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Published: Apr 7, 2009

The Office of Curtis Jones Jr.

L-R: Judge Paula Patrick, Aaron Edwards, Chiffon Hicks, Councilman Curtis Jones Jr.

Last week, a visitor to Curtis Jones' City Hall office was told that the councilman was temporarily indisposed.

"He's doing a wedding," said Chief of Staff Al Spivey Jr.

Sure enough, a burst of applause followed, and the councilman emerged from his back room, looking cheerful. Behind him, a small group of family and friends celebrated the marriage of Aaron Edwards, 30, and Chiffon Hicks, 24.

The groom looked particularly happy as the family snapped pictures and shared a bottle of sparkling grape juice. He explained how he wound up getting married in the councilman's office.

"Our [court] date had got mixed up," he said. "And we didn't have no money to get married in a church. ... So I called up Curtis."

Jones didn't actually marry the couple — "I just facilitated," he said — but he did fish around the building to find Judge Paula Patrick (who is running, she mentioned, for Superior Court).

It was Jones' third wedding. Some time ago, says legislative director Shoshana Bricklin, the councilman came across a distressed young couple outside his office, which is right down the hall from the room where the city distributes marriage licenses.

The couple, for whatever reason, had been unable to get married. So Jones jumped in, finding a judge and having the ceremony performed in his office. Then he did it again. And again.

Isaiah Thompson

The playground at Norris Square Park

A dozen or so children were briefly diverted from their play on Saturday when a police car pulled up to two teenagers sitting in the Norris Square Park playground. The teenagers calmly stood and placed their hands against the car as two officers searched them and then put them in the back seat. It was a stop and frisk.

Maybe 10 minutes went by. One officer worked the computer while the other chatted with the gaggle of children that had surrounded him to ask questions about the incident.

Finally, the teenagers were released and the police drove off. One of the young men left the park; the other hung around for a few minutes. 

Did this happen to him often? "All the time," he said, not sounding particularly upset. "I gotta get the fuck out of this park." But instead of leaving directly, he ambled over to a trash can, reached inside and pulled out a crumpled bag.

"Gotta get my money first," he explained, stuffing the bag down his pants before walking away.

—Isaiah Thompson

Councilman Darrell Clarke proposed a measure last Thursday to remove a longstanding exemption for "legitimate theater" from the city's 5 percent amusement tax. Reached by phone, Clarke was himself amused by the designation."Yeah, I noticed that, too," he chuckled. "What is 'illegitimate theater'?" In any case, cash-strapped local theater companies that had enjoyed the "legitimate" designation are gravely — legitimately? — concerned.

 A typical visitor to City Hall enters, waits in line, then fills out a sheet with the date, time, name, destination and purpose of his visit.

Last Thursday, under the column for "destination," a visitor whose name was illegible had written "Council." Under "purpose of visit" he or she wrote, "Outrage."

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