1950

Can you say "neighborhood," boys and girls? You know Mr. Rogers can and did at the Bush Center on the Yale campus December 2. His topic was "Father's Role in Day Care and Child Care." He followed up next day with his TV cast performing a puppet show benefit for the nonprofit educational resource at New Haven's Teachers Center.

Unless you never have watched television, you probably know that we re talking about Fred Rogers, whose Neighborhood has been on the public tube since 1964 and is geared toward preschool children. And how did we know what was going on? Saw his picture, complete with cardigan and cravat in The New York Times, of course.

Native American Sign: Hah! You thought you were going to get more on the Indian symbol. You're right. George Harris had a thoughtful page on the topic in the October DAM and Larry Huntley wrote a letter to the editor a month later calling for a creative solution to the issue. There's been so much ink in these pages that it seems presumptuous to add to the clamor, but a resolution is needed. My Webster's says we're talking about "an authoritative summary of faith or doctrine." For many, only the Indian will suffice. For many others, he (probably not she) is unacceptable. Logic says we need a viable alternative. If we can live with "hill winds" and "snow drifts deep along the roads," why not a Viking? You can disparage us Norskes and Svedes or laud us. We'd probably never notice the difference. And Hagar said it was OK.

Cheaper By The Half Dozen: Did you catch the picture of Bud Gleason in the September magazine with his six Dartmouth graduate children? Can anyone equal or beat that?

Semiretired: George Johnson had a birthday last month and reports that he's semiretired after a quarter century in broadcasting/advertising in NYC. You could get details at Rt #3, Box 180F, Williamsburg, VA 23185 if you can catch him between stints at Kingsmill on the James (Anheuser-Busch) golf and tennis resort, fishing, or working with a Norfolk-based health support group. That's retirement?

More Video: The night before this issue's deadline arrived, Bill Frenzel showed up with Paul Volcker on the MacNeil/Lehrer show. They agreed that a gas tax would drag in a billion dollars in "revenue enhancements," if that epithet has not gone out of use. A billion here, a billion there ... pretty soon you're talking real money. But not now. Time's up.

30 Lynn Court, Darien, CT 06820