Trick-or-treating at the Funk-Squitiro house
By JEN CHEN
Last week, my colleague David Martin wrote this Plog entry (with pictoral evidence!) that confirmed Mayor Mark Funkhouser’s decision to cut back time at City Hall to work out of his Brookside house. Well, I wanted to see our new City Hall South.
And what better time to do so than Halloween? After work on Friday, I headed over to do some trick-or-treating. I wanted to see what the Funk-Squitiros were handing out – would it be cool stuff, or would they give out crap like paper clips and Circus Peanuts?
When I got to their neighborhood around dusk, the streets were pretty empty. Glomming onto a group of trick-or-treaters wasn’t an option, so I decided to don some sort of costume. I had a green fez that’s been rolling around my trunk since St. Patrick’s Day 2007, so I put it on. Now disguised as an undercover reporter, I strolled up the street and spotted Gloria Squitiro on the porch, talking loudly on her phone. I continued walking by and ended up circling the block.
On my second trip around, I stopped a couple of parents to find out if they'd gone trick-or-treating at the mayor’s house. They had no idea he lived in the area. Amy Molloy, who was walking around with her two-year-old daughter, Violet, and her eight-year-old niece, Claire, said Squitiro had handed out Sugar Babies.
By this time, it was almost dark. I decided to go up to the house. The front porch was dark and slightly spooky. I could make out the silhouettes of two people.
“Hello! I’m Jen from The Pitch and I just wanted to see what you were giving out,” I said.
One of the figures got up from a chair and came forward. A woman with short grayish-blonde hair emerged from the shadows and picked up a bowl full of candy from the porch railing and held it out. In addition to the Sugar Babies, the bowl contained Cherry Mash, small boxes of Sun-Maid Raisins and Halloween-sized Payday bars.
“Isn’t it wonderful?” she said. Gloria stayed seated and silent.
I picked out the Sugar Babies and turned to leave. “Thank you! Happy Halloween!” I called out.
“Happy Halloween,” replied Gloria.
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