Art Isn’t Barn-Burner but It’s Something to Chew On

--Harley Warrick’s paintings are high art--high up on barns--but the country’s last Mail Pouch sign painter also is finding a growing indoor demand for his work. Warrick, 60, was at the North Market in Columbus, Ohio, last weekend to do an indoor version of his masterpiece--an 8-by-16-foot rendition of Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco. Treat Yourself to the Best. “I do about 30 or 40 a year for people who just want a Mail Pouch sign on their barn or living room wall,” said Warrick, who was commissioned to paint the sign in Columbus as part of the market’s annual Strawberry Festival. “It’s the American way. If something becomes scarce, everybody wants one,” he said. At one time, Mail Pouch had eight men who painted the signs on barns in nine states, making the slogan familiar to rural travelers. Even though there are only about 1,000 Mail Pouch signs remaining, Warrick said repainting them and filling new orders keeps him busy. “I’m not planning on retiring,” he said, “but I have noticed the barns are getting taller and the ladders are getting heavier.”

--Rock star Bruce Springsteen has donated $20,000 to help British coal miners who lost their jobs in a bitter yearlong strike, a member of a miners support group said. Anne Suddick, a local leader of the Women Against Pit Closures, said the check was handed over at the end of a meeting in Durham, England, with the singer, currently on tour in Britain. Suddick said: “He’s somebody who cares about people who have been victimized.”

--Lanesboro, Minn., made national news when former Police Chief Jack Munns asked the town council to purchase a second gun, complaining that he and a part-time officer had to exchange the town’s only pistol at the end of each shift. When the council turned him down, the publicity drew the donation of a hefty .357-caliber handgun from the Sturm-Ruger Co. Munns liked the gun so well he took it with him when he retired. But the council asked him to return it, and it is now “right here in the safe in City Hall,” City Clerk Keith Burmeister said. The new chief, Richard Meier, is using a borrowed gun. But Burmeister said heavy weaponry is not really needed in Lanesboro (pop. 1,100). “Really all you need is five rocks in your pocket,” he said. “But you got to have a good arm.”