School Principal Bets the Roof, Doubles Stakes for PTA

--Grannemann Elementary School Principal Janet Maschoff didn’t raise the roof after she lost a bet about doubling the membership in the Parent-Teacher Assn.--she sat on it. The Black Jack, Mo., educator did, however, delay payment of her debt by climbing onto the school roof this week instead of last week when it was raining. “I’m a good sport, but I’m not a martyr,” said Maschoff, who chose to occupy the roof for a day in a down coat and mittens in 35-degree weather. “I was not going to sit in the rain.” Last spring, when the association’s membership stood at 88, she bet that number couldn’t be doubled by fall. There were 200 members last week. Even though that total meant she would have to climb to the roof, Maschoff was pleased. “You really can’t do the job at school unless the parents are willing to work with you,” she said. June Stieble, school secretary, communicated periodically with Maschoff by walkie-talkie after the principal arrived at about 8 a.m. and began working at a student desk a janitor had placed near the roof’s edge. Students at the suburban St. Louis school frequently went outside to gape at their principal on the roof. “She has a lot of guts going up there,” said fifth-grader Joseph Braik. “This is really neat.”

--Reality imitated art for a few hours as a supporting actor from the television series “Cheers” worked behind the bar at the Bull and Finch Pub on Beacon Hill. Woody Harrelson poured drinks in his first promotional trip to Boston at the Bull and Finch, which serves as the model pub for the highly rated show. Harrelson, who plays Woody Boyd, a naive small-towner who becomes a Cheers bartender, said he was overwhelmed by the outing. “I’ve never experienced such a reception,” he said. “Everyone was shaking my hand, telling me they liked the show. It was so different from L.A., where I can go all day without anyone recognizing me. Here I was a hero.” Harrelson admitted he was late for an appointment the morning after, saying: “It was a great party. Maybe too good.”

--Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) had to face the music during a speech on the Senate floor. It seems that his colleagues who were listening to him in their offices began hearing “Singin’ in the Rain” instead. A Senate page handed Levin a note and he broke off the speech about the record of a judicial nominee and said: “I understand the squawk boxes are broken and they are playing music.” After about 10 minutes of musical interlude, the problem was corrected and the speech resumed.