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The Bridges of Madison County, set in mid-1960s Iowa with its rustic covered bridges, tells their story. The book became a word-of-mouth sensation and dominated bestseller lists all across America. It was followed in 1995 by a well-received Hollywood film of the same name starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood. Throughout the early- and mid-1990s, there was notable TV and radio coverage of the story, the book, and the film, as well as marketing of related books, music, photography, and Iowa tourism. How this story swept over America is quite a tale in its own right. First, the book's story — told in part below with the help of screen shots from the 1995 film.
The Author
The Bridges of Madison County came from a somewhat unexpected and unknown author — a Midwest born and bred economics professor named Robert James Waller. Born in 1939, Waller had grown up on a farm in Iowa, and had become something of a basketball player while in high school, winning a four-year athletic scholarship to the University of Iowa. However, after a year, he left the university and his scholarship, transferring to Iowa State Teachers College, later named Northern Iowa University. There he continued to play basketball, though quitting the sport in his senior year to pursue other interests. At Northern Iowa he received a BA in Business Education, met his wife, and began to develop interests in music and literature. By 1964 he also earned a Masters in Education from Northern Iowa. He then went to Indiana University where he received his PhD in 1968. Later that year he became a professor of economics and business management back at the University of Northern Iowa. He would become dean of the business school there for a time as well.
Although active in his academic field, Waller also had interests in music and writing. In 1988, he published a collection of essays with Iowa State University Press, followed by three more collections. He was also something of a photographer, and one day he was out taking pictures of covered bridges in Madison County, Iowa. That's when lightening struck, as they say; when Waller first got the idea for his book. He was also a guitar player and song writer, and remembered a song he had written about a woman named Francesca, and the dreams she had of love and a better life. That was essentially the kernel of the idea for the book's story — of an Italian war bride named Francesca brought back to middle America to live the life of an Iowa farm wife; a woman who becomes devoted to her marriage and family until one day when a stranger happens into her life. Once Waller had his core idea in place, he went on a non-stop writing binge, completing the book's manuscript in about two weeks.
The Story
Robert Kincaid is 52 years old when he arrives in Iowa on a professional photographic assignment. It is August 1965. He has come to Iowa from his home in Bellingham, Washington to take pictures of historic covered bridges for a National Geographic magazine article. The bridges are located in Madison County. Kincaid is a basic kind of guy, drinks Budweiser and smokes Camel cigarettes. But he also has another side; a bit softer, more creative, quoting famous poets now and then. Kincaid features himself as something of romantic and contrarian, and he's not always comfortable with the ways of the modern world. And in his worldly travels, he has also had his share of women.
Francesca Johnson is a 45 year-old farm wife, married to Richard Johnson, a good but unromantic Iowa farm man who she met in her native Italy during World War II. Johnson made Francesca his war bride and she consented because of his kindness and the promise of America. By 1965, Francesca and Richard have two teenage kids. Francesca is educated, has a degree in comparative literature, and has done some teaching at the local high school. She dearly loves her family, but is often isolated, lacking in intellectual engagement. So, in August 1965, with her family away at the Illinois State Fair for several days, her life suddenly takes a new turn when Robert Kincaid pulls his pickup truck into her farm driveway. He has stopped to ask for directions to the Roseman covered bridge.
To The Bridge
Since the rural roads to Roseman Bridge are not clearly marked, and Francesca has difficulty explaining how to get there, she offers to show him the way, riding along in his pick-up truck. When they arrive at Roseman bridge, she stays and watches him work as he shoots the bridge. Kincaid takes various shots of the bridge, some at a distance. However, he is losing the light he needs for certain shots and will return the next day to shoot more.
When they arrive back at Francesca's homeplace, she asks him in for a glass of iced tea, and after a bit of conversation, invites him to stay for dinner. In her farm kitchen, he helps her prepare vegetables for the meal, they share a few beers from his cooler, and exchange their life stories. After dinner they take a short walk in the pasture, followed by coffee and brandy back in the kitchen.
Francesca's Note
The evening ends as Kincaid takes his leave, needing to rise early for the next day's shoot. But something in Francesca has been stirred. Knowing that Kincaid will return to the bridge the next day, she drives there that night and tacks up a note where she knows Kincaid will find it. It is an invitation to dinner the following evening.
At dinner the next evening at her home, Robert and Francesca realize they have fallen in love, as their intense affair begins. During their four days together, they have much intimacy and tender conversation. He asks her to come away with him, but she cannot because of her sense of responsibility to her husband and family. Robert still wants her to leave with him and she actually packs her bags to go with him at one point. But in the end, she cannot abandon her husband and her two children. She explains that she could never bring such pain and humiliation to her family. She knows they would not survive the gossip and censure that would certainly follow such an event in the conservative farming community.
Kincaid relutantly leaves to continue his life of travel and photography, but Francesca is always on his mind and he on hers. They have only a couple of written contacts over the years, but never meet again, each holding fast to memories of their affair. During their four days together, Francesca gave Robert an ornate, hand-wrought medallion with her name etched on the back.
Years Later
After Kincaid has died, a package reaches Francesca that contains his cameras, the medallion she had given him, the old note she had tacked to the bridge. In the package there is also an explanatory letter that informs Francesca that Kincaid has passed away. She also learns that his cremated remains were scattered at the Roseman Bridge. Francesca's own husband by this time has passed away, and she lives out her days alone remembering her time with Robert. One day, at age 69, she is found dead slumped over her kitchen table. Francesca, however, has left instructions requesting that she be cremated and her ashes scattered at Roseman Bridge. This is something of a puzzle to her two grown and married children, since the family plan had been to bury her alongside their father.
In the book, the story is set up with an opening preface and frame of reference set in 1989, shortly after Francesca's death. Her passing has brought her two grown children back to the Iowa farm and the discovery of their mother's affair by way of Francesca's journals, an explanatory letter she has left for them, and a box full of Robert Kincaid mementos. In the book's preface, the two grown children have contacted the story's narrator, a writer, asking him to tell their mother's special love story, which then becomes the novel.
Getting To Print
After completing his manuscript for The Bridges of Madison County in 1990, Robert James Waller began his hunt for a publisher. Waller had published his earlier essay collections with Bill Silag, managing editor of Iowa State University Press, and the two had become friends. Silag's ex-wife was novelist Jane Smiley, who had written the best-seller and Pulitzer Prize-winning, A Thousand Acres (1991). She referred them to her agent in New York, Aaron Priest of the Aaron Priest Literary Agency.
Priest, however, did not handle Waller's book at first, nor did he read the manuscript. A junior member of his firm did, and later convinced Priest to read it. But Priest was not all that excited by Waller's book — at least initially. He told Waller in one phone call that the book was not really a novel at 42,000 words and was "pretty odd." It was not, he said, "the kind of stuff that sells." But he told Waller he'd call him back. A few days later Priest did call back after taking the book to three publishers. One of these, Warner Books, part of the Time-Warner Corporation, offered to publish it. A new editor there, Maureen Egen, who had come from Doubleday with long experience, made it her first project. She offered a $32,000 advance. That was September 1990.
Then in November 1990, Waller got even better news from Aaron Priest. Steven Spielberg wanted to buy the movie rights for the book for his Amblin Entertainment film production unit, then part of Dreamworks. This was 17 months before the book's publication;Steven Spielberg bought the movie rights 17 months before the book's publi- cation. certainly a good sign, but no guarantee of success, as hundreds of books are acquired for films, but few ever make it to the big screen. Still, a producer at Ambiln, Kathleen Kennedy, 36, who had made films such as, E.T., Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, and others, took a particular interest in Waller's story. She liked it and "found it moving." She especially liked that its characters were "mature" and the storyline was "not about a couple of 20-year-olds." And as she explained later, "…For me, it tapped into something deeper than a mid-life affair. I believe that a lot of people have the potential to fall in love with any number of people. You don't know what fate has in store." Still, at this stage, The Bridges of Madison County wasn't even a bona fide book.
Warner's Book Flaps
There are songs that come free from the blue-eyed grass, from the dust of a thousand country roads. This is one of them.
And so begins a story that you will never forget. . .
THE BRIDGES Of
. . . is the story of Robert Kincaid, a world-class photographer, and Francesca Johnson, an Iowa farm wife. Kincaid, fifty-two, is a photo- grapher for National Geographic. A strange, almost mystical traveler of Asian deserts, distant rivers, and ancient cities, he is a man who feels out of harmony with his time. Francesca Johnson, forty-five and once a young war bride from Italy, lives in the hills of south Iowa with flickering memories of her girlhood dreams. Each of them is content, yet when Robert Kincaid drives through the heat and dust of an Iowa summer and turns into her farm lane looking for directions, their illusions fall away, and they are joined in an experience of uncommon and stunning beauty, an experience that will haunt them forever. As the photographer Kincaid uses light to reveal not objects, but rather his own kind of truth, what occurs by the old bridges of Madison County becomes a prism transforming the ordinary emotions we think we understand into something rare and brilliant. The result is a passionate, deeply moving experience in lyrical prose, an achievement that puts Robert James Waller in the forefront of this country's new fiction writers.
As Bridges was being edited and readied for publication and marketing, it turned out that the big book chains weren't interested in the book, and would not be pre-ordering or stocking it. So the book's editor, Maureen Egen, devised another strategy.
Egen sent out four thousand "reading copies" of Bridges to independent booksellers — copies with a printed cover, not bound galleys. She also sent a letter with the book, praising it and citing its "universal truths." Egan urged the independents to "handsell" the book, which meant to employ a technique in which the seller engages directly with the customer while "clutching" the book — "even clutch the customer," Egan advised. "Sincerely confide to the customer," she stressed in her note, "'you've got to read this'." This strategy would later prove helpful to the book's success.
The "packaging" of the book was also a factor, as it was smaller in format than many big novels, with an attractive, understated cover, generous page margins, and slender in size at 171 pages. Or as Egen would put it, the"special look and feel of Bridges was "part of its charm". Some would even call the look "literary," a point of contention later for critics regarding the book's content. The publisher's book-leaf descriptions and back-jacket excerpt were also part of the book's marketing (see sidebars).
Warner Books first published The Bridges of Madison County in hardback in April 1992. The initial print run was a generous 29,000 copies for a first-time novel. In the book's first month back in Iowa, author Robert James Waller could be found at the B. Dalton Books in the Cedar Falls, Iowa mall waiting at the author's table in vain for someone to buy his novel. Some passers-by noticed the cover of the book and thought it might be about covered bridges.
The book's reception in some early reviews of 1992 was not very good. Library Journal in March found a "contrived, unrealistic dialog," while the The Washington Post in early April called the storyline "trite." But other reviewers were kinder.
Sara Jameson of The San Francisco Chronicle wrote in her review of April 26, 1992: "Readers looking for meaning and weary of rapid relationships will be drawn to this tale of lasting love." Jameson also advised, somewhat presciently, that readers "should resist efforts to pick apart this delightful story."
But by mid-summer of 1992, something started to happen with the book. Customers who had read it began returning to stores to buy multiple copies — up to 17 in one reported case. The book was being given out as a gift and pass-along to friends and family. At about that same time it was also being reported that Warner Books was providing "co-op money" to some book stores to help move the book.
In July 1992, Publishers Weekly reported that Warner's polling had found independents selling the book in "astounding numbers" — exceeding the rate for average titles and even bestsellers. Specific stores in Florida, California, Connecticut, Nebraska, and other locations were reporting higher than normal sales.
"He Noticed
He could have walked out on this earlier, could still walk. Rationality shrieked at him. "Let it go, Kincaid, get back on the road. Shoot the bridges, go to India. Stop in Bangkok on the way and look up the silk merchant's daughter who knows every ecstatic secret the old ways can teach. Swim naked with her at dawn in jungle pools and listen to her scream as you turn her inside out at twilight. Let go of this"- the voice was hissing now – "it's outrunning you."
But the slow street tango had begun. Somewhere it played; he could hear it, an old accordion. It was far back, or far ahead, he couldn't be sure. Yet it moved toward him steadily. And the sound of it blurred his criteria and funneled his own alternatives toward unity. Inexorably it did that, until there was nowhere left to go, except toward Francesca Johnson.
Warner, meanwhile, was also placing a few strategic ads for the book here and there, as in a full-page ad in the Time-Warner owned People magazine in July 1992. Favorable reviews were also appearing around the country. George Myers, Jr. of The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio wrote in a July 24, 1992 review that Bridges was a "beautifully written . . . triumphant first novel."
Other reviewers from Midwest newspapers in the summer and fall of 1992 were also praiseworthy. In mid-September 1992, Irene Nolan of The Louisville Courier-Journal wrote that, "overly sentimental or not, The Bridges of Madison County is a haunting tale. . . . Waller has crafted a deeply moving story that is cleverly told. His spare writing and his lovely use of the language make it even more compelling." Judith Kelman, wrote in The Plain Dealer of Cleveland, Ohio of November 14, 1992, that Bridges was "a memorable, magical read…"
In the book trade meanwhile, Bridges made its first appearance on the Publishers Weekly bestseller list August 10, 1992. A week later it hit the New York Times list at #12, a major accomplishment for a first-time novelist. Bridges would remain on the Times list for the next 23 weeks, fluctuating during that time between #6 and #12. Word-of-mouth sales and sales by independent book stores were believed to have propelled the book to best-seller status.
Charles Champlin, writing in the January 17, 1993 edition of the Los Angeles Times Book Review, described the book as a "sleeper;" one that takes off slowly without benefit of splashy advertising, book-club promotion, or a flood of rave reviews, "but that ends up on the best-seller list the old fashioned way — because readers fall in love with it and tell their friends." And that's exactly what had happened. But the surprise best-selling reign of this book was just beginning.
National Exposure: NPR
On January 12, 1993, author Robert James Waller, appeared as a guest on National Public Radio's All Things Considered show. He was interviewed by NPR's Noah Adams. It was the first time that Waller, as Bridges' author, would talk about the book before a national audience. NPR had Waller on the show because his book had then been on the bestsellers list for 22 weeks and he was an unknown author from Iowa. By month's end, January 1993, The Bridges of Madi-son County was No. 1 on the New York Times best sellers list. During the interview, Waller spoke of people calling him on the phone and explaining how much they liked the book, some crying when they read it. He also mentioned on that show that Steven Spielberg had bought the movie rights.
The NPR exposure helped the book gain a bit more notice, pushing it up the New York Times bestseller list. By the January 24, 1993 listing, it had moved from #7 to #2. It was now ahead of competitor titles such as John Grisham's The Pelican Brief and Danielle Steel's Mixed Blessings, among others. On the next week's list, Bridges hit #1 for the first time. In February 1993, Cosmopolitan magazine published excerpts from the novel. Barnes & Noble and Waldenbooks, meanwhile, were running Valentine's Day specials on the book. The big book chains, following the reports of the independents, had begun ordering and stocking Bridges in the second half of 1992. Bridges was now ranked #1 on their bestsellers lists, too. And the book continued to receive attention in the print media through early Spring. In May, Ladies Home Journal published excerpts of Bridges in its magazine. Then came national television.
Oprah Boosts BookThe Oprah Winfrey Show in 1993 was the highest-rated talk show in America. Broadcast out of Chicago, the syndicated television show had a devoted following of some 8 million or so viewers, mostly women. On May 21, 1993, the show was filmed on location, at the Cedar Bridge in Winterset, Iowa – "the location where the fictional Robert Kincaid and Francesca first met," as Oprah would later say. The Oprah TV episode was entitled "Bridge of Love," and the show featured the book, its author, and other guests. At the outset of the show Winfrey called Bridges her "favorite book of the year . . . one of the most romantic, stirring tales of true love I've ever read".
Oprah also engaged her guests in conversation about their "real-life love affairs." The show also reunited a man with a woman he fell in love with 20 years earlier, "just like in the book." Waller and his wife Georgia Ann also appeared. At one point Waller sang ballads from a forthcoming album of songs, The Ballads of Madison County issued on Atlantic Records, a Time-Warner company. On the TV show, Oprah called it her "favorite book of the year." One of the songs, "Madison County Waltz," written by Waller, is about the book's story. On the show, Winfrey thanked Waller for writing the book, calling it "a gift to the country," and said the reason they were doing the show in Iowa was to share the story with the nation. Oprah admitted to crying when she read the book, said she had recommended it to many people, including her best friend Gayle, who also cried while reading it. At this point in Oprah's career, she had yet to form her Oprah Book Club, which would in later years have an important impact on particular titles she mentioned or endorsed. Still, club or not, Oprah's blessing for Bridges was a huge boost — resulting in sales of an additional 250,000 copies — even though the book was already a solid bestseller and had been at #1 or #2 on the New York Times bestsellers list for over five months.
On the show, Winfrey thanked Waller for writing the book, calling it "a gift to the country," and said the reason they were doing the show in Iowa was to share the story with the nation. Oprah admitted to crying when she read the book, said she had recommended it to many people, including her best friend Gayle, who also cried while reading it. At this point in Oprah's career, she had yet to form her Oprah Book Club, which would in later years have an important impact on particular titles she mentioned or endorsed. Oprah "leaned over to [Waller] on a commercial break, and said, 'By the end of this weekend, you won't be able to buy a copy of The Bridges of Madison County in America.'" Still, club or not, Oprah's blessing for Bridges was a huge boost even though the book was already a solid bestseller and had been at #1 or #2 on the New York Times bestsellers list for over five months.
Oprah's show helped propel the book even more into popular discourse, adding to its luster and further enhancing sales. Reportedly, during taping of the show, Oprah "leaned over to [Waller] on a commercial break, and said, 'By the end of this weekend, you won't be able to buy a copy of The Bridges of Madison County in America.'" Indeed, following Oprah, more publicity and marketing came for the book and for Iowa. On the cover of the June 14, 1993 issue of Publishers Weekly — which sells its cover space to advertisers — Warner proclaimed Bridges as, "[T]he All-Time Word of Mouth Bestseller." Back in Iowa, a parade of other national media followed Oprah's lead, exploring the story and the place: Charles Kuralt, VH-1, news crews from NBC, CBS, ABC, and CNN, some covering the impact of bestseller on the local community. Oprah's show also made real the setting for the story by filming the TV show at the actual bridge in Iowa, which would help the local economy there by boosting tourism, magnified later by the subsequent filming of the movie there.Warner Books, meanwhile, had also issued some related Bridges products. Two audiobook versions of Bridges appeared in 1993, licensed to Dove Audio. The first version, read by Waller, was released in February. The second, released in July, featured celebrity voices, among them Ben Kingsley as Kincaid, Isabella Rossolini as Francesca, and Curtis Mayfield as Nighthawk" Cummings, Kincaid's jazzman friend.
In July 1993, Atlantic Records, a Warner subsidiary, released an album of original and cover songs sung by the book's author, Waller, a sometimes singer and guitar player. Titled The Ballads of Madison County, the CD included similar cover art from the book and a lyric booklet featuring the same Waller photographs of the bridges found in the book. Liner notes from Waller in the CD package described the songs as the kind of country music Robert and Francesca might have heard on Robert's truck radio or in the farm house kitchen. The CD, however, did not do well. The book, however, was still #1 on the New York Times list selling at a rate of between 40,000-to-50,000 copies a week.
New York "Gatekeepers"
Despite its huge popularity, however, the book had its critics. A literary backlash had begun with some New York and other "gatekeepers" as they were called, debating whether the book should be called literature or pulp romance. On March 28, 1993, for example, the New York Times Book Review published its first review of Bridges. Eils Lotozo, filing a brief article on the book the "In Short" section said Waller failed to develop "believable characters" and that the love between Kincaid and Francesca "belongs more to the world of fantasy than reality." He also suggested the book was not literary fiction. A second New York Times review came on July 25, 1993 from Frank Rich, who ripped the book apart in a full-page Sunday New York Times Magazine piece entitled "One Week Stand." Although Bridges came under withering attack in some corners, the criti- cism had little apparent effect on the book's con- tinuing popularity. According to Rich, the book "presents itself as God's gift to women even as it furthers their subjugation." He painted Robert Kincaid's character as "the old hero of a thousand puerile traveling-salesman jokes resurrected in noble threads for a contemporary audience." In his critique, Rich also disputed Oprah Winfrey's contention that the book was a "gift to the country," quoting one Manhattan book store owner who called Bridges "mass dressed up as class."
Outside of New York there were also critics. Pauli Carnes, a female reviewer writing freelance for the Los Angels Times in April 1993, called Waller's book "porn for yuppie women." She especially disliked the escapism and fantasy in the novel, and felt it was the "story of a life wasted." Chicago Tribune columnist Jon Margolis, writing in June 1993, also condemned the book, calling it "an insipid, fatuous, mealy-mouthed third-rate soap opera with a semi-fascist point of view." However, little of this critique – nor that of others to follow through 1993 and 1994 – had any apparent or lasting effect on the popularity or sales of the Bridges of Madison County.
The book continued to ride high on the New York Times and other bestsellers lists. Malcolm Jones, Jr., writing in Newsweek in August 1993 said that Bridges now owed its sales success to the fact that it had been on the New York Times bestseller list for a solid year: "Bridges is a bestseller because it's a bestseller." Jones explained that "when a book lands on the list, its luck improves enormously. Chain bookstores will stock and discount it. So will price clubs and airports and drugstores, places where only bestsellers get sold." By late August 1993, Bridges was still selling at a rate of about 50,000 copies a week, and Robert James Waller was no longer the neglected author of the Cedar Falls, Iowa shopping mall.
More Waller Books
In fact, by August 1993, Waller had completed a second novel, Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend, which was also published by Warner Books. In November 1993, that book debuted at #2 on the New York Times list behind only Bridges. The two books would stay paired on the list — #1 and #2 for eleven weeks — the first time in history an author had the top two spots on the hardcover novel list. Helping things along, the Book-of-the-Month Club, a Time-Warner company, offered Slow Waltz as a main selection in a discounted package with Bridges. By mid-April 1994, Robert Waller had 3 top-ten books on the New York Times best sellers list. The two books together had a good run on the New York Times list for some time, with Bridges typically one slot above — falling to #2 and #3 for four weeks, then lower and lower as a pair, but giving ground very slowly. By mid-April 1994, a third Waller book, a collection of essays also published by Warner, Old Songs in a New Café, appeared on the Times bestseller list — this one in the nonfiction category. Bridges by this date was still at # 2 and Slow Waltz at # 5. Now Old Songs joined them at #10 on the nonfiction list. Waller now had three top-ten bestselling books on the New York Times booklist. Warner published yet another Waller book in 1994 — Images: Photographs by the Author of The Bridges of Madison County, a tear-out book of postcards. Through all of this, however, Bridges was still the main attraction. As of July 1994, booksellers nationwide were still reporting brisk sales of the book. But gradually, all of these Waller books began a slow descent off the bestsellers list. Still, for The Bridges of Madison County, there was more life ahead.
Hollywood Film
The film version of The Bridges of Madison County, based on novel by Waller, came out in mid-1995. It was a joint project of Amblin Entertainment, Malpaso Productions (Clint Eastwood's company), and Warner Brothers. The film was produced and directed by Clint Eastwood with Kathleen Kennedy as co-producer. It was filmed in Winterset, Iowa in late summer 1994, cost about $22 million to make, and was released to movie theaters in June 1995. On its opening weekend, it was # 2 at the box office. It would go on to gross some $182 million worldwide. Meryl Streep was nominated for, but did not win, an Academy Award for her role as Francesca. Streep was also a runner-up for best actress of 1995 in voting by the National Society of Film Critics.
Reportedly, there was a fierce competition for the role of Francesca in the film. Among those considered or mentioned for the part were: Jessica Lange, Isabella Rossellini, Catherine Deneuve, Susan Sarandon, Lena Olin, Sonia Braga, Cher, Anjelica Huston, Emma Thompson, Geena Davis, and Mary McDonnell. For the role of Kincaid, Robert Redford was among those considered. Eastwood, who got the lead role, also became the film's director when he replaced Bruce Beresford after Beresford objected to Steven Spielberg's script changes. Eastwood apparently favored Streep for the role, and agreed to pay her $4 million for the filming, plus a share of the gate. Eastwood shot the film in 42 days.
The reviews of the film were quite favorable, in some cases receiving better critical reception than the book. In an early June 1995 review of the film for The New York Times, Janet Maslin — no fan of Robert James Waller's prose — called the script writing for the film "tacitly ingenious." She also praised the directing: "Clint Eastwood, director and alchemist, has transformed The Bridges of Madison County into something bearable — no, something even better. . . . Mr. Eastwood locates a moving, elegiac love story at the heart of Mr. Waller's self-congratulatory overkill. The movie has leanness and surprising decency…." Of Streep's Francesca, Maslin adds: "Looking sturdy and voluptuous in her plain housedress (the year is 1965), Ms. Streep rises straight out of "Christina's World" to embody all the loneliness and fierce yearning Andrew Wyeth captured on canvas…."
Variety called the film "…A handsomely crafted, beautifully acted adult love story," adding, "[Streep] has never been so warm, earthy and spontaneous…" The Chicago Sun-Times, June 2, 1995, found it "…Deeply moving." USA Today gave it 3.5 of 4 stars. Entertainment Weekly, June 9, 1995, wrote: "…Touching in a delicate, almost lyrical way. It's a wonderful surprise — an honest weeper for adults… Rating: A."
Film critic Robert Ebert said that Eastwood and Streep had made the book "into a wonderful movie love story." He also went to the core of the film and why the story was striking a chord with its audience: "We know, of course, that they will meet, fall in love and part forever. It is necessary that they part. If the story had ended 'happily' with them running away together, no one would have read Waller's book and no movie would exist." For Ebert, the emotional peak of the film is "the renunciation, when Francesca does not open the door of her husband's truck and run to Robert." This moment, says Ebert, and not when the characters first kiss or make love, "is the film's passionate climax."But back in early 1994, it wasn't clear the film would be made at all. The first scripts for the movie adaptation didn't quite hit the mark for Spielberg. His company then hired 35 year-old Richard LaGravenese to write a script, which was eventually the one used. It was tweaked a few times, and incorporated elements that weren't in the book, such as bringing Francesca's children into the film more, and creating a new character, a woman in town; an outcast having an affair, who Francesca befriends. Eastwood, as the film's director, was careful not to stray too far from the book, and wanted to make sure the core of the story and the memorable scenes were kept; the scenes readers would come to look for. He also wanted to show and keep the everyday realism in the film. The movie version also shifts the story more to Francesca while toning down some of the book's more macho Kincaid moments without hurting his character. Yet Francesca is at the film's center; her choices and her life-long anguish. Near the end of the film, Francesca's grown children offer some lessons learned, taking heed of their mother's experience in examining their own marriages. The daughter decides on divorce, the son renews his marriage commitment.
Farmhouse Jazz
Among some of Eastwood's more interesting and subtle touches in the film are the scenes using and incorporating jazz tracts from Johnny Hartman, Dinah Washington, Irene Kral, and others. These tunes are played on the kitchen radio in the Johnson farmhouse, heard on a truck radio, or played by a roadhouse band when Francesca and Robert visit an out-of-the-way dance bar.
In one of Eastwood's earlier directing roles, Play Misty for Me, he built much of the film's storyline around an Errol Garner love song of that same name. In Bridges, Eastwood's use of the music is never dominant, but typically in the background.
After Robert and Francesca have taken their trip to the Roseman Bridge, and Kincaid has come inside her home for iced tea, he fiddles with the kitchen radio, finding Dinah Washington singing "Blue Gardenia," befitting the blue wildflowers he picked for Francesca at the bridge, now on the kitchen table.
As they exchange their stories in the kitchen, jazz and blues tunes continue to play from the radio, among them, "When You're in Love" by Johnny Hartman. Francesca has asked Robert to stay for dinner. As they both prepare the food for their meal, Dinah Washington is heard singing "I'll Close My Eyes." Post meal, "Easy Living" by Johnny Hartman is heard. Francesca that evening has left her note on the bridge inviting Robert to dinner the following day.
On her way into town that day to buy groceries, Dinah Washington's "Soft Winds" plays on her pickup truck radio. While in town, she decides to buy a new dress. Later that night at their second dinner, meeting in the kitchen, Robert is again tuning the radio, then turns to see Francesca in her new dress as the Johnny Hartman tune "I See your Face Before Me" plays in the background.
A phone call briefly interrupts their evening, but they soon have their first moments of touching — she smoothing his collar while on the phone, and he taking her hand after the call, leading to a slow dance around the kitchen as Johnny Hartman sings his tune. The love making is not far behind. Later, as the two share a steamy bath, Irene Kral sings "This Is Always." Also heard on the soundtrack is the Barbara Lewis hit from 1965, "Baby I'm Yours."
Near the end of their four days together, they visit a roadhouse with jazz band and dance to Johnny Hartman's "For All We Know," as its lyrics "we may never meet again," presages their unhappy end.
Back at the farmstead on their final night together, Francesca has packed to leave with Robert. But as they share dinner, Johnny Hartman's "It Was Almost Like A Song" plays in the background as Francesca realizes she cannot leave her family. "They would not survive the talk," she says of the small-town censure and gossip mill.
After she and Kincaid have parted from their four-day affair, and when Francesca comes to town a few days later with her husband on errands, there is the scene in the pickup truck with her husband when she sees Robert standing in the middle of the the road in the rain. As the family pickup pulls away, Francesca has her hand poised by the door handle, but she does not bolt from the truck. She returns home and is shown in a later scene leaning against the kitchen wall sobbing as Irene Kral's "It's A Wonderful World" plays. Francesca will never see Robert Kincaid again.
Music Sales, etc.
In addition to providing an intimate backdrop of music to compliment the on-screen relationship of Robert and Francesca, the film's music also did well among its fans. Clint Eastwood's label, Malpaso Records, a division of Warner Brother's Records, released two CDs: the original soundtrack, Music from The Bridges of Madison County, and Remembering Madison County, a companion disc of more jazz tunes. The soundtrack volume alone sold more than 250,000 copies the first month it was released — May to June 1995.
People magazine at the time of the film's release did a cover story on Meryl Streep featuring a screenshot from the film with her in the embrace of Clint Eastwood. "Meryl's Passion," was the headline for the magazine's June 26th, 1995 edition, which added: "She has four kids and more than 40 years. But Meryl Streep is burning up The Bridges of Madison County – and hitting a nerve about lost love and midlife desire."Book sales in early Summer 1995 surged in response to the film, pushing the Waller book back up to #9 on the New York Times bestsellers list. By June 11th it was #4, and by June 25th, 1995 — nearly three years after its debut on the list —The Bridges of Madison County was #1 again. It stayed in the top five through late August, fell off the list in late September, then returned briefly at #15 for the first part of October 1995 before leaving the New York Times bestseller list. The Bridges of Madison County by this time — still in its hardback edition — had sold over six million copies in America and over ten million worldwide. In fact, Bridges was so successful in its hardcover format that Warner Books found it unnecessary to issue a paperback version until June of 1997, when a first printing of a paperback came out at 1.5 million copies.
But with the Hollywood film, Warner Books also published two other book tie-ins: The Bridges of Madison County: The Film, a coffee table book of film-related photos, and The Bridges of Madison County Memory Book, which was a journal with quotes from Yeats and some photos taken by Eastwood on the set as he was playing Robert Kincaid with a loaded camera. Warner printed about four times the number of these movie tie-in books than it had for the first printing of the original book: 80,000 copies of The Bridges of Madison County: The Film and 70,000 copies of The Bridges of Madison County Memory Book.There were also an array of other Bridges' tie-in products licensed by Warner Brothers, including tote bags, polo shirts, a cookbook, and picture frames with the Bridges imprint. Warner Brothers even licensed a Bridges fragrance line through a company named Tsumura, which had previously done bath and body tie-in products for children related to movies such as The Lion King. The Bridges fragrance, bath and body products, and scented candle lines were launched in department stores with a $2 million print and spot TV ad campaign that included romantic movie bills and imagery similar to the film's.
A DVD version of the film was first released for sale not long after the film had its first run in 1995. A "deluxe edition" DVD of the film (see cover, first photo above) was released by Warner Home Video in June 2008. Among the extras included in this package are an audio commentary by editor Joel Cox and director of photography Jack N. Green that covers production details, sets, music, and more. Also included is a half-hour documentary entitled "An Old-Fashioned Love Story: Making The Bridges of Madison Country," with comments by Eastwood, Streep, scriptwriter LaGravenese, and producer Kathleen Kennedy, as well as clips from the movie and on-set footage. A music video is also part of this package, and includes the song "Doe Eyes," an instrumental track from the score, with a collage of footage from the film.
Robert James WallerAs for author Robert James Waller, he went on to write several other novels. In addition to Slow Waltz at Cedar Bend (1993), he also published Border Music (1995), Puerto Vallarta Squeeze (1995), A Thousand Country Roads (2002), High Plains Tango (2005), and The Long Night of Winchell Dear (2006). Along the way, he moved to Texas in 1994 and bought a ranch, and later, several thousand acres of land. His first marriage ended in 1997 amid an affair he was having, the details of which became public in both People and Texas Monthly magazines, prompting some parallels to characters in Bridges and his other books. He later remarried.
In 2000, Waller named his graduate school alma mater, Indiana University, to an estate gift estimated to be "well into seven figures." In 2002, his novel A Thousand Country Roads, published as "an epilogue" to Bridges, follows an older Robert Kincaid on a journey to Iowa in hopes of seeing Francesca again. However, the two do not reunite. Although this book did make the New York Times bestsellers list for seven weeks in May and June of 2002 peaking at #5, it was not another Bridges. Yet it did allow some reviewers, with the perspective of time, to reflect more favorably on Bridges. Reviewing A Thousand Country Roads for USA Today in July 2003, Deirdre Donahue wrote: "A decade ago, when this reader first read The Bridges of Madison County… I would periodically hurl it down, denouncing its stupidity. But a very wise older man told me I was too young to understand Bridges' resonance with middle-aged readers. …Maybe it's my own trick knee and middle-age blues, but now I understand why all those millions of people loved Waller's The Bridges of Madison County…"
One Story's Legacy
When it was all said and done, The Bridges of Madison County, in its time, had one hell of a run. To date the book has reportedly sold more than 50 million copies worldwide and has been printed in some 23 languages. In its prime-time occupation of the New York Times bestsellers list during 1992-1995, it out-performed its competitors in total sales and duration. Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses, Michael Chrichton's Disclosure, John Grisham's The Rainmaker, and Danielle Steel's The Gift — also on the bestsellers list then — each spent between 22 and 26 weeks on the list before dropping off. Bridges, by comparison, did much better, eclipsing all of them. In fact, Bridges surpassed this group in their combined total weeks on the list.
The Bridges of Madison County spent 164 weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list — over three years — a record at the time (August 16, 1992 to October 8, 1995). It also held the #1 spot for 37 weeks, clearly helped by the film in its later run. Still, in its day, it even surpassed Gone With the Wind as the best-selling hardcover fiction book of all time. In 1993 alone Bridges sold more than 4.3 million copies, one of the highest single-year sales of any fiction or non-fiction hardcover bestseller in the previous 20 years or so. In 1993, it was also awarded the American Booksellers "Book of the Year" Award as well as the Literary Lion Award from the New York Public Library.
Yet in subsequent years, all of Bridges' sales and publishing records would be broken by other authors, bestsellers, and first-run phenomena, such as: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, The Da Vinci Code, and Harry Potter to name a few. Still, the book to this day remains controversial, with people divided into fans and foes of the story. Some regard it as romance, others accept it as literature, and still others call it an adult fairy tale. Regardless of what it's called, the story holds a fascination for people because of the popular themes it explores: love, passion, opportunity, regret, loyalty, consequence, and responsibility. One summary of the story's appeal is found in the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture:
. . . No one can deny that Robert James Waller has managed to present a story that deals with engrossing themes. People grow up with ideas of romantic love, nourished — especially in the United States — by the media and visions of celebrities engaged in storybook romances. Due to the uncanny nature of love, there is much room for people to fantasize, and fantasies are not usually practical. Because it is questionable just how much control individuals have over their lives, fate and destiny are appealing and common musings. Romantic love has dominated the subject matter of songs and stories for millennia, and continues to do so. What makes a story like the one in The Bridges of Madison County resonate is its attempt to portray the choices that people must make regarding their happiness, and the idea that fate can bring two unlikely people together.
Periodically, it seems, popular love stories come along unpredictably — as they have through time. They appear to be welcomed in whatever form, and continue to capture the public's imagination and support — whether Romeo or Juliet, its musical successor West Side Story, Casablanca, An Affair To Remember, Love Story, Dr. Zhivago, and countless others. The literary rank or comparative greatness of the stories does not always appear to enter the equation. If the story succeeds in moving its audience, causing them to think and feel along with the trials, challenges, and choices of the principal characters, that appears to be quite enough. The Bridges of Madison County — in print and on the big screen — surely did that.
See also at this website: "The Love Story Saga, 1970-1977," on the book and film of that era that also became a publishing and box office hit; "Linda & Jerry, 1971-1983," on the respective careers of and relationship between California Governor Jerry Brown and rock star Linda Ronstadt; and "Noteworthy Ladies," a topics page with 40 story choices featuring famous women. See also the "Film & Hollywood" or "Print & Publishing" pages for additional stories in those categories. Thanks for visiting – and if you like what you find here, please make a donation to help support the research and writing at this website. Thank you. – Jack Doyle
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Date Posted: 25 June 2008
Last Update: 1 August 2018
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Article Citation:
Jack Doyle, "Of Bridges & Lovers, 1992-1995,"
PopHistoryDig.com, June 25, 2008.
Sources, Links & Additional Information
The following Ph.D. dissertation was a key source in helping construct the history of the book, its publication, and its popular reception: Gregory R. Wahl, The Bridges of Madison County and Iowa: Production, Reception, and Place, Ph.D. Dissertation, Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 2005, 309 pp.
The Bridges of Madison County,1992, "20th-Century American Bestsellers," Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, Researcher, Carey Karpick, accessed 2008.
For the section on "Farmhouse Jazz," a key source is: Janis Gomes, "Jazz in the Movies," Total Swing Online, Total Swing.com, January 14, 2005.
Sara Jameson,"Lives Connect on a Bridge of Love." San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday Review, April 26, 1992, p. 8.
John Mutter, "Love at First Read," Publishers Weekly, July 20,1992, p. 16.
Irene Nolan, "Madison County is Slim Read, But Big on Value," Louisville Courier-Journal, (Louisville, KY), Sept 14, 1992.
George Myers, "Two Impassioned Novels Make Falling in Love So Easy," Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio), July 24, 1992, p. 10-D.
"The Booksellers' Art of Persuasion." Newsweek , September 7, 1992, pp. 54-55.
Judith Kelman, "A Magical, Unforget- table Love Story," Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), November 14, 1992, p. 5-F.
Charles Champlin, "Sleepers," Los Angeles Times Book Review, January 17, 1993, p. 14.
Daisy Maryles, "Behind the Bestsellers." Publishers Weekly. January 25, 1993, p. 12.
Pauli Carnes, "Waller Book: Porn for Yuppie Women?," Los Angeles Times Book Review, April 18, 1993.
Jon Margolis, "What's Pop Culture? Politics, Show Biz and Total Inanity," Chicago Tribune, June 29, 1993, p. 15.
Frank Rich, End Paper/Public Stages, "One-Week Stand," The New York Times Magazine, July 25, 1993.
John Leo, " 'Covered Bridges': Written Proof of People's Private Desperation," U.S. News and World Report, August 9, 1993.
Sarah Lyall, Book Notes, "A Big Year for 'Bridges'," New York Times, July 28, 1993.
Daisy Maryles, "Behind the Bestsellers," Publishers Weekly, August 23, 1993
Daisy Maryles, "Behind the Bestsellers," Publishers Weekly, November 8, 1993, p. 16.
"The Bridges of Madison County," Film Review, Variety, May 22, 1995.
Janet Maslin, Film Review, "Love Comes Driving Up the Road, and in Middle Age, Too," New York Times, June 2, 1995
"The Bridges of Madison County," Film Review, USA Today, June 2, 1995, p.1-D.
"The Bridges of Madison County," Film Review, Chicago Sun-Times, June 2,1995, p.29.
Karen Angel, "Building Bridges: Will the Film Boost Sales of Waller's First Novel?" Publishers Weekly, June 5, 1995, pp. 19-21.
Bernard Weinraub, "Rebuilding 'Bridges' Without Leaving The Novel Behind," New York Times, June 6, 1995.
"The Bridges of Madison County," Film Review, Entertainment Weekly, June 9, 1995, pp.34-5.
"The Bridges of Madison County," Film Review, Rolling Stone, June 15, 1995, p.47-8
Daisy Maryles, "Behind the Bestsellers," Publishers Weekly, August 7, 1995.
Claudia Glenn Dowling, Afterword, in, Ken Regan, The Bridges of Madison County: The Film, New York: Warner Books, 1995.
"The Bridges of Madison County" (book), Wikipedia.org.
"The Bridges of Madison County"(film), Wikipedia.org.
Deirdre Donahue, "Passing Years Make Crossing These 'Bridges' Sweeter," Book Review, A Thousand Country Roads, by Robert James Waller, USA Today, July 22, 2003, p.1-D.
"The Bridges of Madison County," in Tom Pendergast and Sara Pendergast (eds.), The St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, Gale Group, 2000.


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Angels Take Two Against the Yankees! …Oh. Yeah. And That Play Too.
Peter Bourjos dropped the ball and then made a truly terrible throw. Oh no! Head for the hills! The sky is falling! The world is coming to an end! The Angels are finished! And, and, there's no Santa Clause either!
Come on all you gloom and doomers. Yes, you really do sound that silly. The Angels just won the series against the Yankees, something we haven't been able to do all season. And they won it with two days of stellar pitching and three days of offense each of which on it's own could have been the entire offensive output for a whole series earlier in the season. And – and this is a huge and! – we kept pace with the Rangers in the standings over the weekend.
Yes, the boys were awfully close to sweeping and gaining yet another game on the Rangers and that makes the error especially disappointing, but let's put this in perspective. A brilliant young centerfielder who has been one of the highlights of the season for so many of us this year, had a really bad day defensively…and it wasn't even the whole day, though I am aware this play wasn't the only gaff, just the biggest. That's all that happened. 99.99% of the time he would have made the catch. Yesterday he didn't. But he took responsibility for it to in the clubhouse without any drama, so hat's off Peter. That's the Angels way! Suffice to say, this is not the end of the world. The sky is not falling. The Angels are far from finished. And this error is not even solely responsible for the loss, even though the offense didn't have three entire innings afterwards to score one more run and at least tie it up again…Oh. Wait. They did.
Okay, so that part about Santa Clause not being real? That was true but, I mean, you knew that already. Right? …Right? Oooops. *face palm* Um, you there. The rather young fellow in the back there who's crying? Yeah, you. Sorry kid! Better go call your mom. Anyway, moving right along…
This series the Angels faced the Yankees while the Rangers faced the A's whom they have owned all season. Gaining a game on the Rangers over the weekend was very unlikely. Keeping pace with them over the weekend given those two matchups was quite an accomplishment. Now we're in Oakland for three days with one of my favorite lineups this evening and Jerome Williams and Jered Weaver headed for the mound Tuesday and Wednesday and the Rangers are headed to Cleveland. Remember how I've been saying September is going to be a two steps forward, one step back again kind of a month? The Angels took one step forward and another step right back over the weekend and this week they're going to take that second step forward!!

subset: commoncrawl


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Pickup/RV/Spare-Tire Mount
Make that spare tire work for a living – the SpareRide easily attaches to your rear-mounted spare and turns it into a bike rack. Durable, stable and secure, it installs easily. SuperCush cradles securely hold and protect your bikes, a bottle opener opens bottles, and integrated SKS locks bum out bike thieves. - SuperCush ZipStrip cradles secure the bikes and make loading and unloading a breeze - ZipStrips secure bikes to the rack and are fully removable - Anti-sway cradle design minimizes bike-to-bike contact - Fits nearly any stock size spare - SKS locking package secures bikes to rack to help prevent theft - TireTread pads add stability and protection - Steel construction is strong and durable - Universal mounting plate with extension fits most lug patterns - Locking knob secures rack and sparetire to vehicle - Yakima signature bottle opener lets you enjoy a post-ride cold one - 2-bike capacity TECHNICAL SPECS - Weight: 21.50 lbs - Dimensions: L 40.00" x W 13.00" x H 19.00"
What better way to secure your bike in the back of your pickup than with a BlockHead? Well, how about with Yakima's Locking BlockHead? It uses a rugged, 9mm-diameter lockable skewer and anodized aluminum block to hold your bike and secure it at the same time. Bolt this innovative mount to your pickup, RV, or boat (there are hundreds of other mounting possibilities). It includes Yakima's SKS (Same Key System) core and keys.
When you've got a tough racking dilemma, what you really need is Yakima's BlockHead. This handy device securely holds your bike by the fork with a rugged, 9mm-diameter skewer. The BlockHead is made of anodized aluminum and bolts to your pickup, RV or practically anywhere (use your imagination for hundreds of other bike-storage possibilities).
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Phentermine is used along with a doctor-approved, reduced-calorie diet, exercise, and behavior change program to help you lose weight. It is used in people who are significantly overweight (obese) and have not been able to lose enough weight with diet and exercise alone. Losing weight and keeping it off can reduce the many health risks that come with obesity, including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and a shorter life.
It is not known how this medication helps people to lose weight. It may work by decreasing your appetite, increasing the amount of energy used by your body, or by affecting certain parts of the brain. This medication is an appetite suppressant and belongs to a class of drugs called sympathomimetic amines.
How to use phentermine Oral
Take this medication by mouth as directed by your doctor, usually once a day, 1 hour before breakfast or 1 to 2 hours after breakfast. If needed, your doctor may adjust your dose to take a small dose up to 3 times a day. Carefully follow your doctor's instructions. Taking this medication late in the day may cause trouble sleeping (insomnia).
If you are using sustained-release capsules, the dose is usually taken once a day before breakfast or at least 10 to 14 hours before bedtime. Swallow the medication whole. Do not crush or chew sustained-release capsules. Doing so can release all of the drug at once, increasing the risk of side effects.
If you are using the tablets made to dissolve in the mouth, the dose is usually taken once a day in the morning, with or without food. First, dry your hands before handling the tablet. Place your dose on top of the tongue until it dissolves, then swallow it with or without water.
The dosage is based on your medical condition and response to therapy. Your doctor will adjust the dose to find the best dose for you. Use this medication regularly and exactly as prescribed in order to get the most benefit from it. To help you remember, take it at the same time(s) each day.
This medication is usually taken for only a few weeks at a time. It should not be taken with other appetite suppressants. The possibility of serious side effects increases with longer use of this medication and use of this drug along with certain other diet drugs.
This medication may cause withdrawal reactions, especially if it has been used regularly for a long time or in high doses. In such cases, withdrawal symptoms (such as depression, severe tiredness) may occur if you suddenly stop using this medication. To prevent withdrawal reactions, your doctor may reduce your dose gradually. Consult your doctor or pharmacist for more details, and report any withdrawal reactions immediately.
Rarely, abnormal drug-seeking behavior (addiction) is possible with this medication. Do not increase your dose, take it more frequently, or use it for a longer time than prescribed. Properly stop the medication when so directed.
This medication may stop working well after you have been taking it for a few weeks. Talk with your doctor if this medication stops working well. Do not increase the dose unless directed by your doctor. Your doctor may direct you to stop taking this medication
phentermine Oral Side Effects
Dizziness, dry mouth, difficulty sleeping, irritability, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or constipation may occur. If these effects persist or worsen, notify your doctor or pharmacist promptly.
Remember that your doctor has prescribed this medication because he or she has judged that the benefit to you is greater than the risk of side effects. Many people using this medication do not have serious side effects.
Tell your doctor immediately if any of these unlikely but serious side effects occur: fast/irregular/pounding heartbeat, mental/mood changes (e.g., agitation, uncontrolled anger, hallucinations, nervousness), uncontrolled muscle movements, change in sexual ability/interest.
Stop taking this medication and seek immediate medical attention if any of these rare but very serious side effects occur: severe headache, slurred speech, seizure, weakness on one side of the body, vision changes (e.g., blurred vision).
This drug may infrequently cause serious (sometimes fatal) lung or heart problems (pulmonary hypertension, heart valve problems). The risk increases with longer use of this medication and use of this drug along with other appetite-suppressant drugs/herbal products. If you notice any of the following unlikely but very serious side effects, stop taking this medication and consult your doctor or pharmacist immediately: chest pain, difficulty breathing with exercise, decreased ability to exercise, fainting, swelling of the legs/ankles/feet.
A very serious allergic reaction to this drug is rare. However, seek immediate medical attention if you notice any of the following symptoms of a serious allergic reaction: rash, itching/swelling (especially of the face/tongue/throat), severe dizziness, trouble breathing.
This is not a complete list of possible side effects. If you notice other effects not listed above, contact your doctor or pharmacist.
phentermine Oral Precautions
Before taking this medication, tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are allergic to it; or to any other sympathomimetic amines (e.g., decongestants such as pseudoephedrine, stimulants such as amphetamine, appetite suppressants such as diethylpropion); or if you have any other allergies. This product may contain inactive ingredients, which can cause allergic reactions or other problems. Talk to your pharmacist for more details.
This medication should not be used if you have certain medical conditions. Before using this medicine, consult your doctor or pharmacist if you have: uncontrolled high blood pressure, glaucoma, history of alcohol/drug abuse, vascular heart disease (e.g., chest pain, heart attack), mental/mood problems (e.g., severe anxiety, bipolar disorder, psychosis, schizophrenia), high blood pressure in the lungs (pulmonary hypertension), stroke, overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism).
Before using this medication, tell your doctor or pharmacist your medical history, especially of: diabetes, controlled high blood pressure, other heart problems (e.g., heart murmur, fast/irregular heartbeat, heart valve problems), kidneydisease, seizure problem.
This drug may make you dizzy or (rarely) drowsy or cause blurred vision. Do not drive, use machinery, or do any activity that requires alertness or clear vision until you are sure you can perform such activities safely. Avoid alcoholic beverages.
If you have diabetes, check your blood sugar levels regularly as directed by your doctor. Your doctor may need to adjust your diabetes medication during treatment with this drug.
If you are using the tablets made to dissolve in the mouth, your medication may contain aspartame. If you have phenylketonuria (PKU) or any other condition that requires you to limit/avoid aspartame (or phenylalanine) in your diet, ask your doctor or pharmacist about using this medication safely.
Before having surgery, tell your doctor or dentist that you are using this medication.
Kidney function declines as you grow older. This medication is removed by the kidneys. Therefore, elderly people may be at greater risk for dizziness and high blood pressure while using this drug.
This medication must not be used during pregnancy. It may harm an unborn baby. If you are pregnant or think you may be pregnant, tell your doctor immediately.
This drug may pass into breast milk and could have undesirable effects on a nursing infant. Therefore, breast-feeding is not recommended while using this drug. Consult your doctor before breast-feeding.
phentermine Oral Interactions
Your doctor or pharmacist may already be aware of any possible drug interactions and may be monitoring you for them. Do not start, stop, or change the dosage of any medicine before checking with them first.
This drug should not be used with certain medications because very serious interactions may occur. If you are taking or have taken other appetite-suppressant drugs in the past year (e.g., diethylpropion, sibutramine, ephedra/ma huang), tell your doctor or pharmacist before starting this medication.
Avoid taking MAO inhibitors (isocarboxazid, linezolid, methylene blue, moclobemide, phenelzine, procarbazine, rasagiline, selegiline, tranylcypromine) within 2 weeks before, during, and after treatment with this medication. In some cases a serious (possibly fatal) drug interaction may occur.
If you are currently using any of these medications, tell your doctor or pharmacist before starting this medication.
Before using this medication, tell your doctor or pharmacist of all prescription and nonprescription/herbal products you may use, especially: drugs for depression (e.g., TCAs such as imipramine, SSRIs and SNRIs such as paroxetine, fluoxetine, venlafaxine, duloxetine), high blood pressure medicine (e.g., guanethidine, methyldopa), phenothiazines (e.g., prochlorperazine, promethazine, chlorpromazine), other stimulants (e.g., amphetamines, methylphenidate, street drugs such as cocaine or MDMA/"ecstasy").
Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you also take drugs that cause dizziness or drowsiness such as: certain antihistamines (e.g., diphenhydramine), anti-seizure drugs (e.g., carbamazepine), medicine for sleep or anxiety (e.g., alprazolam, diazepam, zolpidem), muscle relaxants, narcotic pain relievers (e.g., codeine), psychiatric medicines (e.g., risperidone, amitriptyline, trazodone).
Also report the use of drugs which might increase seizure risk when combined with this medication such as isoniazid (INH), phenothiazines (e.g., thioridazine), theophylline, or tricyclic antidepressants (e.g., amitriptyline), among others.
Check the labels on all your medicines/herbal products (e.g., cough-and-cold products containing decongestants such as pseudoephedrine, diet aids such as phenylpropanolamine, ephedra/ma huang) because they may contain ingredients that could increase your heart rate or blood pressure. Ask your pharmacist about using those products safely.
Caffeine can increase the side effects of this medication. Avoid drinking large amounts of beverages containing caffeine (coffee, tea, colas) or eating large amounts of chocolate.
This document does not contain all possible interactions. Therefore, before using this product, tell your doctor or pharmacist of all the products you use. Keep a list of all your medications with you, and share the list with your doctor and pharmacist.
NOTES: Appetite suppressants should not be used in place of proper diet. For best results, this drug must be used along with a doctor-approved diet and exercise program.
Do not share this medication with others. It is against the law.
Laboratory and/or medical tests (e.g., blood pressure, heart tests, kidney tests) may be performed periodically to monitor your progress or check for side effects.
If you miss a dose, take it as soon as you remember. If it is near the time of the next dose or late in the evening, skip the missed dose and resume your usual dosing schedule. Do not double the dose to catch up.
Store in a tightly closed container at room temperature between 68-77 degrees F (20-25 degrees C) away from light and moisture. Keep all medications away from children and pets.
Do not flush medications down the toilet or pour them into a drain unless instructed to do so. Properly discard this product when it is expired or no longer needed. Consult your pharmacist or local waste disposal company for more details about how to safely discard your product.


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You have selected to view our E Class Saloon car leasing deals.
We offer a vast range of Mercedes-Benz E Class Saloon car leasing, all of which come with a full UK manufacturer warranty and optional maintenance packages.
For more information on any of our Mercedes-Benz E Class Saloon car leasing, click the links below or contact our friendly leasing specialists on 01494 424242.


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The lineup for Wednesday's 12/12/12 show at Madison Square Garden brims with superstars: Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Kanye West, the Rolling Stones and The Who, among many others. But in one sense, the most significant performer on the packed bill is Eric Clapton.
The guitar great formerly know as "God" offers a direct link to The Concert for Bangladesh – the 1971 landmark show that forever tied rock and causes, giving an early taste of the power of musicians to raise money and awareness in times of major crisis.
Four decades later, the 12/12/12 fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Sandy is poised to become the most-watched benefit yet, with a record 2 billion viewers worldwide able to join the 20,000 fans packing the Garden, via television and the Internet.
When George Harrison asked Clapton, Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan and other pals to join him at the Garden for two shows on Aug. 1, 1971, he couldn't have known what would come. Getting the lineup together proved the easy part – some funds were tied up for years.
Still, the concert served as both inspiration – and cautionary tale – for all that followed, most notably the epic Bob Geldof-organized Live Aid in 1985, a cross-Atlantic affair that included Clapton. Since then, we've come to expect benefit shows in times of trouble, from The Concert for New York after 9/11 to the "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon, which followed the 2010 earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation.
There's a danger with the proliferation of star-studded benefits that the events will start to run into one another in the collective memory – or even worse, overshadow the cause. It's likely that Live Aid is better known by many for the Led Zeppelin reunion and the classic performance by Queen (not to mention Clapton's rendition of "Layla"), than for the reason Geldof sprung into action: famine in Ethiopia.
U.S. & World
Contributing is a personal decision, but there's no excuse not to tune in. God – er, Clapton – will be watching.
Hester is founding director of the award-winning, multi-media NYCity News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is the former City Editor of the New York Daily News, where he started as a reporter in 1992. Follow him on Twitter.


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What is ztools5.dll?
This page shows you how to download ztools5.dll and repair ztools5.dll file errors. The cause and common error messages are also discussed. If Microsoft Windows or application is unable to run due to "Cannot find the file ztools5.dll" or "ztools5.dll is corrupt" or ztools5.dll may be missing/corrupt or you may have registry error. These errors will severely effect the normal operation of your computer. Common error messages are "ztools5.dll Not Found" or "ztools5.dll is missing". Fixing these errors should be a high priority.
How to fix ztools5.dll cannot be found or other errors?
ztools5.dll was not found or simular errors usually means there ztools5.dll on your computer or it is corrupted. There are many reasons why ztools5.dll is having this issue but the best solution is normally installing the missing file. This is fairly easy to do as you can see below.
Before you download ztools5.dll
Check Your Windows Registry for ztools5.dll errors.
Sometimes the DLL might not be needed any longer but certain files still want to use the old version. The best way to fix this is to run a registry repair first and see if that fixes the problem. If that does not fix the problem then move onto downloading below.
How to Download ztools5.dll?
Click on the download link at the end of this post.
Will be downloaded as a .zip
Open up the download .zip and click on Extract All Files in to top left extract the DLL to c: as shown in the image below.
How to install or uninstall ztools5.dll file?
1. In Windows Mouse Click Start (Bottom Left) and Search for Run and Mouse Click on Run
2. Type CMD and Mouse Click Ok (like the below)
3. Type: cd then press Enter
To install type: regsvr32 ztools5.dll and then press Enter (shown below)
To uninstall type: regsvr32 -u ztools5.dll
If this does not work backup the old ztools5.dll and copy over the newly download DLL to the correct location.
4. It will only take a few seconds to install and you will get a message when it is finished. You might have to restart the computer if you are still getting DLL errors.
DLL File Details
File Name: ztools5.dll
File Size: 0.34 Mb
File Type: .dll file for windows
File Version: unknown
Download Here: ztools5.dll


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Postage and Delivery
We aim to despatch orders within 3 working days. Orders are sent via Royal Mail. Within the UK 1st Class Postage and packing is charged at £3 per order. 2nd Class Postage and packing is charged at £2 per order
We are based in The UK; for overseas orders the customer is responsible for any customs charges or national or local taxes.
If you wish to return any product for any reason we offer a full refund providing the goods are in the same first class condition as despatched and returned within 14 days. All returns must be sent recorded delivery and the customer is responsible for the postage charges.
If your order is damaged in transit or in any other way faulty please notify us within 7 days and return the goods to us, we will arrange for a full refund or a replacement - whichever you prefer.
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Call Us: 1-866-330-1272
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
We are a balloon distributor. Our balloons are not inflated when delivered.
Bargain Balloons.Over 16000 Balloon Designs in Stock.
Everyday thousands of balloon searches are performed on our
website using our search feature found at the top right of our website.
You may do your own search by entering your own terms into the search box and
pressing search. You can narrow down your balloon search by choosing "Any Word"
which will search any of the terms you enter or "All Words" which will require
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Description:5 x 320GB Non-Hot-Plug SATA 5400 RPM 2.5-inch Form Factor Notebook DrivePart Number(s)Manufacturer Part# MHZ2320BH
Overview:A variety of tested Fujitsu SATA Hard Drives offering data integrity and availability in hot-pluggable models. Fujitsu SATA 5 400 rpm Hard Drives provide entry-level performance and high capacity drives. All Fujitsu Hard Drives pass a rigorous qualification process which ensures that every drive is proven to perform in your server. Before final certification all Fujitsu Serial-ATA Hard Drives are optimized for compatibility and functionality.


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When it comes to getting professional gas furnace repair near me in Topeka, there's no one better than us. Servicing the Shawnee area for over 20 years, no one is more trusted than us when it comes to getting both your gas furnace fixed or getting a brand new gas furnace unit installed!
Did you know a faulty gas furnace can cost you thousands over the years? This is due to an inefficiency caused by the broken system that results in higher electricity bills and minor maintenance you may have to do yourself. Fortunately, our passion for gas furnace repair near you in Kansas has made it possible for you to escape this madness!
Don't wait until you've spent a ton of money trying to hold your gas furnace repair problems at bay. Our qualified experts are only a phone call away and ready to discuss the best options for your situation.
What are you waiting for? Call us and schedule an appointment:
(877) 511-1879
Gas Furnace Repair Near You For Topeka, KS
Are you looking for reliable furnace repair in Topeka or the 66652 area? We hope you will give us a call. Our Topeka furnace repair technicians and contractors have proudly been repairing furnaces in Topeka for over 12 years.
We repair all makes and models of furnace heating units and repair both commercial and residential furnaces. If you have any furnace repair questions or just need a second opinion about a furnace repair were here to help.
- Topeka Furnace Repair, Service, Maintenance & Installations
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We cover all areas of gas furnace repair that you could ever need. We make it our mission to serve you in every way possible so you get the best possible experience with your gas furnace repair. Our technicians know how important gas furnace repair is and they treat it as such!
Professional Gas Furnace Repair Near You In Topeka
So you understand more about repairing a furnace and what a furnace repair technician does, here is are the basics. A residential furnace has one or more heat exchangers (called primary heat exchanger and contains a secondary heat exchanger if the furnace is a high efficiency furnace) located above a series of natural gas burners.
A furnace has an indoor blower, located underneath the burners that pushes air up through the heat exchangers of the furnace which warms the air before it is circulated into your home.
All furnace models are rated for it's capacity to heat a space (such as your home) and are rated in British Thermal Units (BTU's). The average home requires one or more furnaces with anywhere from 40,000 BTU to 120,000 BTU output.
Proper sizing of a furnace is critical to assure your family is comfortable during the coldest months of winter and to get the maximum energy efficiency from your furnace which lowers the cost of your energy bills.
Leading Gas Furnace Repair Service For the Topeka, Kansas 66652 Area
3StagesConstruction Gas Furnace Repair can inspect, fix or replace your gas furnace, no matter the brand and no matter who serviced it in the past. 3StagesConstruction will send a trained technician promptly to your home. We will diagnose the problem and explain what the issue is with your unit. We believe we should all be informed consumers, so we want you to understand the problem and your options for fixing the issue.
At 3StagesConstruction Gas Furnace Repair, trust is important. We have friendly, knowledgeable, certified technicians who will be up front and honest with you. We technicians to your home, not salesmen dressed as technicians. With us there are no gimmicks, only honest, trustworthy answers.
Don't forget, regular maintenance of your furnace will make sure your HVAC unit runs efficiently and will keep it running smoothly for years.
We offer service 365 days a year, 7 days a week, in the event of an emergency. 3StagesConstruction Gas Furnace Repair has been serving Topeka and the surrounding areas for over 40 years! Your neighbors have trusted the 3StagesConstruction name for decades, so should you! We make it easy because with us there's only one name to know.
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Ready to get in touch for our gas furnace repair near you? Give our gas furnace professionals a call:
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30 Sweet-Tart Cranberry Recipes
Cranberry Layer Cake
This moist white cake combines toasted pecans and refreshing orange peel with cranberries. Orange peel flavors the thick cream cheese frosting, too.Cranberry Layer Cake
Anita's Cranberry Scones
Coarsely chopped cranberries spread the sweet-tart flavor throughout this tender scone, a winner at the Warrens Cranberry Festival recipe competition. A sweet almond frosting complements the berries.Anita's Cranberry Scones
Not Your Ordinary Brie
Apple-cranberry chutney adds a spicy kick to this warm, baked brie appetizer.Not Your Ordinary Brie
Cranberry-Stuffed Pork Chops
Savory sage in the stuffing mix meets cranberries in this easy pork chop recipe.Cranberry-Stuffed Pork Chops
Almond-Cranberry Bread with White Chocolate Glaze
Sweet bread balances tangy cranberries in this winning recipe from the 2009 Wisconsin State Fair. Wrap and store it overnight to make it easier to slice and less crumbly.Almond-Cranberry Bread with White Chocolate Glaze
Cranberry-Apple Sweet Potatoes
A new mix of pantry ingredients results in a sweet side dish with a crunchy pecan topping.Cranberry-Apple Sweet Potatoes
Cranberry Orange Upside-Down Cake
Invert this moist cake while it's still warm to reveal a fall kaleidoscope of glistening, tart berries and sweet mandarin oranges.Cranberry Orange Upside-Down Cake
Cranberry-Pecan Tarts
These tiny tarts mix cranberries and orange peel into a delightful pecan tassie recipe. Butter and cream cheese make the crust rich in this state fair blue-ribbon recipe from Sheila Bethia of West Allis, Wisconsin.Cranberry-Pecan Tarts
Fresh Cranberry-Apple Relish
This fresh alternative to canned cranberry sauce is flecked with festive green pistachios and flavored with cinnamon and nutmeg. Serve it with turkey (of course!), or pan-fried pork chops.Fresh Cranberry-Apple Relish
Cranberry Candy-Bar Cookies
These gooey bar cookies start with a German chocolate cake mix. Melted caramels and cranberry sauce form a moist middle layer.Cranberry Candy-Bar Cookies
Nutty Cranberry Dressing
Put aside that bottled raspberry vinaigrette and try this amazing homemade alternative, flavored with maple syrup, Dijon mustard and toasted pecans. It's fantastic on a salad with apples or pears, goat cheese and leftover holiday turkey.Nutty Cranberry Dressing
Sweet Potato-Cranberry Cake
Chocolate and sweet potato batters are swirled together to make this moist, tender spice cake from Patricia Polley of Columbus, Ohio. Wrap and store the cooled cake overnight for easier slicing. (It's a great alternative to coffee cake for brunches.)Sweet Potato-Cranberry Cake
Cranberry Date Puffs
These addictive, puff pastry-wrapped cookies have a sweet, nutty filling and are delicious when they're still slightly warm. If you have a food processor, they're a cinch to make.Cranberry Date Puffs
Rise and Shine Cranberry-Apple Crisp
Spiced coconut streusel adds crunch to healthy apples and berries.Rise and Shine Cranberry-Apple Crisp
Cranberry Cashew Salad
Sliced apples, roasted cashews and dried fruit combine with mango chutney, spinach leaves and curry for an exotic, fresh-tasting salad. The recipe comes from the New Albany (Ohio) Cooking with Friends community cookbook.Cranberry Cashew Salad
Luscious Cranberry-Chocolate Cake
Midwest cooking school guru Liz Clark added cranberries to this recipe from a friend in Chicago who develops recipes for restaurants. The dense, chocolatey layer cake is featured in Liz's cookbook, The Cranberry Companion.Luscious Cranberry-Chocolate Cake
Turkey-Cranberry Fingers
Cranberry-orange relish, sliced turkey and fresh watercress or spinach leaves make a colorful appetizer-size sandwich. The recipe includes instructions for making focaccia, but purchased bread works fine, too.Turkey-Cranberry Fingers
Chocolate-Cranberry Biscotti
Dried cranberries (or dried cherries) add a bit of texture to these crunchy chocolate biscotti. Dip in melted white chocolate or drizzle with powdered sugar icing for a sweet finish.Chocolate-Cranberry Biscotti
Apple-Cranberry Walnut Pie
Sweet apples balance the tang of cranberries in this fall favorite.Apple-Cranberry Walnut Pie
Cranberry-Orange Relish
Cranberry-Orange Relish, from chef Richard Fisher of Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, Minnesota, goes well with meats, including deli turkey, bratwurst and grilled pork chops. Another favorite cranberry mix: Crimson Cranberry Chutney, which combines fresh cranberries with chopped apples, raisins, orange juice, sugar and minced ginger.Cranberry-Orange RelishCrimson Cranberry Chutney
Cranberry Streusel Coffee Cake
There's just a hint of cinnamon in the streusel for this moist cake.Cranberry Streusel Coffee Cake
Sour Cream-Cranberry Muffins
Brown sugar, pecans and pumpkin pie spice create both the filling and topping for these muffins. Dried cranberries add a hint of tang and texture.Sour Cream-Cranberry Muffins
Cranberry-Sour Cream Pound Cake
Dried cranberries and dairy products star in Cranberry-Sour Cream Pound Cake, created by the Midwest Living® Test Kitchen to celebrate the state of Wisconsin, the nation's leading producer of cranberries.Cranberry-Sour Cream Pound CakeSee more recipes for Midwest signature cakes
Chicken-Romaine Salad
Dried cranberries, cherries, blueberries or currants are among the bursts of fruit in this easy-to-fix recipe that starts with rotisserie chicken.Chicken-Romaine Salad
Pear-Cranberry Shortcake
The all-American summertime dessert -- strawberry shortcake -- dons a different personality in this recipe. The shortcake is a spiced sour cream version dotted with currants; you'll use pears or apples and cranberries instead of strawberries for the topping.Pear-Cranberry Shortcake
Cranberry-Chocolate Cheesecake
An easy sauce made with fresh cranberries, sugar and cranberry juice blends with chocolate and cream cheese for the bottom of this creamy layered cheesecake. Serve the remaining sauce as a topping on Cranberry-Chocolate Cheesecake.More delicious cranberry cheesecakes: Crimson Cranberry Cheesecake, which was a favorite at the old Marshall Field's State Street store in Chicago; and Scarlet Swirl Cheesecake, with a cranberry-orange juice swirl inside the cheesecake and a cranberry sauce on top.Cranberry-Chocolate CheesecakeCrimson Cranberry CheesecakeScarlet Swirl Cheesecake
Luscious Fruit Parfaits
Layer a cranberry-applesauce mixture with fresh pineapple chunks, mandarin orange slices and yogurt for a refreshing fruit dessert. The recipe comes from a restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan.Luscious Fruit Parfaits
Badger State Muffins
Shredded apples, chopped cranberries, shredded carrot and nuts pack this cinnamon- and coriander-spiced muffin from the M&M Cafe in Monticello, Wisconsin.Badger State Muffins
Touch of the Wild Rice
Dried cranberries, peas and hazelnuts speckle this side dish, created to feature naturally grown wild rice from northern Minnesota lakes.Touch of the Wild Rice
Grammy's Wild Rice Porridge
Wild rice may seem like an unusual breakfast ingredient, but it adds chewiness to this fruit-nut hot cereal. Dried cranberries, blueberries and cherries also cook into the porridge.Grammy's Wild Rice Porridge


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Source: Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (US)
Release: Reports of Condition and Income for All Insured U.S. Commercial Banks
This series includes institutions with the Charter Type call item RSSD9048 = 200; and Entity Type call item RSSD9331 = 1.
Charter Type call item RSSD9048 = 200 represents Commercial Bank (including depository trust companies, credit card companies with commercial bank charters, private banks, development banks, limited charter banks, and foreign banks)
Entity Type call item RSSD9331 = 1 represents Commercial Bank.
Geographic location is determined by Abbreviated State Name call item RSSD9200 = "MO" representing two character state abbreviation of Missouri.
For more information and definition about the specific call item codes, please see http://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/mdrm/data-dictionary.
This series is calculated by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis using raw data that are collected by the FFIEC. Raw data can be found at https://cdr.ffiec.gov/public/.
Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (US), Commercial Banks in Missouri [MONUM], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MONUM, August 13, 2020.


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What drug is most commonly abused in Lafourche Parish?
It's not meth, it's not marijuana and it's not cocaine.
What drug is most commonly abused in Lafourche Parish?
It's not meth, it's not marijuana and it's not cocaine.
It's pills, said Lt. John Champagne, head of the Sheriff's Office narcotics investigation team.
After buying pain medication illegally, people take far more than the recommended dose. They crush them up and snort them or inject them, officials said. They wash them down with alcohol.
The level of abuse is high in Terrebonne Parish as well, Sheriff Jerry Larpenter said.
According to his narcotics team, "some people are taking six to eight OxyContin a day," Larpenter said. "That's a lot."
That's why the state Attorney General's Office officials said they are calling on federal regulators to make pain pills harder to abuse.
Drug overdose is the leading cause of death — when it comes to unintentional injuries — in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That exceeds vehicle crashes.
But if people want to use pills to get high, they're going to find a way to do it, Champagne and Larpenter said.
Yet state Attorney General Buddy Caldwell said he thinks the federal government can at least try to keep people from crushing them up and therefore keep them from snorting them and injecting them.
Federal regulations have pushed companies making name-brand painkillers, such as OxyContin, to develop pills that are harder to tamper with by adding new physical and chemical features, but addicts are only turning to generic brands as a result, according to a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration signed by 47 attorney generals, including Caldwell.
"We encourage the FDA to assure that generic versions of such products are designed with similar features," the letter concludes.
However, Larpenter and his narcotics agent Darryl Stewart said they're concerned that when pills become harder to abuse, addicts turn to other drugs. When synthetic morphine, like Hydrocodone and Oxycodone, began to replace some doctors' use of morphine, some morphine abusers turned to heroin, Larpenter and Stewart said.
"We encourage and appreciate any attempts that are made to curtail the use of these drugs for illegal use," Stewart said. "We do realize, however, that individuals with these addictions will often divert to the use of heroin. The individuals will base their method of use on price and accessibility. Changing the manner in which the drug is manufactured is a positive attempt in keeping it from being used improperly. Individuals involved in criminal activity will always look for alternatives.
"We always welcome and encourage attempts to curtail illicit drug use. It is additionally important that we realize and recognize the effects of these changes."
But pills aren't really gateway drugs, Champagne said. He said he agrees with Caldwell.
"If there's any way we can stop the abuse, go for it," he said.
Still, such reforms won't make a difference in Champagne's line of work, he said. The possession of pain medication without a prescription and distribution are what his concerns are as a narcotics agent.
"The shooting up of a drug or snorting is just a means of consumption," Champagne said.
Addicts may simply swallow more pills than usual, rather than injecting or inhaling them, he said.
"There are always people trying to circumvent (regulations), just like there are always people trying to circumvent the law," Champagne said.
Larpenter said he would prefer federal officials institute a nationwide database of pain prescriptions, as Louisiana recently implemented statewide. Such databases notify law enforcement when someone fills pain prescriptions from different doctors in a short period of time, Larpenter said.
A nationwide database would keep drug dealers from visiting doctors in Texas, then bringing the drugs back to Louisiana to sell, Larpenter said.
Staff Writer Katie Urbaszewski can be reached at 448-7617 or firstname.lastname@example.com.