Celeste Tate Harrington
 
 

The remarkable figure she cut:  a
4-foot, 10-inch tall, 190-pound
woman moving swiftly, lying on her stomach
head up, through city streets on a motorized
guerney she guided with her chin.

Atlantic City bustling with tourists
and extra change - on good days, a C-note
would be dropped into her plastic bucket.
A redemptive presence in a gambling town,
her repetoire of solemn ballads and hymns.

Celeste Tate Harrington was born with
a congenital condition that eroded
the connective tissue in her arms and legs
leaving them immobile stubs  (her father
abandoned her when she was 16 years old.)

She bore a daughter; a nursing home aide
courted her but died before they could marry.
His death led the courts to seek custody.
Mrs. Harrington won the right to raise the child
by changing the baby's diaper with her teeth.

The local McDonald's hired her (to make
deliveries?); she died of complications
from injuries suffered in an accident.
"That is why I am here.  To remind you
to count your blessings every day," she said.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Trenton Deregulates  "We Never Try
 

to insult anyone's intelligence."
Proving she will do just about anything
in her zeal for cutting taxes, helping business,
Gov. Christine Todd Whitman stood side by side
today with a man of prodigious size,
long flowing auburn-colored hair, tattooed
bulging muscles, in a full-length black leather frock.

The Undertaker peered ominously
over Mrs. Whitman's shoulder as she signed
a bill that will make New Jersey recognize
professional wrestling as a form of
entertainment, not a sport, an admission
that'll disappoint the faithful but not shock
those familiar with absurd theatrics.