More On Ralph Sampson
For those who might wonder why I keep writing about Ralph Sampson, he continues
to be the most popular subject on ramfanatic.com. if we use the number of visits
from search engines as a measure. I'm not sure why, but it isn't even close. I
won't dwell too long on the subject this time, but I would like to report that
he has made a plea in his most recent troubles and surprisingly, he has pleaded
not guilty. I say surprisingly because it seems to me that his case should be
pretty simple compared to a lot of cases that find their way into court. He has
either made the child support payments or he has not.
A plea of not guilty seems to be risky to me, but I'm not a lawyer and maybe
there are facts that have not been made known to the public. I have been told
that the four children reportedly he has in Georgia are children of Sampson's
current wife and it may be that they come into play when the obligations to his
two daughters in Virginia are considered.
I failed to keep the newspaper article which provided the details but I believe
it said that Sampson's financial obligation to one of the daughters is in the
neighborhood of a quarter of a million dollars. This figure is arrived at by
computing his obligation until the daughter reaches the age of 21. I assume the
obligation is similar for the second daughter but, for some reason, the
newspaper did not mention the amount of the obligation for the second daughter.
The trial is scheduled a couple of months from now and since it will be in
Richmond, I may try to attend.
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I'm really looking forward to a trip that a couple of friends and I are taking
this next Wednesday, June 15th. We are going to leave early in the morning and
travel 5 hours to Marion Virginia to reunite two people who have not seen each
other since the early 70s.
Bill Hickman who coached football at UNC in the late 60s and early 70s will
travel with his son Kurt and me to visit with David Barrett, a former UNC
footballer whom Mr.. Hickman recruited for the Heels. I won't go into the
details until I talk with David but old timers know that he was the victim of
some very bad luck shortly after graduating from UNCLE. It will be a thrill to
watch the two meet again. I'm sure it will be hard for the two of them to
realize that it has been close to 40 years since they last met. A lot of water
under a lot bridges since then.
I have finally capitulated and had a new sound system installed in my van, the
Heel mobile. It sounds great and the capitulating part refers to the fact that I
now have the ability to play CDs in the van. I held out as long as I could
because I didn't want to go through the same thing I did when cassette tapes
first went on the market. I didn't want to lose my 8 tracks, so I bought an
adapter so I could play the cassettes in the 8 track. Same reason why I
postponed getting a CD player for the van, but I'm over the shock now and I am
enjoying purchasing traveling music CDs for the trip and thereafter. Merle
Haggard, George Jones and Alabama so far but I plan to make another haul this
afternoon.
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Can't remember whether I have told you about getting my UNC National
Championship coke cans or not but I had someone in the Research Triangle area
pick me up a couple of 6 packs and I have thoroughly enjoyed giving them to Tar
Heel friends here in Richmond. They are not and never have been available here.
In fact, I am told they were only available in the Durham Coke distribution
area. They are not as blue as the can produced with earlier championships but
they are attractive and will be displayed with pride along with mementos from
other championships.
When I called one of the recipients over to the house, he handed me a bottle and
said, "Have you seen one of these?" I looked at the label and it read "Bill's
North Carolina Tar Heels BarBQ Sauce." It has the Rameses logo at the bottom of
the label. I asked where he got the bottle and he said Wal-Mart. Since everyone,
from time to time, buys BBQ sauce, maybe you should give it a try. It obviously
is a licensed product so UNC will benefit financially every time a bottle is
sold. I haven't tried mine yet. I looked on the label to see where it was
produced and the only reference to origin is a statement which reads, "packaged
for Logo Sports, Birmingham, Ala." I imagine it is done for a variety of schools
and acknowledges on the label that a portion of the profits go to the school
involved. Low in carbs so those of us with a blood sugar problem can use without
having to worry about elevating our blood sugar level.
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Until next time.