I've Got A Secret

Back in the glory days of television, panel shows were very popular in daytime and evening. One of these was "I've Got a Secret." where the panel members would question a guest in an effort to discover the secret. One day Faye Emerson, a panelist, said one of her favorite memories was as a child chewing sugar cane in  Louisiana.

Some one in Homer got the idea of getting exposure for the town by getting on the show with the secret being "I've brought sugar cane for Faye Emerson." Surprisingly, the show bought the proposal with some changes.  Homer would prepare a little bag of sugar cane for everyone in the studio  audience and Miss Meadpws would be surprised by a gift of stalks of cane.  That's the way it played out, and Homer got publicity while areas of the state that grew much cane watched jealously.

Now, for the rest of the story.  For some reason Jen and I were mentioning this show and a similar one, "What's My Line?"  From somewhere deep in my memory the cane incident came to mind, but I did not recall the panelist. Jen suggested I look it up and I searched for cast of the show and immediately knew the person when I saw Faye.  I then researched her to learn she was born in Elizabeth, La, on a plantation.  From there I researched the show and plain as could be the cane incident was listed as part of a show in 1953.Other members of the cast were Bill Cullen, Jane Meadows and Henry Morgan.  Guests were the doctor who brought Emerson into the world, Olympic champions, and Boris Karloff. Noted was that 40 pounds of sugar cane was presented to Faye Emerson.  In my mind I can still see her look of surprise.

Longtime friend passes

A longtime friend, James Carroll Farrar, passed away this week from cancer, heart problems, and relared health issues.  For the past two decades a major league baseball scout, James Carroll had a long career in coaching baseball and football in high schools.  A highlight of his career was serving as baseball coach for Centenary College.

Actually, we had not met in quite a few years.  My last memory of seeing James was at an annual meeting of the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce where we exchanged some teasing remarks.

I had been acquainted with James for a few years when he introduced football to small Sibley High School.  He and his team had just returned from their opening game with Smackover, Ark., and were enjoying cheeseburgers and milk sharks at the Purple Cow in Homer when I asked him about the game.  Of course, Sibley had been beaten badly.  I asked, "James Carroll, didn't they take it easy on you later in the game? Didn't they substitute,  taking out their first team?"  He answered, "No, they didn't substitute to make it easier.  They would run eleven, rest eleven, run eleven, rest eleven.  They never took it easy on us."

James Carroll was a great guy, always interesting to talk with.  He joins many of my friends of that time.

Hey, I'm back in time for Halloween

If you have noticed I haven't blogged in several days, blame the computer; it has been ill and is not yet fully recovered.

The interest of the nation is on Hurricane Sandy and its catastrophic damage throughout the Northeast and along the Atlantic coast.  I know all of us have those affected in our prayers.  With the most important presidential election ever only a week away, I will have comments later after the attention on the storm has become less intense.

Today let's talk about Halloween coming up Wednesday.  Do the witches you know prefer worn or new brooms or just broom sticks as their mode of transportation?

Halloween never meant much to me as a kid and as an adult I don't think of it as a holiday except that my grandkids get excited and enjoy it so much.  They like wearing a costume, and they enjoy the decorations and love the candy.

No one could enjoy Halloween more that my daughter Jessica when she was four or five.  She rated Halloween more fun than Christmas.  The Boy Scouts had a haunted house for several years and she was part of the cast.  Later, the scouts got the help of a 4-H club and the American Rose Society and carried on a haunted trail for several days, climaxing with the night of Halloween.  A cast of at least 80 was required to present the ride and the event became too demanding to continue.  Although now 22 and a student at Duke seminary, Jessica has decorated her apartment and held a Halloween party.  She still really enjoys the holiday.

Partying with the Obama's

Not even the Kennedy's could stage parties like Obama, who recently had not one but two million dollar parties.  The one for Beyonce cost $4700 per person.  I wonder why I have not been invited to one of these events. My invitations must have been lost in the mail.

I can't do the math

Joe Biden, known  for his gaffes, is saying on the campaign trail that Romney is proposing a 500 trillion, yes that's 500 trillions, tax cut for 120,000 families.  Like Obama, my math knowledge is on about a seventh grade level so I am unsure about my calculations that this amounts to over four million dollars per family. I invite any of you to check and correct me if necessary. 

Naval discharge and road building

I have had no reason to remember my discharge from the navy in the spring of 1946 but oddly my recent research into Huey Long's career brought events around my discharge, especially my trip home from New Orleans, to mind.  I traveled by train to New Orleans but hitch hiked back, along with a man I had  never met allthough he lived two or three miles west of us on the Bellvue road.

We caught a ride with a man who turned out to be an engineer and an interesting person to talk with. Some way Huey Long came up and I expressed my dislike for Long and his machine.  The engineer countered with praise of Long's road building program, declaring that the state had almost no decent roads until Long took over.  One of the things he said that stuck in my mind was that Long made concrete roads 18 feet wide rather than the standard 20 feet, thus getting more miles of road paved for the same money.

At that time and until the past two weeks was I interested enough to check on what the engineer claimed. I went to a site friendly to Long and discovered that Long had indeed converted miles of dirt roads to concrete or gravel.

In 1928 the state had 300 miles of paved roads, only 60 miles of which was maintained by the state. Long launched his building  program and by 1932  the state had 5,000 miles of new paved and gravel roads. Four years later 9,700 miles of new roads and  111 bridges had been built .  It  was possible to go from Shreveport to New Orleans in a day,  Before, it took at least three days,  and three nights in a hotel to make the trip.

"Who made the decision not to save my son?"

First they refused pleas for more security.  Next after the attacks on the consulate they refused cries for help.

They, Obama and his group  watched as the ambassador and other Americans were murdered by Islamic terrorists. They let our people die while they went on with their lives and lied and lied and lied to the American people.  They even apologized to the terrorists.  More and more information about this crime is slipping past the Obama administration's denials and lies, their refusal to comment on the emails which prove that while they called it a demonstration in anger over a film they had knowledge in two days that the attack by the terrorists was pre-planned. 

Some day the father of the Seal will get the answer to his question:
"Who made the decision not to save my son?"