The Power of Words. Clintons barnstorm Block Island

8/18/97
Clintons barnstorm
Block Island
By CHRISTOPHER ROWLAND and KAREN LEE ZINER
Journal-Bulletin Staff Writers

       BLOCK ISLAND -- In a brief but bright day trip before cheering and excited crowds, President Clinton churned his way through Block Island yesterday, speeding down its roads in his motorcade and charming the island with an impromptu stop for ice cream.
       With First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and daughter Chelsea, the president partook of Block Island's natural beauty with gusto.
       The president climbed the Southeast Light, motored around the rolling countryside and dined on striped bass at one of the island's elegant Victorian hotels. Sen. Jack Reed, who invited the Clintons to visit the island, played host.
       While the White House had billed the trip as a time for quiet reflection on the way to a three-week Martha's Vineyard vacation, the excursion was anything but.
       The only private moments he spent were at the home of developer Gerald Zarrella, down a long driveway off Corn Neck Road. The rest of the time, Mr. Clinton was feeding on the energy of enthusiastic crowds.
       As the historic trip ended in a twinkle of helicopter lights at 8:30 p.m., Reed said Mr. Clinton was impressed with Rhode Island's verdant gem off the South County coast.
       He said the president kept gushing, "I love this place. I really love this place."
       The presidential party landed in Air Force One at Quonset State Airport at 2:44 p.m. and transferred to the Marine One helicopter destined for Block Island.
       The Clintons were met by Reed, Governor Almond, and Maj. Gen. Reginald A. Centracchio, commander of the Rhode Island National Guard.
       Almond said he described Block Island to the president and first lady as a little Vermont in the middle of the ocean, because of its rolling farm land. The governor also said he told the president that the people of Block Island deserve recognition for their work in preserving the island's landscape.
       "I call it the independent nation of New Shoreham," he said.
       Almond gave the first family gifts, including soap made in the shape of the island, two pair of earrings made from its sea glass, three Block Island T-shirts and a State House Christmas ornament.
       The Clintons departed for Block Island in a four-helicopter squadron. In only a few minutes a distant thudding sound began to reach the island's shores.
       "Choppers. Choppers are coming," yelled someone in the huge, anticipatory crowd of year-round island residents, summer cottage people and day-trippers at the small airport.
       A couple of thousand people craned their necks and pointed at two dots in the lightly overcast, eastern sky. Parents hoisted children onto their shoulders. The first two helicopters to alight contained Secret Service agents and the White House press corps sprouting TV cameras and microphone booms. Two more helicopters touched down in a hot wash of exhaust at 3:30 p.m., one containing the first family and Reed.
       A cheer went up as they disembarked. Among the throng waiting to say hello behind ropes and fences were Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. and former state Sen. Myrth York, a likely Democratic candidate for governor.
       Town First Warden Kimberly Gaffett strode across to welcome the president, causing Mr. Clinton to make a quip about her job title when he stepped up to a microphone.
       "It took me a moment to realize the first warden was your highest elected official on the island," he said. "I thought I was going to be arrested for something."
       His airport comments were the only formal remarks he made all afternoon.
       "I was stunned to see this crowd when I was coming down in the helicopter," Mr. Clinton said. "I'm anxious to be here and have some fun."
       Striking an environmental note, he explained how Reed had detailed extensive preservation efforts on the island during the ride over from Quonset.
       "I hope," Mr. Clinton said, "that all of you will remain committed to preserving this beautiful island."
       But Mr. Clinton passed on the opportunity to tour some of the pristine areas preserved by the government and The Nature Conservancy. Instead, he seemed to relish wading through crowds, touching hands and speaking to people.
       The Block Island Ecumenical Choir sang "God Bless America" when the first lady worked her way down to the east end of the airport. And children with freshly minted Block Island School shirts lined up in a row and presented the president with a shirt of his own.
       Hillary Clinton chatted with parent Sue Littlefield about bee-keeping, and a Block Island cookbook found its way into her hands.
       "Thank you all so much," the first lady said.
       "We wish you could stay longer," someone in the crowd said.
       "So do we," Mrs. Clinton replied. "We'll just have to come back."
       Littlefield urged her to avoid peak season. "Come back in the winter. It's nice in the winter," she said.
       Annie Dorney, 5, held up a hand-painted sign that said, "Blackberries for Hillary." She picked them in the yard of her aunt that morning and held them in a a little bowl, which she was rapidly depleting.
       "It's been hard for her not to eat, because it's been hours, said her mother, Margrete Miner, of Hopkinton, Mass. Later, Annie gave the blackberries directly to the president.
       As bouyant as the airport festivities were, the Clintons caused an even bigger sensation when they hit the road.
       Narrow lanes leading from the airport were jammed with cars and people lined up behind yellow police tape. At intersections, town and state police raised their hands in salute as the motorcade snaked through.
       When the chief executive's motorcade suddenly swung onto Water Street in the bustling Old Harbor district, the president surprised everyone by jumping out to shake hands.
       Hundreds of people ran and biked into the downtown, lining up 15 deep in a tight knot around him.
       Wearing a white bikini top and shorts, Ellen Walker, 33, of Weymouth, Mass., sprinted from her table at the porch bar of the National Hotel, skipped down the hotel steps and onto the sidewalk when she saw the motorcade round the corner.
       "I shook his hand!" she shrieked.
       "This is quite amazing," observed Gail Nivens, who ran half a mile in flip-flops to greet Mr. Clinton. "I think it's totally excellent."
       The Clintons have often been quite protective of Chelsea, but in the last year, she has begun greeting the public, as well. Wearing a white hat with a navy band, she shook hands with dozens of people. At her side was her school chum from Sidwell Friends School in Washington, Rebecca Kolsky. After this vacation, she will head for her freshman year at Stanford.
       "How you doin,' Chelsea?" asked 16-year-old Dave Blanchard, of Plainfield, Conn., as the president's daughter prepared to climb into her van. Chelsea just smiled and waved.
       Mr. Clinton and his Secret Service contingent moved steadily down the street, stopping occasionally for longer chats. The president stopped to talk policy with Brendan Purcel, a Ballard's bartender and University of Rhode Island journalism major who asked how Mr. Clinton's college tuition tax credit bill was progressing.
       "He explained the whole bill," said Purcel. "It was wild just talking to the president."
       Secret Service agents kept the press and public well back when the Clintons waded into Ben & Jerry's. The president ordered peach raspberry trifle, low fat, and the first lady had a scoop of coffee. At one point, the security detail removed the ice cream shop staff and frisked them for weapons.
       Diane Langeloh, sister of proprietor Dick Langeloh, said, "They told us a couple of minutes before, the Secret Service men came in.
       "It was great. He was so friendly, he joked. One of the girls (who work there) is 6-foot-3. They took back-to-back pictures." Mr. Clinton went behind the counter to pick his own flavor.
       The newly svelte president passed on the flavor of the month, Chubby Hubby.
       After a few minutes at the shop everyone piled back into the motorcade and pulled out of downtown, taking a circular drive around the southern part of the island and ultimately to the seaside home of developer Gerald Zarrella. Later Mr. Clinton stopped off at the Southeast Light, strolling around on a circular balcony high above Mohegan Bluffs. Finally the Clintons drove to the Atlantic Inn, perched on a hill above town, for dinner.
       Innkeeper Brad Marthens will probably never forget this night. The president "struck me as being an extremely normal person" The Clintons "were like everyday guests. Except they weren't."
       The Clintons loved the first course but then had to hasten away, taking dessert, plum crisp with ginger ice cream, packed up to go. "They could not stay. . .they had to get out, due to the weather," said Marthens, speaking of a threatening storm.
       During the morning, before the presidential procession arrived, town employees tidied roads and residents were mowing their lawns.
       The arrival of the chartered ferry, Manitou, bristling with security forces and White House advance staff, attracted a gaggle of onlookers at 11:30. A black van studded with antennas and a dark plexiglass dome on top was the first vehicle off, followed by a state police bomb squad truck.
       Ken Farrar, a Wall Street stock broker from Westchester County, N.Y., snapped pictures as the ferry backed into the landing. Brian Farrar, 15, was duly impressed, particularly by a group of burly men in black combat boots carrying duffel bags.
       "I guess they don't mess around when the president is coming," he said.
       Meanwhile, a few people shrugged. Couldn't care less.
       "We're outta here!" said Evan Stackpole, of Fairhaven, Mass. "We sailed over" on his brother's 32-foot boat to pick up passengers and make a quick turn-around, he said.
       Not so quick, said his 5-year-old daughter.
       "I want to see the president!" said Taylor Stackpole, a poised child with a blond ponytail. "I just feel like it."
       At about 9:10 p.m., Air Force One roared off the runway at Quonset, taking the first family to Martha's Vineyard. Only a handful of bystanders watched through fences and military police ringing the airport.
With reports by staff writers Sara Olkon and Peter Lord.

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