Antics of the month: an argument, a battery–and no one can remember what the fight was about.
Stories from “This is True” by Randy Cassingham, with his “taglines:”
“SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS: A South Elgin, Ill., man is accused of hitting another man in the face with a glass while the two argued about whose school was better. According to police, the men, who met for the first time that night, were arguing when Kevin M. Page, 36, threw a bar stool into the bar, then grabbed a beer glass and hit the other man in the face with it. The victim suffered only minor scrapes. Page was charged with felony aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, felony aggravated battery in a public place, and criminal damage to property. Police didn’t know which schools were the subject of the argument. (JW/Daily Herald) …And the schools involved hope word never gets out.”
“IT’LL COME TO ME: Two drunk men got into a knife fight in Monroe County, Penn. Karl William Brown, 36, allegedly stabbed his friend [with a steak knife] after the two had been drinking heavily at another friend’s house. Brown left the house after the incident, but later he remembered enough to call police and confess to the assault. The victim, James Barbagallo, was treated at the hospital and released with non life-threatening injuries. Brown was charged with felony aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and simple assault, and was held on $50,000 bail. What was the fight about? Both men say they can’t remember. (JW/Lehigh Valley Express-Times) …The reason for the stabbing is obvious: Brown was just testing to see if Barbagallo was ‘done’.”
Very often, both participants to a dispute have alcoholism—a disease that causes the afflicted person to act badly, some of the time. Misbehaviors take many forms, one of which is violence, especially after a heated argument, often over nothing important. It’s unimportant because the crux of the issue is who is right, regardless of the triviality of the subject. It doesn’t get much more trivial than which school is better, but I suppose an argument over something that neither party can remember takes the cake.
(Stories and taglines from “This is True,” copyright 2011 by Randy Cassingham, used with permission. If you haven’t already subscribed to his newsletter—the free one at least, or the paid one I get, with more than twice the stories—I highly recommend it: www.ThisIsTrue.com.)
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