When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau, his older son, and promised him his blessing.

But Esau's brother Jacob, at his mother's urging, disguised himself and tricked the old man into giving the blessing to him.

"May God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine."

He said nothing about giving the kid his Steelers tickets.

Steelers tickets are precious. Just ask Cranberry resident Daniel Lemke, who has taken his grandfather to court over them.

According to Post-Gazette reporter Rebekah Scott, the lawsuit was filed yesterday in Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court. In it, Daniel claims that he paid his grandfather, Herbert, of Murrysville, $1,920 for The Old Man's seat licenses at Heinz Field in August 2003.

I guess it's all right to refer to Daniel's grandfather as The Old Man. That's the way Herbert Lemke referred to himself in a note included in the legal filing.

Anyway, Lemke the Younger says that after he paid Lemke the Elder for the seat licenses, Lemke the Elder told him that he intended to sell the seats to someone else for more money.

Daniel Lemke doesn't want his money back. He just wants Seats 2 and 3 in Section 142, Row D at Heinz Field next fall.

"[The seats] are unique and have a special value to the plaintiff for which he cannot obtain a duplicate on the open market," the suit says.

He wants a judge to enforce the exchange and make his grandfather pay his attorney fees, too.

Contacted yesterday, Daniel said only that it was a family matter and that he would not comment further. His grandfather could not be reached.

This is going to be a tough case for the judge who hears it. It just might require someone with the wisdom of Solomon.

A Mickey Mouse operator all along

The people of Cranberry are pretty good-humored. It's one of their saving graces.

Especially when one of them is looking at what appears to be a black semiautomatic pistol in the hand of a masked robber.

According to Post-Gazette reporter Rachael Conway, a clerk at Gordon's Mini Market on Rochester Road foiled a robbery attempt Tuesday night by bursting into laughter when confronted by a man wanting cash from the register.

The would-be robber was wearing a plastic Pluto mask.

You know. Pluto, the dog in the Disney cartoons.

"[The laughing clerk] didn't comply with the request, and the frustrated Pluto robber then left the store," said Cranberry police Sgt. Dave Kovach.

Kovach stressed that the clerk's response, while understandable, is not recommended.

"I don't want to give the impression that that's an advisable thing to do," he said. "Pluto could have been a strung-out heroin addict. You never know."

The suspect is white, in his 20s, 6-foot-2, and weighs about 170 pounds. He was wearing blue jeans and a blue-and-white windbreaker with a dark-green hooded sweatshirt underneath.

If confronted by the suspect, be careful. Next time, he might be Goofy.

Upon further review, maybe a bigger cap?<</A>

Some Allegheny County Council members are having second thoughts about Chief Executive Dan Onorato's plan to cap assessments at 4 percent, especially after hearing that the county's numbers are within accepted international standards.

About that Renoir in the basement ...

Officials at the Pittsburgh Public Schools are on a treasure hunt of sorts. The district owns about 1,500 pieces of artwork, but officials believe quite a few of them are missing and may have been taken home by former employees. They'd like to get them back.