The Daily News-Journal from Murfreesboro, Tennessee • 4

Page Four, Friday, June 12, 1992 OPINION T-" -iii i i Editorial stenous My Wardens for forest at Palace? By MIKE WEST News Journal Associate Editor Hammerhead, fiscal genius that he is, has solved the plight of Murfreesboro's policemen. "Make 'em game wardens," Hammerhead suggested during a recent session at his favorite meat and three restaurant. "Huh? What are you talking about, asked one coffee drinker. malaise explained A lot of us have been suffering over the past few weeks. Some of our friends and ac Demo mayors don't wave party flag at Perot meeting News Analysis quaintances have seemed withdrawn and listless and perhaps you know people who've been acting the same way.

We tracked down the cause of this puzzling malaise. The Linebaugh Public Library has down as it moves into the new facility in the city county civic plaza. You don't realize what a treasure your local library is until it closes its doors for an extended periodr Inside a library's doors you can lose yourself-in- the -adventures-found inside novels, read about the lives of great people, learn a hobby or how to fix the kitchen sink." Those shelves contain countless universes -of ideas just waiting for you to explore. All it takes is a free library card. Since Linebaugh closed down for the move several weeks ago, area book lovers have been wandering helpless in a cultural desert.

Well, we've got two pieces of good -news. The new facility is set to open Monday and the old facility on West College Street will be open for one more fond visit this weekend. No, the library's thousands of fiction and non-fiction tomes won't be there anymore- but the environment at the former U.S. Post Office will still be bookish as the Friends of Linebaugh Library throw their annual book sale. The Friends will be selling donated paperbacks, hardcovers and magazines of every description between 9 a.m.

and 3 p.m. both today and Saturday. The group will also be glad to accept donations of books. The Friends are a necessary organization. Though the city and county government providOfeiding for the library, the money is not enough to provide many of the luxuries other libraries can afford: most notably, new books.

Linebaugh has for years gotten by on donations of memorial books and money raised by the Friends. Just because Linebaugh has a fancy new home, don't think the paucity of publically purchased books will ease. Unless something drastic changes in the hearts and minds of our civic fathers, the library must depend upon donations and fundraisers for years to come. We salute The Friends of Linebaugh Library for carrying forward with their vital work and urge everyone to go buy a book to help their cause. And we're anxiously awaiting Linebaugh's reopening Monday.

to check," White said. It's a loaded comparison. But it was White's praise of Perot that made the network news and newspapers around the country and that is remembered at the Clinton and Democratic headquarters. "We won't be sending out Thank You' cards," said one senior Clinton aide when asked about the meeting. Perot sought the meeting and it was held under the auspices of the U.S.

Conference of Mayors, a nonpartisan group in whose interest it is to draw to urban issues it feels are ignored by the Bush administration and Congress. So before the Dallas meeting, even Clinton shrugged off the political significance of the session." "I think that's all right," he "I you know, that if he wants to listen to them and learn from them, that's a good That remark, however, came before the mayors heaped such hearty praise on Perot. Clinton aides noted that no Republican mayors were in the group, with independent Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez joining the four Democrats led by Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn. Flynn has been hot and cold in his treatment of Clinton and dangled the prospect of supporting Perot. And the Clinton camp noted that some Democratic mayors were loyal enough to pass up a day in the headlines among them Chicago's Richard -Daley and New York Mayor David Dinkins, who proudly waved his party- colors, saying there "no way in hell, jiot a chance" that he'd back Perot.

That was a sharp contrast to the scene in Dallas, where James interrupted his praise of Perot at one point to say that he had told the Texas billionaire he was wearing a Clinton campaign button inside his jacket. It's hardly the show of support Clinton could use right now, and a remarkable moment in an episode that gave currency to Will Rogers' overused, for good reason, adage: "I'm not a member of any organized party I'm a Democrat." By JOHN KING AP Political Writer WASHINGTON (AP) You'll find "discipline" and 'Democrat" in the same section of any dictionary, but sometimes it doesn't seem quite right. Just as most of the party rallies around presidential candidate Bill Clinton, a few Democrats the other day handed Ross Perot another "111 Fix Any Mess" headline, not something that was likely to please Clinton as he trails in public opi-nion polls. -r- The episode in question was the trip to Dallas by four Democratic mayors including two who have endorsed Clinton talk urban policy with the likely independent presidential challenger. The mayors also talked up Perot, who got network news attention and headlines across the country for the Monday meeting without talking to reporters himself.

The mayors, to the dismay of many fellow Democrats, did the talking for him. "Quite frankly, we met an exciting, dynamic person today," Newark Mayor Sharpe James said after meeting Perot. "He is a threat to the two-party system. We met a reaL candidate for the presidency of these United States." James also said Clinton risked losing minority voters to Perot: "Bill Clinton is going to have to offer more specifics," said James, who just weeks ago endorsed the Arkansas governor. San Diego Mayor Maureen O'Connor, a Democrat but never a Clinton fan, Went even further.

"We need to look at an independent candidate," she said. Also on -the- trip was Cleveland Michael -White, who two weeks ago in Ohio dismissed suggestions he was late and unenthusiastic in joining the Clinton bandwagon "I was struck by his frankness and willingness to listen," White said after the meeting with Perot. Back in Cleveland, White was suddenly sounding the party line again, "suggesting Perot's support would wane once voters found out more about him, and drawing and implicit comparison to none other than Adolf Hitler. 'There's a historical parallel where this country is and where another country was, and where a leader came" out of nowhere who said all the right things, who made all the people feel very good, and ended up. being 1,000 percent different from what he was portrayed only because nobody thought 'Well, you were a sayin' that Murfreesboro's 4 policemen deserve a raise and I agree.

They do deserve a raise since drugs and all that crime stuff has started slippin' into Murfreetown' Ham- merhead preached. "They do need a raise, but the trick is to give 'em one without further bustin' the budget," he said, stopping to take a slurp of java. -'How's that possible? It seems like every time we turn around we're getting hit with another tax increase," the coffee drinker commented. 'Th-h-a-a-t's right," drawled Hammerhead. And thafs the beauty of my plan." Hammerhead' set there drinking coffee and tj grinning as his compatriots asked about his latest -plan for Murfreesboro's financial "The answer is pretty obvious," he smirked.

"I can tell you folks haven't! driven by Pheasant's Palace lately." "Pheasant's Palace? Oh, you mean, the Garage-mahal," someone answered. "Th-h-a-at's right. Noticed all those trees been planting? "It's been suggested that the city fathers are planning to stock that forest- with wild game squirrels, rabbits, deer and such; -You gotta admit -that it is the perfect habitat. 'There's all kind of cover and that nice stream built will supply the critters with all the water they need," Hammerhead said. His theory was met with giggles, bellylaughs and shakes of the head.

Tm The city fathers can't be expectin' the taxpayers to accept the burden for all of that," Hammerhead answered. 4 Somebody asked Hammerhead how he hatched his latest theory. 'Well, it came to me in a flash. I had wondered I why they were moving all that topsoil in. You might remember I suggested the city could install a motocross track there.

And that was a pretty good theory at the time. "But one thing kept buggin' me 1 couldn't figure out what that' little round structure with the condom on top was. I first heard that it was a I shower stall for the homeless, but I knew that I couldn't be right. drivin' by the. Brickyard other, night .1 when it hit me.

That little structure is a ranger's tatioji just Jike alJellyslon.fi -National -Park," Hammerhead said. "A ranger's station?" someone asked. "You're durn tootin'. If they're gonna stock that I nice woods with wild game, you've gotta have rangers to protect them from poachers and street preachers," Hammerhead answered. "Where's the city going to find park rangers? Cedars of Lebanon?" another loafer queried.

"Heck no and that's the beauty of the plan. "Almost every policeman I know has some kinda 1 of part-time job just to make ends meet. The city I could end this problem by hiring off-duty police I officers to serve as park rangers. Don't you agree it is a perfect solution?" Hammerhead asked. "But who will pay their salaries?" asked a listener.

"Not to worry. The funds for their salaries would come from hunting licenses just like TWRA. As nice as that woods and stream are, there will soon "A be a animal population problem up there at the Palace. 'The city could sell permits to hunt in that woods. I would suggest a fee of $25 for squirrels, $50 for rabbits and $125 for deer," Hammerhead said.

"Isn't that pretty steep?" the coffee drinker asked. EDITOR'S NOW: John King covers national politics for The Associated Press. Long hair a sign of male freedom L. M. Boyd Men tend to assert their freedom from authority by growing their hair long.

Or at least they've done so, in modern times. Women show their independence by cutting their hair short. Not true of all men arid women, certainly. But nothing is true of all men" and women. That's Item No.

714D in our Love and War man's overset file. Said Andrew Jackson: "Never in my life have I seen a Kentuckian without a gun and a pack of cards and a bottle of whiskey." changing. If youlive on the downwind edge of your city, maybe you can verify this: Weather experts say it tends to rain a little more on that side of town. Q. Why is the Emerald Isle of Ireland reputedly so much greener than other countries? A.

Limestone under the sod, rain over it. Some say the cheapest way to soundproof a room is stick egg cartons to the wall with rubber cement. Stores that stay open five nights a week do" half their business in the evening, according to the market researchers. Just as birds teach their young to fly, yea, so do seals teach their young to swim. EMOTIONAL Q.

Has it ever been proven that women are really more emotional than men? A. Not at all. It has only been proven that men traditionally have been more inclined by training to a lid on it. But that, too, is said to be "You're payin' for convenience. You can park your pickup in the parking garage, take the elevator up, bag your limit and be outta there in less than 15 minutes," Hammerhead grinned.

As his audience chuckled in disbelief, one listener ventured a final question: "What about the city's firemen? They deserve a raise too." "If you've gotta a forest, you've gotta have fire rangers too. Somebody's gotta keep those campfires extinguished," Hammerhead said as he hit the door. 3 Jatly tias Journal RUTHERFORD COUNTY'S OWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1849 Th Murfreesboro News Estoblished 1849 The Horns Journal Established 1880 D. G. "PETE" BENNETT, Publisher Mike Pirtle.

Editor Angela Murphy, Advertising Director Judy Scantland, Classified Manager Barry D. Vinson, Circulation Manager THE MID-SOUTH PUBLISHING COMPANY. INC. 224 N. Walnut Street, Murfreesboro, TN 37130 (615) 893-5860 Q.

What's "wallyball?" A. Volleyball in a walled court wherein the ball can be bounced off the walls. How much food you actually need depends, too, on your clothing. A loincloth native in the tropics requires food daily. An Arctic native in full hide and fur can go without food for almost a week.

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