Oh no! Looks like Little Craig is back and mounting a full-scale invasion via chain letters to People Who Mean Well.
Referring here to the urban myth involving a lad supposedly dying of a brain tumor. His final wish is to amass the world's largest collection of business cards, thereby earning a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
Sweet. But fake.
For the record: In 1989, 10-year-old English cancer patient Craig Shergold let it be known he was collecting cards and going for a place in Guinness. By May of 1990, he had 17 million cards and a place in the book. Guinness has since retired the category.
But no one, no where, seems to have retired the letter. Cincinnati is flooded with the things.
Psst! has one right now from the staff of The Children's Home of Cincinnati, another one signed The Meeker Family, another from Harold Berger of Detroit, another from the ever-present Anonymous. In this incarnation, the letter asks for cards for Craig Sherford (as opposed to Shergold), and that they be sent to the Children's Make a Wish Foundation in Atlanta.
"Oh no," wailed the Foundation receptionist. "Again?" "It's back," gasps Kelly Taft of Make a Wish. "That's an unauthorized chain letter from well-intentioned people. Yours says Sherford? We get them Sherwood, Sherfold, Shergood, Sherman, you name it." Oh, by the way: the Foundation is in Phoenix, not Atlanta.
In Atlanta, Arthur Stein, president of Children's Wish Foundation, echoes Taft: "This is all a derivative of the original Craig Shergold letter, which we did help with. It seems the letter changes and evolves as it circulates. People keep getting more of it wrong."
This much isn't wrong: "There's no Craig Sherford, and as far as I know, there's no legitimate request for this sort of thing." So tell us, Arthur, you getting any cards? "Omigosh, somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000 pieces a week. We send them to the paper recycler."
So at least it's doing some good.
HIT THE ROAD
OK, let's squash this rumor from the start: There was no fight, no falling out, no "creative differences" that drove the guy away. It's a family thing.
Referring here to Tom Hayes, co-owner of Japp's and Stow's and a regular on Main Street since its rebirth in the late '80s and early '90s.
Hayes hasn't abandoned Main Street - "Never. I love it here" - but he has moved back to Bardstown (Ky.) for awhile. "It's to take care of my mother. She had knee surgery and is having a hard time. I was commuting, but it's two hours and way too much.
"I don't know how long this will last, but I will be back.
"I know there's talk why I'm leaving and all, but it's nothing scandalous. It's just family."
Co-owner Neill Bairstow will run the bustling restaurant and bars until Hayes returns.
Psst! appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Have an item to report? Call Jim Knippenberg at 768-8513; fax: 768-8330. And listen to his Weekend Report with Jerry Thomas at 8:30 a.m. Fridays on WKRC-AM (550 kHz).
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