The front of the January 13 BeloJo, what with the big above-the-fold photo spread of Woonsocket’s battling mommies, was immediately dubbed the Parents’ Day Special at Casa Diablo. Below the fold was the latest sad chapter in the La Familigia Mollis Saga, this time a mere bout of forgetfulness as a teenaged son neglected to pay for a T-shirt at the Providence Place Mall.
You’ve really got to feel for Ralph. Nobody has had such a string of bad luck immediately after being inaugurated since William Henry Harrison said, “The hell with the weather . . . we’ll hold it outdoors.”
But it’s the amazing moms from Woonsocket who really take our imagination. The Urinal somehow managed to get the mommies to color coordinate for their front-page moment — two huge photos topping “Two sides of the story.” Although the mommies’ attire did more than suggest the saucy look so popular with young girls today, we think that, as with street fighting, it’s just another opportunity for the generations to bond.
Unfortunately, there is more than enough pathological bonding going on up at the Woonsocket Middle School. Saturday’s Urinal featured a report from Kia Hall Hayes describing another pair of students who were arrested outside of the school on Friday:
[A] 14-year-old female was crossing the street at Park Place when a teacher told her not to cross because of the oncoming traffic. The girl allegedly responded, “I’ll cross whenever . . . . I want to cross,” according to Detective Lt. Timothy Paul.
The girl then began crossing the street and was almost hit by a white car. The student then began yelling and cursing at the driver, Paul said.
. . . . [The girl] was placed under arrest. As [the officer] was walking her to the police vehicle, the girl’s 13-year-old brother cursed at the officer and asked what he was doing with his sister . . . . The boy also grabbed the officer by the back of the jacket.
Since when have middle school students started mistaking real life for a Daffy Duck cartoon?
The good news on dickie
Thanks to Rick Massimo, the BeloJo’s redoubtable popular music writer, for a wonderful and inspiring Sunday story on Richard “Dickie” Reed’s long, long journey to regain his hearing and, miraculously, his ability to connect with music. We have known Dickie for years. We are bowled over not only by how hard he worked to manage more complex sounds and tones, but also by his dedication to helping others with hearing loss.
Can’t anybody kill around here?
P&J are getting a little bit fed up with the Iraqi government’s inability to get anything right. After the Saddam hanging turned into a Shi’ite rally and toga party, those hanging his half-brother, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, got their “drop weights” wrong and ended up decapitating the guy. Unless you’re using a very large sword, this is wrong.
Why doesn’t the good old US of A send some of our experts over there to show these people how to efficiently kill peop . . . . oh, geez, we forgot about that guy in California who lingered for so long. Oh yeah, and there was that guy in Florida, too.
