BARNEGAT, N.J. – Someone keeps stealing the metal signs at mile marker 66.6 along the heavily traveled toll roads, and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority is having a devil of a time keeping up with the thefts.

It’s been happening all over the country, particularly on roads with names like Route 666. Officials aren’t sure if the thefts are being committed by religious zealots upset about the number’s association in the Bible with the devil, by Satanic scavenger hunters, or by college students who think a ‘666’ sign would look cool in their dorm room.

The Parkway sign, when it’s not stolen, is located on the Turnpike in East Windsor.

It costs as much as $50 to replace the signs, which doesn’t sound like much, until you keep repeating it over, and over again.

A few years ago, highway officials in Morris County couldn’t keep signs for Route 666 on the poles; as quickly as crews put them up, someone would take them down and steal them, often within a day or two.

Solution: They changed the name of the road to Route 665. A similar tactic might be in store for the Parkway and Turnpike mile markers, with replacement signs reading 66.61, which kind of wrecks the Satanic buzz.

In the meantime, New Jersey transportation officials keep replacing the mile marker signs.

Broken-tooth case is a dud

NEW YORK – Movie munchers beware! A New York judge says popcorn purchasers worried about breaking a tooth on unpopped kernels should nibble carefully – or eat something else.

Insurance broker Steve Kaplan says he encountered a double dud while watching the movie “Superbad” at the AMC-Lincoln Square Cinema a year ago: His tooth hurt and the movie was awful.

Kaplan sued to recover $1,250 for dental repairs. But Manhattan Civil Court Judge Matthew Cooper ruled that Kaplan could not reasonably expect every kernel to be popped.

From Associated Press reports