Show :j!L - Pj? w July 18 1999 — The Herald Journal Logan Utah Sunday Page 1 1 Subtle violations overlooked by wrestling referees Dave Barry By etc and then merely by walking a short distance get eaten by alligators I watched the wrestling matches from a seat right next to the commissioner of FCW Bennie Siegel It is Commissioner Siegel’s job to monitor the sport closely for cheating and impose stiff punishments on wrongdoers “I haven't had an eye exam in years” he told me In the first match a wrestler who had been losing suddenly gained the upper hand (so to speak) by kicking his opponent in a very sensitive masculine region “Did you see that?" I asked Commissioner Siegel "See what?" he answered The referee didn't see it either even though he was standing about two feet from the wrestlers It takes a special type of person to be a professional-wrestlin- g referee the type of person who if he had been present when the Hindenburg was being consumed by a giant ball of flame would have been looking with intense interest at the ground In the next match a wrestler thumbed his opponent in the eye yanked on his hair and then choked him for approxi The Miami Herald I there’s one question that troubles every thinking person it's this: Does cheating go on in professional wrestling? In an effort to find an answer I recently attended a tournament sanctioned bv 7 Florida Champi- o n s h i p I Wrestling chose FCW for two solid journalistic reasons: It is a venerable circuit in the “minor leagues" of professional wrestling where the potential stars of tomorrow learn the ground rules the “do's and don't's" that make up the ethical standards of the sport It is near my house The FCW tournament I attended was held at the Miccosukee Indian Gaming Center located west of Miami on the edge of the Everglades This is one of the few gaining facilities where you can gamble on bingo slot machines poker mately five minutes while the referee hovered alertly nearby looking for violations "These are world-clas- s athletes" observed Commissioner Siegel Next in one of the featured matches a wrestler named Larry Lane fought "Playboy" Bobby Davis who is 350 pounds of highly disciplined superbly trained expertly conditioned fat Lane was winning but then Davis' “manager" a woman named Ebony who was wearing a pair of shorts that would he two sizes too small for Barbie distracted the referee while a third wrestler Tony Apollo who was supposed to he injured and who was not technically even in this match climbed into the ring and whacked Lane over the head from behind with his crutch "I didn't sec anything there" said Commissioner Siegel before I even asked him In another featured match a wrestler named Anthony “The Smith Beach Stud" Adonis distracted the referee by asking him about the rules ("Our referees are trained to be instructive at all times" said Commissioner Siegel ) For several minutes while the referee patiently explained the rules directly behind his back Adonis' opponent Billy Viper was writhing on the mat in agony while being repeatedly kicked in the mjsculine region and clawed in the eyeball region by Adonis' manager a woman named Babe Hentoff Housing and Urban Development “We don’t see the poor" he says Not in the cities or in “the pockets of rural poverty which are much distant “We've had people get their eyes Abu-dadc- D now" Network the National Catholic Social Justice Lobby points out that national and state studies of uring the Great Depression I would listen late at night to radio broadcasts from jazz clubs around the country Once from the Panther Room in Chicago the announcer was describing the plush decor and the merry imbibers as he introduced Thomas “Fats” Waller the effects of the vaunted welfare reform underestimate what actually happens to families off the rolls because “those hardest hit are hardest to find" two-yeAccordingly Network conducted a survey to monitor the implementation of welfare reform Contacted were 2500 clients of 59 Catholic social-servicfacilities Forty-on- e percent of them do not have working telephones and so are not included in most other polls and surveys Of those who have moved from welfare to work 24 percent report that “they cannot provide sufficient food for their children” Moreover Latinos receive fewer benefits and fare much worse than other ethnic groups And “since the 1996 (welfare reform) legislation social service facilities have become increasingly overloaded and can no longer fulfill the needs” of all those who come to them Meanwhile the national health consumer group Families USA reports: “The rewards many are receiving for coming off welfare even when they get jobs is the loss of health coverage “125 million people with incomes under 200 percent of the federal poverty level lost their Medicaid coverage as a result of welfare reform the majority were children under 19" More of those were minority children “Their numbers are likely to increase considerably as welfare reform is fully carried out” Our acclaimed prosperity is not even lifting all Before the exuberant stride pianist and singer 10-sta- te began his set Waller came to the microphone and said “I wonder what the poor people are doing tonight" So do I — amid the cele- ar es bratory comments about our robust economy and remarkably low unemployment rate Yet as noted in a dissenting series on National Public Radio's “All Things Considered” "Even after eight years of uninterrupted economic growth one in five American children is growing up poor Child poverty is more widespread in this country than in any other developed nation” I doubt if any of the presidential candidates will highlight that information in their television commercials The Democrats will not want to tarnish record and the their spin on the Clinton-Gor- e that believe eventually good Republicans times will reach all but the chronically shiftless or But even some of the incorrigibly unproductive have children A rare insistent tribune for the poor in the Clinton administration is Andrew Cuomo secretary of free-mark- et drug-addict- SENATE-UTA- H Sen Robert Bennett Republican — US Senate Washington Utah DC 20510 (202) 224-54office: 4225 Federal Building 125 S State St Salt Lake City UT 3 84138(801)524-593- Sen Orrin Hatch Republican — US Senate Washington DC 1 Utah office: 20510 (202) 8402 Federal Building 125 S State St Salt Lake City UT 84138 (801) 224-525- 524-438- 0 SENATE-IDAH- O Larry Craig Republican — SD-- B 40 Room 3 Washington DC 2 Idaho 20510 (202) 224-614- office: 303 N 8th District which includes Cache County Washington office: 2466 Rayburn Building US House of Representatives Washington DC 20515 (202) 225-045- 3 Drive Brigham City UT 84302 5 Home phone Senate District 25 (Cache Rich Summit counties) — Lyle W 334-177- G-5- 224-275- St Room 149 Boise (208)334-156- ID 83702 0 — HOUSE-UTA- H James V Hansen Republican Represents 1st Congressional 175 E 100 North 1017 Federal Building 324 25th St Ogden UT 84401 (801) 625-56or 393-836- Logan 753-004- iVV Continued from Page :w 10 s with greater power and less court oversight At his behest Congress recently approved giving the FBI roving wiretap authority that allows agents to tap any phone a suspect might use without obtaining added court orders rather" “Nightlinc" added that Second Harvest the largest national network of food banks “reports its clientele has grown by 10 percent a year Twenty-si- x The absence of court and congressional oversight allowed Hoover to use a campaign of mischief to promote his own agenda Abernathy's ordeal million American people rely on food banks food pantries or soup kitchens” Fats Waller is gone but the poor never leave However says Larry Brown “For eight to 10 billion dollars using the current programs we already have we can be a nation that has eliminated reminds us to keep those checks in place Bell hunger” As for now as Sen Paul Wcllsionc Continued from Page pointed out in The Nation “No one in government — at the state local or federal level — is required to track recipients once they have left the welfare rolls We have moved from ‘welfare as we know it’ to welfare as we do not know it We have a new class of people — Disappeared Americans many of whom are children” This is a point that their advocate the first lady might want to address As for the president's recent road-shotour of areas Wellstone says “The Clinpoverty-stricke- n ton administration has abandoned many of the most concerns I'd say it's a important economic-justic- e little late" 10 climb up in its bell tower And that is what I confessed more or less as I followed Maxwell up a long wooden ladder that was covered in 140 years' worth of pigeon droppings and finally into the cupola where I saw at last — no not the whole wide world but the big brass hell that hud gotten stuck apparently when the Republicans tried to ring it after the last election I thought I heard my grandfather laughing But it could’ve been my grandmother choking on her snuff w Sharon Randall is a winner of the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors and the Best of the West commentary awards Nat Hentoff is a nationally renowned authority on the First Amendment and the rest of the BiN of Rights 752-261- SHARP PRO LOGIC MINI SYSTEM 10 Jacks In Jacks 2 2 PIP Comb Filter INVAR Shadow Mask 0 The Honorable John Doe State Representative State Capitol Salt Lake City Utah 84114 House District 1 (Cache Box Elder and Tooele counties) — Rep Eli Anderson 8790 W Highway 102 Tremonton UT 0 84337 Home phone House District 3 (Cache County) — Craig Buttars 540 S 1600 West Lewiston UT 5 84320 Home phone House District 4 (Cache Rich DC 20515-120- 8th Room 325 Boise 334-195- 2 Idaho office: ID 3 UTAH SENATE 854-376- To call your Utah senator at the 5 Senate: (801) To write your senator at the Senate: The Honorable John Doe Utah 538-103- State Senator Room 319 State 258-501- Capitol Salt Lake City UT 841 14 — Loraine Pace 435 E 900 North Logan 4 Fax UT 84321 Phone Senate District 24 (Box Elder Cache counties) — Peter C Knud-so- n 753-815- City 1209 Michelle 753-501- 3 COMMUMOTY Logic Mini System 3 Disc CD Changed 530 CDC478 Sub-Woof- er $349°° COMPARE $899°° $399 NEW ALLEGR6 BY ZENITH VCR'S TV 2 Head 99aigb201 4 Head i119oalgb401 4 Head stkrio139malg&402 Trilingual Menus Sleep Timer Full Function Remote Control A27A11D $349 ' s 4 to answer questions regarding the August 3 Parks & Recreation Special Election Bond 6-7:- 30 6-7:- 30 6-7:- 30 Logan Community Recreation Center 1 95 South 1 00 West Logan For more information call 750-987- 7 A36841W VN ‘ly High Drive Video 3 Jacks $239 I $999" COMPARE o ZENITHS 27" o Stereo Sound r Lines of Resolution Universal Remote Control SEq Front Surround Package Complete COMPARE MEETINGS Thursday July 22 Thursday July 29 Monday August 2 DolbyTro —36" TV ZENITH 200watt Total Building Washington (202) 225-5583702 (208) business UTAH HOUSE To caH the Utah House of Representatives: (801) 538-10To write a Utah representative: HOUSE4DAHO Mike Simpson Republican — Represents 2nd Congressional District which includes Franklin Coun- N 3 Home phone 2 US 304 UT 84321 Back by Popular Demand )R COPY ‘ Other views Hill-ya- rd Utah office: counties) US Dave Barry is a humor columnist tor the Miami Herald Write to him do Tropic Magazine The Miami Herald One Herald Plaza Miami FL 33132 723-203- Street Room 338 6 Boise ID 83703 (208) Michael Crapo Republican — 0 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 (202) 2 Idaho office: 304 N 8th in mum ty 437 Cannon House Office US working-clas- flagpole" VC R DVDjKVJ H mrreTheat eriTV Lawmakers mmmmmmmmmmmmmammmm US t boats Last Thanksgiving “Nightlinc” quoted Larry Brown — who runs Tufts University's Center on Nutrition Hunger and Policy: “We're seeing predominantly working-clas- s families coming into emergency food programs About 50 percent have a mother and a that many “He hit him with the responded Commissioner Siegel AH in all it was an exciting evening of athletic competition And although at limes it appeared to my untrained eye that some of the contestants might possibly have been taking liberties with the rules of fair play I realize that this could hardly be possible if the commissioner of Florida Championship Wrestling who happens to be a licensed attorney anJ whose whole JOB is to keep an eye on things did not sec any violations So rest easy America: The popular sport of professional wrestling is definitely “on the up and up" Its integrity is protected by safeguards every hit as stringent as the ones used to protect America's most vital nuclear secrets You think I'm gouged out" observed Commissioner Siegel adding "They become referees" As he spoke Tony Apollo who was not technically in this match either slipped a folding chair into the ring for Anthony Adonis to whack Billy Viper with "It looks like he's slipping a chair into the ring” I said “I'll have to check the tape on that" said Commissioner Siegel In subsequent matches a wrestler heal his opponent in the face with a cowbell (ves a cowbell): a manager named (“The Master of Darkness") used his staff (‘The Staff of Darkness") to knock out a security guard: and Duke “The Dumpster" Druese appeared to he about to win his match when his opponent the Cuban Assassin clubbed him senseless with a flagpole holding a Cuban flag which the Cuban Assassin's What are the poor people doing tonight? By Nat manager a woman named Fantasy had slipped into the ring unobserved “Is he allowed to hit him w ith tlte flagpole?" I asked Y F ' V!hi il |