Picayune Item

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=110 BGCOLOR="#999933" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03f006e0ddwnfv.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>Mickle's Pickles</B></FONT><B>    - </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFBF0" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>The Second Best Pickle on the Planet</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFBF0" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>|     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mickles Pickles"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" background="040bec00esnpes.png"> <div> <B>Back to home page</B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=370 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>‘Peter Piper’ produces picked pickle</B></div> <div> <B>(Picayune Item October 03, 2008) </B></div> <div> By Ginger Schmidt</div> <div> Lifestyles Editor</div> <bR> <div> PICAYUNE — After what must have been a harrowing week, Mickle’s pilfered pickle, a prominent Picayune icon, was produced and returned to its rightful owners.</div> <bR> <div> Mickey Fluitt, owner of Mickle’s Pickles in downtown Picayune, first reported the pickle was missing last Saturday. The business owner and his wife, Pamela Fluitt, immediately placed a call to 911. Fluitt said the police did have a hard time taking matters seriously and he professed they thought maybe Fluitt himself had his hand in his own pickle jar. The trail of pickle juice had been perplexing.</div> <bR> <div> The purloined pickle, given to Fluitt by a family friend, Jerry Strahan of the New Orleans Lucky Dogs franchise, was like part of the family. Pickle press and pickle pictures have graced the covers of many national and local periodicals, pickle related or otherwise. The Fluitts waited until they moved into their new pickle parlor downtown before they hung the pickle from its perch at the bottom of the wooden and wire sign on the parlor’s peak. The pickle perpetrators would have had to work extra hard to pick the pickle.</div> <bR> <div> Fluitt was determined to find his pickle. He posted flyers mentioning the reward of 2 cases of Mickle’s Pickles, $140 value. The pickle pandemonium was just starting to reach its fevered pitch, rockin’ the small town of Picayune, when Fluitt received a call that was music to his ears, “Dad, I’ve got the pickle.”</div> <bR> <div> Fluitt said his son Austin Fluitt called to let him know the pickle had been returned by way of a friend, who had been handed the pickle in the Fluitts’ driveway. Dru Roberts was reportedly leaving the family home when the pickle was handed to him by an acquaintance of both boys who wishes to remain anonymous. Roberts was reportedly told that the acquaintance stumbled on the pickle while the acquaintance and some friends were out four-wheeling. Since Roberts actually handed the pickle over to the Fluitts, unharmed, he will be credited with the return and the reward.</div> <bR> <div> “I’m giving credit to the people who took it,” said Fluitt, who has mixed emotions about the return of his pickle. While he wasn’t exactly “dill-lighted” to see it returned so quickly he doesn’t hold any ill dill, or will, towards the perps — he was just starting to have fun with the situation.</div> <bR> <div> “Have you seen my pickle?” was quickly becoming his new slogan. He said around town people were expressing deep concern for the pickle and everyone had jokingly started to accuse everyone else of picking it — small town hi-jinks. </div> <bR> <div> Thus, the question “Who picked Mickle’s Pickle?” may never be answered, but for now the pickle is back where it belongs.</div> <div> <B>--------------------------------------------------------------------</B></div> <bR> <div> Mickle’s pickle is purloined </div> <div> <B>(Picayune Item  October 1st, 2008)</B></div> <div> By Ginger Schmidt</div> <div> Lifestyles Editor</div> <bR> <div> PICAYUNE — Sadly, a beloved icon of Picayune has gone missing — and what is Mickle’s without the pickle? </div> <bR> <div> Mickey Fluitt, owner of Mickle's Pickles in downtown Picayune, said the family’s plastic pickle that adorned the wooden and wire sign hanging from the pitched roof of the business went missing sometime between Friday and Saturday. He said he noticed it missing on Saturday evening when he arrived at the building with a friend. </div> <bR> <div> The pickle-theft perpetrators would have to have done quite a bit a work to get the beloved mascot down from the sign, so he believes that it happened overnight on Friday.</div> <bR> <div> “I took it down for (Gustav) and I had to move the awning and use a ladder to get it down.” </div> <bR> <div> While Fluitt continues to keep his sense of humor about the situation, he said he wants everyone to keep in mind that a serious crime has been committed and the pickle is invaluable to him and his family.</div> <bR> <div> Pamela Fluitt, his wife, wrote in an email, “The pickle was given to my husband several years ago by a friend — the owner of Lucky Dogs (the New Orleans hot dog company). Before that, it had been part of the original Tulane Stadium’s concession stand.” </div> <bR> <div> Fluitt said that originally the green, plastic pickle was used as a promotional gimmick for Heinz ketchup. The pickle was given a second chance for one last hoorah when it was rescued from Tulane’s stadium before demolition. </div> <bR> <div> Fluitt said pickle paraphernalia has been stolen from him before. The magnetic signs on the pickle ’porter van had gone missing a while back, but both were eventually returned. He says that hopefully someone will see his pickle and return it. </div> <bR> <div> The pickle parlor is located behind the parking lot of First National Bank on West Canal Street and the surveillance camera that watches the bank’s parking lot also picks up the activity at the pickle store. The bank has agreed to view the footage and see if camera picked up on the pickle perps. </div> <bR> <div> Mickle’s pickle, not to be mistaken, is made of green plastic, is three feet in length, weighs approximately 10 to 15 pounds and is very clean.</div> <bR> <div> “I just washed it off,” said Fluitt. “I never had a chance to put AmorAll on it.” </div> <bR> <div> There will be a reward for the pickle’s “safe return” only. No questions will be asked. For more information, call 601-798-0705. </div> <bR> <div> <B>--------------------------------------------------------------------</B></div> <div>   <IMG SRC="1d622da0.jpg" border=0 width="290" height="218" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Mickle's Big Pickle Returns To Downtown Picayune</div> <div> <B>Oct 2, 2008</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> By Steve Phillips - WLOX TV Channel 13</div> <bR> <div> PICAYUNE, MS (WLOX) - Residents of Picayune can rest a little easier. The big pickle is back where it belongs. </div> <bR> <div> As we reported on Wednesday, the large, green trademark outside "Mickle's Pickles" downtown was stolen. Happily, it's been returned to the business.</div> <bR> <div> "It's okay, we've got the pickle. It's back," said a smiling Mickey Fluitt to a visting customer.</div> <bR> <div> "Good, I'm so happy," she said.</div> <bR> <div> Perhaps it was the reward, perhaps the pickle perpetrator has a conscience. Whatever the reason, Mickle's giant pickle is back.</div> <bR> <div> The owner could never relish the thought of someone dill-iberately swiping the icon. </div> <bR> <div> "I'm almost in tears. It's just unbelievable. I showed up here one night and I look up and it's gone," said Fluitt.</div> <bR> <div> The former teacher-turned-pickle-producer did what anyone might do if their prize pickle is pilfered.</div> <bR> <div> "It's a crime. What's the first thing you do? My wife called 911. And the police showed up and they were laughing more than I am now," said Mickey. "They said, 'What's the problem?' And I said, 'Someone stole my pickle.'"</div> <bR> <div> A subsequent reward brought more giggles than leads.</div> <bR> <div> "We put up fliers yesterday offering a reward, and we were going to title it: 'Have You Seen My Pickle?' But we walked up to one or two places with, 'Have you seen my pickle??'" said Fluitt, bursting with laughter.</div> <bR> <div> Sales of his homemade pickles are nothing to laugh about. This cucumber king sells nearly 25,000 jars a year. His missing pickle was big news. </div> <bR> <div> Ginger Schmidt wrote the news article for the local newspaper, The Picayune Item.</div> <bR> <div> "It's been the talk of the town. And in fact, I was so surprised, it was the first time I've written something and it's actually gone out on the wire. And the next thing I know, it's everywhere," said the reporter.</div> <bR> <div> Pickle man is so smooth a self promoter, we can't help but wonder if perhaps he pilfered his own pickle.</div> <bR> <div> "That accusation was made very early on. I mean like from day one," says a smiling Fluitt.</div> <bR> <div> Like a slick politician, pickle guy never directly answers our question. The important thing is,  Mickle's Big Pickle is back.</div> <bR> <div> "Going to leave it out. It's going to be on the front counter. Everybody's gonna want to come in and get the photo op," said Mickey Fluitt.</div> <bR> <div> So what exactly happened to the big pickle? It was supposedly found by some teenagers out four-wheeling with friends. The pickle was then passed between several teens and eventually given to the pickle maker's teenage son. </div> <bR> <div> By the way, the pickle itself is a unique story. Mickey Fluitt received the pickle from Jerry Strayhan with the famous "Lucky Dog" company in New Orleans. It's a Heinz pickle that once hung above the concession stand at the old Tulane Stadium in New Orleans.</div> <bR> <div> Mickle's Pickles sells its tasty treats around the world. Mickey Fluitt says he's even shipped cases of his homemade cukes to the troops serving in Iraq.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>