The Scrambled Saga of White House Eggs

Tempest in an egg cup! The annual White House display of 51 decorated Easter eggs has the state of Wyoming shellshocked.

Since 1994, artists from the 50 states and D.C. have created insanely elaborate, Faberge-style eggs for the White House Visitor Center. Laura Bush unveiled this year's display on Tuesday. (Check them out on the White House Web site.) That's when Ben Neary, an AP reporter based in Cheyenne, noticed that Wyoming's entry -- an amateurish line drawing of an egg skiing down a mountain -- was created by Phillip LeDonne of Elmhurst, Illinois.

"I thought, 'Well, that's gotta be a story,' " said Neary. "They couldn't find anyone here to decorate an egg."

What happened? The American Egg Board, which coordinates the collection, approaches state egg promotional groups to find a local artist to do the decorating, explained Christine Bushway, director of state programs. Since Wyoming doesn't have its own egg lobby, Bushway contacted the International Egg Art Guild and found a qualified artist from the Cowboy State. But at the last minute, the artist chickened out, and LeDonne -- a college student whose mother works at the Egg Board's Chicago headquarters -- volunteered to pinch-hit Wyoming's egg. "This poor kid was trying to help out," said Bushway.

Virginia's egg.(Lynden Steele - The White House)

Alas, LeDonne's skiing oval lacked the artistry of New York's gold Statue of Liberty or Rhode Island's rooster egg. (Maryland weighed in with a cutout of Drum Point Lighthouse, Virginia's depicts three-masted ships, and D.C.'s shows the south side of the White House.) The Wyoming Arts Council called to protest that it hadn't been contacted, and has already commandeered the state's artist search for next year.

Hey, why wasn't Wyoming's own Dick Cheney enlisted? "It never would have occurred to me to call the vice president," said Bushway. "I just don't think he would have taken my call." The veep's office declined to comment.

What It Takes to Get Out of Jury Duty

What celebrities have taught us this year about D.C. Superior Court jury duty, and how to get out of it:

If you're a high-profile former prosecutor, like Eric Holder or Frances Fragos Townsend, the lawyers will probably want to kick you off the panel. Also if you're a former mayor, like Tony Williams, who used to employ the judge as a deputy mayor.

Likewise if you're a big-deal administration figure, like Karl Rove, who socializes with the judge: another non-starter that will get you back to the office by the end of the day. Or, if like Madeleine Albright you're just so darned famous that everyone's distracted-- they'll want you outta there.

What about being a media magnate who heads one of the country's largest newspapers? Bzzzzzz! Sorry, Don Graham! Since Tuesday, the Washington Post Co. chairman has been holed up in the courtroom of Judge Russell F. Canan, weighing judgment in the case of Gamarcus D. Davis of Southeast Washington, charged with distribution of cocaine following a December buy-and-bust. Deliberations are expected to continue today. Graham was a D.C. police officer back in 1969-70, but it seems that was long enough ago not to bother anyone.

THIS JUST IN . . .

A judge in Orange County, Calif., yesterday granted Whitney Houston custody of Bobbi Kristina, 14, her daughter with Bobby Brown; the divorce of the pop icons will become official on April 24. Houston testified that her soon-to-be-ex is "unreliable. . . . If he says he's going to come, sometimes he does. Usually he doesn't."

Two diaries penned by Anna Nicole Smith in the early 1990s will be auctioned in Dallas in a few weeks. An examination by the Associated Press found lots of smiley faces, obsessing about weight, fear for her elderly husband's health ("When I touch him Im afraid he might break") and other really sad personal stuff. They're expected to fetch $100K.