
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, November 5, 1993                   TAG: 9403180031
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

O'SMARTY

WE'VE ALWAYS thought they put too much stuff on the ballot in California. This week, in confirmation, came the cute story about Bob Geary, a San Francisco police officer and amateur ventriloquist.

Geary was told by the police chief that he had to stop going on patrol with his sidekick, a wooden doll named Officer Brendan O'Smarty. But the public liked O'Smarty, which Geary used in his work to cheer up frightened children and defuse domestic disputes.

So he took the question to San Francisco voters on Tuesday, and they took his and O'Smarty's side against the police department's brass.

Geary, a policeman of 29 years, called it a victory for democracy. Even so, we hope this particular election practice doesn't catch on.

We're not talking about more dummies on the ballot. It's just that, if every employee who disagrees with his boss could take it to referendum, nobody would ever get any work done for having to go to the polls to settle labor-management disputes.

by CNB