THE PONCHATOULA TIMES, DECEMBER 23, 2010, PAGE A-2
Dave Berwick
Blimey!
By DAVE BERWICK
Times Columnist
Blimey me. Just when you
think the world has sunk to
its lowest possible level some-
thing so hideous happens and
then new depths are found.
The world sinks to even lower
depths.
The hideous deed I am writ-
ing about is the horrible attack
on Prince Charles and Camilla
on their way to the opera
Blimey, what hooligans, bad
form, blackguards! These are
the words I thought as the fu-
ture King of England was sur-
rounded by a bloodthirsty mob
who would surely have torn the
royals to pieces if they could
have extracted them form the
royals' Rolls Royce. The car, no
doubt damaged beyond repair
or surely not worthy for nobil-
ity to ever ride in again, had
the windows smashed, the sides
kicked in, the body scratched to
pieces, and things stuck to the
Rolls too nasty to mention here.
I almost forgot to mention the
gobs of white paint that were
splattered all over the royals'
Rolls Royce.
Blimey me! What on Earth
happened to that old Brit-
ish rule about, "keeping a stiff
upper lip under fire?" Crown
Prince Chuckie was in a panic.
He was scared out of his wits.
Blimey me, what happened to
all that military training he
was given
Oh Blimey me, where is Brit-
ish Civilization? To act in such
a violent manner one cannot be
civilized. I've heard a million
times how much more violent
Americans are when compared
to their British cousins. Blimey
they didn't look to civilized to
me!
Not since 1918, when the
Czar of Russia, and his whole
family, including the dog, were
gunned down by the Bolshevik
thugs has such a dastardly act
against royalty been perpetrat-
ed.
But this incident proves that
there is a huge gap between "the
haves" and "the have-nots".
"The haves," that would be
the English Royalty, had no
thoughts that things were that
bad. They can't see why they
were attacked.
The "have nots" (that would
be you and me) had just found
out they had less, that being no
free schools at the university
level. All will now pay.
This didn't set well with the
English youth and hence their
terrible deeds. I can see their
point and I'm sure if I were a
young man I might have acted
in the same manner.
Blimey me, if I were Brit-
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ish nobility I'd adopt a stay-at-
home policy for the near future.
It might be wise to stay in Buck-
ingham Palace in seclusion un-
til the whole thing blows over.
Oh blimey me, I just come up
with an idea. The British roy-
alty could sell what they have
and give to the poor so they, the
poor that is, could attend the
universities.
Happy
Anniversar00
December 23 - Calvin & at-
ty Neihaus, Barry & Sherry Ed-
wards, Buck & Cathy Brignac,
Garrick & Casey Robert
December 24 - Lloyd & Glo-
ria Ballard, Barry & Cathy Gor-
don, Archie & Iris Mathews, H.
D. & Shirley Johnson, Joey &
Mary Haley
December 25 - Jerry & Fran-
ces Bardwell
December 27 Harley &
Shirley Vinyard, Hollis & Betty
Poche, M.J. & Marie Gillman,
Stephen & Jennifer Perrin,
George Rinker
December 28 - Paul & Mar-
lene Meunier, Dan & Lisa E1-
strot, Todd & Tina Penn, Tom-
my & Rebecca Waller
December 29 - Michael &
Debbie Schanzbach, Stan&
Natalie Bravy, Louis & Mary
Myers
Happy
Birthday
December 23 - Darian How-
ard, Donnie Eudy, Haley Ja-
cob, Holly Landry, Jonathan
Boudreaux, Justin Durfreche,
Kayla Ernst, Kenneth Ballard,
Kim Ballard, Kyle Schatzle,
Larry Caldwell Jr., Lauren E.
Garaudy, Lauren Palmisano,
Mike Jones, Patrick McKean,
Paul Walker, Rick Henry, Rick
Wehrs, Tiffany Parent, Zita
Whitmarsh,
December 24 - Bernie Fan-
naly, Cathy LeSaicherre, Dayna
Simon, Dot Ryle, Fr. Anthony
Norton, Grace Lemoine, Larry
Caldwell, Myrtle Austin, Philip
Nelson, Robin DePaula, Violet
Hilderbrand,
December 25 - Cheryl P. Kim-
brough, Christy Poche, Debbey
Verneuil, Deborah Murray, Lois
Bardwell, Stacy Watts, Susan P.
Thompson, Tommy Norred, Roy
Bankston, Callie Hines,
December 26 -Aaron Wey-
mouth, Bivin von Almen, Chris
Thibodeaux, Debra A. Granger,
Dennis "Bubba" Hebert, Ger-
lean Melancon, Grayson Bou-
dreaux, Jarred Ryan, Jeff Park-
er, Karen Byers, Lester Savoie
IV, Marcus Lilly, Melanie M.
Davis, Melissa Triche, Patty
Wolf, Reggie Pevey, Shelley
Douglas, Andrea Ragan, Evan
David Nolan
December 27 - Beatrice
Graves, Benjamin Ernst,
Candice Richardson, Charles
Keaghey, Cindy Wagner, Cyn-
thia Dominguez, Dan Keller,
Diana Parker, Janice Poche,
Karen Raiford, Kimberly Rai-
ford, Lauren Rose, Mike Whit-
low, Samantha Baden, Troy
Pinion, Will Schliegelmeyer,
Patrick Greaud,
December 28 -Alvin Ryan,
Brandy Wallace, Chris Farkas,
Donnie Gilmore, Frank Latino,
Frankie M Morgan, Sr., Marcia
Stromeyer, Missie Lofton, Ricky
Daigle, Trent Brown, Tyler Poir-
rier,
December 29 - Caitlyn Gide-
on, Chip Lavigne, Cole Plum-
mer, Jason Schliegelmeyer,
Jerry Tidwell, Joan Price, Jody
Zogg, John Landry, Junior
Wright, Kevin Raiford, Mac
McKean, Sarah Lessard, Sha-
ron McTopy, Tracie Demarco,
Heather Habisreitinger
Too little,
Too late?
By JOHN DUDEK
Times Columnist
This past week, Cox Sports
Television, Charter Communi-
cations, and the New Orleans
Hornets finally agreed on a
deal that will give fans on the
Northshore the chance to watch
the team play.
This is a deal that should
have happened before a basket-
ball was ever bounced on the
floor of the New Orleans Arena.
There are a lot of reasons why
this deal took so long, but the
main two reasons are money
and greed. It is really sad that
it has come to this.
With the ownership of the
team in limbo, combined with
lagging attendance, the team
has the chance to opt out of
its lease with the state, and
leave without financial penalty.
Like almost everything that in-
volves big money in a large met-
ropolitan city, it came down to
politics.
Once upon a time, former
New Orleans mayor, Ray Nagin,
was once the president of an up-
start cable company called Cox
Sports Television. When good
ole' Ray wanted to run for may-
or of New Orleans, he stepped
down from the position to focus
on his campaign.
To make a long story short,
Nagin becomes mayor, New
Orleans gets the Hornets, and
guess what company ends up
getting the exclusive rights to
broadcast all things Hornets?
You guessed it, Nagin's old pals
at Cox Sports Television.
At the time, CST was strug-
gling to fill their time slots with
anything more than Zephyrs
games and highlights from the
New Orleans Brass, the city's
minor league hockey team.
But the incoming Hornets, they
could help save this struggling
network.
All CST needed was an exclu-
sive rights contract to broadcast
the newest professional team in
New Orleans. And they got it.
Now, after years of denying reg-
ular folks like you and me the
chance to watch the games and
become fans of the team, they
want our help.
I guess desperate times really
do call for desperate measures.
Here is a note to all three of
those parties involved in this
disgraceful situation. You do not
cultivate a fan base overnight.
You do not hold your "fan base"
hostage, by not allowing us to
even watch the games, yet still
expect us to drive an hour to
buy tickets to watch your team
play. If I had a dollar for every
time one of my friends asked
me, "How are the Hornets do-
ing?" my name would be in the
mix to be the next owner of this
once promising franchise.
me
Catch all of the action of
Southeastern Louisana
University Basketball on
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