All The News Not Fit To Print

If you recall, I mentioned in one of my columns a while back that our family was involved in a volunteer group called "A Soldier's Wish List." Members on their own initative send packages to individual troops in Iraq. As a result of our involvement we have become rather friendly with a medic in Bagdad - Sgt. Michael Bone. He considers himself the adopted brother of our daughter. When he can, Mike, who is from North Carolina, will drop us a line either by e-mail or letter. I would like to share with you the following excerpt from his latest letter.

"The area we are patrolling and maintaining is getting better. We are doing good things with the people in the area. The battalion that we are in have been doing a lot of med caps which is an event where we go out and set up a sick call for the people of Iraq and help the Iraqi doctors take care of the people. We are also going around and trying to redo a lot of the schools for the children here in Iraq. So what you see on TV is the bad stuff, just know we do good things as well."

The problem has always been that we sensationalize our news. The average stuff is too boring for us to bother ourselves with. We cannot continue to bash a president who represents the other party by pointing out that maybe there are those who are better off because of our presence. Yes the "Ugly American" does exist but he is in the minority. Sadly he is the one who gets the press.

Guys like Sgt. Bone are doing what they can to provide people what they deserve: freedom from tyranny.

We Doth Protest Too Much

We detest sex in the movies but it flurishes because people flock to the movies to see just how far producers will go. And producers use the attendance figures to say, "See the public likes it and wants more." We protest violence in games but each day the sales of them increases because kids are allowed to buy them and manufacturers say, "See the public likes them and wants more."

Can it be any different with The Hillary?

So many people protest her past antics that supporters say,"Hey, look how popular she is everyone is talking about her."

When I was in the service our commander had the responsibility to select two fellows out of our basic training group for promotion. He had no idea who the players were and usually acted on the advice of the drill sargeant. For some reason this did not happen with one of the groups. The commander made his own selections. No one could understand why he made the choices he did until one barrack's mate realized that they were the two who had previously been repremanded for catching flies and putting them in the salt shakers.

Sometimes people tend to forget why others are so popular.

Not Yet Popular

Across U.S. 27 from Alan Jay's Chrysler showroom is a cozy and tidy little Cuban restaurant called Nelli's. It opened about six weeks ago and is well worth looking into. While the owners Nelli and Ari Salgueiro are from Havana, Cuba, they've lived in Lake Placid for the past seven years. In fact Ari is a Lake Placid Middle School teacher so you can expect to find menus and things in English - translated from Cuban of course.

Can't find the menu? Peek on the opposite side of the placemat: it's there.

The Cuban bread is imported fresh from a bakery in Miami (the other Cuba). And while Nelli's advertise Cuban sadwiches, they actually offer what they call El Habanero. It's like a Cuban but the pork is replaced with beef.

Opening the restaurant has fulfilled a long-time dream of the couple to own their own business.

For more information you can call them at 402-5652

Overheard

Overheard at the checkout counter: The entertainment writers are on strike. Hurrah. Now perhaps we'll get a little respite from the need of movie and television producers to "push the envelope."