Posted on 01/06/2005 1:09:30 AM PST by Askel5
| Galatoire's evening turns violent Doctor seriously hurt; tourist is charged A well-known doctor and art collector suffered a fractured skull and brain damage Sunday night after a lighthearted evening at Galatoire's turned suddenly and mysteriously ugly. |
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
| Galatoire's diner recalls 'awful display' Battery suspect, party blasé after retired doctor is injured As chilling as anything, in the opinion of one witness, was that after allegedly shoving an elderly radiologist onto the sidewalk outside Galatoire's and fracturing his skull, the young Texan sauntered back inside the restaurant and calmly settled down with dinner companions to complete his meal. Even after police arrested him and he sat in handcuffs in the restaurant foyer, Anthony Creme, 28, of Dallas seemed merely bored by the inconvenience, the witness said. He didn't have any look of concern on his face," said Marc Goodman, a computer security engineer from Virginia who came forward Wednesday with details of the bizarre incident. "I would have thought I'd see fear or a 'What have I done!' look. But it was a look of 'Let's just get this over with.' " Goodman said that as far as he could tell, the alleged assault was provoked by nothing more than Dr. Russell Albright, 69, tossing a mint onto Creme's table, a common interaction at the Bourbon Street restaurant where well-heeled regulars table-hop and socialize, sometimes winging Carnival throws from table to table. .... Shortly before 8 p.m., as Goodman, his girlfriend and her mother enjoyed the party atmosphere and rich food, Goodman said he observed a "grandfatherly" man walk by and toss a mint in the direction of a young man seated at one of the linen-covered tables. "I didn't even think twice about it," Goodman said by phone Wednesday. "Then a few minutes later the man was lying in the gutter on Bourbon Street." Albright on Wednesday was said to be unconscious and in intensive care at Charity Hospital. ..."We thought he died, frankly," Goodman said. "I didn't see one person in his (Creme's) party look upset. It was an awful display ... (Creme) went right back and sat at the table and continued to eat." After Creme was taken to jail, most of the people he was dining with returned to their table and continued to eat and drink... "There were members of his entourage still having a good time" ...Most if not all of the men were in jeans and wore dinner jackets provided by the restaurant in compliance with its dress code, he said. Later ...Goodman ...and his girlfriend went to Harrah's New Orleans Casino and as they approached a casino bar for a drink, they saw the same members of Creme's dinner party. "We stood there for about 20 seconds looking at their faces," Goodman said. "They were hanging out at the bar and having a good time." Back home in Virginia, Goodman said he and his family can't forget what happened to Albright. "We were so shocked and concerned for this gentleman's welfare," he said. "My family and I are praying for this fellow." Goodman said he was hoping to savor happy memories of his evening at Galatoire's. "My father passed away two days before Christmas," Goodman said. "He loved New Orleans, and when he found out I was going to New Orleans, he said, 'You've got to go to Galatoire's.' " |
Sickening.
But such is the price one pays during the up-is-down, black-is-white, "Merry Christmas" is "F&ck You" age of the Abolition of Man.
I am confused by this story. Was the old doc gay and picking up on the younger man?
"Did you enjoy a good zot?"
How appropriate was that first flash for this thread. I wish it would stick for good measure. A far better "comment" than mine, even.
Thank you for that Compassionate Conservative reply.
It would be way too nice to just insult such people. A few years in Angola is going to do great things for Creme's attitude problem (he's going to get tuned-up in ways he never imagined). As for his friends, a week or two in downtown New Orleans lock-up might be just the thing.
So, what you're saying is that Ann Coulter(ism) fueled Texas sociopaths who beat an old man, and this is an indication of the end of man?
Merry Christmas.
So......Albright's gesture was really a "f&ck you," and the incensed attacker was hip to the tactics of someone named Coulter (Coulter who?). That is about as clear as mud.
Come back later when your grieving stops affecting your coherence, and try again so we can all understand. And best wishes for your friend's recovery.
(And you are aware that most Texans are not thugs, aren't you?)
That's just it.
I expect something like this from the hopeless, hate-filled, impulse-driven creatures the projects turn out with horrific consistency.
But having always been proud of being a Texan by birth, I didn't expect it from some 'merican tourist dining at Galatoire's.
I am praying Dr. Albright pulls through. You notice that he's at Charity? It's not only closest, it's got one of the best trauma teams in the nation ... because they get so much practice, day in and day out.
By the grace of God, this young man will not be responsible for murder. I can only hope whatever punishment he does merit will get through to him in a manner that leaving Dr. Albright with a cracked skull on the pavement clearly did not.
On what it was like to spend Christmas in New York - "Oh, it was so much fun this year, because saying ‘Merry Christmas’ is like saying ‘F... you!’ I’ve said it to everyone. You know, cab drivers, passing people on the street, whatever. And they come up with the ‘Happy holidays.’ ‘Merry Christmas,’ I mean, it really is an aggressive act in New York."
Oh please don't kill me if I so much as suggest it was the New York Observer who kindly edited the aggressive Ms. Coulter's candid comments so they might be printed without compounding the essential offensiveness of her thought with profanity.
I realize all Texans aren't thugs. Just as I realize this young man's mindset, his impulsive actions and his blase reaction to his own brutality is only all-too common across the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave these days.
I'm not clear on why this old guy picked a fight with somebody by throwing a mint at him?
=== Merry Christmas.
(Kewl ... I'm here to vouch for your being the first to officially Clymerize traditional Christmas greetings as an act of aggression encouraged by Ms. Coulter.)
My point remains that we have reached a point where festive and friendly gestures are now viewed as (if not purposefully used as) aggression somehow.
Again, I appreciate your showing just how quickly Men Without Chests cotton to this sort of thing.
So far all you have illustrated is that someone misinterpreted a friendly gesture as picking a fight, and criminally overreacted. Everything else, including your undue pessimism about your fellow Americans, is a leap. You need to find peace from within, my friend. Again, prayers and best wishes to Dr. Albright.
Yea, I can tell you are really proud of yourself.
It's possible most 'mericans won't understand at all the sort of festive atmosphere common to Galatoire's or any eatery habited by locals. If you read the entire articles, you learn that table hopping and winging of carnival throws and such is common ... particularly on a weekend like Sugar Bowl.
This incident is just a modern reminder of why the Creoles excluded uncouth Yankees from traditional celebrations whose gaiety and tradition and intimacy were not appreciated in the first place by the Bigger-is-Better sorts whose carnival parades had their genesis in a break-in of a hardware store and drunken parade of farm implements over in Mobile.
Again, I'm here as someone who actually knows the man. The ideas he was picking a fight or hitting on this young man are so ludicrous as to be nauseating.
=== Everything else, including your undue pessimism about your fellow Americans, is a leap
I wish I could think that, Larry. I really do. I understand that folks say things on forums like this that they probably don't mean.
But to read day in and day out some of the comments -- from cavalier to truly hateful -- about nuking North Korea or laying waste to subhuman Muslims takes its toll.
A nation that rationalizes the use of Potential Non-People for human research, who steps-to at the mention of anti-Semitism against Jews while reveling in the Anti-Semitism against Muslims and which prefers always the Zot to the sort of engagement and respect which is the ONLY way to persuade another to your point of view is not poised to be turning out model citizens.
Granted, this story hits home bigtime. Not only because it's Dr. Albright or because I'm from Texas but because of that Shrug of the Shoulders by ME when I heard the news from my brother-in-law.
As with many on this forum, I have hardened my heart with Kill Ratios and assorted rationalizations such that I'm truly surprised I haven't joined those who take a resigned approach to abortion and simply hope to "reduce" them among those who "should" be having kids. (Like Ann Coulter. =)
You know well I could take 15 minutes and flood this thread with examples of what I'm talking about. You're just going to have to forgive me if -- in the process of acknowledging my own faults in this regard -- I find this story a tragic but crystal clear example of the direction we're headed.
Seriously ... I'm almost sorry I happened upon the Coulter story earlier. She's not my favorite person in the first place but her use of Merry Christmas as a purposefully aggressive action truly turned my stomach.
I too made a point to say "Merry Christmas" this year instead of the Happy Holidays to which I'd grown accustomed. But I did so as part of trying to convey the real joy and Hope that is inherent in that Glad Tiding. I loved seeing folks' faces light up a bit several times.
It's diabolical to twist it. There's been quite enough of the up-is-down, wrong-is-right, black-is-white bit ongoing already. And there's no doubt the constant drumbeat against predatory homosexuals of the Catholic Church (if not truly despicable political animals like Craig Spence who squired teenage tricks through the White House after midnight) has cause folks like Cali-Guy to presume the worst about this art-dealer, House&Garden retired radiologist.
A few years ago, the Usual Suspects tried to make out the Red-Staters as rubes compared to the Blue-Staters. They performed these "drop a pencil" tests on city streets to see which townfolk vs. Big City folk would offer to help or pick up the pencil.
As they had predicted ("science" being a rigged game to prove one's personal interpretations these days ...), far more of the Mayberry ilk were helpful whereas the Big Apple sorts walked on by.
But I think their conclusions were flawed. As one who's spent a great deal of time among the sharps who habit the streets of New Orleans, I am possibly more attuned to a Shell Game than someone from Mayberry. I think those who walk the streets of New York likewise are attuned.
That's the primary reason I think Ann Coulter's conclusions are flawed. I think folks in New York, of all places ... regardless how liberal they may be or how cognizant they are of the fact Jews and those of other faiths or no faith make up a far larger portion of the population ... sense her aggression and see her for what she is when she uses "Merry Christmas" as a "F... you."
That's why I react so strongly to her being a model of sorts for the kind of conservatives -- particularly here, where I've met and read and been educated by so many fine folks -- is troubling.
I seriously doubt this young man was a FReeper or even a FReeper sort of person. But it's possible that many of the threads posted herein could result in his being unduly suspicious of those he thinks are gay or those he thinks are seeking to offend or belittle him with a smile on their face and a mint tossed on the table like some Carnival throw.
=== Again, prayers and best wishes to Dr. Albright.
He has mine as well. Thank you, Larry.
(Sorry that last got so longwinded.)
The Soul Withers, Doesn't It ... On Raising (never touching) the Bottom Line in a Material World
"What sort of common thugs is Texas turning out these days?"
Tragic story.......but from what you say of your neighborhood, I'd say they're turning out the same sorts that haunt the five block radius around your house. Umm.........have you considered moving, for your own safety??
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