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Hillary recognizes old friends at campaign event Thursday, Jan 31, 2008 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau NORTH LITTLE ROCK - In a nearly packed basketball arena, Democratic presidential candidate and former Arkansas first lady Hillary Clinton pointed out two old friends. "I'm really having a lot of flashbacks here, so many stories flooding into my mind ... personal stories," the New York senator said during a campaign appearance at the North Little Rock High School basketball arena. She singled out M.J. "Sarge" Lozano and Eliza Ashley, who were sitting just a few rows from the podium where she spoke. Ashley was the cook at the Governor's Mansion during Bill Clintons 12 years as governor, and Lozano lived across the street from the Clintons in 1981-1982, the only years Bill was out of the governor's office between 1979 and 1992. After praising Ashley for her cooking Wednesday, Hillary Clinton recounted a story about how Lozano once helped her right a fallen Christmas tree in her home. Her husband had been sick and she decided to put up the tree herself, the story went. "Next thing I know it's fallen over and I'm sitting there holding up the Christmas tree, leaning out the window yelling across the street for the neighbor, Sarge, to come over and save me and my Christmas tree," she said as the crowd of nearly 3,000 laughed. The 88-year-old Lozano said later he was surprised Clinton remembered the incident and wished she'd mentioned the time when her husband asked him to turn on the gas log fireplace in their home. The former Air Force sergeant, who later worked for the state, said the Clintons were good neighbors, and that he and his wife, Louisa, used to baby sit the Clinton's daughter, Chelsea. He said when his late wife was hospitalized, Bill Clinton called her several times from Air Force One to see how she was doing. Hillary Clinton also telephoned, he said. Ashley, who is 90 years old and started cooked at the Mansion in the early 1950s for Gov. Francis Cherry, said she enjoyed working for the Clinton. Bill Clinton "wasn't hard to cook for but (Hillary Clinton) was different," she recalled, attributing the former first couple's diversity in tastes to his being from the South and her being from the North. Also among the nearly 3,000 people at Hillary Clinton's rally Wednesday was David Anderson of Pine Bluff, president of the Arkansas Association of Letter Carriers. Anderson said the national union, which represents about 300,000 letter carriers, has endorsed Clinton for president. The state chapter has nearly 2,000 members. Standing in the back of the arena, North Little Rock high seniors Blake Brooks and Dylan Dugger covered the event alongside state and national journalists. Brooks is a reporter and anchor on the school's cable access newscast and Dugger is photographer. "I definitely didn't think I would ever cover anything like this," Brooks said. |
