78-06-B3
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Snails and Signboards
TranscriptEarly in my last year as Governor of California the work load began to build up more heavily than usual as we sought to complete as much unfinished business as possible. So, when I got a letter from a young lady in the 3rd grade at Holbrook School, in Concord (near San Francisco bay) inviting me to "Get out of the rat race and go at a snail's pace", I was intrigued. It was an invitation to judge their annual Great Snail Race, in which the various grades entered brightly painted snails in a brief but spirited race. I couldn't resist, just that once, taking a couple of hours off to judge the snail race, so, off we went to Concord. The whole school was out in the yard. The band was playing Parents, teachers and civic leaders were crowded around and the decibel level of the children's cheering was enough to make you want to put on earmuffs. The race itself was all over in just 56 seconds, won by a speedy gastropod named Tony. I had brought along what turned out to be the first Great Snail Race Perpetual Trophy, a jar of jelly beans (the race itself was then four years old.) Well, the other day, I got a letter from seven-year-old Daniel Schwartz of Concord, California inviting me to come to this year's snail race on April 28. This year it's at the Ayers Elementary School and Daniel was good enough to send along the official Snail Race rules. Let me share them with you: The first snail to crawl from the center of the ring (where they all start) to the edge of the nine-inch-round track is the winner. Oh, and no pushing snails, no blowing on snails, no calling snails bad names, no tipping the race track, no teasing snails and definitely no squashing snails if they lose. The boys and girls take their snail racing seriously and each room will hold runoffs to determine the finalists. There are prizes for the winners of the final. First prize, 11 pieces of sugarless gum; Second prize 7 pieces; Third prize 4 pieces. I wish I could go to the Great Snail Race again. I can't this year, but my hat's off to the kids at Ayers Elementary School. Signboards are a long way from snail racing, but anyone who lives in Southern California has a certain fondness for that giant sign in the Hollywood hills that spells "Hollywood". If you've visited, you've no doubt seen it. When it first went up in the 1920's it spelled "Hollywoodland" to promote a real estate subdivision. The "L-A-N-D" was taken down in the '40's. In recent years the old landmark has fallen into disrepair and vandals have tried to set fire to some of the nearly 45-foot-high letters. Various civic groups have tried, without much success, to raise funds to repair it and to get some sort of official blessing to take over the sign. Two young men decided not to wait any longer. Stuart Levine, 17, and Cory Slater, 20, began in January to spend their spare time patching up the sign. Both work at night and in the daytime they don hardhats and carry nails and lumber (which have been donated) down the mountainside to repair the sign. Before the heavy winter storms hit they had managed to batten down some loose panels and shore up the legs of one "L". The sign suffered more damage during the rainstorms, but apparently that hasn't stopped Stuart and Cory. Who says volunteerism isn't alive and well in America? This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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