Pope Came Through Loud, Clear With a Little Help

What do Evel Knievel, Joey Heatherton, Supertramp, Evita and Shamu’s trainers have in common with Pope John Paul II?

They all use body mikes made in Miramar.

HM Electronics Inc. of San Diego became purveyor of discreet sound systems to His Holiness this month when the Pope wore, for the first time, a wireless body microphone secreted in his cassock during an appearance in Los Angeles.

The pontiff wished to be unencumbered by wiring during his appearance before 6,000 schoolchildren at Universal Studios. So his handlers summoned Bill Mayhew, a wireless whiz, who immediately ordered HM’s state-of-the-art gizmo.

“I was told at the pre-production meeting that I would not be allowed to touch the Pope,” said Mayhew, owner of Mayhew and Co. in Los Angeles. “I said that was all right with me, as long as he couldn’t touch me.”

The organizers arranged for a priest who has a radio show and is familiar with sound systems to plant the mike on the Pope’s person. Then there was a dry run, according to Mayhew, using a stand-in attired in a cassock of the Pope’s proportions.

“(The priest) was to ask if (the Pope) would mind stepping out of his cassock,” recalled Mayhew. “If the answer was no, (the priest) would say, ‘Would you mind unzipping just your top?’ And in both cases, the Holy Father said no, he wouldn’t do it!”

They ended up hiding two transmitters under the Pope’s sash and hiding the two microphones in the cassock. Mayhew said the two systems were for “double redundancy” in case of foul-up: “Murphy’s Law enters into this a lot.”

Now HM is reaping the benefits.

“It hopefully will tie in nicely with the initial release of our new product,” said J. Michael Hughes, marketing manager for HM, which also makes intercoms for McDonald’s. “While (sales reps) are out in the field talking about the new product, they can do some name-dropping.”

A Conquering Spirit

Childhood polio left Wayne Raffesberger’s left leg three inches shorter than his right. But next week, the 36-year-old Point Loma man will leave for Africa where he intends to use both legs to propel him up the continent’s highest mountain, Kilimanjaro.

The expedition is not simply a personal challenge; it’s also an effort to repay a symbolic debt. Raffesberger is seeking sponsors and turning their donations over to Children’s Hospital, where he was treated for polio 32 years ago.

“Kilimanjaro is not the hardest climb in the world,” Raffesberger said. “ . . . What we like is the idea that it’s symbolic. It’s a mountain, and as I told them, when you have polio as a little boy, you don’t exactly grow up dreaming of being a mountain climber.”

Raffesberger is a relative newcomer to climbing: He learned last year--by climbing the Matterhorn. He had seen it in college, been impressed, and thought it would be incredible to climb. So he read a book on it, contacted a guide and went.

He has also scuba dived the Great Barrier Reef, parachuted and skied 15 miles down from the top of a glacier in New Zealand. He has done the Tecate-Ensenada bike ride several times and rafted in the wilds of the Northwest.

The risks in Africa include altitude sickness--a crippling nausea combined with headaches and dizziness, which he has experienced before. Then there are the difficulties of climbing with one weak leg--as Raffesberger puts it, with no calf, ankle or back of the leg.

Raffesberger, who can be found pedaling a mountain bike up and down the hills of Point Loma, expects to raise $6,000 to $10,000 for the hospital and is asking that sponsorships be directed to the Children’s Hospital Foundation.

A Young Eagle Soars

James Cook of La Jolla became an Eagle Scout this summer at the ripe old age of 12--the youngest boy that 75-year-old Roland Linger has seen achieve that elevated status in Linger’s 54 years as a scoutmaster.

Linger wonders if the feat has anything to do with the absence of television from the Cook home. Ellen Cook says her son is simply “pretty achievement-oriented.” As for James, he suggests there are just a lot of things in life that capture his curiosity.

Like dentistry, atomic energy, oceanography, space exploration, computers, farm mechanics, bugling, genealogy, radio, small-boat sailing and numismatics--a small sampling of the fields in which Cook earned merit badges in his three years as a Scout.

Twenty-one merit badges are required for Eagle Scouthood. Cook has 45.

“I got the easy ones,” he mused this week, in a self-deprecating way. Still to come: Backpacking, pig raising, soil and conservation, drafting, engineering.

Only 2% of all Scouts become Eagle Scouts, and many of those then drop out immediately. Cook intends to stay on in Troop 4--in part because the problem with Scouting these days, he figures, is there are few people around for the less-experienced to look up to.

“I just kind of feel that’s the right thing to do,” said Cook, now 13, who received his Eagle Scout honor in a formal ceremony last week. “ . . . We’ve had a lot of kids come into our troop. I’d kind of like to set an example for them.”