European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 26, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                To North parallels Barry in these twisted politics Clarence rage pol discs makes strange bedfellows but it also makes ironic adversaries. Consider for example How much the conservative Oliver North and the Liberal Marion Barry actual a have in common. Both Are running for major Public offices even though both have been convicted of major crimes. Both arc running As outsiders since each is an embarrassment to his party s bigwigs. Yet each is considered to have a very Good Chance to win. And so far each owes his Success to a different Side of the same political Coin Christian conservatives. More than anyone else it was volunteers from Pat Robertson a Christian coalition and other Christian fundamentalists who made North a 55 percent Victory at the recent state nominating convention in Richmond va., possible. The Victory which pits North against democratic sen. Chuck Robb in a divided Field in november came despite appeals to the contrary from Ronald Reagan and other Republican heroes including Virginia a sen. John Warner Back across the Potomac Taircy now a District of Columbia Council member also has been wooing Church folks quite successfully in his recently announced bid to regain his former seat from mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly. Like North Barry also has the delicate matter of a criminal conviction to overcome. He served six months for Misdemeanour drug posses Sion after an Fri sting caught him smoking crack cocaine when he was mayor. North was convicted of Constitution breaching felonies after lying to Congress about Arm sales to Iran fun cling the proceeds to the nicaraguan contras and incidentally losing most of it along the Way to a maddening network of smugglers Slick sters and go Between. North a conviction was later overturned thanks to immunity previously granted to him by a Senate investigating committee just the sort of Legal technicality conservatives so often criticize As coddling criminals. Maybe it depends on whose criminal is being coddled. Barry impressed Many churchgoers after he credited a religious conversion and a spiritually based 12-step rehabilitation program for helping him kick his drug habit. Then he introduced an ordinance to allow prayer in the districts Public schools. Even if the courts strike it Down which they probably will Barry can say that at least he tried. In the meantime Church leaders can provide crucial foot soldiers to pass petitions ring doorbells hang posters and cast votes. Many . Residents look at Barry and Sec someone much like other Young wayward men and women they have known who now see the error of their ways and deserve to have a second Chance especially if they can serve As an important role Model for others who have fallen. North s supporters see in their 011ie" a Man who May have done wrong by the letter of the Law but Hud his heart in the right place a a far right place. North offers a convenient vehicle for a constituency looking to Channel its discontent about Abor lion homosexuals crime uppity feminists and a  Yoost into political act Ion against a Washington establishment that has gotten too insular snooty arrogant and disconnected. Many Barry supporters voice the same complaints especially about a  Yoost and a world that seems to be coming apart with joblessness family breakdown and Street violence run amok in the age of crack. Compromise forget it. North s Wing of the party does no to have a lot in common with the country club republicans like Warner or George Bush other than a desire to unseat president Clinton nor do Mari ii barrys Core supporters see themselves us having much in common with mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly a seemingly Bourgeois base. So far Kelly has yet to score any big victories in a City that has every problem a big american City can have murders Homec soness joblessness drugs a plus an additional one no other City has taxation without congressional representation barrys hero status actually was enhanced when televised footage showed the Fri sting to be a transparently obvious setup. The of big a female Contact offers then coaxes Barry into smoking the pipe. Why Many wondered was Reagan a Fri trying so hard to bust Barry while children were bleeding to death on District streets a Barry Victory undoubtedly will set Back efforts to gain statehood for , but those efforts have been stalled anyway so deep is the Washington is  a contempt for the people with whom they share the nation s capital. A at least Barry unlike North says he is sorry for his sins. North seems to be rather proud of his lies. But i m not sure i believe him. Chicago Tribuno a when War was hardly hell in London Andy Rooney when i travel my favorite places to go Are places i be already been to. In be been to London Oflyn so its one of my most favorite cities to visit. After the a Day Celebration we stayed on Board the Queen Elizabeth 2 because it was stopping briefly in be Havre before going on to Southampton where we were to be met by our daughter Ellen who lives in London with her husband Les. They have a Nice House in London and that makes an otherwise very expensive trip affordable for us. You can to find a Good hotel room in London for much less than $200 a night. We could have saved two Days by getting off the qe2 in be Havre but we had so much Luggage i  stand the thought of schlepping it off the ship onto a train to Paris into a taxi to the Airport then off the plane at Heathrow Airport and into London As a 22-year-old Soldier i had been shipped to England with the 17th Field arty regt in 1942. Three months later i was transferred to the military newspaper the stars and stripes in London it was the greatest stroke of Good Luck of my life and i m too old to have anything better happen now. The Transfer sent my life in the direction it has gone Ever  the editors and reporters on the paper were paid a per diem allowance but 1 have no memory of Money. I think we were paid $8 a Day. Out of that we had to rent a place to live and pay for our food. We weren to Rich but i done to recall Ever being really Short of Cash. As a reporter i travelled to St arid 9th air Force bases All Over England and when 1 stayed overnight i saved my own Money by eating with the bomber Crews in their mess Halls. I was a sergeant but i wore a correspondents uniform so i often ate in the officers club because the food was better. One Day i travelled to the bomber base where Jimmy Stewart was stationed As a b-24 Pilot to do a Story about his being Given the distinguished flying Cross. Jimmy Stewart was no Hollywood hero. He was the real thing. He May Lay it on when the cameras Are rolling but i know for a fact he was a very Good Pilot. His base was near Stoke on Trent where they make Wedgwood China and even i had saved enough Money to buy a set of Wedgwood Blue plates with a raised White flowered Border for my Mother. It was the most appreciated gift i Ever gave anyone. For the rest of her life mom kept the dishes in the dining room Cabinet with the Glass doors so everyone could Sec them. In London i lived just off Piccadilly opposite Green Park on Cadogan Street. I must have lived a sheltered life because id never seen a prostitute before 1 got to London. I was surprised and fascinated to see them offering their wares in Rice Dilly circus. 1 shared a one room apartment with a photographer Dick Koenig in the basement of a House with four or five apartments above us. The distance from the ceiling of our apartment to the floor of the one above it must have been no More than a few inches because intermittently at about half hour intervals wed hear this thumping sound overhead. A Jesus Andy Quot Dick would say. A a she sat it  we realized we had a prostitute overhead and moved to an upscale place on rays water Road. The stars and stripes was printed on the presses of the times just off Fleet Street. I had Good friends on the paper but i often ate alone. There were several cheap Indian and chinese restaurants i liked off Shaftesbury Avenue where i could go to cat and dream of Home i make More than a a Day now and when we re in London we go to the Best restaurants but none of them seems any better to me than those Little places i frequented 50 years ago with a few pounds in my pocket. I never see Jimmy Stewart Over Here anymore.  Media sort icon arid Floynoy it a lorm Tir Smartt and so Ripe reporter. June 26, 1994 sunday Page 9