Idiot savant hits pay dirt at the Allentown Fair

August 30, 2008

I've always believed that each person has special gifts, although they sometimes go unrecognized.

Recent columns

• Shhh! I'm hunting veep

  August 30, 2008

  The musher urged the sled dogs on.

• 'You know, I have one simple request.'

  August 28, 2008

  That sophisticated comedy classic, ''Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery,'' includes a memorable exchange between Dr. Evil and his henchman, No. 2.

• Zoo is moving in the right direction

  August 26, 2008

  I haven't exactly been a great booster for the Lehigh Valley Zoo, formerly known as the Trexler- Lehigh County Game Preserve.

• Will Mack Boulevard need a new name?

  August 23, 2008

  I toured Allentown's America on Wheels Museum Tuesday morning, following up on my list of the area's 10 best attractions.

• What is the capital of Deleware?

  August 21, 2008

  I fell for an old joke while I was down at the shore last month.

• A columnist's midsummer night's dream

  August 19, 2008

  ''How lon g has he been in there?'' the state Capitol policeman asked from the outer office of House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese.

• There's value in having a reporter in the room

  August 16, 2008

  When I started at The Morning Call, not long after the glaciers began receding from North America, we used to cover every municipal meeting we could. We saw ourselves as the newspaper of record.

• New era of transparency off to rocky start

  August 14, 2008

  Freemansburg solicitor Lawrence Fox grandly announced at Monday night's Borough Council meeting, ''This borough is going to operate under total transparency.''

• School boards and root beer are different

  August 12, 2008

  Deciding between applicants for a new job can be difficult. But sometimes, an applicant makes it easy.

• Movie houses, Wine Trail and covered bridges

  August 9, 2008

  Here are the rest of readers' suggestions about the area's greatest attractions.

• Readers offer their favorite attractions

  August 7, 2008

  When I wrote a while back about the Top 10 attractions I would show visitors to impress them with our area, I invited your suggestions.

• Back for a big bite of Musikfest

  August 5, 2008

  It's Monday morning, and I'm girding my loins or whatever it is you gird when you're about to eat a lot for the 12th straight year.

• School director sounds like superintendent's mother

  August 2, 2008

  Here's a variation on an ol d riddle:

• Were appalling conditions at dog kennels overlooked?

  July 31, 2008

  It's one of life's great mysteries.

• 25 Best Eats

  July 30, 2008

  One of the things I hate is seeing TV stars who have aged so horribly that they look nothing like the way I remember them. Nobody wants to see Gilligan hobbling around with a walker.

• Food challenge bigger, better

  July 29, 2008

  You may have noticed that my face turns up on our front page more often than it used to.

• Hitchhiking on the Straight Talk Express

  July 26, 2008

  I got an interesting e-mail Monday afternoon.

• Dognapping strategy backfires

  July 24, 2008

  In the wildly popular comic strip Mark Trail, dogs often find themselves in odd positions.

• Wal-Mart fight woke residents in N. Whitehall

  July 22, 2008

  When I was carping recently about elected boards that hold their meetings in the morning, I should have worked in the 4 p.m. township supervisor meetings.

• Here's your chance to dunk clowns

  July 19, 2008

  You're standing at the mirror, admiring your My Little Pony tattoo and stewing over columnist Paul Carpenter's unkind words about body art.

• This was the ultimate perp walk

  July 17, 2008

  The ''perp walk'' is a media staple. Photographers and video crews station themselves at the entrance to a courthouse or district judge office and capture the grim suspects being walked in and out.

• Comics poll timing very suspicious

  July 15, 2008

  I thought it was pretty sneaky of our editors to conduct a poll on Morning Call comics while I was on vacation. By the time this appears, the Internet voting already will be over.

• NRA: First pigeons, next the world

  July 3, 2008

  I wrote a while back about pigeon shoots still being staged in parts of Berks County.

• A columnist's midsummer night's dream

  June 26, 2008

  ''Ladies and gentlemen,'' the PPL executive told the company's leaders, ''we have the results of our focus group interviews.''

• Military official says employers are supportive

  June 21, 2008

  Military official says employers are supportive

• McMuffins and meetings don't mix

  June 19, 2008

  The Carbon County commissioners meet Thursday mornings at 10:30.

• Rekindle that righteous indignation

  June 17, 2008

  You know I love you guys, but I loved you a lot more in 2005 and 2006.

• Guardsman still has health insurance

  June 15, 2008

  In a country so focused on the trivial in politics, proving your patriotism is a breeze. Just wear a flag pin in your lapel or put a sticker on your car. Voila, you're a patriot.

• Mourner mayhem earns high ranking

  June 14, 2008

  It's been years since I've reviewed my list of the greatest moments in wacky government mayhem.

• Tresses will benefit child with cancer

  June 7, 2008

  Tresses will benefit child

• Books on cassette not obsolete yet

  June 5, 2008

  I apparently struck a chord with my column about audio books. There are many other people out there clinging to guns, religion and their old cars with cassette players.

• Redistricting reform outlook grows darker

  June 3, 2008

  I looked up the expression ''whistle in the dark'':

• Mr. Dutt made the most of his 34 years

  May 31, 2008

  Google Bethlehem native Eric Dutt's name, read everything you find, and you probably won't need to bother with this column. It's all there.

• Assessing Rendell not as easy as it seems

  May 27, 2008

  Somebody asked me the other day what I think of Gov. Ed Rendell.

• Libraries must stay on cutting edge

  May 24, 2008

  Being a librarian these days is much more than shushing people and learning the Dewey Decimal System.

• Teach your child to tease their brains

  May 22, 2008

  Here's a crazy idea.

• Mendelson, Malsch, Cipkos are inducted

  May 20, 2008

  The Cipko Brothers, eccentric and now deceased Coal Region philanthropists, have aroused a lot of controversy in Hall of Fame circles.

• Does anybody want a nice alligator suit?

  May 17, 2008

  It's not every day that you can walk into a room and find a sequined ball gown, sterling silver collector spoons, a Pretty Pretty Princess game, a truckload of Easy Mac, a blowup doll and a full-sized alligator costume.

• We Republican leaders need to stick together

  May 15, 2008

  Not long ago, I shared my experiences as a new Republican, filling out an important survey as the representative for all Republicans in this area.

• State's next big reform has tight timeline

  May 13, 2008

  What do Lansdale, Easton, Quakertown and Emmaus have in common?

• Bethlehem school board needs exorcist

  May 10, 2008

  The Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx is a well-known phenomenon in sporting circles.

• Presumption of openness is the key

  May 8, 2008

  When I coached girls softball, we used to urge the girls to be aggressive on the bases.

• Here are more nominees to Hall of Fame

  May 6, 2008

  One of the best things about my annual Hall of Fame nomination and induction process is that I often find out about strong contenders with whom I'm not familiar.

• Cipkos touted for induction to Hall of Fame

  May 3, 2008

  The Hall of Fame nomination process is off to a rousing start, even though original inductee Ron Angle noted, ''The old days are gone. They just don't breed 'em like us guys anymore.''

• They're not killing, they're taking lives

  May 1, 2008

  A guy with a serious medical condition is admitted to the hospital. The doctor presents him with his options.

• Bloggers went from paradise to battlefield

  April 29, 2008

  Adam and Eve set the tone for what we can expect when human beings are presented with paradise.

• Top 10 ways to rejuvenate the IronPigs

  April 26, 2008

  The Lehigh Valley IronPigs probably are the worst team in organized baseball, relative to their competition.

• Magna Carter was impressive achievement

  April 24, 2008

  I recently mentioned a funny blog about Stuff White People Like, an ironic look at white culture.

• Submit your nominees to Hall of Fame

  April 22, 2008

  The late Allentown Councilman Tony Frey once sent me the following letter, in response to a column portraying him as The Lone Ranger:

• Pope's visit reopens victims' old wounds

  April 19, 2008

  Robert Corby and his therapist walked this week into the Bethlehem church sacristy -- a room beside the altar -- where he was sexually abused 60 years ago by his priest.

• Hey, that's the next generation's problem.

  April 17, 2008

  Politicians

• Sunshine Act disregarded in Southern Lehigh

  April 15, 2008

  I've always been fascinated by those great moments in Perry Mason and other dramas, where the attorney pounces on the witness and forces a confession, or at least a damaging admission.

• Promotional potential is unlimited

  April 12, 2008

  Promotional potential is unlimited

• Change needed in cruelty law

  April 10, 2008

  The Berks County Humane Society is none too happy about its county's distinction as the nation's leader in pigeon shoots.

• State keeping pigeon shoot tradition alive

  April 8, 2008

  I hear all the time that Pennsylvania isn't the place it used to be.

• This time, 'White' headline lived up to its name

  April 5, 2008

  Here was the first e-mail I got about my April 1 column on diversity:

• High times for Freemansburg law enforcement

  April 3, 2008

  Somebody sent me a link the other day to the Bad Cop News Web site (badcopnews.com). It's a collection of stories about police officers who have gotten into trouble.

• Diverse groups make better decisions

  April 1, 2008

  I remember looking at a Bethlehem Steel proxy statement in the company's waning days, and noting that 15 of the 16 nominees to the board of directors were white males between the ages of 56 and 71. They even looked alike.

• Baseball geek wears pig snout with pride

  March 31, 2008

  Here's how much of a baseball geek I am.

• Northampton is latest library battleground

  March 29, 2008

  There was a time when Bethlehem Township had a referendum almost every year about whether to join the Bethlehem Area Public Library.

• School board is embodiment of cliche

  March 27, 2008

  It's not often that you get to see a cliche acted out.

• Margaret Dickey is moving to Florida

  March 22, 2008

  "Hello," began the hand-written note.

• School district nearing end of losing streak

  March 20, 2008

  The Philadelphia Phillies lost 23 consecutive games in 1961, the worst stretch in modern Major League history. It was an astounding demonstration of ineptitude.

• Now scammers are using text messaging

  March 18, 2008

  I suppose some rubes still must be falling for Nigerian business proposals, fake lottery winnings and other wacky scams on the Internet.

• Stadium sign on cemetery land stirs ire

  March 15, 2008

  Benjamin Franklin once suggested, ''Energy and persistence conquer all things.''

• Snuck/sneaked debate can get pretty grizzly

  March 13, 2008

  I think the first Grammar Policeman I dealt with at The Morning Call took me to task for ''snuck.'' It was a long time ago, when I was a reporter.

• Gaming board behaved like Sgt. Schultz

  March 11, 2008

  The state Gaming Control Board is the Sgt. Schultz of regulatory bodies.

• The Keystone State's where Clinton must make her stand

  March 9, 2008

  Now that there's a lull in the horse race, the national press has figured out that Hillary Clinton has no chance of catching Barack Obama in the delegate count.

• On the road with Hillary and Eddie

  March 8, 2008

  ''Ed,'' said Hillary Clinton, ''I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate your support. Pennsylvania is crucial to us now, so shadowing you for one day in your work around the state would give my campaign a big boost.''

• White on Politics: March 7, 2008

  March 7, 2008

  When ''No Country for Old Men'' won the Oscar last month, Democrats must have found it encouraging.

• Sunshine Act lawsuit sends great message

  March 6, 2008

  I suggested a while back that the Williams Township supervisors might have been violating the state Sunshine Act by meeting behind closed doors with officials from the Chrin landfill, and on their own to discuss negotiations to let Chrin expand.

• Fear factor tactics surprising coming from Clinton

  March 5, 2008

  Editor's note: Columnist Bill White today starts occasional commentaries on the presidential race.

• Eight women came forward for bachelor

  March 4, 2008

  Here's a quick update on developments arising from the Looove Connection.