Even when I was with Ernst and Young, a Big Six firm at the time, we didn't travel so lavishly. We were always cognizant of our clients and our need to watch expenses, which were part of the contracts. Maybe I can get a job with the district and live as lavishly on others' money too.
Ed Mesco
Lauderhill
Suck his billfold dry: Holy shit! Gotta run... now where did I put that tax bill? And where's my damn wallet? Great work.
Tom Lassiter
Via the Internet
Next week: a response from the coppers: Regarding Courtney Hambright's February 26 Night Court, "Adrift in Translation," Ms. Hambright mentioned the infamous raid at Lumonics. To set the record straight, the person who was arrested for selling GHB was arrested in a parking lot, but it was not at Lumonics. We have seen the arrest report, which was also faxed to your paper and every other in South Florida, and if you studied it, you would see that the person with the GHB was arrested at a Bennigan's Restaurant parking lot, about two miles from Lumonics, at 5 p.m., several hours before we even opened that night.
Another person was arrested in Pembroke Pines that same afternoon and accused of selling one tablet of Ecstasy at a Lumonics event a month prior to the raid. It was all lumped into the arrest report to make it look like a large drug raid and to imply that two people were arrested at Lumonics. (The arrest report made no mention of other people arrested.) Also, there were 120 people inside at the time, not the 200 that the arrest report stated, and certainly not 400 people in the parking lot, as the article reported. Hope this clarifies the record. Other than that, we enjoyed the article, written with Ms. Hambright's distinct sense of humor!
Barry Raphael
Fort Lauderdale
These ladies pack a punch: I read with interest Courtney Hambright's January 8 story ("G-Strings at the Boardwalk") on the state of strip clubs in Fort Lauderdale. I also saw the letter written by Jay Bartlett and Adam Benz in the February 19 issue that came to her defense.
Like Courtney, we are straight women who like to occasionally see the opposite sex dancing in a club. On Saturday night, we went to Dudes, a gay bar in Fort Lauderdale off of A1A. We were told upon paying our cover that we were not "allowed" to go into the strip-bar side, although in the past, this side had been open to women. On the door was a logo saying, "Men Dancing for Men." I questioned the doorman as to how this could be ethical, considering it was not a private club. He said that he couldn't go into La Bare, so why should we be given access to Dudes? Three years ago, I met several friends in Key West who had flown in from out of state and wanted to go to a new stripper bar there called Dudes. They left ahead of me, and when I arrived, I was told I could not go in because the strip bar was for "Gay Men Only." Because of this, I was unable to join my friends inside. I never went to Key West again after this insult.
To straight women who have marched in support of gay rights, Saturday night at Dudes was a slap in the face. Now we, who had always supported the gay community with loving arms, were being told to go elsewhere. We could not party with our neighbors and friends in the gay community. We were being forced to go to a place where we would know no one. When we left, I told the doorman I would be looking into this; the manager, who was by his side, said, "Do what you have to do."
Ruth Puzo and River Roberts
Fort Lauderdale
A polyglot perversion: I can't resist commenting on two letters that were published February 19. Does Wil Trower really think he is president/CEO of a private kingdom instead of a tax-supported institution? His response to a reporter's invasion of his palace is incredibly arrogant. This guy should be deposed.
At first glance, I thought Phyllis Klym put up a good defense of her favorite French restaurant, Chez Laurent. After all, she's been to France, and she teaches French, so she should know! But she blew it with her final comment. Dommage is masculine-gendered, and it should be quel dommage, not quelle dommage! She may know duck, but she don't know French.
Paul M. Pare
Fort Lauderdale
