Taxing: Even the Supreme Court has grunt...

Taxing: Even the Supreme Court has grunt work, and somebody’s got to do it. So how does the Chief Justice decide? William H. Rehnquist leads the caroling at the Supreme Court’s annual holiday party, but many employees joke that he also keeps his ears cocked to find out who might not be singing. Shortly before the recent party, a law clerk asked Justice David H. Souter if he would sing. Souter deadpanned: “I have to. Otherwise, I get all the tax cases.”

Swiping: Thieves broke into a farm building at the home outside London of the Duchess of York’s father, Maj. Ronald Ferguson, and stole polo tack and garden tools worth $18,500. Ferguson is polo manager for Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne. The duchess is married to Charles’ younger brother, Prince Andrew . . . Lady Helen Windsor, 27, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth, will marry Tim Taylor, a 28-year-old aart dealer. No date was announced.

Streaking: Louisiana Gov.-elect Edwin Edwards’ winning streak isn’t over. Edwards left the craps table at a Las Vegas casino recently with a pile of chips worth $40,000 to $50,000. Edwards bet with confidence and sometimes put five or more $1,000 chips on a single bet. “Hard eight for a thousand!” he exclaimed once. “For mom and the kids!” At the side of the 64-year-old governor-elect was his girlfriend, Candy Picou, 27.

Pleading: A plea for clemency from Pope John Paul II helped persuade Gov. Ann Richards to delay for 30 days the execution of a man convicted of murdering a 76-year-old Catholic nun. The delay blocked prison officials from executing Johnny Frank Garrett, 28, by lethal injection. He was to have been executed early Tuesday. The pleas for mercy were based on psychiatric evaluations that Garrett, 17 when he committed the crime, is insane.