Toys

A 14-YEAR veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department was arrested Monday for allegedly engaging in an ongoing conspiracy to steal from a local toy store, police said. Bridgette Paris, 48, was charged with retail theft, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, forgery and related offenses, police said. The charges followed an investigation by the department's Internal Affairs Bureau and the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. Police have not identified the store that Paris allegedly targeted.

The maker of K'nex toys has long manufactured many of its products in America, and it pushed that as a key marketing message in 2007, after safety concerns arose about toys made in China. But the family-owned company in Montgomery County decided it needed to do more as the U.S. economy slumped, and it chose to move one of its key operations from China to the United States. "It started as a moral decision," K'nex Brands L.P. chief executive Michael Araten told the 375 people who attended a "Made in America" program presented by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce at the Hilton Philadelphia City Avenue on Wednesday morning.

FOR CHILDREN, the sight of toys under their Christmas tree is one of the earliest memories of fundamental joy. The sight is a once-a-year magical promise that they will always be given what they want, and will never know deprivation. And that's why there's probably nothing sadder than the trees barren of toys. Every year, too many children experience that deprivation. This year is no exception. In fact, this year, more children than ever may be deprived of Christmas' promise.

"I know it's a puzzle, but what does it do?" "You want me to read a book? That's no fun. " "Do we have to go to Aunt Aggie's Christmas Day? They don't have Play Station over there. " The responses above confirm what any parent on his way to camp out in hopes of scoring a Furby already knows: We've fallen down in this age of technology, and we can't get up. Or rather, we can't get back to a time when kids actually played with toys, rather than watched toys play for them.

Carrying good intentions motorcyclists set out from Columbus Boulevard yesterday as part of the Toys for Tots Bike Run. Thousands of bikers participated in the annual trek, transporting toys to kids at Children's hospital of Philadelphia in West Phila.

This week's Adopt-a-Pet at the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society is Alice, a 3-year-old American Staffordshire terrier mix. Alice is friendly and gets along with dogs and cats. She enjoys small playgroups and chew toys. To adopt Alice, contact PAWS, 100 N. 2nd St., at 215-238-9901. When inquiring, please provide her tag identifier, which is "Clinic. " A $75 fee includes sterilization, vaccines and microchipping.

They didn't know little Cecilia Cichan, but after yesterday, they consider her a friend. Today, they'll play with the toys she gave them. Stuffed bears, dogs, tigers and mice, Barbie dolls, Cabbage Patch Kids and baby dolls flooded the playroom at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in North Philadelphia. The toys were only a fraction of gifts from Cecilia, the lone survivor of a plane crash on Aug. 16 in Detroit that killed 156 people, including her immediate family.

With Christmas one month away, auction companies next week will conduct four sales specializing in two holiday-gift categories: toys and jewelry. The first toy sale will be at 5:30 p.m. Monday at West Hanover Township Fire Hall three miles east of the Harrisburg suburb of Linglestown. There Tom and John Golden will offer a variety of dolls and stuffed animals, including a 1962 "bubble-cut" Barbie and a 1906 F.A.O. Schwarz bear. The bear from the New York toy store is one of a quantity of ursine items to be offered.

It's often said that toys are designed to appeal as much to adult buyers as to the child-recipients of the playthings. When it comes to techno toys, that grownup appeal goes double. At the recent American Toy Fair in New York, this grownup gadgeteer was regularly inspired to take out the charge card and buy-buy-buy, entranced by the latest in sound and vision, mechanical and computerized toys. However, the Toy Fair is "wholesale only," and many of the products introduced there by manufacturers won't actually be available until spring or summer.

Those cartoon shows that are no more than animated versions of kids' toys are "robbing children of better programming" and making them more aggressive, according to a Harvard developmental psychologist. Ronald G. Slaby, of Harvard's Center for Research on Children's Television, said in the June 13 issue of TV Guide that he feels there is a "unique interaction between television violence and a set of toys that are marketed and readily available to the children for possible aggressive play and outright agressive behaviour.

The maker of K'nex toys has long manufactured many of its products in America, and it pushed that as a key marketing message in 2007, after safety concerns arose about toys made in China. But the family-owned company in Montgomery County decided it needed to do more as the U.S. economy slumped, and it chose to move one of its key operations from China to the United States. "It started as a moral decision," K'nex Brands L.P. chief executive Michael Araten told the 375 people who attended a "Made in America" program presented by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce at the Hilton Philadelphia City Avenue on Wednesday morning.

This whole incident is madness. The school officials should have just told the boys not to bring the gun to school. The toy pellet gun hitting the girl occurred off school property. The girl was uninjured, and is not complaining. "Corpus delicti" (plural: corpora delicti; Latin: "body of crime") is a term from Western jurisprudence that refers to the principle that it must be proved that a crime has occurred before a person can be convicted of committing the crime. For example, a person cannot be tried for larceny unless it can be proven that property has been stolen.

A 14-YEAR veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department was arrested Monday for allegedly engaging in an ongoing conspiracy to steal from a local toy store, police said. Bridgette Paris, 48, was charged with retail theft, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, forgery and related offenses, police said. The charges followed an investigation by the department's Internal Affairs Bureau and the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. Police have not identified the store that Paris allegedly targeted.

By the time he appears in court on Friday, 12-year-old Gerald McNeal will have been in custody for 10 days for doing what he thought a big brother should do. His little brother, Isaac, 9, meanwhile, has been racked with guilt and feels responsible for the serious criminal charges that his brother faces because of Isaac's toy gun. "Mostly, I was crying because if I never would have bring it this would have never happened," said Isaac....

Like their life-size counterparts, self-propelled toy boats can be an expensive hobby. To see just how expensive, take a look at some of the sea craft that Bertoia Auctions will offer beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday at the gallery in Vineland. At least 18 of the more than 150 vessels that dominate the 210-lot sale are expected to bring five-figure prices and at least one has a six-figure presale price estimate. The fleet was assembled by Richard T. "Dick" Claus, a 30-year collector who lives in the Philadelphia area and at age 80 is planning to downsize, according to Bertoia associate Richard Bertoia.

BEING A BOY TOY doesn't seem like such a bad gig. Casper Smart celebrated his 25th birthday at the end of last week, People reports, and not only did he get to celebrate it in the bed of his 42-year-old girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez , he got the cool birthday present every boy wants. A truck. Casper had his eye on a white pickup, and Jennifer bought it for him as a surprise. E! Online reported Jennifer rented a room at West Hollywood's Cecconi Italian restaurant for Casper's birthday bash.

TOLEDO, Ohio - Pushed to the bottom of the toy box by video games and other high-tech gadgets, Etch A Sketch is suddenly drawing lots of attention, thanks to a gaffe that has shaken up the race for the White House. Ohio Art Co., maker of the classic baby-boomer toy, is sending a big box of Etch A Sketches to the presidential campaigns to say thanks for the publicity and a boost in sales. It all started when Mitt Romney strategist Eric Fehrnstrom was asked Wednesday about the candidate's politics now vs. this fall, and he likened the campaign to an Etch A Sketch, saying, "You can kind of shake it up and we start all over again.

Three sales over the next few days will offer the acquisitions of a Midwest arcade-game collector, a New York antique toy-store proprietor, and a Delaware Civil War prison guard. The arcade-game collector was the late Frank Zygmunt Sr. of Chicago, a trader for 25 years in vintage slot machines, jukeboxes, and similar coin-operated devices. Zygmunt's collection will be offered by Morphy Auctions at a sale beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday at the gallery near Reading. The 415-lot sale also is being conducted online through Morphy's website, www.morphyauctions.com , and at www.LiveAuctioneers.com . Vintage coin-ops have long been collectible, often winding up in residential basement bars.

GETTYSBURG - Bobblehead dolls of the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln have been pulled from sale at the Gettysburg National Military Park visitor center bookstore, officials said Tuesday. The dolls of John Wilkes Booth with a handgun were removed from shelves Saturday, a day after a reporter for Hanover's Evening Sun newspaper asked about them. "On rare occasions, there's an item that might cause concern, and obviously the bobbleheads appeared to be doing that," Gettysburg Foundation spokeswoman Dru Anne Neil said Tuesday.

Saturday It's Betsy's birthday! The annual party that celebrates America's most celebrated flagmaker is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Betsy Ross House, 239 Arch St. The fete marks her 260th birthday celebration with storytelling by Betsy Ross, make-and-take crafts, and a balloon artist. Birthday cake will be offered at 1:30 p.m., and an audio guide will be free with regular admission of $4; $3 for students, seniors, children, and military. Information: 215-686-1252 or www.BetsyRossHouse.org Friday-Feb.