The outrage continues

Around 2 a.m. on Sunday, September 19, a horde of more than 20 young, white males descended upon four men near Mathewson and Chapel streets. One of the four targets was wearing leather, which led the mob to believe that the smaller group of men were gay. As one of the assailants yelled out "faggots!" the larger group rushed across the street to beat and kick the objects of their wrath. One of the victims went to the hospital with a cracked rib, while another had a fearsome number of bruises on his face. The beating was so violent, one of the victims told P&J, that he thought he was going to be killed.

This is yet another in a series of attacks on gay men (or men perceived to be gay) that have occurred in downtown Providence in the past couple of years. Does someone have to die -- do we have to have our own Matthew Shepard here -- before this issue is seriously addressed?

So far, the only media coverage of this incident was a Providence police log item in the September 22 BeloJo that did not indicate the hate crime element of this attack. To his credit, Mayor Bud-I, appearing on last week's Deadly Experiment on Channel 36, cited the assault as a gay-bashing. This indicates that he is aware of the nature of the attack, and we hope that he intends to seriously address the issue of gay-bashing in the downtown area.

Your superior correspondents spoke last week with Noah Schwartz, one of the victims of this vicious assault, and some of the information he gave the police (and subsequently shared with us) may lead to some much-needed action. The attackers were described as college-age men. A number of them were wearing T-shirts, hats and other regalia with Johnson & Wales logos on them. In addition, after the attack, they ran from the scene toward a Johnson & Wales dormitory. Although the culpability for the assault remains in question, this information suggests that some, if not all, of those involved may be Johnson & Wales students. If you have any information, please contact the Providence police.

Schwartz described the response so far by the Providence police as exemplary. That, coupled with the mayor's televised comments, leads us to believe that the city intends to at least make an attempt to deal with this situation. We implore city officials to investigate quickly and thoroughly. We insist that Johnson & Wales University do the same. At press time, P&J were not able to reach college officials for comment. The evidence suggests J&W has a duty to launch their own inquiry and get to the bottom of this.

The persistence of violent hate crimes in the city undermines all the work that has been done to make Providence a shining jewel. These kinds of attacks must not continue.

The Bud-I watch

Could it be that the pressure of the Plunder Dome investigation is causing a few stress cracks in Hizzoner's stainless jacket or is it just the day-to-day inanities of dealing with the querulous media? Despite his outward "What, me worry" demeanor, the Bud-I's been showing a few flashes of his legendary temper lately.

Last week, during a phone interview with (what can most charitably described as a poorly prepared) Boston-based reporter from WBUR-FM (broadcast locally on WRNI-AM, Vo Dilun's public radio station), the mayor ended up abruptly hanging up on the interviewer. Of course, this could have been since the reporter asked some mighty dumb questions -- which the mayor handled with ease, by the way -- and steadily insinuated that he's a crook.

Sunday morning's Truman Taylor Show on Channel 6, revealed a feisty Bud-I going ballistic on Truman's co-host, the Other Paper's Bob Whitcomb. The mayor took particular -- and justifiable -- umbrage at the Urinal's front page airing of a rumor that he was planning to resign. Cianci also rapped a critical commentary on the Gravity Games by BeloJo op-ed writer Froma Harrop. In the Harrop broadside, she referred to the Gravity Games, which gridlocked a chunk of downtown for more than a week, as the "Meatball Games" -- a reference the mayor interpreted as an ethnic slur.

And then, during a Splendor of Florence event at the Federal Reserve, observers reported a brief encounter between the Bud-I and RI Monthly society scribe (and mother of former Mayor Joseph Paolino) Bea Temkin. We were told that the Bud-I flew off the handle at the impertinence of not being included in all of the photographs that Ms. Temkin's photographer was taking at the event.

P&J's interpretation? Whether or not jacket stains are ever revealed, Plunder Dome is really getting under the mayor's notoriously thin skin. Stay tuned.

The best and brightest

Geez, we let all the good ones get away.

P&J are referring to the recent problems that some former state officials and candidates for statewide office faced in the past week over those pesky little things called laws.

First, we have Dr. Barbara DeBuono, former director of the Biggest Little's Department of Health, who left Little Rhody to become New York state's health commissioner, before moving on to her present high-salaried post as CEO of Presbyterian Healthcare Network. Out in Albany, New York, DeBuono was pinched for shoplifting $8.66 in goat cheese, hot dog buns, bagels, carrots and dip. (Please don't cook tonight, honey -- let's go out to eat again, OK?) While the Urinal recalled some of the more memorable events that marked her tenure here at DoH, they somehow forgot to mention some of Babs' (sniff, sniff) alleged personal involvement (sniff, sniff) in drug testing initiatives (sniff, sniff), which saw her leave local employ with a bit of a snow cloud over her head.

Next up, Maureen Marcello McKenna, who ran unsuccessfully for general treasurer in 1992, losing to our old friend Nancy Mayer, in one of the most vicious cat fights seen since Roger Corman stopped directing movies. McKenna got popped by the National Association of Securities Dealers for hanky-panky with at least $86,000 from five of her customers' life insurance policies. The NASD also pulled her professional traders' license and told her to pay restitution, which may take a while if McKenna is out of work. But based on her previous political campaigns, we remain sure that she can bring a special brand of eloquence to saying, "Would you like fries with that?"

Just think: we could have had a RISDIC scandal followed by a general treasurer with a possible hankering for getting her fingers in the till. What were you voters thinking in voting for Mayer, after all?

And don't forget . . .

This Saturday afternoon, October 2, marks the third annual A Day Without the Pentagon demonstration and rally, beginning at 6 p.m. There will be a march in downtown Prov, from La Salle Square to Kennedy Plaza, featuring the world-renowned Bread & Puppet Theatre. At the plaza, there will be speakers, music, theatrical presentations, and Jorge will emcee. If you're a bit discomfited by the US government's priority of spending more than $1 billion a day, while communities around the nation are crying out for increased financial support, you'll want to check this out. For more information, call Greg Gerritt from the R.I. Mobilization for Peace and Justice Committee at 331-0529.

Stick to what you know

Salman Rushdie is one hell of a novelist, but he really put his foot in it lately when he tried to write about English football (aka soccer) in the New Yorker, recounting what it's like to be a fan of London's Tottenham Hotspur.

First, he mistakenly said that Spurs' legendary player and manager, Bill Nicholson, was a Scotsman, when, in fact, he was from Scarborough. This sort of mistake is not minor in this sport; the England-Scotland rivalry led former England manager Sir Alf Ramsay, a contemporary of Nicholson's, to respond to a Scottish sportswriter's greeting -- before a big international match -- of "Welcome to Scotland," by saying, "You must be fucking joking."

Rushdie also makes the mistake of saying that Manchester United's deified and knighted manager Sir Matt Busby was killed in the 1958 Munich plane crash that was perhaps the worst sporting tragedy in England's history. Busby's spot in the English

football pantheon is due to the fact he led United to the 1968 European Cup title, still alive and kicking a decade later.

Phillipe and Jorge don't know what's worse: Rushdie's ignorance or the failings of the vaunted fact checkers at the New Yorker. "Football? We thought you said fatwah!"

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