Hello, registrar’s office.” “Hi, is this the registrar’s office at Columbia University?” “Yes, it is.” “Well, I was hoping you could help me. I’m calling from Miami and I was trying to track down some information about a former Columbia professor, Alex Cooper. I believe he taught bullshitting.” “Excuse me?”…
Want Not, Save Not I was so surprised to read that an average of only two people on every flight abstain from the famous airplane food (“Getting Wasted at 35,000 Feet” by Kirk Semple, September 26). I was expecting something like only two people would take it from every flight…
Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Him I enjoyed reading Sean Rowe’s article “Gimme Subterranean Shelter,” (September 26) but I must clarify one or two things. My wife, three cats, and I lived in the bomb shelter on Hibiscus Street from April 1993 to June 1994, and…
Lead Stories *In Chicago transportation analyst Steve Lewins, using the stationery of his employer, the investment firm Gruntal & Company, said he had information on alleged federal government complicity in the crash of TWA Flight 800 and the explosion of the Challenger. He said he deals with death threats against…
Lead Stories *Singapore began a clean-lavatories campaign in August. Officials said the measure of a nation’s social progress is the cleanliness of its public restrooms and its appreciation of music. And in April, the government of Shanghai, China, opened several “hotel-grade” public restrooms, charging about two cents per visit, that…
Otherwise Kathy Thanks You I very much enjoyed Kathy Glasgow’s entertaining and informative story about the coterie of Cuban boxers who now call Miami their home (“Freedom Fighters,” September 19). It was another example of what makes this such an interesting city and what makes New Times such a valuable…
This past Sunday Rev. Cleo Albury, Jr., of the Bible Baptist Church in Liberty City, exhorted his congregation to believe in the power of prayer, and he used the parable of Daniel in the lion’s den as an illustration. Daniel, the pastor reminded everyone, was a servant of the Lord…
Info:Correction Date: September 26, 1996 Letters The Jean Rich Story, Getting Richer I would like to congratulate and personally thank New Times for having the courage to publish the article regarding my family name and Rich International Airways (RIA), a subject that appears to be taboo for the Miami Herald…
Lead Stories *The London insurance firm of Goodfellow Rebecca Ingrams Pearson announced in August it would offer policies covering people worried about alien abduction. A premium of $155 a year would pay off $160,000 to an abductee (provided the abductor was not from Earth) and double that if the insured…
Less Garbage In, Less Garbage Out Sean Rowe’s article “Why Recycle?” (September 5) was interesting. Instead of recycling, why don’t we place more emphasis on reducing the amount of rubbish we create? Purchase good-quality, long-lasting products and wear out everything we buy. Require building owners to properly maintain their structures…
Lead Stories *Coincidental middle names: Conan Wayne Hale, age twenty, a triple-homicide suspect who allegedly confessed to a priest in Portland, Oregon, has been fighting for three months now to have the confession ruled inadmissible in court on the grounds of freedom of religion. And escaped murderer Michael Wayne Thompson…
Lead Story *Hillsborough County, Florida, sheriff’s deputies charged Jeffrey Alan McLeod, age 29, with robbing a Chevron gas station in August. He was caught after a brief chase when his car ran out of gas. Said a sheriff’s spokesman: “When you’re going to rob a gas station, you’re supposed to…
A Smoldering Odio Should Never Be an Obedient Puppy I just finished reading Robert Andrew Powell’s article “Petty Cash” (August 22). Now, I know one cannot always believe everything one reads, but I also know that where there is smoke there is fire. I suspect that the facts behind the…
Lead Story *Three fishless bass-fishing tournaments were held last winter with anglers casting lines into indoor swimming pools and a computer determining whether the bait had struck water where a fish was. Dave Beuckman, publisher of a tournament fishing magazine, held the contests in Kansas City, Missouri; Louisville, Kentucky; and…
Lit Over What That Brit Twit Writ I haven’t read any of the books about Miami mentioned in Sean Rowe’s article “Paradise Found” (August 8), but it’s true the general public here resents outsiders making naive observations about the Miami scene. And so he raises many interesting points about British…
Next Tuesday, for the fourth time in their political careers, Maurice Ferre and Xavier Suarez will appear on the same ballot, their futures left to the fancy of an electorate that in the past has been both loving and cruel to each man. On three separate occasions — in 1983,…
Nothing about Arthur E. Teele, Jr., is simple. He is a black Republican. He is mercurial, Machiavellian, and manic. He is paranoid, but often with good reason. He is charming in person, but can be abusive toward his staff, and he once punched out a lobbyist. He is married, but…
Lead Stories *Willie King, age 37, was arrested moments after he had allegedly mugged a 94-year-old woman in a housecoat just outside her front door in New York’s Greenwich Village in July. He picked the wrong prey: The woman is the mother of Vincent “Chin” Gigante, reputed godfather of the…
Commissioner Bruce Kaplan: So Sincere It Hurts Joe Wilkins and his neighbors are the heroes of the Roads, and I truly regret the inconveniences they were subjected to at the ill-fated June 23 graffiti paint-out (“A Pigment of Their Imagination,” August 8). The foulups in that event as reported were…
Lead Stories *Abdala (“El Loco”) Bucaram was elected president of Ecuador in July, six years after he briefly moved to Panama to evade corruption charges. In the campaign, Bucaram reminded voters of his tenure as the rectitudinous police commissioner of Guayaquil in the Eighties, during which he sometimes jumped off…
In 1858, when Abraham Lincoln ran against Stephen Douglas for the United States Senate, a series of debates was held across the state of Illinois. Thousands attended the now-legendary affairs, and to accommodate the sizable crowds, the debates were often held outdoors with the candidates standing atop raised wooden platforms…
Where’s Henry When You Need Him? Jim DeFede’s “Good Enough for Political Work” (August 8) brought out a very important point: Where has Henry Marinello been hiding all these years while folks like James Marshall, Lee Arthur Lawrence, and the late Kevin Broils were trying to bring a better quality…
