Will McDonough's selective memory

by Nancy Gaines

In his unabashed cheerleading for a new Fenway Park that would be paid for partly by taxpayer money, Boston Globe columnist Will McDonough pushes the argument that the Red Sox do plenty for the city and have never asked for anything in return. Well, perhaps they just never asked for anything McDonough supported.

In 1981, according to former Boston city councilor Fred Langone, the city building department was about to condemn Fenway's grandstand because the foundation was crumbling. In order to fix it, the team would have had to float a private loan at about 15 percent interest. Instead, Langone persuaded city officials to give the Sox a $19 million economic-development loan at three percent, since repaid, that financed repairs plus new seats and boxes, allowing additional revenue for the team.

But not before some politicians cried foul, saying public money shouldn't be spent on the Sox. Added to the chorus of naysayers was, you guessed it, the Globe's Will McDonough.

Congratulations, you're a wanted woman Just after woman-about-towns Abby Hirsch was touted as the bride of the week in the New York Times' cute Sunday Styles section write-up, she returned to her home on Martha's Vineyard to find that a warrant had been issued for her arrest. Hirsch, described in the Times' May 16 story as a woman who "loves smoking, socializing, big-game hunting, and publicity," owns the Vineyard's 1720 House, which she manages when she isn't at home on Central Park West in New York or visiting her husband of one month, Paul Weinstein, described by the Times as "a lobbyist and overall bon vivant," who lives in Paris. Last winter, a former employee of Hirsch's at the 1720 guesthouse filed a criminal complaint alleging that Hirsch had not paid her. After several communications between the parties, court documents show, Hirsch was summoned to an arraignment on May 14 -- six days after her wedding at the Americas Society on Park Avenue in New York, where the Times quoted the bride as saying, "My favorite thing in the world has always been to say to a taxi driver, 'Take me to the airport, and step on it!' " When Hirsch did not appear at the arraignment, a warrant for her arrest was issued. Two days after the Times story ran, Hirsch's lawyer contacted the court. The case was continued to May 20, when the charges were dropped. The bride, described at her nuptial moment by the Times as "talkative, big-boned, and outlandish," had no comment.

Silverglate on FIRE for free speech

In the eight months since his book documenting excesses on campus in the name of political correctness was published, local civil-liberties lawyer and Phoenix contributor Harvey Silverglate has been inundated by more examples of "people put upon by universities." As a result, Silverglate and co-author Alan Charles Kors have established a foundation to research and provide legal aid for "meritorious" cases similar to those exposed in The Shadow University. Silverglate says he expects to begin soliciting donations this week for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, abbreviated FIRE "because I couldn't find a way to acronym 'brimstone.' "

Another one who does it with his eyes closed

Following in the fine Bill Weldian tradition of failing to provide a stellar example of constitutional fortitude at a commencement address (remember when Weld, suffering, it was said, from the flu, tumbled at the Tufts podium?), Paul Cellucci gave the graduation address at Curry College this year, then sat back down in the front row and proceeded to give a boffo performance of someone sound asleep while the diplomas were awarded. There are no numbers on how many students snored their way through the governor's speech.

Natalie under the gun? Having fun? Or what?

Speculation was rife about why Natalie Jacobson really announced last week that she wanted four months off to spend more time with her family -- including the theory that she meant exactly what she said. But some insiders suspected that Jacobson's long-held resistance to the format changes and glam upgrades that other stations, including other Hearst stations, have made might have culminated in a rift with management. The station denies that this is the case. But WCVB general manager Paul La Camera's saying that he was "disappointed" she was leaving "was not exactly a complete vote of confidence," said one tea-leaf reader. Jacobson appeared to have won all the battles over modernizations, recommended by consultants, that she derided -- "at least through May," said another broadcaster. But in the latest ratings results, Jacobson's Channel 5 clung to a narrow lead over rival WHDH at 6 p.m. and was significantly behind at 11.

Editor's note: speaking of sabbaticals, "Loosely" is taking one for the summer while author Nancy Gaines tends to other duties in the Phoenix Media Communications Group.