Published: September 16, 2009 11:31 pm      

HOPKINS: Primary puzzlers and remembering a great actor

A couple of thoughts from primary night.

• Reached by a News reporter Tuesday night to get his reaction to the results Jay Ralph said he wasn’t watching and admitted he was unaware he had lost. For the record, he lost his challenge to Rick Davis, the endorsed Democrat for mayor in the City of Tonawanda.

I don’t understand how anyone who is running for political office wouldn’t want to be keeping up with the polling numbers as they were announced. This makes me think his heart really wasn’t in it and certainly gives credence to people who accused Ralph of running solely to disrupt Democrats and give Republican Mayor Ron Pilozzi a boost in his bid for reelection.

• Wheatfield supervisor Tim Demler may have dug his own grave, but his victorious Republican challenger Robert Cliffe gets the foot-in-mouth award for declaring “ding-dong the witch is dead” to lead off his victory speech. One would think a judge would know better.

For a man who acknowledged he’ll have to work to win over Demler’s supporters by November’s general election, Cliffe should have considered six better words. They may end up putting him six feet under, just like his opponent.

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I think just about every woman in America is mourning Patrick Swayze’s death. The man was an accomplished actor and a very good dancer; anyone who saw “Dirty Dancing” can attest to this. I didn’t see too many of his movies, but I enjoyed most of what I saw: “Roadhouse” for its cheesieness, “Red Dawn” for its over-the-top pro-America feeling that was so prevalent in the mid-80s, and of course the two big chick flicks, “Dirty Dancing” and “Ghost.”

As a hockey person, I also saw “Youngblood,” the 1986 movie about a major junior hockey player (Rob Lowe) who doesn’t want to fight. Swayze is a supporting actor in this movie, which wasn’t great but wasn’t bad, either. I also know someone who was in this movie, and he had a chance to hang out with Swayze.

James Richmond had a non-speaking role as the captain of the antagonist’s team. I know James from his two years playing for the Buffalo Wings, a roller hockey team that existed from 1997-99. I was the public relations director for the team. He listed his appearance in the movie on a player profile questionnaire we had required all of our players to fill out.

When I asked James about his experience, he said he was 20 or 21 at the time and remembered it as a lot of fun. He also said Swayze desired to become a better skater to make his scenes look more authentic. When the cameras weren’t rolling, Swayze was a regular guy.

One night Swayze and some of the hockey playing extras went bar-hopping. At one point Swayze tried to scale a chain-link fence, lost his balance and fell, causing a cut on his face. The next day, apparently, the director wasn’t happy because the cut was visible and Swayze had to wear a bandage.

That’s a Hollywood story that probably not too many people in the industry know.

•••

The furor that followed South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson’s “You lie” outburst during President Obama’s speech last week has subsided a little, but is still going strong in Washington. Wilson was certainly wrong for letting his emotions get the best of him, and he was justifiably admonished by his colleagues. But let’s take a closer look at the president’s comment that stuck in Wilson’s craw.

During his health care speech, President Obama said illegal immigrants won’t be insured under his health plan. How could something seemingly so innocuous cause such a reaction?

Perhaps it was because like most congressmen and senators, Wilson hadn’t read the various health care bills swirling around the Capitol. Maybe he was only familiar with the oft-quoted HR-3200 bill that does include health care for illegal aliens.

However, the president hasn’t released his own health care bill, so we don’t know exactly what it will or won’t include. Remember, he initially left it to Congress to figure out.

I believe that President Obama won’t include health care to illegal aliens in his bill. But I bet he’ll sign a law that gives amnesty to all current illegal immigrants. And that, my friends, would be his end-around to provide everyone in the country health care.

We need a guarantee that the president will not provide amnesty to illegal immigrants, and it must be done before Congress votes on a health care bill.

•••

Watching the Bills game Monday night, I lost track of the number of times I misread the ampersand in the downs indicator for a number 6. A terrible font selected by the powers-that-be at ESPN.

John Hopkins is the night city editor of the Tonawanda News. His column appears Thursdays. Contact him at john.hopkins@tonawanda-news.com.