Lost and found! Miss Nevada to have crown

clipped from today.msnbc.msn.com Unbeknownst to pageant organizers, a volunteer misplaced the headdress An apologetic volunteer, not a thief, was to blame for the disappearance of the $400 crown, which turned up late Friday afternoon at a Reno alteration shop, said pageant organizer Teresa Benitez-Thompson. Unbeknownst to pageant organizers, the volunteer misplaced the crown in a small box that accompanied other boxes and hanging bags of clothes to the business Thursday. "The volunteer is so embarrassed. She loves the pageant and couldn't be any more apologetic," she said. "We sincerely thought an unauthorized person had the crown. Our belief in mankind has been affirmed with its discovery." "I was so nervous we wouldn't have a crown, and I didn't get any sleep last night," said Benitez-Thompson, Miss America pageant director for the state and Miss Nevada 2002. "But we have our crown and couldn't be happier." Twelve women will vie for the title.