to get the last laugh."
The mailing was a joke Fitch worked on for two decades with his barber, Patty Dean, 57.
Chet Fitch died in October at age 88. Weeks later Christmas cards, 34 of them began arriving- written in his hand with a return address of "Heaven".
The greeting read: "I asked Big Guy if I could sneak back and send some cards. At first he said no but at my insistence he finally said, 'Oh well, what the heaven, go ahead but don't (tary) there.' Wish I could tell you about things here but word cannot explain."
"Better get back as Big Guy said he stretched a point to let me in the first time, so I had better not press my luck. I'll probably be seeing you (some sooner than you think) Wishing you a very Merry Christmas. Chet Fitch."
A friend for nearly 25 years, Debbie Hansen Bernard said, "All I could think as, 'You little stinker."
"It was amazing," she said. "Just so Chet, always wanting to get the last laugh."
The mailing was a joke Fitch worked on for two decades with his barber, Patty Dean, 57.
Pigeon falls head over heels for a man!
A pigeon in England has fallen head over heels in love with a British man.
Andy Maw of London brought a pigeon into his home after taking pity on the bedraggled bird when it turned up on his doorstep after a storm.
And now Pokey, the little pigeon has fallen in love with its rescuer.
"It sounds crazy but she's fallen head over heels for me." The "Sun" quoted Andy as saying.
The 42-year-old, who is also a dad of four, revealed that the pigeon literally attacks his wife Trude if she goes near him; sits on Andy's car dashboard for drives; uses the family toilet if it needs to go indoors; settles on Andy's knee when he takes a bath and stalks him if he tries to spend time alone.
"When Pokey is on her mating cycle and lays her eggs on her little bed in the bathroom, she sits on them for three weeks," he said.
"But when that part of the cycle is over and she wants a mate she comes after me and sexually harasses me.
"She will fly over for me to caress her beak, peck my fingers and strut about puffing up her chest to deter females," he added.
Pigeon expert Prof Danial Haag-Wackernagel, of the University of Basel in Switzerland, said: "Pokey is 'imprinted' to Andy as a mate."
Andy Maw of London brought a pigeon into his home after taking pity on the bedraggled bird when it turned up on his doorstep after a storm.
And now Pokey, the little pigeon has fallen in love with its rescuer.
"It sounds crazy but she's fallen head over heels for me." The "Sun" quoted Andy as saying.
The 42-year-old, who is also a dad of four, revealed that the pigeon literally attacks his wife Trude if she goes near him; sits on Andy's car dashboard for drives; uses the family toilet if it needs to go indoors; settles on Andy's knee when he takes a bath and stalks him if he tries to spend time alone.
"When Pokey is on her mating cycle and lays her eggs on her little bed in the bathroom, she sits on them for three weeks," he said.
"But when that part of the cycle is over and she wants a mate she comes after me and sexually harasses me.
"She will fly over for me to caress her beak, peck my fingers and strut about puffing up her chest to deter females," he added.
Pigeon expert Prof Danial Haag-Wackernagel, of the University of Basel in Switzerland, said: "Pokey is 'imprinted' to Andy as a mate."
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