LITTLE ROCK — SO NOTED: Interesting things are always popping up on eBay. Take, for example, a Las Vegas-based dealer's current listing on the online auction site.
The hand-penned note from President Bill Clinton on April 27, 1995, reads: "Dear David, I loved the High Profile article - It was richly deserved. I hope it gives your work a boost too - Thanks for being a true friend. Bill."
Who's David? Paul David Leopoulos, then a sales manager with Law Office Information Systems featured on this paper's High Profile cover four days earlier.
Leopoulos, Clinton's closest childhood friend since their elementary school days in Hot Springs, is now full-time director of the Thea Foundation, a nonprofit organization he and wife Linda founded in memory of their late daughter. The foundation offers scholarships to Arkansas high school seniors who display talent in visual and performing arts.
Leopoulos tells Paper Trails that, after receiving Clinton's blessing back in the mid-1990s, he sold a couple of pieces, including this note, to a dealer for a couple thousand dollars.
"It helped pay for a little bit of college for one of my kids. But after I did that, I regretted it," even though he's kept other, more sentimental mementos from his friend.
Speaking of Clinton's generosity, Leopoulous recalls that, after the U.S. women's' soccer team won the World Cup in 1999 by defeating China, the ball from the winning game was given to Clinton, who, in turn, gave it to Thea, joking, "I gave it to her in case she needs it for money for college." The family still owns the ball, but Thea died in a car accident two years later while still in high school. Her memory lives on through the foundation, which in a few weeks moves into a storefront on North Little Rock's Main Street where aspiring artists will have the opportunity to show and sell their works.
After passing through numerous dealers' hands, how much is that brief, heartfelt note going for on eBay? The asking price is $24,999. A second one, with the Clintons wishing David a happy birthday in 1993, is set at $3,499.
That doesn't matter to Leopoulos, though.
"Our friendship is based on love, not stuff."
STARS IN THEIR EYES:
So whose wedding were former North Little Rock resident Mary Steenburgen and hubby Ted Danson attending this weekend? Mary's niece Amy Kelley, who wed Matt Bell early Saturday evening on the porch of their Victorian cottage in North Little Rock's historic Argenta district. Their block was closed to throughtraffic for the ceremony, and a reception followed at Argenta Seafood Co., whereBell is a chef.
CRASH SITE:
Arkansans who haven't yet seen the video via the numerous local affiliates and national network television stations that broadcast it of the cabin crashing into a bridge during flooding along the White River near Calico Rock, can do so at www.youtube.
com by searching for "house colliding with bridge (March 2008)." Paper Trails appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Contact Linda Caillouet at (501) 399-3636 or at lcaillouet@arkansasonline.com.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 03/31/2008