VISIT TO BATTERED CHILDREN OPENS EYES BIG AND SMALL; COWBOYS TAKE TURN AS EXAMPLES OF REAL MEN.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
``Kids getting kicked around doesn't set too well.'' - Joe Cranston, a member of Reel Cowboys. No, it doesn't. Especially with the men who meet over at Big Jim's Restaurant in Sun Valley every Saturday morning for some breakfast and straight talk. They're a bunch of old movie cowboys and stuntmen who live up to the name of the place, they say - sort of ranchy. But not last week. No, last week these grizzled griz·zled adj. 1. Partly gray or streaked with gray: a grizzled beard. 2. Having fur or hair streaked or tipped with gray. old cowboys turned into a bunch of pussycats. They got down on their hands and knees to play with some kids who have had way too many hard knocks hard knocks pl.n. Informal The practical experiences of life, including hardships and disappointments: "He hadn't grown up in the school of hard knocks. in life for such a young age. They held these youngsters in their arms and found themselves wiping away a few tears while their anger raged inside at men they did not know, and better never meet. Because kids getting kicked around doesn't set too well with the men over at Big Jim's. The breakfast meetings and long talks of how westerns used to rule this town were nice, but it was time to actually do something if Reel Cowboys was ever to be anything but a bunch of old-timers sitting around shooting the breeze. ``Let's think about it, and when we meet again next week, we'll kick around the ideas,'' said Joe Cranston, one of the members. ``Big Al'' Fleming, Jack Iverson John Brian Iverson (born July 27, 1915, Melbourne, Victoria, died October 24, 1973, Brighton, Victoria) was an Australian cricketer who played in 5 Tests from 1950 to 1951. , Greg Brickman, John Locke and some of the other men who made their living both in front of and behind the cameras in western movies dating back to the 1930s and '40s, nodded in agreement. ``I had heard about the work they were doing over at the Glendale YWCA YWCA abbr. Young Women's Christian Association YWCA n abbr (= Young Women's Christian Association) → Asociación f de Jóvenes Cristianas YWCA on helping battered women and their children, so I went over and talked to the woman in charge,'' Joe said. Lisa Martinez, program director of the Y's domestic violence project, jumped at the idea of a Christmas party hosted by these old-time cowboys for the more than 100 kids and 60 mothers in hiding Adv. 1. in hiding - quietly in concealment; "he lay doggo" doggo, out of sight at shelters in the area from men who had beaten and abused them. When Joe mentioned the project at the next breakfast meeting, the guys loved it. Big Al Fleming, all 6 feet 8 inches of him, spoke up and said he'd be Santa Claus Santa Claus: see Nicholas, Saint. Santa Claus jolly, gift-giving figure who visits children on Christmas Eve. [Christian Tradition: NCE, 1937] See : Christmas Santa Claus . Nobody argued. Big Al played the bad guy in westerns - the guy the star had to kill to save the ranch. He also played a character called the Crusher in a couple of monster movies. You get the idea. So, there they all were last weekend over at the Glendale YWCA - about 30 old movie cowboys, all thumbs as they wrapped more than 160 gifts they had lobbied local businesses to donate for these kids and their moms. Welcoming these broken families in hiding to a Christmas party with music, rope tricks, piggyback piggyback 1. A broker trading in his or her personal account after trading in the same security for a customer. The broker may believe the customer has access to privileged information that will cause the transaction to be profitable. 2. rides and a 6-foot-8 Santa Claus. All the while working hard to wipe the fear out of the eyes of many of these kids because it seared sear 1 v. seared, sear·ing, sears v.tr. 1. To char, scorch, or burn the surface of with or as if with a hot instrument. See Synonyms at burn1. 2. them like a hot branding iron. More than a few of these kids were walking around with arms dotted with cigarette burns - gifts from the men in their lives. ``They were hesitant and scared when they saw us,'' Joe says. ``These are not kids used to seeing grown men being nice to them.'' So, while it was billed as a Christmas party, what went on last weekend over at the Glendale YWCA was also a seminar for some kids to learn how real men act. They don't hit them, don't burn them with cigarettes, don't batter their mothers. They give them piggyback rides, presents and plenty of hugs. When these Reel Cowboys who are real men met at Big Jim's after the party, nobody wanted to talk about westerns or great stunts or any of the stuff they always talked about. They wanted to talk about the next time they would have a chance to see these kids - take them out for a real pony ride, and maybe over to the Universal Studios tour. Spend more time with them than just one afternoon because they needed more time to work on adjusting their attitudes toward men. It's a national disgrace, they all agreed - men who beat up kids and women. Too bad they didn't have the opportunity to readjust re·ad·just tr.v. re·ad·just·ed, re·ad·just·ing, re·ad·justs To adjust or arrange again. re the attitudes of those men too, a few of the old movie cowboys said. Big Al just smiled wistfully. He couldn't think of a better Christmas present. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO John Locke is pickin' and grinnin' on banjo banjo, stringed musical instrument, with a body resembling a tambourine. The banjo consists of a hoop over which a skin membrane is stretched; it has a long, often fretted neck and four to nine strings, which are plucked with a pick or the fingers. with fellow Reel Cowboys, from left, Joe Cranston, Richard Byard and Jack Iverson. John Lazar/Special to the Daily News |
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