Stateside with Gavin Wood in West Hollywood MEMORIES OF HOLLYWOOD STAR STABBING

■ Hi everyone, remotely from my suite at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Suites in West Hollywood comes this week’s news.

Sal Mineo gone too soon

■ Salvatore Mineo Jr. was an American actor, singer, and director. He is best known for his role as John ‘Plato’ Crawford in the drama film Rebel Without a Cause with James Dean, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at age 17, making him the fifth-youngest nominee in the category. He also starred in the movie Giant.

Born January 19, 1939 and sadly killed February 12, 1976 at the age of 37 by a drug crazed 17-year-old.

He was dining at Barney’s Beanery and was attacked near the Tropicana Hotel which is now the Ramada Hotel in West Hollywood. Sal Mineo would have been 93 this year.

JetBlue Airlines mistake Blue mistake Blue

■ Some JetBlue pilots are outraged after the airline hired a violent felon to fly planes even as it refuses to hire people who haven’t taken the COVID vaccine, citing safety.

Two pilots told The Daily Wire that JetBlue has hired John Perrys, who served nine years in prison for breaking into the home of a judge and attacking his daughter as she left the shower.

Perrys was released from prison in 2014 and is on felony probation until 2044, according to the Florida Department of Corrections

“Apparently JetBlue won’t hire unvaccinated pilots, but they will hire violent convicted felons to fly their airplanes,” one pilot said, speaking on condition of anonymity to protect his job.

In 2005, Associated Press reported that Perrys, then an Air Force captain, was charged in Louisiana with burglary and assault with a deadly weapon while wearing a mask, and that he faced up to life in prison.

Perrys allegedly entered the home of a judge and beat the judge’s daughter, who was his former fiancée, with a metal baton as she left the shower.

Police said that when he was arrested, he was wearing a bulletproof vest and his vehicle contained knives, handcuffs, parachute cord, a shovel, and a mask, according to the AP.

Parents helping children

■ Dating coaches say pandemic lockdowns and their long aftermath have raised parent worries that their grown children will stay single forever.

That has led to a surge of interest from mothers and fathers splurging on premium dating-app subscriptions, relationship classes and one-on-one sessions with dating experts for their children, said relationship psychologist and dating coach Christie Kederian.

Marijuana beats tobacco

■ A majority of people say they smoke marijuana more than cigarettes, based on data from a new Gallup poll. Sixteen percent of Americans say they currently smoke marijuana with 48 per cent of respondents sharing that they have tried it at some point in their life the highest rate ever recorded by Gallup.

Last year, 12 per cent of respondents said they used marijuana. The poll released on August 16 was part of a study that examined people’s attitudes regarding marijuana’s benefits to society.

Gallup’s poll finds that marijuana use was higher among adults between the ages of 18 and 34 with 30 per cent responding that they smoke pot and 22 per cent consume marijuana edibles.

These numbers are significantly lower in both categories for adults 35 to 54 years old (16 per cent ) and Americans 55 and older (7 per cent ).

The analytics and research company conducted a related poll on August 26 that collected responses for a survey discussing alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use among Americans

A new record low of 11 per cent of adults reported smoking cigarettes with approximately three in 10 non-smokers stating they used to smoke, a steep drop in cigarette use compared to 45 per cent n the 1950s.