Free Republic

On the afternoon of April 5, after giving three lessons at his alma mater, Kenton Ridge High School, 22-year-old Eric Barga drove to Covenant Presbyterian Church for practices of the bell choir and arrived half an hour early, at about 6 p.m. Although the temperature was in the mid-50s, after years spent in claustrophobic practice rooms while working toward his degree from the exclusive New England Conservatory in Boston, Barga pulled the custom-made Fox 610 red maple bassoon out of its case, sat on the trunk of his car in the refreshing air and began playing scales. “There was a...

I try to be a good neighbor and get in the spirit of things in the neighborhood. At Christmas, I put up some lights on the front of the house. The really smart neighbor lady at Church kept talking about her "crèche". I didn't want to appear any more ignorant than I am (and some people say they don't think that's possible) so I didn't ask her what a crèche is. Using my superior talents of deduction, I figured that crèche was French for "creek". I like to be a part of the conversation, so I told her that we...

WRKO suspended talk-show host John DePetro yesterday for using a slur for "homosexual" in reference to Turnpike Authority chairman Matthew J. Amorello. The morning host, who calls himself "The Independent Man," was suspended for two days after using the epithet on the air during a discussion of Amorello's conduct following the ceiling collapse of the I-90 connector. DePetro called Amorello "[expletive] Matt," adding, "I don't mean gay [expletive]. I mean like he's a sissy boy. He's a little sissy boy." Neither DePetro nor Amorello returned calls late yesterday, but WRKO program director Jason Wolfe said the station has "zero tolerance...