Smiley Anders for June 12, 2009

• By SMILEY ANDERS
• Advocate columnist
• Published: Jun 12, 2009 - Page: 1B

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I was a surprised to read the story in the Thursday Advocate about plans for a toll bridge to Grand Isle.

I wasn’t aware that a new toll was needed to get to Grand Isle, because for years motorists have been paying for the privilege of visiting the island.

The collection point is called the Golden Meadow Speed Trap.

Southern lady
Jackie Alford was a writer who dealt with the customs, quirks and cuisine of the rural South.

Like many Southern ladies I’ve known, Jackie loved down-home cooking and entertaining a crowd.

She also loved family stories, and at her funeral in Kentwood on Wednesday, I recalled my favorite tale from Jackie, as she told it to me many years ago:

“My brother Dickie McDaniel and family visited the other day. When 9-year-old Steve referred to 3-year-old Tyler as ‘Son,’ Tyler set him straight.

“’You can’t call me that,’ he said. ‘My name is Tyler Eugene McDaniel You Get Out of That Refrigerator Boy!’ ”

Missing Pancho’s
Pancho’s Mexican Buffet no longer has a site in the Baton Rouge area, and “Bette Boop” doesn’t like that.

She tells the Fort Worth, Texas, company, “Please come to Denham Springs and you will have a line blocks long. Anyone willing to open a Pancho’s in Denham would get rich.”

Pancho’s was located first on Nicholson Drive and then on Florida Boulevard. That location closed in 2005.

The company Web site shows that Metairie and Bossier City have its only Louisiana restaurants.

If Bette wants to lobby for a Pancho’s, the address is comments@panchosmexicanbuffet.com.