1991

Funny money
February 7, 1991
As more and more of the iniquities that caused the RISDIC Credit Union crisis came to light, Johnette Rodriguez found more and more evidence that many of the state's problems stemmed from House Speaker Joseph DeAngelis and his cronies.

It appears, after all, that the leadership allowed House members to pass a budget-balancing early retirement plan without giving them the benefit of the general treasurer's opinion that it was going to cost the state $100 million. It appears these same leaders allowed a bill requiring federal insurance for credit unions to die in committee. And it appears that they have shoved through or killed -- depending on their preference -- any number of other bills by maintaining an antiquated system of sweet deals, closed doors and top-bossism.

Hate in the city
February 28
In an article on gay bashing in Providence, Michael Iacobbo tracked a seemingly ever-climbing trend.

Lesbians are pelted with bottles thrown from passing vehicles as they walk along College Hill. A man gets into his car on Weybosset Street in Providence after leaving a gay bar only to be surrounded by thugs who smash his windows with baseball bats. A popular downtown gay bar had its doors busted twice last year. A man solicits sex from a male prostitute, then beats him. Providence Police say they have no statistics on how many gays and lesbians fall victim to hate crimes in the city. [But] last December, Commander Richard Tamburini said that 75 percent of late-night assaults are committed against gays, mostly when they leave the bars at closing time.

RISDIC? What RISDIC?!
March 21
While the state continued to wrestle with RISDIC fallout, Lisa Prevost reported how an investigative panel headed by then-Brown University prez Vartan Gregorian blamed a fair extent of RISDIC's damage on, among others, the Providence Journal-Bulletin.

Gregorian criticized the lack of stick-to-itiveness by the press in between the larger stories, the failure to routinely get behind the news releases. Others have gone so far as to say that the Journal knew what was in the [Attorney General's report, which implied serious troubles ahead], but chose not to print it for fear of causing a run on the banks.

Holy high rollers
April 4
In a NewPaper exclusive, investigative reporter Steven Stycos uncovered these fun facts about a local "evangelical" church "unknown by the National Association of Evangelicals, the Evangelical Council for Fiscal Accountability, the American Council of Christian Churches, the Rhode Island Council of Churches and the Rhode Island Association of Evangelical Churches:"

The archbishop is a developer. His church holds no weekly religious services or Sunday school. The active membership totals seven people, three of whom are members of the archbishop's family. The church's principle activity, according to [its archbishop], is housing construction, most recently in partnership with a Providence land baron.

NIMBY
April 18
With the Bay cleanup and LADD center controversies still garnering the Earth Day headlines, Bruce J. Allen saw that there was a whole area being ignored by politicians and activists alike.

Unfortunately, the chronic poisoning of low-income neighborhoods doesn't rank with the media as a "sexy" issue, like medical waste on the beaches. And because there are no pristine areas left to save in the inner-city, environmental groups tend to ignore it; preserving something green or blue just feels more "natural" than restoring something grey and man-made. Politicians are more likely to respond to the needs of the well-heeled neighborhoods -- which is why Rhode Islanders hear a lot more about East Siders battling Newbay than South Siders battling urban decay.

PC or not PC
May 9
With the national debate over political correctness (PC) just starting, Lisa Prevost found Brown University senior Jeff Shesol in the middle of the controversy.

The longer the media obsesses over the so-called PC movement, the more Shesol, the creator of the "Thatch" strip in the Brown Daily Herald, stands to gain. The Brown senior has been pegged as the PC cartoonist. He has subsequently been interviewed by major dailies, news magazines and television news shows; Village Voice columnist Nat Hentoff uses Shesol as a source for news of PC outbreaks on the Brown campus. And "Thatch" even warranted a mention in William Safire's "On Language" column in the New York Times Magazine.

Pledge of allegiance
July 11
In early 1990, the FBI busted up the Patriarca crime family, the New England and Rhode Island mob's big bosses. Jim Taricani took us to the trial in Hartford, where for the first time a tape from a Mafia ceremony was played publicly.

The next part of the oath is a pledge most people of more than passing intelligence would have a difficult time making. "Giuro [I swear], Di non en, di entrare [to enter], Vivo [alive], In questa orginizzazione [into this organization], E di uscire [and to get out], Morto [dead]."

Working girls
August 8
In another man-on-the-street, in-the-trenches report, Michael Iacobbo hung out with area prostitutes to learn how, when the police pick up some 500 hustlers a year, they avoid getting busted.

Vicki, who says she has never been busted in Providence, takes a novel approach to her trade that helps her avoid arrest. She begins by hitchhiking. "When I'm picked up, I tell them to meet me at some motel I've rented for the night. I never have sex in the car, and never let them drive me to the motel," she explains while standing on a busy South Providence street clad in biker shorts and a bandeau top. "The police can still bust me, but they have to work harder at it. It beats working in jewelry."

Where's the whistle?
November 7
RISDIC, RISDIC, RISDIC -- the hearings made it the story of the year. In this issue Lisa Prevost investigated how, if Rhode Island had had, like 44 other states do, whistle-blower protection laws, the whole mess might have been, if not avoided, at least minimized.

Peter Wald and Kenneth Proto knew in the summer of 1990 that millions of dollars were missing from Heritage Loan & Investment Co., but they never alerted authorities. Some Rhode Islanders find Wald and Proto's explanations for keeping quiet morally abhorrent. Others can empathize with the men -- fear of losing one's job, loyalty to the organization, and the loathsomeness of "ratting" are all part of corporate culture. One thing is certain -- if Rhode Island laws protected whistle-blowers in the private sector, Wald and Proto could have reported their suspicions of embezzlement to state authorities knowing they would have recourse if RISDIC president Peter Nevola retaliated by handing them pink slips.

Taking it to the streets
December 19
With crime a continuing issue on the streets of Providence's rougher sides, Lisa Prevost reported how the Providence Police shift their attentions to the concept of community policing.

As the first two bike patrolmen in Providence to open their own neighborhood storefront, Reall and Reddy have made themselves fixtures here. Communication, networking, empowerment -- all those buzzwords that were applied to business and personal life during the '80s have only recently caught up with Providence police work.

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