It seems the News Herald has been catching flack recently because of Editor Prutsok’s &uot;nastiness&uot; when he allows printing of anti-Bush cartoons. I’d like to meet the kid who draws them with no respect for anything behind the latrine as we did back in the army of 1943. But editors don’t have a choice unless they own the paper. I agree someone used poor judgment by leaning that far to the Ted Kennedy left. Fair and balanced is OK when your town has as many Democrats as does Suffolk. Someone with sense did drop maniac Charlie Reese who was far worse than screamer Dean, who I consider laughable.

I was glad to see Chuck Fisher respond. It saved me the trouble, and I’d like to see more Letter To The Editor opinions. It sells newspapers and vents spleens. I have had no com-plaints with the paper and I’m glad we have one that updates us on local news, as we’d be in a sorry state of communication without it.

Most spending news comes from city hall and I can’t imagine Dennis Craft, Communications Director, flying over 430 square miles dropping informational leaflets. Besides, I have always felt there are some things they don’t want us to know.

But in this column I repeat a paragraph from my last one because a line preceding it was missing and had to leave some folks scratching their heads. The left out sentence was &uot;There are some positives in getting old.&uot; It was followed by: &uot;Kidnappers are not very interested in you.

In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first. People call at 9 a.m. and ask, &uot;Did I wake you?&uot;

There is nothing left to learn the hard way. Things you buy now won’t wear out. You have a party and the neighbors don’t even realize it. Your eyes won’t get much worse. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the local weather teams. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can’t remember them either – your supply of brain cells is finally down to manageable size.&uot; Seeing as how I was writing about myself at eighty it shouldn’t offend anyone younger.

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Hooray for Council, especially Calvin Jones, for considering a step toward relief for the elderly (that’s me!) from outrageous property taxes. Neither proposal helps me personally and I suspect some at City Hall are not unhappy about that. I did a tad too well saving money for my old age but the city will manage to eliminate most of that over my remaining years. A good plan would consider means testing. If this change in criteria to assist elder citizens would cost the city only $230,550, I’m weeping, why not lower the qualifiers much more? I can think of a dozen wasteful items in the current budget that would easily offset that small loss. Chop it out of the budget for the Cultural Center and name one restored room, &uot;Grandma and Grandpa.&uot;

Stick to your guns, council, and listen to Mr. Jones and Linda Johnson who have hearts of gold. Two more council members thinking like them will turn things in this city around. Hopefully Joe Barlow will be one of them. Keep your fingers crossed.

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One easy thing I noted about Vance &uot;Boo&uot; McGhee, he likes food. If he expands his investment in Suffolk like he did his barrel chest he will own half the town. He must be a man with many hats to go from an English pub to Italian motif, two different kinds according to he and Mike Williams; one colorful, the other upscale, and it saves the former Crystal from extinction. I guess he intends to turn both East and West Washington into a little Bohemia. That would be a nice trick and they appear to have the means.

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From the net. Adam was hanging around the Garden of Eden feeling very lonely. So, God asked him, &uot;What’s wrong with you?&uot; Adam said he didn’t have anyone to talk to. God said that He was going to make Adam a companion and that it would be a woman. He said, &uot;This pretty lady will gather food for you, she will cook for you, and when you discover clothing, she will wash it for you. She will always agree with every decision you make and she will not nag you, and will always be the first to admit she was wrong when you’ve had a disagreement .She will praise you! She will bear your children and never ask you to get up in the middle of the night to take care of them. &uot;She will never have a headache and will freely give you love and passion whenever you need it.&uot;

Adam asked God, &uot;What will a woman like this cost?&uot; God replied, &uot;At least an arm and a leg.&uot; Then Adam asked, &uot;What can I get for a rib?&uot; God said, &uot;Nine times out of ten you’ll get what you deserve. I keep telling you about that Golden Rule.&uot;

Robert Pocklington is a regular columnist for the News-Herald. E-mail him at robert. pocklington@suffolknewsherald.com