Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 29, 1993 TAG: 9303290011
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Did Edgar Allan Poe really overdose on opium?
\ Mel Harold, a Poe impersonator who brought his anti-drug message to Roanoke schools last week, is convinced he did.
But two University of Virginia English professors aren't.
"No one can say for sure that Poe ever used drugs," said Stephen Railton, who teaches American literature. "There's a good chance that Poe died from alcoholism."
Or, "he could have been beaten to death on the streets of Baltimore," said UVa's Edgar Allan Poe Professor Jacob Levenson. "I prefer to say I don't know [how he died]."
Nobody knows for sure what happened the night the poet and writer of gothic horror tales stumbled, incoherent, into a Baltimore gutter. What they do know is that Poe died 72 hours later, on Oct. 7, 1849.
Stories of Poe's drug use were spread by a man who once worked for Poe but tried to ruin his reputation after he died, Railton said.
Because of that, Levenson said he finds the drug theory "suspect."
Still, the uncertainty surrounding Poe's death shouldn't detract from Harold's work, said Railton. Not, that is, "if the point of this is really to just let kids know that drugs are a bad thing."
Notorious namesake
Let the record reflect the following:
\ Abigail Perkins, who needs no introduction to fans of television's "L.A. Law," is no longer affiliated with the firm of McKenzie, Brackman.
The evidence further shows that Abigail Perkins recently was hired as an associate by the Roanoke law firm of Woods, Rogers & Hazlegrove.
But that's about as far as we can take this line of inquiry.
The Abigail Perkins at Roanoke's largest law firm arrived from William and Mary's law school, not Hollywood.
Perkins (the real lawyer, not the one played by actress Michele Greene) has suffered a lot of good-natured kidding. But the name recognition helped in one respect - her name usually stuck in the minds of potential employers after job interviews.
"It was good in that people remembered me," she said.
Meeting his deadline
Spending too much time in meetings? Then call lawyer Ross Hart to run the next one.
The chairman of the Salem Democratic Party dispatched with last week's mass meeting to elect convention delegates - a tedious affair that can drag on for hours in some localities - in 17 minutes.
As he banged the gavel to close the meeting, Hart bragged that he had set a new personal best. His old record was 21 minutes.
A victim of verbal fisticuffs?
When Republican Lee Eddy came down with a nosebleed at a Roanoke County Board of Supervisors meeting last week, suspicion focused on his frequent antagonist, Democrat Bob Johnson.
The two often exchange verbal blows. But as Eddy dabbed his nose with a handkerchief, Johnson said, "I did not hit him."
"Well, not physically," Eddy replied.
A slice of "American Pie"
Clifton Forge Elementary School sixth- and seventh-grade music students may yet sample the symbolism of Don McLean's 1972 hit song, "American Pie."
The students' instructor, James Mathias, sought the newspaper's help in teaching the meaning behind the song, an allegorical history of rock 'n' roll. But our one-person staff in charge of researching recalcitrant lyrics for readers found the task too overwhelming and said so in a story last week.
Along came Mick Cody, a Christiansburg songwriter/musician, and Laura E. Smith, a musically inclined junior at Radford University, who volunteered to help Mathias.
The three hope to collaborate in cooking up a lesson spiced with anecdotes and inferences about the singer and the song to ensure that McLean's message doesn't die.
And they're off . . .
Don't look now, but next year's U.S. Senate race is well under way.
Sen. Charles Robb, expecting a challenge from Gov. Douglas Wilder for the Democratic nomination, has hired Highland County native Susan Swecker to make sure party regulars stay in his camp. Swecker most recently was seen in these parts as campaign manager for Steve Musselwhite's unsuccessful bid for Congress.
But the most interesting development on the Democratic side may be the buzz that a so-far-unidentified third candidate may get into the race.
Meanwhile, Roanoke lawyer and former Republican state Chairman Don Huffman recently agreed to head the exploratory committee for former Iran-Contra figure Oliver North. North likely won't get his party's nomination unopposed, though. The names of a half-dozen other prospective GOP candidates are being floated.
by CNB