Quick Stop

Hee hee hee! From the Chicago Tribune:

2 men charged in beauty pageant beating

BY ROSMARY SOBOL Staff Reporter

Two men -- at least one of whom was a contestant in a beauty pageant -- were charged early Wednesday with using a trophy to beat a judge because they allegedly did not like his vote in the West Side competition earlier this month.

The attack left the judge with his jaw broken in three places and a gash on his forehead.

Leroy Tinch, 28, of the 2200 block of Emerson Street in Evanston, and Anthony Johnson, 23, of the 8200 block of Keating Avenue in Skokie, were each charged early Wednesday with felony aggravated battery, according to Rogers Park District police Lt. John Franklin.

Police responded at 4:55 a.m. July 6 to a call of a person with a knife at a beauty pageant at the 5th City Center at 3350 W. Jackson Blvd., the lieutenant said.

Officers learned Johnson allegedly struck judge Sebastian Latta, 37, of Baltimore, Md., with a trophy -- shattering his jaw in three places. Latta was initially taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and his jaw remained wired shut Wednesday morning, Franklin said.

Latta told a responding officer, “Apparently, I must have voted for the wrong person,” the officer said.

Tinch, who resembles a woman and appears to have breast implants, was likely the one competing and probably did not win the trophy used in the attack, Franklin said.

Tinch, who has a tattoo of “paw prints” on his chest, also allegedly slashed Latta across the forehead with an unidentified edged instrument, according to Franklin.

“They said they didn’t like the way he [Latta] judged one of them in the pageants,” Franklin said.

Rogers Park District police officer Jennifer Caputo arrested Tinch at 2:40 a.m. Tuesday after she spotted him in the 7100 block of North Clark Street. Johnson surrendered to police at 11 p.m. Tuesday at the Rogers Park District police station, the lieutenant said.

“She [Caputo] did a great job spotting the offender and bringing him in,” Franklin said.

Harrison Area Detective Vincent Alonzo was assigned the case the night of the incident, and he and his partner, Russell Egan, were being lauded their work.

“They did an excellent job putting the case together,” Franklin said.

No other suspects are being sought in the case.

Just how many ways can you dance around saying "Drag Queen Beauty Pageant"???

This brings to mind the time I was seated in the back of a bus going down Michigan right around Christmas time a few years ago. Seated immediately in front of me were two slender young Asian men displaying a dramatic lightness of the loafers.

They were in a spirited discussion about the drag queen pageant they'd been in the night before, comparing notes on everything from wigs to gowns to makeup to cleavage. Each complimented the other on his (her?) fashion sense, costume and musical choices.

Then they got around to the other contestants and the claws came out.

I stifled my giggles until I heard, "Oooooooooooooh, that bitch Ramon! We HATE her!"

They heard my peal of laughter all the way up in the front of the bus.

There is no one on earth more competitive or vindictive than a pissed off drag queen.