Pope John Paul II, Vatican City, born Karol Jozef Wojtyla, priest, bishop, cardinal, pope, theologian, evangelist, ecumenicist, author, poet, linguist, human-rights activist, and statesman: 1920-2005.

Early obituaries: the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

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An update on the tattoo story from Norwich, N.Y., to which I referred three days ago, was published yesterday in the Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y. (“Judge Sends Tattoo Case to Grand Jury,” by Mark Boshnack, March 31):

The case against a man and a teen who allegedly forcibly tattooed a vulgar phrase on a Norwich teen’s forehead will be heard by a Chenango County grand jury, possibly by spring.

The decision to send the case against Kenneth Donald Peer, 23, of South New Berlin and Travis Daniel Foster, 17, of Earlville to a grand jury was made by Norwich city Judge James Downey on Wednesday after a felony hearing.

The defendants were each charged Saturday with second-degree assault, a Class D felony, first-degree unlawful imprisonment, a Class E felony, and second-degree unlawfully dealing with a child, a misdemeanor.

The two pleaded innocent to the charges and were assigned attorneys before Wednesday’s hearing.

The alleged victim, Milton J. Romanowski Jr., 17, of Norwich, was the only witness called to testify.

The tattoo was visible as he walked into the courtroom wearing a blue jacket over a white T-shirt. The two defendants, in orange jumpsuits, sat near their attorneys throughout the joint proceeding.

The details of the attack, which Boshnack relays in considerable detail, are disturbing, as well as somewhat confusing and possibly contradictory. Regardless, if you’re interested in learning more about how cruel and stupid today’s young people can be (as if they weren’t always), take a look for yourself.

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It’s been too long since we’ve taken a look at some of the unusual searches that brought readers to The Rittenhouse Review. Below is a sampling from the last several weeks:

where can find out what a wart or cyst looks like
Ask Rush Limbaugh.

Mark Wahlberg steroids
You know, I really doubt it.

minimum wage for a literary author
Would there were such a thing.

“The Wreck of the Hesperus” analysis
I don’t recall the poem ever being analyzed, merely cited.

nuns living in state of Delaware
How many could there possibly be?

“Sex and the City” quotes let you down
I’ve been saying that for years.

English bulldog Maybelline
Lame. So very lame.

Linda Wachner builds Warnaco into an empire
And then runs it into the ground.

DaVinci: The Last Dinner
Uh, no.

Is Congress trying to silence Ann Coulter
Only in her own delusions.

what is that song in the Talbots commercial?
“Windy,” by the Association (1967), as previously noted.

Susan Estrich + Howard Kurtz
The mind reels. The gut wretches.

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