Sheriff Plants Scofflaws in Jail

--A Maine sheriff, trying to round up 34 people who had failed to pay fines or appear in court, decided to say it with flowers. Kennebec County Sheriff Frank Hackett put signs advertising the “FTA”--”Failure To Appear”--flower delivery service on a van and filled it with flowers and balloons before sending out deputies dressed as deliverymen. In the last week, they have caught 11 of the wanted people. “When we arrived, they were pretty much surprised and excited and said, ‘Gee, flowers,’ ” Hackett said. Another successful operation about a year ago planted the seed for the current sting. Then, Hackett lured six people to an Augusta hotel with invitations from the fake “USA Cable Television Network” to audition for a documentary. USA stood for “U Should Have Appeared,” and the non-existent J. B. Dunn who signed the letter stood for “Justice Be Done,” he said. The operations may seem humorous, but Hackett said his purpose is not: “People are not taking (the law) seriously.”

--Lady Bird Johnson is someone else with a deep-rooted interest in flowers. “I have stipulated in my will that $1 million be set aside for the use of the National Wildflower Research Center,” the widow of President Lyndon B. Johnson said in a speech in San Antonio. Johnson, 74, who made the beautification of America her pet cause during her days as First Lady, helped establish the center in 1982 with a donation of $125,000 and 60 acres of land outside Austin, Tex. “I have been blessed with God’s bounty and it gives me great joy to put it back into God’s green earth,” she said.

--And red roses once again were part of the annual remembrance of Edgar Allan Poe in Baltimore. A mysterious stranger clad in attire black as a raven placed the three blooms and a bottle of cognac on Poe’s grave to mark the author’s birthday in a rite dating back to 1949. Poe, whose funeral in October, 1849, was attended by only five mourners, was toasted by more than 500 people who packed Westminster Church before midnight Sunday to celebrate his 178th birthday. Later, the stranger in black held a private vigil in the cold and rain for the 38th consecutive year, and then vanished. Jeff Jerome, Poe House curator, said this year’s visitor apparently is not the same person who left the birthday offering to Poe in the past. “This guy was big,” Jerome said. He said that he and three others who saw the stranger made no attempt to identify him. “We want to respect his privacy,” the curator said. “We hope just to be witnesses to an annual event. We don’t want to ruin it by exposing the stranger.” Poe was born Jan. 19, 1809, in Boston. He moved to Baltimore, where he died at age 40.