Update 9-14-04

Hi,

I was going to start with something else, but Booker Gibson just called, which would have been exceptional enough, but, unfortunately, he phoned with sad news. Tom McPartland, who was organizing the Class of '64 reunion this past weekend, collapsed Friday night at the first party. From what Booker can determine, Tom's OK, but he's supposedly still at the South Side Hospital in Islip. If any of you know Tom and call his family, please give him and them our best. I think his home phone, as listed last week, is: 516-456-5758

Here's what I was going to start with -- since it is a presidential election year -- from Jerry Bittman: Several weeks ago, I wrote a column that appeared on the editorial page in the Kearney Hub which is owned by the Omaha World Herald. Many people told me how great it was, and my daughter mentioned that some teachers told her how powerful it was. Well, a couple days ago, I saw how Bush said he mourned the loss of over 1,000 Americans in Iraq. So I proceeded to call the Kerry-Edwards headquarters in Washington, DC My contact there was named David. I also spoke with him several weeks ago, when I called and suggested that Kerry go on the offensive. The other day, I suggested that Kerry ask Bush how many of the funerals Bush attended. We all know the answer is ZERO. Well, I was informed that the subject would be too sensitive for Kerry to ask, BUT that another Democrat would bring it up.
I then mentioned the article that I had written and David asked me to read it to him. When I was finished, he remarked how great it was. He then said that both parties will take articles written by citizens and send them to papers across the nation. I was asked to send them the article, which I did, that same day, and they said they would send it out. Naturally, he could not tell me which -- or if any -- papers would print the article. Nevertheless, I was quite honored and flattered.
Here is the article. It is addressed to Carolyn Scheidies, a Republican writer, and to the
Republican party:
Since Carolyn Scheidies is such an expert on politics (what is her background here?), I'd like to ask her and the Republican party a few questions:
Can Scheidies please inform us how many times President Bush has come to Nebraska during the reign of his administration? And please don't include 9/11/01, when they were trying to keep him out of harm's way.
Can Scheidies please inform us why Republican Representative Doug Bereuter of Lincoln declared the war in Iraq was not justified, and how, because of the war, our country's reputation is at its lowest of all time?
Can Scheidies please inform us how in a period of two years Bin Laden has gone from being WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE to it not being imperative that we capture him, according to the President?
Can Scheidies please inform us why no members of the Bush and Cheney clan are now fighting in Iraq. Or do Bush and Cheney feel the same as Bill O'Reilly of Fox News, who said he would NOT send his son to Iraq?
Can Scheidies please inform us -- with the American death toll in Iraq now over 1,000 -- how many funerals of servicemen the President has attended? (Answer -- Zero.)
Can Scheidies please inform us why the Bush Administration has banned all taking of photos of American draped coffins? Is this not a ban on one of our greatest freedoms?
Can Scheidies please inform us why any rhetoric about anti-Bush statements supposedly comes from radical Liberals -- yet Scheidies and others justify the Bush administration's right to criticize whomever they want?
Can Scheidies please inform us how Vice President Cheney went on "Meet The Press" and said with a straight face that neither he nor the White House had any doings in Halliburton being granted government contracts in Iraq -- in which Halliburton overcharged our government for services -- when in effect proof has come out that they indeed aided Halliburton?
Can Scheidies please inform us how we went from having a budget surplus to having the largest deficit of all time?
Can Scheidies please inform us how during this Administration's tenure more jobs were lost than at any other time in the past 75 years?
Can Scheidies please inform us why during the Bush Administration more leases were granted by the Bureau of Land Management, but they are not being used?
Can Scheidies please inform us where President Bush and Vice President Cheney were during the Viet Nam War?
After 9/11, like many other Americans, I was behind the President. But with lies coming out of his and Vice President Cheney's mouths and no Weapons of Mass Destruction discovered, and with the loss of American lives, and many other people's dreams being destroyed, I changed my stance.
And finally if Scheidies believes this article is being written by a Democrat, she is wrong. In my lifetime, I have voted for four Republican Presidential candidates.
(Note: since this article was published, Carolyn Scheidies has not had the convictions to respond. Also, did everyone see in the news the other day that Tony Blair -- Bush's biggest international ally -- has refused to endorse him in this election?)

On two entirely different subjects, from Zelda White Nichols: Having lived there for 25 years, I find it hard to believe that Massachusetts has the safest drivers. Several years ago, AAA ran a survey that proved Massachusetts drivers were the rudest and most aggressive. I would have to agree with that. Whenever we see someone weaving in and out on our roads here in San Diego, we always say, "They must be from Massachusetts."
Also, my mom lives in Pompano Beach, Florida, right smack on the ocean; she doesn't even have to cross the road to get to it. She evacuated on Tuesday to a hotel in Tamarack, which is quite a way inland. I hope Barbara Pech was as safe as my mom was. As much damage as this hurricane caused, I just came to the realization that I would much rather live in an area of hurricanes than of fires. At least, you get notice several days in advance that a hurricane is expected, so that you can prepare and get out. After being in three major fires in six years, my husband and I are seriously looking to move to North Carolina, although when you come out to our mountains in East County you realize there isn't much left to burn. All one can see is black and brown mountainsides, even more bare where hydroseeding was done -- it never took and the earth still has an odd yellow color. Eleven months later, people are just starting to rebuild, though many find their losses too painful to handle and are moving out of the state. I wonder if those who suffered loss of homes and pets in the Florida hurricanes will feel the same and leave there.

More on the storms, from Marc Fishman: Even though Frances was enormous, short distances can make a huge difference in the amount of damage. We live about 30 miles south of Delray Beach. Our community lost some trees, lots of branches, and we lost power for most of a day. My father lives in Delray and stayed with us. His community has been without power, telephone, or cell phone service for about three days, and many more trees are down. There seems to be minimal damage to homes in south Florida.

Somewhat differently, from Allen Moss: Hey Barnet. Hope you and your family are well. No need to worry about your memory. It has served you very well with regard to my comments about Elliot's beautiful convertible. I should have been more specific to say that it was a 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 Sunliner. There is a great picture of one on the website HubcapCafe.com. The Galaxie line was introduced in the early 1960s and included a number of body styles including a convertible. Remember the Ford models that had that bizarre hard-top "convertible" that disappeared into the trunk? That was a "Starliner." They had to discontinue that model after a few years because the springs kept breaking and the top would fall into the trunk! But they kept the "Sunliner" on for a few more years. Sorry folks, if I am boring you with the trivia. But after owning a vintage auto for eight years, I have gotten hooked! Hope everyone is enjoying the tail end of summer.

From Steve Gootzeit: To Barnet Kellman -- I don't recall Elliott's parents having a Ford Galaxie convertible, just that his mother called him something funny that, for Elliot's sake, I fortunately can't remember.

From Grace Dibble Kincade by way of Barbara Blitfield Pech: We are thrilled to be grandparents again!

From Al Raitano '61 by way of Emily Kleinman Schreiber '61: I finally received word from New York, and my first performance at the San Gennero Festival in Manhattan will be on Thursday, September 16th at 7:30. I will probably do two shows that day. The next day, Friday, the 17th, I will do a late afternoon show at 4:00 PM. That's all I know so far, and as to where the performance will be, I don't know yet. But I believe it's outside, so I shouldn't be too hard to find. Please let everyone know, and I hope to see some of the gang there.

[Rich -- More from my phone conversation with Booker: Despite Tom McPartland's being ill, Booker said the Class of '64's reunion went on and was a lot of fun. He was only there Saturday night, but still saw several other former teachers, including Ed Schmidt and Joe Caruso. Booker also wanted to assure Allen Moss, Thomas Romano, and any others, that young Mr. Seaman, the Biology teacher, eventually turned out to be very good, and he only retired after 30 years. Also, something I didn't know, either from Lawrence Levy's article about Forest Road School or from recent reports about South, is that though the student bodies of both schools may now be nicely mixed, the faculty still isn't so well integrated.]

Finally, from Andy Dolich: Being one of South's most hopeless math students, please forgive my possibly incorrect figgerin' -- that's math in Memphis. But I would like to suggest to Paul DeMartino that the next, and last, reunion take place in 2047. That would make it our 82nd, meaning that a majority of us would be in the ozone layer and others in vegetative states. Still, a select few can actually compare notes on how their favorite shop projects turned out, however impaired or nonexistent their memories may be. I will forward you my address in late '46.

(Actually, Andy relented and said we could contact him as early as late '45.)

Rich