Shlachter & Co.: V-22 gets priceless publicity

For all the millions of dollars Bell Helicopter and Boeing spend each year promoting the V-22 Osprey, sometimes the best marketing, advertising and publicity is free — to the companies anyway — and priceless.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama and his Middle East campaign entourage — er, congressional delegation — got a whirlwind tour of Iraq’s Anbar province and from there a ride to Amman, Jordan, on Tuesday aboard a Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey.

Obama, along with Sen. Jack Reed, D-R. I., and Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., reportedly made several stops in Iraq thanks, as the Marines undoubtedly were quick to point out, to the Osprey’s vaunted speed (roughly 40 percent faster that similar-sized helicopters.)

Osprey fans following the news coverage were quick to catch on to Obama’s mode of transport. Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, got a tour of far-flung Marine outposts in Iraq this year with rides in MV-22s.

One can probably assume that Marine officers made at least a brief sales pitch to both candidates on the Osprey’s virtues, which could help the next time some member of Congress or a Washington think tank uses the words "defense budget cuts" and "V-22" in the same sentence with the president — whoever that may be.

Mama’s family at odds

Nathan Bradley Howell, the former owner of the Mama’s Pizza franchise organization and its original Camp Bowie store, took issue with Monday’s report about his former company.

In particular, he disagreed with a remark made by the chief executive of Howell Instruments, his uncle Bill Howell, who said the operation was a "poor investment."

Brad Howell insists that his Camp Bowie store rang up monthly sales of $100,000, three times the best month ever cited by the previous owner, Chris Farkas. Sadly, the record was made just weeks before the family trust had the locks changed on the pizzeria for nonpayment of rent, he said. The moribund business was turned over to Howell Instruments, the family business.

Although he lost a legal action mounted by Howell Instruments, Brad Howell maintains that he had an understanding with his late grandparents about the rent and a $650,000 loan while he sorted out a messy divorce and dealt with a health problem. Moreover, he asserted, other relatives had similarly failed to repay loans to the family estate.

With a lawsuit played out in state district court, there clearly is a Howell family rift. Brad Howell, now a truck driver, likens dealings with his relatives to the most malevolent machinations of Larry Hagman in the old TV series, Dallas.

Teen hopes are soaring

The rumors are still flying that the Jonas Brothers — the hot teen pop group — may be the newest residents in Tarrant County. Now come reports they may be asked to do some real flying.

The brothers appear to be buying a house in Westlake’s Vaquero development, an exclusive community with a golf course. And now Hillwood is interested in getting Kevin, Joe or Nick Jonas to fly in the cockpit of one of the Air Force Thunderbirds at the Fort Worth Alliance Air Show set for Oct. 11-12.

The Thunderbirds have a spot in one of the cockpits for a celebrity to fly along, Hillwood spokesman David Pelletier told staff writer Andrea Jares.

The Jonas Brothers have taken steps toward purchasing a house near Alliance Airport; the Vaquero home their family purchased this summer is part of Hillwood’s Circle T acreage.