Category: default || By jt3y

In case you missed it, I took a big bite of my own size 12 Florsheims yesterday. A correspondent gently pointed out that the Daily News no longer runs the bleatings of the loathsome Ann Coulter.

I guess they don't run "The Smith Family" and "Uncle Ray's Corner" any more, either. Hmmph! If you ask me, that newspaper has been going downhill ever since old W.D. Mansfield bought it in 19-ought-25.

Why, by cracky, in my day, if you had a quarter, you could get a Daily News and then walk over to the Star Restaurant and get a complete lobster dinner, and still have change left over to ride the streetcar out to Olympia Park. But who had a quarter in those days? Nobody, that's who!

As far as I'm concerned, the whole darned town hasn't been the same since Mayor Lysle died. Mayor Lysle --- by God, he kept the Communists out of McKeesport. And there was a man whose digestive system you could set your watch to. George H. Lysle had bowels as regular as the Capitol Limited.

That reminds me of the time I took the Capitol Limited to Willard, Ohio, for the annual shoe-mending festival. What a time we had!

(Slap!)

Thanks, I needed that.

What the hell was I going on about? Oh, yeah --- I do know that many of the op-eds on the News editorial page recently have been local, and good. This week, the owner of the Fifth Avenue Foodland wrote a strong piece about the proposed "flyover" ramp that would provide a new access route from Lysle Boulevard into the industrial park.

He argues that the ramp --- to be built at the foot of Huey Street, between the present Eat'n Park and Rite Aid store --- would cause more harm to the Lysle Boulevard business district than good, and urges transportation planners to locate it a few blocks further east.

I'm not entirely sure I agreed, but he made a good argument.

That reminds me of an argument I had in Helmstadter's in 1928. See, I wanted an electric bread toaster, and all of the ones on sale were chromium plated --- well! I had just read in Collier's where chromium-plated bread toasters were linked to the croup, so I says to the man, I says ....

(Slap!)

Sorry about that.

. . .

To Do This Weekend: The McKeesport summer concert series presents Bo Wagner in his tribute to Frank Sinatra, "Let's Be Frank," 7 p.m. Sunday at the bandshell in Renzie Park. Lawn seating, free admission. ... Munhall holds its annual "Community Day" on Saturday at West Field ... You can "Fly Around Town For Pennies a Pound" to raise money for Wings for Children. On Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., local pilots will offer air tours of the Pittsburgh area, departing from Allegheny County Airport. The flights cost 20 cents per pound per person, and proceeds help pay for airlifts for sick children. Call (412) 469-9930.