During a visit to Saloon last summer, Charles Barkley asked Abate how he was enjoying teaching, and was disappointed to learn that Abate had still not returned to Temple because of problems securing financial aid. Abate, 28, of South Philly, started at Temple in 1997, months after graduating from St. John Neumann High.

Sir Charles told Abate he would like to help him with his tuition, and Abate wasn't sure how to respond. Barkley didn't give him much time, telling Abate that he had the length of Barkley's meal to decide. Abate wisely accepted.

"He's a nice kid," Barkley said of Abate on Friday. "He was working with kids, I loved that he wanted to be a teacher, and I wanted to help him," Barkley told us by phone between stops on a flight to Reno where he was making a speech.

When we joked to Barkley that people were going to be calling him today asking for money, he said "People always call me asking for money, and Christian never asked, which is why I wanted to help him out."Abate says he will be forever grateful to Barkley who is "giving me a second shot at doing something with my life."

Abate is scheduled to graduate next May. Barkley says that helping Abate is in line with his efforts to aid in education, which has been important to him in recent years. Barkley's given $1 million to his Alabama high school Leeds, another million to Corningstone High, in a poor area of Birmingham, and $1 million to Auburn University, where he played before being drafted by the Sixers in 1984.

HughE Dillon/PhillyChitChat.com

Jane Lynch, whose credits include "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Best in Show," slurped oysters, one of her favorite foods, Friday at XIX at the Park Hyatt at the Bellevue. Lynch, here to receive the Artistic Achievement award from the 14th Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, was a guest of Thom Cardwell, development Director for Philadelphia Film Society, which produces the festival, as were her "Tru Loved" director Stewart Wade, and festival shorts programmer Rob O'Neil. Lynch's co-star in "Tru Loved," Alec Mapa, will be town on Friday to receive the festival's GLBT Entertainer of the Year award. Sunday morning at Mixto (1141 Pine), Lynch was given a chocolate Tastykake with a birthday candle as a surprise from festival interim managing director Mark James for her 48th birthday, which was yesterday. Other guests, including Hollywood photographer Michael Childers and producer Jerome Hellman, here for the 40th anniversary tribute to "Midnight Cowboy" and its late director, John Schlesinger (also a past PIGLFF artistic achievement winner), chimed in, singing birthday wishes to Lynch. She received a gift of personalized note cards from Fabulous Stationery from IMPAX Marketing's Jay Arnold, a host of this year's festival.

NBC 10's Vince DeMentri picked a good week for vacation. The 4 p.m. anchor was previously scheduled off this week; however, in his absence, the station is figuring out how to handle some type of off-air situation that led to DeMentri's being kept off his scheduled shifts last Thursday and Friday following a meeting with news director Chris Blackman. "He is on vacation," said a station spokeswoman yesterday, declining to comment on what happened last week or on when DeMentri may return to the air. The anchor, who is known to have a hot temper, was suspended for a week in 2006 after nearly coming to blows with meteorologist Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz.

UPDATE: For the past two Thursdays news trucks have been chasing rumors that Larry Mendte would be making a court appearance and now there are news trucks outside the Lower Merion Police Station in Ardmore where DeMentri is rumored to be turning himself in today in relation to an alleged incident in the parking lot of NBC 10's Bala Cynwyd headquarters. The incident is believed to have involved DeMentri possibly vandalizing reporter/anchor Lori Delgado's car. The anchor had been planning a Jamaican getaway, but sources tell us he did not leave the country and is still in the area. DeMentri and Delgado, who is married, have in the past enjoyed a particularly close friendship. In May 2007 we reported that DeMentri was in the process of a divorce from QVC host wife Pat James DeMentri.  Delgado could not immediately be reached for comment and DeMentri has not returned voicemails left on his cell phone. Lower Merion Police have not returned a request for information over a police report which sources tell us was recently filed over the alleged incident. A station spokeswoman this morning declined to comment on whether DeMentri had vandalized Delgado's car.

UPDATE: Lower Merion Township spokeswoman Brenda Viola said this afternoon that she could not say there was not an investigation into an incident in the NBC 10 parking lot, but said if there had been one it would be over and she did not expect DeMentri to either be arrested or turn himself in over the matter. "This is now a non-issue," Viola said. A Lower Merion Police official just told news crews they should leave as there is no story to be found.