The Cincinnati Enquirer

MORAINE, Ohio - A company that counts on old age has been energized by a plug from Hollywood and demand from baby boomers.

Annual sales for the maker of wrinkle-fighting facial adhesive strips called Frownies have jumped from $150,000 to $1.5 million in the past three years.

"It's really a product whose time has come," said Kathy Wright, general manager of 115-year-old B&P Co.

The company, born of a mother's inventiveness, catered to a loyal list of customers and took its time growing up.

In 2000, the company had three production workers, who shipped out about 20,000 boxes of Frownies a year.

Then, actress Rene Russo mentioned in a 2001 Good Housekeeping magazine article that she used Frownies to diminish a crease in her forehead.

New customers started calling; current clients wanted to reorder. Wright installed 15 new telephone lines and had six operators working two shifts. She rented more building space and hired 35 more production workers.

Customers, who used to get their orders within a few days, were told to expect a wait of up to two months. It took about eight months before the company got a handle on the surge and downsized to 15 employees.

Missing Indiana girl found safe in Mexico

NEW ALBANY, Ind. - A missing girl with mental disabilities was found safe in Mexico five days after she disappeared from the yard of her family's southern Indiana home, police said.

Mexican police found 12-year-old Kayla Kime walking on a street in Reynosa on Friday with her suspected abductor, New Albany police Capt. Michael Culwell said.

Kayla's mother last saw her about 10 p.m. Feb. 9 when she went to feed and water her dog in the back yard. Investigators suspected she had been taken by Eliseo Nunez, a 24-year-old Mexican native who family members said had spoken to the mentally disabled girl while she and her mother walked the dog in the city just north of Louisville, Ky.

New Albany police obtained a warrant for Nunez's arrest on a felony charge of criminal confinement. Nunez, who had been living in Jeffersonville, has ties in Reynosa and police suspected he might be heading there, so they contacted Texas authorities for help, Culwell said.

Switching parties may cost under Ky. bill

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Elected officials who switch political parties could wind up in court under a bill introduced in the Kentucky House.

The bill envisions allowing campaign contributors - individuals, political parties or political action committees - to sue a party switcher in small claims court to recoup their money.

The bill was offered by a group of Democrats. Co-sponsors include two House leaders - Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark of Louisville and Majority Leader Rocky Adkins of Sandy Hook.

"This provides a way for people who feel like they've been duped to retrieve the money they invested in the campaign of an individual they believed in," said the lead sponsor, Rep. Jim Wayne of Louisville.

Rep. Jeff Hoover, the top House Republican, called it an attempt to "slow the demise of the Democratic Party."

"They see they're on a slippery slope, and it's an attempt to try to keep that from happening," said Hoover, of Jamestown.

Democrats have been stung by defections in recent years.

Republicans took control of the Senate when two Democrats switched to the GOP - Dan Seum of Louisville and Bob Leeper of Paducah. The GOP has increased its majority in subsequent elections.

One House Democrat, Rep. Tom Kerr of Taylor Mill, switched to the Republicans last fall and others have been courted. Democrats still have a 63-36 majority with one seat vacant.