Comedy, Tragedy Kick Off the New Year

While parade-goers took to the streets Wednesday to celebrate the new year, others spent the day off lingering at brunch or bowl games--and one school district was holding classes.

In Philadelphia, a cast of 20,000 sequined, painted comedians cracked jokes and played banjos during the 97th annual Mummers Parade in the morning chill.

“The weather doesn’t bother us: We’re snowmen!” shouted a white-faced Bob Aloi, a Mummer for 40 years. He was part of a group dressed head-to-toe in white, shiny suits, bringing laughs to the crowd.

John Goldstein preferred the look of a strongman, attaching plastic foam body parts to himself. A 2-foot orange hat finished off his costume, called “Montezuma’s Revenge.”

“Everyone designs their own costume,” he said. “It’s building and creating. It’s a challenge.”

New Year’s Day was the time in many cities to take the plunge--into icy water.

Hundreds of people jumped into the 40-degree ocean in Jamestown, R.I., for the 21st annual Penguin Plunge. Some wore top hats, bow ties and not much else as they tried to stay in for up to a minute.

Those making resolutions to exercise in the new year were not in any hurry, if the sparse crowd at Bally Total Fitness in Dundalk, Md., was any indication.

“Today, I’m sure a lot of people are hung over and staying in bed,” said manager Mike Scheuer.

It was back to school in Pittston, Pa. As was the case on Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, classes were held to make up for a six-week teachers strike in September for the 3,300-student district.

There wasn’t much of turnout: Only 11%, or 115 of the 1,060-member high school body, showed up. The teachers earned higher marks: All were present.

In New York, remnants of confetti, noisemakers and silly hats had all but disappeared Wednesday morning from the streets of Times Square, where half a million revelers withstood freezing weather to watch the lighted ball usher in 1997.

Not all celebrations ended well.

A few minutes before midnight in New Brunswick, N.J., 20 to 30 party-goers crowded an upstairs room at one home and the floor collapsed. Six people were injured, including two whose back fractures were serious.

Some revelers kept up with the dangerous custom of firing guns into the air to mark the new year.

In Houston, two such shootings were fatal.

One man accidentally killed his 7-year-old daughter, and another man was killed at a party when a number of people went outside to fire their guns off at midnight, said Harris County Sheriff’s Department Det. Ben Beall.

The shootings occurred despite a police bid to discourage people from greeting the new year with gunfire. In recent days, television stations ran public-service advertisements pointing out the dangers of firing pistols into the air.