Three Scenes from the Political Stage

Does time march on in Hialeah, as it does everywhere else, or will Martinez recapture his past glory? Will his victory, as he has proclaimed so quotably, really mean a victory for his community, his Hialeah? Most of the partyers, dancing and singing into the early morning, weren't worrying about that. But real estate salesman and former boxing star Frank Otero, seated on a curb drinking red wine and eating a ham sandwich, mused about the moment. He had known the mayor-elect since their days at Hialeah High School, when Martinez, child of a journalist whose family still operates a newspaper in Hialeah, wrote articles for the school paper about Otero's incipient boxing career. "They ran out of scotch," Otero lamented. "I can't help wondering: Is that a portent of things to come in the administration?"

-- By Kathy Glasgow