This Song Is Your Song, Arlo Guthrie Tells Northwest

--Folk singer Arlo Guthrie is paying a sentimental visit to the Pacific Northwest to help his cousin, Washington state Rep. Joe Tanner, launch a campaign to make a tune by his father the official state folk song. Guthrie joined with other musicians to sing the song, Woody Guthrie’s “Roll On, Columbia, Roll On,” on the Capitol steps. Woody Guthrie wrote 26 songs for the federal Bonneville Power Administration during a 30-day period in 1941 for use in a movie, “The Columbia,” aimed at helping open the Northwest to hydroelectric power. “Most of his songs were concerned about the simple integrity of being a human being,” Guthrie, 37, said at an impromptu concert for 400 Bonneville employees. “He wanted people to feel good about themselves. I think (Woody) would find it interesting that 45 years after he wrote it, the song is still remembered by people.” Arlo, who is perhaps best known for his song “Alice’s Restaurant,” joked that his father had not really wanted to come to the Northwest. “He’d just run out of places that he could go safely, and I suspect that’s why there’s a whole lot of people up here.”

--Former Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine A. Ferraro is traveling with her husband on a private, five-nation European fact-finding tour. Ferraro said in Rome that she felt as if “I’ve been almost hibernating” since the unsuccessful attempt with Walter F. Mondale to unseat President Reagan. She met with Italy’s Socialist Prime Minister Bettino Craxi and was to meet in private audience with Pope John Paul II today. After the meeting with Craxi she went to her father’s birthplace, the small village of Marcianise near Naples, for a family reunion. “Riding down from Rome behind a police escort after seeing the prime minister of Italy, I thought, if only my father were alive to see this, going to his hometown. It really filled me with emotion.”

--Her running mate, meanwhile, was in Oslo, where he met with King Olav V and Prime Minister Kaare Willoch. Walter F. Mondale planned to visit the headquarters of Statoil, the Norwegian state oil company, in Stavanger, before returning to Oslo for a gathering with relatives. Mondale’s grandfather, Ole Mundal, emigrated to the United States from Norway.

--Dozens of fans crowded Pentagon corridors as actor Clint Eastwood swept by with five security men. “He’s exciting,” said Dolores Atkins, who stepped away from her desk to get a view of Eastwood, who was there to meet with Michael Burch, Pentagon chief of public affairs. Burch’s duties include deciding whether to approve Defense Department assistance to films with military themes. Eastwood’s Malpaso Production Co. is seeking assistance with its new film, “Heartbreak Ridge,” in which the actor will play a veteran sergeant. Although acknowledging that he had some problems with the script, Burch said: “We would be interested in a film with Clint Eastwood in uniform. That would be great.”