In Little Big Water, a Libertarian Landslide Looms

--The New York Times has endorsed Democrat Michael S. Dukakis. The Washington Times is supporting Republican George Bush. But the Big Water Times is throwing its weight behind Libertarian Ron Paul. Alex Joseph, publisher of the twice-monthly, 1,800-circulation Utah paper, also just happens to be mayor of what is billed as the only Libertarian-controlled town in America. In addition to Joseph, all five members of the Big Water Town Council are Libertarians since a mass defection from the GOP in 1986. The 430 residents of Big Water like the smaller party’s philosophy because “they like being left alone and they like the no-property-tax mandate coming down from the town council” in 1986, Joseph said. Paul, a former four-term GOP congressman from Texas, has campaigned in Utah several times this year, saying he thinks the conservative, independent philosophy in Utah fits nicely with the Libertarian line. Joseph agreed, adding: “I think he’ll do better in Utah than he’ll do anywhere else.”

--A Grand Rapids., Mich., artist has vowed to fight tooth and nail for a sculpture he wants to erect in honor of the city that was the first in the world to fluoridate its drinking water back in 1945. But his plan has hit a nerve with area dentists. Mark Heckman envisions a 600-pound, 18-foot-long fiberglass tooth balanced atop a 22-foot-high stainless steel pole. The problem, according to the West Michigan Dental Society, is that the sculpture may perpetuate stereotypes linking dentistry with pain. “Fluoride is probably the single most significant healing effort in dentistry, and an extracted tooth represents just the opposite--feelings of pain or suffering or anxiety,” said Dr. Charles Caldwell, dental society president. Heckman said he changed his design from a conventional-looking molar to a more abstract shape, but to no avail. “. . . now the dentists are sensitive about it looking like a mutant molar--it makes them cringe,” Heckman said. And then there’s that steel pole. . . .”

--Another American artist is appealing to a different aesthetic. Christopher Janney installed a light-sensitive computer synthesizer in a Paris subway station to enable commuters to make their own music on their way to work. Riders were encouraged to make their own “interactive sound environment” by waving at each other across the platforms of the city’s St. Augustin station to interrupt the network of infrared beams. “They can come to work to the sound of flutes and go home to the sound of oboes,” Janney said of the three-day experiment.