#365 Family Politics

#365 Family Politics

This is a true story, and you can prove it because it comes from the Associated Press, and they would never, ever lie. It happened in a place called Collegeville, Pennsylvania, which is pretty near Norristown, which is pretty near Philadelphia. You probably never heard of the place. Most people haven't. And you probably never have heard of its architectural claim to fame, and one of its best features, which is the Twistee Treat Restaurant. Well, it's not exactly a restaurant. It's a 30 foot-tall ice cream cone made of fiberglass, in which they sell regular size ice cream cones that look like the building.

It's a great place to hang out. Imagine spending your leisure time inside a 30-foot tall fiberglass ice cream cone. There are a lot worse places of a similar nature (and one better one, the giant Long Island Duck.)

You probably never have heard of its worst feature, either. That's the Passion Cousins, Jose Ortiz and Sean Shurelds, a couple of guys in their 20s who have more than a passing interest in politics. Jose is a registered Republican, so maybe the argument the other night never should have happened. But it did. And it was about the candidates for the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

See, even though he's a Republican, Jose has an opinion on the Democratic vote. A VERY strong opinion. He wants Hillary Clinton to win the primary. And he wants it so badly, that when he and Sean got into a bit of a Big Discussion about the race, Jose, say the cops, got a little carried away. What he did, they said, was to haul out a knife and stab cousin Sean in the gut. Nothing like a Republican getting all lathered up about a Democratic primary. Sean isn't saying much of anything right now. The hospital has rules about that. But if you were in the house at the time, you'd know that Sean supports Barak Obama.

Pretty good chance cousin Sean will recover and still will be for Obama. Pretty good chance Jose is on his way to jail, and may or may not be re-thinking his politics.

Don't be getting all misty-eyed about the stabbing victim just yet. He wasn't exactly sitting there minding his business and goading his hot headed cousin on by calmly saying good things about Obama. As a matter of fact, there might be a bit of a self defense defense in the works, in that the police say before the stabbing victim was a stabbing victim, he tried to choke the guy holding the knife.

Neither of these guys will be hanging out at the Twistee Treat any time soon. But you can bet the locals who amble on down for an ice cream -- not the best choice of outdoor food in the middle of winter, but who can resist that sudden urge for a Twisty Treat -- will have plenty to say between bites.

I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own, but you're welcome to them.®
©WJR 2008