THE OLD BALL AND CHAIN

"I happen to believe intraditional American values," says Municipal Judge Albert Mestemaker. "Boy meets girl, boy asks out girl, boy and girl get married." So he gave Scott Hancock, convicted of hitting longtime girlfriend Yvone Sevier, a choice: marry her or go to jail. Sevier, who has a child with the defendant, welcomed the sentence and said she loved Hancock. But National Organization of Women President Patricia Ireland was outraged, saying the judge effectivelyhanded Hancock a "hunting license" to abuse the woman.

Quotes of the Day »

RAY KELLY, New York City Police Commissioner, on the arrest of a New Jersey man in one of the nation's most baffling missing-children cases, the disappearance more than three decades ago of 6-year-old Etan Patz.
For use in rail of Articles page or Section Fronts pages. Duplicate and change name as necesssary to distinguish.