Power to the people

As Governor Don "The Don" Carcieri, Representative Nicky Gorham, Senator Michael Lenihan and Common Cause’s Phil West were leading a frenzied snake dance through the General Assembly chambers and State House rotunda after the separation of powers bill passed on Monday, June 30, Phillipe and Jorge were musing over events during the legislative session that didn’t prompt as much — if any — celebration:

• For all the legislative self-congratulatory backslapping about enacting the toughest fire-safety laws in the country, we might cite an appropriate adage — "A week late and a dollar short." And speaking of money, if there isn’t appropriate funding of the state fire inspector’s office and enough personnel provided, the tougher laws might just as well go up in smoke.

• The House leadership’s knuckleheaded, under-the-radar attempt, in its initial budget bill, to take permitting and monitoring authority over sewage treatment plants and other water pollution dischargers away from the RI Department of Environmental Management. This, thankfully, was shortstopped by Senate President Bill "Little Napoleon" Irons. The initial gambit was either sheer stupidity or a disgraceful effort to chop away yet again at the DEM, and it could have been a major setback for Little Rhody’s advances in cleaning up Narragansett Bay and other waters. George W. Bush would have been delighted to allow his understaffed EPA let things slide even farther. The next time an environmental bill comes up, House Speaker Bill Murphy ought to return inland to West Warwick and let someone who has a clue handle it.

• What’s happened to House Majority Leader Gordon Fox, formerly as reliable a legislator as they come? With a bill before his chamber on a Convention Center hotel scam, pardon us, deal, that could make millions for former representative Vinny "Family Man" Mesolella, Fox admitted he was doing "unrelated" legal work for his Federal Hillbilly pal. Fox didn’t see any potential conflict of interest — such as, if the bill goes through, who might be in line to do hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of legal work for the developer? Gordo, this is the kind of back-scratching that makes the General Assembly look like a bunch of self-serving spivs. P&J don’t know what distresses us more — Fox’s potential conflict or the possibility that he doesn’t understand the perception that it perpetuates.

Goodbye alai

It is with deep feelings of nostalgia that P&J bid "adios" to jai alai at the Newport Grand fronton, as a Basque band plays a Spanish dirge in the background.

Not that this was a horse that shouldn’t have been put out of its misery. The last time Phillipe and Jorge went to see the pelota and cesta hombres in action, we thought the scoreboard was broken, because it didn’t include payout numbers for the second-place team in the first match of the night. When your superior correspondents pointed this out to one of the officials, we were informed it was because no one bet on the team in question. The total pot was probably less than $1000. The expression, we believe, is "supply and demand."

This being the age of both "greed is good" and "dumb and dumber," the robotic, hypnotic electronic slots have taken over the gambling universe. Forget Terminator 3, the rise of the machines is taking place on Aquidneck Island.

P&J well remember the nascent days of the Newport facility in the mid-’70s, when the huge building with the hideous "Hi Li" on it (because Vo Dilunduhs obviously can’t pronounce foreign words correctly, so we do it with Hooked on Phonics phonetics) rose up on Admiral Kalbfus Boulevard. One of Phillipe’s first pieces of journalism was on the new fronton and its players. This detailed a sport that was bizarre and dangerous: players, with straw baskets strapped to their arms, turned leather-covered balls into bullets by throwing them against a 50-foot granite wall. It was also rumored in those days to be a little less than on the up-and-up, a fact well recognized because the PR person showing P. around said, before an interview with a few of the players, "Don’t ask them if the game is fixed."

But the site was majestic, and P&J’s friends at RISD added a nice touch with the large mural along the side of the arena, painting each other’s portraits into the piece. So farewell, Dennis and Kitty, Saez, and the boys, and another of the biggest little pieces that will forever be part of Ocean State lore. Bring on HAL.

Darkness of heart

A chilling, otherworldly, and depressing photo on the front page of the June 28 edition of the New York Times. It showed a young boy in Liberia, who looked to be anywhere from eight to 12 years old, sitting in the street in Monrovia amid the chaos and guerrilla fighting. He is shouting and pointing an automatic rifle at the photographer taking his picture. On his feet are red flip-flops. He is wearing pants that look as though they would fit someone twice as tall, rolled up at the bottom, and an oversized green shirt. But what makes your heart stop is that he is wearing a pink teddy bear backpack.

It is diabolical that children in Africa and elsewhere are fighting wars. Children who still find the need for a pink teddy bear, and not too afraid — or inexperienced — to pull the trigger at will. While the Bush administration worries about protecting the oil interests of Dubya’s buddies, half of a continent is descending into a hell that we thought the human race had escaped. All the White House’s talk about aid to Africa is simply more B.S. — Bush Shit.

The strictures put on the aid money, and the injection of faith-based organizations and their agendas into the development world, hinder the flow that could help these people — if they do indeed want to be helped, because many are too far gone to care. But most Africans, of course, want to halt machete mutilations and the use as soldiers of elementary school children.

Male bag

P&J don’t really spend a whole lot of time paying attention to Westerly, mainly because we’re convinced that it’s really part of Connecticut. After receiving a missive from "Forrester," we wonder if Westerly is, in fact, actually a part of the Bible Belt.

I just wanted to write to P&J to make them aware that in Westerly, people are trying to make the Westerly Public Library remove all the copies of the Providence Phoenix that they have. The people want the library to stop putting the Phoenix out because of the paper’s adult section, and little kids have parents who don’t want them seeing it. The library refuses to remove the Phoenix. People have been writing editorials to the Westerly Sun all pissed that the Phoenix is still in the Library. I plan on writing my own editorial to the paper stating my opinion. It may surprise you, but I am all for having the Phoenix in the library. Here’s why:

It seems just about every week I hear about some kids setting themselves on fire or jumping off a roof into a pool, and then getting hurt. WELL, NO SHIT! But do the parents ask, "What did we do wrong to make our son do something so idiotic?" No, they blame Jackass, or some other shock show.

If parents don’t want their kids to look at the Phoenix they should tell them not to. If the kids disobey, punish the kid or punish yourself (the parent). The Phoenix is not put right out in the front of the library. In fact I am a frequent traveler to this library and I have yet to see a copy of the Phoenix there.

It seems that SOME parents of this generation are not taking responsibility for the raising of their kids. They want society to do it. I don’t think so. And why just blame Jackass? Every movie out there now has violence, sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll (not that I dislike violent movies, because they are quite entertaining). The show Friends is all about sex now, and there is a show even called Sex in the City [sic]. I don’t see any parent blaming those shows when their 15-year-old daughter gets knocked up!

Parents need to take responsibility of what their kids do, and so do their kids! If your friend tells you he wants to douse you with kerosene and then light you on fire . . . DON'T LET HIM! Run away. You let someone do that to you and you disserve to get burned! You jump off a roof into a pool and miss the water . . . GOOD, I BET THAT WILL TEACH YOU!

I just thought P&J may be interested in knowing that a CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN supports your paper. I think.

— Forrester

Thanks for sharing, Forrester. We’ll try to hook you up with a good editor real soon. Meantime, we remember back in the ’50s when the occasional preteen male "ute" would leap off a garage roof, bed sheet knotted around his neck, in emulation of TV’s Superman. (George Reeves, who played the role, was much more efficient, dying of a gunshot wound to the head, judged self-inflicted.) Dumb kids doing dumb stuff is not exactly a recent phenomenon. We thank you for your "support" of the Phoenix (although we are surprised to find a "conservative Republican" like yourself leaping to the defense of Jackass — we’d think you’d reject it purely on the grounds of political symbolism).

And, by the way, it’s Sex and the City.

Fred DeQuattro

Much sadness at Casa Diablo this week as we learned of the passing of Fred DeQuattro, who had been living in Florida with his son, Tom, and his wife, Carrie, for a number of years. We first came to know Freddie more than 25 years ago through Tom, long one of the finest drummers (he played with everyone from Ken Lyon & Tombstone to the Young Adults to Duke Robillard) to ever come out of the Biggest Little. Freddie was beloved by many, many Vo Dilun musicians, as he accompanied Tom on gigs for a number of years. He was a joyous and generous man who regularly lifted the spirits of anyone who was with him.

Like so many of our parents’ generation, Fred came out of the Depression and World War II. He was a combat veteran with a slew of medals and commendations, as well as some painful wounds that caused him pain throughout his life. For P&J, Fred was a role model, because of his great dignity and positive, upbeat attitude, regardless of the hand that he was dealt. He did not live an easy life, but he embraced it with joy. A generous and loving man, Fred DeQuattro touched everyone in his life in a positive way. We will miss him terribly.

Send tropical drinks and Pulitzer-grade tips to p&j@ phx.com