Published: August 16, 2008 12:04 am            

DUVALL: More SLA beer permit talks

OK, it’s time to talk about the state Liquor Authority.

I’ve seen a toddler’s roadside lemonade stand operated with more consistency than the statewide agency that controls liquor sales.

Some interesting points I’ve heard made:

Labatt, like any brewery, is sensitive to their product being linked to underage drinking. The bad press (largely generated by this newspaper, unfortunately) led the maker of Western New York’s beer of choice to shy away from the concert.

Will Labatt be discontinuing its relationship with every convenience store that sells to minors? Every bar that serves one of its beers to a teenager?

Any discerning person understands that Labatt had nothing to do with the unfortunate sales to minors. So why throw the baby out with the bath water?

Next on my list, the Knights of Columbus — unfortunately caught up in this whole mess, and again, largely after our reporting.

First off, a sincere apology to the K of C for the reporting that has since jeopardized the hall’s liquor license. As was pointed out in an editorial yesterday, that wasn’t the intention. Of course, we have an obligation to point out double standards in government and law enforcement. We were doing this — with an eye toward not their slip-up, but what still appears to be the knee-jerk reaction by the SLA to pull the permits for the Saturday concerts.

Call it friendly fire, I guess — and I feel badly for the troubles they’re facing.

And finally, with the local fallout reaching near ridiculous proportions, when are our high-ranking Albany representatives going to speak up?

I can promise, if we don’t hear something from Mr. Maziarz and Mr. Schimminger soon, we’re going to be giving them a call ourselves. Strange — usually legislators line up to bash some faceless state authority that’s wronged this area. Think the power and thruway authorities.

•••

Easily the biggest talker in the newsroom this week outside of the concerts was this gem from the Associated Press. Julia Child was a spy! OK, maybe not in the James Bond sense — she was closer to Moneypenny — but still. Julia Child.

Who knew?

Well, a quick Googling yields a Boston Globe story that states her time spent with the Office of Strategic Services — forerunner to the CIA — had been well documented. The CIA last year, published an account of the famous ambassador of French cuisine’s time with the government.

Does anyone else find this as strange and hilarious as I do? The kind queen of domesticity in the latter half of the 20th century had previously been employed by the government.

She had a security clearance that gave her access to the most top-level communications that came through her general’s office and at one point was dispatched to help design a shark repellent that would keep the creatures away from American underwater explosives in World War II. Sharks would swim up to the bombs, meant for German U-boats, and accidentally set them off. She later met her husband Paul on assignment in present-day Sri Lanka.

So I have to ask: What other celebrity chefs are working undercover?

I’m looking at you, Emeril.

Managing Editor Eric DuVall’s column appears every Wednesday and Sunday. Contact him at 693-1000, ext. 112 or by e-mail to duvalle@gnnewspaper.com.

        

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