Sun puts more fun in world of Rosaria

By Phil Stanford

The Portland Tribune, Jun 15, 2004, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Just like I said: A little magic spell from the queen, the clouds part, and the sun comes out for Saturday’s Grand Floral Parade. É But, please. As timely and valuable as my suggestion may have been, I have no wish for ostentatious displays of gratitude. I do this purely as a public service. É My favorite octogenarian photographer, Hugh Ackroyd Ñ who shows up at his studio every day, seersucker suit, bow tie and all Ñ has a cache of Ronald Reagan photos from March 31, 1956, that he’d like to share with someone. É On that day, the then-future-president was in P-town to give an inspirational speech to General Electric employees. “He told me the meetings were more profitable than doing movie work,” Hugh remembers. É The day after her concert at the Schnitz, Radio Cab driver extraordinaire Bruce Wilson picked up singer K.D. Lang at the Paramount Hotel for a drive to the airport. É “You know,” said Bruce, as she got in the cab, “you look just like K.D. Lang.” É Responded Lang: “A lot of people tell me that, but I’m not.” Why do they do that?

• • •

Monday’s announcement that Mayor Vera Katz would be undergoing chemotherapy couldn’t have been a surprise to City Hall insiders, whose concerns grew after she bowed out of several Rose Festival events last week. É Not only did she ask other City Council members to fill in for her at the dragon boat races, a sister city dinner and the queen’s coronation, but she failed to show up to ride in her favorite event, the Grand Floral Parade. É Not like her, they say. É Ex-Journal reporter Doug Yocum reports that the Goose Hollow Inn Ñ Bud Clark’s old place, now under the management of his kids Ñ has gone smoke-free. “Some of the puffing regulars are wondering whether to find another hangout, or whether it might even be a good idea to quit smoking.” É Trying times over at the Multnomah Athletic Club, too. É What to do, for example, when a member in good standing Ñ say, big-time financial swindler Andrew Wiederhorn Ñ goes off to prison? Put him on inactive status? É Or perhaps start an exchange membership program with the federal prison system? É And then there’s the matter of confessed felon and fellow MAC member Neil Goldschmidt.

• • •

Good luck to mayoral candidate Jim Francesconi, who, after coming in second in the mayoral primary, has fired his campaign staff and hired Liz Kaufman of M&R Strategic Services to make him a man of the people. If anyone can do it, she can É Like I told you, if you want to know what’s going on in P-town politics, keep your eye on M&R. É High-priced divorce lawyer Jody Stahancyk and her attorney husband, John Crawford, were courtside in L.A. for the NBA finals Ñ courtesy of everybody’s new favorite basketball player, Rasheed Wallace. Jody got to be friends with ’Sheed Ñ who calls her “Miss Jode” Ñ while representing him in a child-custody case. É As if it weren’t embarrassing enough already Ñ what with those clandestine raids on License Bureau computers and interrogations of city Commissioner Randy Leonard’s office staff Ñ Vera’s police investigation into a Willy Week news leak is over now Ñ and guess what? É They didn’t come up with anything. Zip. Nada. É The DA’s office said so in a press release Friday. É Upon receiving which, Vera shot off a press release of her own saying she’d do it again in a heartbeat. É Strange behavior, to be sure. Let’s just hope that with this out of the way, she can concentrate on her health.

Contact Phil Stanford by phone at 503-546-5166 or by e-mail at pstanford@portlandtribune.com.

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