Jim Thorpe’s Gold Comes Home

--The competition was won long ago, but there was one final medal ceremony for Jim Thorpe. The five surviving children of the American Indian who was considered one of the world’s greatest athletes presented their father’s Olympic gold medals to the Oklahoma Historical Society. “Today--after all these years--today these medals finally come home to rest,” said the athlete’s son, Jack Thorpe, chief of the Sac and Fox Indians, at the Oklahoma City ceremony. Thorpe, an Oklahoma native, won the decathlon and pentathlon events in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, but the U.S. Amateur Athletic Union ordered him to return the medals and trophies when it learned that he had played semiprofessional baseball before the games. In 1983, the International Olympics Committee reversed that decision, awarded the medals to Thorpe’s children and reinstated his honors. Noting that Thorpe scored 72 touchdowns while playing for Carlisle Institute in Pennsylvania the year before the Olympics, his daughter Gayle Thorpe said: “This is Dad’s 73rd touchdown.” Gov. George Nigh said the medals will be displayed under a portrait of Thorpe on the fourth floor of the Capitol.

--Some people have a real appetite for public TV programs, and to prove it, well-known television chefs offered their wares in a department store benefit for Boston’s WGBH. The 600 guests paid $150 each to attend the black-tie Taste of the Town bash and dine on food from the kitchens of Julia Child, Jeff Smith (“The Frugal Gourmet”), Margaret and Franco Romagnoli of “The Romagnolis’ Table,” Martin Yan of “Yan Can Cook,” Hugh Johnson of “Wine: A User’s Guide” and Jacques Pepin of “Every Day Cooking with Jacques Pepin.” Patrons rambled through the first floor of Filene’s and sampled foods and wines displayed on glass perfume counters set as tables

--Something new has been added to Santa’s outfit this year--a badge. Police dressed as Santa Claus have begun patrolling shopping centers in Fort Myers on Florida’s Gulf Coast. They keep an eye out for shoplifters while handing out candy canes to children. Operation St. Nicholas--Special Theft-Negation Initiative Combating Holiday Offenses, Larcenies and Shoplifting--is the brainchild of Capt. Stephan Schwein, who said that if the Santa cops see a crime, they will try to alert uniformed officers or private security personnel rather than confront a suspect in front of children. “We’re not trying to taint the image of Santa Claus in any way,” Schwein said. “Santa Claus represents all that’s good in every way, and so does the police officer.”