Down On The Corner
• You noticed the additional cartoon on the opposing page, I trust. We decided to add it after reading the strip in Funny Times, a montly publication devoted to humor. The cartoonist, Keith Knight, Jr., lives and draws in San Francisco and is a rapper as well, which gives many of his cartoons a musical bent. We hope you enjoy reading his work as much as we do.
• Just a reminder, dear reader - November 4 is election day and it's very important that you exercise your right to help decide who writes the laws that you must live by. There are very real, very important issues at stake in this election for Kentucky - and I'm not talking about who's sleeping with whom or who has the nastier campaign ad, even though we're told those ads `help' people decide. We're talking about what actions - if any - the state government can and should take to make things better for all Kentuckians. There are those who believe that private corporations should make those decisions and that governments should be emasculated, while others hold that the government is the only tool ordinary citizens have to influence those large decisions. Your vote helps decide.
As for me, I never miss a vote and have zero tolerance for complainers who haven't voted.
• One of the recent changes in the Federal Communications rules has already had an effect: the new rule allows broadcasters to discriminate in their hiring practices, at least with respect to religious belief. WJIE promptly sent out a letter indicating that WORD Broadcasting Inc. has established religious belief as a condition for employment. Satanists need not apply.
• Speaking of Christian radio, an new station, Air 1 Radio has come on the air, at 88.9 FM in the Louisville and New Albany area.
• Ray Shipp and his wife Ann have decided to close their last Music Warehouse store on Bardstown Road and retire after 47 years in the business, according to a fax Shipp sent on October 20. There was no specific date given for the closing.
• Nick Boone of Leatherhead has gotten a patent on his new leather guitar straps. He's quite pleased about it (as he should be), as well as about the number of straps he's been selling to national level musicians. Since it's leather, the strap molds itself to the user's shoulder and becomes very comfortable. The strap is also featured in a story scheduled for the December issue of Southern Living magazine.
Codas
• Uriah A. McIntyre, 22, of Louisville, died on October 10. He was a music promotoer for SS Enterprise.
• Shane E. Merritt, 24, died in Louisville on Saturday, October 13. He was a member of the band Inane.
• Charles I. Strothman, 91, of Louisville, died on September 27, 2003. He was a piano player who played with the Jimmy Robertson Orchestra.