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Gabrielle Giffords Leads Democrats In Pledge Of Allegiance
CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Former Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, grievously wounded in a January 2011 assassination attempt, led Democrats in the Pledge of Allegiance on Thursday as they opened the final day of their political convention.
Giffords walked uneasily onstage, relying on Democratic National Committee Chair—and close friend—Debbie Wasserman Schultz for support, as the crowd chanted “Gabby! Gabby!” Her appearance onstage at Time Warner Cable Arena brought cheering Democrats to their feet for a standing ovation.
As she led the crowd in the pledge in a strong voice, Giffords held her right hand over her heart with her left. She won more cheers when she blew a kiss to the crowd. Cameras showed delegates weeping as they clapped.
Even as the two women disappeared backstage, the crowd began chanting “fired up, ready to go.”
Copyright © 2012 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
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Lunch Lady Faces $600 Fine For Feeding Needy Children In Pennsylvania
By Rene Lynch
August 17, 2012, 1:10 p.m.
Video Link: Lunch Lady Fined For Feeding Hungry Children
Lunch lady Angela Prattis thought she was just doing God’s work, handing out free lunches to hungry children in a Pennsylvania neighborhood. But even acts of altruism, it seems, must bow to red tape.
National outrage has erupted after Prattis found herself running afoul of Chester Township zoning laws and threatened with a $600 fine if she continued, according to NBC10 Philadelphia.
Moreover, she faces a $1,000 fee if she wants to continue performing her good deeds, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The lunch lady, who is also a youth pastor at her church, was told that she needed a township zoning permit continue to hand out lunches outside her home. And the approval process requires an official hearing. And that hearing would cost her $1,000, the Inquirer reported.
It was enough to raise questions about whether Prattis could continue her work. She is a married mother of three and also a trained volunteer with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Nutritional Development Services, which supplies the food she gives out, according to the Inquirer.
The food is paid for by the state, according to the Inquirer, which also reported that program representatives had inspected and approved Prattis’ operation.
The stalemate has prompted an outpouring of support. So far, several in the community offered to cover the $1,000 bill. She has received dozens of calls from others offering to do whatever is needed to keep the lunch lady on the job, and a law firm has also offered to represent her for free.
Prattis told the Inquirer that she’s grateful for the offers but has not taken any money yet because she’s still hoping authorities will waive the fee.
The Inquirer said it spoke to the township’s acting solicitor, Murray Eckell, who acknowledged that the incident is giving local government a black eye. But he said the township is in a difficult position.
“Suppose a child gets hurt on her property,” Eckell was quoted as saying. “Will the family sue the township? What if somebody gets food poisoning?
“What she is doing is commendable…. But if we don’t have laws, there’s chaos. It’s a difficult situation for the township to be in.”
NBC10 says Prattis plans to attend the next township meeting in a bid to clear up the controversy, but until then she plans to continue feeding children.
The Chester Township manager did not return a phone call seeking comment by the time this article was posted online.
New York Couple, 85, To Remarry 48 Years After Divorce
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — They got hitched while still in their teens, divorced 20 years and four children later, and are getting remarried after nearly a half-century apart.
For Lena Henderson and Roland Davis, both 85 years old, the second time around is finally here. The couple plans to get married again on Saturday, with four generations on hand to see it happen.
“It’s every child’s dream, every child who has ever been in a family where divorce has occurred, that your parents would come back together,” their youngest daughter, Renita Chadwick, said Tuesday as wedding preparations were in full swing.
“We are all so ridiculously excited. We’re like little children again,” said Chadwick, herself a grandmother.
Henderson and Davis met as teenagers in Chattanooga, Tenn., and were married by a justice of the peace. There was no reception or honeymoon.
“Oh no,” Henderson recalled with a laugh. “He went to work and I went home.” Davis was a hotel bellhop at the time, about to begin a career in the military.
This time around, a church wedding is planned, at Elim Christian Fellowship Church in Buffalo, followed by a reception at an Amherst restaurant.
Still no honeymoon trip, though.
“I’m just happy that we’re here,” said Davis, who recently moved to suburban Buffalo from Colorado, where he was living alone following the death of his second wife in January. Henderson also was widowed after re-marrying.
Davis proposed to Henderson over the phone around Easter and she accepted, even though they hadn’t seen each other since a family funeral in 1996. Before that, the two hadn’t been face-to-face since splitting up in 1964, though they had stayed in touch and kept up with each other’s lives through the children.
Their oldest daughter, Johnnie Mae Funderbirk, had been urging her father to return to New York since his wife’s death.
Davis was receptive, especially to the idea of reconnecting with Henderson.
“I had always kind of had that in mind, mostly because of the children,” he said. “You never forget someone that you cared for at one time or another.”
Henderson and Davis both said it was “nice” to see one another again, this time as an engaged couple.
The children are less reserved.
“I’m as excited as some 9-year-old whose parents are getting back together,” Funderbirk said, “and I’m 65 years old.”
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.