»In which what goes around, comes around

Mr Marion Barry, the former mayor of a city which really deserved so addle-pated a politician at its head, suffered the ultimate indignity: having his lunch money taken away during a robbery.

WASHINGTON - Former District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry was robbed at gunpoint at his apartment by some youths who had helped him carry his groceries.

Barry, who wasn't injured in the Sunday night robbery, said he gave the youths a couple of dollars for helping him with his groceries and they left. They returned, however, and pointed a gun at his head and took his wallet, which contained cash and credit cards, Barry told WRC-TV.

Barry, 69, is a member of the City Council and served four terms as mayor. In his third term, he was videotaped in 1990 in a hotel room smoking crack cocaine in an FBI sting. The following year, he served a six-month prison sentence.

He is awaiting sentencing later this month in federal court on his guilty plea to two misdemeanor counts stemming from his failure to file income tax returns in 2000.

I laughed aloud when I read about Barry's felony conviction for crack possession, and chuckled some more when I heard of his subsequent coke-and-marijuana arrest. But I laughed hardest when the citizens of DC re-elected him.