Letters to the Editor

Volume VI Number 11
March 19-25, 1998

One More Abercrombie Legend

Dear New Bay Times:

That was a fine piece on my old friend and fellow photographer Tom Abercrombie. His life is worth a book or two.

The great story that wasn't told about his expense account magic: I was sitting at the luncheon given for Mel Payne, boss of Geographic at the time, by Tom at the Anchorage Captain Cook Hotel's Crows Nest, when Mel suggested to Tom that since Alaska was mostly water in the summer, he should consider putting floats on the Cessna 185 he bought on his expense account. Tom kicked me under the table so that I would not blurt out the fact that Tom had already had the $6,000 floats put on the plant. That expense account had not hit the bean-counters yet.

His master stroke was to outfit himself in a fine fur parka, pants and elbow-length gloves for his winter coverage of the 49th state. When he returned to Washington, the bean-counter rebuked him for buying expensive furs tailored for himself and said to remove them from the expense submission before it would be paid. He turned in the expense account later in the day with the bottom line the same but no mention of the expensive fur clothing. "Try and find it!" he whispered to no one.

Thanks for a great read about an old friend.

-Joseph S. Rvchetnik,

Palm Springs, Calif.

How Wet Was It?

Dear New Bay Times:

In response to "Rain, Rain Please Stay - Editorial Play" (Feb. 26):

• It rained so much that all my tub toys floated away.
• There was so water where I live that on my way to work I ran out of gas and had to be towed to the marina.
• It got so wet that I have two washers and no dryer.
• It rained so hard and so long that when I exhaled, it caused a tidal wave.
• The weatherman said the forecast calls for spring this winter, winter this summer and fall in the sea.

-Carol & Carolyn Stallings,

Tracys Landing

Ellen Bashin' Time

Dear New Bay Times:

During this 1998 election year, some Maryland group should produce Mozart's best opera, The Magic Flute. It starts off with a dragon that tries to eat people. Then, clad elegantly in black, the Queen of the Night sings the finest aria in the whole work. She is beautifully evil, and she has three ladies in waiting.

So does Ellen Sauerbrey. They are Ms.School/Health Starver; Ms. Overdeveloper/Casino Builder and Ms. Chicken/Hog Farmer. Ellen's opera is called The Magic Predator.

Ms. Starver sings a 25 percent cut in the state income tax and opposes a raise in the cigarette tax ... Ms. Builder leads a chorus against regulations ... Ms. Farmer joins Ms. Sauerbrey in a duet warning of "economic repercussions if new regs. curb runoff or use of manure as fertilizer."

-James A. Hoage, Severna Park

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