8 Stowaways Still Waiting for Their Ship to Come In

Stowaways expect to be kicked off the ship if discovered, but eight who boarded a cruise ship bound from the Bahamas to the United States have been kicked back on by both countries. For six days they have cruised back and forth between Freeport and Miami, refused entry at either port. “They’re living the good life right now,” said Jerry Butcher, spokesman for SeaEscape Ltd. cruise line. “We’re accommodating them just like normal passengers. They’re eating passenger food and being detained in their cabins. They just can’t join in the pool games.” Four said they are Bahamians; two said they were from Haiti; one from Jamaica, and another from Gambia. Perry Rivkind of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service said they apparently bought boarding passes for $500 to $1,500 from Miami passengers who disembarked in Freeport. They had no legal papers for U.S. entry and were sent back, but Bahamian officials also refused to let them stay, stranding the eight at sea at least until a decision today by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

--About 80 Arlington, Mass., residents gave a first-class send-off to Frank Mahoney, a postman who retired after 20 years of treating them as more than just another address. Mahoney, 60, who retired in April, comforted high school seniors waiting for college acceptance letters, watched homes for vacationers on his route and once even saved a house from burning. “He’s kind of well-known throughout this neighborhood,” said Susan Newbauer, host of the party Sunday. “He’d always help any of us. . . . He’d help me carry my groceries in the house.” One day, when Mahoney went to the home of a vacationing family, he called the Fire Department because the door was hot. Inside, a hot water tank had exploded, firefighters discovered. The house was saved, with only minimal damage. “Frank knew just about every face along the route,” said Mahoney’s successor, Allan Porterfield. “. . . He was like a member of the family to a lot of these people.”

--A banana daiquiri, please. A crowd welcomed Sam the chimpanzee back home to the tavern of his owner, Kenneth Harris, near Lebanon, Ohio. Harris said he would let customers offer beers to the chimp, just as he had before Sam was confiscated because of a Humane Society complaint of abuse. Harris was acquitted and a judge had ordered Sam returned.