By the way ...

[The following are excerpts from a report published today on the website of the Toledo Blade newspaper:]

Lockerbie case comes to Toledo in watch lawsuit
A watch recovered from the Lockerbie plane bombing is at the center of a legal battle set to play out in Lucas County Common Pleas Court this summer.

Cherry Peirce, the widow of Perrysburg architect Peter Peirce, is suing two employees of Estate Jewelry Buyers in Sylvania, alleging that they bought and sold more than $150,000 worth of jewelry that was stolen in 2008 from her Catawba Island home in Ottawa County. One of the pieces was a wristwatch worn by Mr Peirce, who was one of 270 killed when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December, 1988.

Mrs Peirce's complaint, filed in January, seeks compensatory and punitive damages of at least $600,000 (...)

Mr Kerger [attorney for the plaintiff] said two window washers who had entry to Mrs Peirce's home stole several pieces of jewelry that were hidden in the back of a dresser drawer. The items included her wedding rings, a 3.5-karat diamond ring, an emerald ring given to her by her late husband, and a watch that was retrieved from the plane wreckage after Mr Peirce died in the Lockerbie crash. (...)

Mrs Peirce's jewelry has not been recovered. Aside from the monetary value of her jewelry, Mr Kerger said the theft of Mr Peirce's watch -- the only item of his that was recovered from the Lockerbie crash -- represents an emotional loss for Mrs. Peirce that can't be recovered in court.

"It's one of those items that is truly irreplaceable," he said.