Ready, Aim, Draw! War Toys Are Cartoonists’ Target

--Christmas sales of war toys may lag a bit this year--if the pen is mightier than the sword. About 150 newspaper cartoonists, including eight Pulitzer Prize winners, will join free-lance St. Louis cartoonist Bob Staake’s crusade against toys that glorify warfare. Their anti-war cartoons are to appear in the papers Dec. 10 through 24. “Our cartoons ask America to put Gumby, not Rambo, under the Christmas tree,” said Staake, 29. “At a time when we are supposed to be celebrating peace, it seems insane to turn war into a Christmas present.” He said that war toys account for 35% of all toy sales, and that those sales have risen 600% since 1982. Paul Conrad of The Times is one of the Pulitzer Prize winners to participate in the campaign to get military toys off the shelves. Other Pulitzer winners expected to take part are Tony Auth of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Tom Darcy of Newsday, Eugene Payne of the Charlotte (N. C.) Observer, Mike Peters of the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, Ben Sargent of the Austin (Tex.) American Statesman, Paul Szep of the Boston Globe and Don Wright of the Miami News.

--Charles Jacobs was not about to fall into a speed trap in O’Fallon, Ill.--not without a fight. The electrical engineer from Bellville, Ill., was cited for doing 48 m.p.h. in a 30-m.p.h. zone, but his day in court would have put a smile on Perry Mason’s face. “I’m kind of an analytical person,” said Jacobs, 58, who acted as his own lawyer. “I did not notice the sign, so I tried to analyze why I did not notice the sign.” His research produced a defense that proved convincing to Michael O’Malley, an associate judge. Jacobs, who works at Scott Air Force Base, said “there was no advance warning, and the signs were too small.” “Some of it was stuff even I didn’t know,” said O’Malley, who hinted at the demise of the speed trap. “The interest of the city seemed to be more to set up a speed trap than to protect their citizens.” Jacobs was acquitted.

--For a time, Bill and Donna Jean Norton of Glacier, Wash., felt as trapped as their guests. The owners of the Mt. Baker Baptist Conference Center took in about 300 of the 1,000 skiers who were stranded last month when rains washed out the single highway leading out of the ski area. The expenses for the skiers’ three-day stay--including food and the hefty telephone bills rung up--came to $3,000. Funds from the Red Cross, the skiers’ parents and others will help the Nortons break even.