Smiley Anders for August 11, 2008

• By SMILEY ANDERS
• Advocate columnist
• Published: Aug 11, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05am

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Of the riverboats who stop at Baton Rouge, my favorite has always been the venerable Delta Queen.

It’s smaller than the other boats, but it looks more like the steamboats that so enchanted Mark Twain.

That’s why I’m delighted that there’s an effort to keep the Queen on the river.

Vicki Webster, who heads the grass-roots “Save the Delta Queen” campaign, based in Cincinnati, says Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, will introduce legislation to continue the riverboat’s exemption from the Safety of Life at Sea Act.

The act was designed for oceangoing vessels, but the wooden Delta Queen was caught in its provisions.

Congress has been exempting the Queen since 1968, but the exemption expires Nov. 1.

Vicki says, “Public support for our effort is growing by the day. We are confident that members of Congress will respond to the wishes of their constituents and vote to keep the Queen alive and plying the rivers for generations to come.”

You can get information from Vicki at (513) 381-3571, vjw@olypen.com or http://www.save-the-delta-queen.org.

Enjoying ill health
After I told how I coped with my Major Illness, Dave Lewis recalled what a mild illness meant to him as a 10-year-old back in 1945 or so:
No school for a while.

Propped up in bed with the comforting radio sounds of Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Fred Allen and, of course, Inner Sanctum.

The healing aroma of Musterole on the chest, Vick’s Salve in the nose and Sloan’s Liniment on the back.

The drug store delivering the newest Batman, Superman, Captain Marvel and Felix the Cat comic books, tutti-frutti ice cream and Kleenex.

Mom and her thermometer.