European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 16, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 Colu vans the stars and stripes wednesday. July 16.1986 today s crossword photo Opportunity in nurse Ryburg by Russell Baker "there1 this weird place called nurse Ryburg a Man who scouted for photo opportunities was laying. And they be get this Guy Jack you la never guess what he Doe i mean can you believe jumping Over candlestick the photo Opportunity committee smelted an Opportunity. Sure i can jump Over a candlestick the president he could t just Fly into nurse Ryburg with Candle stick and then jump Over it. There had to be a reason. The Koui said  he would persuade Jack to Iwu a Challenge no president could reject everyone agreed it would make a Fine photo Opportunity if the Challenge came spontaneously Afler toe president arrived in town la would be undignified though for the Leader of the free world to to ail the Way to Nur Fryburg to jump Over a candlestick just because of a dare in the mail. The president needed a Good reason to visit Nur ser Burg and the research department found one. They be got this shepherdess named Peep said the research Man. She s lost her sheep does t know where to find them and the old timers ate telling Herto leave them alone and they la come Home wagging their tails behind  the old timers know nothing about How the mod Ern world works said a new timer ill bet the los sheep Aren t lost at All. 1 Bei they got a takeover bid they could t refuse from one of the  right said the research Boss. Those sheep Areno longer lost they Are now Lamb  what else could a president do he asked but Fly anew flock of sheep Lor poor Little to Peep into the Nurs Fryburg Airport where this Freaky candlestick Juniper could Issue the Challenge Wail just a second. You Don t think the president philosophers would let him give free sheep to everybody who loses a flock their memo said Afler finally persuading americans that then is no free lunch we cannot betray everything we stand for by telling them thai there is however free  a while House Man suspected of spending i time Reading newspapers instead of watching television submitted a memo. He had seen a news Story from Nune Ryburg about an elderly woman named Hubbard whose dog had no Bone. Americans love dogs said his memo. Have the president Fly to Nune Ryburg with a Bone for this Wom an s Mutt then the candlestick jumper can Issue his Challenge at the Airport it was perfect until word of it leaked to the pros Bone to by flown to Crone the next Day s bulletin from nurse Ryburg concerned an old woman who lived in a shoe and had an extraordinary number of children. It s a sad state we be come to she told reporters when an old lady with nothing More than a Shoelace Over her head can t even get decent Public housing for her children while presidents Fly around the country with Bones for the Fox Hunting set. I la  moves of winning her Over by having the president take along a new Heel for her shoe fell through when tie White House philos open declared there an Nofree  still the trial might have succeeded in producing a Fine photo of candlestick hurdling except for the inf Fel Case. This involved a spider who had been convicted of invading a Tullet and seating himself with intent to terrify beside a girl named Muffol. The conviction had been overturned on Appeal be cause the police failed to read the spider his rights. This so incensed the attorney general that he had made coarse remarks about spiders As a class. News that the president was coming to nurse Ryburg produced threats of a joint picket line composed of the town s outraged spiders and some 300 offspring of theold woman of the shoe. In such conditions a pleasant leap Over a Candle stick seemed impossible 90 somebody said what about the statue of Liberty paying final tribute to 3 friends by Andy Rodney Bessie Reynolds was 90. Bill Kramer was 37. Merle Miller was 67. They did t know each other and had nothing in common except me As a Friend until last month when each of them died. Bessie must hav had fewer enemies ban anyone who Ever lived but did t have Loo Good a life. Her left shoulder was noticeably smaller than her right so that she was slightly deformed. Her Mother died when bes Sie was 2 and her father left her to be brought up by friends or relatives. She spent several years in the Home of Ray Mother s parents and that s How she got to be sort of an aunt of mine. Bessie worked As a Milliner in the Days when women always wore hats. She had a Little House of her own and she kept it the Way we d All like our houses to be kept you could drop in on her unexpectedly an nothing was out of place. Most of her last 25 years were spent alone in the sunny Lille Back room behind the parlor with her sewing her puzzles and her television set. Bill Kramer was almost never alone. When he and his wife Angela became parents seven months ago they did t have a baby they had twins. I spent just one month with Bill but i was an intense 30 Days and 1 got to know him Well. He and his fiend Dave Wright were the pilots of a helicopter in which we flew across the . And Back in 1983. When t read that a Sikosky helicopter provided to King Hussein during his visit Here had crashed kill ing at four on Board. Waa worried because 1 knew they would have Given president Reagan s visitor be very Best and that was Bill Kramer. The reason for the crash has not been determined but i can Tell the investigators one thing. It was not Bill Kramer s fault. Bui did t make mistakes in the air and he did t take chances. None. I d often plead with him to get in position for a better camera Angle but if he thought it was in any Way unwise he just would t do it 1 came to realize my life was in the hands of one of he Best helicopter pilots who Ever lived. Now one of the Best who Ever died. You should have heard of my Friend Merle  wrote books. I be written a classic he said Wilh amused Delight the last time i saw him. My Truman Book has been in print for 10 years now and that s the definition of classic 1 first met Merle in London in 1942 when he was Wilh yank Magazine and 7 a a reporter far the stars and stripes. It was 30 Yean before i realized Merle was a Homo sexual. He distanced himself from the world and even from his friends but when i was with him i always wondered How another human being could reach me Wilh to Many perceptive thought and yet have this hidden aide i could not understand 1 Don t knew what my three friends would have thought of each other but i thought the world of All three. By Elicene Sheffez across North Carolina cop5 German City Gumbo 12 waving her. Ii Jane or John 14 tailor Pride 15 abdicate it food fish in Madrid mister 19 dealer indy goods 21 peasant in India 24 Stam Mering sounds28 adept 2b chapter flow kuran30 syllabic with knot or Masl 33 Whit Contra sought34 religion oath muslims 3b Spanish Queen 36 Grande it weakens37 . Stale b8 in a pig s 38 epic word Wilh estate or Neh ten flame 41 of number Down 1 commotion2 grafted her.3 arabian49 take up main 46 costly fur 50 table scraps fit goes out for the evening54 watch 1 cilorlea15 drunkard but clip i Sicily solution timer 23 mint. It japanese Shrub 6 moo7 repair b coveted award9 much in ume 10 Steak order 11 love god1� matter of fact 20 paper Quantity 22 greek peaks Oklahoma city25 june Bug 26 son of gad17 tread 2 grate31 Lennon s widows Dan step34 moslem holy nun38 expunged 40evicta42 Viper 43 land measures 44 Assa silkworm 46 being47 femur or ulna48 roman Moon Goddeau 49 an others abbr.52 Trine a Simone summer 7-16 Hubert West a. I blk Newth re Rhou Shl