DATE: Wednesday, October 22, 1997           TAG: 9710220700

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   48 lines

CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION: ***************************************************************** Norfolk Circuit Judge Junius P. Fulton III awarded $2,000 last week to a woman who found a headless grasshopper in a can of collard greens. A story Wednesday in the Hampton Roads section attributed the ruling to the wrong judge. Correction published Thursday, October 23, 1997 on page A2 of THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT. ***************************************************************** A LITTLE SOMETHIN' EXTRA TURNS UP IN COLLARD CAN

What's green, has six legs, and is worth $2,000 if you find it in a can of collard greens?

A headless grasshopper.

A Norfolk woman recently found the insect, and spit it out, while eating a can of collard greens. Now, a judge has awarded her $2,000 for her suffering.

The woman, Rebina Sharpe, said she found the grasshopper while cooking at home recently. While munching on the collards, she felt something hard in her mouth and discovered, much to her alarm, that it wasn't a plant stem.

In January, Sharpe sued the manufacturer, Glory Food of Effingham, S.C., for $10,000, believing she had swallowed the grasshopper's head. She had no lawyer.

Last week, her case came to trial in Norfolk Circuit Court. Sharpe testified that she sustained no medical expenses or lost wages from the incident, but did suffer headaches, depression and felt like throwing up for two days. Judge Jerome James awarded $2,000 in damages.

At trial, the key piece of evidence was a color photo of Sharpe's flower-patterned china plate, with a heap of collard greens beside an intact, but headless, grasshopper of the same dark-green color.

Also in the photo was a can of Glory Food ``Southern Style Collard Greens, pre-seasoned,'' with the inscription ``Heat and Eat.''

Of course, one person's worst culinary nightmare may be another's epicurean delight. Grasshoppers are a delicacy in Singapore, where you can pay up to $285 in American money for the crunchy critters (they taste something like potato chips) at the Imperial Herbal Restaurant. ILLUSTRATION: Color drawing KEYWORDS: GRASSHOPPER LAWSUIT

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