Drunks, criminals and terrorists aren’t the only ones who dine at the ubiquitous Southern comfort-food chain, Waffle House, but they certainly make their presence felt.  An excerpt from Robbie Brown’s New York Times article :

“When four elderly men were arrested in northern Georgia this month on charges of planning terrorist attacks in Atlanta and along the East Coast, F.B.I. surveillance tapes revealed where they had met to hatch their plot — a Waffle House. Bloggers and television reporters quickly dubbed them the Waffle House Terrorists.

Last month, when a Florida state representative was ridiculed for proposing that death row inmates be killed by electrocution or firing squad, he said the idea had come from a constituent he met at — you guessed it — a Waffle House.

In Georgia, there have been other less-noted incidents: after nearly 17 years on the run, a fugitive was caught this month at a Waffle House in Augusta, and a cross-dressing bank robber in Marietta has evaded the police but was spotted on surveillance video this month eating at a Waffle House.

In Cobb County, where some of the robberies occurred, Sgt. Dana Pierce said the police were paying extra attention to all 24-hour diners, but especially Waffle Houses. It is easy to see why they can become targets for criminals, he said. ‘They are cash-driven,’ he said. ‘They are near Interstate exits. And they are open 24 hours, when people aren’t necessarily in a sober state of mind.'”

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Waffle House employee allows himself to be tazed: