Sam Smith- My favorite Hill cop story from long ago involves a friend who was a bagpipe-playing Lebanese Catholic from Boston who knew everyone in the Democratic Party and worked for a number of them including Massachusetts governor Foster Furcolo and, later, Ted Kennedy. She was on her way to an LBJ State of the Union from Boston but was late and arrived from the plane still carrying her bagpipe case in which rested not only the instrument but some pita bread her sister had made.
In a hall crowded with some of America's most powerful, my friend was told by a Capitol police officer to open the bagpipe case. The officer was disturbed by what he found inside. "Don't worry," said my friend. "It's just a bagpipe and some pita bread. . . Call your chief and tell him Terri Haddad is here with her bagpipes. He knows me."
The officer did and at the other end the Capitol Hill police chief issued one blunt order: "Tell her to play 'Danny Boy."
And so for the chief and many of America's most powerful, she did and then was allowed to repack her instrument and go hear the speech.
No comments:
Post a Comment