Is It a Bird or a Plane? No, It’s Boston’s Flyin’ Flynn

Like any loyal Boston Red Sox fan, Manuel Rose sat in front of his television set, absorbed in a game. But the 68-year-old Rose, who has a wooden leg, did not notice that his house was on fire. To the rescue charged none other than Super Mayor, Raymond L. Flynn. “I was watching television . . . I heard the front door crash in--and all of a sudden Mayor Flynn is standing in my parlor,” Rose said. “I said, ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ ” Flynn, 48, who hours earlier had announced his candidacy for a second term, is a man of action, not words. He carried Rose down three flights of stairs and out of the building. “Somebody told him (Flynn) that I have an artificial leg. So I’m telling him, ‘Let me walk. I can walk. Give me a chance.’ He carried me. Flynn carried and dragged me out,” Rose said. Flynn has a history of performing heroic feats, the latest being two weeks ago in which he helped police capture a man holed up with a rifle and a pit bull terrier. But the Boston Globe, in an editorial on the pit bull incident, urged the mayor to be a “little less derring-do. The city needs a strong, capable mayor, not Captain Marvel.”

--It’s only right. If baby’s on the way, dad should know about it. So, Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn., has been passing out free telephone beeper-pagers to expectant fathers to prepare them for the big event. Griffin Vice President William C. Powanda said that patients “love” the new service. “Even if his work requires traveling through Connecticut, both mother and father know he can be reached in a minute,” Powanda said. Griffin’s Childbirth Center includes a Jacuzzi for mothers in labor, double beds in case dad wants to sleep over and gourmet meals served on china. It’s no wonder that since the center opened in March, more than 300 babies have been born, an increase of 29% over last year.

--”Greetings from Virginia,” Gary D. Keffer of Chesapeake, Va., started his letter to President Reagan. “I regret to inform you that there is once again trouble in the colonies. This time it does not involve a tax on tea . . . . I am now feeling distrustful of the United States government due to my financial devastation.” The nub of the 12-year-old boy’s problem was the Internal Revenue Service, which had seized his $10.35 savings because of his parents’ $900 tax debt. The problem was that Gary’s funds had been commingled with those of his parents. Gary had been saving for a $2,000 project: the restoration of a 1965 Mustang. “The IRS ought to do a little more research before they go taking somebody’s money,” Gary said.