Winning Elections - A Political Reference/Winning Elections - A Political Reference (Wayzata Technology)(4061)(1992).bin/_data/text/speeches.crd

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CARUSO SPEAKS
(A Collection of Outstanding Political Speeches)
by
Hon. Sam Caruso, MSW
Mayor
Slidell, Louisiana

1st Edition, 1991


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Book Published by:
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Publisher:             Sal Guzzetta

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
CATALOG CARD NO.:  91-61341

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

(C) 1991 by Political Publishing Company, Alexandria,             VA
and Sal Caruso, Slidell, LA.

The text of this publication, or any part thereof, may not be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an
information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS


          Welcome                                       Page   1
          Table of Contents                             Page   2

1.        Introduction by Sal Guzzetta                  Page   3
2.        Inaugural Ceremonies, 1978                    Page   5
3.        Inaugural Ceremonies, 1985                    Page   6
4.        Keynote Address, 1986                         Page   8
5.        Induction Speech NHS, 1988                    Page  12
6.        Sons of Italy Installation Speech             Page  14
7.        More Than Healers, 1988                       Page  16
8.        Second Inaugural Address, 1986                Page  22
9.        The Issue is Idolatry, 1990                   Page  25
10.       LMA Achievement Award, 1989                   Page  29
11.       Commencement Address, 1988                    Page  31
12.       Speech to C-PAC, 1990                         Page  34
13.       Martin Luther King Speech, 1990               Page  35
14.       Slidell Business Forum Speech, 1989           Page  36
15.       Slidell Rotary Club Speech, 1988              Page  41
16.       Parish Police Jury Speech, 1988               Page  43
17.       LMA Achievemnet Award, 1988                   Page  45
18.       Slidell City Council Speech, 1988             Page  47
19.       Knights of Columbus Speech, 1987              Page  50
20.       Alliance For Good Government, 1987            Page  55
21.       LMA Achievement Award, 1987                   Page  58
22.       Re-Election Announcement Speech, 1985         Page  59
23.       Free Press Speech, 1985                       Page  61
24.       Olympic Torch Run Ceremonies, 1985            Page  62
25.       Campaign Speech, 1985                         Page  63
26.       Mayoral Campaign Announcement Speech, 1985    Page  64
27.       Reflections on a Handicapped God, 1982        Page  66
28.       Campaign Speech, 1982                         Page  68
29.       Mayoral Campaign Announcement Speech, 1982    Page  71
30.       Knights of Columbus Speech, 1980              Page  73
31.       Abney Elementary School PTA Speech, 1981      Page  75
32.       Third Inaugural Address, 1990                 Page  79


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INTRODUCTION

BY

SAL GUZZETTA


        During the past twenty years as a Political Campaign
Consultant I have written many speeches for clients and candidates -
from the President to City Council members.  On occasion, I have even
had to make a few myself.

        I can fully appreciate how difficult a task this is for most
individuals.  As those individuals who have sought specialized help in
speech-writing know, there are many excellent sources from college
courses in oral communications to self-help programs like Toastmasters
to draw from which will help improve your style and method of
delivery.

        There are also many courses and books available which can help
you to develop the basic skills needed to write an effective speech.
And, frankly, all serious candidates for political office should avail
themselves of all this help to become as effective as they can be in
communicating their ideas and positions.  I have recommended to many
of my clients that at the very least they take a class in Oral
Communications at their local community college before embarking on
the campaign trail.

        Notwithstanding all of the above help which is available, I
have found little material drawn from actual speeches, other than the
"classics" by such dynamic speakers such as Winston Churchill,
Franklin Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy.
These speeches have always struck me as being somewhat intimidating
or, in some cases irrelevant for most candidates due to the nature of
the subject matter, although most certainly, inspiring.

        The average candidate for city council, state legislator or
congress can find little to relate to from these speeches to the type
of speeches they are most often called upon to make during the course
of campaigning, or as an elected official.

        I believe this book will help fill that void.  Basically it is
a collection of speeches, unedited, actually written and delivered by
an individual over a period of twelve years - as a candidate during
several campaigns and as an elected official.

        The speeches cover a variety of topics and situations which
most candidates and officeholders can easily relate to in their lives.
 In some cases they are even inspirational and should make enjoyable
reading for their own sake.  Even when you might find yourself
disagreeing with the position taken (and there are some controversial
issues addressed), you will be forced to admire the logic and
sincerity of the argument.
        All of the elements of a "good" speech are prevalent in most
of them.  A good opening, establishment of the central theme,
references to that central theme throughout the speech, a strong close
- leaving the listener with a memorable idea.  But they go beyond
these basics.

        Most political speeches, or if you prefer speeches given by
politicians, are, to put it bluntly, rather dull and boring. Often
delivered in flat, monotone voices, they usually succeed in curing
even the worst cases of insomnia.  Oftentimes speakers are encouraged
to use emotion, by use of voice inflection, to make their speeches
"come alive."  Jokes, though often inappropriate and poorly delivered,
are another of the techniques employed to stimulate interest.

        What makes the speeches in this book unique is the use of
emotion employed in the words and phrases themselves!  The speech
itself is almost prose and the deliverer would have to work hard to
deliver it poorly.  (However, Mr. Caruso, in addition to his skills as
a speech writer, is blessed with the ability of the proverbial Roman
Senator).


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(INTRODUCTION)
        Notice as you read through them how they conjure up the images
and ideas he is trying to communicate.  Notice, too, the use of
analogies and idiomatic expressions liberally sprinkled throughout -
all designed to involve you, the listener, in this dialogue.  And that
is the essence of a good speech - it is a dialogue between the speaker
and audience.  You are not talking to someone - you are talking with
someone.
        In the vernacular, he is getting you "to relate" to his ideas
and his message by use of these terms and expressions. Notice, too,
the types of adjectives and adverbs often used.  No fear here of being
perceived as cold, dull or boring - these are not the words of some
automaton, or faceless professional but rather a real, live human
being who understands the problems, hopes and fears most of us
experience.  The compassion, the sincerity and the ability to solve
problems comes through loud and clear.  The very characteristics we
look for in our political leaders.

        Sam Caruso is currently the Mayor of a small city in
Louisiana.  Slidell, population 35,000+, is sort of a suburb of New
Orleans, though the distance involved makes that a bit of a stretch.
When Sam first became involved in its political life it was on a fast
track to nowhere.  Today it is a model American city, the envy of most
of its neighbors not only in Louisiana, but throughout the country.
Sam Caruso would be the first one to tell you this dramatic
turn-around came about as the result of a lot of hard work by many of
the employees and citizens of Slidell, and this would, of course, be
true.  But no one could deny that he provided the needed leadership
and inspiration to make it all happen.

        The order in which these speeches appear is purely random.  I
felt that by presenting them this way, each one would stand on its own
and be evaluated accordingly.  We hope you enjoy reading them and find
them useful in developing your own speeches.  Permission to use
portions of these speeches is given to anyone who chooses to do so
subject to the following conditions: (1) No portion of this book may
be used in any way for commercial purposes and (2) full credit must be
given to Mr. Caruso and Political Publishing Company in the body of
the vehicle being used, i.e. text, speech, computer, print copy, etc.
If in doubt, please give us a call - before using it.

        As with all of our publications, we would really appreciate
hearing your comments about Caruso Speaks.  If so inclined, please
drop us a line.  Thank you.


                                        Sal Guzzetta
                                        Publisher and Editor


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SPEECH AT THE INAUGURAL CEREMONIES

for the City of Slidell, Louisiana

July 3, 1978


        The day that I qualified to run for the District Council seat
was the 74th Anniversary of the day that my maternal grandfather
landed at the Port of New Orleans as an Italian immigrant.  When I was
a child he told me many stories about the prejudice and abuse that
were heaped upon new immigrants at the turn of the century.  The fact
that today, a grandson of an Italian immigrant is invited by his
fellow citizens to join in the government of his town is a tribute to
the development of the best ideas and ideals that have made America
what it is.

        That same spirit of openness and determination can help us to
remake Slidell.  But we cannot confuse inspiration with
implementation.  What we are inspired to think and feel today will
require hard decisions and harder work to see reality.

        Adlai Stevenson once said that in the ancient world when
Cicero was through speaking to his fellow citizens, the people would
say "how well he spoke," but that when Demosthenes completed a speech,
the citizens would say "let us march."  I invite you here today to
join me and my new colleagues in the new government in a long, hard,
and courageous march into a future which can give us a better city for
ourselves and our children.

                                Salvatore A. Caruso
                                Councilman District C


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INAUGURAL ADDRESS

Mayor Caruso's Inaugural Address

May 4, 1985


        Judge Fritchie, Mayor Singletary, Mayor Hart, Mayor Cusimano,
Members of the Council, fellow public officials, ladies and gentlemen:

        We come together this evening for a celebration of democracy,
of community, of government, and of personal achievement.

        What we are gathered here to honor began not yesterday and not
here.  In the long history of the Western World there is a thread that
runs from this small stage in this small corner of the earth all the
way back to Athens and Rome.  The democracy within a republic which
has given us a smooth transition of power is originally a gift from
the Greeks refined by the Romans.

        Lest we forget or demean that broader context, let us remember
that there are here today men who risked their lives to preserve our
liberty and that in only four days we will celebrate their victory
over the darkness of Nazism and Fascism on the European continent.
Without them, and those who left them their legacy to defend, we may
not have been able to so celebrate today.  We thank them all for our
democratic republic and we hope to be worthy of it here in our own
community.

        Community is the bedrock upon which government rests.
Community is the matrix out of which progress is born. Community does
not exist merely because people live side-by-side.  Community is
defined by a commonality of interests. Community presupposes a
willingness to compromise, to give up a bit of personal convenience
for the sake of the common good.

        I come to you today with more challenge than promise and more
hope than certainty.  My fellow citizens, we live in a fine city faced
with opportunity but also with danger.  The opportunity is ours to
take the natural and human gifts of this area and help our city reach
its full potential.  But, the danger exists that apathy and
selfishness may overcome our own best instincts and our own best
intentions.  I call on you today to begin to think of our city as one
community with a common fortune and a favored future, but only if you
will help make it so.  I challenge you here today to look past your
own front yards and your own subdivisions and to see the people across
this town not only as your neighbors but also as your partners in the
great enterprise of getting this city moving again.  If you will do
that and if you will help us who serve you in the government then
there is every hope that our efforts will produce excellence and that
our celebration of community will be more than empty ritual.

        To the members of the City Council, I pledge to you today to
remember that I was once one of you and that this government belongs
neither to you nor to me but to those who have chosen us to represent
and govern them.

        I also remind you that when this celebration of our government
is over, our work of governing has just begun.  In the words of Adlai
Stevenson, "Others may confine themselves to debate, discussion, and
that ultimate luxury-free advice.  Our responsibility is one of
decision, for to govern is to choose."

        Democracy, community, and government are all treasures
properly celebrated here today.

        But amidst all of these grander concepts, there is a sense of
personal achievement which has meaning for both you and me and which
also must be voiced in this moment.


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(INAUGURAL ADDRESS)
        By now all of you know that if there is a challenge - I want
to meet it, if there is opportunity - I want to take it, if there is
excellence - I want to reach for it.

        What you may not know is the deep sense of gratitude which I
feel for those who have gone before me but have left something of
themselves in me.
        Grandparents born on another continent in another century,
parents who struggled until the day they died are all here today in
the spirit and beliefs which you see and hear before you.

        Teachers and friends from years long gone but remembered like
yesterday, all helped me to understand that value means more than
price and that policy without principle is only expediency.

        That is the genesis out of which I come.  In leading this city
from here into the future, I promise to remember, in the words of
Oliver Wendell Holmes, that "a long time ago I learned that I was not
God Almighty."  When I need your help I will seek it.  When I need
your understanding I will ask for it. And through it all, let us
remember that kindness is not a sign of weakness, and strength does
not require arrogance.

        With this Inaugural "we have made a beginning, but we have
only begun."  I call on all of you to join me in this new adventure
and to pray to the God who governs us all, that your new Mayor may, in
the words of scripture:

                                (Progress) Steadily
                                In Wisdom
                                And Age and Grace
                                Before God and Men
                                                LK. 2:51-52

        Thank you and God bless all of you.

                                Salvatore A. Caruso, MSW
                                Mayor
                                City of Slidell


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KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Slidell Priorities Convention

February 22, 1986


        Good morning and thank you for being here.

        What we are doing here today was conceived in 1982 and, by
happy coincidence, finds its birthday coinciding with the birthday of
the Father of our Country.  Let us hope that the coincidence foretells
as much success for what we produce here today as that which has
flowed from the work that Washington did for this nation.

        Lest anyone misunderstand, let me make it plain from the
beginning - this is no ordinary meeting.  This is a gathering of
stargazers.  This is a convention of bridge-builders.  We are asking
you today to begin with the present and to then mimic Nostradamus by
peering at the stars and piercing the future. We are asking you today
to help us build a bridge between here and the end of the century.


        Since I first ran for Mayor four years ago, I have been
convinced that none of us in the government know enough about what the
people of our city really want this city to be.  It is perhaps
possible that the people themselves do not know what they really want
this city to be because no one has invited them and challenged them to
take public business as seriously as they take private business.  No
one has suggested that the common good is as important as the
individual good.  No one has insisted that "community is the matrix
out of which progress is born."

        I am here today, my dear constituents and friends, to suggest,
to insist, to invite, and to challenge.

        I would ask you to reflect on the one great problem with
foresight.  It is this:  We always talk about foresight when it has
become hindsight.  We criticize those who went before us for lacking
foresight, while also labeling the same attitude in ourselves as
prudence and practicality chained to the present moment by a fear of
looking ahead and taking some risk for the sake of the future.

        In his book Future Shock, Alvin Toffler summarized our
condition and suggested a direction.  He said:


        On the edge of a new millennium, on the brink of a new stage
of human development, we are racing blindly into the future.  But
where do we want to go?


        Let us convene in each nation, in each city, in each
neighborhood, democratic constituent assemblies charged with defining
and assigning priorities to specific social goals for the remainder of
the century.


                                Future Shock

                                Alvin Toffler



        In response to Toffler's statement, I offered the following
proposal and plan in my announcement speech for Mayor in 1982:


        In order to address this problem I am announcing here tonight
that the first planned goal of my administration will be the
preparation and calling of a Slidell Priorities Convention that will
have as its purpose the discovery of what our own people want in and
for this city, and what kind of community they want to be in the next
ten to twenty years.


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(KEYNOTE ADDRESS)
        Citizens from every segment of our community will be asked to
participate.  We will call upon the homeowners associations, the
Chamber of Commerce, the environmentalists, public officials, senior
citizens, the black community, our religious leaders, the heads of our
civic and social groups, laboring people, and upon a specific group
that is no longer large in absolute numbers but that can give us all
the benefit of their unique experience and insights -those people who
are native Slidellians.  This will be a unique event in the history of
Slidell and it will, for the first time, provide us with broad based
data emerging from the people themselves telling us what sort of
community Slidell ought to be.


                                Salvatore A. Caruso, MSW
                                Candidate for Mayor
                                Announcement Speech
                                January 15, 1982


        As you may remember, my 1982 campaign was the longest campaign
in the history of Slidell, requiring three years to complete and
ending only last year with my election as Mayor in May of 1985.

        In 1985, I again repeated the same ideas regarding our own
planning for our own future.  And, by the Grace of God and the vote of
the people, here we are all together today.

        Even in a Convention designed to look at the future, a brief
glimpse at our roots is not only appropriate but necessary for the
sake of perspective.

        This city was almost literally rolled into place on a railroad
and then built first, literally and figuratively, out of the pine
woods that surround us.

        When the city was incorporated on November 14, 1888 and named
by Baron Erlandger for his father-in-law John Slidell, there was
little more planned than a railroad station on the way from New
Orleans to the Northeastern seaboard.

        But the settlement grew.  The city prospered.  The timber
industry thrived.  A brickyard, a shipyard, and a creosote plant came
in succession and assured success.

        Even so, the natural growth of Slidell was reasonable, and
reasonably slow.  In 1960 the population was roughly 6,000.

        Then, two things happened.  First, the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration did something more remarkable than
discovering the dark side of the moon.  They discovered both New
Orleans and Slidell, and it was liftoff time. The other forty-nine
states all sent enormous delegations to their own Slidell convention.
And the conventioneers stayed. The population quickly mushroomed to
16,000.

        Then, the second event in our modern history occurred. The
Federal Government connected the southern rim of Lake Pontchartrain to
the northern rim of the lake via the I-10 twin spans.  And it was
crossover time.  New Orleans discovered Slidell.  Between 1963 and the
present, our population inside the city has grown to roughly 30,000
people.

        Finally, in the words of the historian Gordon Craig, here we
are at the "summit of time."  It is ours to learn from the past, take
the best of the present, and plan for the future.

        In calling this convention, I am not saying that an orderly
future is impossible without this sort of effort, nor inevitable with
it.  I am, however, reminding the community that in a democracy, the
people are ultimately responsible for what happens to them, and that
in a republic, the representatives can be assisted by an informed,
thoughtful, and active constituency.  In our "democracy within a
republic," this popular participation enhances the chance for
practical progress.


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(KEYNOTE ADDRESS)
        Another caveat must condition our work.  It should be clear to
you and to your fellow citizens beyond these walls that there is no
guarantee that the city government will be able to implement
everything recommended by this convention.  What we are able to
implement will depend on the reasonableness of your recommendations
and upon the community's willingness to provide the practical means to
realize progressive plans.

        We are asking the delegates to this Priorities Convention to
give us your own personal opinion regarding the various questions
placed before you today.  Before you give us those opinions I would
implore you to give us another gift.  I ask you, I urge you, to give
us thoughtfulness.  President Kennedy capsulized the message in these
words:  "Too often we want the luxury of opinion without the
difficulty of thought."  That is a luxury which this city cannot
afford.  That is a luxury in which I beg you not to indulge.  Because
your opinions will be succeeded by consequences, they must be preceded
by thoughtfulness.

        Before you begin your work, I feel a responsibility to share
with you at least part of what I see facing this city.

        Ladies and gentlemen, this is not the forest primeval. We are
not on virgin land.  We do not move in pristine conditions.

        We are faced with reductions and outright elimination of
Federal aide to municipalities.  We are faced with nearly tragic
financial conditions at the state level.  We are faced with a local
economy in clear recession.  We are faced with a major shopping center
built within our market boundaries but outside of our political
boundaries.

        Although I think we can still have a positive resolution to
the last problem in that sad series, all of those problems taken
together have created an unprecedented drain on the revenues of this
city.  What we face for the next fiscal year is, on net balance, no
better than what we are facing this year. And, lest this be regarded
as an impersonal problem affecting only those of us in the government,
let me remind you that reduced income in the city's budget translates
directly into reduced services on the city's streets.  Also, for the
sake of the record, I want to make it clear that our financial
difficulties are not the result of uncontrolled expenditures.  Your
city government's expenditures up until this time are running two (2)
to three (3) percent below budgeted levels.  The problem is entirely
one of revenues coming in substantially below the predicted levels
that I was given last year.

        In facing all this, we need to remember something that
President Reagan told us back in 1980.  The President told us that the
Federal budget was bloated beyond endurance and that we had to wring
out the waste.  And, at least in general terms, he was right.  He also
told us something else.  The President pointed out that some
worthwhile programs might have to be eliminated at the federal level,
but if they were truly valuable to the people, they should be refunded
at the state or local level, thereby preserving the programs while
bringing control closer to the people.  It was a simple restatement of
the old and valuable principle of subsidiarity.  The problem has been
that everyone heard and approved of the first part of President
Reagan's proposition, while no one heard the second part.  The results
are beginning to be catastrophic.  Of all the programs that have been
eliminated, not even the truly worthwhile ones have been refunded at
any governmental level at all.  The price has been human suffering and
municipal deterioration.

        As you begin to answer the questions posed by this Convention,
I want to remind you of both options and limitations.

        In a democracy, the people can ultimately have almost anything
they want.  There is one category of "choices" that no one can expect.
 No one can have, and no one can deliver, those things that are
contradictions in terms, self-contradictions, or self-canceling.


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(KEYNOTE ADDRESS)
        Thus, if the people of Slidell ask those of us in government
to give them a first class city, supported by first class revenues, we
can do that.  If the people ask us for a third class city, supported
by third class revenues, we can deliver that.  If what is expected is
a first class city, supported by third class revenues, we cannot give
you that.  And no other collection of potential elected officials
could ever provide it either.

        We are indeed responsible for managing public money in the
most efficient manner possible.  I can assure you that is being done.
In order to balance this year's budget, and that was easily
accomplishable within the revenues that were given to us, I ordered a
freeze on filling thirteen (13) vacant positions at the beginning of
this fiscal year.  To date, all but one of those thirteen (13)
positions remain unfilled.  The one that was filled, was filled with a
man hired specifically to increase productivity in a specific work
crew.  And it is working.  The statistics compiled on any one of our
D-DAYS would be the envy of any private corporation.  The demands
which we are now making on our personnel for ordinary daily
performance might seem excessive in many private companies.  I am not
saying that we do not have our occasional problems or our isolated
inefficiencies.  I am telling you that the rules of operation took on
a new meaning and a new life beginning last May, and at least in an
overall sense, your government is managing your money as efficiently
as it can be managed.

        I have shared all this with you in order to build some
perspective around the work that you are being asked to do.  I want to
offer you one more consideration for your work.

        Some people try to paint a picture in which the only choices
are unplanned and destructive growth or economic stagnation.  I do not
believe that those are our only two options.  In fact, I am personally
convinced that if this city is going to prosper, we must begin soon a
practical and systematic attempt to bring appropriate business and
industry to Slidell. I am equally convinced that the rules of
development must be set by us and not by new business and not by new
industry.  I am also convinced that we are able to do the job, but
only if we are willing to exert ourselves and to begin to pull
together as a community.

        The work which you will do today will result, over the next
several months, in a new Comprehensive Plan for the City of Slidell.
In order to avoid the all-too-familiar danger of creating yet one more
report that is simply put on a shelf and then forgotten, I am now
announcing my intention of holding an Annual Planning Seminar as a
follow-up to this convention. The seminar will be significantly
smaller in scope but it will serve to track the original work of the
Priorities Convention.

        I want to leave you with a quotation from Sun Yat-sen, one of
the founders of modern China.  Sun said:


        "In the construction of a country it is not the practical
workers but
        the idealists and planners that are difficult to find."


                                Sun Yat-sen
                                1866-1925


        The same is true in the construction of a city.  The same is
true in the renaissance of a city.

        In you, today, we hope we have found over six-hundred (600)
"idealists and planners."

        Thank you for your participation.



                                Salvatore A. Caruso, MSW
                                Mayor


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INDUCTION

National Honor Society Induction

February 19, 1988


        Thank you for inviting me to join you for this highly
prestigious ceremony.

        Your invitation to join the National Honor Society is not
simply another honor on the periphery of your personal and academic
careers.

        The invitation to join the Honor Society is based on a
judgement that each of you possesses the qualities of Leadership,
Character, and Generosity expressed in Service, and Scholarship.
While it is true that each individual among you may possess one or
more of those characteristics in a higher degree than one or more of
the other characteristics, what is clear is that, taken as a group,
the traits we are talking about all describe human beings who are
above average and who are constantly striving for excellence.  In this
country, we abhor, and rightly so, most expressions of elitism.
Elitism based on race, or sex, or religion, or national origin, or
family history, or upon any other arbitrary and capricious foundation
is an abomination against humanity and democracy.

        However, as strongly as we believe that, we should not make
the opposite mistake of worshipping what is average. Those people in
our society who are our average students, our average managers, our
average workers, our average citizens are all valuable as individual
human beings and all have much to offer us as members of our
community.

        But let us not shrink from expressing a humane and
well-balanced truth.  If there is one form of elitism that is
acceptable and honorable in a democracy, it is an elitism based upon
intelligence, integrity, competence, and character.  And that elitism
must be open to every individual who meets the criteria without regard
to the prejudicial bases upon which people are excluded for no
rational reason at all.  That elitism must be expressed humanely and
without arrogance, generously and without selfishness.

        You are not average people.  And, in that, take pride. For
your personal sake and for the sake of your community and country, you
must never agree to behave as if you are average; you must never agree
to settle for what is average.  You must always and almost constantly
strive for excellence.

        There has been in the history of this country and there still
is existing today, an undercurrent of anti-intellectualism which
scoffs at scholarship and sanctifies the term "common sense."  That
attitude has made it more difficult for gifted people to reach and
express their full potential.  That attitude has cost this country
dearly by leading our citizens to be less thoughtful than they need to
be, by causing them to accept too quickly what is "obvious," and by
supporting some policy decisions based upon specious logic.

        I urge all of you today to stand against that undercurrent and
that attitude.

        Do not uncritically accept what is "obvious."  If you walk
outside right now, the most "obvious" thing in the world is that the
world is flat.

        Do not ignore but do not inflate the value of common sense.
Common sense alone did not invent the wheel. Common sense did not
fashion the fulcrum.  Common sense did not paint the Mona Lisa.
Common sense did not compose the Ninth Symphony.  Common sense did not
invent electricity. Common sense did not discover penicillin.  Common
sense did not enable air travel.  Common sense did not write the
United States Constitution, the United Nations Charter, or even the
Municipal Charter for the City of Slidell.  Tireless effort and
peerless excellence did all of that.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(INDUCTION)
        God has given you an abundance of talent.  You will need it.
Share it.

        The Gospel message itself tells us that each "good and
faithful servant" will be rewarded for talents well used, developed
and expanded.

        Thomas Jefferson tells us that "if you expect a nation to be
both ignorant and free, you expect what never was and never will be."

        From the Evangelist and from our Founding Fathers, you have a
call to develop yourselves to your maximum potential and to serve this
dear country which deserves only the best that you have to give.

        From your Mayor, you have my admiration, my congratulations,
and my fervent hope that you will be here in the next decade to help
us lead this city wisely and productively into the Twenty-first
Century.

        Thank you.  And the best to all of you.


                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW
                        Mayor


#ENDCARD
#CARD
SONS OF ITALY

Slidell Lodge

Officers Installation Banquet

(Date Unknown)


        I want to begin this brief address by assuring my friend and
our illustrious Councilman, Phil Salvaggio, that at least for the
foreseeable future, I have no intention of trying to annex this
restaurant into the City of Slidell.  As further assurance, I also
want to make it clear that if I do decide to begin annexation
proceedings for Salvaggios's Restaurant, I will first seek the
permission of Phil's good friend - Mrs. Elizabeth Teague.

        I also want to assure my dear friend Terry Parta that, in
spite of statements to the contrary by one of the current plaintiffs
suing the City of Slidell over annexation, the Mayor of Slidell
happens to believe that the Slidell Police Department is the best
police department in the state of Louisiana.

        This is the second time that you have been kind enough to
invite me to be your guest speaker on the occasion of the Installation
of Officers for this superb group.  I want to assure you that I regard
my presence and role here today much more of a privilege than a duty.
I am not only your Mayor, but more importantly, I am one of you.
Membership in other organizations can be based upon any number of
considerations or common characteristics.  Membership in this
organization is based upon our common ancestry, our common heritage,
upon the genetic pool out of which we all come.  When that is combined
with personal respect and even love and affection, it forms the second
closest bond that is possible among human beings.  From a theological
point of view only, the ecclesial bond of baptism and the conjugal
bond which St. Paul uses as a metaphor for the very bond created by
baptism are more intimate in human relationships.

        I want to reflect with you today upon not only our heritage,
but also upon our current life as members of this community.  Before
Jesus was born, our forefathers were organizing all of the known
Western World, part of what is now called the Middle East, and part of
Africa.  The Etruscans were very probably the genetic and cultural
predecessors to the Romans.  The Romans, in turn, though different
than many other groups found in the boot of Italy were nevertheless
the ancestors of many of us sitting in here today, and without a
doubt, they were the predominant people who populated,
cross-populated, pacified, civilized and unified first all of the
Italian Peninsula, Sicily, and then the rest of what has come to be
called the Graeco-Roman world.

        While it is true that other nations have contributed much to
our civilization, while it is even true that during some periods of
history the contributions of other countries exceeded that of our
ancestral land, we can not forget, nor allow others to forget, that
when the ancestors of so many other nationalities were barbarians in
the forests of Europe, ours were scholars and soldiers in the service
of the Roman Republic and in the name of Caesar Augustus.  When the
Standard Emblem of the Republic was shown, it displayed the letters
SPQR, Senatus Populusque Romanum, indicating that whatever was done
was performed in the name of the Senate and the Roman people. And an
even greater privilege it was for any Roman citizen to say simply in
any forum "Civitas Romanum Sum" -  "I am a Roman Citizen."  And all
the world understood and respected it.  And we here should take just
pride in that heritage. Without our forefathers, the sublime
civilization of the Greeks would not have been refined by the Roman
penchant for practicality and it might very well have stayed within
the boundaries left by Alexander the Great.

        Not only did our forefathers civilize the known world in
antiquity, but as almost any literate person knows, the Italian
contribution continued throughout the millennia, not only in the
well-known fields of art and music, but also in science, technology,
government and politics, and in so many other fields that we cannot
even touch on the full contributions in a talk of this scope.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(SONS OF ITALY)
        Near the beginning of this century, a large new wave of
immigration gave this nation the blessing of receiving tens of
thousands of Italians whose names were later spread across this
continent and whose progeny have peopled every corner of the land
including this very room today.

        Not everyone was perceptive enough to see the new immigrants
for the gift that they were.  In his book A Nation of Immigrants,
President Kennedy quotes a New York newspaper as referring to the
Italian immigrants in these words . . ."The scum of immigration is
viscerating upon our shores. The horde of $9.60 steerage slime is
being siphoned upon us from Continental mud tanks."

        The President goes on to point out that Italy has contributed
more immigrants to this country than any other European nation except
Germany and that among those Italian immigrants were people who
eventually exposed the kind of prejudice quoted above for the
ignorance and arrogance that it was.  Among several examples which he
cited of Italian contributors to our American culture is one person
named Constantino Brumidi.  If you have ever stood in the Rotunda of
the United States Capitol, you have seen his work.  Brumidi painted
the frieze that decorates the inside circumference of the Capitol
Dome.

        The Italian contribution to this country has not only gone on
without interruption down to this day, but more specifically it is
represented here in this room today.

        Contribution to a culture is not only defined by those great
acts and accomplishments that the whole world recognizes.
Contribution to a culture also includes every one of us and our
parents and grandparents who were and are assimilated into a broader
culture becoming, in fact and in effect, Italian-Americans.  Without
ever abandoning our Italian heritage, every one of us is proud to be
an American and is proud to contribute to our American culture the
best characteristics and competence that our forbears took out of
Italy and gave to us.

        Contribution to a culture is extended by every professional,
by every tradesman, by every businessperson, by every homemaker, by
every priest, by every poet, by every public official who does an
honest days work, who strives for excellence, and knows and acts as if
he or she knows that along with individual worth there is the value of
the country and the communities within it.

        Contribution to a culture is revealed every time this Lodge of
the Sons of Italy in America gets together and talks about what is
good for our community and then goes out to do it.

        Contribution to a culture is extended every time these Sons of
Italy reach out to the poor and to the retarded and share with them
the love and compassion that God has made such a part of our nature.

        Contribution to a culture is made, hopefully, when a Mayor of
Italian decent struggles to do the best that he can for a city that is
now the composite of so many different heritages.

        Contribution to a culture is made when you offer the kind of
support that you have to one of your own, and when all of us try to do
what is right, not because it might help ourselves or our friends, but
simply because it is right.

        I am proud to be your Mayor.  But I am prouder still to be
your brother.

        Your invitation to me today is another gift that I will
treasure.  If you have found what I have said worthy of any applause,
applaud yourselves first because it is the kindness and spirit of
people like you that make it possible for me to struggle, and to try,
and to stumble, but to get up and try again.

        From one Son of Italy to the others:  I love you.  And it is a
privilege to have addressed you today.


        Thank you.

                                Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW
                                Mayor


#ENDCARD
#CARD
MORE THAN HEALERS

Louisiana State Univ. Medical Center Commencement Address

August 13, 1988


        President Copping, Chancellor Rigby, Dean Abadie, other
members of the Platform Committee, faculty members, honored graduates,
most honored parents of the graduates, ladies and gentlemen,

        Thomas Wolfe, one of the great authors during the first half
of this century, told us that You Can't Go Home Again. With all due
respect to that great intellect, I want to begin by telling you that,
today, I am home again.  You cannot imagine what a privilege it is for
me, or how surprised I am to find myself here today.  Twenty-three
years ago I graduated from LSUNO, not in this arena because it did not
exist but from the main campus which sits a stone's throw to the west
of us. Shortly before being elected Mayor of Slidell I spent just
short of a decade on the Florida Avenue Campus as a faculty member at
the Human Development Center.  If those people on that faculty are
here today, it is with a special warmth that I greet you here this
morning.  It is also with a special warmth and a special gratitude
that I say "thank you for this invitation" to a man that I have always
admired, to a man whom in the darkest days of the Human Development
Center (or as it was formerly called - The Developmental Disabilities
Center for Children) came forward and helped us to assure the survival
of that Center of solace and healing in this University - Dean Stanley
Abadie.

        Ladies and Gentlemen, before I go on I want to acknowledge
openly that I realize that it is unusual for you to hear your
commencement address from the Mayor of a nearby small city rather than
from some well-known and brilliant academic.  Whether or not you feel
that you have been cheated by your speaker, I will leave, of course,
to your judgment.  But I do not want to leave to mere chance any doubt
about the importance and greatness of that fine metropolis from which
I came here this morning.

        There are many ways in which I could enlighten you about the
urban jewel which sits to your northeast and serves as a model for the
City of New Orleans.   Perhaps this story will succinctly reveal to
you the extraordinary importance of your neighboring city:

        Some of you may remember that I tried to persuade the Pope to
visit Slidell.  Well, for those of you who had your faith shaken
concerning the Pope's infallibility because he did not come to
Slidell, I want to reassure you this morning.  In a little known
reconnoitering trip before the public visit, John Paul visited several
cities.  One of them was Washington, D.C.  One of them was Slidell.

        In Washington, in the Oval Office, the Pope asked President
Reagan about the nature and purpose of a gorgeous white telephone on
the President's desk.  The President told him that it was his direct
line to God.  Incredulous, but unable to resist, the Pope asked to use
the phone.  "Well, yes, but I am going to have to charge you."  "No
problem.  Send the bill to the Vatican."  The Pope picked up the
phone.  There he was. The real boss.  The man himself.  After a brief
talk, an astonished John Paul put down the phone and asked the
President what did he owe him.  "$2,500.00."  "Thank you, Mr.
President.  Send the bill to the Vatican."

        A few days later, in my office in Slidell, the Pope saw the
same type of telephone.  With disbelief in his voice he asked me about
it.  "Holy Father, that is my direct line to God."  If you have never
seen a Polish Pope pop his eyes, you should have seen this.  I agreed
to let him use it, on condition, of course, that he pay me.  He used
the phone.  The astonishment was something to behold.  Upon hanging
up, he asked me how much he owed me.  I said "twenty-five cents."
With another look of absolute disbelief he said:  "But, Mr. Mayor, in
Washington the President charged me $2,500.00."  I said:  "I know.
From there it's long distance."


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(MORE THAN HEALERS)
        So, if your speaker this morning leaves anything to be
desired, the importance of his City should more than compensate for
the deficit.
        There is another preliminary matter that I want to address
immediately.  Counting my own graduation from Grammar School, I have
been through four of these ceremonies personally and I have attended
many other such ceremonies for other people.  Finally, this morning I
am going to get to do something that I have always wanted to do, and
this is to poke a little fun at what these ceremonies are called.  Did
you ever get an invitation to "Finishing Ceremonies?"  No, of course,
it is always "Commencement Ceremonies," or even "Commencement
Exercises."  Well, we all know that the word "Commencement" comes from
two latin words meaning "to begin."  We all realize the significance
of that as it applies to this ceremony.  But, as a reasonably good
psychotherapist myself, I want to point out that the term also
contains a lot of implicit denial.  It is as if everybody wants to
deny that, among other purposes, we are here today to celebrate
something that is Finished.

        Yes, all of your life is now open before you.  Yes, you are
beginning a new phase of your life.  But this morning I would bet my
public office that what you are feeling the most is something that
says "Thank God, its over.  I made it."  And, indeed you should feel
that.  Four or more years of higher education is an exhilarating
experience.  It is also a burden.  It is also a grind.  It is also a
source of recurrent, if not constant, anxiety.  And today, it's over.
If you do not feel the relief and joy of that, then I want to tell you
that I still do a bit of psychotherapy and I currently have one
opening.  So, my dear graduates, and parents and faculty members, as
we commence the commencement, let us also celebrate the completion.

        As you leave here it would not be inappropriate to borrow the
words of Martin Luther King and give them a happy application;  "Free
At Last, Free At Last.  Thank God Almighty, I'm Free At Last."

        But - not for long.

        Each of you now, whatever you have become by virtue of your
education, carries a heavier responsibility to yourself, to your
family, to your community, to the country, and indeed to humanity
itself.

        Each of you now must go out and find a place and a setting to
practice the skills that you have so dearly learned.

        Each of you now, whether you are a Medical Technologist, an
Occupational Therapist, a Physical Therapist, a Cardiopulmonary
Therapist, a Microbiologist, a Nurse, a Master of the Health Sciences,
or a newly arrived Bachelor of Science, has one new characteristic in
common with every other graduate.  You are a healer of humanity.

        You are a healer of broken and vulnerable humanity.  In being
that healer, you have chosen a profession that is at the core of life,
not on its periphery.  You will contribute to the economy not by
creating products but by curing people.  You will serve your community
not by releasing new gimmicks, but by relieving grief.  You will, in
essence, work not on those things that concern human beings but on
human beings themselves.  In doing that, you are, more than most other
people, a cooperator with God Himself.

        If you have no sense of that, do not accept your diploma
today.  You have missed the point of your whole education.  If you are
here today only because you expect your degree to be a money machine
for you, do not accept your diploma when your name is called.  You
have been enrolled in the wrong school. You need to go back and get in
the right line, perhaps at the School of Business, or perhaps at a
training center for stock brokers, or perhaps even at the managers'
school at McDonalds.

        If, however, you have some sense of your higher mission, then
get up and take your diploma with pride and with a determination that
all of that work and all of those hours will be redeemed by a life
that places personal purpose ahead of a financial plan.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(MORE THAN HEALERS)
        My dear graduates, even if you "have it all together" as the
new professional that you now are, I want to suggest to you that as
exalted as your new profession is and as valuable as your most
enlightened professional practice will be to your fellow human beings,
even that is not enough.  If you expect to reach your full potential
for yourself, for your family, for your community, for your country,
and for humanity itself, you cannot rely only on the education that
you have received here at LSU.  I am not talking now simply about the
inescapable necessity of continuing your own technical education.  In
academia there is a well-known saying:  "Publish or Perish."  In
professional practice I can assure you there should be a parallel
saying:  "Study or Starve."  Sooner or later, it will force itself
upon you.

        I'm talking about something even beyond that.  If you are the
best physician in the community, the best therapist in the region, you
are still not all that you should be.

        Whether you expect it or not, whether you like it or not,
people will look to you as natural leaders among your neighbors, in
the midst of your patients, in the face of your community.

        You must be prepared for that.  I am not so foolish as to
suggest that you can be or ought to pretend to be an expert in all
matters.  But I do suggest that your technical education is not enough
to make you the well-rounded, well-educated, literate citizen and
community leader that you will be expected to be.

        People will look to you for advice, opinion, and leadership
that go far beyond your technical education.  In order to be
responsibly responsive you must continue to study; you must broaden
your horizons; you must become modern Renaissance men and women; you
must be able to deal, not as an expert, but as an intelligent,
well-educated person with the great issues of our time.  You must be
able to at least ask the right questions of the right people.

        To do all this, you cannot rely merely on the education that
you have received up until this day.  If you will excuse me for
borrowing a wonderful phrase recently made popular -"Your patch is not
big enough."

        Either you will enlarge your patch or you will gradually
deprive yourself and others of much of what you could bring to life.
At worst, you will come to feel the bitter difference between being
well-trained and well-educated.

        As a fellow clinician and as a public official, I urge you not
to let it happen.

        I urge you to remember - and I mean this in a most benevolent
way - I urge you to remember how ignorant you are. I am impressed with
my own ignorance on a daily basis. Anyone in this room who is not
similarly impressed with his or her own ignorance should be ashamed to
admit it.  Whatever we know is a thimbleful compared with the vast
darkness that surrounds the light.  Only education - reading and
listening and discussing - and experiencing - and reflecting - can
push back the darkness little by little.

        I urge you to push on the darkness for the rest of your life.
I urge you to be careful of those who not only respect but reverence
"common sense."  Common sense alone did not cure polio.  Common sense
alone did not create poetry.  Common sense alone did not bring you
here today.  I urge you to be cautious about whatever is "obvious."
If you walk outside right now, the most "obvious" thing in the world
is that the world is flat.

        Carry your thinking past common sense.  Look twice at what is
obvious.  Fill your head with new knowledge and you will push back the
darkness.

        Before concluding this talk I want to address a specific issue
that is important to me as a human being, as a clinician, and as a
public official.  I want to do whatever I can to stimulate both your
intellects and your consciences to consider seriously what I view as
one of the five most important public issues that face us today.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(MORE THAN HEALERS)
        Ladies and gentlemen, we share with South Africa the shame of
being one of the two countries in the industrialized world that still
has no form of universal national health insurance.

        Before I go on, let me assure you of some of the
considerations out of which that statement is made.

        I do not want you to mistake me for an ideological iconoclast
in favor of a new social revolution.  Although I am a registered
Democrat, I am an ideological eclectic.  Some of my Republican friends
occasionally consider me too liberal, but not any more often than my
Democratic friends consider me too conservative.  As I learn more, I
become more and more of a pragmatist with principles.  Those guiding
principles reflect our broad Judeoheritage as I perceive it to be.

        Nor do I want you to think that I am among those who do not
appreciate the technological excellence of American medicine.  Nor
even do I agree with those who think that all physicians are heartless
automatons interested only in their margin of profit.  I have received
too much good medical care myself and have been the beneficiary of too
much professional generosity myself to hold such views.

        I want to go a step farther in this direction.  I am not among
those who believe that we should end our present system of health
insurance and health care delivery in order to replace it with a
completely socialized health care system.  The dangers of that are
clear enough.

        Finally, I do not want you to think that the whole idea of
national health insurance is either a new idea or the intellectual
offspring of irresponsible liberalism.

        It may surprise you to hear it, but the idea of national
health insurance originated not in England, nor in Israel, nor in any
of the other so called socialist nations, but in the same country that
gave us the idea of a Super Race, in the same country that was so
militaristic that it took more than half of the industrialized world
to push its soldiers back into their Fatherland.

        The modern idea of national health insurance was first
successfully proposed by the German Chancellor Otto Von Bismark near
the end of the Nineteenth Century.

        Listen to what Gordon Craig, a great European historian, has
to say about it:

        Starting in 1881 the Chancellor inaugurated a program of
social insurance legislation . . . In 1883 the Reichstag passed a
Sickness Insurance Law that was to be financed by contributions from
the employee and the employer in the ratio of 2:1; the following year,
another law obliged employers to insure their workers against
accident; and in 1889 provision was made for old age and disability
insurance to be supported by contributions from the employee,
employer, and the government. These laws were revolutionary and
aroused interest throughout the western world.  They were the model
for Lloyd George's National Insurance Act of 1911 and for similar
legislation in other countries since 1815.

                                        Gordon A. Craig

        The United States is, to this day, not among those "other
countries."  In the context of all the disclaimers that I have given
above, I call that a shame, a national shame that cries out for
rectification.

        Why so?

        Because in a nation dedicated to Life, Liberty, and the
Pursuit of Happiness, it is a callous incongruity to deprive even one
person of health or healing simply because he or she cannot afford to
pay for it.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(MORE THAN HEALERS)
        I do not advocate socialized medicine on the British model.  I
do say this:  any system that allows a person to go without health
care because they cannot afford it, or to go bankrupt because they did
afford it, is a sinful system perpetrating crimes against humanity.

        I say further, that in America we can do better.  That in
America we can devise an American solution compatible both with our
values in a free enterprise economy and with our values as caring
human beings.

        Lest you think this issue is merely one of disembodied
principles, let me remind you that there are today, in this country,
40,000,000 people who have no health insurance of any kind whatsoever.
 Some of those people are too poor to afford private insurance but too
"rich" to qualify for Medicare or Medicaid.  Others can usually afford
premiums for private health insurance but because they are temporarily
unemployed or because they have a preexisting health problem, they are
unable to obtain even expensive private protection.

        Have you any idea what happens to those people?  I can tell
you.  They remain sick.  They stay in pain.  They are terrified as
they watch their loved ones turned away from doctor's offices and from
emergency rooms.  Then, some of them liquidate all of their
possessions and file bankruptcy in order to become eligible for
public, charity care.

        Do not say that it does not happen.  I know how to show you
cases on a weekly basis.

        Have you any idea how many people are represented by the
number 40,000,000?  Let me try to put flesh on those statistical
bones.  In order to approach closely the number 40,000,000 you would
have to completely drain all of the following cities of their entire
population:

                        New York
                        Los Angeles
                        Chicago
                        Houston
                        Philadelphia
                        Detroit
                        Dallas
                        San Diego
                        Phoenix
                        San Antonio
                        Honolulu
                        Baltimore
                        San Francisco
                        Indianapolis
                        San Jose
                        Memphis
                        Washington, D.C.
                        Milwaukee
                        Jacksonville
                        Boston
                        Columbus
                        New Orleans
                        Cleveland
                        Denver
                        Seattle
                        El Paso
                        Nashville
                        Oklahoma City
                        Kansas City, MO
                        St. Louis
                        Atlanta
                        Fort Worth
                        Pittsburgh
                        Austin
                        Long Beach
                        Tulsa
                        Miami
                        Cincinnati
                        Baton Rouge
                        Portland, OR
                        Tucson
                        Indianapolis
                        Oakland
                        Albuquerque
                        Toledo
                        Buffalo
                        Omaha
                          and
                        Charlotte, NC*


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(MORE THAN HEALERS)
        Now imagine every one of those cities drained of its
population.  Imagine every one of those people lined up at Charity
Hospital.  That is how many people that we leave exposed in this
country to the horrendous ravages of uninsured illness.

        Do not imagine that we can blame this on our physicians, on
other health care professionals, or on our hospitals.  Health care
providers and hospitals have to be paid and should be paid well, not
outrageously well, but well.

        Who then is to blame for this callous neglect?

        This is not a problem for the Medical Society.  This is a
problem for all society.

        This is not a problem of rethe medical pie. This is a problem
of renational resources.

        We can, today, enact a conservative but comprehensive program
of national health insurance in order to protect people from the
financial ruin of catastrophic illness.  Such a program could be put
in place with minimal disruption of the private health care system.

        All that is needed is a national value judgement that we care
enough about each other to help pay for public insurance to protect
each other against personal disaster.  Essentially, that is all.

        As a fellow clinician, as a public official, as a fellow human
being I urge you to at least take this matter seriously. I further
urge you, if you agree or come to agree with what I have said, to do
all that you can to influence public policy to end this national
disgrace.

        In closing, I want to thank you for bearing with me.  I want
to remind you one more time that you must be more than healers.  You
must be full human beings.  You must be leaders to other men and
women.  You must live life to the fullest.  You must not be
irresponsible, but you must take risks that make the difference
between existing and living.  Toward that goal I leave you with a
powerful reminder from President Theodore Roosevelt:

                Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win
glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank
with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much,
because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor
defeat.


        Go out and do it.  God bless all of you.



                        Salvatore A. Caruso, MSW, ACSW, BCSW
                        Mayor
                        Clinical Social Worker

* I am indebted to my son, a student at the University of New Orleans,
for suggesting this way to give life to an otherwise incomprehensible
statistic.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

Mayor Caruso's Second Inaugural Address

June 28, 1986


        Judge Fritchie, Mayor Hart, Mayor Cusimano, Members of the
Council, Reverend Clergy, fellow public officials, ladies and
gentlemen:

        An oath twice repeated weighs twice as heavy but gives twice
the strength.  That is what I am told by both my shoulders and my
heart.

        When you and I were both a year younger, I stood before you
and before God Almighty and for the first time took the oath for the
highest office in this city.  During that ensuing year, I hope that I
have disappointed neither my people nor my God.

        After a year of enthusiasm tempered by experience, I am here
to tell you today that in reality, not merely in rhetoric, the office
with which you have entrusted me is both a burden and a joy.

        Even at this level of government, the office of the Chief
Executive can be a prison as well as a work place.  The illuminated
windows on the upper floor of City Hall are still often illuminated
when only God and your Mayor are awake.

        The job that you have asked me to do requires an extraordinary
effort if it is to be characterized by excellence.

        But the counterpoint to the burden of the Mayoralty is the joy
of the Mayoralty.  My fellow citizens, during this past year you have
given me the privilege of leading and presiding over public progress
which would be the envy of any community.

        In a unique experience of de ja vu, I returned as Mayor to
administer a set of public works which I had originated as a
councilman.  In Operation Rainwater, we have completed in one year
more flood control projects than had been completed in the previous
three years.  It is a joy to have provided the leadership for that
effort.

        In a program borrowing the name of a historic day in our
national history, we have made history of our own.  The D-DAY program
here in Slidell has come to serve as a model of efficiency for the
delivery of public works in a concentrated manner within a compact
area.  It is a joy to have provided the leadership for the effort.

        If I never accomplished another goal for the people of this
city other than the Priorities Convention, I would consider my tenure
in this office to have been justified by that one single
accomplishment.  While we are still waiting for the results of the
Convention, two more Louisiana communities have asked us to teach them
how to structure their own conventions.  That is an immense compliment
to the entire City of Slidell which gave birth to the very concept for
local governments.  More important than any compliments that we may
receive, will be the product that we will accept when the analysis of
the six-hundred (600) Delegates' responses is completed by the experts
who are helping us.  That product, that report, should serve as the
basis for a Comprehensive Community Plan which will carry us from now
until the end of the century.  It is a joy to have provided the
leadership for that effort.

        After a year of intricate and grueling negotiations, a team of
us accomplished what was considered at this time last year to be
nearly impossible.  We persuaded the corporate owners of North Shore
Square Shopping Mall to petition for annexation into the City of
Slidell.  In doing so, we acquired the most valuable commercial
development in the history of the city.  We stopped the drain of tax
money which was leaving this city with every sale that occurred at the
new shopping mall.  We made a long term investment which will begin to
pay off substantially in three to four years.  And, we opened our own
western frontier for further development.  It was a joy to have
provided the leadership for that effort.


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(SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS)
        It was a joy also to serve the people of this city in many
more ways than I can relate to you in an inaugural address. But I will
select one special kind of encounter to share with you here today.
During the past year I have visited, or been visited by, several of
the children from the schools in our area.  I have always been amazed
at how they talk to me just as if I were somebody important and how
persistent they are in asking important questions about public
business.  Those bright faces and bright minds have given me hope for
the future of our city.

        I wish that I could tell you that what I see in our immediate
future is as bright as the faces of the children that I met.  But it
is not.  And I am no more inclined today to tell you what you might
want to hear rather than what you need to hear than I have been since
I entered public office in 1978.

        Ladies and gentlemen, it is a common rhetorical device for a
speaker to tell his audience that the nation, the state, or the city
is at a critical juncture in its history.  Whether I like the duty or
not, it falls to me today to deliver to you that very message.  And
what is worse, I must quickly assure you that this is reality, not
rhetoric.

        I am so sure of this that I publicly predict here and now that
at this time next year the City of Slidell will either be addressing
its problems and its planning in a more efficient and productive
manner than ever before, or we will be suffering the palpable
consequences of short-sightedness, selfishness, and the failure of
public will to resolve public problems.

        And how could that be true, especially in light of the
progress that we have made over the past year?

        My fellow citizens, I do not like what I have to tell you. But
in the words of Franklin Roosevelt, "this is pre-eminently the time to
speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly."

        And the truth is that this city has been badly under-funded
for a long time in its effort to supply even basic services to its own
people.  The legacy of that under-funding has finally caught up with
us in the specter of a deteriorating infrastructure, in the strained
faces of over-extended work crews, in the collapse of major equipment,
in the shortfalls in materials and supplies, and in the absolute
inability of this community to make practical plans for a high quality
future.

        And the truth is that the withdrawal of Federal funds from the
municipalities across this country is now having a direct negative
effect on the ability of cities to cope with local realities.

        And the truth is that both because of forces beyond our
control and because of our own lack of self-control and
self-direction, the State of Louisiana is being crucified upon a cross
of oil and that crucifixion is bleeding white the cities of this
state.

        And the truth is that the combination of those factors now
faces us with the choice of public disaster or public commitment to
the resolution of public problems.  One or the other will happen
within a year.

        And the truth is that whatever happens will happen at the
level of local government.  There is simply no more fooling ourselves
into believing that there will be a deus ex machina from either
Washington or Baton Rouge.

        And what will it be in Slidell?

        The answer to that question depends both upon what we in the
government do and upon what you, our constituents, do.

        We must go on telling you the truth.  We must stiffen our
backs and steel our guts to be able to tell you that we need new
revenues in order to go on running this city.  We must go on giving
you a chance to choose your own future.


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(SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS)
        In a Republic, public officials have the duty to represent
their people, but they also have the responsibility to inform and
educate their people.  One of our recent national leaders summarized
it as follows:

        It is the responsibility of a leader to lead public opinion -
not just to follow it.  He must get all the facts before making a
decision and then he must develop support for that decision among the
people by making the facts known to them.
That advice was given to all public officials by that well-known
radical, President Richard M. Nixon.

        And, what about you, my fellow citizens?  You are free, of
course, to make whatever choice you want to make.  But, you are not
free to choose the consequences of your choice.  Because your choice
will have automatic and serious consequences, I ask you once again to
please give us your thoughtfulness before you give us your opinions.

        I ask you also to reach for that which is the best within you.
 I am confident that we will come through our current crisis stronger
than ever.  I am confident of that because I believe that the vast
majority of Slidellians are, in fact, intelligent, thoughtful, and
generous people who want this community to reach its full potential.

        For those few who want to groan without growing and moan
without moving, I refer you to a wonderful line from Uncle Remus and
His Friends.  It goes like this:

You do de pullin', Sis Cow,
And I'll do de gruntin'

        We have no more time for "gruntin'" in Slidell.  It is time
for all of us to stand up and do some "pullin'."

        And, before we even begin the "pullin'," I strongly suggest
that we all do some praying.  Pray, my fellow citizens, for this
beloved city.  Pray for yourselves for you have some difficult choices
to make.  Pray for a spirit of truth, a spirit of justice, a spirit of
generosity, a spirit of kindness, a spirit of wisdom.  And in closing,
I will tell you in the words of Saint Paul:

                        ...this is my prayer for you;
                        may your love grow richer and
                        richer yet, in the fullness of
                        its knowledge and the depth of
                        its perception, so that you
                        may learn to prize what is of
                        value...
                                        Philippians 1:10


                Thank you.  And God bless all of you.


                                        Salvatore A. Caruso, MSW
                                        Mayor
                                        City of Slidell


#ENDCARD
#CARD
THE ISSUE IS IDOLATRY

(Location Unknown)

January 20, 1990


        I thank you for inviting me here today.  At the most obvious
level we are all here today in support of life, in opposition to
abortion, and in hope for humanity.  At a deeper level we are here to
address another issue altogether.  If we pierce the veil of rhetoric,
if we cut beneath the brutal realities of abortion, we find lurking
under all of that an issue which, so far, has escaped recognition and
identification.  The issue is idolatry.

        Those who call themselves pro-choice have correctly pointed
out that we can not be honest with ourselves while at the same time
supporting pre-born life and caring nothing for the suffering found
all around us in those who are already born.

        Humanity exists both in the womb and in the world. And if we
purport to care for human life, honesty and consistency levy an equal
demand on our care for both the fetus and the child.  We cannot pour
ourselves out to prevent killing in utero while ignoring the
surrounding pain in vivo.  Mothers and fathers suffering from
ignorance, from poverty, from broken lives and broken hearts, have a
right to expect our help as well as the baby still hidden in the
darkness.

        Anyone who listens to the "silent scream" of the unborn but is
deaf to the audible scream of the already born contributes to the
rending of the "seamless garment" of life.

        But why is the opposite not also true?  If life is seamless
and our obligations to it are indivisible, then from where do we get
this right to kill an unborn human being?  Where else in our entire
culture do we say that it is alright to kill another human being
except to save our own life or the life of another person?

        No where.  It is unheard of.

        Then, what is the black magic that has made abortion the
exception to a universal rule?

        Be careful in trying to arrive at an answer.  The pro-choice
advocates, as a group, are as intelligent as we are.  They understand
the core issues here as well as we do.  Morally, they are, as a group,
generally no better and no worse than we are. But our conclusions on
abortion are vastly different and sometimes diametrically opposed.

        The core issues need a bit of discussion even after all these
years of killing.

        Before any other matter can be addressed, we must know what is
the product of conception.  If the product of conception really is not
human or even if it is part of the mother's body then either this
entire argument is much ado about nothing, or the mother has an
absolute right to settle the argument in each case as she sees fit.

        But neither of those hypotheses is true.  Even most pro-choice
biologists and physicians freely admit that the product of human
conception is a human being.  It has its own distinct set of human
chromosomes and it has inherited its unique genetic composition in
equal parts from a human mother and a human father.  Indeed, what
could the product of such a process be?  A rabbit?  This, ironically,
may be one of those matters in which common sense correctly tells what
science verifies.

        But, human though it is, perhaps the fetus is part of the
mother.  And, perhaps the earth is flat.  It is irrefutably,
scientifically established that the fetus is immunologically foreign
to the mother.  It may have a different blood type, and it may be a
different sex.  Yet, with all that, some people persist in saying that
the fetus is part of the mother's body.  Part of it once was - as an
ovum.  Fertilization changed that forever. Indeed, at a rate of about
fifty percent (50%), the product of conception is male.  And somehow,
that is supposed to be part of the mother.  How?  Only as a result of
twisted logic deliberately adopted to defend the psyche against that
which it would otherwise not accept.


#ENDCARD
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(THE ISSUE IS IDOLATRY)
        Well then, at the very least, this new product is only a
blueprint for a new human being.  The product of conception moves on
inexorably toward a separate full human being. Nothing is added after
conception.  All that occurs is growth and development.  Do blueprints
do that?

        Blueprints are not a house, but if blueprints could make
themselves into a house we would assign them an address and buy them
insurance against damage or destruction.

        But whatever else is true or untrue, the fetus is the product
of human sexuality; it is the reproduction of the human species.  Does
not a woman have a right to control her own reproduction?  Yes, she
does.  She has the right to abstain from sexual intercourse.  She has
the right to engage in sexual intercourse and to use contraception.
But abortion is not contraception.  It has nothing to do with
reproductive rights. It has to do with killing that which has already
been reproduced.  No amount of euphemism will change that.  But if
there are those who want to continue to twist the language to
accommodate their own prejudice, then let them be consistent. Let them
redefine the rest of the language as the need for convenience arises.
The pro-choice physicians can begin by using "vaccine" and
"antibiotic" interchangeably.

        But in spite of all of this, a pregnant woman has some right
to privacy and perhaps that right bars the state, or the community,
from interfering at all in her right to have an abortion.  Now,
finally, we are beginning to see the idolatry. Just a glimpse, but it
is beginning to show.

        There are indeed, issues and behaviors that are or should be
beyond the reach of the state.  There are behaviors that are or should
be purely personal, private matters.  These are behaviors that, for
the most part, involve only one person or freely consenting adults.
Generally, sexual preferences and practices are or should be covered
by a veil which excludes the state.  Surely a decision to use
contraception is or should be a purely personal matter in which the
state has no right to interfere.

        But abortion is different.  Abortion involves the killing of
one human being by another, with or without accomplices. Where else in
this culture do we say that such behavior is a purely private matter?
Where else do we say that in such circumstances the state, or the
community, has no rights at all? No where.  Then why in abortion?
Because idolatry allows it.

        Do we allow an adult daughter, one of two remaining members of
a family, serving as the sole caretaker for her invalid mother to kill
that mother?  Do we say to the community, "No, you cannot come in and
stop this?"  No we do not.  We assert the right of other human beings
to save that helpless human being.  Why?  Surely, this is a private
matter. Whom else does it affect?  No one else.  But we do not permit
such matricide.

        But in abortion we are told that a different conclusion is
acceptable.  Indeed, it is an inalienable right.  Why?  Because
idolatry makes it so.

        But finally, this is a religious issue.  And no one has the
right to impose his or her religious values on anyone else. Indeed, no
one has such a right of imposition.  But neither, at its most
fundamental base, is abortion a religious issue.

        At its most common denominator abortion involves not theology
but humanity.  One does not need to believe in God to be opposed to
abortion.  One needs only to believe in humanity. One needs only to
believe that we do not kill each other except to save ourselves or
another one of us.  A creed is not needed to abhor abortion for
convenience.

        I never want to live in a community where a majority of
Catholics can forbid the sale of contraceptives, or where a majority
of Baptists can forbid the sale of liquor, or where a majority of Jews
can forbid the sale of pork.  But neither is it reassuring to live in
a country where any number of people can forbid protection to a group
of human beings targeted for killing.


#ENDCARD
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(THE ISSUE IS IDOLATRY)
        Why then do we do it?  Why do we allow it?  Why do we protect
it?  Why do we go on killing our children?

        We do it because of idolatry.  The crime of murder is
protected, purified, sanctified and sustained by the crime of
idolatry.

        What idolatry?  Its face and its name are revealed in the
euphemism employed by the pro-abortionists.  Their chosen words are
"pro-choice."

        Those words give away what this is all about.  This entire
matter is driven by humankind's capacity for self-idolization.  It is
only the most mindless behavior or the most arrogant self-worship
which can make a god of the right to choose.  And of these two demons,
it is arrogance that has consumed us.  We are not content to identify
and to employ the majestic gift of human freedom.  We insist on
idolizing it. Nothing else matters.

        If freedom of choice is preserved, no matter what the
circumstances, then we have achieved the highest good; we have
discharged all of our human responsibility, and the consequences be
damned.

        Monstrous consequences issue from this idolatry. Billions are
poured into armaments while babies starve. Billions provide for
entertainment while the sick suffer. Billions pay for the fabulous
life while the homeless freeze. Millions are snuffed out while choice
prevails.

        It is all the same.  It is idolatry.  It is idolatry under all
of it.  It is the idolatry of self.  It is the idolatry of freedom
without limits.  It is the idolatry of choice.  "Let me alone, this is
my choice.  Nothing impinges on it.  I will make my own decision.  No
one can interfere.  And whatever the consequences, let it be."

        This is not freedom.  It is arrogance.  It is abandonment of
humanity.  And until that idolatry is cured or overcome, abortion will
go on.

        And while it goes on, only people who are devoid of both sense
and sensitivity will fail to see that some women wanting an abortion
are in a very difficult situation because of their pregnancy.  We owe
them our personal compassion and our practical help.  But we also owe
them the truth.  And the truth is that unless their own physical lives
are threatened, no matter what their difficulties are, those
difficulties and those sufferings are simply not proportional to the
taking of another human life.  The target of abortion faces a problem
which is both total and permanent.

        Abortion always kills one human being and, at its worst, it
can kill two -- both baby and mother.  Those of us who are opposed to
abortion understand that illegal, back-alley abortions carry the
potential for even more tragedy than legal abortions.  The
pro-abortionists carry a battle banner saying "Never Again the Coat
Hanger."   Indeed, never again.  They should take it seriously.  Don't
go there again.

        A pregnant woman has a choice to go or not to go to the Coat
Hanger Abortionist.  And that choice can be made without the necessity
of either idolatry or murder.  Let them choose wisely.  Let them
choose life.  There are other ways to deal with this child that the
mother does not want.  The mother, deciding whether or not to approach
a Coat Hanger Abortionist has a choice about whether or not to go.
The unborn baby waiting in the womb for salt or scalpel has no such
choice.  All she can do is wait to be burned, or sucked, or cut to
death.  And this is proportional?  This is human?  No!  This is
idolatry.

        We all know that there are some cases that are nearly
impossible in their grievousness.  But a humane people cannot build a
national policy of killing on the basis of a few extreme cases.  We
have to build extreme resources for humane responses to those few
cases.


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(THE ISSUE IS IDOLATRY)
        And while we are advocating our policy and building our
resources, what can we do?  What tools can we employ to diminish the
killing and the suffering?

        Education.  Sex education.  Contraception. Understanding.
Compassion.  Practical support.  Generosity. Adoption.  Love.  Love of
the unborn baby.  Love of the pregnant girl or woman.  Love of
humanity.  A return to reality.  An abandonment of the delusional
mind-set which has dulled both our thinking and our feelings to the
point where we accept mass killings as normal, as right, as a mere
consequence of an idolatry which has placed free choice, the choice to
kill, above life itself.


                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW
                        Mayor


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#CARD
ACHIEVEMENT AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT SPEECH

Achievement Award from the Louisiana Municipal Association
for the Year of 1988

August 15, 1989


        I think that the month of August has become our magic month in
Slidell.  On August 17, 1987 I stood here and announced to you that we
had won the Honorable Mention Citation from the Louisiana Municipal
Association for Outstanding Community Improvements during the previous
year.  Honorable Mention is the same as second place in this contest.
It was the first such award for Slidell in the history of the city.

        On August 16, 1988 I announced to you that we had won the
first place award for municipal achievements during 1987.

        And now today, on August 15, 1989, it is my unprecedented
privilege to announce to you that for three (3) years in succession we
have won an award from the Louisiana Municipal Association based upon
our performance as a government during 1988.

        More specifically, the City of Slidell has been named
                       The First Place Winner
                               in the
                  Louisiana Municipal Association's
                   Achievement Awards Competition
                        for the year 1988
                for Outstanding Municipal Improvements

        It's a miracle!  Can you believe it?  It's a miracle!

        Congratulations to you, the miracle workers. Congratulations
to the City Council, the department heads, the division supervisors,
the field foremen, the men who pave our streets and dig our ditches,
the people who work at our counters and serve our constituents -
congratulations to all of you.  You are the miracle workers.

        Before 1987, this city had tried but had never succeeded in
winning one of these awards.  And now we have done it for three (3)
years in a row.

        When I tell you that we are the envy of many other cities, I
am not exaggerating.

        When I tell you that I am proud of this, that it is a source
of deep satisfaction to me, that it is the legitimate lifeblood of
public service that makes it possible to bear the heavy burdens that
sometimes come with public office, I am not exaggerating.

        It would be a major mistake to think that the mere
availability of money assures this sort of success.  By now we have
learned that money is only a tool, an indispensable tool, but only a
tool.

        Success in the public sector requires more than money. It
requires intelligence, honesty, creativity, cooperation, compromise,
and a willingness to work beyond the limits of what is usually
expected.  And all of us, all of you, as a team have displayed those
characteristics and have performed that level of work.

        The competition for this award is extremely heavy.  We were
compared to the biggest cities in this state.  And we won. We were
judged on our delivery of daily services, on our capital projects, on
our financial management, on our planning, on our economic development
and on several other measures of public life.  And, we won.


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(ACHIEVEMENT AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT SPEECH)
        You won.  The people of this city won.

        The City Council knows, and you know, and I know that there
are some people in Slidell whom we could not please if we paved the
streets in gold, worked our employees to the point of apoplexy,
abolished the Permit Department altogether, sent the Planner to
Siberia (or worse yet, back to Chicago), and generally turned our city
into the Garden of Eden.  There are some people who would whine, and
moan, and complain even if we did all of that.  I have finally learned
that, beyond a certain point, reasoning with such people is pointless.
 They are merely acting out their genetic code.

        But for all of those whiners, moaners, and complainers, I have
one brief message on this wonderful day in August: Somebody must be
doing something right.  With enough prayer, someday you might see it.

        For the vast majority of Slidellians who do appreciate what
all of us are trying to do, who do support us, and who do share in our
joy at the reception of this award, I have another message:  Thank
you.  And congratulations.  Ultimately this award belongs to you.

        And now, finally, I want to close with an announcement. This
kind of success for three (3) years in succession may never happen
again.  In order to mark the occasion and in order to say "thank you"
to all of you in some practical way, I am hereby declaring a
half-holiday for all city employees for the afternoon of Friday,
August 18, 1989.

        Enjoy it!  You deserve it.

                                Salvatore A. Caruso, MSW
                                Mayor


#ENDCARD
#CARD
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS

Slidell Vocational-Technical School

August 30, 1988


        Thank you for inviting me to be your guest speaker for this
extremely important event in your lives.  And, please accept my
congratulations for what I may consider an even more important
accomplishment than you do.

        If my last sentence sounded strange to you, I can assure you
it was not a mistake.

        I know perfectly good and well that on graduation day at any
school there are feelings of success, accomplishment, pride, and hope.
 And I am sure that each one of you is feeling something like that
tonight.

        But I was an educator myself for nearly a decade and I have
been working with people, dealing with their most intimate and
personal feelings, since my own graduation from another school in
1971.

        Those years of experience have taught me many things. Among
the interesting and hopefully useful insights that my own work has
given me is this one:  Very often at the moment of success, or at the
celebration of success, people remember their failures and fear for
their future.  It is almost as if they fear their own success and
cannot allow themselves some justifiable personal pride.

        As if that were not enough of a problem, there is the
additional fact that people who are educated in the trades and in
other hands-on occupations too often fail to appreciate the value of
their own education and the value of the contribution which they make
to their families, their community and their country.

        I want to spend the rest of this talk dealing with both of
these problems, that is, the tendency to rob yourselves of joy at a
time of celebration and the tendency to demean what you have
accomplished.

        Let us look first at the latter problem.

        Somehow the idea lingers on in our society that theoretical
education is, in and of itself, more valuable than practical
education, that we need scientists but not secretaries, publishers but
not plumbers.

        Not only is this thinking erroneous and unfair to you upon who
we depend to fix our pipes, repair our cars, type our speeches, and
tend to our sick, but interestingly enough such thinking is challenged
both by the facts of our own history and by some of the best thinking
of people who were educated in theoretical matters while valuing
highly those who were educated in practical matters.

        If you have even a basic knowledge of our nation's history you
surely know that we owe our country and our culture not only to
philosophers and to political scientists but also to shipbuilders who
made the vessels which opened the new world, to carpenters who
constructed the new towns, to farmers who fed the new population, to
wainwrights who built the wagons that opened the West, to the men of
iron who built the rails and the engines which joined the seas, to the
women of boundless courage and endless talent who worked where they
were needed and succeeded where they worked.

        Not only history, but literature and philosophy, and even
theology, all have something to say about the value of hands-on work
whether it is done by unskilled laborers or by well-trained people
such as yourselves.


#ENDCARD
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(COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS)
        Some of you may know about a man called John Calvin. Calvin
lived from 1509 until 1564.  He was one of the major figures in the
Protestant Reformation.  John Calvin developed a theology which said
that all people were predestined from all eternity to be damned or to
be saved.  And nothing an individual did could change his or her
predestination.  To put it gently, that theology gradually made people
nervous.  But as often happens, the original ideas evolved into
something more acceptable and more useful. Eventually Calvin's
followers said that we could get a hint of who would be saved and who
would be damned.  And that hint was to be found in how successful a
person was in this life.  In turn, success would depend on hard work.
Therefore, if a person worked steadily and effectively, he or she
would very likely be saved and enjoy heaven for all eternity.  (This
is a benefit that even the best unions never came to offer.)  Out of
all of this, there developed an attitude toward and a practice of hard
work which we have come to call "The Protestant Work Ethic."  Whatever
we may think of it as a theology, it is clear that, even if
inadvertently, John Calvin left us a legacy which puts a great value
on work, both theoretical and practical, and which has helped us to
build a great and productive country.

        On the other side of the church aisle, the Catholic tradition
reveals a long history of respect for and even defense of those who
make their living by the direct application of their human skill and
labor.

        Three Popes stand out as champions of working people, and each
of them put their thoughts regarding the dignity of work into formal
Church documents called Papal Encyclicals.

        Pope Leo XIII wrote Rerum Novarum in 1891.  This was followed
by a work called Quadragesimo Anno in 1931 by Pope Pius XI, and
finally in our own times Pope John XXIII gave us a beautiful
encyclical entitled Mater et Magistra.  If all of those latin titles
sound strange to you, the contents would not. Although the encyclicals
also deal with other sub-topics, their major message is this:  those
of you who work with your hands, either on other people or on the rest
of creation, are no less valuable in God's eyes and to your brothers
and sisters than are those who supply the original ideas or the
original capital.

        A quotation from Pius XI's Quadragesimo Anno puts it very
succinctly:

        . . . unless a man apply his labor to his own property, an
alliance must be formed between his toil and his neighbor's property,
for each is helpless without the other. . ..   It is therefore
entirely false to ascribe the results of their combined efforts to
either party alone; and it is flagrantly unjust that either should
deny the efficacy of the other . . .

        Clearly, the best and the fairest of those who have done some
thinking about it have thought very highly of those of you who really
make the world work, those of you who do the doing.

        Which now brings us back to an earlier point.

        If there is any feeling left in you tonight which detracts
from your pride in your accomplishment, your joy in your achievement,
banish it.

        You have a right to be proud and a right to be joyful. You
have accomplished what many could never accomplish.  No architect will
ever build a house without you.  No engineer will ever erect a bridge
without you.  No executive will ever run his company without you.  No
doctor will ever cure his patients without you.  No philosopher will
ever explain or experience the real world without you.

        And as for the future, for tonight at least, limit your
concerns to this - promise yourself here tonight that throughout the
years of a long career you will wear out rather than rust out.
Promise yourself that you will never become stale or stagnant and that
you will continually renew and add to the knowledge which you have
received here at your Alma Mater.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS)
        Finally, if you still have any doubts about the kind of
company you are in, I want to remind you of a story that you all know
already.

        One day a man called Jesus asked his Apostles "Who do men say
that I am?" (Mark 8:27)  Peter replied:  "Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the Living God."  (Matthew 16:17)  And so through the ages, vast
multitudes have come to believe that he is indeed the Son of God.  But
we tend to forget something else. Long before that momentous question
was asked at Caesarea Phillippi, Jesus' own countrymen had asked the
more natural question:  Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary?
(Mark 6:30)  You are in the best of company.

        Good luck and congratulations.


                        Salvatore A. Caruso, MSW, ACSW, BCSW
                        Clinical Social Worker


#ENDCARD
#CARD
SPEECH TO C-PAC

March 10, 1990


        Good evening and thank you for inviting me.  Ladies and
gentlemen, I have been running for public office in this city since
1978.  Without any doubt whatsoever, this is the strangest election
that I have ever seen in Slidell.  I am saying that because of this
bewildering phenomenon:  on the one hand we have, over the past five
years, begun a rebuilding of this city which is unprecedented in the
memories of most people living here.  We have begun and partially
completed a series of capital improvements which have been desperately
needed for a decade or more.  And, we have done all of that within a
framework of fiscal management that is as solid as a rock.  On the
other hand, we are now faced with some challengers in this race who
are talking about a city that I do not live in and that I have never
governed.  If you listen to some of the challengers in this race you
will hear a word picture of a city that needed no improvements over
the past five years or that needed them but could responsibly wait for
them to be developed over the next twenty years.  Worse yet, you will
hear about a city which is in a dangerous financial condition, is
involved in deficit spending, and has made irresponsible use of bonded
indebtedness.

        This attempt to distort the truth, and, on the part of my own
opponent, to plainly lie to you, is the most gross perversion of the
political process that I have ever seen in Slidell.

        The verifiable truth is that our capital projects and our
capital acquisitions were not only needed, but were so desperately
needed that the services that we provide to you would have been
drastically reduced had we denied, or delayed, the implementation of
most of those projects and acquisitions.

        The verifiable truth is that alternative methods of funding,
which can be dressed up so that you see only their positive face, all
have substantial negatives attached to them which would have been
converted into diminished services affecting you directly.

        The verifiable truth is that, with rare exceptions made for
good reasons, most of our capital money has been spent on projects
that will last at least as long as the term of the bond issues which
are paying for them.

        The verifiable truth is that outside authorities ranging from
the international accounting firm of Arthur Andersen to the Louisiana
Municipal Association have rewarded our physical progress and have
certified our fiscal conservatism.

        I am proud of what we have done in the past five years -
plenty proud.  But the final verifiable truth is that it is
impossible, ladies and gentlemen, to discuss the renaissance of five
years in the span of five minutes.  To compensate for that I ask you
to read the materials that I have given you and to then make
thoughtful decisions.

        Finally I want to remind you of this:  truth and wisdom will
ultimately stand on their own but they require some time for
explanation and the inconvenience of conscience.  A lie can be spread
upon both air and paper with a glib ease requiring nothing more than
personal ambition and political expediency.

        If a solution sounds too simple, it probably is.  In the words
of H. L. Menken:

                        For every complicated problem
                        there is a solution which is
                        simple, easy, - and wrong.


        Ladies and gentlemen, I respectfully ask you not to be fooled
by the simple, the easy, and the wrong.  I ask you to look at the real
record of the past five years and to give me your vote on April 7,
1990.


                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW
                        Mayor


#ENDCARD
#CARD
MARTIN LUTHER KING SPEECH

Martin Luther King Speech

January 14, 1990


        Our celebration this weekend marks the fourth year that the
United States has nationally memorialized Doctor Martin Luther King.

        Local celebrations of the national intent have been left to
the option of local officials.  It is a measure of how far all of us
have come in developing our sense of justice and in improving the
relationship between the races in this city that when I declared
Martin Luther King's birthday an official municipal holiday back in
1986, I did so out of a sense of privilege rather than out of a sense
of pressure.

        Those of us who were in our teens or early twenties during the
sixties are here today as mature people in mid-life.

        We remember a country torn by injustice and the reaction to
it.  We remember the violence, the bitterness, the alienation, the
broken hearts.

        We remember leadership, black and white alike, that will
forever serve as a benchmark for what leadership ought to be. We
remember leaders who stared us in the eye and challenged us to act
upon the best principles which we claimed supported the very
foundations upon which this country is built.

        We remember this dear beloved country passing through a
crucible of soul searching and social change and coming out of it with
our principles intact, our consciences sharpened, and our justice
enlarged toward "justice for all."

        And, in the midst of it all, we remember Martin Luther King.
We remember him telling us that "injustice anywhere is a threat to
justice everywhere."

        But we also remember this Protestant preacher telling us that
injustice cannot
be cured by more injustice, that hatred cannot be removed by more
hatred, and that white prejudice cannot be removed by black prejudice.

        He called on all of us, black and white alike, to judge each
other by the "content of (our) character," and not "by the color of
(our) skin."

        And in that endeavor, which was his lifework, he gave us a
glimpse of the depths of his own soul in an admonition which should go
to the core of our own souls.  Martin Luther King left us this as part
of his legacy:
                        Always be sure that you struggle with
                        Christian methods and Christian weapons.
                        Never succumb to the temptation of
                        becoming bitter.  As you press on for
                        justice, be sure to move with dignity and
                        discipline, using only the weapons of
                        love . . .  If you succumb to the temptation
                        of using violence in the struggle, unborn
                        generations will be the recipients of a
                        long and desolate night of bitterness,
                        and your chief legacy to the future will
                        be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.

        In the ensuing years we have sometimes followed his advice and
we have sometimes ignored it.  But thank God Almighty, in the balance,
we have lived by the ideals that Martin Luther King held up for us.
In doing so we have increased understanding, love, and justice.


        And in doing so, we have made ourselves more worthy of the
best principles upon which this country was founded and continues to
move as "one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all."


                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW
                        Mayor


#ENDCARD
#CARD
SPEECH TO THE SLIDELL BUSINESS
FORUM

June 28, 1989


        Exactly three (3) years and eleven (11) days ago, on June 17,
1986 we gathered in this auditorium for exactly the same purpose that
we are gathering here tonight.

        Back in 1986, I had received a series of complaints regarding
the permits required to do business in the City of Slidell.  Some
complaints dealt with the content of state laws that we have to
enforce or the content of city ordinances.  Other complaints dealt
with alleged improper treatment of business people and/or residents by
the employees of the Permit Department, Planning Department,
Engineering Department, and possibly other departments as well.

        I wanted to obtain as clear a picture of those complaints as
possible and to be as helpful as possible in resolving the problems.
To that end, I called and conducted the first Slidell Business Forum
on June 17, 1986.

        That forum was not well-attended.  But discussion was good,
resulting in a better understanding on all sides and in one amendment
to one ordinance.

        Once again, I have received another series of complaints. Once
again, I want to be as helpful and as responsive as I can be.  To that
end, I have called this second Slidell Business Forum.

        I want to thank the Chamber of Commerce for its interest in
co-sponsoring this forum, I want to thank the City Council, the Police
Jury, the Department heads, the Chief of Staff, and the Council
Administrator for their presence and participation.

        As I did in 1986, I want to begin, indeed I must begin, by
describing the point of departure for our discussion and by creating a
useful framework for the meeting.

        The primary reason for the existence of this meeting is that
some business people in Slidell have expressed the same sort of
dissatisfactions as those cited above and this government wants to
listen to those complaints, offer explanations, and consider changes
in laws, ordinances, and practices if such changes seem to be
warranted.

        However, nothing that you say or that we say will make much
sense unless we have a common point of departure and a common
framework for discussion.

        We are going to discuss laws, ordinances, and their
enforcement.

        In talking about laws and ordinances, we are ultimately
talking about the legal expression of a community's will.  For our
purposes, in the case of laws, the community is either the people of
the United States or the people of the State of Louisiana.  Ordinances
are based on the community of the people of Slidell.

        Since we are not a pure democracy, laws and ordinances are
adopted by legislative bodies representing the broader community.  For
the State of Louisiana, that legislative body is the State
Legislature.  For the City of Slidell, the legislative body is the
Slidell City Council.

        In formulating and adopting laws and ordinances, the
legislative bodies try to determine what best reflects the values held
by a majority of the people they represent.  They sometimes add the
benefit of their own knowledge and wisdom to that equation.  In all
cases, they must consider the interests of all of their constituents,
not just one or a few sub-groups in their constituency.  Legislators
and City Council members can, like anyone else, make mistakes about
either what their people want or about the wisdom of it.  But, at
least in the case of the Slidell City Council, in my experience and in
my view, they make a sincere effort to be right on both points.  And,
as a matter of fact, I think that most often the Council has been
right in adopting the ordinances that have been adopted.  I think the
ordinances, with some possible exceptions, do represent what a
majority of our people want and I think that, generally, they are
well-written and wisely adopted.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(SPEECH TO THE SLIDELL BUSINESS)
        I could be wrong about all of that.  I am sure that at least
some of you think I am wrong about at least some of that. We will
listen to your point of view in a few minutes.  But, right or wrong,
we will get no where unless you understand that the city ordinances
which we must enforce come to us, as they come to you, from the City
Council which is constituted by people elected by a majority of each
of their constituencies.

        What then is the role of the Executive Branch?  We have a
legitimate role in influencing legislation.  And, we do that. Or we
try to do it.  Once legislation is adopted the role of the Executive
Branch is to enforce that legislation.  And we have no routine choice
about that.  We may agree with or disagree with the particular
ordinances in  question.  But in virtually all cases, our duty to
enforce is the same.  We do not make those ordinances, but we must
enforce them.  This division of duties reflects the separation of
powers adopted by the Founding Fathers of our Republic and inculcated
at every level of government and in most specific local governments.
That system was not conceived for the City of Slidell.  There is
nothing new going on here.

        (For the sake of thoroughness, I want to note here that there
are extraordinary circumstances under which a Chief Executive Officer
at any level of government might refuse to enforce a particular law or
ordinance.  However, the circumstances which may justify such action
are very rare, and they usually have to do with basic questions of
moral principles or basic constitutional/charter disputes, or both.
Nothing that we are discussing here tonight seems to carry that sort
of weight or to be in that kind of category.)

        In addition to our duty to enforce the ordinances adopted by
the City Council, the Executive Branch has the duty and the right to
interpret the ordinances where there is a genuine need for
interpretation.  And, we do that.

        In interpreting the specific application of a law or
ordinance, my department heads are required to follow an order which I
first issued in late 1985 or early 1986.  That order is referred to in
our manual entitled Doing Business With the City of Slidell.  The
specific words are as follows:

        . . . whenever there is a bona fide doubt about the meaning of
a law or ordinance, and in the absence of a clear reason to do
otherwise, I want the doubt resolved in favor of the person applying
for a permit or other type of authorization from the city.

        That order, reflecting the attitude of this Mayor and of this
Administration was issued within my first year as Mayor of Slidell.
It has never been changed.  It is in force now.

        The order, however, does not say that we can ignore the law.
It says that we can interpret it.  It does not say that we can
interpret it at will.  It says that we can interpret it in the face of
a bona fide doubt about its applicability to a specific set of facts.
It does not say that we can resolve it in favor of the applicant no
matter what else is true or untrue.  It says that we can do so in the
absence of any clear reason to do otherwise. But the order does say
what it says.  And it means what it says. It means that our attitude
is one of helpfulness toward individual citizens unless there is a
clear and compelling mandate to protect a more common value on behalf
of the whole community.

        Because there seems to be some belief, unfounded though it may
be, that this Administration is somehow not responsive to the needs of
business, I want to remind you of some relevant facts:

        1.  Shortly after becoming Mayor, I appointed a
committee to study and recommend revisions to the sign ordinance.  The
goal was to remove unnecessary restrictions on business people.  The
goal was achieved.  Amendments were adopted clarifying the meaning of
the sign ordinance and liberalizing both the size of permitted signs
and the number of signs that could be used. Provisions were adopted
for the use of additional advertising banners and the permitted
display time for banners was doubled.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(SPEECH TO THE SLIDELL BUSINESS)
                These new amendments were adopted in October, 1986.
In the twelve (12) months prior to that, the Board of Zoning
Adjustments received thirty-three (33) sign variance requests.  In the
subsequent twelve (12) months the BZA received only seven (7) such
requests.  That equals a seventy-nine percent (79%) reduction in one
year. From July 1, 1988 through June, 1989 the BZA has received only
three (3) sign variance requests. This equals a ninety percent (90%)
reduction from the original set of numbers.

            Apparently, we achieved our goal.  We brought some
satisfaction to reasonable people.

        2.  In October 1985, in response to complaints that "you
can't do business in the City of Slidell. They 'permit you to death'"
I ordered a study to obtain comparative figures showing where Slidell
ranks among nine (9) cities in the total number of permits required by
those cities.  It turned out that Slidell required a total of eighteen
(18) permits, one (1) less than the average of the nine (9) cities.
                Two days ago, we surveyed those cities again. Not much
has changed.  Here are the cities and the total number of permits
required by each one:

                        City                Number of Permits Required
                        Shreveport                                15
                        Lake Charles                              16
                        Lafayette                                 16
                        Monroe                                    16
                        Alexandria                                15
                        Mandeville                                20
                        Hammond                                   13
                        New Orleans                                9
                        Slidell                                   18

                The average is 15.3.  We are now 2.7 permits above the
average.  However, our number of permits has not changed since 1985.
The average has changed because of a mistakenly high number that was
given to us in 1985 for the City of Shreveport.  (In case it is not
already clear, let me point out that the total number of permits for
the City of Slidell, i.e., eighteen (18), is the total possible number
that anyone could ever need.  It is not the case that everyone who
comes to us for a permit needs to obtain eighteen (18) permits. We
will later do another study trying to discover the average number of
permits required by people applying for permits over a given period of
time.)

        In any case, it is clear that the number of permits
required in the City of Slidell is not out of line with those required
in a sample of nine cities containing some that are smaller than
Slidell and some that are larger than Slidell.

        Clearly, any talk about being "permitted to death" is a myth.

        3.  In February 1986, we held the Slidell Priorities
Convention.  The delegation included a large number of people
representing the industrial and commercial sectors in Slidell.  The
results showed, for the first time, concrete evidence that our people
support more industrial and commercial growth as long as it is not
destructive to our environment or quality of life.

        4.  In December 1987, we published a manual entitled
Doing Business With the City of Slidell A Manual Describing Licensing,
Permit and Review Requirements and Procedures in Slidell. This manual
compiles in one place, for the first time, all that a person has to
know in order to comply with our ordinances.  The main motive behind
the writing of the manual was a desire to be helpful to the business
community.

        5.  In 1987, we also published a booklet entitled City
of Slidell Development and Design Guide.  This booklet is also a
first-of-its-kind in Slidell.  It is also published as an aide to
those wanting to do business in Slidell.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(SPEECH TO THE SLIDELL BUSINESS)
        6.  As recently as a few weeks ago we finalized and
published the first comprehensive Industrial and Commercial
Development Policy Statement for the City of Slidell.  The purpose of
the statement is to evaluate everything that impinges on industry and
commerce in Slidell, to correct our problems and to build on our
strengths.  The goals of the Policy Statement are to help existing
industries and businesses and to recruit new ones.

        7.  The City of Slidell led the successful effort to
obtain a just and productive settlement of the sales tax dispute with
the St. Tammany Parish Police Jury.  That settlement is now in place,
benefiting the Parish itself, our municipalities, and potential new
industries and businesses wanting to locate in St. Tammany Parish and
in Slidell.

        8.  Recently and currently, there have been tens of
millions of dollars invested in new commercial construction in the
City of Slidell.  Two different developers insisted on locating their
businesses inside the City of Slidell.
        9.  From January through May, 1988, the City of Slidell
issued eighty-six (86) commercial certificates of occupancy.  For the
same period in 1989, we issued 105 commercial certificates of
occupancy.  In spite of a bad economy, we more than held our own with
an increase of nineteen (19) certificates of occupancy.

        10. Our sales tax collection continues at a healthy
pace and has slightly exceeded our predictions.

        I have not taken your time and mine to compile and present
this information just for the exercise of doing it.

        All of us are here to try to help you if we can.  But our
"point of departure"
cannot be a valid one if the information that I have just presented is
not included in your frame of reference.

        I certainly do not think that any of us, or our policies, or
our practices are perfect. But, I cannot let go unchallenged and
uncorrected any impression or any claim that this Administration is
anti-business.  The objective facts that I have just given you do not
support such a view.

        As we proceed, you will hear more about the sometimes
incredible things that we have to deal with in trying to run this
government.  Perhaps some of it will surprise you.

        But whether you will be surprised or not, whether you will
agree with us or not, I hope that you will at least understand that
the City Council does not adopt ordinances in a thoughtless and
insensitive manner; the Mayor does not adopt ordinances at all, and
the department heads have no desire to enforce ordinances in an
arbitrary and capricious manner.

        We are not anti-business, but we do have a job to do. We now
want to hear your comments and to take your questions in the hope that
you can help us to help you.

                        Salvatore A. Caruso, MSW
                        Mayor


Postscript:

        During the Business Forum, Councilman Barthelemy objected to
my statement that only the City Council could change or repeal a city
ordinance.  Lynn had made such an objection during a recent council
meeting.  We talked about it and both of us thought we understood each
other.  Obviously, we did not.  Lynn now made his objection a second
time and I was more confused than ever.  I could not understand why he
would object to such a statement.  It is, after all, the simple truth.
 Nobody but the City Council can amend or repeal a city ordinance.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(SPEECH TO THE SLIDELL BUSINESS)
        I now know that I was not the only person confused.  A
reporter at the Forum told me that the Councilman's point was not
clear.

        After more discussion, Lynn took the microphone again and
again tried to make his point.  This time he succeeded.  He spoke at
greater length, gave more details, and clarified for all of us what he
had been trying to communicate all along.

        As I understand it now (and I think this time I really do
understand it), Councilman Barthelemy was simply saying that, yes, the
City Council is ultimately responsible for adopting, amending, or
repealing city ordinances, but that the Council never or seldom acts
without the advice of the Executive Branch and more particularly
without the advice of those directly involved in the enforcement of
particular ordinances. Therefore, it is inaccurate to portray a
picture in which the Council takes legislative action in a vacuum.
And, more specifically, it is inaccurate to indicate that our present
building codes and related codes came into being as a result of
Council action divorced from Administrative advice.  It is similarly
inaccurate, and unfair, to say that all people have to do to have one
of those ordinances amended or repealed is to ask a City Council
member to have it done, and that it will be done without consultation
with and advice from the Executive Branch.

        I agree with all of that.

        Finally, after three attempts, what Lynn was saying became
very clear to me and to others.  And once his meaning was clear, only
an unfair person, persisting in stubbornness for its own sake, could
continue to disagree.

        Councilman Barthelemy is among our best Council members and I
am sorry that it took us three rounds to come to a clear understanding
in this case.

        As a matter of fact, our governing process is very much as
Lynn describes it and should continue to be so.  Both branches of
government share in both the credit and the blame for the present
situation - depending on the point of view.

        Even though there are a few significant times when the City
Council should give more attention and credit to what we tell them,
they are generally quite cooperative and generally do a good job for
their people.

        As we proceed in dealing with this problem of planning,
permits, etc., I will be mindful of the fact that the City Council
cannot, or should not, act in a vacuum.  At the same time, I may ask
various Council members to help us in fact gathering, analysis, and
advice-giving to their own colleagues.

                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW
                        Mayor


#ENDCARD
#CARD
SPEECH TO THE SLIDELL NOONTIME ROTARY CLUB

December 16, 1988


        I thank you for inviting me to talk to you once again.

        Noting the time of year, I have decided to forgo the usual
format for a speech and to indulge in the time-honored practice of
making a few predictions for the coming year and perhaps for a period
of time somewhat beyond that.

        The predictions will not necessarily be limited to future
events in the Slidell area only; some will be more serious than
others, and the further down they appear in this list, the less likely
they are to be true.

        When I am through, you are welcome to ask questions, make
comments, or whatever.  It is always the "whatever" that worries me.

        With those rules in mind, I offer you the following
predictions for 1989 and some period of time beyond that:

        1.  Manufacturers Retail Outlet (MRO) will complete their act
            of sale and begin construction within the next six weeks.

        2.  By the fall of 1989, MRO will be in full operation.  Within
            six or seven more months, we will have experienced an
            enormous influx of new retail customers in the Slidell
            area.

        3.  By mid 1990, our present retailers will have adjusted to
            the new market conditions with only a very few businesses
            being hurt, most holding their own, and several benefiting
            from the new conditions.

        4.  Before the end of 1989, our investment in the Front St./Old
            Town study/development package will begin to show some
            modest positive results. If everyone sticks to the job,
            those first new results will serve as a foundation for more
            improvement throughout the coming years.

        5.  By the end of 1989, we will be working on a modest-sized
            industrial park somewhere in the Slidell area.

        6.  Our current problems with black water subsequent to, but
            not caused by, chlorination of the water will be solved in
            1989.

        7.  The city government will come to grips with the fact that
            our present monthly charge for water usage in Slidell is
            not even meeting operational costs, let alone allowing for
            the development of a fund for expansion and extension of
            the system. There will be a modest increase in water rates.

        8.  We will come close to complying with the D. E. Q. order to
            repair and rehabilitate our sewer line system.

        9.  We will complete several capital improvement projects that
            have been funded by Sales Tax Bond Issue #2.

        10. There will be some sort of substantive fiscal reform in the
            State of Louisiana, OR unavoidable budget cuts will cause
            human suffering unseen in this state since the Great
            Depression, and then -the state will go bankrupt.

        11. If substantive fiscal reform does occur, improvements in
            education, our economy, and in the delivery of truly needed
            human services will follow shortly thereafter.

        12. Representative Ed Scogin, recently elected Vice-Chairman of
            the Louisiana House Budget Committee, will become the
            undisputed czar of finance for the State of Louisiana.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(SPEECH TO THE SLIDELL NOONTIME ROTARY CLUB)
        13. Senator Hinton, recently elected Vice-Chairman of the State
            Legislatures' Committee on Health and Mental Health will
            achieve similar stature in that role.

        14. If he is not assassinated first, Mikhail Gorbachev will
            continue to lead the Soviet Union into the 20th century.
            Internationally, his country will be less aggressive, and
            the Russians will continue to pursue efforts for genuine,
            bilateral, verifiable, nuclear disarmament.

        15. President-elect Bush, who has a chance to become a truly
            great President, will respond rationally and creatively to
            Soviet overtures for disarmament if it is clear that they
            are bilateral and verifiable.

        16. If the Soviet Union continues its present course, Pope John
            Paul II will visit Moscow by the end of 1989.

        17. The U. S. Government will either begin to really solve the
            problem of the federal deficit or we will begin to
            experience some real and serious disruption in our economy.

        18. Roe vs. Wade will be reversed, and the resulting new legal
            situation will allow the states to at least put some
            restraints on the current disgrace of abortion on demand.

        19. We may begin to deal with the national disgrace of having
            no form of national health insurance and thereby leaving
            40,000,000 Americans totally uninsured against catastrophic
            illness.

        20. In 1989, the New Orleans Saints will win their Divisional
            Championship.


                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW
                        Mayor


#ENDCARD
#CARD
SPEECH TO THE ST. TAMMANY PARISH POLICE JURY

August 18, 1988


        Thank you for allowing me to come here and speak to you today.

        On July 21, 1988, this Police Jury authorized your President
by a vote of nine to five to enter into an intergovernmental agreement
with the City of Slidell and other interested cities in order to share
sales tax revenue generated by businesses newly developed and newly
annexed into one of our cities by petition of owner.

        At the time of your vote, I said nothing to you because I
thought it better to complete the entire intergovernmental agreement
process and then return here to talk to you.

        I am here today to formally thank you for what you did.

        I am here today to congratulate you for what you did. Without
a doubt, it was a statesman-like action that you took that absolutely
will benefit your own constituents as time goes by.
        I am here today to say to those of you that did not vote for
the agreement, that I appreciate the several conversations that we had
prior to the vote, to say to you that as bitter as our differences
were at the beginning of our disagreement over the sales tax, I hold
no ill will toward any of you.  I understand the position that each of
you are in and I hope that when I leave here today you know that I
regard every one of you cordially and as a colleague in local
government.  I hope you can sincerely hold similar feelings toward me
and toward the City of Slidell.

        I am here today to give a special public thanks to Steve
Stefancik and to Will Griffin for changing a previously negative vote
to a positive vote.

        I am also here to give an even more special and heartfelt
thanks to Barry Bagert and to C. J. Dunaway.  Since shortly after he
became convinced that an intergovernmental agreement was in everyone's
best interest, Barry Bagert worked tirelessly to have it accomplished.
 All of us in this Parish owe him a special debt of gratitude.  Very
few people know it, but C. J. Dunaway, previously one of our strongest
opponents, played a key role in resolving this issue.  C. J. and I had
a private, and yes, secret, meeting during the Christmas Holidays.
During a three or four hour conversation, we shared information and
views that were perhaps new to both of us and were certainly newly
perceived by both of us.  In spite of what it may have looked like at
some points during our fight, C. J. and I have always liked each
other.  After that Christmas meeting, we walked away with even greater
respect for each other.  C. J.'s subsequent actions provided an
important key to resolving our dispute.  All of us in this Parish owe
him a special debt of gratitude.

        I am here today to tell you that you and I and all of us must
work to see to it that such a dispute never happens again. We both owe
each other more respect, more mutual concern for the other person's or
group's point of view and interest, more communication and more mutual
accommodation before the fact, not after it.

        On my part, I promise to help you whenever I honestly can help
you.  (Some of you may not know this, but even during the worst part
of our fight, I continued to help the Police Jury and the people of
the Parish by permitting your pot hole machine to continue filling up
with emulsion at our city barn rather than having to make two trips
per day to Lumberton, Mississippi.  That bit of cooperation, in the
middle of a war, saves the Parish approximately $1,200 per month.  I
am glad that I did it.)  In the future, I hope to be able to help you
even more.  At the very least, I hope that if I ever refuse a request
for help, it will be because we honestly cannot comply with the
request rather than because of any ill feelings toward anybody.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(SPEECH TO THE ST. TAMMANY PARISH POLICE JURY)
        I look forward to the day when you collect your share of the
tax generated at the new Manufacturers Retail Outlet and at other
developments that would not have occurred without our
intergovernmental agreement.  I look forward to the day when the first
real improvements, paid for by that money, are put in place in the
Parish.  I especially look forward to the day when that happens in
those Police Jury districts where the jurors felt compelled to vote
against the agreement.

        I look forward to the day when some constituents in each of
your districts obtain a job at the new Outlet Mall in Slidell.

        When that begins to happen, I think that even those who still
harbor ill feelings about our agreement will begin to feel
differently.  It is not an enemy who comes and puts bread on your
table.  It would indeed be strange after that for anyone to go on
hating anyone over our recent dispute.

        I want to close by telling you that if, in the midst of
battle, I offended any of you, I am sorry that happened.  I did only
what my sincere conscience told me I was obliged to do. I did it
thoroughly, persistently, and forcefully.  But I have never needlessly
carried ill feelings past the time that an injury can be healed.  And
I am not going to start now.  If any of you ever need me, please
approach me as a friend.

        With hope for the future, as one Parish healed and moving
forward, I thank you for listening to me today.


                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW
                        Mayor


#ENDCARD
#CARD
SPEECH ANNOUNCING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FROM THE LOUISIANA MUNICIPAL
ASSOCIATION
FOR THE YEAR 1987

August 16, 1988


        Today is one day short of being exactly one year since I stood
before all of you to make an announcement very similar to the one I am
about to make.

        As you all know, this is our Centennial year.  On last
Saturday night, August 13th, Councilman Van Sandt, Councilman
Callahan, Councilman Barthelemy, Councilwoman Williams and I all
officially accepted what may well be the best Centennial birthday
present that Slidell will receive at any time during this year.

        As unbelievable as it seems, it is now my privilege to
announce to you that for the second year in succession, the City of
Slidell has been honored by the Louisiana Municipal Association
because of our superior performance and accomplishments in the entire
spectrum of municipal functions.

        The City of Slidell has been named:

               The First Place Winner
                       in the
          Louisiana Municipal Association's
           Achievement Awards Competition
                 for the year 1987
       for Outstanding Municipal Improvements

        To have obtained any sort of significant outside recognition
of this kind for two years in succession would have been remarkable.
But to have done so and to have moved from the Second Place Winner
(Honorable Mention) to the First Place Winner within one year's time
is more that we could have dreamed.  And, the significance of the
achievement is seen in even sharper focus when it is realized that the
City of Slidell is near the bottom of its category in population.  (We
are in the same category as New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Alexandria,
Shreveport, Monroe, Lafayette, and Lake Charles.)

        This award, decided by a panel of distinguished and completely
objective judges, was officially accepted by the Mayor and the City
Council with feelings of deep pride and satisfaction.

        But this award belongs to the people of Slidell.  This award
also belongs to each one of you.

        The people of Slidell were good enough to elect all of us to
public office.  The people of Slidell were good enough to provide us
with additional tax revenue to pay for additional services and capital
improvements.

        You, the employees of this city, have joined us in building a
city.  You have learned the difference between doing a day's work and
getting the job done.  You have felt the difference between pay
without pride and pride as part of your pay.  You have made the
difference between business as usual and unusual business, between
poor performance and prize winning performance.  We could not have
done this without you.

        As I have noted above, the people of Slidell provided us with
the money to finally build and implement many structures and many
services which we have needed for a very long time. But it would be a
serious mistake to think that this honored award results only from the
availability of public money.  By now it is common place to point out
that "you don't solve problems merely by throwing money at them."

        Indeed, you do not.  Money is a necessary, but not sufficient,
condition for the achievement of any goal.  Money alone did not win
this award.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(SPEECH ANNOUNCING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FROM THE LMA)
        Money and management won this award.
        Money and thoughtfulness won this award.
        Money and planning won this award.
        Money and cooperation won this award.
        Money and compromise won this award.
        Money and enthusiasm won this award.
        Money and sweat won this award.
        Money and love won this award.

        The Mayor and the Council won this award.  The Chief of Staff
and the Chief of Police won this award.  The clerks and administrators
won this award.  The secretaries and typists won this award.  The men
on the streets, in the sewers, in the ditches, in the fields won this
award.  All of us and all of you won this award.  The people we serve
won this award.

        During the past three weeks we have witnessed an unparalleled
series of history-making successes here in Slidell.

        On July 27, 1988, we signed the unprecedented historic
intergovernmental agreement with St. Tammany Parish.

        On August 10, 1988, we hosted the signing of the agreement to
purchase the land for the Manufacturers' Retail Outlet Development.

        On August 13, 1988, we were given the LMA Award which we are
announcing today.

        You and I know that there are a few people who will never be
happy no matter how much good we do.  There are some people who will
never be happy unless they have something negative to say or to write.
 They will never be happy unless they can talk about failures, and
broken promises, and out-and-out dishonesty.

        We know those negative things exist.  But I think that those
who want to see and note only those negative things are in a distinct
minority and hold a distorted view of reality.

        There is a lot that is right about our community.  There is a
lot of good going on here.  The events of the past three weeks have
proved that in an exceptionally powerful way.

        I think our people know that.

        For your part in all of this progress and in all of this
achievement, I congratulate you and I thank you sincerely.

        Happy Centennial.


                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW
                        Mayor


#ENDCARD
#CARD
SPEECH TO THE CITY COUNCIL REGARDING THE REDEVELOPMENT OF
FRONT STREET AND OLD TOWN


January 11, 1988


        Thank you for calling this meeting and for agreeing to hear
this formal public presentation regarding the possible redevelopment
of Front Street and Old Town.

        By now all of you know that I have been working on this
project quietly and behind the scenes since March of 1987.

        What you may still not know is that I have been keenly
interested in the possible renovation and redevelopment of Front
Street and Old Town since the days that I sat where you sit now, since
my own days as a city councilman. Unfortunately, just as I was
beginning to do whatever a councilman can do about this sort of
problem, I had to take a brief leave from city government.  Upon my
return in 1985, I found that several matters that are even more
important than this needed my attention and your attention.  And,
indeed, we are still involved in trying to solve those more important
problems.

        But nevertheless, I think that tonight's meeting may be one of
the most important Council meetings that will occur during your tenure
or mine, or perhaps even in the history of the city.

        I believe that because we are finally at a point where we can
deal with the question in an organized and realistic manner.

        The whole question of renovating and revitalizing Old Town has
been discussed in the past.  Indeed, it has been discussed over and
over again.  Near the end of the Mayor/Council term closing in 1982, a
study regarding the revitalization of Old Town was done.  And, all of
it has come to nothing.

        A few years ago, I became convinced that we could discuss this
forever and study it forever but that unless we took a radically
different approach, nothing would ever happen.

        Talk is prerequisite to action, but it is not action.  Study
is prerequisite to development, but it is not development.  No amount
of words describing the problem will renovate a single block in Old
Town.  No number of studies telling us that traffic should flow north
not south, or east rather than west, will ever open the doors of a
single defunct business in Old Town or on Front Street.

        I have become convinced that we need a program containing two
critical elements which we have never even considered before.  Those
elements are:

        1.  The help of an outside professional who has a proven track
            record in helping cities to renovate and revitalize areas
            such as Front Street and Old Town, and
        2.  A programmatic structural approach which has as its key
            concept a public/private co-venture toward the
            redevelopment of Front Street and Old Town.

        It may be that, as a matter of conscious policy, we either
cannot or do not want to pursue any plan to redevelop Front Street and
Old Town.  And, if the Council should make that decision, I will
respect it.  But I am convinced that if we are going to do this at
all, we must do it in a way that reflects the two key elements
outlined above.

        Before giving you a bit more detail regarding what you will
hear from Mr. Skayhan, let me assure you that as much as this means to
me, I do not intend to let it rob me of my own perspective.  As
important as this is to all of us, it cannot take precedence over some
of our more basic infrastructure needs. That is one of the reasons why
I have not pushed this project along at a faster pace and why I have
not delivered this speech before tonight.  I wanted some of our most
basic infrastructure needs to be at some point in their development
before opening this subject.  A sense of perspective is also the
reason why I will not be asking you to consider funding the bulk of
this project until the beginning of our next fiscal year.  I will ask
you to consider letting us use some money tonight, but it is already
budgeted and it is a relatively small amount.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(SPEECH TO THE CITY COUNCIL REGARDING THE REDEVELOPMENT)
        Now, I want to outline briefly the overall financial structure
of the approach which Mr. Skayhan will discuss with you in greater
detail in a few minutes.

        In broad stroke terms, we are talking about a triple-tiered
financial structure.

        First, and as a separate entity, we are concerned with the
possible renovation and revitalization of the White Kitchen Shopping
Center.  The actual physical project would most probably be funded by
private developers.  The city's role in this, if you want us to have
one, will be to provide $15,000 to $18,000 to fund a highest and best
use and general feasibility study.  In return, we could expect not
only a possible new tax base, but also some form of participation in
the profit itself. I will tell you more about this in a moment.

        Second, we must decide whether to hire Mr. Walter Skayhan and
his associates as a redevelopment team for all of Front Street and Old
Town.  Their work would involve an overall evaluation of the
possibilities for redevelopment throughout the entire target area.
The cost for their services would be around $100,000.  Obviously, that
would have to be funded as a capital project in next year's budget.  A
decision on this is not necessary tonight.

        Third, we are finally concerned with the actual, physical
redevelopment of Front Street and Old Town, and at this implementation
level, additional city funds may or may not be requested.  If there is
a request for more public money at that stage, the request itself will
almost certainly contain an opportunity.  But, city money or no city
money, it is a certainty that this implementation stage will require,
in one form or another, the active participation of the current
business owners in Old Town, and it will involve the use of money from
the private sector.  And it will clearly be the responsibility of Mr.
Skayhan and his associates to recruit for us the potential investors
from the private sector.

        I now want to make two specific announcements regarding what I
have called the first tier of this entire program.

        First, Mr. Skayhan, at my request, met for a long time this
morning with Mr. Eddie Carr and Miss Jacqueline Carr. The result of
their discussion regarding the potential redevelopment of the historic
White Kitchen Shopping Center is that the owners have agreed to take
the site off of the open market in an attempt to cooperate with the
city in a revitalization effort.

        Additionally, they have agreed, in principle, to participate
in a redevelopment program by investing their ownership interest as
equity in any redevelopment effort.

        My second announcement is that Councilman Joe Martinez has
agreed to help fund the White Kitchen feasibility study by asking the
administration to use part of the money designated for capital
projects to be initiated by him for partial funding of the study.
More specifically, Joe has agreed that we should use $9,000 of the
money in question toward the White Kitchen component of this program.
I have also agreed to include in the work a highest and best use and a
general feasibility study for a piece of land in which the Councilman
has expressed some interest in using for a youth activity center.

        With this cooperation from Councilman Martinez, for which I am
deeply grateful, we have at least one-half of the money required for
the White Kitchen study and redevelopment package.  I am now asking
each of you to agree to let us use part of your own unexpended money
that is in the pool labeled for capital projects to be initiated at
councilmanic request to fund the balance of this study.  The money is
already budgeted. Some of that budgeted money is unencumbered.  The
sum that we need, $9,000, is small.  All we need now is your
cooperation and the first tier of this entire program can be underway
tonight.

        And now, before introducing Mr. Skayhan, I want to comment
briefly on the ultimate reason for trying this at all.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(SPEECH TO THE CITY COUNCIL REGARDING THE REDEVELOPMENT)
        There are few people in Old Town.  There are few voters in Old
Town.  There is not much business in Old Town.

        But there is the soul of Slidell in Old Town.

        Those historic areas in which cities begin forever hold their
own special significance for the entire city.  The only option is
whether that significance will be shrouded in decay or celebrated in a
renaissance of living memory, active commerce, and joyful people
walking and buying and playing in the very place where their ancestors
did the same things.

        Unlike Alvin and Lionel, I did not grow up here.  But in my
near-twelve years here, I have come to love this city.  And I know how
I would feel if the French Quarter in New Orleans, where my mother was
born, was ever allowed to decay.  It is a sad and empty feeling.  I
have felt that for Old Town and for Front Street.

        Now, we have a chance to make it all come alive again. At what
better time could we do it than during our Centennial year?

        I urge you to join me in this new opportunity for a Slidell
Renaissance.

                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW
                        Mayor


#ENDCARD
#CARD
SPEECH TO THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS
Council #2732

October 23, 1987


        Even when I am given the most generous sort of speaking
invitation, such as yours indicating that there is no restriction at
all on subject matter, it is seldom that a topic suggests itself that
allows me a virtuoso orchestration of ideas from three of my
intellectual loves, i.e., history, psychology, and government.

        Tonight, I am afforded that rare opportunity.  Tonight, I want
to talk to you about private input into public affairs, about personal
contributions to community service.

        But on the way to developing that topic, or perhaps more
accurately, intimately intertwined with that topic, is the concept of
"frontier" and the crossing of frontiers.  The wagon train follows a
wide path around the bend, but if you will stay aboard, we will all
arrive at a familiar place on common ground.

        It seems to me that to talk about frontiers and to talk about
"personal contributions to community service" is exceptionally
appropriate on this occasion and for this audience.

        This is our celebration of Columbus Day.  It is axiomatic that
Christopher Columbus has, for nearly five hundred (500) years now,
served as the archetypical example of everyone who has ever been
willing to confront and to cross any frontier.

        In you, the Knights of Columbus, my Brother Knights, I have an
audience that understands, more than most people, what it means to
make a "personal contribution to community service."

        And yet, for all of us, wherever we are in our lives, there is
always a horizon.  There is always a point beyond which we cannot see.
 There is always a frontier needing to be crossed. And this is true
also for a nation and for a community.

        Therefore, I want to begin with an historical point of
departure, move on to a personal application of the concept of
frontier, and then address that to your own interface with our
community.

        As the Nineteenth Century drew to a close, the United States
Bureau of the Census announced that the American Frontier was also
closed.  The Bureau considered that, California having been explored
and occupied, there was now nothing more that was open enough and
challenging enough to be called a frontier.  That was, perhaps, the
prototype of all future bureaucratic performance.

        In connection with this "closing of the frontier," Frederick
Jackson Turner, a preeminent American historian, announced his own
theory of the dynamics of American History.  Essentially, Turner said
that the existence of the frontier served both as a magnet and a
mallet in American History.  The frontier was a constant attraction -
drawing wave after wave of pioneers.  The frontier was also a
formative force in the American psyche in the American culture.
Turner believed that this country not only remained free but
strengthened freedom because of the very existence of the frontier and
because of its liberating effect on the minds and hearts of those who
challenged it and crossed it.  His theory became known as the Turner
Thesis of American History.  It's core message is that America is in
constant need of a challenge in order to remain healthy and in order
to remain free.

        We can safely leave to the professional historians the
arguments over the extent to which the Turner Thesis is valid. At this
point, I want to suggest that it is not only at least partially valid,
but that its core concept is also valid in many other spheres.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(SPEECH TO THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS)
        I want to suggest to you that we are both suffused and
surrounded by frontiers, and it is only to the extent that we are
willing to challenge and cross those frontiers that we maintain the
capacity to grow and to contribute to other people, to our
communities, and to our country.

        There is not very much point in talking to you about personal
or corporate Council involvement in community life without first
talking about your involvement in your own life. It is obvious that
all of you here have been granted at least a fair share of the best
that is offered by the pool of human endowment.  It is not necessarily
obvious that you have used that share to its maximum potential.

        If you are content with "making a good living" without
exploring a "worthwhile life," then perhaps you are very bright and
very competent, but you may never have climbed past the bottom of the
ladder that the great psychologist, Abraham Maslow, calls "The
Hierarchy of Human Needs and Motives." Perhaps you are content to
satisfy your basic physiological and social needs without ever growing
to real intimacy with other people or to really healthy self-esteem
based on solid achievement, seasoned with personal generosity.

        If you have not done those things, if you have not enjoyed
those experiences, then there is your frontier, or at least your
primary frontier.  Look inward.  The ancient adage "know thyself"
pointed to the first frontier.  If you are unable, or unwilling, to
know the ego that sits at the center of your being, you will be
unable, or less able, to serve the others that surround you.
        And so, my first challenge to you is to pay attention to
yourself.

        But perhaps you have done that.  Perhaps you have done that
more successfully than I have.  Perhaps you have reached in your life
another plateau called the stage of generativity by another great
therapist by the name of Erik Erikson.

        "Generativity . . . is . . . the concern in establishing and
guiding the next generation."  "But the concept . . . is meant to
include such more popular synonyms as productivity and creativity . .
.."

        Generativity means growth.  Generativity means generosity.
Generativity means giving.  Generativity  means breaking the
boundaries of self-absorption, if not self-exploration, and turning
your attention to those who surround you.

        Generativity means confronting, and challenging, and crossing
another frontier - the frontier of "the other," the frontier of the
group, the frontier of the community.

        And if you are at that point in your personal life, the point
at which you have achieved enough self possession so that you can now
share it with others in some meaningful way, there are innumerable
needs waiting to be filled, endless receptacles waiting for your
generosity.

        Before going on, I had better clarify an important point. For
purposes of exposition, the life tasks indicated in this talk sound as
if they are all accomplished in a sequential, compartmentalized
fashion, so that until all personal work of internal growth and
development has been accomplished, the individual has nothing to offer
to the outside world.  That is obviously a distortion of reality but a
distortion deliberately used in order to make a valid point.

        Now, to return to our frontier crossing.  If you are ready to
move into your own community, into your own city, to an even greater
extent than you already do, what can you do to make a real impact?  If
the K. C. Council is ready to move corporately, what can it do?

        It is not simply the case that the opportunities for
involvement in our community and in our government are greater than
ever.  It is, even more basically, that the necessity for such
involvement is greater than ever.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(SPEECH TO THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS)
        In his book Megatrends, John Naisbitt says that "state and
local governments are the most important political entities in
America."  As a mayor of a small American city, I must admit that I
think that is an overstatement.  But it is an overstatement that
contains some truth.

        When President Reagan first took over our Ship of State, he
announced a new set of policies all grouped under the title "The New
Federalism."  The New Federalism did not mean simply a cutting back in
federal funding for national programs. The President was honest enough
to tell us that, as he and the Congress began to re-adjust the federal
budget, some very worthwhile programs would be lost or nearly lost.
But he suggested a remedy.  He suggested that we make our own
decisions about what programs and activities were worth saving and
that we set about saving them, but at a local level, with local funds,
and local control in the hands of the local people.

        It was a restatement of an old principle called the principle
of subsidiarity.  It means simply that nothing should be done at a
higher level of organization if it can be done at a lower level of
organization.  But, implicitly, it means that which should be done,
should be done.  In other words, conservatism is no excuse for
carelessness, and accountability does not justify inaction.

        But just as surely as community needs must be met through
increased action at the state and local levels of government, it is
equally clear that those two levels of government cannot carry the
additional burden without the broadening base of support which can be
given to us by individual citizens and corporate groups.

        It is a fact that in the state of Louisiana, the government at
Baton Rouge has more control over municipal governments throughout the
state than the federal government has over the state government.
Because of this, any discussion of what you and our Council can do for
out city must begin with at least a few broad references to the most
basic goals which you should try to help us reach at the state level.

        For the past year, you have heard all of the gubernatorial
candidates talking about the problems of this state and their proposed
solutions to those problems. Tomorrow, two of them will become the
final contestants for the Governor's office and for the opportunity to
help lead Louisiana out of the quagmire of the last several years.
Pray to God that we make the right choice.  It may well be our last
chance.

        At this time, I want to share with you my own view of the most
basic problems which must be addressed by our next governor and by all
of us in conjunction with him.

        There are, in my own judgement, four items which must be
addressed and addressed properly in Louisiana or we will never
exchange our chronic chaos for coherent policy, we will never
surrender mediocrity for excellence.

        The four items to which I am referring are these:

1.  The entire educational system must be re-worked in the state of
Louisiana.  And, yes, that means we have to put more money into our
educational system.  But it also means that we must re-introduce the
concept and practice of discipline in our public school systems.  And,
I mean that for both teachers and students.  If teachers are unable,
or unwilling, to teach, then they should be put out on the street and
urged to go where they can do less damage.  Students who are unable,
or unwilling, to learn should share the same street with their former
teachers.  And then those who remain should be treated for what they
are - the forgers of the future, the carriers of our culture.

2.  Our tax structure must be dismantled and rebuilt so that it is
possible and wise that we exchange regressive taxes for progressive
taxes with reasonable caps, and so that the burden is spread across a
wider base and involvement in the system is assured through investment
in the system.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(SPEECH TO THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS)
3.  An entirely new mentality must be formed so that business and
industry, properly regulated, are seen as the real sources of
benefits, not just for the owners but ultimately for all of us.  And,
after that, we must try to expand and diversify the kind of business
and industry that we attract to and nurture in this state.

4.  We must re-invest not only in our education, but also in our image
of ourselves.  It is not the case that everything is bad in Louisiana.
 We are rich in natural resources and in cultural heritage.  It is
time that we re-claim our pride in all of that, even while trying to
impose some coherence on all of it, and even while reaching for the
excellence that has so far eluded us.

        Every one of you can help to influence change in every one of
the areas that I just mentioned.  Insist on the best in your public
officials and in candidates for public office. Demand that we take
public business as seriously as you take your private business.

        While working to achieve those preeminent goals at the state
level, you can begin now to contribute to your local community in
numerous ways, both through the public sector and the private sector.

        First, you can take the time and go to the trouble of simply
learning about the structure and the problems of local government.
And I do not mean this simply as a platitude.  I would welcome, in
Slidell, teams of citizen volunteers who would be willing to attend a
series of meetings designed specifically to teach the practicalities
of local government.  The attendees would then be equipped not only to
inform their fellow citizens during the course of day-to-day contact,
but also to serve as an independent, but knowledgeable, corps of
private citizens who could take positions on public policy for the
press and for large groups who may be affected directly by that
policy.  Do not assume that there would be a lack of practical need
for such a corps of exceptionally well-informed people.  I can assure
you that citizens are more often hurt by their own ignorance than by
government malice.
        Second, you can, if you are so inclined, volunteer to help
keep the public peace in your own community.  I would welcome, in
Slidell, any new infusion of new personnel into an already superb
Reserve Police Officer Division.  If you want to do something
practical to help fight urban crime, join the urban crimestoppers -
your local Reserve Police Force.

        Third, you can take the very talents that you use to make a
living in your own profession and volunteer them directly to the
appropriate department in your city government. Are you good at
computations, numerical analysis, and numerical expression?  Volunteer
to help out one day a month, or on a specific project, for the
Department of Finance.  If you make it clear that you are serious,
they will take you seriously, and you will be asked to do a meaningful
job.

        Fourth, you can expand beyond what you usually do for a living
and use your general intelligence and creativity to help your city
government work on a specific project.  I would warmly welcome right
now a team of people who would be willing and able to structure an
entire beautification program for our city, including initial
fund-raising and ending with the placement of flower beds, flower
pots, and terraces all over the city.  If we have to develop that
project ourselves, in the midst of all of our other priorities, it
will be at least a year and a half before the work is done.  A
volunteer group could start work right now.

        Fifth, you can increase your service to our community at any
time by providing help directly to other human beings who need your
help.  The members of our Auxiliary can volunteer to be a Big Sister
to a girl from a single parent home.  Our Brother Knights can recruit
a Big Brother for a boy who has no father, or offer to become one
yourself.  Organize a van pool to take senior citizens on an outing
even if it is only once every other week.  Form a "teacher corps" and
go into the schools to try to bridge the gap between learning
"irrelevant" material and living in a very real world.  Contact our
Chamber of Commerce and ask what struggling business person might
welcome some outside expertise.  Go to your pastor and ask him where
are his poor and what do they need, where are his lonely and whom do
they want to see, where are his sick and how can they be strengthened,
where are his grieving and how can they be comforted?


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(SPEECH TO THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS)
        The opportunities for community involvement, whether acting
through your local government or through an agency in the private
sector, are as diverse as the number of neighborhoods throughout this
city and as numberless as the needs generated by human beings wherever
they may be.

        If you have paid enough attention to yourself, if you have
achieved some maturity and are ready for Generativity, if you are
prepared to share what you and others have formed in you, you will not
have to ask "Where can I begin," but rather "How can I ever finish?"

        And, when you are at that point in practice rather than in
concept, you will have come to understand yet another meaning of a
familiar doctrine of yet another great psychologist.

        Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses
his life for my sake will find it.

                                        Matthew 16:25


        Thank you.


                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW
                        Mayor


#ENDCARD
#CARD
ALLIANCE FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT AND
UNITED CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE

Public Forum on the Parish's Two Cent ($.02) Sales Tax

August 17, 1987


        I thank the sponsors of this event for making this opportunity
available to all of us.

        And I thank all of you for coming.

        By now, millions of words have been spoken and written over
the current dispute between the St. Tammany Parish Police Jury on one
hand and the Cities of Slidell, Pearl River, Abita Springs, and the
Louisiana Municipal Association and eleven (11) private plaintiffs on
the other hand, regarding the specific bonding provisions for the
Parish's two cent ($.02) sales tax adopted in November 1986.

        This entire matter is, without a doubt, the most sensitive and
dangerous local public issue that most of us can ever remember.

        I do not intend to review in this statement all of the
political and legal sub-issues that have flowed from, or been
associated with, this over-all public struggle.

        I simply intend to remind you of a few of the most important
facts involved in all of this.

        The City of Slidell and our fellow plaintiffs have never been
opposed to the Parish's two cent ($.02) sales tax.

        We have never been opposed, and are not now opposed, to the
Parish bonding most of that tax.

        We are opposed only to the specific bonding plans that now
exist, and to the consequences of those plans.  More specifically, the
current bonding plans would require the Parish's two cent ($.02) sales
tax to remain in place even on land that is later annexed into a city.

        We have said that situation will discourage some, not all, new
businesses from coming into the Parish at all.  We have said this
because new businesses that want to come into a city will be faced
with the dilemma of choosing between annexation in order to obtain
city services but the levying of a double two cent ($.02) sales tax in
order to get those services, OR not seeking annexation in order to
avoid the double taxation but giving up city services in order to do
that.  If faced with that dilemma, many businesses will simply choose
to do business elsewhere.
        And we now have proof of that.  The owners of Manufacturers
Retail Outlet, which can bring this Parish nearly one thousand (1,000)
new jobs, have told us that they will locate in St. Tammany Parish if,
and only if, they can annex into the City of Slidell.  And in order to
do that, they will not levy a double two cent ($.02) sales tax.

        Now, all of this can be solved by a simple intergovernmental
agreement that provides for a sharing of a single two cent ($.02)
sales tax between the cities involved and St. Tammany Parish.

        The City of Slidell has agreed to three (3) such compromises.
The Police Jury has rejected all three (3).

        No compromise ever offered or sought has ever involved sharing
any of the sales tax generated by businesses which currently exist.
The City of Slidell has always agreed that one hundred percent (100%)
of that tax should go to the Parish under any circumstances.

        No compromise ever offered or sought has involved sharing any
of the sales tax generated from new businesses that choose to remain
in the Parish.  The City of Slidell has always agreed that one hundred
percent (100%) of that tax should go to the Parish under any
circumstances.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(ALLIANCE FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT)
        We seek a compromise only regarding the sales tax generated by
new businesses that choose to come into any one of the cities in this
Parish, and who tell us that if they cannot be annexed and then levy a
single two cent ($.02) sales tax, they will not come into the Parish
at all.

        That is all we are talking about.

        And, what would happen, if tomorrow, the Police Jury would
agree to such an arrangement?

        Here is what would happen:  1)  the Parish would continue to
collect its tax.  2)  the Parish could bond its tax immediately.  3)
your roads could be repaired at a much faster rate than they are being
repaired now.  4)  new businesses considering coming into this Parish
could do so with the assurance that they could annex into any one of
our cities and expect to levy only one two cent ($.02) sales tax for
local government.

        You could have it all.  Tomorrow.

        You do not have to choose between a bond issue to fix your
roads or the potential for economic development.  You can have both.
And, it can be done tomorrow.

        The Police Jury knows this.  But for reasons of their own, a
majority of the Police Jury has stubbornly refused to enter into the
simple agreement that would immediately end this fight, save your
money and ours, begin a massive road repair in the Parish, and open
our doors to many businesses which can bring us some economic relief
and jobs for the 9.8% of our citizens in St. Tammany who are currently
unemployed.

        But so far, they will not do it.

        We have agreed to do it.  Three times.

        All of the lawyers involved in this, including theirs, have
told them that it is legal to do this.

        Their bond attorney has never told them that the agreement
would prevent the sale of the bonds.

        There is no one involved in this matter, except a slim
majority of the Police Jurors themselves, who thinks that this entire
sad and dangerous affair cannot be settled in a simple
intergovernmental agreement.

        We have fought so hard for this not merely over some
intangible principle.  We have fought so hard over this because of
tangible flesh and blood.

        We have fought for you as well as for our own constituents.

        We have fought for every person in this Parish who is
unemployed or under employed.

        We have fought for every businessman and every businesswoman
who is struggling to keep their shops open because our economy is so
depressed.

        I know what that means.  I come from a poor family in New
Orleans.  I come from a family that struggled week by week to make
ends meet.  I am the son of a father who worked like an animal merely
to pay rent and buy food.  I saw him when he was unemployed and
depressed to tears because he did not know where our next meal would
come from.  I saw both of my parents go completely bankrupt because
they were dying of cancer and had exhausted what very little they had.
 I saw family and friends carry food to my house while we were waiting
for death to come because the welfare payments could no longer buy a
full week of groceries.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(ALLIANCE FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT)
        And I swore that if I were ever in a position to help other
people to avoid or to solve those kinds of problems, I would do it.

        And now, I am in that position.  And now, I can bring our
people, mine and yours, hundreds of jobs that will bring relief to
hundreds of families.

        But there is, if you will excuse the expression, a road block
in the way.  And the Police Jury refuses to remove it.

        They can remove the road block.  Now.  And then you can have
your roads and the jobs will come after the road block is removed.
        I know you voted this tax for your roads.  And I want you to
have them.

        But I also know that a large majority of you had no idea that
the structure of your road tax carried these consequences. You simply
did not know that.

        And now it is up to you to decide whether or not you want to
live with these consequences.

        If you do, and if you go on supporting the Police Jury in its
current position, then we all face a prolonged judicial appeals
process out of which only losers will emerge.  We all face a
continued, avoidable expenditure of public money to pay private
lawyers.  We all face a future in which there will be excellent roads
to ride on in this Parish but a paucity of jobs to support the people
who would ride on them.

        But it can be different.

        You can have it both ways.  You can have your roads and the
jobs.

        But to do it, you are going to have to tell your Police Jurors
that enough is enough, and you have had enough.  You are going to have
to tell them that empty pride and hollow egos are not more important
than empty tables and hungry people. You are going to have to tell
them to enter into a rational and fair agreement with the cities of
this Parish so that we can all get on the road and get to work; so
that we can all begin the healing that might, after all, leave us one
Parish pursuing one common future and one common fortune.

        Ladies and gentlemen, I have done all that I can, in good
conscience, ever do in this terrible affair.  The rest is up to you.

        Thank you.


                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW
                        Mayor


#ENDCARD
#CARD
SPEECH ANNOUNCING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

From the Louisiana Municipal Association for the year 1986

August 17, 1987


        It is with considerable surprise and even greater satisfaction
that the Mayor and City Council announce the distinct honor of our
City having received the

           Honorable Mention Citation
                    in the
        Louisiana Municipal Association's
         Achievement Awards Competition
               for the year 1986
     for Outstanding Community Improvements.

This is the first time in Slidell's history that we have received such
an award.  On the eve of our Centennial Year, it is especially
gratifying to be able to close our first hundred (100) years with this
sort of state-wide recognition.

        Such an award of Honorable Mention, decided by a panel of
distinguished and completely objective judges, would be significant
under any circumstances.  However, the magnitude of the significance
of this award would be missed entirely if it were not prominently
noted that the LMA categorization of the state's cities by population
places Slidell in a category with Louisiana's largest cities.  We are
in the population category of 25,001 and above.  That means we are in
the same pool as New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Alexandria, Shreveport,
Monroe, Lafayette, and Lake Charles.  In fact, we are near the bottom
of the ladder in population within our category (approximately 30,000
people) and the city which won First Place within our category has a
population of over 300,000 people.

        This is no routine honor.  It is an achievement which
justifies tremendous satisfaction and pride.

        But the satisfaction and the pride belong not only to the
Mayor and the City Council, they belong to our department heads, our
division chiefs, our foremen, and to every man and woman who, on a
daily basis, provides service to the people of this city and tries to
do it in an exemplary manner.

        I want to note with special gratitude the fact that my Chief
of Staff Reinhard Dearing and his secretary Brenda Clark performed the
huge task of pulling together onto paper the record of achievements
which we submitted to LMA for consideration for this award.

        Finally, those people who are the ultimate recipients of this
award, the individual citizens of Slidell, deserve our praise and
gratitude.

        Wherever they live, north of Gause or south of Gause, east of
the tracks or west of the tracks, our private citizens made this
possible when they voted to increase our municipal sales tax from one
cent ($.01) to two cents ($.02) on September 27, 1986.  Those of us in
the government have indeed managed the money well.  But the people
themselves continue to pay it. Without that, both this award and the
achievements upon which it is based would have been impossible.

        We have in Slidell a still-new city flag.  The seal on that
flag bears, on its circumference, the words Effort and Excellence
joined by an arrow leading from the former to the latter.  As long as
I am Mayor, I promise to give equal attention to both, remembering
always that excellence is born only from the stress and sweat of
effort.

        The men and women who work in our Public Works and Public
Utilities Departments have shared among themselves and with me a
wonderful saying which is a paraphrase of something I learned many
years ago.  On our D-DAYS, at lunchtime, I will sometimes ask the
whole group:


                        What are you doing?

And they reply:

                        We're building a city!

And indeed they are.  And so are all of us.

        Thank God Almighty.  We're building a city.


                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW
                        Mayor


#ENDCARD
#CARD
ANNOUNCEMENT FOR RE-ELECTION

December 11, 1985


        Good evening.  And thank you for being here.  After returning
from Seattle via snow-covered Denver, it is indeed a warm experience
to see all of you here tonight.

        Before moving on to a special announcement that I have to make
tonight, I want to thank several people for various things.

        First, let me thank Jim Hulsey for donating the use of this
facility for this meeting and for offering to be more helpful to us
should we need more help.

        I also want to thank all of the donors who have provided food
and drink for this occasion.  You will all hear from me individually
at a later date.

        Now, I want to express my deep appreciation to the group of
people without whom this event could not have occurred.  They are
those kind and generous souls who have organized the meeting:  Vincent
Matranga, John Lepore, Jerry Reilly, Jean Bonnel, Nona Estep, Barbara
Wilkes, Herman Washka, Danny and Carol Mesman, and John and Ruth Smith
- thanks to all of you for once again doing a superb job at
organization and sales.

        All of you who bought tickets to this event are not only to be
thanked but also congratulated on your good taste in supporting the
sort of government we have tried to give you over the past seven
months.

        Now, before moving on, I want to thank two more people who had
a bit to do with this.  This event would never have occurred if
someone had not reminded me that another election is coming up next
spring and I have to run in it if, perhaps, I want to run in it
beginning in January.  The whole thing had slipped my mind.  The same
person who reminded me of that, initiated all the organizing steps to
pull this meeting together. Then in the middle of all that, he
announced his intention to retire from public life himself.  I have
not told this to his current boss, but I was behind that whole
announcement. When this man retires, I intend to put him in charge of
all of us, myself included, in the Executive Branch of government. The
man I am talking about is someone who has served every one of us in
this room more than most of us have realized.  He knows what the words
"public servant" really mean.  He says he is not a politician and yet
he has taught many of us the best of politics.  He is a cop with
compassion.  I do not think he is going to retire at all because Pat
Canulette and I are appointing a committee to prevent it.  I am
talking about a man that I have come to know, to admire, and to love.
Would you please join me in a round of applause to say "thank you" to
Colonel Bill Fandal.

        Finally, anyone who has to put up with Bill Fandal deserves
some public thanks also.  Lets hear it again for Carol Fandal.

        By profession, I am a psychotherapist.  We know that prolonged
anxiety is not good for individuals or for communities.  For several
weeks now, there seems to have been a growing anxiety in Slidell over
whether or not I intend to run for re-election as your mayor next
year.  Although as a politician, I have been reluctant to make such a
decision so early, my training as a psychotherapist has convinced me
that I must remove all doubt about the issue in order to resolve the
anxiety being experienced by so many people.

        Therefore, after long and careful deliberation, I am
announcing tonight that I plan to seek re-election as Mayor of Slidell
on April 5, 1986.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(ANNOUNCEMENT FOR RE-ELECTION)
        Any help that you can give me will be appreciated. Those who
may be considering a challenge, need to understand that if I work hard
during normal times, I work harder during campaigns.  Sleep has no
meaning.  And the designations A.M. and P.M. are irrelevant to the
campaign schedule.  My campaign workers are aware of that and they all
take our special vaccine before the campaign begins.

        I will not review with you tonight the substantial
accomplishments of the past seven months.  I think they have been
well-covered in the local press.

        I do want to share with you a bit of perspective about my own
style of leadership.  You ought to know how I make decisions that
affect the entire city.

        Information and thoughtfulness are pre-requisite to
everything.  So is the humility to recognize that no one knows
everything and that I need other people to help me to run your
government.

        I will listen to anyone.  I will help anyone whenever I can.
But I will not agree to break the law or allow the law to be broken
for anyone.  That is more than a pious, academic statement.  It is
extremely difficult to say "no" to a friend, but I have sometimes had
to do that since Inauguration Day, 1985. In most cases, the people
understand.  In all cases, I felt that I had done what my oath of
office required me to do.

        As long as I am Mayor, you can expect an open ear, an open
mind, and an open heart in your mayor's office.  But you can also
expect that, like President Truman, I know "the buck stops here," and
I will make the final decisions that are really the mayor's to make.

        Before closing, I want to thank the members of the City
Council for your openness and cooperation during the past seven
months.  Without that attitude, we could not have made the progress we
have made.

        I also want to thank all of our city employees who have indeed
progressed in their attitude toward their work, from simply doing a
job, to helping us to build a city.

        For the members of my Cabinet and especially to Reinhard
Dearing, Joanne Schaechterle, Lois Vivien, and Brenda Clark, I do not
have adequate words to thank you for holding it all together with me.

        To my wife and children, I can only say that you are saints
for having endured what you have endured since I took the oath of
office.  I love you for it, and I have to warn you -tie down the
hatches; this ship is setting sail again.

        Finally, I want to close with something that I heard from that
fine journalist at CBS, Charles Kerault.  He told us at the National
League of Cities meeting that one of his favorite quotations from the
ancient Greeks is this:

        When will justice come to Athens? Justice will come to Athens
when those who are not injured are as indignant as those who are
injured.

        We in Slidell are fortunate not to be faced with any
wide-spread, serious, community injustice.  But the words of that
quotation could be altered slightly and they would apply to us. The
quotation for Slidell would read:

        When will excellence come to Slidell?  Excellence will come to
Slidell when those who are not involved in our government are as
concerned for the public good as those of us who are involved in the
government.

        Ladies and gentlemen, we are still reaching for excellence in
Slidell.  Those of us who are running your government cannot reach the
goal without your practical help. When the call comes to you, please
stand up and say "yes."


        Thank you for being here and Merry Christmas to all of you.


                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW
                        Mayor


#ENDCARD
#CARD
FREE PRESS

A Speech on Free Press for National Newspaper Week

September 13, 1985


        "A free press can of course be good or bad, but, most
certainly without freedom it will never be anything but bad . . ."
                                Albert Camus


        When the framers of the Constitution wrote that "Congress
shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom . . . of the press," the
primary object of their concern was not the press, but the people.
Their primary goal was not the publishers' license, but the peoples'
freedom.

        Today, even more than in the eighteenth century, our society,
as a whole, is dependent upon the press and (now) the other media to
become informed about the great issues of our time that affect
individual lives and the entire society.

        The press is the great disseminator of knowledge.  And,
freedom is dependent upon knowledge.  If we do not know, we cannot
choose.  What we do not understand, we cannot control.

        It is no wonder that governments which sought or seek absolute
control over their own people and absolute power for themselves, begin
the process by closing down the channels of knowledge and
understanding.  They close or control the press. They close or control
the sister-media of the press.

        A press, free to observe and explore, free to report and
advise, is absolutely pre-requisite to a free society.  Without it,
government officials, business magnates, and all of the other
established powers are free to do anything they wish without the
people ever knowing.  In that atmosphere freedom is a word, not an
experience.

        The press itself is not perfect.  Unfairness exists.
Half-truths are told.  And abuses occur.  In the long run, free people
can require a free press to be responsible.  But an unfree press can
guarantee neither responsibility nor freedom.

        I offer my congratulations to our local press and my best
wishes for you during National Newspaper Week and throughout the rest
of the year.


                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW
                        Mayor


#ENDCARD
#CARD
OLYMPIC TORCH RUN CEREMONIES

Olympic Torch Run Ceremonies Speech

July 15, 1985


        Mayor Cusimano, fellow public officials, ladies and gentlemen:

        This torch sent to us from Pikes' Peak in Colorado Springs,
Colorado, represents ultimately, the gift of the Olympics sent to us
from Olympia, Greece beginning in the year 776 B.C., and having its
next official expression in Seoul, Korea in 1988 A.D.

        The torch is a creation and possession of the National Sports
Festival which is an event of the United States Olympic Committee.
The National Sports Festival is designed as a national celebration of
amateur sports, featuring competition among proven and potential
Olympic performers in thirty-five (35) sports from the programs of the
Summer and Winter Olympic Games and the Pan American Games.  It is
held in each of the three years other than the Olympic year, and
rotated to cities across the nation.

        This year the National Sports Festival is being held in Baton
Rouge, Louisiana and we are privileged to have the symbol of that
festival with us briefly here in St. Tammany Parish, in Slidell,
Louisiana.

        You may be interested to know that the Greeks held their own
Olympics during the month of August and that they had games similar to
our National Sports Festival in each of the years between the
Olympiads.  One set of competition, called the Pythian games was
devoted entirely to competition among musicians; other games were
called the Nemean games and the Isthmian games.  Somewhat later in
Greek History, the games were held at a place called Elis in the
Peloponessus.

        In ancient Greece, the games of the intervening years, and
more especially the Olympics themselves, served as "a temporary
unifying force" among the otherwise fiercely independent Greek city -
states.

        Turning our attention back to home, let us remember that what
this torch symbolizes is the unquenchable thirst in the human spirit
to express itself in the achievement of excellence.  The most obvious
field of endeavor symbolized by this torch is human effort in pursuit
of athletic excellence. And, indeed, who can forget the thrill of
hearing the United States' national anthem played over and over again
as our young men and women demonstrated that athletic excellence had
returned to America "from sea to shining sea?"

        But the torch symbolizes more.  It is a sign of the continuity
which runs throughout all of the history of the Western World.  It
reminds us that we live a diminished life if we remain unaware of the
rich heritage which has been left to us by people who walked the earth
nearly three thousand (3,000) years ago.

        It is a sign of America on fire with a passion for life, a
desire to render the phrase "e pluribus unum" a reality here and now
as one celebration after another reminds us that we are one people.

        It is a sign that competition remains the American catalyst
for excellence, and that reward is a symbol of what our nation
treasures more than it is of what we have in our treasury.

        It is a sign that the work and values of previous generations
are handed on to us in reality, just as this torch was handed on to me
tonight, by a venerable man who served us so well as one of my own
predecessors, that it would have been unthinkable to receive the torch
from anyone else in the community.


        To the young people who are here, I remind you that this
torch, in the words of John Kennedy, "has been passed to a new
generation of Americans."  It has been passed to you.  We may still
handle it, but you have to run with it.  Do it with gusto. A good life
demands it and America deserves it.
        Good luck to all of you.  And thank you for being here.


                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW
                        Mayor


#ENDCARD
#CARD
UNKNOWN

April 6 & 8, 1985


        Good evening.  And thank you for having me here.  I come to
you today to ask you to vote for me for Mayor of Slidell.

        Before talking about my view of the Mayor's office and my
goals for this city, I think it is only reasonable to briefly review
my public record both as a city councilman and as Chairman of the
Board of Slidell Memorial Hospital.  If what follows immediately
sounds overly succinct, that is only in the interest of conserving
time.

        As a city councilman between 1978 and 1982, I provided
leadership and service to Slidell which is best revealed by the
following accomplishments:

        1)  I wrote and had passed the Senior Citizens Ordinance.
        2)  In 1980 and again in 1981, I wrote and had adopted budget
            amendments leading to police and municipal pay plans
            without raising taxes.
        3)  I had city sewerage placed in a part of the Salmen Addition
            which had never had it before.
        4)  I initiated Operation Rainwater which resulted in voter
            approval of ten drainage projects throughout the city.
        5)  I initiated the effort to put a city water line in Bonfouca
            Estates and that water line will soon be a reality.
        6)  I wrote and had passed the Slidell Business Preference
            Ordinance.
        7)  I wrote and had passed a resolution supporting the
            Commission on the Needs of Women.

        During my four year tenure on the Council, I had a 100%
attendance record for all meetings, both regular and special.

        In 1982, I became Chairman of Slidell Memorial Hospital.  In
that position, I discovered and led the effort to reverse the nearly
crippling mismanagement which had prevailed for years at the hospital.
 In doing that, I exercised the highest supervisory function in the
management of a $20,000,000 budget, which is twice the size of the
budget of the City of Slidell.  In addition to these management and
financial accomplishments, I have led the effort to modernize the
health care programs and capability of your community hospital.  I am
proud to say that at the present time, Slidell Memorial is a
state-of-the-art hospital in nearly all of its medical departments.
        If I am elected Mayor of Slidell, I intend to serve you as
well as I did as a city councilman and as chairman of your hospital.

        Specifically, I will set the following goals for the public
agenda:

        1)  The continued operation of the city on a sound financial
            basis.
        2)  An ongoing assessment of the city's financial needs and an
            openness with the people regarding those needs.
        3)  An increased efficiency in the provision of day-to-day
            public works.
        4)  Completion of Operation Rainwater.
        5)  Completion of the 201 Sewerage Plan.
        6)  The installation of a water tower on the south sideof town
            with a looping of the system so as to improve water
            pressure throughout the city.
        7)  An immediate evaluation of the major thoroughfare plan,
            followed by appropriate implementation.
        8)  Continued support for our recreational programs, our
            cultural programs, and our beautification programs.
        9)  The creation of a rational annexation policy.
        10) The calling of a Slidell Priorities Convention to allow our
            people to help us to set the course of this city between
            now and the end of the century.

        More important than any of those specific goals, is my
intention to call upon all Slidellians to develop a greater sense of
and feeling for community.  I will challenge all of you to look beyond
your front yards and your subdivision boundaries. I will ask all of
you to take the public's business as seriously as you take your
private business.


        I will challenge every one of you who has an opinion on any
given subject to support that opinion with a research of the facts and
mature thoughtfulness about those facts.

        In the words of President Kennedy:  "Too often we want the
luxury of opinion without the difficulty of thought."

        Slidell cannot afford that luxury, and I will call upon all of
you to be thoughtful and to give your city the best that is within
you.


                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW


#ENDCARD
#CARD
MAYORAL CAMPAIGN

Announcement Speech

February 13, 1985


        Good evening.  And thank you for being here.  If any of you
are surprised to be here tonight, let me assure you that this event
was not on my schedule either.  The fact that this announcement party
was organized in exactly two days is a high compliment to many of you
in this room, and it is our first assurance to the people of Slidell
that our administration will be characterized by decisiveness and
efficiency.

        It has been generally known for some time that I have been
considering running for Mayor of Slidell in the regular campaign in
1986.  The events of the past few days have required a sudden
acceleration of the decision making process. After an extensive and
exhausting round of consultations with people throughout this
community, I am here tonight to announce my candidacy for Mayor of
Slidell in the upcoming special election.

        Many of you who are here tonight helped in the Mayor's race of
1982.  Against nearly overwhelming odds, and to the surprise of a lot
of people, we obtained forty-three (43%) percent of the vote.  This
time I am pleased to have you back for a campaign with an even happier
ending.  This time we are going to win.  This one is ours.

        To those of you who are joining us for the first time, I
extend my special welcome and my special gratitude.  You are the
converts, and in you I have seen the zeal of converts.  You have
enlarged not only our numbers, but also our perspective, our base, our
courage, our determination, and our optimism.

        In the words of Saint Paul, I feel like a man "born out of due
time."  But although the challenge has arrived prematurely, my
determination to meet it and to master it is mature and sufficient for
the task.

        No announcement speech, and especially one under these
circumstances, is a proper vehicle for a detailed discussion of all of
the specific issues with which we must come to grips in the next
several weeks, or perhaps months.

        Nevertheless, you have a right to expect from me at least some
general indication of my concept of the Mayor's office, my reason for
wanting to run for it, and how, in broad terms, I intend to use it.

        The office of mayor implies an obligation and an opportunity
for something more than administration.  While every mayor must be
able to manage the day-to-day affairs of the city, if he or she is
unwilling, or unable, to do more than that, then the city can never
achieve its full potential.  More than anything else, a mayor must
provide leadership to his people.  Leadership presupposes a thoughtful
understanding of the problems before us and a vision of the future
that is yet to come.  Leadership implies a closeness to the people who
will follow leadership, but only if it is both reasonable and
sensitive. Leadership demands the courage to pursue sometimes
difficult courses of action and the willingness to let the people say
"yes" or "no" rather than to shrink from action because of a fear of
rejection.

        In broad terms, that is my concept of what a mayor ought to
be.  Now, why do I want to be Mayor?  Some people think that there is
no rational answer to that question. Perhaps they are right.  But
hopefully not.

        I want to be Mayor because I believe that a leader is needed
in Slidell who can help to bring the city to its full potential.  And,
with neither arrogance nor self-deception, I believe that my unique
record of public service has helped to prepare me to be the best Mayor
of Slidell over the next five years.  I want to be Mayor because I
take the public's business as seriously as private business.  I want
to be Mayor because, very plainly, I feel a great deal of satisfaction
in helping people, and in moving any situation, any institution, from
mediocrity to excellence.  And, that is what I will dedicate myself to
doing during my term as Mayor of Slidell.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(MAYORAL CAMPAIGN)
        If you want to have some idea of how I would use the Mayor's
office to actually implement solutions to problems and steps toward
progress, I would urge you to look at the past for a glimpse of the
future.

        My record as a city councilman is one of which I am extremely
proud and one which I believe enriched the lives of our citizens.

        I wrote, and had passed, our Senior Citizens Ordinance
exempting many of our senior citizens from most increases in municipal
fees.  I wrote, and had passed, the Slidell Business Preference
Ordinance which mandated that, where compatible with the law and the
city's needs, all city business shall be given to Slidell business
people.  I initiated and pursued the effort which resulted in the
first sewerage system in one part of the Salmen Addition.  I initiated
and pursued the effort which soon will result in the first municipal
water system in the Bonfouca Estates.  I initiated and pursued the
effort which resulted in voter approval of ten (10) badly-needed
city-wide drainage projects.

        During the past two years, I have led the effort to reform the
operations of Slidell Memorial Hospital, to make it a state-of-the-art
hospital, and to give to the people of Slidell a first class health
facility which is owned by the people themselves. I will confess to
you tonight that, as proud as I am of my record as a city councilman,
I derive even greater satisfaction from my role in having helped to
save Slidell Memorial Hospital.  The effort called upon me to solve
extremely complex business problems while at the same time remaining
sensitive to human feelings in their most vulnerable condition.  If
there is anyone in this city who has gone through a more difficult
crucible, who has endured a more difficult test, and who has proved
himself or herself more equal to the challenge of public service in
its most demanding form, then I think that person has yet to be
identified.

        The past will give you a glimpse of the future.  When I am
elected Mayor of this city, you can count on leadership marked by both
thoughtfulness and action, by both courage and sensitivity.

        Ladies and gentlemen, as we embark on this campaign "born out
of due time" and which will perhaps be pursued in a manner a bit
different than the usual campaign, I appeal to all of you for your
clearest thinking, your hardest work, your most determined
perseverance, generosity in time, talent, and money, and most of all,
for your highest ethics and most noble ideals.

        In closing, I want to quote to you a prayer found in the Roman
Catholic liturgy for Good Friday, and which I now offer for every
person who shares in the official responsibility for this dear and
temporarily stunned city:

        Let us pray too for all public officials and for their
assistants and deputies, that our God and Lord may guide their minds
and hearts according to his will and to our lasting peace.  Almighty,
everlasting God, in whose hand lie all governments and the rights of
every nation, look graciously upon our public officials so that all
over the world religion and public safety may stand whole and
unimpaired under the shelter of your hand: through our Lord Jesus
Christ, Your Son, who is God living and reigning with you in the unity
of the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.


        Thank you for coming.


                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW
                        Mayoral Candidate


#ENDCARD
#CARD
REFLECTIONS ON A HANDICAPPED GOD

November 17, 1982


        Thank you for inviting me to be with you today.

        Your awards banquet honoring handicapped people and those who
live with and/or work with handicapped people honors, at the same
time, your own humanity and the humanity of all of us here in this
room.

        I will not, today, take up your time talking about any of the
technical, physical, medical, legal, or social factors which affect
handicapped people, their families, or those of you who work with the
handicapped.

        Rather, I would like you to consider some brief reflections on
a handicapped God and on the implications of that handicapped God for
all of us.

        It is ironic that in this part of the United States, populated
by people well-known for their Christianity, that I must approach this
subject cautiously.  But that is the case.  I will proceed with the
hope that I offend no one's religious sensibilities and that no one
reports me to the U. S. Supreme court for talking about God at a
public event.

        I have spoken of a "handicapped God."  The very phrase sounds
strange and the theologians in the room are probably ready to report
me, not to the Supreme Court, but to the Vatican's Office for the
Preservation of the Faith.

        I do not intend to announce a new Christological heresy over
lunch.  On the contrary, I want to cast into sharper focus one of the
basic beliefs of our most orthodox Christianity.  The Jesus Christ
whom we confess to be the Son of God is at the same time the Son of
Man, a fully human being like one of us. Moreover, he took on to
Himself a perfect human nature, damaged in no way at all.

        Why then speak of a "handicapped God," and what meaning could
the phrase possibly have?  The Son of God became man, became human,
some 2,000 years ago.  At that point in history, the man Jesus Christ
began to exist.  God though He was, his human nature had a beginning
in time just as your own human nature did and just as mine did.

        But there was a difference with Jesus.  The person that was
united to his human nature was the natural Son of God, and as such, He
had existed from all eternity - not as a human being but as a Divine
person.  And, He had existed as only God exists, in omniscience and
omnipotence, in the total fullness of Divinity without limitation,
without need, without, if you will, a handicap of any sort whatsoever.

        But then, as Scripture and Faith tell us, the God without
limit freely chose, out of love, to take onto Himself a limitation, a
handicap that none of us will ever understand.  He united to his own
uncreated person a created human nature.  He joined together that
which could not suffer and that which suffered by its very nature.  He
combined omniscience with ignorance, and upon omnipotence He imposed
the limitation of becoming a helpless baby.

        This may be an unusual way to focus upon and to consider the
person of Jesus.  But it is not entirely new.  Saint Paul almost says
the same thing in different language.  Paul tells us that:

        Though he was in the form of God, he did not deem equality
with God something to be grasped at. Rather, he emptied himself and
took the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men.  He was
known to be of human estate, and it was thus that he humbled himself,
obediently accepting even death, death on a cross!


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(REFLECTIONS ON A HANDICAPPED GOD)
                                Philippians 2: 6-8

        Thus, The Immortal One accepted our ultimate handicap!

        The theology of a handicapped God finds existential expression
in the "biography" of Jesus.  At the beginning of His public ministry,
He sends a message back to John the Baptist who is waiting in prison
to hear that indeed Jesus was the one "who is to come."  The Lord's
words of identification deal directly with his mission to humanity,
and to broken humanity. He sends to John this identity tag:

        "Go back and report to John what you hear and see:  The blind
recover their sight, cripples walk, lepers are cured, the deaf hear,
dead men are raised to life, and the poor have the good news preached
to them."

                                Matthew 11: 2-5

        Not only do we have a handicapped God, but we also have a God
of the handicapped.

        It has become commonplace among those of us who work with the
handicapped to note that we are all handicapped. Some of us are simply
more visibly handicapped than others. Along with those who are
handicapped by more limited intelligence, there are those who are
handicapped by very limited integrity.  Along with those who suffer
twisted legs and twisted arms, there are those who endure twisted
minds.  And for all of those who have broken limbs, there are more who
carry broken hearts.

        So, the commonality of our humanity renders us all
handicapped.  It is, therefore, a recognition of our own humanity to
reach out and to help our brothers and sisters who are more visibly,
and perhaps more severely, handicapped than most of us.

        But beyond that, we can add a new dimension to our
understanding of the human struggle by remembering that all of us also
share a Savior who came to us in our own mortal flesh, who came to us
as a handicapped God.  By taking on our human nature, Jesus the Lord
has vivified and sanctified all of human flesh.  If there are humans
who are handicapped, and all of us are, then they have the comfort of
knowing that there is a God who freely accepted the handicap of being
human.

        In living our lives with this new perspective, the Lord asks
us to make it practical by the manner in which we treat each other, by
the manner in which we treat our visibly handicapped brothers and
sisters.  He asks us to remember that "As long as you did it to one of
these, the least of my brethren, you did it to me."

        With those reflections upon a handicapped God, I urge you to
go and minister to Him in the world, as you see him in your fellow
human beings.


                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW, ACSW
                        Clinical Social Worker


#ENDCARD
#CARD
SPEECH FOR CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL WOMENS'
SPEAKOUT

Mayoral Campaign

March 6, 1982


        I want to thank the Chamber of Commerce and the Business and
Professional Women for giving the city this opportunity to hear some
of the substantive issues in this year's municipal elections.

        When I first began this race, I must admit that I realized the
task ahead of me would be immense and the odds would be in the other
camp's favor.  But fairly soon we got our first big break.  Webb
announced that he plans to run on his record.  My apprehension
decreased, the odds changed in our favor, and it has been easy going
ever since.

        More seriously, I think it is time that we take the Mayor up
on his statement that he is running on his record.  What I want to do
tonight is to review part of that record with you and to then discuss
some of what I plan to do as Mayor during the next four years.

        Ladies and gentlemen, we are in the process of trying to elect
a mayor for the next four years.  The incumbent mayor is asking you to
send him back into the office which he now holds. I am asking you to
vote for me for mayor on April 3rd.  There are two categories of
reasons for my request.

        First of all, it is clear from the public record that the
current mayor has, by both commission and omission, failed to provide
you with the first rate leadership that Slidell needs and deserves.
Even worse than that, the public record reveals some administrative
blunders which would never be tolerated in the private sector, and
which should not be rewarded in the public sector.

        Secondly, the public record makes it equally clear that as a
part-time city councilman, I have fulfilled all of the promises that I
made to my constituents four years ago, and have gone far beyond that
in providing service and progress to the people of Slidell.  More
importantly, what I propose for the future is what we must do as a
community if we are ever going to achieve our full potential.

        I have called into question the quality and effectiveness of
the current Mayor's administration.  It is not fair to do so without
citing specific examples.  I ask you now to consider the following
facts, all of which are matters of public record, and ask yourself if
what you are hearing represents good administration of the public's
business.  (I also request that as you are listening to me, you ask
yourself another question:  Is this the public's business or is it
not; is this information relevant to my decision in the Mayor's race,
or is it not?)

        1)  In the spring of 1979, the Mayor sent the Council the
first budget which this government adopted.  His proposed budget
contained not one cent of contingency money in the general fund.  I
successfully proposed amendments to the budget, thereby creating the
necessary contingency fund.  Had the Mayor had his way, we would have
gone one full fiscal year with no general fund contingency whatsoever.

        2)  In the spring of 1980, the city employees requested a
reasonable pay increase and they requested it in the form of new pay
plans for both the police department and our other municipal
employees.  In his budget message for 1980-81, the Mayor said that the
best we could do would be "a compromise offer of $50.00 per month, per
employee . . ."  And, he also stated that such an offer would have to
be funded "with a modest increase in taxes."  I worked on that same
budget for three nights in succession until three o'clock in the
morning. Together with the Council Administrator, I eventually found
enough money in the Mayor's proposed budget to implement both new pay
plans for our employees.  I wrote the necessary amendments, and I did
it without raising taxes.  It is a matter of public record.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(SPEECH FOR CHAMBER OF COMMERCE)
        3)  In February 1979, the current mayor discovered that he had
inherited a $411,000 surplus from the previous administration.  He did
not tell the City Council.  The Council is charged with appropriating
this city's money, yet the mayor did not point out the surplus to the
City Council.  When asked for an explanation immediately after the
public disclosure of this matter, the Mayor said that he was
"surprised to learn recently the (sic) City had more in surplus funds
than previously thought."  A few days after that explanation, the
Mayor admitted that he had known of the surplus for the past several
months.  All of this was reported in the local press.

        4)  In the spring of 1979, the Mayor wanted to build a bridge
on Rue Rochelle.  A majority of the Council agreed to fund the
project.  The Mayor wanted to go out on bids to have the bridge done
by a private contractor rather than by city crews.  He explained that
the cost would be roughly the same. The Council agreed to let him
proceed.  Once again, we were misled.  The actual contract cost was
substantially higher than the Mayor had told us it would be.  In
attempting to explain, the Mayor told us he had not read all of the
contract before signing it.  He then told us that the approaches to
the bridge were not included in the estimate but they were included in
the contract.  The Council was never told.

        Commenting on both the $411,000 issue and on the Rue Rochelle
Bridge, a local journalist wrote:

                As far as the bridge connecting two subdivisions north
of busy Gause Boulevard is concerned, Hart committed the same kind of
blunder as when he chose not to divulge information about a $411,000
sales tax surplus several months ago.

                Hart had convinced the City Council to put the bridge
construction out for bids, rather than letting city crews handle it.
But after he was authorized to sign the contract, he discovered that
work on the approaches had not been included in the bids.

                Instead of going back to the Council and face another
battle (with angry residents packing the chambers again and Councilman
Richie Martin), Hart opted to ink the contract.

                Hart's judgment has to be questioned since it is
inconceivable that the added costs would not surface sooner or later.

                The situation is almost exactly the same involving the
large surplus.  Sooner or later, he had to go to the Council to amend
the budget to include the funds which were "sitting outside the
budget."

                The bridge deal was the second time that Hart had
withheld information from the Council, causing several members to
start some serious thinking about why he has done so.

                In less than a year and a half, Hart has worked
himself into a tight corner, not only with the Council but with a
large number of residents, as well.  It'll be interesting to see what
he does next.

        Well, let me tell you what he did next.

        5)  The original estimate for the work on John Slidell Park
was $500,000.  On June 19, 1981, we received a low bid of $775,200 -
more than $275,000 above the estimate.  The Mayor simply said:  "I ask
that you accept this bid."  No questions asked.  No explanation
offered.  The Council said no.  We forced the Mayor to advertise for
bids again, and to invite five different functional bids rather than
one overall bid.  That was done.  On October 12, 1981, we received the
new low bids. Their combined total was $661,827.  That was $113,372
less than the original bid which the Mayor had so glibly asked us to
accept.  By this one decision, the Council saved you, the people of
Slidell, more than our combined salaries for one full year.  If Mayor
Hart had his way, you would now be paying $113,372 more for John
Slidell Park than you are actually paying.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(SPEECH FOR CHAMBER OF COMMERCE)
        I have cited here only five of the major mistakes that the
current mayor has made over the past three and one half years. Anyone
can make a mistake, but when mistakes of this magnitude become a way
of life, serious questions need to be raised.

        And now I want all of you to silently consider one very
serious and very sober question:  If you had hired a manager to manage
your own personal, private business and he or she had made mistakes of
this magnitude, not once, not twice, not three times, not four times,
but on five different occasions, would you renew that person's
contract when it came up for renewal?  Consider it carefully; consider
it seriously, and consider it honestly.

        Ladies and gentlemen, we cannot go on like this.  This city
needs and deserves intelligent and coherent leadership in the Mayor's
office.  It is true that we have avoided any serious disasters during
the past four years, but Executive leadership has been non-existent
and what progress we have made has come out of the City Council.

        As Mayor, I intend to give you the leadership that you need
out of that office.  I will begin by calling a Slidell Priorities
Convention, involving every segment of our community, and aimed at
finding out for the first time what kind of community our citizens
want Slidell to be, and where we want to go during the remaining years
of this century.

        Time is running out.  We will either take this Mayor's race
seriously and take our city seriously or we will lose another chance
to begin moving, developing, and achieving our full potential.

        Let it not be said of us what T. S. Eliot wrote in his poem
"The Rock."

        And the wind shall say:  these were a decent people
        their only monument the asphalt road and a thousand
        lost golf balls.

        We can do better than that.

        We can be a decent people and great people.  But it is up to
you.

        Join me in answering the call of Alfred, Lord Tennyson:

                                Come, my friends,
                                'Tis not too late
                                to seek a newer world.

        Thank you.

                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso
                        Councilman, District C
                        Candidate for Mayor


#ENDCARD
#CARD
ANNOUNCEMENT SPEECH

Mayoral Campaign

January 15, 1982


        Mr. Chairman, Delegates to the Convention, my fellow public
officials, ladies and gentlemen . . .

        Now the transition which we have lived through for the past
three and one half years is coming to a close.  We have in fact
participated in a great experiment to see whether or not a city such
as ours could be maintained and led to its full potential under a new
form of government.

        The answer today is mixed.  The form of government has been
and is excellent in its basic structure.  It is, after all, a
microcosm of that great government which was formulated by and handed
down to us by the Founding Fathers of our nation.

        And it is clear that the city has not fallen apart or ceased
to function during the past three and one half years. There has even
been some progress resulting in some cases from the maturing of work
begun by our predecessors; emerging in other instances from the
courageous and creative leadership of a City Council which has raised
the level of legislative thought and action to heights heretofore not
attained, and being confirmed in the final analysis by the growing
wisdom and maturity of the citizens of Slidell.

        Additionally, it must be said in fairness that the current
incumbent in the Mayor's office, has in some limited ways, done an
acceptable job for a transitional mayor.  There has been some minimal
maintenance and there has been some reasonable building upon
initiatives taken by other people.

        But no transition can last forever.  Just as adolescence must
give way to maturity, so too must our city now grow beyond its present
level of functioning and plan for a future which will see the
achievement of our full potential.

        Doing that will require full leadership from the mayor of this
city.  I am here announcing my candidacy for mayor tonight because as
a city councilman, I have seen the crying need for leadership in the
mayor's office and because I believe that I can provide you with that
leadership.  I do not say that out of any sense of smugness or feeling
of arrogance.  Indeed, what I am doing here tonight carries with it a
healthy feeling of caution and a prayerful petition for help.  But God
has been good to me in giving me the talent to think clearly, feel
deeply, communicate with people, and take action that changes problems
into solutions.  If you elect me your Mayor, those talents will be at
your disposal on a full-time basis.

        It is neither wise nor possible to discuss in an announcement
speech all of the issues which I think need attention during this
campaign.  However, I do want to talk tonight about two of the
problems which face our city and which I intend to address as Mayor.

        Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest challenge facing our city
today goes beyond our needs in the areas of drainage, sewerage,
recreation, water, and all of the rest of the problems which demand
our attention on a daily basis.

        Clearly, plainly, and simply, the greatest challenge facing us
today is the need to plan intelligently for the remaining years of the
twentieth century.  We will either do that, and do it properly, or the
future will master us rather than be shaped by our talents.

        During the past several weeks, I have discussed my proposed
Slidell Priorities Convention with the appropriate personnel at one of
our major universities.  I have been told that not only is the idea
practical, but it may well be the best, if not the only, means for a
city such as ours to begin getting a grip on our problems, our
potential, and our future.


#ENDCARD
#CARD
(ANNOUNCEMENT SPEECH)
        Furthermore, the same people have assured me that if I am
elected Mayor, they will help me to develop the instruments necessary
to make the Convention a success and that they will do it for free or
at nominal cost.

        Finally, in regard to this idea, I want you to consider a
quotation from Alvin Toffler, the author of Future Shock:

        On the edge of a new millennium, on the brink of a new stage
of human development, we are racing blindly into the future.  But
where do we want to go?

        Let us convene in each nation, in each city, in each
neighborhood, democratic constituent assemblies charged with defining
and assigning priorities to specific social goals for the remainder of
the century.

        As Mayor of Slidell, I intend to lead you in doing that very
thing.

        The second specific issue that I want to discuss with you
tonight is the sharing of authority between the Mayor and the Council
for the specific purpose of delivering better services to the people
of Slidell.

        Our City Charter provides the authority for a very strong
Mayor.  And that is not bad.  But it can be misunderstood or abused by
someone who does not grasp the subtleties of this form of government,
or whose political attitudes were formed under a very different type
of government, or who does not have the personal courage and
generosity to voluntarily share authority with other officials in the
government.  Unfortunately, the kind of deficits that I have just
cited have, in fact, hampered your City Council over the past three
and one-half years in our attempt to serve you even more fully than we
have.  After several attempts to improve communications and a sharing
of authority with the Mayor, many of us simply gave up.

        But it does not have to be that way.  A different Mayor with a
different attitude can produce far different results.  For example,
under our present system once the budget is adopted the Mayor is free
to repair or not repair whatever streets he chooses.  And the present
Mayor has done just that.  If there has been any kind of a plan behind
the street repair pattern of the past three and one-half years, I know
that every member of the City Council and probably most of our
citizens would like to be let in on the secret.

        When I am Mayor I will voluntarily remove this sort of
arbitrary and secretive planning from the management of our street
repairs.  I will ask the Council to indicate their street repair
priorities and then I will have the City Engineer review those
priorities and return his recommendation to the Council. Finally the
Council will be invited to adopt by ordinance a street repair program
for the coming year.  A sufficient portion of the budget will be
committed to achieving the program and a certain amount will be
reserved for true emergencies and the repairs that are too small to be
included in a predetermined package.  The beneficiaries of this
approach will be the people of Slidell.  You will be able to tell in
advance what streets the government intends to repair during the
coming fiscal year. With some exceptions, that is at the present time
a deeply guarded secret.  I will abolish the secret and open the
process.

        Finally, let me tell you something about this campaign. It
will be conducted with the highest regard for human decency and
fairness.  But it will also be conducted assertively and with vigor.
I want to put our opponents on notice here and now that neither I nor
anyone of us here in the room tonight, nor the people across this city
will be intimidated into an avoidance of the public issues by those
who would shamelessly repeat unfounded and unfair innuendos and
implications.

        In closing I want to leave you with the words of William Lloyd
Garrison:


        I am in ernest.  I will not equivocate.  I will not excuse.  I
will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard.

        Let those who are tempted to underestimate us do so at their
own risk.  The future is coming and we intend to seize it.

        Thank you.

                        Salvatore A. Caruso (Sam)
                        Councilman, District C
                        Candidate for Mayor


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SPEECH TO THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS

October 10, 1980


        An invitation to deliver a "Columbus Day Speech" is, for me, a
very special invitation.  At the same time, it gives me the
opportunity to honor one of my ancestors and to explore with you the
meaning of his spirit in American history and in our own future.

        Let us begin with a brief reference to the plain facts of
history.  Let us, once again, set the record straight.  As an
Italian-American, I am here to tell you tonight that Columbus
discovered America.  Any contrary claims made on behalf of
ship-wrecked Phonecians, lost Scandinavians, wandering Chinese, men
from Mars, or any other obscure group are obviously inspired by a
combination of ignorance and a malevolent desire to deprive
Italian-Americans of one of their greatest sources of pride.  As an
intelligent group of people, I know that you will dismiss such
aberrant ideas.

        Christopher Columbus, or Christoforo Colombo, as he is
properly called in Italian, was born in Genoa, Italy, sometime between
August and October 1451.  His father was a wool weaver.  His name was
Domenico and his wife's name was Susanna.  The family was neither poor
nor rich - except in two things.  They were rich in their Catholic
faith and they were rich in the courage with which they faced life.

        Christopher inherited both gifts from his family.  His
decision to try to find the Orient by sailing west is a basic fact
learned by every school age child in America.

        In describing the significance of that decision, the great
American historian Samuel Elliot Morison says:

                ". . . no other sailor had the persistence, the
knowledge, and the sheer guts to sail thousands of miles into the
unknown ocean until he found land."

        We might put it another way by saying that no one else had
combined the available knowledge of the time with the vision in his
own mind, and then taken the two together to challenge the frontiers
of human knowledge and the future itself.

        Columbus did that.  And he succeeded.

        If Christopher Columbus is to mean more to us than the figure
of a lucky sailor whose ship came in at the right time and the right
place (even though he did not realize it), it is because we have
incorporated, and we must continue to incorporate, his indomitable
spirit into our national life.

        It would be chauvinistic at best, and foolish at worst, to
attribute too much to any one person in a country such as ours, which
has drawn on innumerable sources of strength and has, itself, become
so strong.

        Nevertheless, the original seeds of what we are were sown not
only by our English forefathers, but also by our Genoese discoverer.

        And the seeds of Columbus' courage have been passed down
through the centuries, always challenging us, always looking to the
future, always requiring vision and demanding action.

        This country was not made great by men and women who were
overly complacent, devoid of imagination, or afraid to take action.

        The very founding of the Republic rested on ideas and ideals
that were as great and inspiring as the discovery of the land itself.


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(SPEECH TO THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS)
        There were no dull, milquetoast men who said:
        "We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of
America in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge
of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and
by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish
and declare that these united colonies are, and of a right ought to
be, Free and Independent States and that they are absolved from all
allegiance to the British Crown . . ."

        Once the Republic was established, it was no easier to keep
than Benjamin Franklin had thought it would be. Through invasion,
Civil War, foreign war, depression and assassination, the United
States of America survived.  The total reasons for the survival may be
known only in the mind of God. But without a doubt, one central factor
has been the spirit of our people and the spirit of those leaders who
challenged the best in us.

        In our own lifetime, we were challenged by a vigorous,
visionary, and yet very practical young President ". . . to land a man
on the moon and return him safely to earth before this decade is out."

        And when some asked President Kennedy why such a goal was
something he urged our people to pursue, he said:

        "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and to do the
other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard;
because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our
energies and skills . . ."

        And so, it is clear, from Columbus to Kennedy, this nation has
been inspired by vision and by challenge.  And in fact, we have been
at our best when we are challenged to reach beyond the ordinary
requirements of life.

        Attendance to the simple practical necessities of life is
always necessary, but it is never enough.  And, ironically, if a
nation or a community is not challenged by its leaders, is not led by
its officials to strive for difficult things, for things just beyond
the horizon, then somehow we lose the energy and the ability to deal
with the simple problems that nag at us every day.

        Now, I want to strongly urge you to take what I have said and
apply it to our own local community.  Slidell is a fine city peopled
by fine citizens.  But, if there is one thing that is stifling our
growth, I think it is a tendency to be a bit too complacent as a
community.  And, without a doubt, there are too few of our leaders who
share enough of Columbus' spirit. Too few of our leaders are willing
to take the long look, to broaden their vision, to combine the
practicalities of the present with the dreams of tomorrow and to lead
our people into a better and brighter future.

        I urge you on to better things.  An admission of imperfection
is not a confession of guilt, but rather a declaration of reality
which can lead to improvements beyond our present dreams.

        The next time you hear one of us in your government propose a
new, difficult, but challenging and worthwhile goal, I ask you to
listen and to then join the effort.

        Columbus did not discover America by shrinking from challenge.
 And we will not discover a better future by narrowing our vision and
settling for complacency.

        In closing, I leave you with an invitation from another great
soul, Alfred Lord Tennyson,

        "Come, my friends, 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world."


                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso


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TALK FOR ABNEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL P.T.A.
Slidell, Louisiana

November 19, 1981


        I want to thank the members of our P.T.A., both parents and
teachers, for inviting me here to talk to you tonight.

        I also want to begin by officially announcing, right here,
tonight, something which everyone in Slidell has been wondering about,
and about which many people have had increasingly curious
conversations over the past several months.

        For the record, I want to announce officially that it is not
the case that I live at City Hall and do nothing for a living other
than serve as a Councilman for the City of Slidell.

        I am a public official only by reason of temporary insanity,
which had its onset approximately four years ago, and which has been
characterized by such virulence that it may take another four years
for the disorder to fully run its course.

        During periods of remission, I am by profession, a clinical
(or psychiatric) social worker.  While it is true that my professional
work can be done, indeed must be done, in a much quieter manner than
my political work, it is also true that what I do professionally is at
least as important as what I do politically.

        What I want to do here tonight is to give you a broad overview
of the major considerations in the normal growth and development of a
child from around the age of seven or eight, on through the classical
developmental period which should come to a close at around eighteen
or nineteen.

        In beginning our grand tour of the developmental stages, I
will make brief mention of one of the major developmental tasks that
must still be handled by five and six year olds, then I will move on
to a more complete discussion of the developmental tasks faced by
slightly older children and adolescents.

        Although I will not devote any substantial attention to
psychopathology, I will, in the course of this talk, give some brief
attention to a few of the typical kinds of problem behaviors that you
might see at various stages of the developmental sequence.

        Now let us begin our tour, or overview, of the normal cycle of
growth and development.  Children arrive in the world, like all of us,
with a certain set of pre-given attributes.  They have inherited
certain constitutional features from their parents, their
grandparents, and indeed from a rather broad spectrum of the pool of
human endowment.  Thus, certain aspects of their personalities are
preordained.  This is what nature has provided.  But this is by no
means the whole picture.  The rest of what a child becomes is commonly
referred to as those aspects which come from the kind of nurturing we
all receive.  In other words, our personalities are also formed out of
our interactions with our parents, our families, our friends, people
we come into contact with and our culture as a whole.

        It is often helpful to examine the normal growth and
development of a child by peering through three different dimensions.
(I am, here, deliberately omitting the physical dimension which I
think should certainly be addressed by a physician or someone of the
allied professions trained in physical science.)  The three dimensions
to which I have reference are called the psychosexual, the
psychosocial,, and the cognitive.

        Our seven or eight year old is, or should be, at, or near, the
end of that rather tumultuous developmental period called the oedipal
period.  He should be entering what is called the latency stage of
development.  The word "latent" implies that something becomes rather
quiet or dormant.  It is important to know what it is that becomes
latent.  Most certainly the children do not become quiet and any
parent knows that they never want to become dormant.  The term latency
takes its basic psychological meaning from the Freudian system of
psychodynamics which sees an oedipal child (aged about 3 through 7) as
struggling with those inner forces which drive him or her to see the
parent of the same sex as a rival and to view the parent of the
opposite sex as a love object to be obtained.  All of this is
operative on an unconscious level, and it is precisely this struggle
which is said to become dormant or "latent," during the latency period
of development.  A common misconception of latency is that all sexual
curiosity and activity fall to a very low ebb.  That is not true.  In
this sense, latency is not all that latent.  The child's sexual
curiosity continues though not at the fever pitch which it will reach
in adolescence. What is, or should be, temporarily resolved by way of
repression is the specific "family romance" referred to above.


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(TALK FOR ABNEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL P.T.A.)
        With this general truce achieved on the psychosexual front,
the child's energies are freer to deal with some new psychosocial
tasks.  The latency child begins to turn more of his attention away
from his family and toward his own peer group, both in school and in
his neighborhood.  This, however, is not as pronounced as it will be
later on in adolescence.

        The child of seven through about eleven should be relatively
freer from anxiety than he or she was earlier in life. The inner
oedipal struggle is quieted.  This should be helpful to the child in
attending to the important tasks of a growing maturity.

        The works of Harry Stack Sullivan and of Erik Erikson are
important in understanding some of the psychosocial tasks of the
latency child.  Both agree that interpersonal development is of
crucial importance at this time.  Sullivan says that the personality
of the child is greatly dependent upon his relationships with his
parents and other important adults with whom he comes into contact.
Peer interactions are also contributory to the development of a
healthy self-image or a weakened ego.  Erik Erikson describes the
period as the time of industry or inferiority.  The child must learn
many new practical tasks along with an expanded ability to relate to
people outside of his own family.  If he succeeds in these things, he
will develop a sense of industry or a sense of "I can" rather than a
sense of inferiority or a feeling of "I can't."

        Belonging to a peer group of the same sex is seen as an
important value at this time of life.  During latency, there is
usually a greater separation of the sexes than at any other time
during the life cycle.

        The child's sense of responsibility should be developing and
his morality should move from one of constraint (i.e., "do it or don't
do it because I said so") to one of cooperation (i.e., "I'll do it
because it gets the immediate job done.")

        The cognitive expansion of this period is characterized by a
growing ability to classify information rather than to simply know a
series of isolated facts.  Piaget refers to this time as the period of
"concrete operations."  Some abstraction becomes possible.  The word
"because" is used more often and has some real meaning to the child.
Syntax and the broader rules of mathematics are beginning to be
learned, both of which will prepare the child for later true
propositional thought.

        Before turning our attention to that volcano euphemistically
called adolescence, it may be helpful to look at a few of the symptoms
that might indicate that something has gone wrong during the latency
period or earlier in the child's life.

        A child's first ideas of right and wrong come from his parents
and other adults who serve "in loco parentis."  These internalized
norms constitute one of the major components of the formation of the
child's superego, or in more religious terms "conscience."

        As seems to be the case with everything in life, it is no easy
task to help try to form our children's consciences.  If a child is
exposed to no adequate modeling figures, if he receives insufficient
love combined with firmness, there is a great danger that he will not
develop a sufficient superego to control his own impulses, to have a
feeling for right and wrong, and to simply stay out of trouble.  On
the other hand, parents and other adults who insist on a constantly
rigid, severe, inflexible and uncompromising set of "moral" standards
set the stage for a child who will think little of himself (because he
cannot possible live up to such expectations), who will be fearful and
anxiety ridden, and who will be too constrained to enter into the
normal, happy, spontaneous interactions which are the right of all
children.

        We are all familiar with some of these children.  They are the
legion composed of the little boy who is completely narcissistic, who
would just as soon kick another child in the head as he would kick
around a football, the child who cannot learn, not perhaps because of
a specific learning disability, but simply because his anxiety is so
high that there is no energy left for learning; the little girl who
can get along with none of her peers because she expects rejection
beforehand - she has been told only too many times that she is "a bad
girl" and "can do nothing right."


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(TALK FOR ABNEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL P.T.A.)
        What to do about these children would require another talk.
Perhaps we can deal with some specific questions later on, but for now
I just want to call your attention to some of the signs which children
use to tell us "I'm hurting.  Help me."

        And now, finally, let us give some attention to those children
who will always demand it anyway - our adolescents. If I, or anyone
else, could fully explain what happens in adolescence, we would
probably win a combined Nobel and Pulitzer Prize.  I will settle, and
I hope you will, for a rather brief set of considerations which may
help us to understand how human volcanoes work.

        Early adolescence, or puberty, often has its onset at around
the age of 11 1/2 or 12.  The first physical signs of young manhood
and womanhood begin to appear.  With this, and as the years progress,
there comes that terribly disturbing and rewarding set of feelings
associated with sexual development and the youth's first experience
with "falling in love."  The original oedipal conflict is reactivated
in both boys and girls but this time the resolution must come about
not through a temporary repression but by a working-through of reality
and an eventual mature expression of sexuality combined with
commitment to another human being.

        Here again, the adolescent's superego formation will be
critically important.  A superego which is overwhelming, particularly
in those areas related to sex, will put the youth on a collision
course with his or her own perfectly normal developing feelings.  The
results, if intervention is not obtained, will be neurotic defenses, a
disowning of an important part of one's own self, and possibly the
conversion of anxiety into psychosomatic symptoms.  On the other hand,
a lack of proper guidance, reasonable ethical constraints, and
believable modeling figures, can leave the youth without any norms by
which to form some self-control and eventual mature sexuality.

        Psychosocially, the adolescent now turns his face even more
away from his family and toward the world with which he must come to
grips.  It is, perhaps, this aspect of adolescence which causes the
most strife between parents and their children.  Parents have come to
know and love a child who suddenly behaves as if he or she does not
know himself or herself.  Indeed, exactly what is happening is a
struggle on the part of the adolescent to "find himself," to arrive at
a personal identity, to be his own person.  Until now, the youth has
found much of his or her identity by incorporating and reflecting the
attributes and position assigned to him by his family. Suddenly, this
is no longer enough.  The world is, after all, there.  How will the
young person relate to it as an emerging adult?  The answers are
sought after in many ways.  Peer groups become critically important.
What one new friend thinks of an adolescent might make more difference
to him than what two old parents ever thought of him.

        Parents, during their childrens' adolescence, can do nothing
right.  Or, at least this is the way it appears to their omniscient
children.  It may help to realize that one of the reasons for this is
the youth's struggle for an identity separate from his parents.  If
this is an ongoing task, then it is not surprising to find that
artificial distortions develop and that unnecessarily wide distances
are placed by the youth between himself and his parents.  It is
perhaps the world's best, and worst, example of overcompensation in
order to achieve a reasonable mean.

        After having heard all of this, it may now come as a surprise
for you to be told that the adolescent is not only capable of rational
thought but that it is precisely during this period that he enters
what Piaget calls the cognitive stage of formal operations.  The
importance of the change can hardly be overemphasized.  It does not
necessarily represent any increase in I.Q., although it usually is
accompanied by a vast expansion in knowledge.  The chief
characteristic of this change is that the youth now becomes capable of
true propositional thought; he can formulate hypotheses and carry out
cognitive operations that are abstracted from concrete examples.  The
person can now form logical deductions from imagined conditions.


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(TALK FOR ABNEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL P.T.A.)
        The adolescent's expanded cognitive abilities interact with,
and hopefully help him to reasonably manage, the other changes which
he is experiencing in his biological, psychosexual, and psychosocial
life.  Intellectualization is sometimes used as a defense against
dealing with temporarily intolerable sexual impulses.  The ability to
think ahead and evaluate a hypothetical situation which he has no
referent for in past experience, may help him to evaluate social
relationships in an adaptive manner, which might keep him out of
trouble with his parents, his teachers, and the law.

        Most noticeably, the youth is now able to become concerned
with ideas and ideologies which were previously the province of adults
only.  Concerns with religious values and social values almost
inevitably bring conflict.  Here again, the norms of authority figures
must be put at some distance from the self to give the struggle for
personal values some chance to develop.

        In late adolescence, the question of a life work is being
seriously dealt with and for some people, the question is resolved.
Friendships become more stable, and if the question of a lifetime
personal-sexual partner is not resolved, the great lability which once
surrounded the issue is giving way to some stability.

        As the classical developmental period comes to a close, the
intrapsychic and interpersonal forces that have battered the young
person begin to settle down and find some congruence in a self,
governed by a more mature ego rather than by an uncontrolled id or an
overwhelming superego.

        I want to close by calling your attention to two myths. One
myth is held by the adolescent in the midst of his turmoil; the other
is held by his parents.  The adolescent believes, indeed swears by all
that is sacred and profane, that he will never, but never, be anything
like his parents.  The parents believe, (when they are not in complete
despair) that just as soon as this horrible stage called adolescence
is over, their child will see the light, face reality, and become
almost exactly as they are.  Fortunately, both are wrong.  What much
more usually happens is that the youth settles down, looks at his
parents as real people for perhaps the first time, and sees that they
are not the gods they appeared to be so long ago when he was a child,
but neither are they the fools or the demons that they seemed to be
only yesterday.  Parents, in turn, come to terms with the fact that
what they produced was produced by way of conception and not cloning.
There is no possibility of imitating God by creating our children in
exactly our own image and likeness.  But there is indeed every reason
to hope that our offspring will finally bear some resemblance to us
and that the resemblance will contain more of the positive things
which we have given them than the negative things with which we may
have, in spite of ourselves, afflicted them.

        I want to leave you with a message from The Prophet by Kahil
Gibran:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you,
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
. . .
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent
forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends
you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow
that is stable.


                        Salvatore A. Caruso, MSW, ACSW, BCSW
                        Clinical Social Worker


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THIRD INAUGURAL ADDRESS

June 30, 1990


        Judge Strain, Mayor Hart, Mayor Cusimano, members of the
Council, fellow public officials, Reverend Clergy, ladies and
gentlemen:

        Today, for the third time, you have given me the privilege of
taking the Oath of Office as Mayor of Slidell.  My respect for that
Oath and my gratitude for that privilege are as great today as they
were in May of 1985 and in June of 1986.

        Along with taking the Oath, I am also today delivering to you
an Inaugural Address for the third time.

        In preparing for this speech, it occurred to me that it is not
immediately obvious why we call these speeches "Inaugurals," nor
indeed why we deliver them at all.  The sound of the word raised a
suspicion.  The dictionary confirmed it. The word inaugurate means "to
induct into office with a formal ceremony," or "to make a formal
beginning of."  The definition makes it clear enough why such a speech
is given at all.

        But the etymology of the word "inaugurate" provided the most
interesting information and the most penetrating insight into what
this ritual is really about.  The word "inaugurate" comes from the
Latin word "inaugurare."  As always, etymology removes the cover from
definition.  Etymology reveals the soul of a word.  "Inaugurare" means
"to practice augury."  And "augury refers" to a rite of divination.
This was a rite practiced by the pagan priests of ancient Rome in
order to foretell the events of the future.  So, there, finally we
have it.  An Inaugural Address, based on the most fundamental root of
the word, is supposed to be a prophesy; it is supposed to be a
prediction of what is yet to come.

        If most of us who have just taken the Oath of Office were
newly arrived in public office, a foretelling of the future might
raise no anxiety.  But, as it is, all but two of us are veterans in
this business.  And, if history is any guide, perhaps we do not want
to know the future.  Perhaps if I go on like this much longer, I will
trigger several resignations right here on the platform.

        But an Inaugural Address, in practical fact, serves the
serious and more common functions of community celebration, community
review, official disclosure, and the setting of a tone for public
policy and government activity.

        Ladies and gentlemen, when I spoke to you four years ago we
faced a future filled with both danger and opportunity. The revenue
base of this city had been so eroded that our ability for mere
maintenance was in serious question and any plans for progress were
out of the question.  Inaction guaranteed further deterioration and
action carried the risk of political retaliation.  Indeed, it was time
to decide whether our own Celestial Sphere was a sunrise or a sunset.

        In an epoch effort that began with a Mayoral decision, was
given practical life by a Councilmanic decision, and was finally
ratified by a majority of those voting in a special election in
September of 1986, we all saved our city from physical deterioration
and community mediocrity.  We all, by popular vote, expanded the
revenue base of Slidell.  And, in the words of Councilman Joseph
Martinez, "that has made all of the difference.  Without that decision
we could have done none of the positive things that we have done over
the past four years."

        And the "things that we have done" have been wonderful. The
City Council and I have led this city through a period of progress
perhaps never before seen in Slidell.  The accomplishments have ranged
all the way from invisible, underground infrastructure improvements to
the attraction of a major Manufacturers Retail Outlet Mall which is
already drawing into this city new revenues from people who live in
other cities.  And all of this was done within a framework of a solid
financial structure.  It was all recognized and rewarded by three
awards in five years from the Louisiana Municipal Association.


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(THIRD INAUGURAL ADDRESS)
        Our physical progress has been extraordinary.  And even though
we still have a lot of the same sort of work on the public agenda, our
greatest challenge involves a totally different area of human
development and community achievement.

        In my first Inaugural Address in May of 1985 I talked to you
about the building of Community in Slidell.  I told you that
"community presupposes a willingness to compromise, to give up a bit
of personal convenience for the sake of the common good."  I talked
about the necessity of principle in formulating public policy.  I told
you that "policy without principle is only expediency."  Throughout
the past five years I have repeatedly called upon all of us, officials
and citizens alike, to take the public's business as seriously as we
take our personal business.  Over and over again, I have reminded all
of us, myself included, that public policy requires thoughtfulness and
hard work; that the rules of human decency and fair play are not
suspended by the rules of politics; that political party, race,
religion, and gender are not reasons for differential treatment; that
cooperation often requires mutual accommodation, and that reciprocity
facilitates reconciliation.

        My fellow citizens, it is in these areas of the human soul and
community spirit that we still must make the most progress.

        Without a doubt, Slidell is a superior city.  Our people are,
generally, well-educated and responsible.  Our economy, though not
booming, is the envy of many other cities in the state.  Our public
officials are among the best in the state, but none of us are perfect.

        Today I call upon the people themselves to take public
business as seriously as you take your personal business.  And I call
upon you to do that not just with attention but with affection, not
just with opinions but with thoughtfulness, not just from necessity
but from generosity, not just from personal preference but from a
concern for the common good.

        If conflict is a requirement for the survival of democracy,
then compromise is a requirement for the progress of people.  If we
always insist on having it all our way, if we can never attribute some
decency and some rights to the other side, then sooner or later the
common cloth is unravelled by common stubbornness.

        In the midst of my call for compromise and the common good, I
feel compelled to warn you about something that is troubling me
greatly.  Ladies and gentlemen, it is a source of pain and anxiety for
me to tell you this, but sooner or later we are going to have to deal
with it.  I sense at the present time a resurgence of racism such as
we have not seen since the late '50's and throughout the '60's.  Many
of us thought that the crucible of the Civil Rights Movement, the
leadership and the assassinations of President Kennedy, Senator Robert
Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and several dedicated but innocent
private citizens had produced enough grief to induce enough growth to
get us past the worst symptoms of this terrible disease.

        Possibly it is not so.  It seems possible that racial hatred,
like roaches, cannot be eradicated.  When I speak of racism I am
talking about it on both sides of the color line.  I am talking about
it naked and raw, and I am talking about it clothed not in a white
sheet, but in subtlety and sophistication.

        Racism is an attitude and behavior which treats people
differently and negatively, not because of their behavior, but because
of their color.  I reject completely the idea that racism is
contingent upon power and wealth.  Racism is a matter of the head and
the heart, not of position and purse.  Both blacks and whites can be
and are guilty of it.

        I tell you all of this both because of the danger we face and
because, thank God, far more people, black and white alike, are decent
human beings who can help us to prevent another tragic era of hatred
and violence.


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(THIRD INAUGURAL ADDRESS)
        Late in his life Thomas Jefferson called the gathering storm
over slavery "a fire bell in the night" that would sooner or later
awaken the nation to a conflagration.  I call upon all of our citizens
to listen for the sounds of our own "firebell in the night" and to
respond to those sounds with reason, with justice, with love, with a
recognition that we are all God's children.  There is still time.  We
cannot turn over either this community or this state to neo-Nazis, to
plain clothes Klansmen, or to black militants.  We are better than
that.

        And now I want to turn some attention to those of us whom the
people of Slidell have chosen to govern the city for the next four
years.

        All of us except Councilman Schedler and Police Chief Morris
are veteran public officials.  We have some idea of what public office
brings.  And, yet, we are back.  To Tommy and to Ben I extend to you
my warm welcome, my promise to help you in the transition from normal
life to public life and my assurance that none of us are as bad as the
character described by Aristophanes when he said:

        "You have all of the characteristics of a popular politician:
a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner."  (c. 450-385
B.C.)

Ancient Greece may have been a bit like Louisiana, but old
Aristophanes clearly never knew anything about Slidell.

        The responsibility carried by public officials is only
partially related to the scope of our jurisdiction, because ultimately
all of us are performing on the stage of the human mind, the stage of
the human heart, the stage of the human community. When our decisions
affect those entities, the responsibility is heavy indeed.

        There is a common mistake often repeated by public officials.
And, on the surface, this mistake seems to be not only correct, but
virtuous.  Too often we hear it said that our first obligation is to
our constituents.  That is not true.  Our first obligation is to the
truth, to reason, and to justice.  Fortunately, in Slidell our
obligation to those ultimate values is seldom in conflict with our
obligation to our constituents.  But where a conflict does exist it is
our responsibility to honor the values over the votes.  That is what
political courage is all about.

        Leadership requires more than telling people what they want to
hear.  Leadership requires more than giving our people a penetrating
glimpse into the obvious.  Leadership requires more than demagogic
pablum guaranteeing a lack of progress by reinforcing popular
misconceptions.

        Leadership requires sensitivity both to our constituents and
to our consciences.

        In the words of President Nixon:

        . . .all of us, in fact, are sometimes tempted to adopt the
attitude: Why borrow trouble?  Why take a position on controversial
issues? And if you have to take a stand, always support what appears
to be the popular side of the question.

        Today we must not fall into that error.  We must have the
courage to take firm and clear positions on the great issues of our
time, and in doing so, we must not let a Gallup Poll make up our minds
for us. What may be the easy or popular answer to a hard question may
not always be the right one.  And the man who believes that what
appears to be an unpopular position is the right one should make it
his business to make it the popular one.

        And so, I remind myself and my fellow public officials that
while election depends upon a majority of votes, good government
depends upon moral principles.  May God grant that the two are seldom
in conflict.


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(THIRD INAUGURAL ADDRESS)
        Principle can be and must be applied in real life situations.
That requirement will demand our cooperation.  It will demand
compromise.  And, both principle and humanity should call for more.
We should look forward to and try to build or rebuild genuine personal
respect, and even beyond that, sensitivity and a real caring for each
other.  There is not much that cannot be healed by good will, mutual
forgiveness, a single standard of expectations and behavior, the rule
of reciprocity, and concern for the common good.

        And so, in closing, I issue you an invitation in the words of
John F. Kennedy:

        . . .let us begin anew, remembering on both sides that
civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to
proof.

        Thank you.  And God Bless all of you.


                        Salvatore A. "Sam" Caruso, MSW
                        Mayor
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