Column

“Hey, I've got a rifle I want you to advertise!” the caller said.

“A rifle?” I asked.

“No, not a rifle. A rifle. For a Gator” he said.

“You have a rifle made for an alligator?” I asked, not sure I heard correctly.

“No, there is no rifle. It's a rifle. You know, where you sell tickets and the person with the winning ticket gets a prize?”

“Oh, a raffle!” I said. “I misunderstood you.”

“That's what I've been saying. A rifle. For a Gator.”

“You're giving away an alligator?”

“No, a Gator. You know, a Mule?”

“Well which is it, an alligator or a mule? Those are two very different animals, plus I'm not sure you can sell tickets to give away an alligator in the state of Texas.”

“It's not an animal. It's a fur-wheeler.”

“A fur-wheeler? But, alligators and mules don't have fur! Wheels don't either!”

“No, dummy, not fur like animal fur. I mean the number “fur!”

by Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

Highland Lakes Newspapers

Very few people have not heard of the theory of six degrees of separation — the theory that everyone and everything in the world are connected by six or fewer steps from any other person or thing in the world.

This theory was originally introduced by a Hungarian author, Frigyes Karinthy, in a 1929 short story, “Chains” (Lánczemek) and is used to demonstrate how the world, though incredibly large, can be a small place through our interconnectedness.

by Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

Highland Lakes Newspapers

This year has been a tough one for entertainers. We have lost some great names in the arts, including Prince, David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Glenn Frey, Patty Duke, Maurice White, Harper Lee, Pat Conroy, Merle Haggard and Muhammed Ali.

This week, we added another name to the list of greats we have lost — our very own columnist, former Texas Press Association president and Texas Newspaper Hall of Fame honoree Willis Newman Webb.

Willis passed away at his residence in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on Monday, July 18, at the age of 79. Below this column is the first of the last two columns Willis wrote for us. The other will appear in next week's Highlander.

by Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

Highland Lakes Newspapers

For the past few months, my fellow cast and crew at the Hill Country Community Theatre have been recreating the fictionalized story of sharpshooters Annie Oakley and Frank Butler on stage in the Irving Berlin muscial “Annie Get Your Gun.”

The production features some of the most recognizable music in the history of American theater, including the anthemic “There's No Business Like Show Business” and the rousing “Anything You Can Do.”

As of today, July 29, we have three more productions of this show — at 7:30 p.m. tonight and tomorrow, July 30, and at 2:15 p.m. Sunday, July 31 — before we say goodbye to Col. Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show and strike the set.