I wrote an item in the October Jottings, about a woman candidate for office here in Florida. She claimed she was running against a dead man. It was also reported in the Philadelphia Daily News. It confirmed what I said in the jottings, that the explanation for her bizarre behavior arises from her background. She and her husband had moved here from Philadelphia. What I failed to note, what the Daily News’ columnist did, namely:
“In Philadelphia being dead is no bar to office. The unliving are 2-0 here. In 1975,voters re-elected City Councilman Francis D. O’Donnell after he had gone on to his eternal rest. That ignited a mini-trend as, less than a year later Rep. Bill Barrett ran deceased and won renomination. Barrett went on to serve a few months, and, while useless at ribbon cuttings, caused no harm to either his constituents or the Republic. Which is more than can be said for his successor, Ozzie Myers, who as a living Congressman, became ensnared in the Abscam bribery sting and had to go to jail.”
I sent a note to the writer advising him that he had overlooked a crucial fact about this Florida candidate, viz., that she was a former Philadlphian. On October 16th the note I sent was published in a column. You can see it on line at: <http://www.phillynews.com/daily_news/ /98/0ctl61ocai/CONN16.htm>
The Daily News reads:
“Former Philadelphian, Paul Leo McSorley emails us from Florida about our Wednesday item on dead candidate…”
I learned of its appearance in the paper from Dick O’Donnell, an old friend and, a Realtor in Philly. He called to tell me my email had been published. He sent me the page from the paper. I had believed it would be in the “Letters to the Editor” column since that is where I addressed it, so it was a surprise to see it published in the column: “Clout Connected”.
Dick O’Donnell and I met through of politics. He had an office for many years on Rising Sun Avenue in Olney “Richard K. O’Donnell Realtor” He often lunched at the Schwarzwald Inn, located in those days at 2nd and Olney. I was running for the office of State Legislator in 1966. I was at the bar having, I presume, a beer and lunch with some friends. The barkeep was another friend, Michael “Mickey” O’Rourke. He and Dick were chatting about the candidate Dick was working for as I listened. I am sure that Mickey knew I was the opposing candidate and was just egging him on to catch my reaction. I had none other than to go over and meet this friend and a supporter of Tom Gola, my opponent. We were friends from that day forward. Years later (1971) I would serve as a Jury Commissioner with a lawyer who had his name on Dick’s Realty Office window for years, Charles J. O’Connor, Esq., always referred to a “Chass”. Over the years, after I lost to Gola, Dick continued to be a friend, a client, and my Real Estate agent. When we left Philadelphia in 1997, it was he who we sold our home. This is the Dick O’Donnell who noticed the item in the Daily News column and called me.
A favorite NY Time’s writer of mine, Francis X Clines, wrote another piece of newspaper writing that caught my fancy. He was reporting on the Congress getting down to work on the budget with time running out. He had this comment:
“Public debate can once more romp far from the body politics’ erogenous zones to the topics like the usual last minute repriming of the Federal Budget, the length of duck season in Mississippi, and the Sense of Congress Resolution Concerning the Inadequacy of Sewage Infrastructure Facilities in Tijuana, Mexico.”
THE TERMINATOR VII
By Arnold Greangraskopf
“I check the contents carefully since they are deadly; next the trigger. Is it quick? Is it ready? Everything seems in order. I slowly strolled out the door and onto the grass. Head down, I peer left then right, hand loosely gripping the trigger. I stare intently among the blades and then I see ONE. There he is the ENEMY, glaring back at me. I tighten my hand on the trigger; squeeze aiming at him, ZAP! …Down goes another ‘dollar weed'”. (To be continued)
This macho feeling of killing weeds gets to me sometimes. This whole sequence ran through my mind the last time I did the job. Something like a Woody Allen act where he attacks mechanical objects, like his VCR and TV, since they don’t do as he wishes. He beats them with the aerial from his TV and then sits grinning and exhaling the words: “It makes me feel so virile!”
Rereading the above reminded me of some the acts we saw last weekend at Sea World and Universal Studios. At some of the performances, prior to the main show, they had skits and in one case a Mime wandering in the audience. In another there was a Groucho and Harpo Marx cascading about causing laughter. The warm up acts were short and great, not that the main attractions weren’t, but they were usually humans and the main act was composed of Dolphins, or small animals. We spent one day at Sea World and one at Universal. We managed for the first time, starting at 9AM and going till 6PM, to visit all the open rides and shows at Universal. I say “we” editorially, I did skip some. Kelly and Matt and their Mom and Dad were the only ones on the new Atlantis water slide and ride. June had second thoughts upon arriving at the spot after noting the height and drop of the slide as it left the building. We had seen the ride being built on prior visits and she had thought she might give it a whirl, but exercising that well-known womanly prerogative “she just changed her mind”. It was two days of exercise while being entertained. We plan to visit Disney World, Animal Kingdom, and maybe go back to Universal for its Halloween Shows, next week (Oct 26-29) sans children or guest. It is gift to our selves from our own Santa Claus. Our plans include dinner reservation a few nights at some of our favorite restaurants in Epcot and elsewhere. This is all part of a premeditated and deliberate plan to demonstrate we are still on “vacation”.
We will not be back at this machine until November is nearly here, so I am going to close with a note to each.
Ron and Mary,
The last shall be first. I start my notes this month with you and hope to find all is well with the guys and you. We are looking forward to seeing them and you. How we’ll manage it is not yet determinable since we have a limited number of days and a seemingly unlimited number of people in many places we would love to see. I suppose Sue is having all for T-day. Is anyone planning on a gathering on Black Friday, or will you be gone to Rochester or places north? I don’t even know if you, Mary, are still at the same Email address, are you? If so I could send you a sketch of our schedule as we get nearer to leaving. Well, hopefully it will all work out and no matter where you are or what is going on, we WILL see those guys! Meantime give them Huge Hugs from Pop-pop and Grand mom June.
Love, Dad