A Strange Marriage; Sharon Stone;
Hoohah and Other Words!

By MICHAEL SCHENKLER

Al Stabile

Anthony Weiner

STABILE: Okay Al, what gives? We can’t even come up with a deal. Why then, months ahead of your Republican Party naming a candidate, did you endorse Dem Congressman Anthony Weiner for reelection?

Now Weiner is good — real good. Weiner apparently works with you real well. But last time we looked at your pedigree, it said Republican. And Weiner is a Dem for sure. Politically, he’s to the left of you. You have suggested that you’ll seek the G.O.P. line for Beep in 2001. Al, what are we missing? You didn’t do it for Schumer, did you?

"So why now," I asked out loud in a skeptical newsroom.

"So why did he do it?"

Someone responded "Peace."

"Peace, I inquired?"

"Yeah, Stabile must be getting a piece of something!"

Just kidding Al, we hope.

Seriously, Al, besides the fact that Weiner is on a roll, and he’s the best thing since chopped liver, what’s the real reason? As Republican hoohah Al Smith once said, "No matter how thin you slice it, it’s still baloney."

But Al, it does seem to show pretty good judgment.

DICK BROWN & SHARON STONE: A press release from the office of DA Dick Brown caught our eye — we assume this item and photo caught yours. The release dated March 3 tells of the sentencing of a Flushing minister who raped his niece in his house. Supreme Court Justice Richard L. Buchter handed down the 9 ½ - 19 years sentence.

According to DA Brown: The victim who had come to study English was supposed to stay with her aunt, uncle and cousins. "When she had been there less than a week," Brown said, "her uncle told her, according to his own testimony, that he was attracted to her. He told the court that she crossed her legs like Sharon Stone in ‘Basic Instinct.’"

We have nothing to add.

CURRENT HOOHAH: Last week, I referred to Mike Neibauer as the former hoohah of the Independence Party. Hoohah is my word (and I take pride in its flexible applications) not the Independence Party’s. Mike didn’t object to "hoohah." He objected to "former."

This paper had been informed by press release that Mike had been voted out and a new "hoohah" appointed — only they called it "Chairman." Mike has supplied us with a half a pound of faxes from the NYC Board of Elections, the State Independence Party and himself. It seems the Board of Elections has tossed out the renegade hoohah and now again recognizes Mike.

According to Mike, the folks from the New Alliance Party pulled some flim-flam and filed papers with the Board of Elections with interim rules. From November 15th to January 31st, apparently, the Board did recognize these interim "phonies."

The State Independence Party hoohah has intervened on Mike’s behalf and although the fight will continue in court, we can comfortable drop the former from Neibauer’s "hoohah."

It all would be very funny except for the fact that Mike claims the interim fakers are tied to radical "Manhattan-based New Alliance Party cult — with its Marxist, racist, anti-democratic, anti-American, anti-Semitic militant rhetoric." He traces their connections back to convicted felon, political radical Lyndon LaRouche.

Hoohah Mike might be closer to reality this time than he has been since the Independence Party replaced the Conservative Party on ballot Column C in New York.

WORDS: It’s always embarassing when the Tribune makes a mistake. Now, keep in mind that we average some 60-plus pages in our paper every week; with pages that change among our nine editions, we produce more like 200-plus pages a week. That includes advertisements, classifieds and editorial copy. But, they all have to be perfect — or as close to perfect as possible.

Our pages are written on computer and spell checked, then edited and proofed. They are laid out (placed on a page) on computer and proofed again. However, many of the news pages are generated in the last hours before press time. And, that’s where the errors occur.

I always cringe when I see one. You see, with few exceptions, I don’t see the final pages until after the paper is printed. But somehow, the errors always find their way to stories about friends of mine.

Last week, on page 5 of the March 2, 2000 edition, we ran a story about Bayside’s Nick Garaufis being nominated to the Federal bench by President Clinton. Nick is a dear personal friend. He was at my wedding. He was the attorney for the Queens Tribune, in my early days with the paper, from 1979 to 1986 when he became Counsel to Queens Borough President Claire Shulman. He’s now chief counsel for the Federal Aviation Administration.

So, when I read the story I cringed several times: First of all, it omitted the fine training he obtained as counsel to the Tribune; Jim Scheur was a Congressman, not a judge. But most profoundly, I cringed with the misuse, abuse and confusion of the words "council" and "counsel."

My father was an educator. He had a real passion for learning and knowledge. His life was filled with a quest for understanding and mastery of language — dad was the ultimate wordsmith — well, maybe behind Bill Safire and his ilk, but not far.

Dad taught me to hear, read and see when words are misused with the hope that I would use them correctly. My understanding and love of language is completely a credit to the finest teacher I ever had, my father.

When dad came across homonyms (words that sound alike and have different meanings), he would dissect them and develop pneumonic or other devices to teach the difference. I am a product of my father.

So, here goes.

Council: a group of people called together for consultation, discussion, advice.

Counsel: 1) lawyer. 2) an exchange of ideas, advice.

According to Barnhart’s Dictionary of Etymology, both are from the Old French in the 1100s (concilie, later counseil: an assembly of churchmen). In early English there was confusion between the two words. However, in the 1500s council became standardized as: a deliberative body; while counsel was limited to the giving of advice.

To make it easier to remember, from council (a deliberative body) we get the New York City Council, although at times, we wonder if they truly deliberate. From counsel (or the Old French conseilleor or the Godfathers consigliarie) we get counselor (or counsellor): one who gives advice (counselor-at-law, camp or guidance counselor).

Dad always taught me to refine the little tricks to remember words. So, to simplify: Council with an "i" (for "idea") deliberates and discusses. Counsel with the "sel" (think "sell") would "sell" their soul or anything else – a lawyer. Got that?

Counselors, no letters please.

OOOOPS 2: Our sister papers in Nassau did a story about the naming of my good friend Robert Zimmerman of Great Neck as the chair of the Al GORE 2000 New York State Steering Committee. Robert has been a good friend for quite some time, so I was happy to pass the information on to our Nassau papers and arrange for an interview. They ran the story in their chain of 12 community newspapers on the South Shore of Long Island. They got Robert’s position in the Gore campaign right. They identified him as the president of Zimmerman and Edelson, a leading Long Island public relations firm. It was a great story.

Only, they called him Richard, not Robert. Just a mistake — there’s no good explanation. Six times, including in large pullout quotes, Robert Zimmerman was Richard Zimmerman.

So remember, when a newspaper makes a mistake about you, maybe, it’s not intentional — it happens to our friends. All the newspaper can do is apologize and print a correction.

Sorry, it’s Robert Zimmerman.

Only, I think Richard sounds better.

CLAIRE: Queens’ First Lady, Claire Shulman, went to Town Hall last week to let everyone know, she’s still playing the game. The feisty Beep raised some $57,000 to bring her campaign war chest to almost $120,000.

What is she running for, we asked.

"I’m keeping my options open," Claire said, "It could be anything but Mayor."

Reacting to being term-limited out of the borough presidency at the end of 2001, Shulman told us, "One thing is certain, I’m not retiring."

KIDS: A small boy was lost, so he went up to a policeman and said," I’ve lost my dad!"

The officer said, "What’s he like?"

The little boy replied, "Beer and women!"

QUEENS STORY: Reacting to our Anniversary Issue column, we received the following via email:

THINGS WE MISS, CONT.

1. Fairy Land Amusement Park (now the Queens Center Mall).

2. Jamaica Avenue with the El.

3. Mays in Jamaica (home of the $3.99 gym Sneaker – black or white, high top or low).

4. The Queens bicycle path (now largely overgrown and unmarked).

5. White Castle (Union Turnpike & Parsons Blvd.)

6. Suicide Hill sledding (now Queens Blvd./Union Tpke. transit yards).

7. Master’s in Flushing.

8. Spiratone in Flushing.

9. The old DMV on Sutphin Blvd. (so I’m a masochist).

10. Fields Department store in Jackson Heights.

11. Old Main Street Public Library Branch (a converted restroom facility from ’39 Fair).

12. Horse back riding in Kissena Park.

13. Wainrite’s Dept. Store on Kissena Blvd.

14. Red’s Candy Store.

15. Parsons movie theater.

Bet your readers have lots more! - Howard Krebs

MORE MORT: I read your column this evening and you did sort of make me teary eyed as I lived all of the talked about 30 years there and remember it well... I was going to write you a piece and I still will tomorrow but I really just wanted to say I love the way you write and look forward to Wednesdays when your column goes on line (even though the rest is not there till Thurs) and print it out for my wife who enjoys the news immensely about people we knew and know. Congrats on the 30 years! -Mort Hillman

By words or verse or anyway you like, share with us, your Queens story.

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Michael Schenkler can be reached at: MSchenkler@QueensTribune.com

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