Bells ring

If you go on Facebook you’ll see a lot of people eulogizing Billy Tate, who passed away this weekend. I met him a couple of times but did not really know him, but from what I’ve been reading, there is no question that he was a good man with a lot of positive influence over our activity, and that he will be missed. I will admit that for years I had a Goo Goo Cluster in my office at the DJ, direct from his hands, which apparently he gave away like, well, candy. I have to say that it looked sort of dreadful, which is why I never ate it; maybe it was a Southern thing. Come to think of it, Billy did have one gorgeously rich Southern accent. You would never mistake him for a Manhattanite. I also still have in my office (the Goo Goo Cluster is long gone) a little bell with what looks like Aladdin’s lamp on top of it. I just gave it a little ring. Sigh. In our school trophy case there is a Montgomery bell the size of Cleveland from before my time, back in our policy days; it is one of the school’s proudest accomplishments and will probably always remain in that case. This year’s NDCA, coming at the end of this week, is at Tate’s own school, which means that the community will be there in force to give him a fitting sendoff. That is as it should be.