Safari Club welcomes Bush with support for Bush Jr., too

RENO, Nev. - George Bush and retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf worked the crowd at a large trophy hunting convention Saturday and were met with strong support for a presidential run in 2000 by George Bush Jr.

"He comes from good stock," said Robert Charlton, a knifemaker from Tyner, N.C., selling his goods at the Safari Club International's 27th annual convention.

"I'd certainly like to see him run if he's anything like his dad," said Bradford Williams, a sculptor from Belfry, Mont.

The former president was the keynote speaker Saturday night at the 32,000-member club's dinner at the Reno Hilton Hotel-Casino - one of the biggest trophy hunting conventions in the world.

Bush and the retired general who followed his orders in Desert Storm spent two hours on the convention floor Saturday, shaking hands with some of the 900 artisans and gunmakers and having their pictures taken with supporters.

"The programs he put into effect made the economy what it is today. I hope his son runs," said Patricia Owel of Kalamazoo, Mich.

"And maybe Elizabeth Dole could be his running mate," said David J. Owel, her husband.

Criticism of President Clinton flowed just as freely as the praise and admiration for Bush and his sons, George Bush Jr., the Republican governor of Texas, and Florida GOP Gov. Jebb Bush.

"Mr. Clinton is a pretty trashy individual," said Kenny Jarrett, who owns a rifle company and a farm and hunting plantation in Jackson, S.C.

"If he'd 'fessed up about it all, it probably would have gone away. But he perjured himself. If I'd done that, I'd be sitting in the jailhouse," he said.

Jarrett, who talked briefly with the ex-president Saturday, said Bush "and Barbara are such a decent all-American couple.

"I think his boys are going to be players on the national scene in the near future," he said.

George Bush Jr. is the one talked about most as a possible presidential candidate in two years.

"Knowing what George Bush stood for, I' know his son would be a good candidate," said Sandra Brady, a scrimshaw artist from Monclova, Ohio.

"I'd probably vote for him and I'm a Democrat," said John Shaffer, a wildlife jeweler from Orange County, Calif., who said it was "overwhelming" to see Bush on Saturday.

Bush, a longtime supporter of the club, was dressed in a gray suit and leather dress shoes. But he examined the horned-back frog skins at the Loveless boot stand, an Oklahoma City-based bootmaker where Bush once purchased cowboy boots.

Secret Service agents helped keep reporters away. Bush laughed with several gunmakers and told Jarrett he shot his first quail in 1939 in South Carolina "about 30 minutes from our house," Jarrett said.

Schwarzkopf helped present awards. Honorees included Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania and Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, chairman of the House Resources Committee.

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