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

DATE: TUESDAY, October 31, 1995                   TAG: 9510310063
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 3   EDITION: METRO    
SOURCE: STEVE URQUHART
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

EVEN THE NEWSPAPER GETS INTO THE SPIRIT OF THINGS

There it was - right across the top of the front page: a cartoon witch on a broomstick. The bags the carriers use to deliver the newspaper had a witch too. And, they were . . . orange and black. The glass and metal boxes where the papers are sold on Salem's main streets were even decorated with...well, you guessed it.

I was shocked! Perhaps it was the fact the symbol was still in use in this era of politicical correctness and all that. What would Rush Limbaugh say?

I was standing in the office of The Salem Evening News in ``The Witch City'' - Salem, Mass. I had just visited the police and fire stations, where I had purchased patches like they wear on their uniforms. These, too, bore the ubiquitous witch on a broomstick. Imagine: witches, once accused of being the worst criminals that roamed the earth - and often burned for it - decorating the official emblems of the police and fire department.

The newspaper in question was The Salem Evening News. Daily since 1880, a witch on a broomstick has decorated the top of its front page. More a symbol of the town than the paper itself, I was told.

Yes, everyone there was pretty blase about that witch on a broomstick. But then, it IS on the sign welcoming visitors, right up there with the Chamber of Commerce and the Lions Club symbols. And there is that Witch City Auto Body sign, and the Witch City Bar and Grill.

I guess that witch on a broomstick across the top of the newspaper wasn't that big a deal after all!

Keywords:
MASSACHUSETTS HALLOWEEN

by CNB