European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 24, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the Tarsan stripes february Russell Baker Deo Onn new York not again and again people say that president Reagan is a great on the television screen five Washington pundits who agree on nothing else agree that president Reagan is a great comm editorialists say it in print a great persons who disapprove of him trap you in crowded rooms Ana conclude by but one thing Ive got to admit Hes a great one of my guiding principles for survival is to beware of any Public opinion in which there is almost Universal nine times out of it will turn out to have been this is because opinions universally shared arc Opin ions that people have not spent much time thinking my inclination when confronted with an overwhelming singleness of opinion is to doubt and following this procedure i would nor upon being told by one and All that president Reagan is a great re i doubt in is what i first said to myself two or three weeks ago when everyone started pronouncing Reagan a great i had been upstairs Reading the in which i encountered the fifth or sixth reference that Day to the presidents communicator Al great and had come Down and opened the refrigerator to get a Glass of milk when i suddenly that opinion was coalescing into an alarming and with natural reflexive action i i doubt doubt what asked my i doubt that president Reagan is a great i what is a communicator she a profound that in is a communicator i dont really i of cast the problem in an entirely different it made no sense to doubt that the president was a great communicator if you did not know what a communicator to do so would open the door into intellectual not knowing what a communicator you can hardly not a great communicator a slightly better than average but not a great you see the you cant Start Grad ing eggs until you know what an egg my trusty reflexes had failed the old brain was going to have to be dusted off and required to do some said the rummaging sleepily about in its memory i seem to recall you were asked last year to make a speech to some youngsters graduating from a school of and you turned it Down be cause i  figure out Why colleges were teaching communications instead of that was if you had accepted the the brain you could have asked the Dean what a communicator ill bet that what they were turning out at the College comm brain i was shouting but Only if we have a president who is a great Communia if i Gould same things 6attamom it might mean that he communicates some thing have you received any great communications from Reagan in the past month the brain sulked through the theres nothing Here but a couple of they dont say a whole a press conference Tran not much in nothing at All that looks like Good news or Money for id say he Hast been communicating with you Worth a and he sure Hast communicated anything the brain dropped Back onto the Couch and began Idle wondering about the Jerry fal Wells rage at turning up in Penthouse mag the Way i look at said the any Parson Worth his Salt would have been delighted to invade old satan Lair and preach the Faith of the moral majority to the poor sinners trapped we Are not thinking about Parson Falwell i reminded this we Are try ing to think about communicators mediocre and thought the you said try another possibility for maybe a great communicator does not communicate great Communia maybe he just communicates you cant communicate the brain in you cant communicate at All unless you have somebody to communicate with and something to pass on while the two of you Are in you cant communicate smally or All you can do is communicate Are you saying that president Reagan is not a great communicator in saying in going Back to were on the three minute Day i was left with this puzzling universally held opinion that president Reagan is a great com i went downstairs to get a Glass of milk and As i opened the i doubt doubt that Reagan is a great communicator asked my i i doubt that people who Call him a great communicator Are in communication with across 1 angry cry of a Goose 5 new York Ball club 9 Indian 12 double Reed instrument 13 fixed Quantity 14 a crowbar 15 Australia 17 a baked dish 18 egyptian goddess 19 details 21 Greenland Eskimo settlement 24 affirm 25 work As a Cowboy 26 ransomed 30 for one 31 entices 32 in Madrid 33 assemblies 35 Peter or Nicholas 36 split 37ross 38 twin Crystal 40 land mass 42 highest note of the Gamut 43 vertical pipe from roof Gutter 48 Pacino and Jolson 49 sole 50 spicy Stew 51 stain 52 Headland 53 abound solution Down 1 mortar trough 2 african of Nigeria 3 female Bear 4 of old age 5 he played Ernie Zola 6 goals 7 a Bond 8 tries hard 9 predominant 10 Spruce 11 ogles 16 exercise time 24 224 answer to yesterdays 20 a letter 21 British Streetcar 22 cavity 23 capital letter Type 24 refreshing drinks 26 mystical poem 27 work unit 28 periods 29 a kind of fishing boat 31 existed at the expense of another 34 sesame 35 Kitchen item 37 in Paris 38 noted anthropologist 39 Confederate 40 pointed tools 41 swarms 44 undivided 45 Corrida cheer 46 rubber tree 47 headgear today crossword 21 25 30 33 38 42 5t 22 39 23 36 18 34 16 31 43 49 52 44 27 40 24 41 19 37 20 35 50 53 14 17 32 45 28 46 11 29 47 224 dear Ann Landers Nave been going steady with this Guy for three i am 18 he was my first and Only True a nicer person never i have cheated on my Sweet heart at least 20 i dont know what the hell is wrong with i am 100 percent certain that he has never been near another i must be some kind of a whenever i get a few drinks and see an attractive Man who is i set something up for i have even slept with the steadies of some of my Dearest the guilt afterwards is so terrible i want to kill Highlands Cheater dear youre a sick the first thing you must do is get off the Complete look up alcoholics Anonymous in the phone find out when the next meeting is closest to your Home and i have a feeling that if you never touched another drop of alcohol you would quit sleeping get and Good dear Ann Landers with so Many people writing in and Tell ing you what screwball they i thought you might Welcome a change of this is letter from a Man who truly appreciates his i changed careers a few months these last several weeks have been i made some horrendous but things Are looking i know now that i made the right Deci and everything is going to be All i never would have made it without this wonderful woman at my she was supportive and patient and eve ready with Wise i know she was worried and suffered just As much As i have always been the Tower of strength in our but i know More than that this Tower could not stand with out the foundation of support Given to me by my wonderful grateful Man in Boston dear Man what a Beautiful if your wife Doest recognize for heavens Tell her Shes the heroine in to Days dear Ann Landers i was interested in the letter from the grandmother who didst know what to say when her sons wife produced a re haired the same thing occurred in our my son a norwegian Blond married an italian there want a redhead in either family that any of us knew i remember How embarrassed i was when the question was raised and it did come up of the consummate nerve of some people i found myself stumbling talking about fourth generation genetic throwbacks and other one Day the window Washer who overheard me making excuses those Lun Heads dont know anything about be Why dont you Tell them your son travels a lot and on one of his trips he was gone a Long time and came Home Rusty i took his advice and laughed my head off when their Mouths fell pass it will Ann pal in Palo Alto dear pal thanks for the i like it i like it