Fess Parker, a baby-boomer idol in the 1950s who launched a craze for coonskin caps as television’s Davy Crockett, died Thursday of natural causes. He was 85.
Family spokeswoman Sao Anash said Parker, who was also TV’s Daniel Boone, died at his Santa Ynez Valley home on the 84th birthday of his wife of 50 years, Marcella, according to the AP.
Of course like many American boys growing up in the suburbs in the 1950s and ’60s, I was a big fan of the Daniel Boone television series that aired from September 24, 1964 to September 10, 1970 on NBC.
This brings back many memories, and strikes me as a perfect example of how new Web technology such as YouTube, Wikipedia and Facebook can be used to collect reliable information and pass it on to friends.
The Alabama Democratic Party blasted National Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele in a press release this week for authorizing a partisan fund-raising mailing so close to the official census of 2010.
“The RNC claims this mailing is clearly marked as coming from the RNC, but conveniently absent are any disclaimers on the outer envelope. Just about everyone will open this mailer because there’s no way to tell it’s not junk mail,” Democratic Party executive Director Jim Spearman said. “Once inside, the RNC disclaimers are small and inconspicuous, and the questions are disingenuous and misleading. This mailer is borderline fraudulent, and Steele should be ashamed of himself for falling back on such a dubious fundraising tactic when it’s critical we focus on making the 2010 Census as successful as possible.”
The official 2010 Census of the Population is arriving in citizen’s mailboxes now. It is only 10 questions and is the shortest Census form in many decades. Respondents are encouraged to complete and return it by the end of April. An accurate response to the Census is critical in determining levels of federal funding for communities and will be crucial to next year’s redistricting efforts.
Joe Turnham, Chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party, encouraged all Alabama residents to fill out and return the census.
“The Census is extremely important, and the information is absolutely confidential. There are various groups and figureheads on the right making false allegations in an effort to dissuade people from completing the census, but their cries should be ignored,” Turnham claims. “I encourage all Alabamians to participate in this year’s census so that we will be fairly represented in Congress and so that the appropriate amount of federal dollars will flow to our great state.”
During the Bush years, we specialized in covering the politicization of the U.S. justice system as much as any news organization. Our archives are about the most comprehensive for anyone researching the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, and the original case against Richard Scrushy, which Glynn Wilson covered for The New York Times.
