Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 17, 1994 TAG: 9410170034
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But the syndicated hunting-and-fishing show host didn't like the spin that Spin, a rock 'n' roll magazine, has put on one of his upcoming episodes.
A Spin reporter was at Smith Mountain Lake in August as McNeely filmed a fishing segment with Republican U.S. Senate candidate Oliver North.
In its November issue, portions of which have been reported in Virginia newspapers, Spin suggests that McNeely and North, well, told a fish story.
The magazine tells how McNeely had the camera switched off, then reached into his boat's live well - an aerated tank for keeping fish alive - and produced a "striped bass" for North to show off when the two men resumed chatting on-camera.
McNeely - who's based in Missouri - is furious. Not that it didn't happen, mind you. But McNeely says he never intended to suggest North caught the fish himself.
On the contrary, McNeely says, North caught a two-pound striper early in the afternoon, and tossed it back. But when McNeely got around to filming the show's segment on cooking, he needed a fish in hand - so he reached into his live well.
"At no point did I ever try to allege that the fish in the live well was a fish we caught," an incensed McNeely said last week. "Nobody read any evil intent into it" - except maybe the Spin reporter, he says.
Besides, McNeely says, it wasn't a striper, it was a largemouth.
Want to see for yourself? Tune in Saturday. McNeely's show with North airs at noon on Roanoke's WEFC, Channel 38.
GOP animal house
You can tell some people by the company they keep. You can tell Trixie Averill's politics by her pets.
In 1985, Averill - a Roanoke County self-described homemaker and prominent Republican activist in Western Virginia - supported Richard Viguerie for the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor. So what did she name the cat she got that year? "Viguerie," of course.
Last year, when she worked for George Allen's gubernatorial campaign, she took in another feline. That one she named "Georgette."
This year, it's a canine, a West Highland terrier named "Olivia."
Olivia?
It's the closest she could come to Oliver.
Averill says this will be the last animal she names after a candidate.
"I don't know what other candidate could come along to fire me up as much as those," she says.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB