su-bboards
Nicaragua learns from the Soviet model
a083  0950  25 Oct 85
PM-Sandinista Specs,0189
Nicaraguan President Goes on $3,500 Eyeglass Spree
    NEW YORK (AP) - The president of Nicaragua and his wife, here for
the U.N. anniversary session, bought $3,500 worth of fashion
eyeglasses from an East Side optician and covered the splurge with a
Diner's Club card, the shop manager says.
    With the Secret Service telephoning in advance, President Daniel
Ortega Saavedra pulled up Wednesday in a 17-car motorcade at Cohen's
Fashion Opticals on Lexington Avenue and 60th Street, said Jeff
Kirsch.
    ''They were here an hour. He was easygoing; he took whatever his
wife said. She was very picky,'' said Kirsch.
    Mrs. Ortega ordered three Gucci frames for herself and three
Fioruccis for her daughter.
    Ortega bought six Silhouette frames with polycarbonate lenses, the
sturdy plastic used for bulletproof shields in taxicabs. His
eyeglasses were $300 each.
    He had another set of the plastic lenses put into a frames he
already owned, said Kirsch.
    Silhouette and Gucci frames start at about $180 each, said Kirsch,
and Fioruccis run about $50 less.
    The Ortegas' charge card came from the Nicaraguan U.N. Mission.

**** Hint for leftists.  The best defense is offense.  $25 for
the neatest way of changing the subject.  Points will be awarded
for authentic style and chutzpah.