Yet another example of the potential problems caused by ambiguous names!
An article from the Duluth News-Tribue (of Minnesota) on May 3, 2005.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

RUNAWAY BRIDE: Reports of a Duluth, Ga., woman who ran away from her
wedding have readers confusing that city with Duluth, Minn.

BY JOHN MYERS
NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

It's been snowing in Duluth in May, so no doubt some Northland residents
do, indeed, have cold feet.

But when the Duluth News Tribune started receiving letters to the editor
about a bride-to-be who got cold feet and skipped out on her wedding, we
thought, hey, wrong state!

The runaway bride was from Duluth, Ga., not Duluth, Minn. She made
national headlines last week when she mysteriously disappeared days before
her wedding and then showed up in New Mexico saying she'd been kidnapped.
Later she admitted she had simply run away.

One man in Missouri seemed to know that the woman was from Georgia, but he
still wrote the Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune saying it was an outrage the
woman wasn't going to be charged.

Another man was so upset that he asked the governor of Minnesota to step
in: "You have absolutely gotta be kidding. This person runs away from a
wedding she planned... made headlines and is not going to be prosecuted
for filing a false report, taking up valuable news time and costing the
taxpayers thousands of dollars? Minnesota, what is wrong here? Duluth,
what are your priorities? Mr. Governor... step in."

A California man wrote the News Tribune, just as angry at the woman:

"I cannot believe this woman pulled a stupid stunt like that, making her
family worry like that. If she didn't want a big wedding, she should have
said so. Instead, she made the whole country worried that it was going to
turn out to be another horror story. I think she should be brought up on
charges and pay for the investigation.... What a great way to start a
marriage. GOOD LUCK."

Meanwhile, Duluth, Minn., Mayor Herb Bergson has been deluged with e-mails
demanding that the woman be prosecuted. Bergson has responded politely.

"Dear Ruth," Bergson responded to one. "I am the mayor of Duluth, MN, not
Duluth, Georgia. Thanks, Herb."

"I haven't received this many communications so quickly since the Ten
Commandments issue," Bergson said Monday morning.

--
Ted Pedersen
http://www.d.umn.edu/~tpederse


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