A little parrot news:

A clock-store owner will appear in court Monday on an assault charge for spanking a boy he says was teaching one of his store's parrots to cuss.

"I think I can protect my property against vandalism, as long as I don't use a gun," said William Soper, co-owner of Clock World on West Broad Street downtown. "A pop on the bottom is non-lethal."

Sheree Bustle, mother of the spanked boy, sees it differently. She called the police to file charges. "If you've got a problem with a kid abusing a bird, he could've handled it differently," she said.

Both of these people are handling the incident badly. In these days, it doesn't serve to lay a hand on someone else's child, though the gent was probably treating the boy no differently than he would his own grandson. The mother is overreacting by filing charges. She could have left it at chastising the man. Most people knew better than to spank other people's children even in earlier times.

It is vandalism to teach a parrot profanity. Circumstances sometimes force changes in ownership (or guardianship, in areas of California) and many prospective owners neither use nor like to be around profanity. We don't use much profanity in this house, and always out of Lucy's earshot, unless we happen to bark our shins on that @!$#%^* glass coffee table.