Yesterday,Feb. 20, just after noontime, the passengers of the

Cranston St. bus ( 9203 ) -including myself - literally got

a whiff of terror on the packed bus. Up front a young, disturbed

looking, white male was told by a middle aged black lady seated

opposite him to " please stop staring ". A gentleman would have

just apologized , perhaps thinking that the female was oversensitive.

    But then the horror show began : " Shut up bitch ! " And

then -as if the poor lady were just a cockroach - sprayed her

in the face with  some noxious chemical.

       Good thing there was no panic or stampede on the bus !

 A shocked bus driver finally called the police and opened the

the passenger doors.  I myself tried to console the poor black

lady : " You'll be OK.  An ambulance will arrive soon. THAT

was so mean and nasty... "  . The young man was restrained.

I gave my name, address, and phone number to the bus driver

as a witness to the assault. So did other passengers.

       Somebody said the guy looked like the " Cool Moose "

candidate. That is just pure description, of course.

       I studied him while he was being detained: " American

Gothic ". Later when the bus continued up Cranston St. , I

noticed some of his belongings left on the seat. I gave them

to the bus driver before getting off myself.

        I read out loud from the outside of a white envelope,

among the things the cops should have taken with them :

        " DISCHARGED - RETURN TO SENDER "

      Was this another example of our mental health care

system at work ?

         It seemed the police took their time in responding

to the bus driver's emergency call. The ambulance got there

before they did.

         I hope that poor black lady will recover from her

eye injury. There was also a woman with asthma and a baby

on the bus.

        Good thing the incident did not become racial. It

may have if it all happened when school was  getting out.

The young and the restless would have taught the mentally

ill young man a LESSON.

      But society has learned no lessons about neglecting the

mentally ill !