Lead Stories
Municipal Crises
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An official in New Zealand proposed in September that the historic Maori name of Te Hupenui be restored to the village currently known as Greytown, even though Te Hupenui roughly translates as “the big snot.” And the San Jose Mercury News reported in May that Don Wolfe, mayor of Saratoga, California, was seeking to change the local perception that the city’s name (derived from the Iroquois) means “floating scum on the water.” Wolfe said it really means “hillside country of the great river.”
In Winnipeg, Manitoba, an unidentified boy complained in May about the city’s ban on street corner squeegeeing: “What would they rather I do–be squeegeeing or breaking into your house, stealing your stuff, and raping your kids?”
Lowana Adie, manager of the Salvation Army thrift shop in Trail, British Columbia, gave away all her merchandise in June because, she said, an angel told her to. In September of last year Deborah Wilson had less luck replacing tobacco and alcohol products with gospel tapes at her convenience store in San Pablo, California, in an effort to please God. She was out of business by January. Said Wilson, “I just figured [that] if people loved God, they would support me financially and buy other things.”
Recurring Themes
