A Scouting Party Saves the Day

It will continue to look a lot like Christmas at a tree lot next to Buddy’s Chevron gas station in Pembroke Pines, Fla. Members of Boy Scout Troop 2 and Cub Scout Pack 2--all of whom are physically handicapped--have been selling Christmas trees from a big yellow tent on the lot to raise money for summer camp. But Chevron’s South Florida marketing manager said the tent hid the station’s sign from passing motorists in violation of the lease agreement with station operator, Buddy Rogero. So Chevron had ordered the Scouts to stop selling trees from the 25-foot-high tent, even though Rogero gave them permission. But city officials decided to take a close look at the situation. They went to the site, took measurements and found that the tent is on city land. Therefore, the tent will not have to be removed, they said.

--A committee in charge of the John F. Kennedy statue to stand outside the Massachusetts Statehouse in Boston wants to be right on the button in matters of accuracy. But that poses a problem. Two models for the statue had the top button of the late President’s suit fastened, and Ed Martin, an aide to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), asked if they could be unbuttoned. “If you went to Brooks Brothers they’d tell you that if you button the top button it throws the suit out of line. You just don’t do it,” said state Sen. Joseph B. Walsh, co-chairman of the 28-member panel in charge of the memorial. But sculptor Isabel McIlvain of Concord, whose work is among five semifinalists for the statue, said: “I looked at 200 photographs of J.F.K. and his top button is buttoned.” The $150,000 statue is expected to be in place by the former President’s 72nd birthday in May, 1989.

--Richard and Carole Dusowitz Roble like getting married. So, they have wed each other 43 times in 43 states. And they hope to be married in all 50 states by 1990, Roble, 60, said. The streak began 18 years ago when the two married in Youngstown, Ohio. “I’m from Ohio and my wife’s from New York, so half of her people couldn’t come to our wedding,” he said. “The following year, we had a wedding in New York. So, when our third anniversary rolled around, we said, ‘Let’s do it again.’ ” Carole Roble, a 49-year-old certified public accountant, plans the ceremonies with precision, checking on residency and other state requirements before each trip, her husband said. Roble, a semi-retired trucker and manager of an aluminum manufacturing business, said that he prefers to think of each wedding as a renewal of their first vows.