PRESIDENT GIVES PARDON TO PENNSYLVANIA RESIDENT
Saying he felt right at home with turkeys, President Clinton yesterday followed a tradition started by President Harry S. Truman by accepting a national turkey at the White House. He granted it his first presidential pardon.
"That's a very well-behaved turkey," Clinton said as the Rose Garden ceremony ended quietly, unlike the year that a huge turkey startled President Ronald Reagan by suddenly flapping its wings.
The 50-pound bird will go to a farm operated by the Fairfax County park system in Virginia.
This year's turkey was raised in our own more-or-less neck of the woods in New Oxford, Pa.
THE HORSE'LL GET YOU THERE IF YOU'LL JUST READ THE MAP
Who says you can't go home again?
Well, if it's over the river and through the wood, to Grandmother's house that you want to go, you can still get there, but some things have changed.
For instance, the horse that knew the way might get lost amid the shopping plazas and traffic circles that now mark Medford, Mass., childhood home of Lydia Moria Child, who wrote the 19th-century poem that inspired the song.
Or he might get sidetracked by the Chinese restaurant that occupies the site of her Salem Street home.
Though there are still a few trees along the banks of the river, most of the woods are now occupied by roads, homes, a high-rise apartment building and a church.
Once over the bridge, it's not long before you spot the house.
But guess what. Granny doesn't live there anymore.
Naw. Now it's the home of the president of Tufts University.
Who may very well spend today digging into some turkey fried rice from that Chinese restaurant.
LET US GIVE THANKS FOR THIS TRIVIA WE ARE ABOUT TO GREET
And now as you prepare to sit down for your Thanksgiving dinner, here are a few tasty morsels of turkey trivia, courtesy of the National Turkey Federation.
Know what they call a baby turkey? How about a poult.
Or what resting a hen for a second laying production is called? How about a molt.
And what about that bright red appendage at the neck of a turkey. Know what it's called? Try wattle. And we don't mean waddle like a duck. Or like Groucho.
Oh, and by the way, from one who's been called Tom Turkey more often than he'd care to admit - Happy Thanksgiving to all. And to all, a good bite!
