No Politics, Please

Our new book focuses on the people of the pine barrens and so Bob has been working on the list of those we will have in the book. They range from the old Pineys with no teeth and chewing tobacco running down the side of the mouth to PhD's who take university classes into the pines to study the plants and animals. It's been quite fascinating to see the range of people and personalities, life stories, as Bob brings home the pictures and the notes from his interviews. I listen to him (unendingly it seems), review the pictures and then put it all together on the pages of the book to tell the story. In the beginning he wanted me to go with him to help with the interviews and portraits, but I staked my place at the computer, citing the time and effort involved in putting it all together and working with the publisher. Yesterday, however, he convinced me to go with him to interview former NJ Governor Brendan Byrne. The pinelands are "our country's first national reserve" and it seems that Brendon Byrne was responsible for that during his term as governor (1974-1982). In fact, in 2002 one large part of the forest was renamed as Brendan T. Byrne State Forest in his honor. He's now about 82 years old but quite vibrant and energetic. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School and claims that he was "never a politician, only ran for office twice in my life." It was during the Watergate years that his party tagged him for the governorship. He was the Essex county prosecutor and while working with the FBI on mob crimes he had become known by the mob as the "boy scout" and the man who couldn't be bought. His party (Democrat) was looking for a clean image (hard to find among them) and thus the governor. We had a thoroughly interesting interview with him after which he invited us to lunch. I dutifully refrained from any political discussions. :) The story of how he became interested in the pine barrens is a good tale, but you'll have to read our book! Here's our picture with the Governor.