Valentine S Day

IT'S VALENTINE'S Day again, that special moment when men everywhere show their love and appreciation for the women in their lives by saying: "Happy what? Geez! Um, I'll be right back. " When it comes to buying Valentine's Day gifts in a timely manner, guys generally fall into two categories: 1. Men who buy expensive, thoughtful gifts several days before Feb. 14. 2. Men who haven't recently been caught having an affair. This is not to imply that the only men who remember Valentine's Day are philanderers.

Describe the most unique Valentine's Day you've ever had. Send essays of 200 to 300 words by Jan. 29 to Voices/Valentine's Day, Inquirer, Box 41705, Philadelphia, Pa. 19101. Send e-mail to inquirer.letters@phillynews.com or fax 215-854-4483. Questions? Call Kevin Ferris, readers' editor, at 215-854-4543.

A guest appearance by that hilarious heartthrob Bart Simpson and a performance by popular kid-entertainer David Jack highlight the heart-y happenings planned for Sunday's 10th annual WXTF-TV Valentine's Day at the Philadelphia Zoo. Other treats include a Whitman chocolate heart for the first 2,000 children who enter the zoo, and strolling Tiny Toon characters from the Fox 29 TV series. Youngsters 12 and under who bring a valentine for their favorite animal will be admitted free to the zoo. Their valentines will be delivered to the Philadelphia Center for Older People in time for Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day at the Philadelphia Zoo, 34th St. & Girard Ave., from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday.

Ah, Valentine's Day and a chance to dance. And so they did during the Valentine's dance sponsored by the Hometown Senior Citizens Center of Media. The dance was held Saturday at the Redwood Playhouse in Upland.

In an annual Valentine's Day roundup, officials arrested 22 fugitives wanted on outstanding warrants in a series of early morning raids, authorities said. For 15 years, the Feb. 14 raids have focused in part on people who owe child support or are accused of domestic abuse, said Philadelphia Sheriff Jewell Williams. The roundup, which began at 2:30 a.m., was carried out by Philadelphia police officers and sheriff's deputies, and sheriff's deputies from Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties, officials said.

By Ellen Scolnic and Joyce Eisenberg We're grown-ups now, but we still remember our elementary school Valentine's Day parties, when we would sit at our desks and anxiously await the distribution of cards from a shoe box wrapped in red foil. If we were lucky, we would get a handmade one with a Pixy Stix taped to the envelope. But, oh, the embarrassment if anyone's pile of valentines looked skimpy. We know a man who, decades later, is still grateful that his cousin was in his class, because that meant he could always count on receiving at least one valentine.

In the third century A.D., legend has it, a young Christian martyr named Valentine was beheaded in Rome on Feb. 14 for refusing to worship pagan gods. Moments before his death, he performed a miracle by restoring the sight of his jailer's blind daughter and then sent her a love letter signed, "From Your Valentine. " There have been at least seven other St. Valentines throughout history, but the Roman version included all the elements needed to turn the day into cause for celebration: the kindness of the condemned man for his true love and the catchy farewell that, in the modern world, could be reprinted readily on about 850 million greeting cards a year.

Tiffany Burnhill was mixed up with a bad seed, a former college basketball player whose claim to fame was that he was featured on "America's Most Wanted. " It's unclear if Burnhill knew what she was getting into when she started dating Shaun Warrick, who was accused of randomly shooting two Maryland college students and stabbing a third in 2007. What is clear, police said yesterday, is that Warrick allegedly shot and killed Burnhill, 19, and her cousin, Marcedes Ivery, 21, on Valentine's Day after he flew into a rage over an ongoing spat.

I am not a fan of mandated holidays - and by that I mean days like today, when expressions of love are all but required by law, with near-criminal consequences. Only the unattached are exempt - and then only because we pity them so. As a woman of a certain age, I've been there/done that when it comes to Feb. 14. Year after year it arrives unbidden and ill-defined. Valentine's Day is an overpriced meal at an overly crowded restaurant; a ring with a smaller, less brilliant stone; a bouquet with too many greens and too few blossoms.

LET'S FACE it. Valentine's Day is a holiday with big expectations for big romance, a day when all caution should be thrown to the wind as you put your heart into planning something special for a loved one - if you know what's good for you. Every year brings another stressful buildup to the big day. Despite that, we're betting you always wait until the last minute. By then, restaurants are booked and events sold out. This year, since Valentine's Day falls on a Saturday, the pressure is really on. Always eager to play Cupid, the Daily News has sought out some original, fancy and fun ideas for the lovers' holiday.

On a flawless, spring-like morning this week, President Obama stood in the Rose Garden to urge against a hasty retreat from Afghanistan. "We have a strategy that will allow us to responsibly wind down this war," he said, resisting calls for a quick exit prompted by the slaying of Afghan civilians by a rogue American soldier. A few minutes after Obama spoke those words, I crossed the Potomac to visit with some of those who have come home under circumstances nobody wanted.

ON THE DAY after Valentine's Day, when chocolates still line candy-store shelves and rosy-red hearts hang from picture windows, Terry Bowen goes to the cemetery. "It's a memory that's just not going to go away," Bowen, 44, said Wednesday in the dining room of her North Philly rowhouse. "I just don't think it's fair at all. " She was speaking of the events that culminated on Feb. 15, 2009, the day after Valentine's Day, when her son Lawrence Allen, 20, died at Moss Rehabilitation Hospital.

An Upper Darby man shot himself in the head at a Delaware County shooting range on Valentine's Day, authorities said, the second suicide there in six months. According to the Delaware County Office of the Medical Examiner, Isaiah James Jones, 25, shot himself in the bathroom of the Targetmaster Indoor Gun Range in Chadds Ford around 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Pennsylvania State Police had not released any information on the incident as of last night. On Aug. 22, police said, a 22-year-old West Chester man killed himself at the gun range.

In an annual Valentine's Day roundup, officials arrested 22 fugitives wanted on outstanding warrants in a series of early morning raids, authorities said. For 15 years, the Feb. 14 raids have focused in part on people who owe child support or are accused of domestic abuse, said Philadelphia Sheriff Jewell Williams. The roundup, which began at 2:30 a.m., was carried out by Philadelphia police officers and sheriff's deputies, and sheriff's deputies from Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties, officials said.

By Ellen Scolnic and Joyce Eisenberg We're grown-ups now, but we still remember our elementary school Valentine's Day parties, when we would sit at our desks and anxiously await the distribution of cards from a shoe box wrapped in red foil. If we were lucky, we would get a handmade one with a Pixy Stix taped to the envelope. But, oh, the embarrassment if anyone's pile of valentines looked skimpy. We know a man who, decades later, is still grateful that his cousin was in his class, because that meant he could always count on receiving at least one valentine.

IF YOUR GIRL serves you roasted chicken stuffed with lemons this Valentine's Day, she wants you to do as Beyoncé sings and "put a ring on it. " Yeah, I'm telling secrets. But c'mon. Valentine's Day is tomorrow, and I'll bet a lot of unsuspecting men will be served Engagement Chicken. The Tuscan-style dish got its (slightly ironic) name after a young assistant at Glamour magazine made it for her boyfriend, who enjoyed it so much that he had seconds - and then proposed.

Blocks of ice were transformed into images of love along Main Street in Manayunk Saturday. Thousands strolled along the street to watch as master ice sculptors created frozen symbols of "Passion" in honor of Valentine's Day like giraffes, their necks wrapped around each other; cupid sitting on the moon and hands with one placing a ring on the other. The event, the second annual "Manayunk On Ice" Pro Ice Carving Competition and Winter Family Festival, opened with an ice bonfire on Friday and will continue on Sunday with a Master Ice Sculptor Invitational from noon to 3 p.m. Ice-carvers will create original works around the theme of "Obsession.

"All right, boys," Rich Gray announces as 20 fellows in tuxes arrange themselves in rows. "We're going to air out the songs a bit," he says. "We're going to tune up the performance, work out the kinks - and get some feedback from the lovely ladies who've come here tonight. " Welcome to a rehearsal of the Pine Barons Chorus, those durable and personable practitioners of the a cappella art of barbershop harmonies in South Jersey. Soon, they'll be delivering Valentines of song to other people's sweethearts.

Q: I've been dating three men, but none of them is exactly what I want. One is bossy. One is lovely. One is just plain sexy. I'm not sure that any of these relationships is going to lead to marriage, which is my goal. I've decided I'm going to dump them all after Valentine's Day if I don't get a present. Am I doing the right thing? Steve: What if all three of them buy you nice presents? I suggest you wait until Presidents Day. Anyone not giving you a Presidents Day present is gone. Mia: Men may have the Super Bowl but Valentine's Day is ours.

This Valentine's Day, abandon the obvious gestures (roses, chocolates) in favor of design-conscious gifts that won't wilt or melt. - Caroline Tiger Share something sweet Give your ice cream lover (and her flavor of choice) special attention with Alessi's "Big Love" ice cream bowl and spoon ($56) and "Love" set of ice cream bowls ($64). Available at alessi-shop.com . A piece of his art Design junkies will heart the Kaj watch ($110)