Father Figure

BRITNEY SPEARS' father may be watching over her money, diet and sex life (she's to stay away from bad foods and bad boys) but E! Online says the famed pop tart is still thinking about her love life. She tells Glamour magazine, "In five years I would like to be married and have a father figure for my kids, someone who is a provider and can be really stable. " "It's hard doing it on your own," she adds. Take that, K-Fed. Britney says she's changed a lot from her wild days.

The "Godfather" seemed the ideal surrogate father. When he offered in 1997 to help care for the twin girls of the widow of a Philadelphia police officer, Gordon Smith was as doting as a real dad. He took the girls, who were 11 when he met them, to church and to shopping malls, bought them clothes and school supplies, and gave them money. The kids called him "Godfather. " The mother was so impressed by Smith that she wrote a reference letter for him before he was hired as a custodian for the city Police Department.

Samuel Bullock, 74, of Mount Airy, one of the first black psychiatrists and psychoanalysts to practice in Philadelphia and a former professor at Hahnemann Medical Center, died Wednesday of cancer at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. "I lost my father 20 years ago, and I feel like I just lost another one," said George Gardiner, who took his residency under Dr. Bullock. "He was a father figure for up-and-coming black psychiatrists. " Dr. Bullock joined the staff at Hahnemann in 1973 and was named professor in 1977.

The roofing company was just a front for a teen-age robbery gang, said the prosecutor. When James O'Hannon, 32, hired mostly teen-age apprentices in 1989, it wasn't to teach them the roofing trade. He mapped out plans for holdups, said Assistant District Attorney Jude Conroy. Yesterday, Common Pleas Judge James A. Lineberger sentenced O'Hannon to 15 to 30 years in prison for three robberies. "No one gets a free ride in my courtroom," said the judge. Conroy said O'Hannon, of Marshall Street near Grange Avenue, provided a gun to some of his workers, and sent them into a bank, a convenience store and a supermarket to commit crimes.

The viewing room at the John Givnish Funeral Home in Northeast Philadelphia was filled to its capacity yesterday. About 300 people - family, friends, admirers - came to say goodbye to Ralph Edwards, a homeless man who died a violent death but left a legacy of good will. Edwards, 36, was murdered Monday - found dead in a vacant lot after being shot in the head outside a crack house on North 15th Street. His passing sent waves of grief through the Mary Jane Improvement Center, the shelter where he lived with his wife, Mary Edwards, and five of the couple's six children, and through the Waring Elementary School, where Edwards was a much-beloved father figure and friend for students.

It's bound to happen. As he has for years, Joe Colistra someday soon will quote Tex Flannery. And when he does, Colistra will feel a tinge of sadness. Mr. Flannery, whose first name was John but who was known to most as "Tex" during his 29 years as head football coach at La Salle High School, died Sunday at 85. Mr. Flannery's cancer was diagnosed last fall. "My father died when I was a young man," said Colistra, who played for Flannery from 1960 to '64 and replaced him as La Salle coach in 1985.

It was just another raucous protest, one of many that 52-year-old Officer Paris Williams had monitored and deftly handled during his time in the police Civil Affairs Unit. But as Williams, a 17-year veteran, moved into a Center City crowd protesting BIO 2005 about 12:30 p.m. yesterday, he seemed to lose his footing. Then he fell, the apparent victim of a fatal heart attack. "Today, the Police Department lost a good cop and the world lost a good person," said Capt. Bill Fischer, commander of the Civil Affairs Unit.

Troy Vincent, visibly saddened by the death of his surrogate father, talked yesterday about the man who had so much influence on his life. James "Bud" Bodley died at the age of 56 on Saturday, leaving behind his wife, Linda; his son, James Jr.; and his daughter, Deena. Vincent, a Pro Bowl cornerback for the Eagles, also was considered a member of the family, having lived with the Bodleys during his final three years at Pennsbury High School in Bucks County. "Any death is tough," said Vincent, 32. "I don't think I've had a close death like this outside of my uncle Tom. You can't prepare for death, and this was a sudden death.

The Blazing Angels will lose their usual 10 or so players from this season. They are girls who have moved past the 18-and-under age requirement to play for the Amateur Softball Association team, sponsored by Bristol Township. But the biggest loss may not be any of the players. It may be the loss of Tony Angelaccio. An assistant coach with the Blazing Angels since 1989, Angelaccio has decided to retire after over 30 years of coaching baseball or softball. "Since I was a little girl, 'Mr. A' was an inspiration, a coach, a father figure for me," said Nikki DiGregorio, a graduate of Neshaminy and Holy Family College and a former Blazing Angel.

NOTE: This story has been corrected from its original version. A quote in the story had been wrongly attributed to the Philadelphia Masjid. JANAZAH prayers will be said at 1 p.m. today for Eugene Carl "Bo" Baynes, a founder of the Black Mafia who died Saturday at age 73. The service will be held in the Philadelphia Masjid, at 47th Street and Wyalusing Avenue. According to law-enforcement files, Baynes joined with Sam Christian, Ronald Harvey, Robert "Nudie" Mims, Roosevelt "Spooks" Fitzgerald and others in the early '70s to create a criminal enterprise called Black Incorporated, which became known as the Black Mafia.

THE MAN WHO once was Elmo is again seeing red. A fourth man came forward Monday and sued Kevin Clash - the former Elmo puppeteer who resigned from "Sesame Street" last month after 27 years, amid sex-abuse allegations - claiming Clash befriended him in Miami years ago and promised to be a father figure before flying the then-teen to New York to have sex with him. The three legal actions filed so far have been civil cases seeking financial compensation....

Aylisha Brown has been writing poems since age 16, when she found it the best way to make sense of her crazy world. One of her first poems was included in a news story about her mother, Crystal Brown - a narrative of tragedy and triumph - published in The Inquirer in 2006. It was then that Aylisha learned that her biological father was also her grandfather, that her mother had long been abused by her father, and that that relationship had caused the progressive genetic disease leaving Aylisha in a wheelchair.

Tra Thomas has some pain in his back these days where he had surgery once, and his knees bark at him occasionally, but for a man who played a dozen seasons of offensive tackle in the NFL, Thomas got away almost clean. He came out of the game physically whole, but he didn't get away clean from the part of him that will always remain with the Eagles. Thomas came home Thursday to officially retire as a member of the team once again. "All I ever wanted to be was a Philadelphia Eagle," Thomas said.

IT'S BEEN almost a week since Jerry Sandusky was found guilty of 45 counts of sexual abuse. And a great big "what if?" won't stop looping through my brain. Not the Mike McQueary "what if?" as in, "What if that assistant football coach had slammed Sandusky into the wall the night Sandusky molested that child in the shower?" And not the Penn State "what if?" as in, "What if school leaders had given more thought to the state pen than to Penn State when they heard murmurings of Sandusky's weirdness with kids?"

RONALD NICHOLS' idea of a break from his demanding job as groundskeeper at West Philadelphia High School during football season was to stand on the sidelines during games and try to yell louder than the coaches.   And he did. Ronald not only kept the grounds in pristine condition, but he was devoted to the school, especially its sports programs. He knew the players and coaches and they knew him as a supporter and father figure. His shouts of encouragement to the players resounded across the field.

VILLANOVA'S Maalik Wayns, as most figured all along, has made it official. The junior lead guard from Roman Catholic High will not be coming back for his final season of eligibility. Instead, he will keep his name in the NBA draft. "We've been hearing all the rumors, so there was no reason to wait any longer," said Wayns, a second-team All-Big East selection and the leading scorer (averaging more than 17 points a game) on a team that finished 13-19. "The best thing was to get it out. "It's kind of a relief.

DEAR ABBY: Like "Standing My Ground in New Jersey," I had decided at a young age I had no interest in changing my last name if I were ever to be married. For me, the decision had nothing to do with an established career or a fear of losing myself. I simply never saw the point. Would you believe that I fell in love with and married a man who asked me how I felt about him taking my last name? When he first mentioned the idea, I told him that he should think it through because a name change shouldn't be taken lightly.

NOTE: This story has been corrected from its original version. A quote in the story had been wrongly attributed to the Philadelphia Masjid. JANAZAH prayers will be said at 1 p.m. today for Eugene Carl "Bo" Baynes, a founder of the Black Mafia who died Saturday at age 73. The service will be held in the Philadelphia Masjid, at 47th Street and Wyalusing Avenue. According to law-enforcement files, Baynes joined with Sam Christian, Ronald Harvey, Robert "Nudie" Mims, Roosevelt "Spooks" Fitzgerald and others in the early '70s to create a criminal enterprise called Black Incorporated, which became known as the Black Mafia.

DEAR ABBY: Our neighbor's son, "Donny," has become a regular fixture in our home. His parents divorced years ago, and his father is terminally ill. Donny has "adopted" me as a father figure. We have spent a great deal of time together. Not having a son - I have daughters - I admit that being with him is a novelty. My wife, on the other hand, feels no one should "infiltrate" her family. I can't bring myself to turn him away knowing how lonely he is and how difficult his life will become.

PAUL AUSTIN LANE was one of those guys who could do anything with his hands. You name it, master plumber, roofer, stone mason, electrician, carpenter. And he put those skills to work for profit, but also to help out friends and family members when they needed such skills to keep their properties in shape. Paul Lane, a retired driver for the Daily News, who also drove for the Philadelphia Tribune and the old Philadelphia Bulletin, an Army veteran and devoted churchman, died Saturday.