No Blarney--Reagan Pays Tab for Taste of Ireland

For a few moments at least, Ireland was the one country on his mind as President Reagan, the son of Irish immigrants, toasted the Emerald Isle with a beer at a crowded Virginia pub in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. Reagan and conservative columnist James J. Kilpatrick made a surprise visit to Ireland’s Own in Alexandria, where they ate corned beef and cabbage and Reagan sipped a brew as the crowd belted out Irish folk songs. Reagan picked up the tab--$17.10, adding a $7 tip. Pausing to lament the “still unresolved problems in Northern Ireland,” Reagan urged support for peaceful solutions. In other St. Patrick’s Day festivities, Reagan accepted a Waterford bowl full of shamrocks from an Irish envoy and later attended a Capitol Hill function. There Democrats refrained from references to military action in Honduras to engage in a round of traditional Irish toasts with the President, including Reagan’s contribution: “Let those who love us love us. And those who don’t love us, let God turn their hearts. And if He won’t turn their hearts, let Him turn their ankles, so we’ll know them by their limp.”

--The Nashville luncheon to raise money for Dreammakers Inc., an organization that grants the wishes of terminally ill children, was standard fare, but the servers certainly weren’t. Waiting on tables was the willowy actress Brooke Shields, along with country music stars Lynn Anderson, Lee Greenwood and Charlie Daniels. In addition to the star service, about 80 celebrities offered caps, posters and T-shirts decorated with the Dreammakers logo for sale, with members of the country music band Sawyer Brown purchasing Shields’ apron for $500 in a bidding duel with musician Chet Atkins.

--He is neither married to a famous starlet nor the latest teen heartthrob. But to the hundreds of photographers chasing down Maine Gov. John R. McKernan Jr. like so many paparazzi, his picture is worth $1,000. Not to National Enquirer, but as the grand prize in WMME-FM radio station’s “Wild Moose Hunt.” Participants are required, among other things, to track down a losing Tri-State Megabucks lottery ticket, 92 signatures from 92 people, an air-sickness bag--and a picture of the state’s governor. McKernan was somewhat taken aback by the herd of shutterbugs outside the governor’s mansion, but conceded: “Everybody is in good spirits out there.”