Bob Hope has died.

Just two months after a grateful nation celebrated Hope’s 100th birthday, the entertainer died from pneumonia in Toluca Lake, Calif.

Born Leslie Townes Hope May 29, 1903, in Eltham, England, the master comedian went on to appear in more than 80 films, 475 television programs and more than 1,000 radio shows. He successfully jumped from vaudeville and stage to the big screen and the little one when many of his contemporaries couldn’t.

Self-effacing, Hope often placed himself at the butt of his own jokes and created a comic dream team when paired with Bing Crosby on seven “Road” movies. The two traded barbs and wisecracked their way from Bali to Zanzibar in pursuit of Dorothy Lamour.

Hope made millions and built an entertainment and real estate empire, but it was the work he did during difficult times for the country that is the best gauge of his character. During the turbulent years before World War II, he had tried to enlist in the service, but was told that he could make a greater contribution to the war effort on the stage. In 1941, almost seven months before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hope played his first show for American soldiers.

He took his song, dance and joke show to some of the most dangerous and desperate places on the planet. He went to Berlin, Vietnam, Beirut and the Persian Gulf. His 1966 Christmas special from Vietnam attracted more than 65 million viewers.

Bob Hope will be missed for the life he lived and the lives he touched. The world is not quite as funny today as it was on Sunday. A legend has passed. We wish we could dash off a great one-liner worthy of Hope or construct a sentimental sentence to mark his passing. But, alas, we will leave the words to the man himself.

Hope’s lingering last lyrics from “Thanks for the Memory” hit an appropriate farewell note: “Aw’flly glad I met you, cheerio, and toodle-oo. And thank you so much.”


Reason for alarm


Much hand-wringing has followed the release of a report showing an increase in prison populations in Maine. While the national average increase was 2.6 percent, Maine’s population surged an enormous 11.5 percent.

Only it wasn’t really a surge and the real numbers aren’t enormous. While any growth is cause for concern, the state’s prison population grew from 1,704 in 2001 to 1,900 in 2002, an increase of just 196 inmates. And Maine is tied with Minnesota for the lowest incarceration rate per 100,000 residents at just 141. That’s really not that bad.

But the Justice Department report that tallied the figures contains plenty of news that really is alarming.

According to the report, there were almost 2.2 million inmates in local jails, state and federal prisons and juvenile detention centers. More than one in 10 black men between the ages of 25 and 29 served time in 2002.

The percentage has remained steady through the years, but that does not lessen the harm done when a community loses the productivity and participation of so many young men.

Serious crime continues to decline nationally, but we have much work to do in some communities. Outreach, education and rehabilitation are the crucial links if we hope to staunch the flow of people into jails and prison and out of homes, schools and communities.
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