COLUMBUS DAY?

WHAT ABOUT LEIF?

We completely missed one of the most important days of of the year on Monday. For those of you who may not know, Monday, October 9, is a day set aside by the Federal Government to honor the first European to set foot in the New World. No, not the two-bit spice salesman from Genoa. October 9 is Leif Ericsson Day.

Yes, thanks to President Ford, October 9, is Leif Ericsson Day. When signing the proclamation, Ford said that "Ericsson landed in the America more than two hundred years before an Italian explorer first went ashore in the Dominican Republic."

Never mind that it was San Salvador, Gerry meant well. The brave Norwegian beat the Italian by a few hundred years. The Norse even colonized North America. So lets dump Columbus Day. Lets stop honoring the man who came in second and go with the First Place finisher. When will Troy get it's Leif Ericsson statue? How much longer do we have to wait?

Speaking of statues, on Monday The Record had a nice photo of our own ugly statuary being cleaned and buffed. The Uncle Sam statue is easily one of the ugliest statues around. Isn't it time to melt that thing down? Note to The Record: Sam Wilson conducted his war profiteering during the War of 1812, not the Civil War.


If we really want to honor Sam Wilson (and where but Troy would one honor a meat packer) how about a statue of Wilson in garb that a man of the early 1800's would have worn? For those of you who may not know, Wilson didn't walk around looking like a refugee from Fire Island.

RIDICULOUS

This story is ludicrous. One hundred and twenty hours? Listen, the $100.00 an hour rate is fine. But a $12,000+ bill to prosecute, and lose, a misdemeanor and a violation?

We've consulted two attorneys on this and they gave us a pretty liberal breakdown of what this should have cost. They've erred, so they told us, on the side of the Special Prosecutor:


Interview a few people (if necessary) 5 hours;
Review any documents 5 hours;
Research the statutes and case law 8 hours;
Miscellaneous stuff 10 hours;
Coffee and donuts 4 hours;
Court time 10 hours.

That's a liberal estimate, very liberal. It comes to 42 hours. Now, no ADA is spending even 42 hours on this thing. That's good money that could have been used for pay raises for our legislators. Shame on you Tim!