Thieves entered a South Road guest house in the early hours of Thursday morning and made off with a handbag. Guests searching the Paget property later found the handbag nearby. Police said more than $600 in cash had been taken from the purse.

In break-ins in local homes on Thursday, Police reported two handbags containing $50 taken from a Spice Hill home in Warwick. Police believe the thieves broke into the home early Thursday.

Two neighbouring houses on South Road, Warwick, were broken into during the daytime on Thursday. Thieves made a mess of the premises in their search for valuables. Nothing was reported stolen.

And late Thursday night, a would-be burglar was scared away from a Glebe Road house. Police said a man walking along the road reported the unidentified prowler. Residents of the home were reported to have also heard noises. When Police made a search, they found a window had been tampered with.

ANOTHER CABBIE ASSAULTED CRM Another cabbie assaulted A taxi driver was cut in the face with a bottle by an unknown man yesterday about 12:30 a.m.

The driver, bleeding from his face wounds, stopped a Police patrol on Court Street after the attack. Police said he told them a man had approached him and then hit him in the face with a bottle. Police said the 45-year-old Warwick resident was not seriously hurt. He is helping them with the case.

TWO STOVE FIRES IN THREE MINUTES FIR Two stove fires in three minutes Two stove fires were reported to the Fire Department within minutes of each other on Thursday afternoon.

A Fire Services spokesman said the first fire was reported at 5:39 p.m. in a house on Cottage Hill Road, Bailey's Bay. The small blaze was extinguished by the occupants before the fire truck and firefighters arrived.

The second call, at 5:42 p.m., came from a house on Quarry Hill Road in Warwick. The Fire Service responded with two trucks and five firefighters. The fire crew cleared the house of smoke with extractor fans and then put out the blaze.

Both fires started with a pot on the stove boiling over. The Cottage Hill fire caused little or no damage, but the Quarry Hill home suffered an estimated $1,000 worth of damage to the stove and cabinets.

SHOPLIFTING COST WOMAN $100 CTS Shoplifting cost woman $100 Shoplifting cost a Southampton woman $100 in Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Dawn Showers, 26, of Horseshoe Road, pleaded guilty to stealing from the Heron Bay MarketPlace on February 17.

Insp. Peter Duffy, prosecuting, told the court that Showers and another woman were seen acting suspiciously in the liquor section of the store. They were looking at wine bottles and held an open carrier bag, he said.

They paid for a few items and proceeded to leave the store. After searching the bag, the manager found stolen items totalling $11.09. Police were called and the women were arrested.

BREASTFEEDING CON HOS Breastfeeding Breastfeeding will be the topic at a public forum held at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital next week.

Guest speaker Dr. Jack Newman is director of the Breastfeeding Support Programme at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.

The forum is open to hospital staff, mothers and any interested members of the public. The lecture takes place on August 13 at 7.30 p.m. in the hospital conference room.

KNIFE-CARRYING MAN ARRESTED CRM Knife-carrying man arrested Police arrested a knife-carrying Devonshire man on Thursday night in Pembroke.

Police arrived at Curving Avenue at 8:30 p.m. in response to a call reporting a fight. The area was quiet, but a 26-year-old man was arrested for possession of a knife. He is to appear in Magistrates' Court next week.