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Police say robbers thirsty, not greedy

HASTINGS, New Zealand, June 26 (UPI) -- Police in the New Zealand city of Hastings say two robbers decided not to rob a liquor store, choosing instead to take a single bottle from a customer.

Hastings police said the two unidentified suspects visited the local store Wednesday night and one of them threatened a store employee with a firearm in his pocket, The Dominion Post reported.

But while the two would-be robbers were talking with the employee, a customer came to the counter with a six-pack of alcoholic beverages. Police said the armed robber then pulled a pistol from his pocket and took one of the bottles from the six-pack.

Detective Sgt. Warren Murdoch told the Post the two robbers then fled the store with the single beverage, leaving the store's earnings untouched.

"It doesn't usually happen that way. Normally they're more focused on the till," Murdoch said, referring to a store's cash register.

New law protects N.C. portable toilets

RALEIGH, N.C., June 26 (UPI) -- Members of North Carolina's portable toilet industry are touting new laws that impose misdemeanor charges on portable toilet vandals.

Officials welcomed the measure, which takes effect Dec. 1 and will mean judge-set fines of jail sentences of up to 120 days for anyone who "steals … destroys, defaces or vandalizes" a portable toilet, the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer reported.

Carey Mack, operations manager for Readilite & Barricade Inc., which operates about 4,000 portable toilets, welcomed the new law. He said about 200 of his company's toilets are targeted each month by vandals who set them on fire, tip them on their sides or cover them in spray paint.

He said replacing a stall can cost $500 to $750 and a handicapped stall can run the company $2,000.

"I've been doing this for 18 years and I've been scratching my head for 18 years wondering why they're doing it," Mack said of the vandals.

Worker gave dropped ring to wrong person

COMMACK, N.Y., June 26 (UPI) -- Authorities said a Commack, N.Y., Target employee who witnessed a customer drop a $19,000 diamond ring mistakenly handed it to the wrong person.

Police said the ring slipped off the 42-year-old woman's finger while she was at the store May 6 and the employee ran out into the parking lot to find her, the New York Post reported.

However, he did not actually find the ring's owner, but a woman in a similar hairstyle and coat who claimed the ring as hers after the employee showed it to her and asked if she had dropped it.

Police said the woman used cash to pay for her purchases at the store so they are using security camera footage to try to identify her.

The true owner of the ring said it had been a 10th anniversary gift from her husband.

"The ring meant a lot to me," she said. "My husband worked hard to buy me that ring. No matter what the circumstances, it's not hers. The insurance company paid me, but I don't want the money. I want the ring back."

Woman finds treasure with metal detector

HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, England, June 26 (UPI) -- A British woman said her seven years of combing fields and beaches with a metal detector paid off with a 15th-century piece of gold valued at about $400,000.

Mary Hannaby, 57, said she and her son, Michael, 33, were walking in a Hertfordshire field when they discovered the item, believed to be part of a reliquary or pendant, four inches below the ground, a position experts said it has likely been in for about 500 years, The Daily Telegraph reported.

"You can literally miss things by inches," Michael Hannaby said. "We couldn't believe it. We always dreamed of finding treasure."

Roger Bland, head of treasure at the British Museum, said the item, which depicts the Holy Trinity, is an "important find" but the museum does not have the funds to participate in its auction, scheduled for July 9 at Sotheby's in London.