BY HARRY RING
Barefoot and pregnant - Declaring "God intended the home to
be the center of a mother's world," the First Baptist Church of
Berryville, Arkansas, shut down its day care center. The
closure announcement also noted that in Titus 2:5, women are
instructed to be "good and obedient to their own husbands."
Ultimate fraud - The feds are eye-balling Medicare payments for hospice care. To get into a hospice, a doctor must certify that you'll be dead in six months. But, the feds charge, some patients are living longer than that. Jean Dennis, president of the California State Hospice Assn., concedes some do, but adds: "At least 50 percent of hospice patients across the country die within three weeks after being admitted. The average length of stay is about a month."
Obsessive or pace-setter? - In a class-action suit, Washington state Taco Bell was found guilty of swindling its workers. Managers ran hourly computer checks to ensure that wage/sales relations met Taco Bell standards. Workers were forced to wait for restaurants to get busy before clocking in, and to work unpaid overtime. A news report said a lawyer for the workers saw the Pepsi subsidiary as "creating a corporate culture focused excessively on profits."
Megadose - The Pentagon sees a need to escalate such "noncombat" operations as a "peacekeeping," "drug interdiction" and "humanitarian aid." A report said this is necessary to ensure the U.S. status as the unrivaled world superpower. An official tagged it "full spectrum dominance."
But not to worry - Scotland's Environmental Protection Agency has cut the maximum storage time for imported atomic waste. The agency ruled that waste brought into Scotland for recycling must be returned to the country of origin in ten years, not the present 25.
Should be included with the meal - In Portland, Oregon, Adam McMakin, 13, was suspended from school for a week after a guard saw him swig and swallow some Scope mouthwash. McMakin, who didn't know it contained 18.9% alcohol, said he rinsed to shake the taste of the school lunch and swallowed it because there was no place to spit.
Also after lunch? - In Bremmerton, Washington, 15 students were suspended for passing around Alka Seltzer tablets.
Check it out - We assumed you have to be loaded to buy an island. (A 363-acre spot in the Bahamas, minimum asking price $3.5 million.) But we didn't realize you can rent them. F'rinstance, the owners of one Caribbean retreat rent it out - in season, $11,000 a night, out-of-season, $8,200.
A gig for Nero? - The London office of Price Waterhouse, the big-time accounting firm, is planning its millennium bash and, reportedly has plunked down a 300,000 deposit for champagne slated to mature in '99.
Helping hand - In the wake of Hurricane Andrew, Florida spent $600 million in relief funds. We don't know how much went to actual victims, but the Miami Herald pointed to some of the beneficiaries. Like, Fort Lauderdale received $106,312, mostly for the parking tickets it didn't write in the aftermath of the storm.