The Daily Spectrum from Saint George, Utah • 17

4 -Spectrum Wednesday, December 2, 1987 Humor: Different jokes for different folks not." Rerkelev who is known as "the joke 1 A traveler on his way to Maine stops to ask directions of an old New Englander. "Does it matter which road I take to Bangor?" asked the traveler. Replied the New Englander, "Not to me, it don't." No region mirrors the economical understatement of British humor like New England, where the best stories are bone-dry and dripping with irony. "I think New England humor is the most rarefied of the regional humors," Sample said. "There's no closer image in the New World to the old English pubs than the Yankee country stores, where the old guys will sit back, sip a pint and spin yarns." professor" for his humor research, said a national humor has pervaded the domains once entertained exclusively by regional humor.

"At one time, there probably was more regional humor because you didn't have TV or national newspapers," Dundes said. "You had the humor of where you lived and that was it. "Even today with people moving in and out, these regions have remained. There is still a certain kind of humor that you'll find only in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Jokes or stories that are quite a bit different than stories in the South or in the Ozarks or along the Northwest Coast.

"There also are ethnic enclaves within these regions," Dundes said. "Mormons certainly have their own humor, as do Cajuns. In the Southwest, you find Tex-Mex humor. Now some of these jokes are transferable, just like Polish jokes or Aggie jokes in Texas. But some people have the impression that all humor is transferable, and it certainly is than we think we are," he said.

"I just think what's funny in Spokane, Washington, is funny in Auburn, Alabama." But, Grizzard admits and others agree, every region chuckles a little differently. Regional bent "In essence, I think humor is very much like what they say about philosophy," said Tim Sample, Maine's premier humorist who tells the driest tales on this side of the Atlantic. "They say there are only three original ideas in philosophy, and everything else is just a variation of those ideas. I think there's an aspect of that in humor. "On the other hand, I think there is a regional bent.

Even if it's the same joke or the same essential situation, the way it's set up and characterized can give it a different flavor." Regional humor has kept the locals laughing for as long as there have been boundaries, borders and rivers to separate us. Rich in dialect and hand-me-down folklore, regional humor is the home folks delighting in their own peculiarities and taking swipes at strangers who might not exhibit the same appreciation. In simplest terms, regional humor is Americana, and, even in this fast-paced age of mass media and instant mobility, it still makes us laugh. "Because I wasn't born in New England, I realize I'll never be considered a native," the transplanted Vermont resident said to an old-time New Englander. "But, since my three children were all born in Putney, Vermont, aren't they natives?" Replied the unmoved New Englander, "Well, if your cat happened to have kittens in the oven, would you call'em biscuits?" From a story in Yankee magazine, "In Search of New England's Humor." Fewer media Alan Dundes, an anthropology professor at the University of California- by United Press International Editor's note: This is the first of two pieces on the topic of humor in America.

01' Pierre, a Louisiana Cajun, was sitting in a roadside diner bragging about his home on the bayou. "Man, I got me free full acres dat takes care of all my needs. I got plenty game deer, rabbit, ducks, anyt'ing I want. I got crawfish, alligator, turtles and all the fishing I can handle. I live like a king, me.

The inevitably boastful Texan happened to overhear Pierre and burst out laughing. "Three acres?" the Texan guffawed. "Lemme tell you something, son. Before I start out in the morning to check on my ranch, I have to pack a lunch so I don't go hungry while I'm out. After driving all day, even if I climb on the cab of my pickup, I still can't see the fence line." Pierre offered a sympathetic nod.

"Yeah," he said, "I had me a truck like that once, too." Interstate highway No matter where you wander in America, someone always has a funny story to tell. Whether it's a subtle New England gag about some city slicker from away," a Southern yarn poking fun at living room funeral parlors or a tall Texas tale, humor connects the people of this nation better than any 8-lane interstate highway. "I think humor is a little more universal than we think it is," said Lewis Grizzard, an Atlanta newspaper columnist and storyteller who has penned an entire shelf of witty books on the South and its often peculiar past. Proud as he is of his Southern heritage, Grizzard winces at being pigeonholed as a "Southern humorist." "We're probably less provincial the pain clinic Since 1968 "SPECIALIZING IN PAIN MANAGEMENT AND PREVENTIVE MEDICINE" CHIROPRACTIC ACUPUNCTURE PHYSIOTHERAPY BIOLOGICAL AMD HERBAL KEDICIXES Acute or Chronic Heat'aches Arthritis Back Sciatica Shoulders Numbness Sinus Asthma Allergies Emphysema Cardiovascular Degenerative Diseases Weight Reduction and Cigarette Withdrawal Sport, Auto and Work Injuires. SIIS, AUTO, CULINARY INSURANCES ACCEPTED FREE CONSULTATION Dr.

Chin D.C.. O.M.D.. H.M.D. 2015 Paradise Road Las Vegas. Nevada 735-6565 pays taxes ST.

GEORGE Utah Power and Light Regional Manager Scott Rasmussen displays the $199,000 check he presented Monday to the Washington County Treasurer's Office to pay property taxes for the year. (Spectrum Jean Esplin) 72-year-old robbery suspect Snow play escalates into battle Dual display by Seiko. Double time, singular elegance. downtown branch of Zions National Bank, said FBI special agent Robert Bryant. Wagstaff was turned over to the FBI and was to be arraigned Tuesday on federal bank robbery charges, Bryant said.

Less than $15,000 was taken in the holdup, bank officers said. SALT LAKE CITY (UPI) A 72-year-old man arrested Monday outside a bank just moments after the branch was robbed was being held on suspicion in connection with the heist, an FBI spokesman said. The suspect, identified as Joseph Wagstaff, Salt Lake City, was arrested in the 3:30 p.m. robbery of a throwing rocks, bricks, wood and ice chunks caused $9,000 worth of property damage Monday night and early Tuesday. "It's generally kind of a one-night thing," she said.

"What made it two nights was many students returned from Thanksgiving Sunday night." LINCOLN Neb. (UPI) A university snowball fight escalated into a rock- and brick-throwing battle that injured 15 of the 400 students involved and led to four arrests, officials said. James Griesen, vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said students LeBaron to be tried for alleged threats AURORA, Colo. (UPI) Aaron LeBaron, charged with threatening other family members last month after the funeral of slain polygamist leader Daniel Ben Jordan, will stand trial on Jan. 25, a judge said Monday.

FBI officials continued to investigate Jordan's murder at a central Utah hunting camp and refused to say whether LeBaron is a suspect. LeBaron, 19, has been free on $1,000 bond since his arrest hours after Jordan's funeral Oct. 21. He ap peared Monday before Arapahoe County Judge Marguerite Langstaff, and was ordered to stand trial on one count of menacing, a misdemeanor. If convicted he faces a fine, six months in jail, or both.

Jordan. 53, of Bennett, was shot in the head and chest Oct. 16 while on a hunting trip with family members at a remote deer hunting camp near Manti, Utah, in the Wasatch Mountains. Utah authorities speculated the killing resulted from a feud among rival polygamist groups. Officials said LeBaron is from South Jordan, Utah, but had been living at Jordan's Colorado home for the past several months, along with two of Jordan's wives and about 20 children.

Following Jordan's funeral," LeBaron called FBI investigators and told them family members were "too distraught" to be interviewed about the murder. Several hours later, however, Sharon Jordan called the sheriff's department and said LeBaron was not the spokesman for the family, adding they wanted to be interviewed and feared for their lives. Sheriff's deputies took LeBaron in to custody after questioning members of the household. LeBaron is the son of deceased polygamist leader Ervil LeBaron, head of the Church of the Lamb of God who died in the Utah State Prison six years ago while serving a life sentence for ordering the death of rival polygamist leader, Dr. Rulon Allred.

Jordan was Ervil LeBaron's son-in-law and one-time top lieutenant. He started a new cult after LeBaron was sentenced, which enraged the polygamist leader, said Salt Lake County Sheriff's detective Dick Forbes. As recently as two months ago, Forbes said, Jordan told detectives that LeBaron loyalists had threatened him. Boise man charged in family's deaths Alarm chronographs to look twice at, they're so beautifully designed. Sophisticated travelers, with analog and digital time in hours, minutes and seconds.

Matte brown, silvery grey dial, gold-tone touches. Silver-tone, white dial, water resistant. Also in gold-tone, gilt dial. Great prices, great gifts. Falconers seeking a retrial on illegal wildlife charges McArthur Jewelers WW fc DIAMOND SPECIALISTS 41 North Main, St.

George jail term. Free-lance photographer Gode Davis testified he saw photos pertaining to the case at Wildlife Division offices. He told Bean a confidential informant claimed the pictures contained evidence Hatchett and Chindgren had been using pigeons to train the falcon when it killed the duck. But Davis County prosecutor Brian Namba objected to Davis's testimony as hearsay. SEIKO were performed Monday or Tuesday.

A large-gauge shotgun was found in the home, said Killeen, who would not confirm whether it was used in the killings. Stover was found with his wrists slashed by a sharp object, said Killeen, who added the wounds apparently were self-inflicted. Stover was airlifted to University Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he was listed in good condition Monday afternoon. Sheriff's deputies responded to the dispatcher's call at 5:03 a.m., Killeen said, but did not enter the duplex for two hours. He said officers feared Stover had barricaded himself in the house and would shoot at deputies.

Neighbors reportedly heard a noisy argument in the duplex before the killings occurred, Killeen said. The Stovers moved to Boise in the summer from Twin Falls. Two other children, ages 20 and 21, do not live in Boise, Killeen said. Stover had worked for the Twin Falls School District since 1965, said district spokesman Boyt Simcoe. He was principal at Harrison Elementary School from 1984 to June 1987, when he resigned.

BOISE, Idaho (UPI) A Boise man will be charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of his wife and two daughters, who were killed in their home Monday morning as one of them called police for help, the Ada County Sheriff said. Sheriff Vaughn Killeen said an arrest warrant would be issued for William Stover, 50, of Boise, a former elementary school principal in Twin Falls, Idaho. Stover is to be charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his wife June, 50, and his daughters Korrine, 13, and Kristina, 16, Killeen said. One of the girls called police for help and was killed while still talking to a sheriff's dispatcher, Killeen said. The call was recorded and will be used in the investigation, he said.

"It was a fairly panic-stricken call," Killeen said. "It's not a very nice tape to listen to." Killeen said the bodies of the three were found in different rooms of the family's rented duplex in west Boise, apparently shot to death. "Ada County Coroner Erwin Son-nenberg said he would not announce the cause of death until autopsies Seiko Time Corp 1986 LAYTON, Utah (UPI) Fourth Circuit Judge Roger Bean has taken under advisement a motion for a new trial by two falconers who were convicted last summer of illegally taking wildlife with a bird of prey. Attorneys for Steven Chindgren, 36, and James Hatchett, 34, both of Centerville, argued Monday that Utah Wildlife Resources Division officials either failed to produce for trial or concealed photographs favoring their clients. The pair on Aug.

12, 1986, were training Chindgren's 6-month-old captive-bred peregrine falcon at the West Layton Mormon Church Farm when the bird attacked and killed a Mallard duck. Convicted June 22 of illegal taking of protected wildlife, both men claimed they were only training the raptor when it killed the duck. Chindgren, the senior keeper at Salt Lake City's Tracy Aviary, received a suspended 180-day jail term and was ordered to pay $200 of a $1,000 fine. Hatchett was fined $400 and received an identical suspended YlfaSs Ss Sin fin PsiisjII The efficient way to total fitness Anniversary Celebration Free Drawings ALL CARD, base: ETC. Exercise most major muscles on Schwinn's Air-Dyne.

Unique moving hand levers let you exercise your upper body as pedal operation tones and builds your legs and hips. Schwinn's Air-Dyne is designed to pro- vide the aerobic exercise you want to improve your cardiovascular system. AIH-0YE3E On Sale oo $645 We've been open just a year and want to celebrate our anniversary by thanking our pat rons for their support. To show our appreciation we will have several drawings for Traded, Updated and Rookie sets between now and the first of the year. Come in and register now.

Gift certificates available, we have football and basketball cards too, plus posters, caps, autographed pictures, bails, etc. BASEBALL CARDS ETC. 511 E. St. George Blvd.

(Across from Osco Drug) 628-9176.