Bay of Pigs Time on Biscayne Bay

--Altogether, it generated more heat than light, but organizers said they were pleased with a debate in Miami on the policies of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. “I am proposing that we move toward a new understanding of reality,” history professor Andres Gomez said. “If I saw you in other circumstances, I would shoot you,” his opponent, radio commentator Felipe Rivero, a veteran of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, responded. Then, a Gomez supporter was arrested for inciting to riot when he began shouting profanities. Finally, the emotional crowd gave Gomez a sample of reality--it chased him out of the hall, and he had to be rescued by police officers. The final word was spoken by non-debater Gladys Parton. “Coward,” she screamed at the fleeing Gomez. “Why doesn’t he go live in Cuba?”

--Laverne Stokes, 64, beat out nine other women, ages 60 to 78, for the title of Ms. Senior America in an Atlantic City contest. The contestants were judged on their appearance in an evening gown and on their inner beauty, but Stokes really pounded out a victory in the talent contest--she’s a tap dancer.

--Douglas Larche thinks Mother Goose is sexist and he has done something about it by writing “The Equal Rhymes Amendment” to make little girls feel as important as little boys. According to Larche, not all the king’s horses and all the king’s men and women could put Humpty Dumpty together again. Peter Piper and his peck of pickled peppers has become Candace Carter, who canned candied carrots. In another type of message, Jack Spratt avoids fat to stay cholesterol-free. And little stars can’t twinkle, twinkle because of pollution. Larche, incidentally, likes to be known as Father Gander.

--When Lynn Burke Nester of Clayton, Mo., won $2.8 million in the Illinois state lottery, she decided that there was one thing she didn’t want to gamble on--sharing all that loot with her husband. She filed for divorce right after the first check for $109,000 arrived in the mail.

--Paramedics in St. Petersburg, Fla., faced a bigger problem than they had expected when answering a call to help a man who had fallen out of bed. Their patient, John Krauss, 61, weighs 450 pounds. It took 12 men 30 minutes to maneuver Krauss onto a sheet of canvas and squeeze him through the door of the apartment. Using a stretcher wasn’t practical. He would have crushed it. Eventually, he was deposited in a hospital--on two beds. Krauss said he has a gland problem. “Of course, I like to eat, too,” he added.