Category: default || By jt3y

If Almanacking (is that even a word?) has been light recently, it's mainly because of the book. I've promised to have the manuscript to the publisher by May, and any "creative" "energies" (and in my case, I use those words in their loosest possible senses) have to go in that direction.

Otherwise I expect to find an angry mob of ex-G.C. Murphy employees standing at my front door with pitchforks and torches.

Also, I have spent the last two days fighting a sinus headache that has now decided to take up residence in my ears, and it's taken what little willpower I have to keep from using the power drill to drain some of the pressure off. So there's that. A lot of sleep and judicious use of the humidifier today is helping.

But I didn't want to let any more time go by without noting that Pat Cloonan, writing in the Daily News this week, called "bullsh-t" on Steve Bland, CEO of the Port Authority (new motto: "You can't get there from here"). In a story published last Saturday, Bland complained to Joe Grata of the Post-Gazette that "95 percent" of the people testifying at the service reduction hearings have been riders, not public officials.

As Cloonan pointed out (sorry, the story's not online for non-subscribers), something like 20 of the 60-odd people testifying at the hearing in Our Fair City last week were elected officials or leaders of non-governmental community agencies like Turtle Creek Valley MH/MR. I missed the first part of the hearing, but I saw state Rep. Marc Gergely there, although I didn't get a chance to talk to him.

Bland told Cloonan that McKeesport was the "exception."

Hmmm. Maybe, or did the P-G just take Bland's word for it that public officials aren't attending?

And is anyone from the P-G attending? Because Pat was the only representative of the media (OK, I guess I am, too) that I saw at the Palisades last Thursday night.

Just askin', is all.

. . .

In other news, I wanted to note that city native Bob Carroll Jr. died last week at 87 in Los Angeles. You probably didn't know his name, but you knew his work --- Carroll was a writer for Lucille Ball and worked on every TV show she ever had, including I Love Lucy. Born here in 1919, an obituary in the Washington Post notes that he moved with his family to Florida at age 3, and I don't know that he had any local ties in the region.

He started working with Ball on her radio show, My Favorite Husband (really the prototype of Lucy) before making the leap to television with her in 1953. Carroll and longtime writing partner Madelyn Pugh Davis eventually stayed with Ball until her last show, Life With Lucy, left the air in 1986.

Ivan Shreve Jr. has an item about Carroll's career over at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear. Requiescat en pace.

. . .

To Do This Weekend: I know what I'm going to do --- drink a lot of fluid and hope my sinuses drain. You, on the other hand, might want to register for the driver safety courses that Carnegie Free Library of McKeesport is offering next week --- if you're a senior citizen. (Today, I feel like a senior citizen, and Lord knows I could use some driving classes. At least people who've been passengers in my car seem to think so.) Qualified seniors will receive a 5 percent reduction in their auto insurance premiums, which sounds like a good deal to me. Call (800) 559-4880 (Tube City hard-hat tip: McKeesport Recreation Committee) ... Pittsburgh Area Jitterbug Club has dancing at the Palisades at 9 p.m. Saturday. Hope your long winter underwear doesn't show underneath your poodle skirts. (The ladies, that is. The guys aren't wearing poodle skirts, although it's none of my business if you do.) Call (412) 366-2138. ... Artifacts and photographs of the history of steelmaking are on display in the exhibit "Steel Around: Big Steel's Enduring Legacy," at the Bost Building, East Eighth Avenue in Homestead, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Call (412) 464-4020.