Saying there is a constitutional guarantee for two homosexuals to marry is just a few steps away from saying there’s a constitutional guarantee to marry more than one person, or for relatives to marry, or even for people to marry their pets. And that’s all I will ever have to say on the subject…except if the liberals in this nation continue to have their way at the current pace I will live to see the Crocodile man divorce his wife and marry his favorite young alligator.

And there is no sense commenting further on Greg Sakas who found a federal judge to rule that the city must give him a conditional use permit within 11 days of his posting an injunction bond. It’s just what Suffolk needs, a smut store, and it appears every one in town against such an emporium will sit on their hands, perhaps praying that the city will still find a way and his grand opening will be but temporary. There has not been even one letter to the editor of any paper, no churches up in arms, so I hope it ends up on Prentis Street as a tourist attraction.

Nice going Mr. Sakas, apparently I have misjudged your potential customer base. Obviously there will be no boycott.

Have you figured out yet who will ultimately own the newly restored Sleepy Hole golf course? Much excitement over the 18th hole and others gone over with a fine-toothed comb. Well over a million of someone’s dollars have been spent to bring the course up to snuff and it’s too bad you can’t afford the greens fees. If the city owns and manages the place our hope is that the income beats the outlay so taxpayers don’t end up in a sand trap or swampy waterhole. And certain favored individuals won’t get to play at a reduced rate. Surely all details will be announced shortly, or did I miss them? If this project is for the benefit of Suffolk recreation seekers we hope as much will be spent to accommodate the local fishermen. The waters in our city are not subject to limited capacity as are golf courses and tennis courts.

I told a couple friends in England how we are wetting our pants over the price of gas. They just smiled…they have been stuck with nearly double our costs for eons.

Over there Peggy Poynter drives a car so small I have to stick my legs out the window. Bill Bennett says to hell with an auto and thumbs his way around. His is a small town. Of course their prices are calculated in liters and that makes it impossible for any American high school graduate to make a price comparison with ours. I gave up long ago and just agree they are being shafted. They decry the fact their country is an island and shipping gasoline to them is a difficult task at best. But I remind them that our liberty ships brought everything they needed during the ’40s. As I typed that last sentence I thought, for the first in my many years, why is there an &uot;s&uot; in island.

A local friend of mine drives one of those gas-guzzling SUVS we used to call a panel truck. All the manufacturer did was put windows in the sides and replaced folding chairs with seats. They jazzed up the horsepower and made them more aerodynamic. Like you have to worry about that at 55 miles per hour. My friend owns one so big it looks like a billboard and she drives it only for &uot;safety reasons.&uot; When she hit the back of a row of stopped cars the weight of her vehicle sent the three in front flying like croquet balls. No damage except to replace her twelve-hundred dollar bumper…the victims swore they had been hit by a Sherman tank.

And I won’t breathe another word about taxes. Our Council, as hard as they tried, failed to find even one vote to reduce the tax rate. It’s really amazing how the amount expected to come in, and they got a huge bonus from the state coffers, almost exactly matched the amount absolutely necessary to spend. When Curtis Milteer speaks, six agree. They didn’t even consider fixing up the old-timey brick streets for the historic crowd. They didn’t cut back on travel expenses or membership dues and still found enough to tease the police with a timid four percent rise. Why the teachers should get six is still a mystery.

Be alert for the underreported press conference at the National Press Club. Elmo Zumwalt once prophesied that John Kerry&uot;s Vietnam experience would come back to haunt him. It did when the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth organized and set Kerry’s record straight. But will the National Press Club print the truth?

Robert Pocklington is a resident of Suffolk and a regular News-Herald columnist. He can be contacted via e-mail: robert.pocklington@suffolknewsherald.com