Education: Nonsupport

Many a truant moppet is haled into court for failing to go to school. Last week the town of Woburn, Mass. (pop. 20,000) was haled into court for failing to provide for schooling its moppets.

Massachusetts, birthplace of public education in the U. S., has an old school law with teeth in it. Any Massachusetts town that fails properly to support its public schools may be fined an amount twice its biggest annual school expenditure. Recently Woburn's Mayor William E. Kane cut the schools' allowance. Woburn's teachers went unpaid. Thereupon they complained to the State Attorney General. Fortnight ago a Middlesex County grand jury solemnly indicted the City of Woburn, Inc. for school nonsupport. This week the town goes on trial. If it is convicted Woburn taxpayers may be fined $700,000.

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PAULA DEEN, Food Network chef, who was hit in the face by a ham while volunteering at an Atlanta food drive

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