HCH August 6 2010 Legal - Chattanooga Bar Association

6 Friday, August 6, 2010 HAMILTON COUNTY HERALD
“I should have never switched
from scotch to martinis.”
– Last words of Humphrey Bogart
Thanks to good friend J.
Mark Davis sending me an e-mail
about people’s words just before
their final breath. These are from
a column by Alex Moisi.
First there is comedian
Steven Wright, who said that he
wished his first word ever spoken
had been “Quote,” and the last,
“Unquote.”
• Then there was Voltaire,
who was asked by a priest on
his deathbed to renounce Satan.
There are discrepancies about
the old philosophers last words
but most say his reply to the
priest’s request was, “This is no
time to make new enemies.”
• The last man to be sentenced
to death in the state
of Oklahoma was also the only
person in the entire country, in
1966, to get the electric chair.
James D. French had actually
received an original sentence of
across
1 “___ not, want not”
6 Bold and saucy
10 Prefix with dexterity
14 Kick out, as of school
15 Abu Dhabi VIP
16 Alphabetize, e.g.
17 Waltz by Strauss, familiarly,
after “The”
19 63-Across’s offering
20 Has a feeling
21 Home of the hero of a certain
parable
23 ___ capital (up-front
money)
26 Extremely
27 Dorothy’s canine
31 ___ of limitations
33 Assumed truth
35 Last Olds model made
36 “April Love” singer Boone
39 Village in upstate 41-
Across
41 See 39-Across
43 “ ___ Day Now” (Bob
Dylan hit)
44 Bends to the will of
46 Acknowledge tacitly
47 Blunder
49 Consumes completely,
with “up”
50 “Adelaide’s ___” (“Guys
and Dolls” song)
53 “Saving Private Ryan”
event
55 Alloy of silver and mercury
57 Cuts on, as a turkey
62 ___ College (campus in
Annandale-on-Hudson)
63 B&B in a rural setting
66 “The NeverEnding Story”
author Michael
67 Emulate a couch potato
68 “Inferno” writer
69 ___-back (easy-going)
70 “National Velvet” writer
Bagnold
71 “ZZZ!”, in the comics
Down
1 Attic accumulation
2 Auto shaft
3 Like 1-Down
4 Ball props
5 Adjective for some statesmen
Are we there yet?
Last words and a letter
B y J a y E d w a r d s
life for his crime, but after he
killed his cellmate he was scheduled
for the death penalty. When
asked if he had anything to say
before the harsh judgement was
carried out he replied, “How’s
this for a headline – ‘French
Fries.’”
• A few years ago I was on
my way from Chattanooga to
Little Rock when I decided to
take a detour over to Lynchburg,
Tennessee and tour the Jack
Daniels Distillery; a three-hour
delay I much enjoyed. But one
thing they didn’t tell us that
day were the last words of their
founder, who died one morning
from blood poisoning in 1911.
The infection allegedly
began in a toe, which Daniel
injured by kicking his safe in
anger when he could not get it
open early one morning at work
— he had always had trouble
remembering the combination.
His final words were “One last
drink, please.”
I Swear Crossword
By Victor Fleming
6 Ballpoint, e.g.
7 “Down under” fowl
8 “Spare” items at a barbecue
9 Love a lot
10 Equally pink, as steaks
11 “A Few Good Men” star
Demi ___
12 Prepare under the heat
coming from the top of the
oven
13 “To whom ___ concern...”
18 “Buyer beware” phrase
22 Berry Gordy’s label
24 Belmont ___
25 ___ Kan (Alpo competitor)
27 “Gone With the Wind” setting
28 Beasts in yokes
29 ___ sum (goodly amount
of money)
30 “Aah!” accompanier
32 ___ up (got nervous)
34 Making low noises?
36 Jet-engine housings
37 Comedian Johnson
38 Bout enders
40 Barrier
42 “Are ___ for real?”
• You may not remember
him by name but millions of
people have been entertained
by the creations of Mr. Charles
J. Gussman, who brought the
world many of those old time
radio serials like “The Road of
Life,” “The Right to Happiness”
and “Young Doctor Malone.” All
three were among the top-rated
programs of the early 1950’s,
when daytime soap operas, usually
15 minutes long and named
for the soap companies that sponsored
them, attracted far more
listeners than nighttime dramas.
Later Gussman would move to
television where he wrote for
shows, “Days of Our Lives” and
“Gilligan’s Island.” He died ten
years ago at the age of 87, leaving
behind the last phrase, “...
and now for a final word from
our sponsor ...”
• Finally, it was Paris’
daddy, Conrad Hilton, who left
the world with some profound
wisdom when he advised, “Leave
the shower curtain on the inside
of the tub.”
•••
Thanks to my friend Arthur
Murphey, of the UALR Bowen
School of Law Emeritus Faculty,
for reading and responding to my
recent column that looked forward
to the first day of fall. I get
so few letters from readers that
you can imagine my excitement.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16
17 18 19
20 21 22
23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31 32
33 34 35 36 37 38
39 40 41 42
43 44 45 46
47 48 49
50 51 52 53 54
55 56 57 58 59 60 61
62 63 64 65
66 67 68
69 70 71
Victor Fleming’s puzzles have appeared in many publications,
including the New York Times and Games Magazine.
Diversions
45 “Jan. 1 through now”
column
47 Blended
48 Agreement
50 Put a tag on
51 Big appliance name
52 ___ Gras
54 36-inch units
56 Eerie sound
58 All-time strikeout king
Nolan
59 Wine, in Italy
60 ___’acte
61 Blade of yore
64 Action film gun
65 “Cookie’s Fortune” actor
Beatty
Last week’s solution
S N A P O P E C C B S T V
N O R A K A T O L Y D I A
O A T S B R A N E S S E N
W H Y S A Y I T G O E S
R U M O N S H O R E
A S T U D E N T L E E R E D
T H I S I I O W A E L I
W I T H O U T S A Y I N G I F
O P T P A I D R O O N E
R I L E U P R E N O W N E D
K N E L L E D O N A
I T R E A L L Y D O E S
A B A C I A R T E A P S E
M A X I M L I D S Y I P E
T H E T A T A S S S E N D
I don’t think he would mind if I
shared his remarks with you.
“Dear Jay,
I read with interest the
statement in your column that
there are just 73 days until the
first day of fall. It reminded me
of an incident that occurred in
the summer about 32 years ago,
when I was asked by a new faculty
member from the upper latitudes
(a Yankee, that is, and a native
of New York or Massachusetts
as I recall) when fall came “in
these parts.” I laid it out as follows:
If he was referring to the
equinox, the so-called official
day, that would be September
22, the same as in other places.
If he had a child in school and
was looking to registration and
the end of summer vacation that
would be about the second week
of August. (I think some swimming
pools close then.) If he
was a holiday type person, fall
began the day after Labor Day in
RED HOOK, N.Y. – Pat’s
courtesy and conscientiousness
were infectiously pleasing.
Nabil’s meals were outstanding.
The ambience in the 189 yearold
physical plant was pleasant
and relaxing. The hospitality
seemed almost southern!
What more, really, can one
ask for from innkeepers in a foreign
land, such as upstate New
York’s Dutchess County? Which
is where Susan and I found ourselves
on a recent sojourn. We
came away from a weekend of
R&R at a B&B known officially
as The Red Hook Country Inn
perfectly comfortable with recommending
it to anyone who
might be tooling around the
area.
We drove over from Jamaica,
Vt., where we’d been with some
old friends from college days,
on a Friday afternoon, arriving
around 6:30 p.m.. We’d been
able to order our dinner online
earlier in the day, so Nabil, Pat’s
husband and business partner in
TRHCI knew what he was cooking
for us. We’d agreed to a 7:15
dinner time, so we had time to
unpack the car and change into
the clothes that we were to wear
to an event later in the evening.
All I knew was that Susan
had chosen for us the steak offering
over the seafood offering,
because we had had the same
seafood entrée the night before.
When the meal was over, I was
worried that I might not wake up
on Saturday morning. For what
I found before me on the table,
combined with how it tasted,
would, without question, be the
meal I would order as my last.
The first course was a salad,
a very competently assembled
assortment of greens with a mild
salsa of sorts as a topping and
dressed with a vinaigrette that
was perfectly in sync with my
palate.
The main course was a brilliantly
prepared, pink-in-themiddle,
filet mignon, with a light
gravy over it, roasted potatoes,
sweet baby carrots and grilled
September. (The English have
their last fling on what is called
the August Bank Holiday.) If he
was a sports fan, the first game
of the “Fall Football Program”
might be the last Saturday in
August. But if, as I suspected,
he was asking how much longer
would he have to endure the
summer heat, it would probably
be the middle of October.
How much of this do you
think is still true?
Sincerely,
Artie Murphey”
Well Mr. Artie I think most
of it is still true. Thanks for the
letter.
(The last letter I received
before this one was
from LR Zoo Director Michael
Blakely, who explained in
a firm but courteous way
how wrong I was for wanting to free
Ellen the elephant. Mr. Blakely’s
letter was also printed in this
publication) v
I Swear...
Red Hook Inn
no disappointment
B y V i c F l e m i n g
asparagus spears. (Okay, so it’s a
lot of the stuff I prepare myself
at home! Get over it: it was a
fabulous treat!)
For dessert, there was
apple pie, made earlier in the
day by Pat, topped with homemade
vanilla ice cream, made
by Nabil. As each succeeding
course arrived, Susan’s commentary
about how these were my
“very favorite foods in the world”
took on more and more of an
incredulous tone.
To say that our stay in
Dutchess County was a colorful
experience would be to stretch
a metaphor. We were, after all,
in the Blue Danube Room of the
Red Hook Inn.
There was an event in a
nearby town that we were there
for. It was the type of affair that
brings local folk out in search of
celebrities. And to which certain
media employees are want to
flock, hoping for photo ops. The
nature of the event was such that
some other people with Arkansas
connections were in attendance.
One such couple with an
Arkansas link consisted of Mary
Steenburgen and her husband
Ted Danson. Confronted by
a New York Times reporter on
the street in Rhinebeck (five
miles from Red Hook), Danson
quipped, “We must be the only
celebrities in town.”
By my count, though, there
were at least two other movie
stars in the vicinity. One of those
is better known for his longtime
involvement in politics,
but he did play a major role in
“Wordplay.” But, for purposes
of the weekend, he was cast as
father of the bride.
The other (also from
“Wordplay”)? Well, suffice it to
say that by maintaining a low
profile, he was able to slip quietly
and unobtrusively in and out of a
certain B&B in a nearby village.
Vic Fleming is a district court
judge in Little Rock, Arkansas,
where he also teaches at the William
H. Bowen School of Law. Contact
him at vicfleming@att.net. v