Godfather!

       I'm upset. I don't know, or maybe its just that I
don't remember, who my Godfather was.
      I'm pretty sure I had one when I was Christened.
But that was a few years ago. OK. A lot of years ago.
And I was a baby at the time.
      I think it was a gentleman who was a good friend
of my Mom and Dad. But I don't remember calling
anyone "Godfather" and I know I never kissed
any body's ring.
      This has been on my mind over the past few days
as I read a new book called "The Quiet Don."
      It's about a local man, the late Russell Bufalino
who is pictured as being the "Godfather" here in
northeastern Pennsylvania. The book never
identifies his God son or God daughter.
      It does imply the gentleman had a very big
"family." Like mine, a lot of them are Italian.
But the similarity ends there.
      My family has a reunion every year. But,
according to the book, his family only tried one
reunion. It was in Apalachin, New York in 1957
and it didn't work out well as some Police officers
crashed the get together. They weren't even invited!
      It was kind of neat to read about some local
places I've actually seen in my travels. There's The
Woodlands, a Pizza Restaurant in Mountaintop, and
the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge where our
regional News Media Association used to meet.
Again, according to the book, it was owned by Mr.
Bufalino.
      There are also many names I recognize in the
book. I know a couple of them personally and would
like to ask what they think about the book. I can't
just now because....they're in jail.
      Still, in these days when everybody is yelling about
their rights, give these "family" members credit! Most
of them were famous for quoting the 5th Amendment
word for word!
      Maybe it's just a well I don't know who served
as my Godfather! And I never got an offer I couldn't
refuse. 
      Hope your Godfather is taking care of you and that
all your NEWS is good!