Published: October 23, 2009 11:37 pm      

TUCKER: Flea circus entertains at exhibit

Bob Greene, a 1949 Tonawanda High School graduate, sent in this note following the death Oct. 10 of Robert H. Lloyd, 103, and a day later, of his wife of 74 years, Gladys, at 104. They were North Tonawanda residents, Mrs. Lloyd teaching at North Tonawanda High School and her husband, at Tonawanda.

Bob wrote: “Most everyone who graduated from Tonawanda High School around (this time) knew Mr. Lloyd, even if we didn’t study his subjects or have him as a teacher. I knew him only from the occasional ‘study hall,’ he seemed like a really decent guy, laid back and friendly.

“Imagine my surprise at seeing the two death notices in the paper ... (for this couple) who died only one day apart.”

Bob took the time to send along the death notices to his classmates who have e-mail to alert them to the story. A nice deed to honor two great people.

•••

Ken Sprenger stopped by for a short chat and asked if I’d ever seen a whale in North Tonawanda.

He brought along a copy of a June 4, 1940, Niagara Gazette, which had a large article on a “68-ton Monster of the Sea,” an exhibit heralded as the “greatest educational exhibition of all times. The Mammoth Marine Hippodrome will exhibit in Niagara Falls for three days,” the story read.

Ken said he remembers his dad taking him to the train depot in North Tonawanda to see the whale on a flatbed railroad car and wondered if anyone else recalls the incident.

Reading further into the Gazette article, the story said another feature with the exhibit is Professor John Lynch and his troupe of performing fleas, “The London Flea Circus.”

The story continues that “stunts include kicking footballs, riding tiny bicycles, pushing little carts, fan dancers and wire walkers.”

C’mon. Did anyone ever see that? Sounds like an ad man’s dream story.

Now for the really fun part. The headline over a photo notes that “Tim Mix in person coming here.” Whoops, should have read Tom Mix as his photo accompanied the story but his name is wrong throughout the article.

And surely the typesetter must have been having a really bad day since the next story down has the first line of the subheadline upside down.

•••

Beverly Rasch often forwards e-mails that are fascinating. Here’s one of her latest.

“The Department of Energy was instituted on Aug. 4, 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. And now, 32 years later, the budget for this necessary department is at $24.2 billion a year with 16,000 federal employees and look at the job it had done. Ah, yes, good old bureaucracy.”

Thanks, Bev. Brings to mind a quote from Will Rogers: “We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its way through Congress.”

•••

And speaking of governments, have you ever daydreamed about having a state government that wasn’t so out of control? How about this for a pie-in-the-sky solution?

• Term limits.

• Every senator and assemblyman has to cut two people from his or her staff.

• All free postage and printing stopped. Pay the 44 cents like the rest of us. Besides, it will help the post office get rid of its deficit and keep constituents from getting junk mail. Case in point: A four-color two-sided 5-by-8-inch postcard from Sen. Ranzenhofer with tips for a safe Halloween ... sent to our daughter at our address. She hasn’t lived here in 17 years.

• All free health insurance is finished. Try paying like your constituents do.

• Stop all free transportation. The only person allowed to have a driver would be the governor, and then in a Ford Fusion.

• Some savvy businessmen and women who have no connection with government invited to sit in on the budget process and they would have the power of veto.

• For at least two years, eliminate all pork spending. If the program is reinstated, each senator and assemblyman receives money to give away under a strict formula that goes by area served, projects with sustainable outcomes and a cap on the amount that can be allocated. After all, the government has no money except from the taxpayers.

• All perks currently on (and off) the books for all political leaders are hereby eliminated.

Any more you want to add as long as we’re dreaming?

Contact community editor Barbara Tucker at 693-1000, ext. 110, or e-mail barbara.tucker@tonawanda-news.com.