The Publisher's Page BY HAROLD T. BECK

SEPTEMBER 16 - SEPTEMBER 22, 2000

SEPTEMBER 22, 2K

The only difference

Good morning from the Big Easy. I love champagne but I believe I am out of practice. We had a bottle with dinner last night and it flat blew me away.

Sharyn and I are having a wonderful trip. We are acting like typical tourists. I have my digital camera around my neck and have begun speaking Japanese. “Ah so?”

One thing we have done on this trip is to stop at the welcome centers each state has on the border. We have done just about every state on the trip and have not missed one since entering Georgia on Tuesday afternoon. We are doing this because Sharyn did not get down to AAA to get a book that gives her the highlights of where we are traveling. All three of our kids to this day know that Mesa means table or flat surface from a trip we took to California years ago. They, like me, also remember her reading to us endlessly informing us of what was around us as we blasted on through an area.

Anyway, on Wednesday morning as we crossed into Mississippi from Alabama, this time off the beaten path, not on any interstate highway, we made a very pleasant discovery. Around eleven that morning we got off US Highway 82 and stopped at the Mississippi Welcome Center in Columbus, MS. We were blown away with what happened next.

The welcome center was located in the home that Tennessee Williams was born. What a great idea!

I was totally impressed by the concept but the experience didn’t end there. I was getting close-ups of the historical marker not trusting Sharyn’s ability with my digital camera while she went in. She waited for me in the doorway and when I caught up what we found was even more pleasant than the idea of having the welcome center in a birth home. Inside we found Marie Mitchell.

As we entered Georgia the people inside said: “Hello. May we help you?”

As we entered Alabama a woman said: “ Welcome to Alabama.”

As we entered Mississippi, Marie said: “Please come in and welcome to the State of Mississippi and the city of Columbus.”

While all impressions were nice, Marie blew us away. And that was after me saying when we got off the interstate and began going cross country that there was absolutely nothing worth seeing or doing in Mississippi. Marie would make me eat those words.

Inside we found a beautiful old home that had been converted into a Welcome Center for the State of Mississippi, a historical site and educational center in the life of one of our greatest playwrights.  We found that it promoted the immediate area also.

Columbus is a wonderful and charming town on the eastern border of the state. It has a university and it has a business district. The downtown could be on a post card. Besides being clean, it is quite picturesque. At some point in time, someone or some group decided to paint the buildings in soft pastel colors. What a site and what an impression. You were stepping back in time just for that moment that the town was grabbing you.

Marie told us about the area and how rich it was in history. Sharyn found some printed information on an old plantation called Waverly. Marie was quick to tell us that there were daily tours of the house and offered to sell us tickets. It was early and we had no particular time to be anywhere so I went along provided we could have lunch first. I paid Marie, said goodbye to Tennessee Williams, and we went down the street to a very wonderful place called Harvey’s.

We were seated in a booth in the bar so Sharyn could have a cigarette and a wonderful young woman named Alika waited on us. She told us they had great Bloody Marys, so we each tried one. I had to find out if their Bloody Mary was better than Tommy’s Bloody Mary at the Ironstone in Jamestown, NY. I had to. I just had to.

I was not disappointed.

The presentation was excellent. I rated the presentation as slightly better than Tommy’s. As far as the garnishment, the celery stalk was impressive and larger than Tommy’s but there was no slice of pepperoni. Tommy took the garnishment on that basis. Then we got down to the taste. That first sip tells the entire story. I took it.

It had a good first taste. The rim was lined with salt as is Tommy’s and it had a distinct and different taste, as also does Tommy’s. But taking a second and third sip of Harvey’s Bloody Mary, Tommy’s clearly was the winner. The best Bloody Mary is still at the Ironstone in Jamestown. But that didn’t make the place bad. Not at all.

Harvey’s had an excellent menu. Sharyn had a sandwich called Beef and Bird while I had Cajun Catfish. Sharyn was still talking about how good the sandwich was the next day. She also enjoyed the potato salad that came with it, too. Me, I loved the Catfish and I was forced to have a cold draught beer just to wash it down.

After buying one of Harvey’s tee shirts, we went on our way. Following Marie’s directions we turned at a Shell Gas Station too soon and were treated to turtles sunning themselves on a sand bar and got to see the lock and dam on the waterway that runs all the way down to Mobile. Realizing our mistake, we turned around and continued to the proper Shell Gas Station and turned toward West Point.

We followed the signs and traveled a narrow and paved road into the woods. Then all at once it was there. We were at Waverly.

This wonderful home, which is currently lived in, was finished in 1852 by Colonel Young – not a real Colonel, just the Kentucky kind. He came to Mississippi sixteen years earlier with his family and a thousand slaves. Clearing the land so they could plant cotton was the primary objective so the house, at least the great house you see here, was not a priority. The family lived in a log cabin behind the location here.

Slowly the house took shape and over time it was finished. Unfortunately, Colonel Young’s wife died just before the family move in.

Everything in the house, with the exception of the glass around the front door and the marble in the front steps and around some of the fireplaces, was made on the plantation. That included the two original mirrors that still hung in the great room in the center of the house.

At one point in time the house sat vacant. It was open and vacant for fifty years. People who were curious, hunters seeking shelter, animals and varmints of all kinds used the house for whatever they needed. Children played in and around the house and I am sure more than one local family got its start there, too. In spite of that, the original woodwork, plaster, brass, and the two mirrors still remain as they were nearly a hundred and fifty years ago.

Carolyn Dickers gave us a detailed history and tour of the house. A native of the area all of her life, she filled us in on some of the little tidbits that you could never get out of a tour book or prepared information piece.

When the house was built it had over forty acres of gardens. Trees that were there then, like this magnolia, which is said to be the oldest in Mississippi (250 years old) still exist. The place is magnificent inside and out. It was well worth the time and the money we spent to visit it.

And the entire stop was worth it, too. Marie, Alika, and Carolyn were wonderful ambassadors of the area and the State of Mississippi.

Looking back at home, why couldn’t we do the same thing? All the same conditions exist except maybe for someone with the proper vision.

Okay. If we don’t have the vision, we can copy.

Granted, we don’t have a Tennessee Williams; but we do have L. Frank Baum and we can claim him. You know – The Wizard of Oz. Ever hear of that?

And if they wanted to throw in the fat obscure opera singer too, Tom Clark and I would even go along with that.

US 82 is a carbon copy of US 219. It is two lane, three lane, four lane, back to two lane highway in Alabama. It is four lane as it crosses the state line and it also goes around the town of Columbus, just like the way 219 goes around Bradford. The town of Columbus took the initiative and partnered with the State of Mississippi to create the Welcome Center. Why couldn’t we? Sharyn and I never would have stopped had the sign not been on US 82. We never would have stayed had it not been for Marie. We never would have seen the splendor of the old southern mansion if we would have stayed on the highway and kept on our way. What a loss that would have been!

Bradford may not have this but it has other things. It could, if it wanted to, market itself the same way. Why not?

Your comments are welcome at editor@mlrmag.com.

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SEPTEMBER 21, 2K

The Price of Pecora

Good afternoon. Greetings from "the big easy!"

Sharyn and I are traveling and are attending a convention this week. We stayed with friends in Woodland, Mississippi last night and hit the road early this morning. That is why the column is being written in the afternoon rather than first thing in the morning as I usually do. 

However, even being over a thousand miles away, news still reaches me. I have an excellent staff of reporters. And rather than reporting on the condition of homes in Bradford, The Mountain Laurel Review continues to break real news.

The Bradford Area Sanitary Authority has been fined $250,000.

Yes. That is right. TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS and that is before the October 20th deadline to be up to standards when the fines of $20,000 a day begin. 

Who should we blame for that? Why not blame Stanley Pecora!

Our home grown imitation of "il duce" has been the center of the hurricane for quite some time. When City Council and the Mayor refused to reappoint him the city was sued by the other municipalities in the authority. I never understood their thinking. Under Pecora's leadership, or lack thereof, the authority has been placed in the position where the entire system will draw fines each and every day within less than a month unless it can demonstrate that it can handle the large flow of rain water that enters the system every time we have a storm. Is there much chance of that happening? Hardly!

A person with half a brain would be forced to believe that new leadership would be in order. But I am not sure that there are too many of those people lurking around these days. Instead the municipalities hire a lawyer and institute a suit that they have little chance of winning. This is the Garbage Dump Authority writing its own rules illegally all over again.

The fines that come to $250,000 - the same amount the City of Bradford needs to buy a new fire truck, are for infringements and violations much along the same line and in the same order that Bill Slocum went away for. We are polluting the Tuna. We are also way below standards that many smaller municipalities and authorities have been forced to meet. The cost of all of that is $250,000; and when you add Stanley's salary of $60,000 to that we now come to a grand total of $310,000 that this puffed up little demigog is costing us as taxpayers and citizens. Do we need that? I doubt it.

Sitting here waiting for Tropical Storm Henrietta to hit, Hurricane Harold says some people need to get their heads out of their butts and wake up. At the same time, little Johnny Satterwhite and his Bradford Error should start reporting real news and not flufff.

I love your e-mail. I especially enjoyed these two about yesterday's article.

I agree!  I started disliking the Republicans the day that Rush Limbaugh  chose to publicly portray Chelsea Clinton as a homely dogfaced kid. Poor Chelsea!  She was only 12.  Imagine being 12 and having some bully, fat-bellied, balding man call you a dog.  The Republicans were desperate then and continue to be.  To attack children, and especially our national leader's child, at the age of 12 says a lot about us as a country.  No wonder Rush is gone!  

I wonder if Chelsea will run for President someday.  After all, she's the true "survivor".  God Bless our children, no matter how homely they are.  And God Bless those Republicans, no matter how arrogant they are.

Miss Pritchard

And this one came, too.

Good morning, Bud!

I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed yesterday's article about George W. Bush (aka "The Shrub").  A while back, I was waiving the George W. for President flag, but that has changed over the last month or two.  It seems like the more he opens his mouth, the more I realize that he is not very bright.  I agree with your statements about Al Gore and hope that he can pull out a victory in November.

On another note, I hope Sharyn is enjoying her new business venture.  I wish her lots of luck!

Amy

Great hearing from you! Sharyn says to tell you she loves you and that if all the beauty queens in Texas like you vote for Gore, he is a shoe in! Right now she is out shopping. She just left our room and I shudder to think what might happen. Sharyn on the loose in the French Quarter!

Comments are welcome at editor@mlrmag.com. Have a great day. Sharyn and I are off to listen to the Blues.

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SEPTEMBER 20, 2K

The Republican Curse

Good morning. I had occasion to watch George Bush of the "w" variety on Oprah yesterday. I walked away telling myself that I was right. They are all alike.

No. I'm not talking about African Americans. I am talking about Republicans. And they all are alike. Alike in the sense that they are arrogant and as much as they try, they continually talk down to people. Little George did exactly that.

I have watched Gore for a hint of that but I haven't seen it. The stiffness is gone and now we have a warm and genuine man who makes you feel like he wants to move in next door and be your friend. Little George on the other hand, if he wanted to move in next door would surely offer you a good price for your home just so he would not have to be bothered.

Ronald Regan rescued us from the idiocy of the Carter years. He gave us back our pride in America and made us a military power to be reckoned with. Many fence sitters became Republican because of him and the appeal he gave to being a Republican. Once he left office and the erudite Big George took over, all of that changed.

The millionaire Bush family was the answer to the Kennedy dynasty on the other side of the aisle. While he went off and won the Gulf War and even as the parades were still being held, the American people smelled a rat. It was the rat in the White House that didn't have a clue about domestic problems. It was the rat that was spending more and more time abroad and ignoring the problems we as common every day ordinary folk faced.

Is it any wonder Bill Clinton became so popular?

Now we face the exact same thing. Leading in the polls for so long now Bush is behind. It shows on his face. He can't understand it. With all the money and all the support Little George is destined to repeat what his father did. Lose.

And lose he will - and in the end, like his dad, he will not understand why. He won't understand that the American people are tired of angry politicians who know more than everyone else. They are tired of people who want to legislate your morality while they live and do as and how they want. If the rules apply to us, then they apply to them, too. And it is a shame.

Neither man would really hurt the country. Civil Rights would be dead under a Bush administration, but other issues would move forward. Gore has the baggage of the fund raising deal and I wonder if a Republican Congress, an angry Republican Congress at that, might not hamstring him to the point that he would be ineffective? Would we be forced to sit through another round of indictments and an impeachment? Who is to say? Certainly not the people.

And George Bush is typical of Republicans on all levels. They all share that same look, that same anger, and that same aloofness that we see day after day. They feel they have finally realized their destinies and the right to rule is a divine gift, not one bestowed by every day folk. Too bad. Too too bad. They just might be in for a surprise this November.

Your comments are welcome at editor@mlrmag.com. 

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SEPTEMBER 19, 2K

The root of the problem

Good morning and happy birthday to Pat Bailey.  I see that The Error ran the public school student's prayer today, a week after we did. Oh well. As for Tom Clark, this is what he sent along.

Getting Off Easy BY TOM CLARK

I apologize for not having a column in last week. I have a new computer and am having problems with it, which will be corrected this week.

Bradford has been buzzing since Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" lampooned our town last week with their segment on Slick, which has been referred to as looking like anything but an oil drop.

Since I am having computer problems, and am lucky to be able to use it for a brief period at a time, I thought it may be timely to rerun my column that was devoted to Slick and appeared on this website December 4, 1999.

I promise that, next week, I'll return with a full column of new material.

We chose not to rerun the article. 

Stop The Drop By Tom Clark can be found by going to our archives and finding December 4, 1999. As one of our readers pointed out, we have an archive of articles, The Error does not. Maybe they should copy us there, too.

The Error reported today about the librarian at the Bradford Library and the support that local citizens are showing for her. The nine member board of trustees are in the process of hiring a new director for more money. This is nothing new for our area. It has all the shades of tourism, the Chamber of Commerce, and even the animal shelter. If things aren't the way you perceive, replace the director and pay a new one more even if you don't have the money. That's the way we do things around here.

I don't know why I am wasting my time even talking about it. It makes no difference how many people show up and show support, the die is cast and a new director is inevitable. I just have a picture in my mind of Harrijane up there, her face all animated and her head going from side to side explaining how they have all these great applicants for the fine job we have that is now open. I have to laugh at that thought.

It is really a shame that when we face a situation like this that we can't replace the Board of Trustees instead of the director. Really. That makes more sense because the director carries out the wishes of the Board and if the Library, or any other organization for that matter is in bad shape, then it is their fault first and foremost. They should resign and form a new board.

Think about it. I have. With the scandal over Firestone Tires I watched the news and saw the President of Firestone testify before Congress. I noted he was Japanese. Why doesn't he do the honorable thing and kill himself? 

The same would then hold true with the Board of Trustees in a sense. We wouldn't want them to kill themselves but they could eliminate themselves by resigning and allowing some other group to take over. Then if they wanted to replace the Librarian and pay the new one more money we could justify it by saying it was for the best and a step forward. 

But to have Harrijane and eight other people to arbitrarily say that this Librarian was no good and they were going to replace her is the absolute height of hypocrisy. And Harrijane of all people would know all about that.

Now, as for you Tom, the only reruns we have are mine. The Best of  Bud has a ring to it. The Best of Tom just doesn't do it for me. Get Joe to come over and fix the darn thing and get writing. Your apologies are no substitute for you sharp wit. Our readers will certainly agree with me on that. 

Your comments are welcome at editor@mlrmag.com. 

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SEPTEMBER 18, 2K

Mommy and me

Good morning. Today you are in for a treat. We are featuring one of our new staff writers and I found this especially thought provoking.

Thoughts forwarded on newspaper reading

Have you ever thought about why people read newspapers? I recently received this in my email and added a few thoughts of my own.

The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the  country.

The New York Times is read by people who think they run the  country.

The Washington Post is read by people who think they ought to run the country.

USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don't understand the Washington Post.

The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country, if they could spare the time.

The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country.

The New York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's running the country.

The New York Post is read by people who don't care who's running the country, as long as they do something scandalous.

The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure there is a country, or that anyone is running it.

The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country.

The Bradford Error is read by people who think they know how to run the country.

The Mountain Laurel Review is read by people who care how the country is run.

MOMMYERMA

And in keeping with that, I notice the McKean County Garbage Dump is making the news again. 

First they cancel the monthly meeting. Why? Then we are treated to a bill that could mean an end to the proposed expansion and the sudden end to the place. Surprise! Surprise! Now tonnage is down. Does that mean we are losing money? Are they about to default on a bond payment? What's up after all the silence?

That is by far the most mismanaged albatross in the history of this area. 

The taxpayers will ultimately live to regret that no one listened when I wanted to sell the place and make it a tax paying property. Will they remember what I did when I went as far as finding someone who would buy it from us and get us out of debt. What do we owe now? Is it in the area of $14 million or so? Who do you think will pay that off when the 
Garbage Dump Authority is no more? Guess!

Comments are welcome at editor@mlrmag.com. 

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SEPTEMBER 16 & 17, 2K

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