MOTHER'S DAZE
Leontina Albina just may put Chile's Planned Parenthood movement out of whack permanently. Mrs. Albina, 54, is currently expecting her 45th child. "My oldest is 36," says the potential patron saint of Hallmark Cards. To make things even more interesting, all of Leontina's kids have the same father, Gerardo Albina, 59, a retired laborer who lives on a civil-service pension of $128 a month. Despite the uniqueness of her situation, Mrs. Albina is not impressed by her fame. "People told me I was becoming famous," she shrugs. "I didn't know at first. We can't afford a newspaper." Maybe if neighbors would chip in and buy them a gift subscription, they'd have something new to do with their time.
A SEMINOLE IDEA
Hollywood, Florida, is faced with a controversial and burning moral issue these days, that corrupt chancre on our virtue, that roller coaster to hell: bingo. Little old ladies are being lured out of church basements to a bingo parlor that offers valet parking, seats for 1200 people, two snack bars, five large and brightly lit boards and jackpots of up to $19,000. We have laws, you say, to prevent this kind of public depravity. Quite right, but the establishment is owned by Seminole Indians, who contend that their reservation is a sovereign nation, exempt from this kind of regulation. Broward Country Sheriff Robert Butterworth doesn't agree and based his campaign for re-election on a bust-the-Seminole-bingo-game platform -- and won. But the Seminoles still plan to defend their rights to wager outrageous fortunes -- perhaps with slings and arrows.
HOLY SMOKE
A 48-year-old nun was thrown into jail in southern Greece after her superior at the Pepolinitsis convent found her smoking Cannabis in her room. Sister Flothee is alleged to have grown the Indian hemp in the convent garden. She told police that she took the drug because it helped her "participate" more in her prayers. She denied planting the hemp herself, maintaining that it was "God's breezes" that had blown the seeds into the garden, where they took root. While we're still uncertain as to how the sister managed to obtain papers to twist up her sanctified smoke, we think that his undeniably qualifies her as a holy roller.
