Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/32854
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD Tonya McDowell, 33, an off-and-on homeless person in Bridgeport, Conn., was arrested in April by police in nearby Norwalk and charged with felony theft — of $15,686 worth of “services” from the city. McDowell’s crime was enrolling her 6-year- old son in Norwalk’s Brookside Elementary School when she actually “resided” (as much as a sporadically “homeless” person can “reside”) in Bridgeport. McDowell has also “resided” at times in a Norwalk shelter, but was crashing at a friend’s apartment in Bridgeport when she registered her son. The head of the Norwalk Board of Education acknowledged that the usual consequence for an unqualified student is merely dismissal from school. [Stamford Advocate, 4-16-2011] The Continuing Crisis In March, jurors in New Orleans convicted Isaiah Doyle of a 2005 murder and were listening to evidence in the penalty phase of the trial when Doyle decided to take the witness stand (as defendants sometimes do in a desperate attempt to avoid the death penalty). However, Doyle said to the jurors, “If I had an AK-47, I’d kill every last one of y’all with no remorse.” (The jury recommended the needle.) [WWL-TV (New Orleans), 3-25-2011] The Montana House of Representatives passed a tough drunk-driving bill in March to combat the state’s high DUI rate, but it came over the objection of Rep. Alan Hale (and later, Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy). Hale, who owns a bar in Basin, Mont., complained that tough DUI laws “are destroying small businesses” and “destroying a way of life that has been in Montana for years and years.” (Until 2005, drinking while driving was common and legal outside of towns as long as the driver wasn’t drunk.) Furthermore, Hale said, people need to drive home after they drink. “(T)hey are not going to hitchhike.” Sen. Windy Boy said such laws put the legislature on “the path of criminalizing everyone in Montana.” [Billings Gazette-AP, 4-1-2011] Why Unions Are Unpopular: The police officers’ union in Scranton, Pa., filed a state unfair labor practice complaint in April against Chief Dan Duffy because he arrested a man whom he caught violating a warrant and possessing marijuana. According to the union contract, only union members can “apprehend and arrest” lawbreakers, and since the chief is “management,” he should have called an officer to make the arrest. The union president suggested that, with layoffs threatened, the chief doesn’t need to be taking work away from officers. [Times- Tribune (Scranton), 4-19-2011] Conventional academic wisdom is that the death penalty is not an effective deterrent to homicide, but according to accused murderer Dmitry Smirnov, it deterred him from killing Ms. Jitka Vesel in Oak Brook, Ill. — until March, that is, when Illinois’ death penalty was repealed. Prosecutors said Smirnov, from Surrey, British Columbia, told them he decided to come to Illinois and kill Vesel (in cold blood, over an online relationship gone bad) only after learning through Internet research that the state no longer had capital punishment. [Chicago Sun-Times, 4-15-2011] COPYRIGHT 2010 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY ARIES (March 21-April 19) You don’t have to be great to sell your work. You just have to do something that others want. Popularity and fi nancial success go hand in hand. But this week you may discover that fi nancial success is not your ultimate goal. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) You prefer to talk and behave in the ways you are used to — it’s comfortable. But you’re also willing to try new phrases and mannerisms and hang out with different people. Your experimental mood will allow you to sample many perspectives. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) You’ll have a posi- tive experience with someone, which makes you think you like the person a great deal. Maybe you do. Or maybe it’s more about what you are doing than with whom you are doing it and it all gets mixed into the same happy feeling. CANCER (June 22-July 22) Understanding the needs of another takes time and attention. It also helps to have an attitude of non-judgment and the ability to resist jumping to conclusions. You will gain comprehensive knowledge of another person’s needs and will know how to meet them. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) There are those who mistake you for another, through no fault of your own. Their history makes them see you in a particular way and attribute qualities to you that you may not possess. Your job is to gently educate these misguided souls by acting as your most authentic self. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) There will be friendly invaders who shake up your personal system of law and order. The disruption is just what you needed to get the excitement and creative energy fl owing through your world again. However, it is still a bit unsettling. You’ll be making adjustments as you go. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) You will tell the future for a friend. Your objectivity allows you to readily see where things are headed. When it comes to your own scene, you are usually too wrapped up in it to know what is around the bend. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21)You may get the looming feeling that you’re aimlessly drifting. Mostly this is due to low energy in general. You probably need more sleep or are cranky because you’ve been working so hard. You can rest and relax your way into an improved headspace. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) You know how much to reveal about yourself and what to hold back. Pat yourself on the back for this and a hundred other things about yourself that you take for granted. When you stop and think about it — and you should — you’re pretty awesome. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You could spend hours learning about how to accom- plish a task without ever getting the practical experience necessary to actually do the job. So when faced with the choice between a textbook, which can only give you theoretical knowledge, and hands-on experience, choose the latter and you’ll succeed. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) You’re funny and humble; it’s true. You’re also being watched by people who can promote you and help you get where you want to go in life. That’s why self-deprecating humor can hurt you these days. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) You will be in a position to decipher a message. Keep in mind that this is probably a very simple or even primitive message, so don’t over-think it. Use your powers of empathy — one of your super- strengths. By Holiday Mathis ADVICE GODDESS When You Wish Upon a Ringo Starr I’m 25, a singer in a band, and extremely motivated to make a career out of my music. In fact, I’m moving to LA this week for that purpose. I’ve been casually dating — speed- ily dumping men who’ve gotten attached (not my fault, I make my intentions super- clear). I should be packing now, but I’m a mess. Last week, I got beyond wasted with our drummer, and we slept together. He’s a guy I always knew I could fall for, but since relationships aren’t my priority and he had a girlfriend until recently, I never gave him much thought. The morning after, he gave me a quick platonic hug and made it pretty clear he had no interest in anything more. Now, despite my total career focus, I’m having these weird thoughts — like, if he asked me to stay and be with him, I probably would. I don’t even believe in marriage, but if he proposed now, there’s a good chance I’d say yes! Have I lost my mind? — Unnerved While it must seem like aliens came down and swapped out your brain for Mrs. Cleaver’s, it’s possible that the culprit is the release, during sex, of oxytocin, a hormone nicknamed “the hug drug” and “the cuddle chemical.” In Why Women Have Sex, psychologists Cindy Meston and David Buss explain, “Oxytocin release has been associated with emotional bonding and might explain why some women experience an intense feeling of connectedness with their partners following orgasm.” (“The biochemistry of attachment made me do it!”) This might explain why it’s hard for many women to have casual sex. In men, testosterone slaps down the oxytocin, making it easier for them to roll over and be on to the next. But, in a study by psychologist John Townsend, even women with every intention of humping and dumping some guy tended to end up feeling all cuddlywuddly and vulnerable in the morning. But, wait! That isn’t you. In fact, you’ve left a trail of broken men in your wake. (“Sorry, boys, but they don’t call her Lady Gaga because she was hanging around her hometown making googly eyes at a string of aspiring Sir Gagas.”) How does a cool customer like you Amy Alkon go from wanting to hop the fast track to a Grammy to the fast track to becoming somebody’s grammy? Well, for starters, this guy wasn’t some groupie you could fl ick off like a bug. He was your bandmate, your equal, and a guy you “always knew you could fall for.” And maybe you had fallen for him but shoved your crush behind some amp somewhere because you were leaving and he had a girlfriend. Now, with big scary life changes looming, maybe it’s tempting to fi nd a reason to stay where you are. You need to decide who’s the boss here — your ambition or your feelings. It can’t be a democracy. One of them has to be queen. If making it in music is still what you want, just pull yourself up by your bra straps and be that person you were before you rolled the drummer — probably the last person who’d remix “Go west!” into “Or…maybe I’ll just go nest.” Amy Alkon, all rights reserved. JUNE 1-7, 2011 UCW 23