No rest in peace




A note to the agency that is collecting from people who are delinquent on the city’s per-capita tax:


Elwood Stevens is not a deadbeat.


He is dead.


Mr. Stevens died 16 years ago.


His widow, Barbara, who is taking your notice in stride, says she will try to come up with a South Duke Street address for you. Mr. Stevens is buried in a cemetery there.


Good golly




Last Sunday we again gave County Commissioner Molly Henderson space to give her opinions. The best I can say for the effort is that she is consistent. She also must have a degree in rationalization.


Her explanation Thursday of her guilty plea (along with those of Commissioners Shaub and Shellenberger) for violating the Sunshine Act in the sale of Conestoga View was a classic.


Commissioner Henderson sends occasional e-mails, telling me that a friend has sent her my most recent critical comments. In other words, she doesn’t read this column.


I am crushed.


If she had been reading, she might have learned something about the Sunshine law.


It isn’t that hard to follow. You just need to have the desire to obey it. If you’re meeting in secret, you need to ask yourself why? In the case of Conestoga View, we can safely assume it’s because you didn’t want the public to know. Commissioner Henderson had plenty of time from that secret meeting in April until the announcement in July to go public.


A caller asked if I was going to continue my “childish’’ countdown of the days left in the commissioners’ terms.


You bet.


A real firecracker




Seeing former city mayor Charlie Smithgall’s name surface as a candidate for commissioner was interesting. He strikes me as a man with a better prescription (pun intended) for that office.


When was the last time a Republican commissioner lived in the city?


That would have been Brad Fischer. But Mr. Fischer actually won election as a Democrat and then switched parties.


Before him? Help.


Tug’s delivery




Congratulations to Tom Herr on getting a managing job in the Washington Nationals minor-league system.


I remember his speaking at the sportswriters’ banquet in 1979. Then a Triple A player, he told the audience that maybe that season he would be called up by the St. Louis Cardinals and maybe he would play in a game against the Phillies at Veterans Stadium.


And maybe get sent into a game and maybe get a hit off Tug McGraw, he said excitedly.


Phillies’ reliever McGraw, who had the crowd in stitches earlier, got up and told Herr that if he made the majors, and if he got into a game at the Vet:


“Tommy, don’t be looking for a hit. Be looking for a fastball upside your head.’’


Herr did make it up to the majors that year.


Seeing eye-to-eye




Ten-year-old daughter Abigail inherited my eyes, both color and nearsightedness. She has started to wear contact lenses, and we lost one already.


“A little mishap,’’ she told her mother.


Nicely put, Miss Hap.


A happy birthday to Abby’s Aunt Peggy, who arrived Dec. 20 (?) years ago and came home on Christmas Eve.


What a gift. (Honest.)


Marv Adams invites questions. Send them by e-mail to madams@lnpnews.com or mail to: Sunday News, P.O. Box 1328, Lancaster, Pa. 17608-1328.