By Damian Tatum
The Levee staff writer
Brad, Angie say they’ll take Ray:
New Orleanians breathed a collective sigh of relief last week, as celebrity super-couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie confirmed they are in late-stage negotiations to adopt New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
The couple had been frustrated in their recent attempts to adopt a Vietnamese child, due to international legal restrictions preventing unmarried parents from adopting. No such restriction applies to Nagin, according to Ann S. Williamson, Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Social Services.
“Married, unmarried, gay, straight, space aliens, hell. They can have him,” Williamson said at a joint news conference with Jolie, Pitt, and a scowling, towel-swaddled Nagin.
Although it is hoped that simply removing Nagin – or “Baby Ray,” as Jolie has nicknamed him – from City Hall and remanding him to a nursery in the couple’s renovated French Quarter mansion will dramatically accelerate the city’s recovery, residents have not given up hope that the couple will also adopt District Attorney Eddie Jordan and New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley.
“Well, you know, those two do tend to fight a lot, and they’re sneaky,” Jolie said. “Let’s see if we can get this one to play nice first.”
Gov. Kathleen Blanco announced that citizens can apply for adoption by Pitt and Jolie through the governor’s new “Road to Someone Else’s Home Plan.” Delays began immediately, and the program is expected to make its first awards no later than 2013.
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