Homecoming: In honor of birth control

Loosely Speaking by Nancy Gaines

Bill Baird's coming back to the scene of the crime. Literally. The pioneering birth-control advocate was arrested 32 years ago for distributing contraceptives to Boston University students. In 1972, the case was settled in his favor by the US Supreme Court, one of the rulings that paved the way for Roe v. Wade. On March 20, Baird is hosting a celebration of the first annual National Right to Privacy Day at BU's Marsh Chapel -- where he feared he wouldn't be allowed if university officials realized what controversy he was commemorating. The ceremony will honor local lawyers, including Joe Balliro, who assisted in the case. Baird says he also hopes to attract press and activists involved in the original debate, such as celebrity photographer Peter Simon and Boston Globe writer Ed Siegel, who were student journalists then. Baird, 66 and still crusading, says his wife and children have left him, his office and files have been destroyed, and his life is under constant threat because of his pro-choice activism. Nonetheless, he says, it's time his groundbreaking case was honored. And where better than BU?

Wally's: City okays, family fights One of the town's hidden nightlife jewels, Wally's Café on Mass Ave, just received long-sought permission from city officials to expand to twice its size. But before the contractors get a chance to lay a hammer on the half-century-old South End club, it may be torn apart by a convoluted family fight. The dispute centers on the $1.2 million estate left by club owner Joseph "Wally" Walcott, who died a year ago at 101. His estranged wife, Madeline, is challenging a will made when he was 96; she claims that diminished capacity led him to leave everything to his daughter, Elynor Walcott, and her children. Elynor charges that Madeline deserted her father 10 years ago and is entitled to nothing more than the $224,000 Wally gave her to settle their differences. Elynor questions whether Madeline -- who was seeking a divorce when Wally died -- was even legally Wally's wife then. Further complicating the issue is a trust made by Wally before he married Madeline, which could supersede any subsequent will. And if that weren't enough, the estate may also be subject to a claim, now being investigated, by the grandchild of a dead woman who said she was Wally's daughter. Club proprietor Frank Poindexter, Elynor's son, says he hopes to move ahead with the expansion plans, but it's unlikely that he'd have the wherewithal until the estate is settled. Long a landmark venue, albeit an unpretentious one, for black musicians and singers when their fans weren't welcome in the city's other jazz clubs, Wally's in recent decades has become popular with patrons of all colors and ages, attracted by the funky live music in the cramped quarters. Its frequent overcrowding led to a crackdown by city officials several years ago, prompting the plans to expand into a vacant building next door. The city's zoning board granted the necessary variance last month. But it seems the legal wrangling blocking the way to construction has only just begun.

Peter Principle, part deux

Are the New England Patriots approaching another hazardous grapple with the morality of employing a very good football player who might not be a very good person? As the upcoming draft shakes out, the best running back likely to be available to the Pats is Cecil "The Diesel" Collins, who was kicked out of LSU last year after allegedly breaking into a girl's house and sexually assaulting her, according to ESPN. He then played briefly for McNeese State in Baton Rouge, but left under murky circumstances. As Pats fans -- if there are any left -- may recall, it was the 1996 fiasco over lineman Christian Peter, whose sexual-assault record prompted the Pats to drop him right after they drafted him, that helped persuade Bill Parcells to go elsewhere. And basically got our football team where it is now. Homeless.

Coming to dinner?

When Ben Affleck and Maura Tierney come back to town (they're costarring in Forces of Nature, due out next week), you can't help but wonder if they'll get their folks together. Affleck's mother, a diehard Cambridge liberal, and Tierney's father, a former Boston City Council president best known for his pro-busing stance, might well personify the movie's title all by themselves. . . .

Back on track

When word came down in January that the manufacturers of the new Amtrak high-speed "tilt" trains had, in fact, outdone themselves -- building the cars with a tilt factor too wide to be safe on existing tracks -- critics sniffed at what seemed like just another predictable US transportation bungle. But as the trains were unveiled this week in New York, officials promised that the uproar was all about nothing. Yes, the trains were wider, but not too wide. They would still be able to travel between Boston and Washington in under six hours, they would still begin service this fall, and, lo, they would stay on the rails.

On the menu

Seth Greenberg and Pat Lyons soon won't be the only local nightclub impresarios in the restaurant business: Christophe Muller, of Roxy and Joy, will open Caprice, a French/Mediterranean restaurant and lounge, April 7 in the Tremont Windham Hotel on Tremont Street, opposite the Wang Center. Muller and partner Manos Linoxilakis have hired Mike Moran, former general manager of Mercury Bar, to run Caprice.