• Man makes amends for stealing plants in 1958: NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — No matter how much digging investigators did, the crime remained open until a thief turned himself in and returned the fruits of his theft.

In this case, the crime was stealing two hydrangeas in May 1958 from Centennial Park in Nashville. And the thief, 72-year-old Bill Teitleff of Joy, Ky., returned plants from the root system of the purloined flowers to the park on Thursday.

Teitliff told WSMV-TV in Nashville (http://bit.ly/KQdyDL) he took the flowering plant because he didn’t have enough money at the time to buy a Mother’s Day gift for his mother. At the time of the theft, Teitleff was 18 years old and just married.

Eventually, the past caught up with Teitleff and he didn’t like how it felt.

Teitleff says he can now walk through Centennial Park without feeling guilty.



• College sweethearts to marry 60 years later: DYERSBURG, Tenn. (AP) — Two residents of a Tennessee assisted living center plan to marry on Sunday, more than 60 years after they first met.

The State Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/IYjAFw) that Peggy Schuster and the Rev. Henry Freund were college sweethearts in the early 1950s.

Freund said the couple often sat together in class at Rhodes College in Memphis (then Southwestern) and frequently dated. But they eventually went their separate ways and married other people.

While attending a church meeting in Memphis in 2001, Freund learned that Schuster had been widowed.

Freund, who had lost his wife, wrote his college sweetheart to offer sympathy. A decade later, Schuster gave Freund her email address and the couple, both in their 80s, began corresponding.

Freund said a spark that had survived for more than 60 years “burst into flames.”



• Author’s book confused with ‘50 Shades’: PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — The author of a book called “Shades of Gray” says her work is being confused with that of a chart-topping erotic fiction writer.

Susanne Jacoby Hale, an author based in Florida, says she has received emails, Facebook messages and phone calls from people thinking she wrote “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

“Fifty Shades of Grey,” by British author E L James, has sold millions of copies and become a sensation among women drawn to the sadomasochistic romance between a college student and a wealthy entrepreneur.

Hale’s book is about a dropout prevention teacher.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel (http://sunsent.nl/IVr39H) reports even Hale’s family members are being approached. Her husband, a medical sales representative, says doctors regularly approach him wanting to talk about the book.