-- Rene Sanchez
Baseball Team Benches Workers Over Gay Joke
Announcer Greg Maiuro of the Atlantic City Surf, a minor league baseball team, just couldn't help himself. He heard the familiar beat of "YMCA," the unofficial gay anthem, flooding the stadium and he wanted to make a dedication.
This one, he said, goes out to New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey (D), who had just days before had revealed that he is gay. Big mistake.
The next day Atlantic City Surf officials fired Maiuro. But that wasn't the end of it. The following night the same song -- "YMCA" -- played, and scoreboard operator Marco Cerino posted this message on the big board: "Sponsored by Gov. Jim McGreevey." Cerino resigned the next day.
Fortunately for both men, however, the New Jersey governor has a sense of humor. He phoned the league's director and asked him to give the men back their jobs. Owner Frank Bolton agreed, saying, "I'm a firm believer in second chances."
-- Michelle Garcia
Rewards for Students Is One for the Books
Pavlov himself might have trouble untangling the stimulus-response conundrum being unleashed on elementary school students in Broward and Palm Beach counties, two of the most populous areas in Florida.
At times, the tykes are getting advice from a national foundation touting wholesome foods -- all those vegetables and nuts -- as a way to be healthy and strong. Then, the kids are hearing another message: Get an A, get a doughnut -- a Krispy Kreme doughnut, to be exact.
The Krispy Kreme promotion, which awards as many as six doughnuts per student in grades kindergarten through sixth, rankled a school board member whose own battle with calories has been a lifetime struggle. Palm Beach School Board member Debra L. Robinson, who has described herself as a "victim of food as reward," is criticizing the giveaway, saying it sends the wrong message to impressionable youngsters.
She came up with a novel alternative, even though she's almost certain that she does not have the stroke to stop the doughnuts-for-grades offer.
"I would rather have them giving away books than doughnuts," she said.
While Robinson was grousing about Krispy Kreme, an even more powerful force was passing judgment on the hot doughnut phenomenon: The company's sales have been stung by low-carb diets that frown on fried dough, and its stock, once a Wall Street darling, was plummeting.
-- Manuel Roig-Franzia
