Smiley Anders for April 30, 2008

• By SMILEY ANDERS
• Advocate columnist
• Published: Apr 30, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:10 a.m.

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Talk about the Law of Unintended Consequences!

I haven’t been a fan of speed traps since the ’70s, when I got nailed twice in two weeks in Krotz Springs for going 45Ø mph in a 45 mph zone.

But it appears I may have inadvertently played a role in the survival of the traps!

My former friend Norman C. Ferachi, executive director of the Louisiana Association of Chiefs of Police, tells of testifying before a legislative committee in opposition to an anti-speed trap bill:

After telling why “this bill was not practical and would penalize police officers and communities for enforcing the law,” he closed by quoting from my column the remarks of a reader who told of a sign he saw in Alaska: “All in favor of not getting a speeding ticket, please raise your right foot.”

Says Norman, “It got lots of chuckles. And the bill failed 10-6!”

Sorry, ladies
When Martin McConnell sent in his item about using duct tape and WD-40 for all household repairs, he made no reference to gender.

But I put a headline on it saying “How guys fix it.”

This led Cecile M. Poirrier Bush, Martin’s sister Mary Letitia McConnell and Sheli Cannon Floyd (“known to him collectively as Misha, Yoshir and Vladimir in our younger years”) to remind Martin that WD-40 and duct tape have long been known as the “Southern Ladies’ Solution to Life’s Little Mechanical Problems.”

Don’t get on Martin — I’ll take the blame. …

Cocktail tales
After learning of the defeat of an effort in the Legislature to make Sazerac Louisiana’s state cocktail, a reader asks, “Why not the Ramos Gin Fizz or the Pat O’Brien’s Hurricane?”

I think we can rule out the Hurricane, despite its popularity with tourists in New Orleans, due to its deadly nature — no drink that tastes so good should have that much rum in it.

But supporters of the Ramos Gin Fizz can make a good case for the Baton Rouge-New Orleans concoction, said to be the ultimate hangover remedy.