Make me an Angel that flies from Puerto Rico

Having a Spanish-language page in the BeloJo every Thursday is all well and good, but the initial report in Monday's "Political Scene" column -- which had about-to-announce Congressional candidate Angel Taveras as a man of "Puerto Rican descent" -- missed the mark by more than a few miles. His parents actually hail from the Dominican Republic. At least by Tuesday, the paper of record had it right.

Taveras appears to be an intriguing candidate, and his ability to rally Latino voters will be closely watched by both major parties. Among the co-chairs who turned out for the reception held for him at the Westin, after his Monday morning announcement at Classical High School, were such well-known liberals as former state Representative Ray Rickman, Dr. Pablo Rodriguez, Victor Capellan and Paul McNeil. Will Taveras's candidacy end up splitting the progressive vote between Angel and Kate Coyne-McCoy, therefore benefiting the presumed front-runner, Secretary of State Jim Langevin? It's too early to tell, but Kate has been making some big in-roads in the fund-raising area, and our belief is that, despite his considerable personal wealth, this will be no cakewalk for Langevin.

Jim has been quite cautious on most issues (as well detailed in Steve Stycos's article here in the Phoenix a few months back) and he is not exactly a campaign whirlwind. Expect Taveras, Coyne-McCoy and Kevin McAllister, the Cranston City Council president, to make much of Langevin's record in the General Assembly.

Attention: Vinny Pazienza

After the Pazmanian Devil's disappointing loss to Dana Rosenblatt at Foxwoods two weeks ago, may we suggest a new sparring partner for Vo Dilun's favorite pugilist? A 31-year-old up-and-comer from Warwick, one Todd Scawthorn, who was arrested November 13 outside of Lupo's Headbreak Hotel, seems to be a natural candidate. After engaging in a bit of fisticuffs on the dance floor, Scawthorn was hustled outside by bouncers. Apparently discontented with the human competition inside the club, according to authorities cited in the Belojo, Mr. Scawhorn proceeded to land a few left jabs to the shoulder of a police horse that was working security outside the club with his human partner, Officer Gregory Daniels. Your superior correspondents have a sneaking suspicion that this is what is known as "an alcohol-related incident."

A Cool, Cool Thanksgiving story

Our favorite holiday tale concerns that famous Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving illustration from 1943 -- the idealized meal with Dad grinning over Mom's shoulder as she places the giant turkey platter on the table and the kids all beam with delight. According to Claude Marschand's 1994 biography of Rockwell, Elsa Stanglish, the 72-year-old model for Mom, complained while posing for the beloved artist that the platter was too heavy to be held at such an awkward angle. Rockwell told her to stop whining and hold the pose. Fifty minutes later, Stanglish collapsed and was pronounced dead after being rushed to the hospital. As R. Couri Hay used to say in his old National Enquirer gossip columns, "and how was your day?"

They paid for it

What price being a quality act in local TV? "Here's your hat, what's your hurry?" will suffice nicely, especially at WLNE-TV.

That was the message sent last week by Freedom Broadcasting's management at Channel 6, who axed two veteran employees, reporter Sean Daly and anchorwoman Pamela Watts. Daly and Watts paid for having the audacity to be worth the money they earned, which, unfortunately, is above the minimum wage that 'LNE wants to provide for its employees. Were it able to slip lower than last place in the local news ratings, Channel 6 would obviously now do so. This is because the loss of the talent and experience represented by Daly and Watts leaves Channel 6 with a team of primetime anchors who need a map of the Biggest Little to get around the state, and a reporting crew whose idea of a tough question is, "What's your favorite color?"

Both Daly and Watts were big faves at Casa Diablo for contrasting reasons. Emmy-winning Pam is a URI grad who started out in radio at WEAN, and provided broadcasts with not just a touch of class, but some institutional memory of life in Vo Dilun. This is totally absent in the new anchors, Ron Harbaugh and Amy DeLuca. (Doubtless Channel 6 execs don't twig to the success of rival Channel 10 being based upon seeing those same familiar faces, like Dougie White, Holly Wood, Jim Taricani and Dyana Koelsch, night after night.)

Daly, meanwhile, is a local legend among reporters for being the brashest and most aggressive kid on the block, even if he could stand a good dose of Ritalin. He took a brief hiatus to work for a Chicago station, but his roots in Little Rhody go back to 1981. Always smiling and laughing when not making politicians uneasy with his in-your-face style and pointed questions, he is a major loss to a station which is trying to claw back into ratings race with the admirable, if incredibly spotty series, "You Paid For It."

P&J think Channel 6 will indeed pay for this move, especially if either Channel 12 or the JARheads swoop in to hire one or both of these accomplished and respected pros. We'd love to see it happen.

Deepest sympathies

Phillipe and Jorge would like to offer our deepest sympathies to former Urinal media critic John Martin. As many astute readers are aware, our old pal John recently left his job on Fountain Street to become the public relations ramrod at the state's Economic Development Corporation. Since then, he has had to deal with the following: thanks to the financial incompetence of Quonset Point Partners' Bankruptcy Boys, the hideously-flawed proposal to build a giant port at Quonset Point blew up in EDC's face; a $5 million suit was field against the EDC by the B-Boys and their partners for breach of contract, charging government "confusion"; and the misuse of state-issued credit cards by his boss, John "Visa Boy" Swen, and other EDC officials was exposed by Martin's former colleagues at the BeloJo.

Jeez, John, you must really be looking forward to seeing just how well EDC will handle the potential Y2K problems come January 1. C'mon over to Casa D on New Year's Eve, and we'll soothe things with a few Pernod and grapefruits.

Where's the beef?

While the French and British are not exactly known to have been bosom buddies since the Allies pulled the garlic-chewing, wine-swilling, Gauloise-smoking, thrush-murdering Gallic bastards' chestnuts out of the fire in WWII, lest they all be speaking German by now, the recent "Beef Wars" in Europe are once again raising hackles between the two nations. It seems the French are balking at buying any British beef, believing it is unsafe due to "mad cow disease," or BSE (bovine spongiform encephalitis).

P&J's in-house computer expert, the lovely Ms. PC, was recently in England for a cyberspace conference, and she reported to your superior correspondents that as soon as any English folks heard her French colleagues' accents in the hotel or out at restaurants, they did everything but put a snake in their beds or spit in their soup, while being totally accommodating to her and other African and American visitors. Nice to know there's no hard feelings. Although we do extend kudos to the French for their recent public attacks, physical and verbal, on the burgeoning number of McDonald's popping up in their country.

Kudos and congrats

. . . to the genius students from East Greenwich High who made easy work for that town's police force after 60 of the little Einsteins decided to launch a party by breaking into the home of a family that was out of town for the weekend. One student reportedly left his class schedule at the house, while another took photographs of her classmates who enthusiastically posed with illicit beer in their paws. We suppose that the lack of a cleanup committee and the fact that some of the hooligans decided to lift electronic equipment from the home (laptop computer, VCR, CD player, etc.) may have alerted the returning family that someone had been in the house while they were gone.

Most intriguing was the discovery of a "Hooters University" T-shirt left behind by one of the revelers. Is this an accredited school? Is Pamela Anderson Lee the dean of students? Looks like if they don't clean up their act, some of these kids can expect to be continuing their education at this institute of higher learning.

. . . and to those adult thieves at RIPTA who stole a $2500 generator from the transit authority's Melrose Avenue. garage, but were caught only when they tried to sneak it back in. It makes one thankful that most would-be criminals are complete morons.

---

The P & J archive

---