Yes, The Capital's own Eric Smith is a long-time Annapolis resident, whose editorial cartoons and weekly columns along with his participation in a wide array of community organizations and events qualifies him as a bona fide local celebrity. HometownAnnapolis cornered Eric recently and pelted him with a battery of questions.
Q: How long have you lived in Annapolis and when did you begin working for The Capital?

A: I've been here since July of 1972, when I moved to Annapolis to take my job with The Capital.

Q: Which came first - your editorial cartoons or your weekly column?

A: The cartoons first and then the column in December of 1980. Cartoons are by necessity short comments on the passing scene. I wanted to make more detailed and extensive comments, so I talked my boss into letting me do a column, too.

Q: Many people may recall your consumer column, Action Line. Did you enjoy writing that?

A: Sort of. I liked going after big businesses that tried to crush their helpless customers and I liked tracking down bad guys who thought they had gotten away clean. But after 16 years, I burned out. I started to be as annoyed at the people who complained as I was at the subjects of their complaints. It was time to quit.

Q: Is it true that your wife, Jan, has all the computer talent in your family? Can you tell us more about that?

A: She is a county school librarian, and before that an elementary school teacher. Along the way she picked up awesome computer skills, skills that I will never fathom. In fact, my wife is better than I am at many things.

Q: You are a Vietnam War veteran, and a published author on the subject. Can you tell us more about your experiences in Vietnam? What inspired you to write the book?

A: I wrote the book, entitled "Not By the Book," because a publisher gave me the chance to fulfill a life'time ambition. In 1993, Ballantine hapened to need a Vietnam nonfiction title for its publication list, and I happened to want desperately to get published. It was only after I wrote the book that I realized that the core of my Vietnam experience (as an Army intelligence officer with the Americal Division) was not battling the Viet Cong, but battling silly or irrelevant Army rules and regulations. Thus the title. I just never could bring myself to do anything by the book.

Q: Not many people know that you have a law degree, and enjoy the stock market and finance. How did you get interested in these areas?

A: My law degree, from Georgetown in 1972, has only been of indirect use to me as a cartoonist and columnist, although I'will never regret earning it. My interests in private and government finance, investing, economics and economic history arose only eight or nine years ago, after my father died and left some money behind. Learning how to manage that money, for my mother and the rest of my family, caused me to do a lot of reading in related fields. Now I'm hooked. It turns out that money and its uses (as well as misuses) are almost endlessly fascinating subjects, at least to me.

Q: How did your annual "Tacky Postcard" competition get started?

A: By accident. About 15 years ago I needed a simple, uncontroversial column topic to finish out a slow summer. Someone had mailed me a really ugly, tacky postcard, so I gathered a few others together and produced what I thought was a mildly amusing one-time-only column for the few readers still around at the end of August. To my enormous surprise, people began mailing me tacky postcards all year long for the next year's contest. So I ran a contest the next year, and it just kept going after that. Who knew?

Q: You're not shy about your opinions about Annapolis. What do you think of some of the projects planned for downtown - for instance, do you think the hospital garage should be torn down? What do you think the circle should be named?

A: Actually I'm never quite sure I know what's best for Annapolis. I have opposed many projects over the years that turned out quite nicely, and I have failed to criticize certain projects that turned out to be disasters. Accordingly, I think the hospital garage should be torn down and preserved at the same time, and the circle should be named something inoffensive but nice.

Q: What is your favorite spot in Annapolis?

A: Lower West Street. It is my outdoor office, the place most of my friends hang out, the site of some nifty restaurants and very close to all my other favorite spots in Annapolis.

Q: If you had only one dream for the future of our town, what would it be?

A: To keep Annapolis exactly the way it was yesterday, only with more bookstores.

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