Good Enough for Hackman


It was interesting to observe the jovial mood of Gene Hackman having his photograph taken with H.K. Edgerton at Malaprops last week. (Ref pic page 3)  We were reminded of a few weeks ago when we received a phone call from Rocky D, who is a well-known talk show host in Charleston, S.C. for WTMA-AM 1250. Rocky D was in Asheville attending our Memorial Day presentations downtown and was walking around with H.K. Edgerton. He had interviewed H.K. on his show several times, in Charleston and in Tampa, FL, and considered him to be a friend.

At the downtown ceremonies, H.K. had introduced Rocky to Mayor Terry Bellamy. After the introduction, a lady photographer was standing near-by and asked the mayor if she would stand next to H.K. for a photograph.  At that point Mayor Bellamy declared firmly, "No, I do not want my picture taken with him," and walked off.

Shortly after that we received a call from Rocky D who reiterated the event to us and said he felt rather embarrassed for Asheville and HK about what had happened. He thought we would like to be made aware of this strange photo session. Well, Rocky, all we can say is that we guess HK is good enough for Gene Hackman, but just not good enough for Asheville's mayor.