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By Manuela Da Costa-Fernandes, Standard-Times staff writer
NEW BEDFORD -- Despite the rumbling skies and flashes of lightning, Paul Bertoldo said that God did not want it to rain on the parade.
Re-creating the good fortune that led to the tradition of the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament, the rains stopped as a mile of floats and cars lined Acushnet Avenue north from Princeton Street at Brooklawn Park.
"It's a miracle ... The sun is starting to take over," said feast committee president Mr. Bertoldo, dressed in a formal pin-stripe suit near the front of the parade.
Shaking off the grogginess of sleep, Joseph Cowen fumbled for the ringing telephone at 2:30 a.m. as a police officer on the other end of the line told him his Mazda 626 had been stolen.
The 13-year-old car was found severely damaged -- and the alleged thief arrested -- just hours after it was stolen. However, Mr. Cowen, 24, is still reeling financially from the theft and fears it could take months to recover.
"I didn't have insurance to cover it and I know I won't get any restitution from him," the Fall River man said.
By David Rising, Standard-Times staff writer
WAREHAM -- Just minutes from the hustle of Onset Village, Sunset Island juts into tranquil Sunset Cove, surrounded with beautiful beaches and salt marshes.
Summer cottages and year-round homes line the perimeter, each with a private waterfront area.
According to Massachusetts law and precedents, most homeowners own not only the beach directly behind their residences, but all the way to the low water mark.
Because of laws dating back to the early 1640's, however, anybody with a shellfish license can wander their beaches digging for quahogs, steamers, or other shellfish and not be fined for trespassing.
By Ric Oliveira, Standard-Times staff writer
FALL RIVER -- Come September, Jose Soares will fill out a ballot for the first time.
The 32-year-old immigrant from the Azores will be naturalized this month aboard the battleship USS Massachusetts. Then he will join the ranks of nearly 4,000 newly registered city voters, sworn in since last September's primary.
"That means a lot to me," Mr. Soares said. A Fall River "romeiro," he is a 6-foot-3-inch Portuguese pilgrim who walks from church to church every Lent in the name of peace.
NEW BEDFORD -- The City Council on Tuesday will consider filing a legal brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on a Fall River case aimed at prohibiting the suing of elected city officials as individuals.
The high court will hear the case of Janet Scott-Harris vs. the City of Fall River, in which former Mayor Daniel Bogan and former Councilor Marilyn Roderick were sued individually for the termination of Ms. Scott-Harris, a black city employee.
NEW BEDFORD -- As crowds lined Acushnet Avenue for the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament parade yesterday, a silent duel for mayor was played out between those clutching green Rosemary Tierney balloons reading "Muito Obrigado" and those cooling themselves with blue Frederick Kalisz fans.
Despite Mayor Tierney imploring to the crowd at the end of the parade that "we are all Portuguese today," few feast-goers were impressed with her rhetoric or three-year tenure as mayor.
FAIRHAVEN -- The attorney for the Katherine Ann, its owner and crew said he expects his clients will be fully exonerated of any wrongdoing in the loss of the 32-foot lobster boat off Martha's Vineyard on July 27.
In a press release on the vessel casualty, attorney Arnold Cestari Jr., representing owner Joseph Czapiga of Fall River, the Katherine Ann Fishing Industries Inc., and its employees, did not address the multiple bullet holes the Coast Guard said were found in the hull of the vessel.
Now the wait begins.
Again.
Last week in Boston, the issues surrounding both the need and justification for the Amendment 7 groundfish plan took center stage as lawyers for the federal government and the Associated Fisheries of Maine matched wits and arguments before a panel of judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals.
By Bridget McSweeney, Standard-Times staff writer
WESTPORT -- To have his name etched in granite near the place her son loved, the place where he lost his life, brought Marilyn DeJesus some comfort.
NEW BEDFORD -- The Coalition Against Poverty has received a $7,500 grant from the Haymarket People's Fund, a foundation that awards money to community organizations involved in civil rights and other social and political causes.
FALL RIVER -- The yellow and white tents flapping in the breeze behind the Marine Museum aren't a sign the circus is coming to town -- they indicate Fall River's prepping for its annual waterfront festival.
The 5-day festival, "Fall River Celebrates America," kicks off Wednesday, and is expected to draw 250,000 people.
Susan Pawlak-Seaman
OK, Wareham High School students. Ready. Set. Read!
If you haven't cracked a book thus far this summer, you'd better get going.
Fast.
That reminder comes from Jeff Hathaway, chairman of the language arts and social studies department at WHS. In case your brain has gone on vacation, Mr. Hathaway notes that Wareham is one of the SouthCoast schools with a mandatory summer reading program.
More...
By Laura Meckler, Associated Press writer
WASHINGTON -- The No. 2 Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said yesterday he would support going around Sen. Jesse Helms to convene a hearing for William Weld as ambassador to Mexico.
WASHINGTON -- The Teamsters union walked out of talks with the United Parcel Service late last night, calling them a waste of time, and predicted a midnight strike against the nation's largest package delivery operation.
"We have exhausted every possible approach to try to resolve the problem," declared Teamsters President Ron Carey. "At this point it's just a waste of time."
SAN FRANCISCO -- Andrew Cunanan's suicide halted one of the nation's most lurid cases of serial murder. But from New Jersey to Virginia to Texas, the slayings of as many as 30 gay men or transvestites, which activists believe are the work of five serial killers, remain unsolved.
In some cases, investigators have been hindered by lack of resources and, some allege, lack of interest.
By Gwen Ackerman, Associated Press writer
JERUSALEM -- On alert for more suicide bombings, Israel mounted a tough blockade on Palestinian areas yesterday and deployed soldiers, bomb squads and extra police in major cities. A Palestinian was shot dead near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
On edge after Wednesday's double suicide bombing that killed 15 people and wounded more than 150, citizens flooded police switchboards with calls Sunday. A TV anchor had urged viewers to report suspicious objects or people.
BOSTON -- Douglas State Forest's marbled salamanders, box turtles and copperhead snakes may be getting a new neighbor -- 35 acres of trash that could turn into a mountain 150 feet high.
NEWTON, Mass. -- The indictment of a Mount Ida College executive for stealing money from the school also has revealed lavish benefits and other payments given to the president of the non-profit school.
Bryan E. Carlson, a grandson of Mount Ida's founder, earns more than $139,000. Yet the college also pays the private-school tuition of his three children, covered his $33,000 annual grocery bill four years ago and paid him $575,000 for his house in Needham -- nearly a quarter of a million dollars more than its assessed value and seven times what he paid for it.
(Editor's note: This is the last column by Linda Lewis Griffith distributed by Scripps Howard News Service).
Do you use your loved ones as emotional trash cans?
Do you yell at them, belittle them or throw things at them when you are angry?
Do you feel that it's your right to express whatever emotions you are feeling, no matter how devastating they are for others to hear?
Do you regularly regret what you have said and done after your outbursts are over?
Two months after the Japanese "virtual pet" Tamagotchi appeared in U.S. stores, a Hong Kong company has introduced a competing toy that actually looks like a pet.
Cooltec's Pocket Puppy, the company promises, will "take virtual nurturing to a whole new level."
WORCESTER -- New Bedford Post 1 avoided a shutout on Kevin Abreu's pinch-hit, two-run homer in the ninth inning, but that couldn't stop New Bedford from dropping into the losers' bracket.
Matt Hannen put a muzzle on Post 1's bats with a six-hitter as East Side of Worcester tripped New Bedford, 4-2, in a second-round game in the state American Legion championship tournament last night at Tivnan Field.
By Sean McAdam, New England Sports Service
KANSAS CITY -- They can change the name, change the playing surface and change the dimensions, but it doesn't seem to matter. No matter what, the Red Sox can't change their luck here.
When Kansas City's ballpark was known as Royals Stadium, the Red Sox would see balls skip on the turf past their slow-footed outfielders, while the home team would run unchecked on the basepaths.
By Steven Krasner
New England Sports Service
SMITHFIELD -- Certainly, it was only a preseason game, and the very first one, at that.
But quarterback Drew Bledsoe, the focal point for the New England Patriots' offense, the man the coaching staff and the fans hope is capable of leading the team back to the Super Bowl, did not have an auspicious debut last Thursday.
NEW BEDFORD -- Tommy Richard held a potent Newton East lineup scoreless and teammate Jordan Roderick belted a grand slam to lead Whaling City to a convincing 10-0 victory and its third consecutive Whaling City All-Star Little League Tournament title before a large crowd yesterday at Brooklawn Park.
The host club rolled through the tournament field posting five consecutive wins to finish as undefeated champions.
By Doug Chapman, New England Sports Service
FOXBORO -- Just when it appeared that things could not possibly get any worse for the New England Revolution, they did.
The Revolution were coming off a stunning 4-3 double-overtime loss Friday night to the Division II A-League's Long Island Rough Riders in the U.S. Open Cup.
What's wrong with New England baseball fans?
Why are they so uninvolved with the teams they claim to love?
I've been asking this question ever since I moved here from Chicago, nearly 20 years ago. And at a Boston Red Sox game on the last homestand, it hit me all over again.
It wasn't just the guy sitting four rows ahead of me, who read USA Today throughout the game, till he left in the middle of the 8th inning. (Hey, genius -- three hours to read USA Today?)
By Sean McAdam, New England Sports Service
KANSAS CITY -- Reggie Jefferson was the sole source of offense for the Red Sox yesterday, belting two solo homers that accounted for all the Sox runs.
To Jefferson's way of thinking, it was about time. Until yesterday, he hadn't hit a homer since July 25, seven weeks ago. The two yesterday gave him 11 for the season.
By Hal Bock, Associated Press writer
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- The first time Tommy Lasorda saw Phil Niekro on the mound, he thought of an old baseball adage.
"They say you don't want to have a knuckleballer pitching for you or against you," Lasorda said.
That was Niekro's problem, too. It was the one pitch he had mastered from his father, growing up in the coal mine country of eastern Ohio. And not a lot of baseball people liked it very much.
Every time Israeli citizens are murdered by Palestinian terrorism, the world's leaders respond by spitting on their graves. They do it by blaming "enemies of the peace," as if the terrorists were entirely outside the responsibility and control of Yasir Arafat, anointed as the champion of peace. And they do it also by continuing to refuse to acknowledge and punish Arafat's failure to carry out commitments he has made, again and again. Those commitments might have defeated Palestinian terrorism and saved the lives of Israelis slaughtered in the latest carnage.
The late-night talk-show wars just heated up. Tonight, "The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show" and "Vibe" (both are syndicated -- check local listings for times and stations) go head-to-head with Jay Leno, David Letterman and Bill Maher.
Hosted by stand-up comedian Chris Spencer and produced by the legendary composer Quincy Jones, "Vibe" is loosely based on the monthly hip-hop music magazine of the same name.
Be still and know that I am God.
-- Psalm 46
In the stillness come words like, "If you build it, they will come."
But this is about another Field of Dreams where the mantra's pronouns change significantly: "If we build it, He will come." Instead of baseball fans, the guest is God.
By Bill McNamara, Standard-Times correspondent
"God bless Promise Keepers," says a New Bedford priest who has never attended a PK meeting -- a kind of spiritual sporting event with hugs and hymns instead of huddles and scrimmages. "They've opened our ears and eyes and even our hearts to an obvious need in our ministry. They have given us Catholics a wake-up call."
And that wake-up call -- a term that pops up repeatedly in PK territory -- is getting a bolt-from-the-blue response from the Catholic church in the Fall River-New Bedford diocese.
By David Briggs, Associated Press religion writer
On their first date, the woman he met through the dating service grabbed him, threw him down on the floor and "wanted to get right down to business."
Brent Little politely disentangled himself and left. But it wasn't easy -- even for a conservative Baptist pastor.
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