Bob Huber’s wit was one of a kind

Five or six dozen friends and family members gathered in Roswell last week to remember Bob Huber, a journalist and longtime columnist for the Portales News-Tribune and Clovis News Journal.

Huber died Aug. 3 at age 76.

His columns often consisted of lists that ranged from his favorite socially accepted words and phrases — “He wasn’t falling down drunk. He was ‘periodically horizontal.’” — to humorous billboard slogans — “Don’t lose your head to gain a minute. You need your head; your brains are in it.”

In tribute to her friend, Patrice Caldwell, executive director of planning and analysis at Eastern New Mexico University, produced the following quotes that Huber would have loved:

From Winston Churchill: “He was a modest little person, with much to be modest about.”

“He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.” — William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)

“I didn't attend his funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.” — Mark Twain

“He had Van Gogh’s ear for music.” — Billy Wilder

“I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. This wasn’t it.” — Groucho Marx

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Last week’s column on parameters for letters to the editor aimed at private businesses produced several interesting comments:

Michael Williams wrote in an e-mail: “If you choose to print the positive then you are obligated to print the negative. Don’t need a rocket scientist to figure that one out.”

From Karl Spence: “There is an interesting Web site called ripoffreport.com. ... It is an appropriate venue for letters of criticism. ... In any event I think you are right. Positive letters about a business could be disguised as advertising and negative letters could be partially the fault of the customer, whose attitude ticks off store personnel or conditions beyond the capability of the business to solve or prevent.”

Auggie Jones offered: “... I prefer letters about issues: taxes, alcohol, Hotel Clovis, ethanol plants, etc. Heated opinions at the start of the day make my day. How about adding (an) Opinion section to your Saturday rag?”

And then there was this from someone named “dmb” posted on our Web site: “This column was a waste of space. Fair to say, all of your columns are. The people around here have figured out you are nothing but a troublemaker who likes to stir things up.”

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We’ll try something new on our Web sites on Monday when the Air Force Special Operations Command takes over Cannon Air Force Base.

Karl Terry, the managing editor at the Portales News-Tribune, will blog from the base, reporting on the numerous speeches, ceremonies and media tours as they happen.

His updates will be posted on our sites — http://www.cnjonline.com, http://www.pntonline.com and http://www.cannonconnections.com — as he writes them, beginning about 8 a.m. Monday.

Readers can post comments and ask questions on the site and Terry will try to address readers’ issues as they come up.

Look for the headline: Blog from Cannon

David Stevens is editor for Freedom New Mexico. Contact him at 1-800-819-9925 or by e-mail:

[email protected]