2 months after riots, all is almost well in London

London riots (Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images)

By June Sawyers, Special to Tribune Newspapers

2:17 p.m. CDT, September 27, 2011

LONDON — The headlines were shocking, the images sickening. The widespread rioting, looting and arson in early August here and in several other English cities recalled the work of two 20th century novels, William Golding's "Lord of the Flies" and Anthony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange," come very much to full-blown, 21st century life.

Now, nearly two months later, those disturbing events seem long ago. After recently spending three days and nights in London walking its streets and taking the tube, the capital seems to have returned to normal.

And yet the aftereffects are still evident. News reports on the riots were frequent: an 11-year-old boy who participated in the rioting was sentenced to an 18-month sentence for looting; a headline, "Stash of weapons seized by police," flashed quickly across the Jumbotron screen at King's Cross railway station; Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg visited London's Tottenham neighborhood, where the riots began. Inquiries were being conducted into the origins of the riots even as London's wild-haired mayor, Boris Johnson, warned that rioters should not be "abandoned" by the system but rather "rehabilitated."

The media reports served as background chatter for those who wished to listen. It was just as easy to ignore them altogether. The buses and trains ran as usual, the iconic London taxicabs weaved in and out of clogged traffic, patrons packed into the Duchess Theatre on a weekday night to see American comedian Ruby Wax's hilarious show "Losing It"; bartenders served up pints of beer and ale; and tourists read dog-eared copies of "London A to Z" outside city-center hotels.

Unless prompted, no one seemed to want to discuss current events. When asked his response, Adam Ford, an Anglican priest and author of "The Art of Mindful Walking," referred to the riots as "an aberration." Indeed, to the unsuspecting eye the only obvious evidence that something terrible occurred was the jarring sight of two police officers on the street near Kensington Palace carrying automatic weapons.

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'L Word' actress reprimanded on plane for kissing girlfriend; escorted off after cursing

It was cursing — not kissing — that got a lesbian actress and her girlfriend escorted off a plane as it sat at a Texas airport, Southwest Airlines said Tuesday.

The airline said the couple became profane after being reprimanded for what actress Leisha Hailey characterized as "one modest kiss."

Hailey immediately used her Twitter account to accuse the airline of discrimination and call for a boycott.

Hailey is best known for playing Alice Pieszecki in the now defunct Showtime lesbian life drama "The L-Word."

The incident cast a national media spotlight on the actress, who is now part of the electro-pop duo Uh Huh Her.

Halley's publicist Libby Coffey said the encounter was real and was "absolutely not" done as a publicity stunt for her band's upcoming breast cancer awareness tour.

Hailey and partner Camila Grey also denied in a statement Tuesday that the affection they showed toward each other was inappropriate.

"We want to make it clear we were not making out or creating any kind of spectacle of ourselves, it was one modest kiss," the written statement said. "We are responsible adult women who walk through the world with dignity. We were simply being affectionate like any normal couple."

The airline responded that Hailey's display of affection was excessive and drew customer complaints, and that the women cursed after being reprimanded.

"Additional reports from our employees and customers onboard Flight 2274 during a stop in El Paso on Sunday now confirm profane language was being used loudly by two passengers," the airline said. "Although we have reports of what customers characterize as an excessive public display of affection, ultimately their aggressive reaction led to their removal from the aircraft."

Hailey and Grey acknowledged that they became upset after the flight attendant reprimanded them and told them Southwest is a family airline.

"We take full responsibility for getting verbally upset with the flight attendant," their statement said. "No matter how quietly homophobia is whispered, it doesn't make it any less loud."

Hailey and Gray said they plan to file a formal complaint with the airline.

Details of how the couple was escorted off the flight were not included in the Southwest statement. Initial reports had the flight going from Baltimore to St. Louis, but a tweet by the band says its members were flying from El Paso, Texas, to Los Angeles, which the airline confirmed.

Hailey said in a tweet that she has an audio and video recording of the encounter between the couple and the flight attendant. It's not immediately clear who made it. Coffey did not respond to an email requesting access to the recordings.

Hailey also demanded a public apology and a refund from the airline. The airline said it had reached out to all passengers involved to offer refunds.

Southwest's website says it is the official airline of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Herndon Graddick, GLAAD's senior director of programs, said companies must train employees to welcome all customers.

"Just like all couples, Leisha Hailey and Camila Grey should be able to express affection in public," Graddick said. "The widespread outrage around Leisha's report demonstrates that fair-minded Americans will no longer stand for discrimination of gay and lesbian couples."

Earlier this month, the Dallas-based airline kicked off Green Day's lead man Billie Joe Armstrong for wearing his pants too low. The Grammy winner was escorted off a plane after failing to follow a flight attendant's directive to pull up the pants.

Southwest also removed director Kevin Smith from a flight last year because he didn't fit properly in a single seat. His first tweet read, "Dear (at)SouthwestAir I know I'm fat, but was (the) captain (...) really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated?"

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Airline won't refund ticket after passenger dies

Q: I recently bought a pair of tickets through Expedia for my husband and myself. We planned to visit Germany this fall as part of a retirement trip. Shortly after that, my husband passed away very suddenly.

I contacted Expedia about a refund, but was advised to get in touch with our airline, Lufthansa, directly. Lufthansa told me my husband's ticket was nonrefundable. I asked if they would resell his seat, since he couldn't make the flight, and they admitted they would. When I said that it appeared that Lufthansa would profit from the death of my husband, they admitted that that was the case. This really offended me. I tried to send an email to Lufthansa's president, but they have turned me down. What would you advise? -- Ursula Maul, Wynnewood, Pa.

A: My condolences on your loss. Most airlines refund tickets -- even nonrefundable ones -- when a passenger dies. What's more, it's highly unusual for a representative to "admit" that the airline will profit from the death of a passenger. Maybe the representative you reached was having a bad day. I certainly hope so.

I'm concerned about your online travel agency's role in this debacle. Why did Expedia hand you off to Lufthansa in your hour of need? One of the reasons you do business with an online travel agency is that they are trusted intermediaries in case something goes wrong with your flight. If they simply sent you to the airline when you needed help, then why not book a ticket directly with Lufthansa the next time, cutting out the middleman?

I might have started the refund process by sending a brief, polite email to Expedia, explaining that you wanted a refund for your husband's ticket. It may have still referred you to the airline, but at least you would have given it a chance to do what it promises it will do, which is to take care of you.

I would have stayed off the phone, too. These days, the odds of you getting put through to an outsourced, overseas call center, where someone is just trying to process your complaint quickly, is too high. Your case required special attention, which neither your agency nor your airline seemed willing to give you.

You had the right idea with the email to Lufthansa's president. I might have started a little lower on the corporate food chain. I list the names of the managers on my customer-service wiki, On Your Side at (http://onyoursi.de/). If Expedia was unable to help you, then a polite email with your husband's death certificate should have worked.

I contacted Lufthansa on your behalf. It apologized for the "inaccurate" response to your request and agreed to refund your husband's ticket.

Christopher Elliott is the author of "Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals" (Wiley). He's also the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine and the co-founder of the Consumer Travel Alliance, a nonprofit organization that advocates for travelers. Read more tips on his blog, elliott.org or e-mail him at chris@elliott.org. Christopher Elliott receives a great deal of reader mail, and though he answers them as quickly as possible, your story may not be published for several months because of a backlog of cases.

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Fame, infamy of killer bull named 'Mouse' spreads in Spain after fatal goring of runner

SUECA, Spain — With more than 3,000 fans cheering, a hulking, black-and-white fighting bull named "Mouse" chased one daredevil runner after another, trying to flip them airborne and skewer them as he did a month ago in a fatal goring that enshrined his reputation as Spain's most feared and famous beast.

Mouse was greeted in the southeastern farm town of Sueca like a rock star: Everyone stood up at 2 a.m. Sunday in the bull ring's grandstands as he charged across the sand after loudspeakers introduced him with the eerie strains of the soundtrack to "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly," the 1960s spaghetti western starring a youngClint Eastwood.

The 550-kilogram (1,213-pound) bull didn't claim any more victims this time, but tried his hardest to gore runners. And he captured intense media coverage in what could be his last appearance before retirement amid the controversy he has generated about Spain's summertime tradition of bull versus human runs, a pastime that plays out in rings, narrow streets and plazas across the nation.

After running with Mouse, a breathless Julian Herroja said the bull is so dangerous that "if you make a mistake, he won't. You'll be a victim for sure."

More than 30 journalists were on hand to cover the event in Sueca, population 28,000, near the beach destination of Valencia. Though Mouse will make one more appearance before the end of his season this year, he will run around the ring without runners.

Mouse's owner now fends off as many as 60 cell phone calls daily from reporters.Facebook pages dedicated to him include comments from some people praising him for taking revenge against humans in a country where slews of bulls are slain every year in bullfights by matadors.

But Gregorio de Jesus is angry that Mouse has been nicknamed "Killer Bull," saying he gets blame for doing what comes naturally: Defending himself against perceived threats.

"We go to entertain people so they'll have fun, but unfortunately they are fighting bulls, and there is always a percentage of risk," said de Jesus, 42, a former bull fighter who raises 70 specially bred bulls and 300 cows.

The hype about Mouse has grown so much in Spain that de Jesus is forced to deny reports that the 11-year-old Mouse has killed as many as five runners during his career. But in addition to the 29-year-old victim Aug. 14 in the town of Xativa, he killed a 56-year-old man in 2006 and has seriously injured five more people over the years.

Mouse got his name because no one ever expected him to turn into such a raging bull, de Jesus said. As a calf, he was tormented by several youths who broke into his pen and exhausted him almost to death. Then he was nearly fatally gored by another bull at de Jesus' ranch.

Critics and bull run aficionados alike agree that security is lax at many small town bull runs, meaning almost anyone can participate — even if they're drunk, have taken drugs or aren't physically fit enough to sprint away from enraged bulls. Sueca's mayor beefed up security Sunday, and the extra contingent of police took away some suspected drunks during Mouse's run.

After the bull's last deadly goring, Valencia's regional government announced plans to study how police can be given more authority to detain runners who shouldn't be in the ring, while stressing that the overall number of bull run injuries in the region where they run dropped to 486 in 2010 from 676 in 2008.

Hector Benet, an insurance agent for the bull run industry, said the number of deaths each year in the region averages four, with dozens of serious injuries annually. While bulls in the runs aren't killed or bloodied like their counterparts in bullfights, animal rights groups say the events are a form of animal torture, with bulls terrified by the hundreds of people who taunt the animals by yelling at them, poking them with long sticks and tossing sand from the plaza at them.

"Mouse is the proof that the bull runs are barbaric and medieval," said Leonardo Anselmi of PROU, the animal rights group whose signature-collecting campaign led to a bullfighting ban in Catalonia, which neighbors Valencia. "It's excessive and cruel violence. The culprits are the politicians who allow the bull runs."

But after Catalonia banned bullfighting, politicians there put in protections for other bull-related traditions, including "correbous" — when metal rods with flaming balls of wax or fireworks are attached to bulls' horns before they are let loose to run around bull rings or plazas and chase people.

It's all part of Spain's centuries-old fascination with bulls, with animals used in public as a test of bravery and part of the national identity. Spaniards also run with bulls in northern Pamplona every year, spear them to death from horseback in a town called Tordesillas and cordon off town squares to let children dodge feisty calves bred to become top-fighter bulls.

Sueca's mayor, Salvador Campillo, was torn on whether to let Mouse perform in his small city after this year's fatal goring by the bull. In the end, he decided to go ahead because he's a bull run fan.

"Raton is a bull that gives a great show, he never stops," Campillo said with a smile.

The town's annual end of summer party also features an international paella cooking competition in place since 1961. The contest attracted chefs this year from top restaurants from Spain and France, plus one from Chicago.

Campillo said de Jesus told him that the Sueca event would be Mouse's last real run before retirement, but de Jesus insisted he won't decide until next year whether Mouse will be put to pasture to breed "some little Mouses" with a chance of inheriting the bull's agility, aggression, intelligence and speed.

Mouse's eventual retirement will probably prove lucrative for his owner, Campillo said, because cow owners who want mating privileges with the bull may have to pay as much as euro3,000 ($4,145) for each use of his services.

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Plenty of fun to be had after snowbirds clear out

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Many of the waterfront mansions are shuttered for the season, and there are few yachts at the private docks along the Intracoastal. The theater season doesn't start until late October, concerts and art exhibits at the Society for the Four Arts are on hiatus until November, and the walking tours of Worth Avenue won't start again until late November.

But that doesn't mean there's not a weekend getaway's worth of music, art, bicycling, shopping, sightseeing, antiquing and dining in Palm Beach and across the Intracoastal in West Palm Beach.

And for those who crave la dolce vita but don't want to spend high-season rates of more than $500 a night at the city's luxury hotels, some of those same hotels are offering rooms at less than $200 in late summer and early fall. Some have special deals in their restaurants and spas as well.

Tempted? Here are 10 things you can do in the two cities connected by the Royal Park Bridge.

—Art After Dark. In one room, a painter is demonstrating a few watercolor techniques. In the atrium around the corner, magicians are entertaining the crowd with tricks. In the next room, another artist is demonstrating how to draw comic-book heroes, and in the auditorium, Spock and Darth Vader are arguing over which is better: "Star Wars" or "Star Trek."

People — adults and kids, too — are wandering through galleries, looking at exhibits. (Kids especially like "Out of This World: Extraordinary Costumes from Film and Television," an exhibit of costumes from science fiction movies and TV shows, that runs through Sept. 4).

It's Thursday night, time for the Norton Museum of Art's weekly Art After Dark program, which brings art and artists together with the public in a more casual environment that includes live music, food and cocktails.

The program is from 5 to 9 p.m. every Thursday at the Norton, 1451 S. Olive Ave., 561-832-5196, http://www.norton.org. Admission $12 for adults, $5 for ages 13 to 21. The Norton will be closed Sept. 12-30 to reinstall its galleries of European and American art; Art After Dark resumes on Oct. 6.

—Go antiquing. Antique Row along South Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach has more than 30 shops. Although business slows in the summer, the shops stay open and their owners refresh their stock. Traffic this time of year is mostly year-round residents, says Ray Hawkins of Hawkins Antiques. Late in the year, snowbirds send their designers ahead to shop for an antique breakfront or a giltwood mirror — or a whole roomful of antiques.

"The thing that attracts a lot of attention is there are 30 or 40 shops and very few shops are empty," Hawkins says. He's especially pleased that Cedric DuPont Antiques, known in part for its celebrity clients, moved in February from downtown to Antique Row, where it's drawing new shoppers to the neighborhood.

Other than Cedric DuPont, most of the shops don't stand out, and a passerby not looking for antique shops might not notice that he's on Antique Row. South Dixie Highway between Southern Boulevard and Belvedere Road; http://westpalmbeachantiques.com/.

—Stop and smell the flowers. Literally.

Mounts Botanical Garden in West Palm Beach has 14 acres of gardens: the butterfly garden, the rose garden, herb and vegetables gardens, a display of succulents, exotic trees, tropical fruits and more, plus some lovely sculptures. Chairs and benches are scattered throughout the grounds. There's even a gazebo where visitors can take shelter during sudden summer storms if the Garden Shop with its large collection of books isn't within a quick sprint.

559 N. Military Trail, West Palm Beach; 561-233-1757; http://www.mounts.org. Open Monday through Saturday, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday, noon-4 p.m. Admission: suggested donation of $5.

—Sample a celebrity chef's cuisine. At Cafe Boulud, James Beard award winner Daniel Boulud's restaurant at the Brazilian Court, the "Summer Sizzles" three-course prix fixe menu is $20.11 for lunch weekdays, $35 for dinner Sunday through Thursday. For the lunch first course, a diner might choose from Golden Beet Borscht with Smoked Trout Rillette, Mesclun Salad with Poached Laughing Bird Shrimp, and Crispy Lamb Ribs with Minted Yogurt. On the a la carte lunch menu, by comparison, first courses run $12 to $20. 301 Australian Ave., Palm Beach; 561-655-6060; http://www.thebraziliancourt.com/cafe-boulud/.

Over at the Omphoy Ocean Resort, where local celeb chef Michelle Bernstein has an eponymous restaurant, there's a summer special of a three-course prix fixe dinner for $35 Sundays through Thursdays. 2842 S. Ocean Blvd., Palm Beach; 561-540-6444; http://www.omphoy.com.

—Revisit the Cold War. On Peanut Island, at the mouth of the Lake Worth Inlet not far from the former Kennedy estate at Palm Beach, are a bunker and command center built for President John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The bunker is 25 feet underground and includes a radio room and decontamination chamber as well as living quarters. After Kennedy's assassination, the facilities fell into disrepair and were flooded. The site was later was restored by the Palm Beach Maritime Museum and furnished with replica items.

The museum, located in the old Coast Guard station, offers tours of the Kennedy Bunker between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Admission: $10; $9 seniors; $5 students.

The island, which is not natural but was built of materials from dredging, is itself a park that includes campgrounds, picnic shelters, and some prime snorkeling spots. The island is accessible by private boat or shuttles from the Riviera Beach Marina, 200 E 13th Street, Riviera Beach, 561-339-2504, or the Palm Beach Water Taxi, Sailfish Marina Resort, 98 Lake Dr., Singer Island, 561-683-8294; http://www.sailfishmarina.com.

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Teen hiker is latest to die after Yosemite fall

A teenager died Thursday after suffering head injuries sustained when he fell four days earlier at Yosemite National Park, making him the latest victim in an increasingly deadly year for the park.

Kao Kue, 17, was taken by air ambulance to Doctor's Medical Center in Modesto after falling on the park's popular Mist Trail on Sunday. He died Thursday, the Stanislaus County coroner's department confirmed, though a cause of death was not released. Park officials wouldn't comment on the incident because Kue was a minor.

Though Kue's death won't count toward the number of fatalities at Yosemite this year because he did not die inside the park, the number of fatalities at Yosemite is higher than it normally is at this time of year. Yosemite usually sees five or six deaths by the end of July, park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said. This year, there have been 14, most recently a 26-year-old San Ramon woman who fell while trying to descend Half Dome on July 31.

The number also accounts for incidents that occur in the park, such as heart attacks, car accidents and deaths attributed to natural causes.

Cobb was quick to point out that though the numbers are high for this point in the calendar, it doesn't mean 2011 is the park's deadliest year. Fifteen people died in Yosemite in 2010, and if the remainder of 2011 goes by without incident, Cobb said, the year's total would be lower. Even if another fatality should occur by the end of the year, the 2011 total wouldn't be abnormally high, she said.

Park officials have attributed the uptick in fatalities to a general increase in visitors as well as intensified water conditions caused by a larger-than-normal snowpack, raising water levels and lowering temperatures in the park's rivers and streams. Cobb stressed that visitors should be aware of the risks when hiking in the park and take appropriate precautions.

"Their safety and the risks associated with hiking the park are completely up to them to mitigate," Cobb said. "It's up to them to make the appropriate decisions to make them safe. We have signs on our most popular trails that tell visitors about some of the risks, and it is up to them to heed them."

The Mist Trail was also the site of a fatal incident in May, when a man drowned after he slipped on the trail and fell into the Merced River. In June, three hikers died when they climbed over a guardrail and were swept over the park's popular Vernal Fall, which is at the end of the Mist Trail.

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