Newspaper Clipping of the Day, Valentine's Day Edition

I don't know what says "A Strange Company Valentine's Day" more than this news item from the "Fremont [Ohio] News Messenger," February 14, 1976.

Bullets sting a lot more than Cupid's arrows, so Michael J. Hubbard of Akron has decided to call off the wedding.

Hubbard, 31, said Friday from his hospital bed he's decided his marriage plans were definitely off after being shot by girlfriend Rosie Moss, 33, three times in 16 months. Hubbard said the wedding was planned for today in Detroit, but he added, "I'm not getting married now. I'm no fool. I'm tired of getting shot."

Hubbard, who said he and Miss Moss have been living together for several years, was resting comfortably in City Hospital here with a bullet wound in the right leg. He told police he was "coming home and she shot me.. .she put all my clothes in the back yard. I opened the door and got shot."

Police told The Associated Press reports have been filed with them on each of the shootings, but Hubbard decided in each case not to press charges despite their recommendation he do so in the last two incidents.

The first shooting, according to the police, was in November, 1974, when Hubbard was wounded in the neck. Police records show he was shot in the right forearm last July. Miss Moss' only comment on the couple's problems was "he tries to rule, and that don't go." Hubbard said the couple had been "getting along pretty well" since the second shooting, "but I'm moving out now."

That was probably a wise decision. To be honest, I've never been able to say what my "ideal mate" would be like, but I'm pretty certain it wouldn't be someone who repeatedly sends me to the emergency room. One shooting, OK. You could write off a second as "just one of those days." Three such incidents, and you start to get the idea that maybe these two just weren't made for each other.