“This Time It’s Personal” reads the frontpage headline on the Philadelphia Daily News as jury selection began today in the civil suit between former KYW co-anchors, and alleged lovers, Larry Mendte and Alycia Lane.
While Mendte and Lane’s He Said-She Said drama continues in a Philadelphia courtroom today, local media outlets are focusing on two of the juicier episodes of the anchors’ relationship, which have been illustrated in recent court depositions…
The Tiffany’s Necklace:
Mendte bought an $800 platinum necklace for Lane after he lost a bet with his co-anchor over the color of white zinfandel. According to court documents, Lane and Mendte had a friendly argument about the wine and when it turned out that Lane was correct in saying that the wine was pink, not white, Mendte said that he owed her and she suggested something from Tiffany’s.
So Mendte went out and purchased an $800 necklace from Tiffany’s using his credit card, an act that would eventually be discovered by his wife while checking the AmEx statement.
Lane accepted the gift and wore it a few times, thinking that it was silver and not platinum:
When he gave it to me, I assumed it was silver, which is a $114 necklace. To put things into context, I gave him a $60 coffeemaker . . . . But I looked at it and realized it was platinum, because never in a million years would I think somebody would buy me an $800 necklace. . . . I said, “I can’t take this from you. This is platinum. Are you crazy?” And he said, “What are you talking about?” I said, “If I’m your wife I would kill you.” I’m like, “You don’t think Dawn [Stensland] is going to be pissed off about this?” He said, “No.” He’s like, “Oh, my God, relax!” And he made me feel silly, like I was assuming that it meant more than it did. And so I was like, “OK.” I wore it a couple of times and that was it because I was uncomfortable with it.
The First Kiss:
This is probably where Mendte and Lane differ the most in their stories. Mendte contends that Lane instigated their first kiss while she is adamant that Mendte made an unwanted advance.
He said:
I think we had an appearance and she needed to go to her apartment to get changed . . . and she asked me to drive her over there. I didn’t want to be seen going into Alycia Lane’s apartment and I thought that was the wrong thing to do, but this time I did go. . . . She was sitting across from me on the couch and we had talked about the fact she used to actually taunt me for not kissing her. . . . She said, “I’m going to do something to you, but I don’t want you to do anything back.” And I said “OK,” and then she leaned over and kissed me.
She said:
He had a big truck and in-between shows he said that he would help me pick up a Christmas tree and bring it to my house. . . . We went to my condo, we dropped it off, and we were publicly seen walking in. I had no problem with that. . . . And as we were leaving, and as I turned around, he tried to kiss me. And when he tried to kiss me, to be quite honest with you, I did not know what to do.
I said, “What are you doing? You’re married . . .” He said, “Oh, come on, it’s just a friendly kiss.” And I said, “A kiss is cheating, Larry. You’re a married man.” He said, “A kiss is not cheating. A kiss is just a show of affection between friends. Don’t be ridiculous.”
Philadelphia Fox O&O WTXF, whose chief meteorologist has been in the headlines this week, discussed the Mendte and Lane drama on its morning newscast:
[Via Philadelphia Inquirer]