tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20066647546923989522024-02-18T22:48:02.897-08:00Prairie PerspectiveInsight and commentary on Midwest politics, history and culture delivered by a veteran editor and writer.Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.comBlogger283125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-76556079048625178172020-04-26T08:11:00.001-07:002020-04-26T08:11:58.047-07:00The scoop on the stolen story <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVuHtKXuTsFkzkH0_v44WbBmoK9ok_In9JqO7N_EYvinSOfK5CBnOR68z2QkG_i2SokK2YUnE8Bc-aYSp3SMrZou8PhJO-KTfLynH80HdAyNt_KHYxxYA1vlHalo8zBD7rzPOepF5AzsM/s1600/1D722292-B70E-43D2-BC30-00B82D5C17D5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="542" data-original-width="990" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVuHtKXuTsFkzkH0_v44WbBmoK9ok_In9JqO7N_EYvinSOfK5CBnOR68z2QkG_i2SokK2YUnE8Bc-aYSp3SMrZou8PhJO-KTfLynH80HdAyNt_KHYxxYA1vlHalo8zBD7rzPOepF5AzsM/s320/1D722292-B70E-43D2-BC30-00B82D5C17D5.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
It wasn’t the first time and likely won’t be the last.<br />
But the sheer gall exhibited by KELO TV and its “investigative” reporter Angela Kennecke will be hard to top. They were inspired by, borrowed ... took the idea for my story on <a href="https://www.sdstandardnow.com/home/south-dakota-gov-kristi-noems-130000-tv-studio-deal-she-installs-system-in-state-capitol" target="_blank">Gov. Kristi Noem and her $130,000 contract for a TV studio</a> near her office in the state Capitol. I broke the story on Saturday, April 18, on The South Dakota Standard, a new blog I produce with Rapid City businessman and writer John Tsitrian.<br />
I knew it would resonate across South Dakota, as had <a href="https://www.sdstandardnow.com/home/former-trump-campaign-manager-urging-noem-to-seek-conflict-and-to-engage-in-political-battles-whenever-possible" target="_blank">two earlier posts</a> about <a href="https://www.sdstandardnow.com/home/kristi-noem-is-alienating-former-staffers-theyre-hoping-for-a-2022-challenger-in-the-republican-primary-election" target="_blank">Noem</a>. The TV studio, which I was tipped off about almost two weeks ago, would be a good story, and I knew it.<br />
To briefly recap, Noem quietly built a studio in the state Capitol. The contract is throughout 2026 and would cost the state a maximum of $130,000.<br />
The story hit big. It was read by thousands of people and shared numerous times on Twitter and Facebook. We were pleased by the response and proud to break a good story.<br />
It wasn’t my first and won’t be my last.<br />
I wondered how long it would be until the South Dakota mainstream media would pick up on the story. They had missed it for almost a year — the contract was signed in May 2019 and the studio was installed in the Capitol in July.<br />
Noem has used it for appearances on Fox News and other conservative media. She also allowed GOP political consultant Corey Lewandowski to use it.<br />
I reported the story for four days, sending the governor’s office a series of questions on Tuesday, April 14. Noem’s new communications director, Ian Fury, responded on Friday, April 17. I added those comments to the story and we were set to go.<br />
Thousands of people read it, including at least one person at KELO.<br />
On Thursday, April 23, more than five days after we broke the story, KELO led its 10 p.m. newscast with <a href="https://www.keloland.com/news/investigates/gov-noem-uses-130k-studio-to-boost-national-conservative-profile-and-reach-south-dakotans/" target="_blank">my story</a>. I was amazed how blatant it was as they read my story back to me through the TV.<br />
It wasn’t the first time I have heard my work read to me. When I worked for the Argus Leader from 1993-97, I was based in Brookings and had a wide swath of the state to cover with little competition.<br />
I frequently would file stories at night and the next day hear them read by a well-coiffed KELO anchor on the noon news. I was always happy when they got the story basically right.<br />
When I worked as an editor for the Mankato Free Press, a local radio station used to read my stories verbatim on the air. It was incredible but they seemed to consider me their news department.<br />
Our publisher finally got fed up and contacted them and they ceased and desisted before we had to get lawyers involved.<br />
So I have provided content for TV and radio stations before. It goes with the job, I guess.<br />
But this was different, at least to me. This was a damn good story, a statewide scoop. And I did it in my spare time for a blog.<br />
KELO apparently felt they could just take the idea and run with it without proper attribution and no would notice. But I happened to be watching the news.<br />
It was clearly my story. Angela Kennecke did some additional reporting and added a little to my report. But she used the same numbers, interviewed the same VP from the Massachusetts company that Noem made a deal with, covered the same ground.<br />
The proper thing to do, the ethical thing, the RIGHT thing, is to give credit. “In a story first reported by The South Dakota Standard blog.”<br />
There. That would do it. John said as much in a <a href="https://www.sdstandardnow.com/home/thanks-for-the-scoop-kelo-tv-but-tom-lawrence-had-it-first-here-in-the-sd-standard" target="_blank">post on the SD Standard</a>.<br />
What was especially galling was they ran the story under the label “KELOLAND Investigates.” As longtime South Dakota journalist <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinWoster/status/1253686912184811520" target="_blank">Kevin Woster said</a>, they could have done the ethical thing with just a sentence.<br />
“Well, they were only a few words short of being accurate. All they had to do was write: ‘As KELOLAND Investigates discovered, while reading The South Dakota Standard ...,’” wrote Woster, who I knew at SDSU, worked with at the Argus and have known and respected for more than 40 years.<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/KevinWoster/status/1253683093505847301" target="_blank">Kevin</a> is semi-retired now, writing for South Dakota Public Broadcasting. He worked for KELO for a few years, so he knows the folks involved. He told me this happened several times when he worked, when the TV crew would breathlessly announce another big exclusive ... and he would tell them veteran Pierre reporter Bob Mercer had reported it days earlier.<br />
Bob now works for KELO, producing stories for its website. He is not a TV guy, just an excellent reporter with a lot of knowledge of the state and numerous sources.<br />
I have quite a few, too. It’s not like I suddenly emerged with a hastily written blog post.<br />
Angela Kennecke told me Thursday night, during a brief online discussion, that she had no idea who I was and had not read our blog. Well, other than that one time.<br />
Well, Angela, I am a fourth-generation South Dakotan. I have worked as a journalist since 1978. I have covered a lot of the same stories as you, but in print and online. I have never taken an idea from another source without offering proper credit, especially on a big story like this.<br />
I am not a celebrity journalist, who thinks that ethics and decency are things for ink-stained wretches to worry about. I am a reporter who has covered my state for years and plan to continue to do so.<br />
Thanks for reading. Next time, if you see a story you like, <a href="https://www.sdstandardnow.com/home/thanks-for-the-scoop-kelo-tv-but-tom-lawrence-had-it-first-here-in-the-sd-standard" target="_blank">give credit where it is due</a>.Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-7326988063559468122019-11-18T18:36:00.002-08:002019-11-18T18:36:47.326-08:00No, we’re not all on meth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig7sDLwkaqR8BAf3zIsV-0b5yW6iq9qyd1iLTd5Rkatr-pn9ha8sDPh_1ixD8Vk4wOMn1y-6MVHyuClmpGcBIVKkANp1OcqPfjKz8MfJ92E4ktuCd87cyzqF2SYh-oZ6JXj6kBC_d8SX0/s1600/41532A67-41CD-41E5-AE06-5E58C646FA5B.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="735" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig7sDLwkaqR8BAf3zIsV-0b5yW6iq9qyd1iLTd5Rkatr-pn9ha8sDPh_1ixD8Vk4wOMn1y-6MVHyuClmpGcBIVKkANp1OcqPfjKz8MfJ92E4ktuCd87cyzqF2SYh-oZ6JXj6kBC_d8SX0/s320/41532A67-41CD-41E5-AE06-5E58C646FA5B.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
Well, South Dakota is in the news. Nationwide. Hell, worldwide.</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
So that’s worth something, right? Maybe $449,000? Perhaps as much as $1.4 million?</div>
<div>
South Dakota has reportedly paid $449,000 to Broadhead, a Minneapolis marketing firm, for devising the state’s <a href="https://onmeth.com/" target="_blank">new anti-methamphetamine campaign</a>. The final bill could total $1.4 million.</div>
<div>
It was rolled out Monday and, well, there was an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/11/18/meth-were-it-says-south-dakota-new-ad-campaign/" target="_blank">immediate response.</a> People talked about it over coffee, lunch and beers. They tweeted, posted and discussed it with family, friends and coworkers.</div>
<div>
The result? Derision. Disbelief. And a lot of laughter and eye-rolling.</div>
<div>
The slogan is meant to suggest that South Dakotans are aware of the damage being done to us by meth abuse. But instead, it is being taken as an sorrowful admission that we’re a collection of tweakers.</div>
<div>
And for this we paid almost half a million bucks? Gov. Kristi Noem, an ardent foe of drugs including marijuana, says this will work.</div>
<div>
Broadhead says it knew the campaign, which includes a website, posters, billboards and a TV ad, would be provocative but it argues that is needs to be to gain attention.</div>
<div>
“South Dakota’s meth crisis is growing at an alarming rate,” Noem said in an online announcement.</div>
<div>
No argument there. I have been covering meth abuse and addiction for nearly 30 years. I have interviewed addicts, cops, judges and counselors.</div>
<div>
They all paint a grim painting of a person sampling the drug and quickly becoming hooked. It overwhelms them, and they soon are a slave to this homemade poison.</div>
<div>
You’ve seen the before and after photos, the healthy, handsome visages that becomes skeletal, teeth missing and eyes like two dark holes<span class="gmail_default"> in a cratered face</span>. I’ve met the people, and they are miserable — but yet they crave more.</div>
<div>
Meth has ravaged small towns and what passes for big cities in South Dakota.</div>
<div>
Native Americans, already struggling with widespread alcoholism, depression and suicide rates, have been hit hard by meth.</div>
<div>
It is tied to other illegal activity, with cops telling us that the lion’s share of property crimes is linked to meth use. It’s an expensive master, and addicts crave it, need it, live and die for it.</div>
<div>
Since many can’t hold jobs with their minds scrambled by the homemade speed, they resort to car and home burglaries, shoplifting, theft and any form of crime that can give them the cash they need to put more meth, or obtain the many chemicals that can be used to manufacture it.</div>
<div>
So, yes, far too many South Dakotans are on it. But this campaign sends the wrong message in the wrong way.</div>
<div>
We are aware of the deadly toll this poison is taking. We know family members, friends, neighbors and people in our communities who have wrecked their lives for that fleeting rush.</div>
<div>
Gov. Noem is correct in making this a hot-button issue. The campaign has brought it to the fore, and people are even more alert to the problem.</div>
<div>
But they’re laughing. They’re mocking it. They’re shaking their heads.</div>
<div>
That is not the desired effect, obviously. We have thrown away $449,000 on a poorly worded campaign. Let’s not waste another $1 million.</div>
<div>
Check Twitter to see what options are being offered. Sponsor a contest with high school students. Allow the public to choose a winner.</div>
<div>
Then relaunch the program with a smarter slogan. No, we’re not all on meth.</div>
<div>
We’re on the side of the people trying to stem this tide. Pick something that says just that.</div>
<div>
End the Madness of Meth. Meth Kills. Meth — Never!</div>
<div>
There are three right there, and they are free. Find something that sends out the right message and start over.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-91323501458078262382019-11-17T08:34:00.001-08:002019-11-17T08:39:28.960-08:00Door-to-door dairy delivery <div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="effet" data-offset-key="74q5r-0-0" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="74q5r-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<div class="clearfix bodyText" id="bodyText" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; padding: 0px 45px; position: relative; white-space: normal;">
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVRbsR2_iELBMHnMbXcKK0_mbHGcHlvV0CLaOCNPwSzEySmlZX2p6wnBTiWx1eM_UEw2TAFAbF7AuS4qzroqSPEujv4mf5cYzUEwWOmSNUyLID7kmnEILAIauLdjwwt_SkiZ9jVa0uL0o/s1600/6B8A22B2-BBA0-4BA1-BA5E-1C0B7AE259FA.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="676" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVRbsR2_iELBMHnMbXcKK0_mbHGcHlvV0CLaOCNPwSzEySmlZX2p6wnBTiWx1eM_UEw2TAFAbF7AuS4qzroqSPEujv4mf5cYzUEwWOmSNUyLID7kmnEILAIauLdjwwt_SkiZ9jVa0uL0o/s320/6B8A22B2-BBA0-4BA1-BA5E-1C0B7AE259FA.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Look, I’m not trying to milk this for a column, but what the hay, it seems like a trend worth noting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Home delivery of milk is rising like cream to the top. People like having fresh milk, cool in glass bottles, deposited at their doorstep every morning.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">It sounds great to me. I drink a lot of milk — with cereal or any other breakfast meal, for lunch with a sandwich, or at night with a few cookies.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fewer people drink milk today, or so I herd. Dairy farmers are struggling, with hundreds going out of business. Large companies are shutting down, as people are choosing other liquids.But there are still millions of us who love a tall glass of moo juice. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">For decades, we got it dropped off at the door, but that went out of fashion in the 1970s. That is changing, as dairies have revived home delivery service in the last decade.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maybe I should apply for a job as a milkman — I do have some experience. No bull.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just one day, and I was 6 or 7 at the time. But I have brought milk right to customers’ homes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was the mid-1960s, and my dad was the foreman for Bibby-Kallemeyn Dairy in Brookings. He worked there from 1952-66, and it was a job he enjoyed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Milk was in our blood. My grandpa milked cows and dad did as well, and I would go on to work in our dairy barn for more than a decade, owning a few head of cattle myself.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">But when we lived in Brookings, before Dad decided to return to farming full-time, his association with milk came at Bibby-Kallemeyn. He trained other drivers, helped in the plant, and sold milk door-to-door.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dad, with his gregarious nature, was a natural salesman. He would offer kids small cardboard cartons of chocolate milk and charm housewives with a free sample and a smile.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once he was offered a bonus if he could add rural customers and he signed up so many, the bonus was well over $100, a lot of money for the 1950s?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">The dairy balked at paying it, and Dad, who rarely got angry, said he was quitting if they would not live up their word.The bonus was paid in weekly installments and he remained there for several more years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Even after we moved to the family farm near Estelline in 1966, Dad would help out once in a while and he remained friends with his old Bibby-Kallemeyn pals for decades.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">When we moved to the farm, they helped, and we made the drive to the farm in the dairy trucks loaded with our furniture and possessions. They were a close bunch, posing for team photos, all the drivers with crew cuts, like a college football team.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Garry Stamp, a close friend of Dad’s at the dairy, was teased for his interest in law enforcement. But he went on to a career in it, first as a highway patrolman and then as Codington County sheriff.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">I interviewed him a few times, sometimes for stories that weren’t all positive for the sheriff’s office, but Garry always talked to me and helped out, since I was Vernon’s boy. Those dairy connections remained tight for a long time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">John Bibby, a Marine officer who served with distinction, winning a Bronze Star, was a business owner, banker and longtime state senator. He and Dad were longtime friends, the bond of the dairy business recalled fondly for decades.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Customers in around Brookings loved the service. The dairy delivery started in the dark of early morning, so parents, college kids and cafes had fresh milk to pour with their breakfast.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">My older brother Vern was a frequent assistant for Dad, going along on his route, running from house to house to make deliveries.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">I just went once, and Mom had to butter Dad up to get me on the truck. I recall waking up very early, something I have never enjoyed, and departing with Dad in his truck, with the long sliding doors on the sides and a load of milk and dairy products behind us.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">We went to the small town of Gary. It was a bright, warm Saturday, and I helped, with Dad making sure I stayed task. Well, I probably drank chocolate milk and Beep, a fruit concotion that the dairy workers blended and sold for many years. Still, I recall scampering down a few sidewalks to make deliveries.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">I especially remember stopping at a diner for lunch and spotting a comic book display. Soft-hearted as always, Dad bought one for his assistant.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">I never worked the route again, perhaps because of the cost. Filling me with milk, Beep, lunch and buying me a comic book was probably not cost-effective.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">If I returned to this career now, I would only make cash. Not to be cheesy, but not getting lunch and a comic book out of the deal — or spending a few precious hours with Dad — makes it sound a lot less interesting. </span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="effet" data-offset-key="fg358-0-0" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fg358-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="fg358-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="effet" data-offset-key="20gpc-0-0" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="20gpc-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="20gpc-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="effet" data-offset-key="a5bnm-0-0" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="a5bnm-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="a5bnm-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="effet" data-offset-key="a3gi-0-0" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="a3gi-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="a3gi-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="effet" data-offset-key="8df97-0-0" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8df97-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="8df97-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="effet" data-offset-key="cskc9-0-0" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="cskc9-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="cskc9-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="effet" data-offset-key="4velk-0-0" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4velk-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="4velk-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="effet" data-offset-key="9309n-0-0" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9309n-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="9309n-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="effet" data-offset-key="69ab2-0-0" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="69ab2-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="69ab2-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="effet" data-offset-key="e96lm-0-0" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="e96lm-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="e96lm-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="effet" data-offset-key="4o9uf-0-0" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4o9uf-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="4o9uf-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="effet" data-offset-key="70lre-0-0" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="70lre-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="70lre-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" />
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="effet" data-offset-key="393gm-0-0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
</div>
Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-1905903364702454612019-11-04T18:21:00.001-08:002019-11-04T18:30:08.172-08:00Death watch in Sioux Falls<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0VDZfEgEAV7aa7d_M5CxgKtB-Oi56HPrL7f3ADjeiBeBtow2NR04zPiMrxOTSx2MJ-1_qZU5ZL26uYTkGRLN2_387oqojJLBFOZX-pqWEpBFmZoYRRvvy2HGyEVtwM_UyaUB5kDje6j8/s1600/4D6BD628-F43F-4284-80F7-51109DF81244.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0VDZfEgEAV7aa7d_M5CxgKtB-Oi56HPrL7f3ADjeiBeBtow2NR04zPiMrxOTSx2MJ-1_qZU5ZL26uYTkGRLN2_387oqojJLBFOZX-pqWEpBFmZoYRRvvy2HGyEVtwM_UyaUB5kDje6j8/s320/4D6BD628-F43F-4284-80F7-51109DF81244.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There was a flurry of activity outside the South Dakota Penitentiary on Monday morning, Nov. 4. Preparing to execute someone will do that.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">I drive past the prison a few times a month, and on Monday, I made sure to check it out. Somehow it seemed different, more foreboding, grimmer, sadder.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Men in dark jackets moved about, and blockades were erected in driveways. A TV camera captured the buzz around the prison, and a man in a dark suit, holding a briefcase, walked down the sidewalk.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">The man who caused all this waited inside. Charles Rhines was scheduled to be executed for the March 8, 1992, murder of Donnivan Schaeffer, who accidentally came upon Rhines as he burglarized a Rapid City doughnut shop.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rhines, 63, had been battling the death penalty for much of his life. He received the sentence on Jan. 29, 1993. Around 8 p.m. Monday, after one final legal delay, it was carried out.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">He has claimed jurors sentenced him to death because he is gay and bragged of his “inner animal” which he released through violent sex and, ultimately, in stabbing Schaeffer at Dig ’Em Donuts.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, police and prosecutors said it was the horrific nature of his crime and his apparent joy in committing it, laughing as he recalled the details, that sent Rhines to Death Row.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">He was the 20th man executed in South Dakota. The first was the notorious Jack McCall, who was hung for the Aug. 2, 1876, murder of Wild Bill Hickok in Deadwood in territorial days.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">McCall actually was found not guilty by a hastily convened court in Deadwood but made the mistake of bragging of his shooting of Wild Bill in front of witnesses in Wyoming.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">McCall was arrested and taken to Yankton, the capital of Dakota Territory.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was determined that the first trial was illegally staged and McCall was convicted in a second one. On March 1, 1877, he was hung, his body placed in a grave with the noose still around his neck. </span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">The grave is unmarked. There is a historical marker at the cemetery, but the exact location of McCall’s final resting place is unknown.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grace and I stopped and read the sign during a trip to Yankton in 2017 and later that summer, met the actors who portray Wild Bill and his killer at a Deadwood saloon. They are pals, joking about their roles in this dark chapter in state history.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are no laughs to the story of Rhines and his cruel crime. He was reportedly a very intelligent and cunning man.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rapid City Mayor Steve Allender, a former police officer, was involved in Rhines’ arrest and has said Rhines is the most disturbing person he came across in his law enforcement career.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">I didn’t celebrate Rhines’ death, but nor did I mourn his demise. He was a vicious, dangerous man who lived 40 years longer than the young man he stabbed to death.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have no desire to cover an execution and I have a few opportunities over the years. I was offered the editor’s job at a newspaper in Huntsville, Texas, where the Lone Star State has its execution chamber.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s a virtual assembly line of death, with 565 executions since 1982. The publisher promised stories that would run across the globe, since putting someone to death is worldwide news.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Huntsville is a city of about 38,000 people, and death is a leading business. The Huntsville Item covers all aspects of executions, and that just didn’t appeal to me, so I didn’t pursue the job.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">The job opens fairly often, I have noticed. Covering death is difficult work, I am sure, and doing it over and over and over would be troubling.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just driving past the prison as the process was in motion to execute Rhines was a reminder of that.</span></div>
Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-91081421551818717722019-10-12T08:55:00.001-07:002019-10-12T08:55:54.749-07:00Miracle Met loved South Dakota<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQFAPHCGk86_gSxhh9WAFt6jKtKnai1Pm5fSEbTZSUD50tDvRAfoPi4-5ej2Pn1IrlaYMJuKhoiS-KSGkEKB_0RMVgJBxT38yzmAllwXguML8Ht5ueuySx1JYN4IazzG2_XcZ-KE0nFLw/s1600/BD863C5E-70D4-4186-8678-A15696CEEB54.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1095" data-original-width="1600" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQFAPHCGk86_gSxhh9WAFt6jKtKnai1Pm5fSEbTZSUD50tDvRAfoPi4-5ej2Pn1IrlaYMJuKhoiS-KSGkEKB_0RMVgJBxT38yzmAllwXguML8Ht5ueuySx1JYN4IazzG2_XcZ-KE0nFLw/s320/BD863C5E-70D4-4186-8678-A15696CEEB54.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
There’s always a local angle, even to a New York story.<br />
As noted an in earlier column, South Dakota has a story involving the 1919 Black Sox, the eight crooked Chicago White Sox who threw the World Series. One of the ringleaders, shortstop Charles “Swede” Risberg, ended his career playing independent baseball in Watertown and Sioux Falls, and other banned players likely played here as well.<br />
A much happier baseball anniversary also is being observed this year, and also has a South Dakota connection. The 1969 “Miracle Mets,” who unexpectedly won the Fall Classic, are among the most famous teams in baseball history. The MVP of that World Series was veteran slugger Donn Clendenon, <a href="https://youtu.be/DmvoiusNY4g" target="_blank">who hammered three homers</a> in the five-game upset of the mighty Baltimore Orioles, who appeared in four World Series from 1966-71.<br />
Clendenon wound up living in Sioux Falls, and said he loved the change to a slower pace. He died in 2005, so unlike his surviving teammates, he hasn’t been around to hear one more round of cheers for their amazing season.<br />
The Mets had been a sad joke for most of their brief existence but suddenly became a contender in 1969, led by young pitchers Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Nolan Ryan. Seaver and Ryan were two of the greatest pitchers of all time and both made the Hall of Fame.<br />
The Mets lacked offense, however, and traded for Clendenon, acquiring him from the Pirates. He was a difference-maker, as the Mets caught fire in the second half of the season, breezing past the Chicago Cubs and sweeping the Atlanta Braves in the playoffs. Then they faced the Orioles, and were heavy underdogs.<br />
Baltimore’s leadoff batter in Game 1 homered and the Orioles defeated the great Seaver. It seemed like the dream season would end in disappointment. That’s where Clendenon seized control.<br />
He had hits in 14 at-bats, a 357 batting average, hit three homers, knocked in four runs and scored four. His three home runs and 15 total bases set records for a five-game World Series, earning him MVP honors.<br />
Clendenon never matched that offensive explosion and retired after the 1972 season. He’d been a good hitter, finishing with 159 home runs and a .274 average in 12 seasons.<br />
His post-baseball life was mixed, as he earned a law degree but also developed an addiction to cocaine.<br />
“I was 49 turning 50; that was kind of like a birthday present for me," he told The New York Times. "I was hooked immediately."<br />
After an arrest, Clendenon went to rehab to get clean and relocated to an unlikely spot to change his life: Sioux Falls. He became the general counsel for the Interstate Audit Corporation and also served as a chemical dependency counselor at the Keystone-Carroll Treatment Center.<br />
That was a demanding life for a former athlete, but Clendenon always was a combination of brain and brawn. His father was a college professor and his mother also demanded academic achievement from her son. Clendenon attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, and a prominent graduate of the historically black college served as his big brother. His name? Martin Luther King Jr.<br />
During his minor league seasons, Clendenon was mentored by baseball hero Jackie Robinson as well as other black stars. They were impressed by the tall youngster’s power and promise, as well as his intellect and his interest in issues off the diamond.<br />
Clendenon worked on his law degree during off-seasons and also was a business executive. Part of that was his passion for moving forward, but a lot of it had to do with the fact that players of that era weren’t paid very much. He gave as much of himself in a business suit as he did when he was in uniform.<br />
That’s what people in South Dakota learned as well. Clendenon grew to love Sioux Falls. He changed his life and fell in love again, marrying a girl from tiny Howard. I was stunned to learn it was the sister of my great friend Ray’s wife.<br />
Yes, the MVP of the Miracle Mets was my best friend’s brother-in-law! That amazed me then and does now.<br />
Ray said Clendenon was in “amazing” shape and did martial arts.<br />
“He had quite a grip on him,” Ray said.<br />
He said Clendenon would talk about his career and the 1969 World Series, but he did grow tired of it at times. Clendenon did recall having to remain on a bus during minor-league trips, since restaurants were segregated. Teammates would bring him a sandwich, he told Ray.<br />
That remained vivid in his mind, just as much as playing alongside greats likes Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Seaver. He brought retired players to South Dakota for exhibition games and events, allowing Ray to meet St. Louis Cardinals’ legendary pitcher Bob Gibson.<br />
One time, when Clendenon returned to New York City for a Mets reunion, he brought along another brother-in-law, one of Julie’s brothers who wasn’t much of a baseball fan. He met a younger player who spoke to Clendenon, who later rolled his eyes when the South Dakotan didn’t realize he had been introduced to home run king Barry Bonds!<br />
When the Mets held their 40th reunion in 2009, Clendenon had died, but his widow and her sister, Julie, attended the event and represented him. He remains fondly remembered for helping deliver the most-famous moment in team history.<br />
Clendenon’s paternal grandfather and father died of leukemia and he developed the disease in the 1990s. He knew it would kill him, but he was determined to live as full a life as possible. Clendenon wrote a book on the 1969 Mets, “Miracle in New York,” and Ray shared a copy with me.<br />
I wish he had let me edit it for him; it was pocked with typos and needed a serious rewrite. But it did tell his story of propelling the Mets to the title.<br />
It’s a tale worth telling still, and the South Dakota chapter is part of it.Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-20147564083241336482019-10-01T04:30:00.000-07:002019-10-01T04:41:16.661-07:00South Dakota and the Black Sox<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpHJg7DsuQ0ma-LUghkF1Q1wSR2BuINag667ZKezh2z7t7r91gg17sBMPj3VaDbsAEOj4_QgB80FAlRpntacbG9YxrLR2kdm5bIpOhyrl-YIbFqCNj-mJoTBig30ebawNyqPpVByo5Ntg/s1600/174CEFC1-00F9-4A8E-AB70-D368EB1FC17F.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpHJg7DsuQ0ma-LUghkF1Q1wSR2BuINag667ZKezh2z7t7r91gg17sBMPj3VaDbsAEOj4_QgB80FAlRpntacbG9YxrLR2kdm5bIpOhyrl-YIbFqCNj-mJoTBig30ebawNyqPpVByo5Ntg/s320/174CEFC1-00F9-4A8E-AB70-D368EB1FC17F.png" width="215" height="320" data-original-width="406" data-original-height="603" /></a></div><b>Swede Risberg had a rifle arm and a devious mind. One led him to the majors, the other ruined his career.<br />
</b><br />
<br />
The greatest — well, worst, actually — scandal in baseball history took place 100 years ago this month.<br />
And there’s a South Dakota angle to the story, too.<br />
The powerhouse Chicago White Sox lost the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds five games to three. It was one of the biggest upsets ever, as the White Sox were loaded with stars and were heavy favorites.<br />
But the White Sox felt mistreated by their owner, Charles Comiskey, and were tempted by the promise of big money. Some players, led by shortstop Charles “Swede” Risberg and first baseman Arnold “Chick” Gandil, hatched a plot with a group of gamblers to throw the Fall Classic. They purposely played poorly in several games, with Risberg going just 2 for 25 at bat and committing a record eight errors.<br />
He was paid $15,000 for his treachery, which was more than four times what he made for the entire season. The “Black Sox,” as they will always be known, didn’t get all the money they were promised, and tried to rally to win the series, but lost in eight games. It was one of four nine-game World Series, along with 1903, 1920 and 1921.<br />
The ringleaders involved several teammates, none more prominently than left fielder “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, one of the greatest hitters and players of that or any time. The fix was widely rumored as the games were played and fans and reporters speculated that the White Sox were throwing the series.<br />
Players openly associated with gamblers then, and many allegations of thrown games and arrangements between players and teams have been investigated. Baseball was in jeopardy of losing credibility, so the owners were forced into action. They hired Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a federal judge with a colorful name and reputation, as baseball’s first commissioner and gave him sweeping powers.<br />
He used them, too, banning players connected to the fix even after were found not guilty in a criminal trial.<br />
“Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player that throws a ball game; no player that undertakes or promises to throw a ball game; no player that sits in a conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing ball games are planned and discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball,” Landis intoned in announcing the lifetime bans.<br />
Along with Risberg, Gandil and Jackson, pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Claude “Lefty” Williams, center fielder Oscar “Happy” Felsch, third baseman George “Buck Weaver — the Black Sox were packed with nicknames — and utility infielder Fred McMullin were banned for life.<br />
Also thrown out of baseball was Joe Gedeon, an infielder for the St. Louis Browns, who became the Baltimore Orioles in 1954. Gedeon knew about the fix and bet on the Reds, so he was banned from playing organized ball again.<br />
That’s the key, organized ball. If a team was in the majors or was connected to a club in the American League or National League, they could not sign one of the nine disgraced ballplayers. But at a time when America was truly baseball-mad, there were independent teams all over the country, including some in South Dakota.<br />
Risberg suited up for a Watertown team in 1926 and 1927. He was playing for the love of the game and money, mostly money. Pitchers were paid the most, and the former Chicago shortstop had a very strong arm.<br />
He arrived in Watertown in the middle of the 1926 season after playing in Rochester, Minn., Risberg hit .533 against semipro competition and also went 11-1 on the mound. He returned to Watertown in 1927 and was 12-3 as a pitcher before departing for a better offer. He played for anyone who would meet his price while operating other businesses, including a car dealership, a farm, hotel and miniature golf course.<br />
Risberg roamed across the Midwest, playing whoever would pay him the money. He wrapped up his career in Sioux Falls, playing for the Canaries in 1931-32 and once again performing well, albeit now as a second baseman who pitched a little.<br />
The Canaries joined the Northern League in 1933, and with them in organized ball, Risberg now, 38, retired.<br />
He moved back to his native California, where he ran a bar for years. He had a leg amputated, partially due to an old spike wound aggravated by a car accident he suffered in North Dakota. <br />
Swede declined to discuss the 1919 World Series but he did like to talk baseball, even offering a prediction on the 1970 World Series between the Orioles and the Reds in a newspaper interview. He picked Cincinnati — again, some would say — but this time, they lost in five games.<br />
Risberg outlived all his Black Sox comrades, dying on Oct. 13, 1975, his 81st birthday. A few days later, the Reds won the World Series, a seven-game thriller against the Boston Red Sox.<br />
The MVP was Pete Rose, who in 1989 would join Risberg and the other Black Sox on the banned list for his own association with gamblers.<br />
Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-43183961921264510962019-09-22T15:29:00.001-07:002019-09-22T15:40:10.472-07:00SD’s Iceman alive and kicking<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYMv93OiFQGblZ06qA_sL6Kn3RJj_8HJB_Ke6nth5a-veY3VvULTKhwW3SdGupUp-4hUNRarLKKLqnj1fgzxVnXZgQ66U0bd_PIYTtXp8KaifKcKdiGM53ZvAZYNe-hTYuhq5Hyb9b1U4/s1600/47B6A8DD-DE6D-4329-8C1C-BC6D235A8419.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYMv93OiFQGblZ06qA_sL6Kn3RJj_8HJB_Ke6nth5a-veY3VvULTKhwW3SdGupUp-4hUNRarLKKLqnj1fgzxVnXZgQ66U0bd_PIYTtXp8KaifKcKdiGM53ZvAZYNe-hTYuhq5Hyb9b1U4/s320/47B6A8DD-DE6D-4329-8C1C-BC6D235A8419.jpeg" width="320" height="180" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="900" /></a></div><b>Adam Vinatieri, in his 24th season and acclaimed as the greatest kicker in NFL history, says he is still working to improve. Photo courtesy Indianapolis Colts</b><br />
<br />
<br />
Has the Iceman’s time cometh?<br />
For more than two decades, South Dakota’s Adam Vinatieri has been as dependable as snow in January. He has kicked and kicked and kicked to become the most successful placekicker in NFL history, setting an all-time scoring record while playing on five Super Bowl teams, including championship squads during the 2001, 2003, 2004 seasons as a member of the New England Patriots, and 2006 as an Indianapolis Colt.<br />
But this season, VinatierI started slow and some Colt fans, as well as reporters, columnists and bloggers, said at 46, the Iceman was melting down. He missed three extra points and a pair of field goals in Indianapolis’ opening two games, and suddenly, whispers of retirement were floated.<br />
Instead, he literally bounced back, making a 49-yard field goal that deflected off the left upright in a 27-24 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. Vinatieri added another field goal and three extra points.<br />
Before the win over the Falcons, Colts head coach Frank Reich said he’s sticking with Vinatieri.<br />
“I know there’s been a lot of discussion about Adam,” Reich said. “Just want to make this clear: Adam’s our kicker. Like I said yesterday, we have zero concern. He’s not only our kicker, he’s an instrumental leader on our team.”<br />
It’s been a great run for the Yankton native, who grew up in Rapid City, where he was a star quarterback, kicker and punter at Rapid City Central, and became a kicker and punter at SDSU. After honing his skills for the Amsterdam Admirals — he had to go to Europe to earn a shot at the NFL — he was signed by the Patriots under legendary hard-nosed coach Bill Parcels.<br />
As a rookie, he gained attention both for his kicking and his athletic ability, as he chased down and tackled Herschel Walker on a kickoff. The Pats went to the 1996 Super Bowl but lost to the Green Bay Packers, whose roster included a former SDSU teammate, offensive lineman Adam Timmerman.<br />
The two Adams came back to Brookings after that Super Bowl for a joint appearance at a shoe store. I covered it and enjoyed talking with them.<br />
Timmerman also had a great career, playing in four Super Bowls and winning titles as a Packer and Ram. The two Adams were on opposite sides of the Super Bowl ball again in 2001, with Vinatieri’s Patriots defeating Timmerman’s Rams in 2001, leaving them 1-1 against each other in the biggest game.<br />
Vinatieri earned his nickname with a pair of field goals in a blizzard to tie and then win a playoff game against the Oakland Raiders in January 2002. The South Dakota native was cool as the weather as New England’s incredible dynasty was being formed. When he won the Super Bowl that year with a 48-yard field goal, clinched the title two years later with another last-second boot, the legend was born.<br />
In 2005, I moved to Rapid City and happened to rent a house next door to Vinatieri’s parents, Judy and Paul. They were wonderful neighbors.<br />
I told her I had met her son and admired him, and Judy offered a great response: “Which one?”<br />
His brothers Beau and Chad and sister Christine were just as important to Judy and Paul, and they made that clear. Sure, they were justifiably proud of Adam, and hung a Patriots’ flag from their deck. After he signed with Indianapolis, the New England banner and other New England material was hauled to the attic, and a Colts logo hung outside their home.<br />
Vinatieri proved the Patriots were wrong to let him depart after a decade, as he has been even better over the next 14 seasons, somehow adding greater distance to his kicks and remaining ice-cold in the clutch.<br />
I <a href="https://www.bhpioneer.com/article_0a25a6d1-414a-5809-abf4-f72339a3b6c5.html">interviewed</a> my neighbors for a feature story before the 2007 Super Bowl, when Rapid City’s favorite son was preparing for his fifth Super Bowl. Adam declined to talk with me, even with Judy asking him to do so. They supported Adam, of course, and he included them in his NFL adventure, bringing them along to numerous games and all those Super Bowls.<br />
They had great seats for the big games and partied with players, coaches and family members afterward, too. The Vinatieris are a close clan, and Adam draws strength from his family. His parents said all four of their kids were talented athletes and good kickers in football and soccer. Adam just had the ability and determination to become an NFL legend.<br />
They said by 2007, he already was weary of the attention his strong right leg had brought to him. While still friendly to fans and willing to sign autographs, he dreamed of a ranch with a driveway miles long to keep people at a distance.<br />
“He likes to be alone, or at least with just a few people," his mom said. "He's just a very private person. He really, really is."<br />
That has been difficult for nearly a quarter century. Adam may find that privacy next year, if he decides to retire. Perhaps he can do so after winning one more big game with another thrilling kick. That would be a fitting farewell for the greatest kicker who ever laced up spikes.<br />
Maybe then the Iceman can escape the heat of the spotlight. But he has miles to go, and kicks to make, before he rests.Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-43573470050935740652019-09-11T18:37:00.001-07:002019-09-11T21:34:41.105-07:00A twisted Tuesday evening<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftKfFklqU1P_CETpz1EATdgC6RPuSnNNYc6v4OTbjh4YXX6O3gihV26fobBz2bMn4EJqh8S1N0bFgHFilVwg252FJ0UB9tcNZomzymsvwVrxy4KEemOcY0n1MDSHaeQekdiTM-rNCyzQ/s1600/4C3669CE-06BE-42BD-AE28-7A9F43A706C4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftKfFklqU1P_CETpz1EATdgC6RPuSnNNYc6v4OTbjh4YXX6O3gihV26fobBz2bMn4EJqh8S1N0bFgHFilVwg252FJ0UB9tcNZomzymsvwVrxy4KEemOcY0n1MDSHaeQekdiTM-rNCyzQ/s320/4C3669CE-06BE-42BD-AE28-7A9F43A706C4.jpeg" width="320" height="240" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNN6QulNIkRsfy-gb-5w6Zt7YYeu_UYkbj1SlDJW4RSfQWPRp3yLVvYr7E1KCoofuRRF19OChGsAjMfPgZWV28v0Cb6O-jli7E63YtTIvNBkjjwcinfHibR2b7oxDdaEetNM_ADfAfjZM/s1600/53BD8263-73BF-4538-9525-01CD06789A70.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNN6QulNIkRsfy-gb-5w6Zt7YYeu_UYkbj1SlDJW4RSfQWPRp3yLVvYr7E1KCoofuRRF19OChGsAjMfPgZWV28v0Cb6O-jli7E63YtTIvNBkjjwcinfHibR2b7oxDdaEetNM_ADfAfjZM/s320/53BD8263-73BF-4538-9525-01CD06789A70.jpeg" width="320" height="240" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOcGUdzeF78b65KQ4fk48f_WPggxu-GzyFPHWbfgwlffXIddZjAHNInZzr-TdkA7U57zPAvxEMu93qKfriq2HCzNEw2PkXRZP0IcbY0N3500BG9DGitK0xN06qmu_XAanIg_Cft6HKi74/s1600/782466CD-09A8-4206-BC9E-87EE674383DB.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOcGUdzeF78b65KQ4fk48f_WPggxu-GzyFPHWbfgwlffXIddZjAHNInZzr-TdkA7U57zPAvxEMu93qKfriq2HCzNEw2PkXRZP0IcbY0N3500BG9DGitK0xN06qmu_XAanIg_Cft6HKi74/s320/782466CD-09A8-4206-BC9E-87EE674383DB.jpeg" width="320" height="240" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn05TpyvXDZNfAfWUoA0sdd0_Dcx4gckdyvRXZXETyYY6CvEW7KjdyqUZg7e9gZzY0n1fXnz8htzXcOycWJtRRPAI6btJto2SruG2KtnpZNlsQyE8g1aFXqmZdc4O54FW4PPgQCdmzlC4/s1600/BF2E3087-7E00-4022-A58D-1ADB63E21174.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn05TpyvXDZNfAfWUoA0sdd0_Dcx4gckdyvRXZXETyYY6CvEW7KjdyqUZg7e9gZzY0n1fXnz8htzXcOycWJtRRPAI6btJto2SruG2KtnpZNlsQyE8g1aFXqmZdc4O54FW4PPgQCdmzlC4/s320/BF2E3087-7E00-4022-A58D-1ADB63E21174.jpeg" width="320" height="240" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcUKHHrFwTlVCnQbpqVED9oZa779D7sPeIClBeJ4bhyphenhyphen3UJiVdkdKyvKO4-x3vd6ZCS5FqQnaC7_x1YB2on6-iFqIQZrzsr6azOmXANYcAJaBPW-C9M_Rcc9EoV4EPbHHXAOjchsPGb5g8/s1600/CD127D7D-D766-4667-AB84-12B15D596146.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcUKHHrFwTlVCnQbpqVED9oZa779D7sPeIClBeJ4bhyphenhyphen3UJiVdkdKyvKO4-x3vd6ZCS5FqQnaC7_x1YB2on6-iFqIQZrzsr6azOmXANYcAJaBPW-C9M_Rcc9EoV4EPbHHXAOjchsPGb5g8/s320/CD127D7D-D766-4667-AB84-12B15D596146.jpeg" width="320" height="240" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHNwydH6wQAFc3ev4wl1J0bXOgJZjYL4P7ZERCW4KjTeTv17m5_zViuJIL8N1yuG4bEWHujgkDj-Ao1ID1DFX0QeEBQefNl8sLDkbmYdjSOOmd3vIv_ruH0lAwPGvW4BiLCx3DmFUfcCs/s1600/F19896F7-1F5E-46F5-A7A2-73336B4DE61A.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHNwydH6wQAFc3ev4wl1J0bXOgJZjYL4P7ZERCW4KjTeTv17m5_zViuJIL8N1yuG4bEWHujgkDj-Ao1ID1DFX0QeEBQefNl8sLDkbmYdjSOOmd3vIv_ruH0lAwPGvW4BiLCx3DmFUfcCs/s320/F19896F7-1F5E-46F5-A7A2-73336B4DE61A.jpeg" width="320" height="240" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1200" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Sure, we heard the rain pounding on the windows. And yes, the wind was howling and slamming against the walls and glass, too.<br />
But a tornado at night? And in the city of Sioux Falls?<br />
Those things never happen. Right?<br />
I have been through several tornadoes, and countless thunderstorms. After all, tornadoes, floods and blizzards help define South Dakota.<br />
We choose to live on the wide-open plains, where rain, wind, snow and ice can and do slam us several times a year. Weather shapes our economy, our recreation, our lives in many ways, as it does across the globe.<br />
We experience severe heat, which helps spawn tornadoes and shred buildings like kindling, and extreme cold, when blizzards bulldoze their way across the region, closing roads, schools and hope for getting to work, a ballgame or just a quick trip to the store. They are almost routine events, despite their power and danger.<br />
Maybe that explains why I was asleep when three tornadoes, along with intense winds measured at 125 mph, rampaged through Sioux Falls late Tuesday, Sept. 10. Grace awoke to the sound, and said she noticed a thump followed by a pause, as if the wind was spinning as it struck our building.<br />
Was it a tornado, or something like that?<br />
When we got up around 1 a.m., I scanned online reports and learned the storm, forecast all day, may have included a tornado. That caught our attention, so I inspected the apartment. No damage, although things on the deck had been thrown about.<br />
We were up early, before dawn, and watched the news and read online accounts, seeing that Sioux Falls had been hit hard. Power lines were down, streets clogged with fallen trees and several buildings were damaged, some beyond repair. <br />
Avera’s Behavioral Health and Heart Hospital buildings near 69th Street and Louise Avenue was seriously damaged, with the glass doors and windows shattered. It was revealed that 102 patients had been moved to the center of the building, and one person suffered from cardiac arrest.<br />
Staff members cared for the heart attack victim as a tornado spun nearby and strong winds howled. What amazing displays of courage and dedication.<br />
Advance Auto Parts on 41st Street looked as if a bomb had been dropped on it. Plaza 41, Pizza Ranch, The Original Pancake House and Tuesday Morning, all located along 41st Street, also were greatly impacted.<br />
There were scattered reports of minor injuries, but no one was killed, no one seriously hurt. That is simply incredible.<br />
As Grace noted Wednesday morning as I drove her to work, most of the impact was in a commercial area where businesses were closed. If it had struck in downtown, where hundreds of people were out for the night, the toll could have been horrific.<br />
We drove to work through streets lined with twisted trees and branches pulled from trunks, splinters spread across streets, sidewalks and lawns. A citywide clean-up was scheduled, so people had piled old furniture and other discarded items in front of their homes.<br />
I dodged two cushions on a street, and later came across a spindly couch that had been tossed from a lawn. People picked up tree limbs, cleared debris and dealt with the overnight damage. They seemed calm as they slowly cleared away the wreckage of a late-summer storm.<br />
Mayor Paul TenHaken was at the forefront of the response, showing an unshaven face and a serious demeanor to coordinate the response and make sure everyone was safe. The mayor was upset, as were many people, that tornado sirens didn’t sound in most of the city. He promised to find out what happened and announced early Wednesday the problem was caused by human error and steps would be taken to reduce the odds of that next time.<br />
Will there be a next time? Tornadoes rarely strike Sioux Falls, according to the National Weather Service. It had only happened twice before in the previous three decades.<br />
But three tornadoes twisted that belief as the city slept Tuesday night. When stormy weather returned Wednesday afternoon and evening, complete with lightning tearing jagged holes through a cloudy sky and thunder rumbling windows and nerves, people wondered about another devastating storm, and if we would be so lucky to only lose buildings and trees this time.<br />
I stayed awake Wednesday night, keeping a close eye on weather reports and peeking out the windows on a regular basis. Tornadoes are a part of our heritage in South Dakota, and we have to respect that, even if means losing an hour or two of sleep.<br />
The price could be so much higher.<br />
Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-19252791489757049692019-09-05T08:13:00.000-07:002019-09-05T08:13:21.210-07:00The ever-bright side of Eric Idle<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwmXIHsqMT9N0DoKNQ7G3TwaGfurxZXxFnLOBMKHpBnj9_ZNshuCg9HEGsposuFSpgTF1IlEXOTs7coTy4i7pX6_yB6_0Pv2OfdccE_ITcqXBX9tcawTaCEoiQ5PwppglPg9GZ9NXuxO0/s1600/AEC93914-563F-47FC-90FA-B4A5B18927F4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwmXIHsqMT9N0DoKNQ7G3TwaGfurxZXxFnLOBMKHpBnj9_ZNshuCg9HEGsposuFSpgTF1IlEXOTs7coTy4i7pX6_yB6_0Pv2OfdccE_ITcqXBX9tcawTaCEoiQ5PwppglPg9GZ9NXuxO0/s320/AEC93914-563F-47FC-90FA-B4A5B18927F4.jpeg" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="450" data-original-height="450" /></a></div>Eric Idle is living legend.<br />
Thank goodness for that. He started out as a TV comedian, he wrote in his wonderful book “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, a Sortabiography.” After that, he was a celebrity, then a star and eventually, he and the other brilliant comic writers and performers who formed Monty Python became icons. The next step was legend, and there he remains today.<br />
He is in no hurry to advance to the next stage, he said. That is myth, which is only awarded after your death. Remain a legend, Eric.<br />
At 76, Eric Idle rarely is. He continues to write, act and make appearances alone and with his fellow Python John Cleese, where they regale audiences with stories, skits and silliness. Several of their joint appearances — although I am not sure they still imbibe now — are on YouTube.<br />
He also is active on Twitter, where he gave this fan a thrill by liking a pair of his comments. Having my words read, much less liked, by Eric Idle was better than any newspaper award I have jammed in a box somewhere.<br />
I have been a fan for most of his career. Idle and the other Pythons did their BBC series, “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” from 1969-74. It wasn’t shown in the United States until production had ceased, and it slowly became a hit, in many ways more popular here than in their native country.<br />
I started watching it on South Dakota Public TV in 1976. Like millions of other young people, I was drawn to the irrelevant humor, the sharp satire and the pure silliness of it all. The occasional topless woman helped, too, I must admit.<br />
In his book, Idle tells how he and Cleese and the other Pythons, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Eric Terry Jones and Michael Palin, created this brilliant show. All but Gilliam were veterans of 1960s British TV and had started as writers and performers in university groups and touring companies. Gilliam was the lone American, an artist who added a strong visual sense to comics who were adept with verbal humor.<br />
After the series ended, the Pythons made movies, either all together, in various combinations and on their own. “Life of Brian,” a biblical tale that was respectful to Jesus but mocked his followers to a hilarious degree, may be their best film. The movie ended with Idle singing his most-famous song, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” from a crucifix, as others nailed to a cross bobbed their heads and shuffled their feet.<br />
The Pythons were never afraid to push the envelope, or even to tear it asunder and toss it to the winds.<br />
In the book, Idle also reveals his fascinating personal life, as he found musicians and other comedians were major fans of Python humor. While he never met him, he learned Elvis loved their show and would imitate the high-pitched screeching of their characters. He was amazed and impressed, so he knows how fans like us feel about him.<br />
He did befriend George Harrison and they became extremely close, brought together by a love of music — Idle is a talented songwriter and singer — and comedy. Harrison, dubbed “The Quiet Beatle,” was quite talkative, actually, and loved to share silly moments with Idle.<br />
Monty Python was The Beatles of comedy, it’s often said. Both groups lasted a relatively short time in their original form, but their work is revered and repeated. People will love Beatles music and Python humor long after the men who created it have ceased to be, expired and gone to meet their maker, to quote the beloved Parrot Sketch.<br />
Idle has enjoyed close friendships with Robin Williams, Steve Martin, Mick Jagger and numerous other stars who were drawn to the Python players. His personality obviously was a factor, as he comes across as ideal company in the book, up for a swim, a drink, laugh or cruise at a moment’s notice.<br />
It wasn’t all laughs and parties, although both were in abundance. His father was killed in World War II and he spent most of his childhood in a boarding school, rarely seeing family. His first marriage collapsed, largely because of his wandering eye.<br />
Finances were a concern at times, since the Pythons were paid modest amounts for their comedy-altering creations. The movies they did in their early years were underfunded and locations were often difficult and unpleasant, although Idle adapted to his surroundings and found fun around most corners.<br />
Harrison, a treasured friend, died in 2001 following an attack from a crazed intruder who stabbed him repeatedly. Weakened, George died of cancer two years later, and Idle’s pain and sadness come through vividly in the book.<br />
Chapman, who battled alcoholism, died of cancer in 1989. Williams committed suicide in 2014 and other dear friends have left the stage as well, their myths being launched.<br />
But most of the Pythons remain, although they gave their final group performance in 2014 before adoring crowds in London, they vow. Jones is trapped in dementia and the others are slowed by age as well. But these legends laugh on, and for that, we remain grateful.<br />
The pain and sadness are eclipsed by the wonderful humor they created. As Idle sang, the best option is to always look on the bright side of life, since life’s a laugh and death a mere joke. In fact, his song is now a popular tune at funerals, he reports in the book.<br />
Here’s hoping it won’t be played at his for a long time. Keep doing that legendary stuff, Eric Idle.<br />
Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-722229892378144982019-08-01T13:07:00.000-07:002019-08-01T13:07:59.084-07:00The Kennedys’ legacy is diminished <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4EKz5z6QTui-PBS0Fxud8z3SSRuJ71UctMY5VBLaDQd2Jw3hWZAtc2z6KATouDpDn4HD6Hyf5aHgV2mIAY0G_oWUGOT0hAB1kKw_1h9IKkEan2T9nMZckZ9EA-uJb5tGcrF7XJziVC5o/s1600/CE9CE7BC-1577-4A8E-A6E9-612EB97544A6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4EKz5z6QTui-PBS0Fxud8z3SSRuJ71UctMY5VBLaDQd2Jw3hWZAtc2z6KATouDpDn4HD6Hyf5aHgV2mIAY0G_oWUGOT0hAB1kKw_1h9IKkEan2T9nMZckZ9EA-uJb5tGcrF7XJziVC5o/s320/CE9CE7BC-1577-4A8E-A6E9-612EB97544A6.jpeg" width="320" height="209" data-original-width="360" data-original-height="235" /></a></div><br />
<br />
The Kennedy legend has lost a lot of its luster, for a variety of reasons.<br />
Growing up in the 1960s and ’70s, the Kennedys were American royalty. That was partially due to their success and celebrity, their good looks and wealth, and the tragedy that stalked them and often forced them to pay a dear price, leaving the family and millions of Americans in tears.<br />
But those days are gone, and that feeling has largely faded. There are no Kennedys in prominent national roles, and none on the horizon. The legend drew to a close 10 years ago, a decade after a promising new start came to a sudden, and sadly typical, end, and 40 years after a tragic event clouded their legacy.<br />
Sen. Edward Kennedy, the liberal lion from Massachusetts, died on Aug. 25, 2009. Brain cancer felled Ted Kennedy at 77, ending a political career that lasted far longer than his two older brothers.<br />
I recently read “True Compass,” Kennedy’s posthumous autobiography. It is a surprisingly readable book, filled with political tales, humor and pathos. Sen. Kennedy reflected on his life and career, his family and their triumphs and tragedies, and his own successes and failures, both professional and personal.<br />
He agreed to write the book before he was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of cancer that attacks the brain. It was the same cancer that would kill Sen. John McCain nine years later to the day. Although Kennedy was a liberal Democrat and McCain a conservative Republican, they often worked together, back in an era when politicians were willing to put country over party, the nation’s good ahead of fleeting political advantage.<br />
Ted Kennedy’s life, both public and private, caused people to take firm stances for or against him. Some adored his stances for health care, civil rights, abortion rights and the environment, while others disagreed with him on those issues, while also opposing him on school busing, the ongoing struggles in Northern Ireland, gay and lesbian rights and myriad other stances.<br />
His personal life also made him a target. Like his father Joe Kennedy, a millionaire investor and onetime ambassador to Great Britain, and his brothers, he enjoyed beautiful women and a fast-paced lifestyle.<br />
While the elder Kennedy and his sons Joe Jr., John and Bobby lived, loved and died before their private behavior became public, Ted Kennedy lived in an era when his faults were front and center. As he partied, pursued women and gained weight, cameras clicked away and tongues clucked.<br />
His greatest personal failure, the death of Mary Jo Kopeneche in a driving accident in Chappaquiddick Island on July 18, 1969 — another anniversary this year — remains the largest shadow on his legacy. In his book, Kennedy sticks to the story he crafted with a team of advisers after the fatal accident, claiming he was merely giving the young blonde a ride back to her motel from a beach party on the isle when his car plunged off a narrow bridge.<br />
Kennedy said he tried to save her, but admits he has no excuse for abandoning her in the sunken car for hours before contacting authorities. It cost Kopeneche her life, and very possibly cost him a chance to be president.<br />
He did try once, running against President Jimmy Carter for the 1980 Democratic nomination. It’s revealing that in the book, his animosity for Carrie is evident, even as he offers kinder words for Presidents Lyndon Johnson (a bitter foe of his brother Bobby), Nixon, Reagan, both Bushes, Clinton and Obama.<br />
Carter trailed Kennedy badly in polls in 1979, but vowed to “whip” Kennedy, which he did, in part due to Kennedy’s stumbling start, including a landslide loss in the 1980 Iowa Caucuses. He recovered to run well in the closing months, winning the South Dakota primary, among others, but fell short and never mounted another run for the presidency, although he did ponder one in 1984, he said in the book, only to be dissuaded by his children.<br />
Instead, Ted Kennedy settled in to become a powerful and effective senator, winning nine elections to the Senate. That was in marked contrast to his brothers. JFK served eight years in the same Senate seat before he won the presidency, and Bobby, who unlike his brothers represented New York, served just three and a half years before he was assassinated during his quest for the White House.<br />
John F. Kennedy Jr. might have wound up in the Senate and even the White House, had he lived. He was merely 38 when the airplane he was piloting spun into the Atlantic Ocean on July 16, 1999, killing the president’s son as well as his wife Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and her sister Lauren. I well recall that grim weekend as the search found no evidence of his small plane, and the growing realization of yet another Kennedy tragedy.<br />
Airplane disasters killed Joe Jr. during a highly dangerous World War II mission in 1944, a sister, Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy in 1948 and JFK Jr. in 1999. Ted Kennedy suffered a broken back in a June 19, 1964, plane crash that killed two people.<br />
“There are more of us than there is trouble,” Bobby Kennedy said then. “The Kennedys intend to stay in public life. Good luck is something you make, and bad luck is something you endure.”<br />
Bullets also left a deep wound on the family and country. President Kennedy and Bobby were shot and killed by assassins, deaths that shaped American politics and helped create the legend of the Kennedy Curse. Ted Kennedy admits he feared an assassin’s attack, and George McGovern told me that he once was seated outside sipping a drink with Ted when a bodyguard hurried them indoors, fearing Kennedy was too attractive a target.<br />
There are still Kennedys in public life, led by Rep. Joe Kennedy III of Massachusetts, a grandson of Bobby and Ethel. But none have the high profile of the earlier generation. The media and the public don’t follow them, and they don’t generate the love, devotion, passion — and hatred, resentment and disdain — that Jack, Bobby and Ted did for decades.<br />
That died in 2009, along with Ted Kennedy.Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-8131325931696726892019-07-24T09:29:00.001-07:002019-07-24T10:04:28.003-07:00Mueller hearings pale compared to Watergate probe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNzJeznwAs1wF932X48ROrZUiVhyphenhyphensehyphenhyphen0bYYzOjEZPGMLzbVBSqOdHkPuylTAfVhhfhHkwhFcGyUMDcHKwESkaEoHV0UbwdFdTUHtRwWqYMRgsZropOIs0B5l_vIG4nKdhMSTAhmseRCk/s1600/8E19CF31-0E3B-429D-BAB8-F895046B0538.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNzJeznwAs1wF932X48ROrZUiVhyphenhyphensehyphenhyphen0bYYzOjEZPGMLzbVBSqOdHkPuylTAfVhhfhHkwhFcGyUMDcHKwESkaEoHV0UbwdFdTUHtRwWqYMRgsZropOIs0B5l_vIG4nKdhMSTAhmseRCk/s320/8E19CF31-0E3B-429D-BAB8-F895046B0538.jpeg" width="240" height="320" data-original-width="432" data-original-height="575" /></a></div><b>Sen. Sam Ervin led the Senate Watergate hearings in 1973-74, becoming a national folk hero in the process.<br />
</b><br />
Former special counsel Robert Mueller’s appearance before a pair of congressional committees on Wednesday, July 24, were the most hyped, and watched, committee meetings in decades.<br />
The intent was, in theory anyway, to learn more about the conduct of the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential campaign and if President Donald Trump and his team conspired with Russia and others to steal the election, break the law and defy the Constitution. That was the idea, anyway.<br />
It was difficult to watch, at least for me, because it was more of the same ultra-partisan battle that defines American politics and life today. As Mueller, a registered Republican, Marine veteran and former FBI director, attempted to answer questions, the representatives took turns making speeches, interrupting him and making it plain that they were not there to seek the truth, but to play to their side and display their support or disdain for Trump.<br />
None of the congressmen distinguished themselves, and Mueller seemed unhappy to be pulled into this political swamp.<br />
There have been other congressional hearings that drew this much attention — the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954, the Anita Hill hearing in 1991 and, most remarkably, the Senate Select Committee to Investigate Campaign Practices in 1973-74.<br />
The surprise star of the Watergate hearings, as they were known, was a portly North Carolina senator with unruly gray hair and a syrupy southern accent. Sen. Sam Ervin’s cornpone style and courtly manner disguised a cunning mind with a vast knowledge of politics and the Constitution.<br />
He was an ideal chairman for the committee, both because of his legal skills and desire to get to the truth, and since he had no political ambitions. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, D-Mont., named Ervin to lead the investigation in part because he knew the longtime senator planned to retire and would not run for re-election in 1974.<br />
Senator Sam — as he was known — said from the opening day why the committee was investigating Nixon’s 1972 campaign.<br />
“If these allegations prove to be true, what they were seeking to steal was not the jewels, money or other property of American citizens, but something much more valuable — their most precious heritage, the right to vote in a free election,” he said. “Since that day, a mood of incredulity has prevailed among our populace, and it is the constitutional duty of this committee to allay the fears being expressed by the citizenry, and to establish the factual bases upon which these fears have been founded.”<br />
Sen. Howard Baker, R-Tenn., also emerged as a national figure. Baker was the ranking Republican on the committee, but he still wanted to get to the truth, even if it meant harming Nixon.<br />
”What did the president know, and when did he know it?" he asked, a quote that lives on nearly half a century later. That question has been asked of numerous presidents since.<br />
Republicans joined Democrats — what a concept! — in concern over the lawless nature of the Nixon White House. They put country over party. Imagine that.<br />
Ervin referred to himself as “an old country lawyer,” but he was a widely respected legislator and constitutional authority. He was a conservative Democrat who had supported segregation in the past, and Nixon at first hoped his appointment might benefit him, since he thought Ervin might take it easy on him compared to liberal senators who detested the president.<br />
Be careful what you wish for, Nixon learned. Ervin, the committee and its staff slowly, carefully and expertly built a case revealing the extent of Nixon’s crimes. It all played out live on TV for days and days, as the networks aired the hearings gavel-to-gavel and more than 80 percent of the country watched at least part of them.<br />
I used to wrap up milking and head to the house before 9 a.m., when the hearings started. Mom, who always loathed Nixon, and I watched the hearings closely, and she delighted in Ervin’s folksy charm. He was like a beloved grandfather, his eyebrows leaping about as he heard more than more stunning details of what became known as the “White House horrors.”<br />
It was a time when we still believed our leaders were wise, decent, good people who wanted only to serve the nation. Instead, we were given a close-up look at the gutter politics, the payouts, threats and schemes that were a major part of our campaigns and government.<br />
Ervin represented the American people, shocked and deeply disappointed by what we were learning.<br />
“The president seems to extend executive privilege way out past the atmosphere,” Ervin said. “What he says is executive privilege is nothing but executive poppycock.”<br />
The hearings began on May 17, 1973, and the committee issued its final report on June 27, 1974. By the time it concluded its work, along with a House committee led by Rep. Peter Rodino of New Jersey, extensive media coverage and reporting led by Washington Post sleuths Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, several Nixon aides were in prison and his presidency was nearing its end, less than two years after his landslide re-election win over Democrat George McGovern.<br />
Nixon resigned in disgrace in August, Ervin left the Senate in January 1975 as a national folk hero and Woodward and Bernstein wrote books and were rich, famous and the idol of a generation of young reporters, including me. Watergate was the most notorious political scandal in American history.<br />
The Trump campaign’s involvement with Russia and the foreign government’s efforts to alter an election may have been far worse, but as long as Republicans stand resolutely behind him, he can do no wrong in their eyes. He has the support of more than 90 percent of Republicans, and as he said in Sioux Center, Iowa, on Jan. 23, 2016 — and I covered the event — he could shoot someone and his supporters would not abandon him.<br />
So don’t expect him to be ensnared in a legal and political net over a hearing. Mueller said Trump might face legal problems after he leaves office, but he said Department of Justice policy protects a sitting president from being indicted.<br />
Democrats may have hoped for a groundswell of support for impeachment, but I think the outcome of Mueller’s appearance will be that Democrats and Republicans draw completely different conclusions from it. That’s just how politics operate in America today.<br />
Senator Sam died in 1985. His style of legislative leadership has been gone a long time, too.<br />
<br />
Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-86386356160584090252019-07-10T12:20:00.001-07:002019-07-10T19:15:57.002-07:00Two true Texans: Molly Ivins and Ross Perot <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNXY1PjjScisd5FX7NEoRpEvZTVQpqv6-fjCL8Moxgg4_gPutoZymBQ9ujs_iMojTyYtllB-o_SGEE11JajJ1_xJNHWKYl9udwUYpmmh64Rl851jiznh7V7T2iLYefokIjt0KBr14juqM/s1600/0A22824C-F018-4217-8D20-F87C6C7ABE73.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNXY1PjjScisd5FX7NEoRpEvZTVQpqv6-fjCL8Moxgg4_gPutoZymBQ9ujs_iMojTyYtllB-o_SGEE11JajJ1_xJNHWKYl9udwUYpmmh64Rl851jiznh7V7T2iLYefokIjt0KBr14juqM/s320/0A22824C-F018-4217-8D20-F87C6C7ABE73.jpeg" width="320" height="180" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="900" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmNBJKBWsSHNUefDMLT8YRebWhvCn-Z4mPOoaQKMBD8AbaRflUI6YYi-U-Kn0_aWWDVaw2gyE_8Eq95bBxkUbmIKm37fMJOhpE4ePXIjHCyjWReHqGKzW8TNYG1M66GP3vF2HrK2AuaZQ/s1600/8509454B-F04C-413D-AA42-706046D13B37.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmNBJKBWsSHNUefDMLT8YRebWhvCn-Z4mPOoaQKMBD8AbaRflUI6YYi-U-Kn0_aWWDVaw2gyE_8Eq95bBxkUbmIKm37fMJOhpE4ePXIjHCyjWReHqGKzW8TNYG1M66GP3vF2HrK2AuaZQ/s320/8509454B-F04C-413D-AA42-706046D13B37.jpeg" width="320" height="213" data-original-width="618" data-original-height="412" /></a></div><br />
Molly Ivins — Lord, we miss her so! — liked Ross Perot.<br />
Ross admired Molly, too. Even when he disagreed or was dumbfounded by what she wrote about him.<br />
Ivins, the late, truly great Texas reporter and columnist, said she got a kick out of Perot, the bantam-sized billionaire who ran for president in 1992, when he briefly led in the race, and 1996. He knew how to laugh, and that is a highly valuable asset in life, business and politics.<br />
Ivins wrote about Perot, who died at 89 on ?July 9, before and after his presidential races, and entertained many an audience with stories about him, told in her sly Texas drawl. Go to YouTube and you can find numerous examples.<br />
I was blessed to hear perhaps her favorite Perot tale in person, when Ivins spent a day in South Dakota about 25 years ago. I covered a morning press conference in Sioux Falls, attended her speech at South Dakota State University in Brookings that night and met her for a few drinks at a hotel bar that evening. We got along great, with her insisting I was a “Texan in exile” who needed to return home.<br />
A political science professor and some of his students joined us, and I was surprised that Ivins, a famous writer and speaker who had appeared on TV talk shows was a bit shy. I had been reading her delightful and insightful prose since the 1980s, when I was a reporter in Texas, and knew her greatest hits.<br />
Once prompted, and perhaps bolstered by a drink or two, she launched into her best stories.<br />
She once in a Dallas Morning News column that Perot made $1 million a year, and was taken aback the next day when a call from the business staff told her that they were gasping in laughter. Perot, they said, made $1 million a day!<br />
A few minutes later, her phone rang again. It was a collect call — from H. Ross Perot.<br />
He was laughing as they spoke, or cackling in his distinct way. Ivins told us that night, and said publicly many times, that she liked Perot. Still, she feared what a businessman, used to getting his way all the time, might do in politics. The dealmaking, compromise and willingness to accept half a loaf instead of walking away without even a crust of bread might be too much for them to adapt to, Ivins wrote.<br />
Like Ivins, I first learned about Perot in Texas. He was in charge of a reform panel trying to improve Texas schools. Ivins wrote that the schoolkids should be protected from a man with a mind “a half-inch thick.”<br />
Of course, Perot called her. As she prepared to hear him shout and threaten a libel suit, she instead heard his cackle. His friends, he told her, said it was only a quarter-inch thick.<br />
But it turned out, Perot was ready to fight thick and thin to improve Texas schools. His group came up with plans to reduce class size, increase preschool programs, providing more classroom materials for teachers and focusing more time, attention and money on poor kids would bolster the schools.<br />
Most controversially, Perot advocated a “no pass-no play” policy for high school athletes, especially football. Since that is a state religion in Texas, tempers flared, tables were pounded and cuss words were shouted. I was covering Texas schools and high school football then, so I heard more than a few comments about that “@*$&#§! Ross Perot.”<br />
But as Ivins wrote, she admired how he fought for schools and kids. In print, she teased that he must be a communist, since who else would attack fight school football in Texas. That drew another phone call, with Perot saying, as he laughed, that he had been called a lot of things, but that was a first.<br />
“I like him,” Ivins said in an interview, a statement that may have surprised both of them.<br />
I did, too, and almost voted for Perot in 1992. He was leading both President George H.W. Bush, a fellow Texan and the Republican candidate, and Democratic candidate Bill Clinton for a short time early in the race, but then announced that the Democrats appeared to have found a strong nominee and a sound platform, so he was dropping out.<br />
Perot changed his mind that fall and jumped back in. But the excitement, and the public’s fascination with the idea of “Ross for Boss,” had passed. He finished a distant third with 19 percent and did not collect a single Electoral College vote.<br />
His 1996 race was a weak echo of his first campaign, and Perot left politics to return to business and philanthropy. He was perfect for Texas, a little guy with big ideas and a large sense o humor. Ivins also remained in the Lone Star State until she died in 2007.<br />
She is being remembered in a new documentary as well as in a stage play and a biography. All include a few stories on Molly and Ross, a pair of Texans who added ideas, energy and laughter to the public arena. We could use all of that now.Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-42498086220951639212019-07-05T12:38:00.002-07:002019-07-05T12:39:45.014-07:00Of lawn darts and American summers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdOyagTOg5PqvsASH8sDRyY4qsn8pqwKIEzQz8pZDYWxbWeNOM78HTNIdppN74YU1fE1ozLu52NcGugD1WX9Hklh2bNGxO8Im5GsupSZAQs-PpYwsxXT7RzYlZHOan9McGyB-j1VHK8wU/s1600/04DF481E-8040-4FFF-89EF-E8CB2DA5262C.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdOyagTOg5PqvsASH8sDRyY4qsn8pqwKIEzQz8pZDYWxbWeNOM78HTNIdppN74YU1fE1ozLu52NcGugD1WX9Hklh2bNGxO8Im5GsupSZAQs-PpYwsxXT7RzYlZHOan9McGyB-j1VHK8wU/s320/04DF481E-8040-4FFF-89EF-E8CB2DA5262C.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Everyone who survived lawn darts, raise your hand. If you have a scar from one pinning your hand to the ground, feel free to show it off.<br />
We played lawn darts for hours and hours back in the early 1970s. I was smack in the middle of seven kids — two sisters older, two younger, one brother older, one younger — and we were outside playing most of our waking hours. We competed with each other, our cousins and friends at virtually every game imaginable.<br />
We played wiffle ball like it was Game 7 of the World Series. On the Fourth of July, we started a marathon of games by lighting firecrackers on the flat wooden block we used for home plate.<br />
My older brother Vern and I also squared off in one-one-one contests of baseball, throwing as hard as we could and deciding what fly balls and ground balls were caught and what counted as hits.<br />
During the fall, we tossed and kicked footballs, using the clothesline as our goal post. We never had enough kids for a full game, so Vern and I usually just passed and kicked for an hour or so. We shot baskets inside and out, cutting the bottom out of a plastic ice cream bucket and using it as our hoop in the garage.<br />
Of course, we also played hide-and-seek, jumped rope, played volleyball over a fence, swung, ran, biked, invented games and generally exhausted ourselves for hours. Growing up in the 1960s and ‘70s, when there was little on TV to lure us inside during the day, we went outside immediately after bolting our breakfast and except for brief sojourns inside for lunch, dinner and a snack or drink of water, stayed outside virtually all day.<br />
We were skinny, brown and scuffed up, with bruises on our elbows and scabs on our knees. Look at photos from that era and compare them with images of kids today. The difference is shocking, and I don’t just mean the bad haircuts or the worn clothing on kids in mid-20th century America.<br />
It’s obvious to anyone who looks at parks, trees and lawns that few kids are outside playing, and adults also are huddled inside on the couch, their heads glued to screens. A study conducted in 2015-16 said kids spend three times as much time with TVs and computers than they do outside.<br />
Their parents and other adults aren’t much better, with more than half of all adults say they spend five hours or less outside every week. The trend is headed in the wrong direction, and although people said in the survey they value their time outside and want their children to be active and enjoy the outdoors, it’s just not happening.<br />
I don’t think we can blame today’s kids for being lazy or unaware of the joys of racing to the sky aboard a creaky swing, hitting or kicking a ball perfectly or hanging upside down from a tree. Perhaps we have made their lives too attractive, too safe, too comfortable to persuade them to go outside and play.<br />
You can’t deny there were down sides to the way my generation grew up.<br />
It turns out that lawn darts were dangerous. According to MentalFloss.com, thousands of people were injured by the metal projectiles, with 6,100 people sent to emergency rooms, most of them kids. The report said 81 percent of those injured were 15 and younger, with most of those victims suffering injuries to their head, face, eyes or ears. Many ended up with permanent injuries or lifetime disabilities.<br />
A California man, David Snow, led the effort to outlaw lawn darts, also called javelin darts or jarts, after his son and some of his friends found a set in Snow’s garage and recklessly tossed them. One flew over a fence and struck Michelle Snow, 7, in the head. She died three days later.<br />
Snow crusaded against lawn darts and they are banned in both the United States and Canada. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission makes sure they are not sold in stores and online sales are prohibited as well.<br />
It’s like smoking, drinking and driving, jumping off tall buildings into a small pile of leaves and all the other dangerous, life-threatening things we did back then. We remember the joys and sense of freedom, but forget the people gasping for air as they die at 60, the kids killed when their car slides off a road at 3 a.m., the little girls killed when a metal dart slams into their skull.<br />
We lived more recklessly then, and there were everyday risks, such as small kids leaving the house unattended to roam around town, that just wouldn’t be accepted today. We have gained a sense of security and likely saved thousands of lives.<br />
What have we lost? What freedoms and pleasures have we surrendered in the name of safety?<br />
You can never go back, and that means lawn darts have thudded into the past, instead of into a kid’s body. Sometimes, the past is best remembered, not revisited.<br />
<br />
<br />
Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-30072517722186282262019-06-27T11:39:00.000-07:002019-06-28T08:32:15.351-07:00Herseth Sandlin’s vision for Augustana<div class="article-content entry-content" itemprop="articleBody" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; clear: both; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 10px auto 5px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifQV9ghmlX7q5howHDuBGG0rQqq0Rz25kYl6KN2oWrtMmkVAa467j9EziYr6hnti33D5Fbv8JWbtS8LxdoiUaluWvcuDEkWpFQUVIRMRJVNL9W6N7CtlSEnL04mO4olGCv8dVoThTaOpQ/s1600/7389C24C-4DB8-4B90-BF1D-89B0B1AC711B.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifQV9ghmlX7q5howHDuBGG0rQqq0Rz25kYl6KN2oWrtMmkVAa467j9EziYr6hnti33D5Fbv8JWbtS8LxdoiUaluWvcuDEkWpFQUVIRMRJVNL9W6N7CtlSEnL04mO4olGCv8dVoThTaOpQ/s320/7389C24C-4DB8-4B90-BF1D-89B0B1AC711B.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin’s smile was as bright as ever, but she started her speech by talking about tears.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">The Augustana University president said she was struggling with her emotions as she spoke to a packed room at Royal Fork in Sioux Falls on Friday, June 21. Many of the people there had supported her during her first campaign for Congress in 2001-02, she said.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">“As I look around, it just warms my heart,” she said.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">The tears never fell, however, and her smile flashed during the hour-long meeting and afterwards, as she greeted folks, talked about old campaigns and asked about children. She may no longer be a politician, but her ability to interact with people, always a strong point, was still evident.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">In 2001-02, she was known as Stephanie Herseth, a political newcomer in her early 30s with a last name well-known to South Dakota voters. There was a big challenge before her, as she faced four-term Gov. Bill Janklow for the state’s lone U.S. House seat. She lost that race, but won a special election in 2004 after Janklow was forced to resign in the wake of his conviction for felony manslaughter after his car struck and killed a Minnesota motorcyclist in 2003.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Herseth won a full term in November 2004 and was easily re-elected in 2006 and 2008 under her expanded name after she married former Texas congressman Max Sandlin. Her political future seemed bright, with columnists and insiders speculating she might become governor, a senator or perhaps even president someday.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">It turns out, she did become a president — of Augustana, a private college in Sioux Falls. It’s a post Stephanie Herseth Sandlin took in 2017, seven years after her political career ended, perhaps temporarily, maybe forever, after she was defeated by Kristi Noem in 2010.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Almost two years after she became Augie’s top doggie, Herseth Sandlin spoke of the school’s future at the Democratic Forum, a weekly luncheon that tries to raise money and spirits for a party that is in dire shape in South Dakota. When Herseth was elected to the House in June 2004, Democrats held all three congressional seats, with Herseth joining Sens. Tom Daschle and Tim Johnson.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">But Daschle lost to John Thune that fall and Johnson, after winning a third term in 2008 despite a severe brain bleed that nearly killed him and left him weakened, retired in 2015.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Now, the Democrats do not hold a single statewide seat and are heavily outnumbered in the Legislature. They cast a longing eye at Herseth Sandlin every two years, but she has said she is done with politics. While Democratic Party official and former state treasurer candidate Tom Cool made a highly partisan speech before introducing her, Herseth Sandlin avoided politics.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Instead, she focused on Augustana. Herseth Sandlin said she wants to lead the largest private university in the state to new heights, with a reinvigorated campus, replacing or improving some “tired” facilities, as well as crafting a new curriculum and moving to Division I athletics.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">As always, the Georgetown University and Georgetown Law Center graduate came armed with facts, numbers and data. Herseth Sandlin spoke of Vision 2030, when she said Augustana will dominate Sioux Falls higher education, better prepare its students and compete with larger schools in athletics. She noted her son Zachary, who will turn 11 this year, will be a member of the Augustana Class of 2030, and he will graduate from a reinvigorated school.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrplYMlsOMh2pj8-j9gAPkFr-McjcAUJ08ytzJDZZKoOVPdUP1l8EaAq9m-RPhKvwLGJv96gVgn6PT_Mepq8SJSxrFfv3NmMN7cuNvH3zzm_4CzpuyIN5bFYkOirW2EbyDY5DnO4ilQQI/s1600/B86E2D78-812F-403A-8C3F-00236F97CDFB.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrplYMlsOMh2pj8-j9gAPkFr-McjcAUJ08ytzJDZZKoOVPdUP1l8EaAq9m-RPhKvwLGJv96gVgn6PT_Mepq8SJSxrFfv3NmMN7cuNvH3zzm_4CzpuyIN5bFYkOirW2EbyDY5DnO4ilQQI/s320/B86E2D78-812F-403A-8C3F-00236F97CDFB.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">She and her team are meeting with Sioux Falls business movers and shakers, taking their pulse and seeing how they can form partnerships and provide funding to Augustana, the president said. No proposals have been made yet, but they are being studied.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">“We need the business community in Sioux Falls to be one of the biggest supporters,” Herseth Sandlin said.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">The university’s curriculum also needs to be updated, she said. It will still reflect the liberal arts values that Augustana was founded on, but will meet the demands and needs of the 21st century. Change is needed, she said, since the students who will be educated in America’s colleges are evolving.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">More young people of color will enter higher education, Herseth Sandlin said, and more graduate students also will enroll. Their particular needs must be met and Augustana must “serve them effectively.”</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">In the 1980s, Augustana College chose not to pursue more students or expand its facilities. Now, Augustana University — the change was made in 2015 — wants to grow enrollment to 3,000 students, up from 2,100 now. Growth is happening, she said, and will continue.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">“The future is already here,” she said.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Athletic’s drew a lot of attention, and Herseth Sandlin was up for the challenge. A baseball fan whose first job “off the farm” was coaching T-ball in Aberdeen, she said she enjoys seeing Zachary play ball. She also is thrilled by the success of Augustana teams, which have claimed national titles in softball,baseball and men’s basketball.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">They are hungry to further test themselves, Herseth Sandlin said.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">“Our student-athletes want to go to the next level in competition,” she said.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">When asked if she worried about scandal accompanying sports, Herseth Sandlin said she would not allow that to happen. Augustana has high standards and will retain those no matter what level of sports it competes in, she said. The school displayed that a few days later, expelling Peyton Zabel, a quarterback who also played on the baseball team, after an investigation proved he drunkenly entered an 18-year-old woman’s dorm room and crawled into bed with her. Zabel pled guilty to simple assault on June 25.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Herseth Sandlin said Augustana will look at options for sports, including playing football in the Pioneer Football League with other private colleges. It would put Augie at a different level, and Herseth Sandlin said that is exactly the point.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">She said moving to Division I status is “a natural addition” for the school. Augustana needs to compete in the state, region and across the nation for students, staff and recognition. That is a goal all South Dakota colleges, and the state itself, should set, Herseth Sandlin said.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Funding cuts for college diversity offices are short-sighted, she said.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">“It makes everyone’s job harder and ill-prepares our kids and grandkids,” she said.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Diversity must be embraced. Herseth Sandlin vowed to promote Augustana, to let people know about the school, which marked its centennial in 2018. It traces its roots to 1860, but adopted the name Augustana in 1918.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Herseth Sandlin said it has a tradition to be proud of, and one she hopes to build on for years to come. Will this be a post she holds for a long time? At 48, she has years, even decades left to serve.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Will that be at Augustana, where she is well-paid, with a salary well over $200,000, or in a return to private industry. She worked as chief counsel to Raven Industries in between her tenure in Congress and her appointment as Augustana president.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Or will she return to politics, the passion of her family. Her grandfather Ralph Herseth was governor, her grandmother Lorna, whom she was very close to, was a two-term South Dakota Secretary of State, and her father Lars was a legislator who nearly was elected governor in 1986.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Democratic politics run in her veins, but she also is realistic enough to see the party at a low ebb in South Dakota now. Like Augustana, that could change in the next decade. If so, her career path may be rerouted as well. She expressed interest in serving as governor, and a return to Congress is possible, too.</div><div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">But for right now, she’s Augustana President Herseth Sandlin and her smile and energy showed she is very happy with that.</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-align: start;" /></div>Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-59316874421192289802019-06-21T21:35:00.002-07:002019-11-22T03:08:57.482-08:00George Carlin, forever funny<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="ev1uq" data-offset-key="70lro-0-0" style="color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="70lro-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOAU9L5ADR6kuwnGl2efAyb-dwpvTwmcy5133B6wKtWozU5CIAWx15RP8OenFGNgxJFrhLxqcfzasgfMTrOksJHL790Dr7HCwmJ9PuqSEQSQezgLCOfWGPdi7WUMwCRTQoNnzkdcOyfW0/s1600/8374F7C0-93C7-4655-B946-479E9C8988AA.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="630" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOAU9L5ADR6kuwnGl2efAyb-dwpvTwmcy5133B6wKtWozU5CIAWx15RP8OenFGNgxJFrhLxqcfzasgfMTrOksJHL790Dr7HCwmJ9PuqSEQSQezgLCOfWGPdi7WUMwCRTQoNnzkdcOyfW0/s320/8374F7C0-93C7-4655-B946-479E9C8988AA.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span data-offset-key="70lro-0-0" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Just because the microphone went silent a decade ago doesn’t mean the laughter stopped.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">George Carlin died in 2008 but his comedy and wisdom, often paired together in the same perfectly phrased line, continue to resonate. If anything, Carlin’s brilliance is becoming even more appreciated.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">It should. While he was a successful performer in TV, radio, movies, records and on stage, Carlin also is remembered for his insights into the deep and abiding flaws of man. At the end of his life and career, his humor turned dark — jet-black, really — as he forecast the end of mankind, caused by our own stubborn ignorance.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups,” he said, correctly predicting many fads, fashions and elections.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">His career started on a more familiar path, with a short-haired Carlin performing in nightclubs and in Las Vegas, doing material much like other comics of the time. But it wasn’t his true voice, and when he changed his look and style, he became much more successful.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I saw Carlin in Brookings, S.D., on Oct. 16, 1975. He had <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z1t1pnSlb8" target="_blank">hosted the first-ever episode of “Saturday Night Live”</a> six days before, was a frequent guest on “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” and had top-selling comedy albums.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">It was the peak of his career, and Frost Arena was packed for his show. He was sharp, funny, extremely profane — I can’t tell you what he told us when he ended the show, but you might be able to guess — and deeply troubled. Carlin later admitted he was struggling with a severe cocaine addiction and also drinking and indulging in other illegal substances. His first marriage was rocky, with his wife Brenda also battling addiction.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">On top of that, Carlin’s mother Mary Bearey Carlin lived with them for years and often sided with her daughter-in-law to torment the comedian. It was a rather unstable family life, as his daughter Kelly has recounted in a book, in interviews and a one-woman show.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">We have exchanged a few tweets and she seems to have survived her unique upbringing without lasting damage. It was weird, as she admits, but there was a lot of love and a deep appreciation for words.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">Georgia Carlin might have played the jester, but he knew deep pain. He suffered heart attacks in 1978, 1982 and 1991 and went to rehab in 2004 because of problems with alcohol and Vicodin.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Just because you got the monkey off your back doesn’t mean the circus has left town,” he said.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Despite the tears of this clown, Carlin was remarkably kind and generous with young performers. Numerous comics have told of him spending time with them in person and on the phone, offering advice and reviewing their material.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Why? The public cynic was, in private, a kind man.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Carlin worked hard until the end, writing and performing an annual one-man show for HBO and continuing to appear in concerts and on TV. He starred in an uneven but funny TV series on Fox and was often a welcome addition to movies, although he never got the starring role, great script and talented director he needed and deserved.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">On June 22, 2008, Carlin died of heart failure. Like millions of people, I watched many of his specials in the next few days, as HBO paid tribute to him by airing his performances.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Jerry Seinfeld, a very un-Carlin-like comic who idolized him, wrote a tribute to him that was published in The New York Times. Seinfeld said he spent much of his career coming up with an idea, only to realize that Carlin had already done it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">“He worked over an idea like a diamond cutter with facets and angles and refractions of light,” Seinfeld wrote. “He made you sorry you ever thought you wanted to be a comedian. He was like a train hobo with a chicken bone. When he was done there was nothing left for anybody.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I still watch Carlin on YouTube, on reruns on TV and hear him sometimes in radio. He always makes me smile and I often laugh, even if I’m alone. That’s a true test of humor.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The only time Carlin did something that wasn’t funny was when he left us a decade ago, with the crowd weak from laughter, hoping for just one more routine, one last mental hotfoot, one more brain dropping.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">His most famous routine was the profane and profoundly funny “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyBH5oNQOS0" target="_blank">Seven words you can’t say on TV.</a>”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Seven words that ring true now: Damn, we miss George Carlin’s comic brilliance.</span></div>
</div>
Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-73533191326076502252019-06-06T11:24:00.002-07:002019-06-06T11:24:22.825-07:00Jim Abourezk: Hard work pays off<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNNB2pvmccxDGTW-ETEEQv8d-wnGrN5Zfcp1tx0aziPTD-IbgGeXIHeXbik49mCqY2Xm5bKIuZBqLMsE7Wt9OlAImMUF_6m7hH9ukCLsTDyKljc6qnrw0FXKDw5BYl9qmon8J8T4Vwdpc/s1600/ADA7B6BD-1E03-44F9-B0AD-27AE20900CD7.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNNB2pvmccxDGTW-ETEEQv8d-wnGrN5Zfcp1tx0aziPTD-IbgGeXIHeXbik49mCqY2Xm5bKIuZBqLMsE7Wt9OlAImMUF_6m7hH9ukCLsTDyKljc6qnrw0FXKDw5BYl9qmon8J8T4Vwdpc/s320/ADA7B6BD-1E03-44F9-B0AD-27AE20900CD7.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /><span id="goog_525397651"></span>
Jim Abourezk’s still got it.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
The former South Dakota congressman and senator is 88 and has been out of public office for four decades, but he still can entertain and enlighten people, as he proved during a celebration of his life and career in Sioux Falls in late May. Dozens of Democrats, including several former staffers and campaign workers, came to the El Riad Shrine to salute Abourezk.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
They told stories, many oft-repeated, and asked questions that Abourezk handled with ease. He was a natural campaigner, with an affinity for people and a ready wit. As he nears 90, his hearing isn’t what is once was, but the old touch is still evident.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
The party was held on May 29, the 102nd anniversary of the birth of John F. Kennedy. JFK was hailed at the event, and many of the white-headed folks there, including Abourezk, supported him in the presidential election nearly 60 years ago.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Abourezk, who grew up near tiny Wood, S.D., first sought major office in 1968, but he lost a bid to become South Dakota’s attorney general to Republican Gordon Mydland, who is still alive at 97. But Abourezk was undaunted and ran for the Democratic nomination for the West River congressional district in 1970.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
That was a remarkable year, as both of South Dakota’s members of the House of Representatives, Rep. Ben Reifel, the East River congressman for a decade, and E.Y. Berry, who had served the western district for 18 years, retired. The Republicans were replaced by Democrats Abourezk and Frank Denholm, a former Day County sheriff who also had been an FBI agent.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Democrat Dick Kneip knocked off Gov. Frank Farrar to complete a Democratic sweep in 1970. With George McGovern at the height of his career, a national figure who would be the Democratic presidential nominee in 1970, it was the high point for the party in state history, and Abourezk was right in the thick of it.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
He became even more prominent in 1972, replacing four-term Sen. Karl Mundt, who was forced to retire after failing to recover from a major stroke in 1969. The Democrats held the governor’s chair, both Senate seats, and with Denholm winning a second term, one of two House seats. A politician with a very similar name to Abourezk’s but a very different political perspective, Republican Jim Abdnor, won the House seat Abourezk had vacated to move to the Senate.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
The two Jims had names that sounded the same and both were from immigrant Lebanese families who spent most Sundays together. Abdnor’s mother Mary was Abourezk’s godmother. Abourezk and Abdnor agreed on very little politically but maintained a cordial relationship.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Abourezk served a single term in the Senate and he made Indian rights a principle interest. He was the author of the Indian Child Welfare Act and led the effort to create commissions and committees focused on Native American issues. Abourezk was outspoken and blunt in his assessments, as he did not make re-election a primary focus.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
After he left the Senate in 1979, retiring rather than running against Republican candidate and future three-term Sen. Larry Pressler, Abourezk founded the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and wrote a pair of books, including “Advise and Dissent, Memoirs of South Dakota and the U.S. Senate.” It’s a delightfully honest and entertaining book that was republished a few years ago. </div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Abourezk also was close with another prominent Republican, Bill Janklow, who served four terms as governor and also was a congressman, albeit briefly, and attorney general. They met at USD and worked as young lawyers to help Native Americans. Abourezk said Janklow discarded his beliefs in fighting for Indians when he rose to political prominence, a charge often leveled against Janklow and one he would quickly contest.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Earlier in their lives, Abourezk ran a bar called The Gay Lady in Rockerville, a hamlet outside of Rapid City. He hired Janklow as a bartender and another future South Dakota legend, Indian rights activist Russell Means, danced in full Native regalia out front along with his brother Ted, luring in tourists and earning tips.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Three prominent South Dakotans, just starting their adult lives, were brought together at that bar. Amazing.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Abourezk said he had to fire Janklow, however, since he was better at talking with the customers than serving drinks. It wasn’t the last two time the old law school buddies would clash.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Telling those stories entertained the crowd and Abourezk clearly enjoyed it, too. He is a born storyteller and often shares his perspective on politics, people and problems over lunch at his wife’s Sioux Falls restaurant, Sanaa’s 8th Street Gourmet. He said he enjoys the discussions, although it tires him out and he heads home for a nap. Hey, he is 88.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Abourezk said he was successful in politics due to sheer effort. He was and is a liberal, but he also defined himself as a populist who would and could talk with anyone, as he proved with marathon campaign days that started early and ended after midnight.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
“I can only guess, but back then, we worked our butts off — because we were so far behind,” he said. “The hard work we did paid off and I don’t think the Democrats work that hard now.”</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Abourezk said despite a long losing streak — no Democrat holds statewide office — the party can reverse its fortunes.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
“I do, I do,” he said. “If only they would just get to work.”</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
He said he was impressed by 2018 candidates Billy Sutton, who ran for governor, and Tim Bjorkman, who sought what is now the state’s lone congressional seat. The Democrats’ peak in South Dakota was nearly 50 years ago, when Abourezk was a young, energetic man who beat the odds twice.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
He thinks it can happen again — if a candidate and the party simply roll up their sleeves and get to work. If they need advice and encouragement, he is prepared to offer both. Just stop by Sanaa’s and if you’re lucky and smart, you will be informed and entertained.</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" />Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-41896951838079338892019-05-09T03:42:00.001-07:002019-05-09T03:43:41.543-07:00Presidential winners, losers ... and others <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRALODHBbMe-xEkTA8_8tI7XFh6FiHQuJHeCMKJ_VzpJWKdIP5WgxY4PmUX2h8_6cxtCXgp0ARCMtBE65k6Xy1BnrzVHZi8wA1wxwD2pYDI3mb0k3wuudqOAC0KPD2EikQDVwaXon2ozw/s1600/DE2F4321-A25B-492D-8A3F-0C119A1D2A29.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="283" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRALODHBbMe-xEkTA8_8tI7XFh6FiHQuJHeCMKJ_VzpJWKdIP5WgxY4PmUX2h8_6cxtCXgp0ARCMtBE65k6Xy1BnrzVHZi8wA1wxwD2pYDI3mb0k3wuudqOAC0KPD2EikQDVwaXon2ozw/s320/DE2F4321-A25B-492D-8A3F-0C119A1D2A29.jpeg" width="247" /></a></div>
<b> Sam Tilden</b><br />
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
“You win some, you lose some ... and then there’s that little-known third category.”</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
That was Al Gore’s irony-drenched comment following the 2000 presidential election, when he won but lost. Gore had a lead of more than 500,000 votes on George W. Bush, but the Electoral College tipped the scale for Bush, who won 271-266, largely because of controversial vote-counts in Florida.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
President Donald Trump also took office after finishing second in the popular vote, as former First Lady Hillary Clinton rolled up a margin of nearly 3 million votes but lost the all-important Electoral College 304-227 in one of the most surprising outcomes in American political history.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
It’s happened several times, as the candidate who ran second in votes still took the oath of office. In 1824, John Quincy Adams finished behind Andrew Jackson, but was able to win the presidency through political chicanery led by Speaker of the House Henry Clay, who tipped the scales for Adams. Jackson, outraged by the blatant political gamesmanship, used the public outcry after Adams named Clay his Secretary of State to win a rematch in 1828, charging the two had engaged in a “corrupt bargain.”</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
It was politics at its worst, but there is another election that was even more corrupt, even more troubling. It is worth a closer look at that election, especially in light of reports that some Democrats are concerned that Trump, if he loses a close election, will refuse to leave office.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Something similar happened on the centennial of America’s birth. The Election of 1876 saw Democratic candidate Sam Tilden of New York defeat Republican Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio quite handily, rolling up 250,000-vote margin, and a 3-percent win.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
But not so fast. There were disputed returns in three Southern states, Louisiana, South Carolina and, of course, Florida. That put 19 Electoral College votes up for grabs, and when one Oregon elector was disqualified, suddenly there were 20 votes to be had. Tilden led 184-165, so he just needed one vote.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Some Republicans were unwilling to surrender the presidency they had held for 16 years. They just needed to find a way to obtain all 20 disputed votes.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Suddenly, no one knew what to do next. President Ulysses S. Grant even wondered if he would be able to remain in office. Frankly, it was a mess.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
When the three Southern states submitted two sets of returns, showing both Hayes and Tilden as the winner, Congress was unsure how to act. So it created, with virtually no constitutional authority, a commission to examine the votes. But as often happens in politics, the real discussions were held in secret.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Southern Democrats wanted Tilden to win — but they also longed to regain control of their states. The Civil War had ended in 1865, but troops remained in the former rebel states and former slaves had gained a foothold of political and social strength. The former Confederates wanted that ended, and Republicans struck a deal with them.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Give the presidency to Hayes, and troops would be sent home. The shameful agreement was reached and Hayes was elected president after the Electoral Commission, made up of five senators, five congressman and five Supreme Court justices voted 8-7, on party lines, to award the 20 votes to Hayes, giving him a 185-184 victory and the presidency.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
The commission was supposed to be made up of seven Republicans, seven Democrats and one independent, Justice David Davis, but Republicans in Ohio named him to the Senate, and a Republican justice took his seat. It was a clever and ruthless way to steal the White House, and serves as a backdrop in Gore Vidal’s historical novel “1876.”</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
We have seen the loser win three other times, as Benjamin Harrison finished second to President Grover Cleveland in 1888 but won the Electoral College. Cleveland became the only American president to regain the White House, defeating Harrison in a rematch in 1892. Those two separate administrations are why Cleveland is considered both the 22nd and 24th president, and why Trump is the 44th man to serve but is the 45th president.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
If Trump is defeated in 2020 — and agrees to depart — we will have a 46th president. If he loses but refuses to leave the White House, we will have yet another political firestorm.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIkJmkFOuyqKLrwYSwBYM_NumF6aaENv2pBcdKyVhamTjiKzKQuYfwriNP1XNDSxyAozhxl5bkYM7eGjPIxbrhcxVV6AGQM3bTQ7at2COWjOQyYypuYwxa_9FMr5dXDRwV1jytdLzdLjM/s1600/0387A5C7-37BA-42CA-A5BB-6BB329000636.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="283" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIkJmkFOuyqKLrwYSwBYM_NumF6aaENv2pBcdKyVhamTjiKzKQuYfwriNP1XNDSxyAozhxl5bkYM7eGjPIxbrhcxVV6AGQM3bTQ7at2COWjOQyYypuYwxa_9FMr5dXDRwV1jytdLzdLjM/s320/0387A5C7-37BA-42CA-A5BB-6BB329000636.jpeg" width="247" /></a></div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" />Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-67872086266359637632019-04-25T17:37:00.003-07:002019-04-25T17:37:48.176-07:00The first Hearst and ‘Deadwood’<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5ECf3fSfVbpfEINy-8TysGQwOiFBQtmLZEkcvsxSeKgBF6A76r12THrKaMqM-Kx_Qzz0fRontWMibTFFcC3YvUESwp30IMCpH5vmNDoOr378xBzD104LQeHTqVyox-ktWMd5pGnxvuf0/s1600/80D373EB-9B84-41AD-82FB-C87BB4EF0791.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1389" data-original-width="901" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5ECf3fSfVbpfEINy-8TysGQwOiFBQtmLZEkcvsxSeKgBF6A76r12THrKaMqM-Kx_Qzz0fRontWMibTFFcC3YvUESwp30IMCpH5vmNDoOr378xBzD104LQeHTqVyox-ktWMd5pGnxvuf0/s320/80D373EB-9B84-41AD-82FB-C87BB4EF0791.jpeg" width="207" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
He was the wellspring of a famous family, a man who dug fortunes out of the earth, controlled a powerful newspaper and served in high political office.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
But George Hearst isn’t as well-known as his son, or even one of his great-grandchildren. The new “Deadwood” movie that premieres on HBO on May 31 should help restore interest in the miner-publisher-senator, however.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Hearst is drawn as one of the chief villains in the “Deadwood” movie, no small accomplishment for that saga, filled with foul language, deeds and characters. As portrayed by veteran actor Gerald McRaney, George Hearst will stop at nothing to seize control of all the gold in the Black Hills.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
That means violence, of course, and “Deadwood” claims Hearst gained control of the gold mining interest by having his underlings get their hands bloody, while he remained above the fray. It’s a story line that departs from the official version, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t closer to the truth than the schoolbook tales.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Hearst, already a success as a miner in Missouri, California, Nevada and Utah, was said to have a unique feel for land and valuable minerals. Native Americans termed him the “boy earth talks to” because of his self-taught mining skills. Hearst was a crude man, given to wearing shirts spotted with tobacco and food, and he was nearly illiterate.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
But he was a skilled miner and businessman who made millions. He bought the newly dug Homestake Mine for $70,000 in 1877 and reaped millions. That part of his life was featured in the “Deadwood” series and will be a focus of the HBO movie, which reunites almost all the actors from the series, which was canceled in 2006 after three seasons.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Fans clamored for a resumption, and the cast also was eager to finish the story. McRaney said it’s the best show he has ever been involved with, largely because of the brilliant David Milch, the writer and driving force behind “Deadwood.”</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Milch, who is now battling Alzheimer’s disease, created a story that told the crude and compelling truth behind the legend of Deadwood. While the language was often controversial, especially one particular term often used, the show captured the mud, blood and intrigue of the infamous mining camp.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Hearst, not as well-remembered as colorful figures like Seth Bullock, Calamity Jane, Charlie Utter and other actual personalities who lived in Deadwood in its early days, is finally getting his moment in the spotlight.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Oh, and about his famous family members. His lone son was William Randolph Hearst, who was given the San Francisco Examiner to manage when he was just 20. He was a great promoter and successful publisher, building a powerful newspaper empire that lasted for more than half a century, while branching out to magazines, newsreels and movies.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Like his father, he was beloved and feared. Both served briefly in Congress and both used their wealth and influence to become powerful figures in America.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
William’s life story was told in perhaps the greatest film of all time, “Citizen Kane,” with Orson Welles starring, directing and co-writing the magnificent movie. Hearst hated it and used his considerable influence to prevent it from becoming too successful, although critics and the public have since hailed it, deservedly so, as a masterpiece.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
George Hearst’s great-granddaughter, Patty Hearst, found fame — and infamy — against her will when she was kidnapped in 1974 by a small group of terrorists who called themselves the Symbionese Liberation Army. The news that a 20-year-old heiress to the Hearst family was so boldly taken was stunning — but her transformation into a self-described “urban guerilla” named Tania who joined the group for a bank robbery, shootings and attempted bombings was astounding.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Arrested in 1975 after the death of most SLA members, Hearst said she had been brain-washed, raped and drugged. Still, she was found guilty of bank robbery and sentenced to seven years in prison; President Jimmy Carter commuted the sentence in 1979.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Since then, Hearst has written books, appeared in movies and on TV and shown dogs in competition. Like her relatives, she has not lived a dull life, and opinions differ on their actions and motives.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
It’s a family tradition.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
<br /></div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" />Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-69732782268360974022019-04-18T11:32:00.002-07:002019-04-18T11:32:25.188-07:00Pondering the Pulitzers<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhUvKeAVNaIlxFVmjWpbz2v925eTLvIdIiWzdyprMe92_1LCzNqjNwCpjubFmJy40wqeAArX-FxDLRYOtXzkfvkdJBjmSNEuDDBkLEf88CG37Te0rbVMD-fEQiWymv-kEKanRVQwE09uI/s1600/345C43EA-A5F7-4135-B647-654BC12250B8.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="302" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhUvKeAVNaIlxFVmjWpbz2v925eTLvIdIiWzdyprMe92_1LCzNqjNwCpjubFmJy40wqeAArX-FxDLRYOtXzkfvkdJBjmSNEuDDBkLEf88CG37Te0rbVMD-fEQiWymv-kEKanRVQwE09uI/s320/345C43EA-A5F7-4135-B647-654BC12250B8.jpeg" width="245" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Well, another year of Pulitzer Prizes announced, another year of disappointment.</div>
<div>
I really didn’t expect to win, since I was not nominated for the great honor, nor did I do anything worthy of a Pulitzer. Still, with the recent trend of people winning things they did not earn or deserve, I held out a slight hope. Maybe in 2020.</div>
<div>
The Pulitzers are the highest awards for journalists, and the 2019 honorees came from big newspapers — The New York Times and Washington Post both won two and the Los Angles Times and Wall Street Journal each claimed an award — and from smaller papers like The Advocate of Baton Rouge, La. A freelance cartoonist, Darren Bell, also was recognized, an encouraging piece of news for those of us who work independently.</div>
<div>
While journalists celebrate their awards each year, Pulitzers also are awarded for books, poetry and music. A special citation, along with $100,000, was given to the Capital Gazette of Annapolis, MD, for its “courageous response to the largest killing of journalists in U.S. history in their newsroom on June 28, 2018, and for demonstrating unflagging commitment to covering the news and serving their community at a time of unspeakable grief.”</div>
<div>
A crazed gunman burst into the newsroom and killed five staffers while wounding others. Still, the staff covered the tragedy in both the Capital and the Gazette, showing a commitment to journalism in the most demanding, stressful, emotional moment.</div>
<div>
The late soul singer Aretha Franklin also received a special award. That was a richly deserved show of R-E-S-P-E-C-T.</div>
<div>
I knew one Pulitzer Prize winner rather well. Mel Ruder won the award for local reporting in 1965. He was the founder/owner/publisher/editor/photographer for The Hungry Horse News in tiny Columbia Falls, Mont. Mel covered a devastating flood in northwest Montana in the spring of 1964, producing special editions of his excellent weekly newspaper and sharing information on the radio and with other media to keep people safe.</div>
<div>
He was covering a school tour of a farm when told he had won the Pulitzer. His response: “I guess I can die now.”</div>
<div>
That was an unusual remark, but it was also telling. Mel, a North Dakotan who served in the Navy during World War II, was a driven man. He won numerous awards, but like all journalists, the Pulitzer held a special meaning to him.</div>
<div>
He built his newspaper literally from the ground up, having a log cabin constructed where he lived above the newsroom and printing plant. It’s still the paper’s office.</div>
<div>
I worked for The Horse, as we called the paper, from 1997-2003. Mel had sold the paper 20 years earlier and was retired, but he still stopped in at times with a story or a photo, almost always about nearby Glacier National Park, which he treasured and celebrated in his work. He always was polite and soft-spoken, asking if I was interested in his stuff.</div>
<div>
Of course we were, I always told him. We became friendly, and I was stunned and deeply honored when asked to write the text for a book that collected some of his greatest photos. “Pictures, a Park and a Pulitzer” is a good account of Mel’s work — it’s available online. Mel was truly a brilliant journalist and photographer who realized the impact of images long before most newspapermen, one reason The Hungry Horse News had subscribers in all 50 states for decades.</div>
<div>
Mel donated the prize money for his award to local schools. He kept the Pulitzer citation at home, saying the paper would display the next one it won. We always aspired to earn another such honor, but did not reach that high mark again.</div>
<div>
Few papers do so. I have worked with excellent editors, reporters and photographers and perhaps some day one of them will win a Pulitzer. I will keep reporting and writing as well, although winning a Pulitzer Prize isn’t the reason I will keep working. Like almost all of us in this business, I want to understand what occurred and why it happened, and explain it to the readers.</div>
<div>
That doesn’t mean I’d turn one down. Better luck next year.</div>
</div>
Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-64649841455991361292019-03-28T06:09:00.001-07:002019-03-28T06:09:13.542-07:00Baseball’s new pitch<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz6_SUGIxH8vNJwXw4c1zmBZ25HmZbycvxx1hXvpqyTOmV-HtdS-nfmIe0FJ-KYKcoy5Kq2EMtujVAtbF9jzR_zCWjYU9sdrSEYvGVuUtO5mITUj-qmBVOeoA1WSNiuDNMFBiSCzvQTbs/s1600/BAAECC0A-020B-40CF-882E-8E9DCF711A57.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="426" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz6_SUGIxH8vNJwXw4c1zmBZ25HmZbycvxx1hXvpqyTOmV-HtdS-nfmIe0FJ-KYKcoy5Kq2EMtujVAtbF9jzR_zCWjYU9sdrSEYvGVuUtO5mITUj-qmBVOeoA1WSNiuDNMFBiSCzvQTbs/s320/BAAECC0A-020B-40CF-882E-8E9DCF711A57.jpeg" width="213" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Opening Day of the Major League Baseball season used to be a big deal.</span><br />
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Quick: When does the season start? What teams are playing? Where’s the game, and what time is first pitch?</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Slow down before you grill the hot dogs, crack open a beer and sit down to watch. The first two games of the season took place last week. Did you miss that? Well, you have a good excuse — they were played In Tokyo. </div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
The Seattle Mariners swept the Oakland A’s in the Tokyo Dome on March 20-21, as sell-out crowds cheered the last two big-league games of Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki. First pitch for both contests was shortly after 4:30 a.m. Central time. I know because I watched both games, although I doubt many people joined me.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Baseball has done this before. It plays a couple early games in Japan, where baseball is immensely popular. But it drains the pageantry and excitement of Opening Day for most American fans, other than a few fanatics — the term where the word “fan” was derived.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Most teams begin play on Thursday, March 28. The Twins have a new manager and a young roster, but they should be exciting and might sneak into playoff contention. Everyone is hopeful on Opening Day.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
When baseball was America’s dominant sport, the first games of the season were cause for national celebration. Parades were held, schools dismissed early and presidents and mayors took to mounds to toss out a first pitch, often poorly as fans hooted and booed. Baseball is a game based on tradition and storytelling, where diamond legends’ feats and stats are revered for decades.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
But Opening Day has been cheapened. Much the same has happened to the World Series, once truly a national event. Now it’s ignored by many Americans, and since games are played deep into the night, few young fans enjoy the Fall Classic. The World Series was once played in daylight, but by the 1970s, some games were held after dark, which boosted TV ratings.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
It’s been more than three decades since a World Series game started in the daytime. The Minnesota Twins defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 11-5 on Saturday, Oct. 24. The first pitch was thrown shortly after 3 p.m.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Since then, it’s all night games. While baseball claims it schedules night games to increase TV ratings and to avoid going head-to-head with football, the fact is, World Series’ ratings have plummeted in recent years. The five lowest-rated World Series of all time were played between 2010-18.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Baseball has become a regional game, not a national passion. Core groups of fans cheer on the local nine (or 10, if it’s an American League team with a DH) and attendance is still strong. MLB reports 69,625,244 fans went through turnstiles in 2019, an impressive average of 28,830 fans. But the total was the first time since 2003 that combined attendance dropped below 70 million.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Young people, who claim baseball is too slow and not compelling, are turning away. Older fans are dying off. The avalanche of games on TV has drained the special nature of nationally televised games.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
So it’s no wonder baseball holds games in Japan and has played in Mexico before. This year, the defending world champion Boston Red Sox will play their archrivals, the New York Yankees, in London on June 29-30.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Baseball is seeing to expand its market. It already is increasingly diverse, with one-third of its players Hispanic, Asian or black. The number of black players has declined from the 1960s and ‘70s, when such stars as Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Bob Gibson and others dominated the game, but now many of the greatest players are Hispanic, such as infielder Manny Machado, who signed a $200 million deal with the San Diego Padres this winter, Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado, who may be the greatest 3B ever, veteran Angels slugger Albert Pujols and Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve, a small but mighty star.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Ichiro retired after the games in Tokyo, but other Japanese and Asian players have followed his path to big league stardom. More are sure to suit up in the big leagues as well.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
These players have brought new style to the grand old game, and also have drawn new fans. They will create new traditions, new ways to follow baseball. Maybe some English fans will add to that stew, especially if a British baseball star emerges.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
While old cranks — an old term for baseball nuts like me — might grumble about the changes we are witnessing, baseball may be reborn and become even stronger with a global following. Maybe someday, the World Series will be exactly that.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Play ball!</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
<br /></div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" />Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-19497232696662449172019-03-25T08:15:00.002-07:002019-03-25T08:16:14.893-07:00Talking with Twins titans<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ3YTKF8q5Ql0Wueor633cH3ubtvT0wyfcrPGBCNQosI98wizhajOv4j03IXHz_krwKj1shwyac51gQOdS8SRp7qFQe8PtR2hlZZZVCwM0WvPY7cRstNFcmxum9i1pAWVTku3Ty9Wu5Vg/s1600/AFD554E4-686D-4918-8C4B-A797ED4EEA38.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="392" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ3YTKF8q5Ql0Wueor633cH3ubtvT0wyfcrPGBCNQosI98wizhajOv4j03IXHz_krwKj1shwyac51gQOdS8SRp7qFQe8PtR2hlZZZVCwM0WvPY7cRstNFcmxum9i1pAWVTku3Ty9Wu5Vg/s320/AFD554E4-686D-4918-8C4B-A797ED4EEA38.jpeg" width="232" /></a></div>
It’s still hard to believe I was paid to do it.<br />
I am a baseball nut, a mostly harmless addiction that is particularly powerful this time of year. As play begins, I look forward to following the teams, learning who the new stars are and preparing for the long, slow unwinding of another season. It’s a novel, with 162 regular season games and a month of postseason play, unlike the NFL’s short story with 16 games followed by a few playoff games.<br />
I have been fortunate enough to meet and interview numerous big leaguers over the years. I realized I have talked with several of the Hall of Famers who played for the Twins, including Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Dave Winfield and Bert Blyleven.<br />
I missed out, so far anyway, on Jack Morris, Paul Molitor, Jim Thome and Steve Carlton, who, like Winfield, came to Minnesota late in their careers. The late Kirby Puckett, a favorite of millions of baseball fans, would have been a great interview, I am sure.<br />
Killebrew and Carew were the featured attractions at Twins Caravan stops in Mankato, Minn., when I was an editor with The Mankato Free Press from 2003-05. Blyleven was the master of ceremonies in both 2004 and 2005 and introduced his former teammates, with The Killer the star one year, and sweet-swinging Rod the other.<br />
Both were already Hall of Famers, but they were pleasant, cooperative and open to being interviewed. I grew up in a Twins household — almost all my family members and friends were and are Twins fans — and had listened and watched these two legends hundreds of times, but I am not a Twins fan. I grew up following the Kansas City Royals and have been a San Francisco Giants fan the last three decades, but also follow the Twins.<br />
Still, meeting these baseball greats was wonderful. Both nights were terribly cold and The Free Press sportswriters turned down the assignments. I went out on my lunch breaks to do the interviews and enjoyed the chance to talk baseball. Both reflected on their careers during the interviews and told great stories.<br />
When fans approached them, Killebrew and Carew were friendly and willing to sign autographs. It was impressive to see how gently they dealt with the youngest fans. Blyleven was very loud backstage, and very profane. It was a relaxed, very liquid event, and Bert was free with his language, as if he was in a locker room, not the Kato Ballroom, with kids, women and older folks milling about.<br />
I met Winfield years earlier, when my friend Ted spotted him at halftime of a Houston Rockets game. I was writing columns on Houston sports for some Texas papers and did my work before the game. We were hanging out in the press lounge when Ted spotted a tall, lean, handsome man in an immaculate suit — obviously he wasn’t a sportswriter.<br />
It was Winfield, at the time a New York Yankees star. Ted, an irrepressible guy who loved baseball and died far too young, called out to him.<br />
“Hey, big Dave,” he said as I signaled for him to stop.<br />
But Winfield turned and smiled. He came over and sat with us and although it was winter and we were at an NBA game, the conversation turned to baseball. Over a few free beers — press lounges used to be great — he told stories and answered questions. One topic was the fact that Morris, then the ace of the Detroit Tigers, was a free agent but no teams were offering him a deal.<br />
It turned out, all the teams were colluding to keep salaries down by not signing free agents. That ended Carew’s career, as no one offered him a deal for the 1986 season; he later received a $782,000 settlement. But at the time, we could only wonder why no one wanted Morris, one of the best pitchers in the American League.<br />
Winfield, Morris and Molitor grew up within a few miles of each other and all came home to the Twins near the end of their career. Morris spent just one year as a Twin, but he led them to the 1991 World Series title, throwing a memorable 10-inning shutout in Game 7 of the World Series.<br />
Molitor and Winfield both notched their 3,000th hits as Twins. It meant a lot to them to reach the milestone for their hometown team, they said.<br />
It’s cool to know that lifelong connections to the game mean that much to the players as well as the fans.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-36938075595079541242019-03-21T08:49:00.002-07:002019-03-21T08:49:56.865-07:00Driven to distraction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn7yLvuRQEdSHtA-qWRVE4065qJDLOWEepjyE4By0JfR795YtB8XuTf0ndXN4_8wGbQCaG0L9JSVJ_HxeBamatnf-2Vi92b520xgrBNJTvVe8iwMW9C0Q7LkjJBQkC04-oHCsbw4YiPSc/s1600/BC430CEB-9195-47C6-B705-A675133E1298.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn7yLvuRQEdSHtA-qWRVE4065qJDLOWEepjyE4By0JfR795YtB8XuTf0ndXN4_8wGbQCaG0L9JSVJ_HxeBamatnf-2Vi92b520xgrBNJTvVe8iwMW9C0Q7LkjJBQkC04-oHCsbw4YiPSc/s320/BC430CEB-9195-47C6-B705-A675133E1298.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Some people reveal their inner selves in the most unique ways.<br />
Are they polite? Pushy? Thoughtful and considerate? Arrogant and dangerous? We can determine that in a surprising fashion.<br />
That realization came to me recently as I navigated another drive through Sioux Falls on one of our endless winter day. The roads were coated with ice, making them slick and slowing traffic. Well, most traffic.<br />
There are always drivers who either don’t care about the condition of the roads or have a great deal of confidence in themselves and their vehicles. They race past other cars, driving as if it’s 85 degrees and July, not 8 and February.<br />
Many of them are at the wheels of pickups, it seems to me. They may have four-wheel-drive vehicles, and they are confident in their ability to stay on the road. When I see one of them in the ditch, as I have several times this winter, I hope they are safe and their pickup is not too damaged. But I also am not surprised.<br />
I take Grace to work, since she doesn’t care to drive in such lousy conditions, and it’s about 8 miles through side streets, on Interstate 229 and then on a curving and slippery off-ramp and then to a main road. On a good day, it takes about 20 minutes. But with snow, ice, wind and severe cold, aka the Winter of 2018-19, the time can double.<br />
Some days, especially before I invested $300 in new rear tires, the drive was more exciting than we needed. We learned all too well that Sioux Falls has several steep drop-offs along its streets and highways. Peering down them as you slide past is enough to cause a slight sweat to emerge, even on a sub-zero day.<br />
It’s a feeling I have had before.<br />
In 1986, I lived in Galveston, a city on the slender barrier reef island of the same name. I worked for a newspaper on the mainland, and because I covered sports as well as city and school meetings, it was often night before I headed home.<br />
That meant crossing the causeway, a long, twisting concrete span between the mainland and the island. For most of the year, looking down on the Gulf of Mexico was a beautiful sight, but for a few weeks in the winter, when even the Gulf Coast grew icy, it was rather unpleasant. I still recall the oddly metallic taste of fear I would experience on especially icy, windy nights, with my unreliable old car rolling up and then down the peak of the bridge.<br />
I guess I am a flatlander at heart.<br />
I also grew up in South Dakota and have worked in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Montana and Wyoming, so winter driving is both a birthright and an acquired skill. I have skidded around icy curves in all those states and lived to tell the tale.<br />
But when I was younger, with stronger nerve, darker hair and balder tires, I often scoffed at my parents’ warnings and set off on drives during winter weather. I hit the ditch once or twice, and skidded and slid more times that I can recall, but never did any damage to myself, my passengers or my cars.<br />
My most frightening experience was in the mid-1990s, while working for the Argus Leader and living in Brookings. I was assigned to do a feature story in Henry, a small town near Watertown. It was about a 75-minute drive in ideal conditions, but this was an icy morning.<br />
I had to get to Henry, interview the only two seniors in the high school, a story I had already told once, take some photos and be back in Brookings by 12:50 p.m. to get a roll of film on the bus to Sioux Falls. It was a challenge I had met several times before.<br />
I was driving around 60 mph a few miles out of Brookings when I felt my car starting to spin. I did a complete 360 on the northbound side of Interstate 29, and when I came out of it, I was headed into the ditch.<br />
Remembering Dad’s advice to keep the car moving through snow — I was surprisingly calm — I plunged off the road but kept moving forward. I drove right back out and was on the roadway.<br />
Spotting an emergency turnaround, I quickly headed home. Once I was parked outside my home, I broke out into a sweat and shakes as I fully realized what I had just been through. I called the office, and after telling them I had no intentions of trying that drive again today, we settled on another assignment.<br />
So far, our daily trips through Sioux Falls have been routine, with a few white-knuckle moments. But I just slow down and let the pickups roar past. I just want to get there and back safely, so a few minutes either way don’t really matter.<br />
But we are ready for spring any day now. It will be nice to enjoy a peaceful, easy drive, perhaps with a window rolled down and a warm, sweet breeze in the air. We can look at the flowers in the ditch, and gaze at their beauty, not worrying about how deep the drop.<br />
But winter is still in the driver’s seat now.Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-73461089929231672532019-03-06T07:08:00.001-08:002019-03-06T07:08:53.540-08:00Our final visitors<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoz1FWsV5EAxXJcW9tyuaGVY5SWO151rPZWoa4WWT0lx7eJIASerJWyvSQ1Hn-gdpgtlXC-6C1vfMN5AgE4xAuErFxCPtGXuu_lWVgYBuM7hufM-fGc9iYY8c416gXJCUmMLWrHHpA4Vg/s1600/B31DBF02-199F-437C-BAE1-9C6399CFD38F.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="943" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoz1FWsV5EAxXJcW9tyuaGVY5SWO151rPZWoa4WWT0lx7eJIASerJWyvSQ1Hn-gdpgtlXC-6C1vfMN5AgE4xAuErFxCPtGXuu_lWVgYBuM7hufM-fGc9iYY8c416gXJCUmMLWrHHpA4Vg/s320/B31DBF02-199F-437C-BAE1-9C6399CFD38F.png" width="188" /></a></div>
<br />
When my dear friend Jim was dying in August 2012, his brother Joe visited him.<br />
Which is completely understandable, except for one thing: Joe had been dead for several years.<br />
Still, Jim told his wife Jodie that Joe was there. She couldn’t see him, but said the idea that Joe was “there” comforted Jim. They were extremely close, and I knew Jim missed him. Did he come back to guide his big brother to the next life, to the other side?<br />
Was it merely a wishful dream, an illusion caused by pain-masking drugs and a brain slowly winding down?<br />
Dr. Christopher Kerr, CEO of The Center for Hospice & Palliative Care in Cheektowaga, N.Y., said he once was skeptical, but has come to accept the fact that in their final days, people see dead family members and friends. Is it a dream, since the study shows dying people have more dreams, often involving their missing loved ones? Many of the dreams also involve travel, and dying people are known to prepare for one final trip, so it makes sense that someone would be there to guide them on this new path.<br />
Veteran nurses, who witness a great many deaths, told Dr. Kerr they knew when people are near the end. Their late relatives appear to them, the nurses said, and it’s a sign that death is approaching.<br />
Are their spirits actually there? Dr. Kerr is not sure, but he is well aware of it, and said it is a positive occurrence.<br />
“Instead of having this fear of death,” he said in a recent newspaper story. “It almost transcends the fear of death to something bigger.”<br />
When our dad had a major heart attack in January 2013, we were told he had days to live. He was 92 and his health had been declining, but his will to live was still strong. He tried to recover despite the great injury to his heart, and lived for more than a month.<br />
But in February, he started to fail. He was just too weak. Five of his kids, including me, took turns spending time with Dad, talking, reading newspapers ... dealing with the looming reality that he would soon be gone.<br />
Dad noted several times a man in a hat was seated in a corner of the room, although we could not see anyone. Was it his father, who often wore a fedora? Did he come back to bring his last child home?<br />
Dad told other family members that he was seeing long-dead relatives. We could not see anyone, but he did.<br />
They gave him comfort. He recognized them, and knew them.<br />
Grace told me her maternal grandmother in the Philippines had a similar experience, but it lasted a lot longer. In her final years, as she dealt with encroaching dementia, she told family members that her late father and son were in the room.<br />
At times, she admonished Grace to be quiet, since her husband and son were asleep. Grace says family members came to ask if anyone was present in her room, wanting not to intrude on their time together.<br />
Is this an illusion? A reaction to drugs? A hallucination? A wish, as someone dying hopes to see loved ones?<br />
Dr. Kerr said he doesn’t know if it can be explained in spiritual or scientific ways. Instead, he just chooses to record the incidents.<br />
“When they wake up crying because they’ve been so deeply moved by something,” said Dr. Kerr. “That just should be respected. Period.”<br />
That makes sense to me. There are enough report of this happening, it does seem to be real, in one way or another. Who will be there to escort you through that mysterious door? Who do you want to see again?<br />
I’m in no hurry to find out, but I would be glad to see my mother, father and sister Anita again. But not yet, not yet.<br />
<br />Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-65327982163633667152019-02-12T11:29:00.000-08:002019-02-12T16:03:25.413-08:00Remembering Bob<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhemDYwZB6FdPidHwmDfh1PE1t6jhQsCLlOE6aJnptdF2hRV_Sv4ioruBwnE1Py9E1jwmtkuGx-6ySvlYEMI81fukhyPXRg5ULy9o0BzmBENrSsM8o2RwxZmX_ibIwpl_gUIShbpQRd28A/s1600/62D39AE3-E21D-45D2-A01C-B9DB3137A3AD.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhemDYwZB6FdPidHwmDfh1PE1t6jhQsCLlOE6aJnptdF2hRV_Sv4ioruBwnE1Py9E1jwmtkuGx-6ySvlYEMI81fukhyPXRg5ULy9o0BzmBENrSsM8o2RwxZmX_ibIwpl_gUIShbpQRd28A/s320/62D39AE3-E21D-45D2-A01C-B9DB3137A3AD.jpeg" width="320" height="319" data-original-width="362" data-original-height="361" /></a></div><br />
He tried to teach me to play the guitar.<br />
Which was a futile gesture. I have no musical ability. None. Not a bit.<br />
But Bob knew how much I loved music. We listened to it, talked about it, exchanged albums and books, and were passionate about good music. It was a foundational part of our friendship for four decades.<br />
Unlike me, Bob could play and sing. He did so, in groups, and at home, where he would pick up one of his guitars and play a tune, his dark eyes closed as he expertly selected the next string, his high voice matching the song perfectly.<br />
That was just one of his talents. He also was a good photographer who had an extensive camera collection. He read voraciously, and we shared magazines, books and newspapers, discussing and debating politics, science, religion and so many other topics for hours and hours.<br />
We laughed, a lot. Life was absurd, and the flow of events proved that on a daily basis. Over drinks downtown, in his home when I visited, and on the phone when I was living in another state, we talked, laughed and shared ideas.<br />
I’m going to miss all that so much.<br />
Bob Swinson was a dear friend for four decades. The Brookings resident, who came here from his native East Coast with his beloved Cindy, another precious friend, wasn’t a South Dakota native. But he came to adore her native state and never wanted to leave.<br />
Now, he never will. Bob died at a Sioux Falls hospice on Sunday, Feb. 10, six days after he and Cindy had celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary. He had beaten back lung cancer, but chronic obstructive pulmonary disease seized hold of him and his departure was sudden and unexpected, catching scores of friends by shock.<br />
I met Bob at SDSU and we became close quickly, as happens in college. A small group of friends spent a tremendous time together, and four of us, Jim, Bob, Pat and myself, graduated together in 1982. All three of them were slightly older than me and had served in the military before coming to SDSU, so they were often amused by my naïveté and youthful enthusiasm.<br />
I moved away after college, but returned on a regular basis to visit family and friends. I often stayed with Bob and Cindy, and we had hours of talks and laughs, as I detailed my wandering adventures and he and Cindy settled in Brookings.<br />
Bob was a man of diverse interests and talents. He worked for South Dakota Public Radio, doing a jazz show at night and recording great live music that he played on his show. Bob traveled the state, almost always with Cindy, preserving the sound of South Dakota’s best performers.<br />
He also played in groups, and I was fortunate enough to see them take the stage at private shows around Brookings. He was modest about his abilities, but he shined and the other musicians both liked and respected him.<br />
His thirst for knowledge was bottomless. Bob loved to learn and to discuss it with others. Brookings is filled with bright, thoughtful people, and Bob engaged in numerous discussions with his friends, many of whom looked up to him and respected his dedication to facts and logic.<br />
He and Cindy and their friend Fedora Sutton started a program, Science at the Pub, at Jim’s Tap in downtown Brookings. It offered in-depth, intelligent programs on a weekly basis. It was a perfect project for him.<br />
He was always great with my family. Bob came to our farm to hunt back in 1980-81 and met my parents and siblings, who were delighted by his wry humor and good manners. He got to know Dad better after Mom died and would talk with him when they ran into each other in Brookings.<br />
Bob liked people. He had a quick smile and a good heart. I will miss both.<br />
I have had to get used to missing people, losing close, close friends like Roger, Jim and Ted in the last decade or so. I never imagined them gone from my life, not so suddenly.<br />
Cindy said Bob knew his time was fleeting. They had left their home and moved to an apartment. Bob had given away most of his cameras and turned over Science at the Pub to someone else.<br />
I last saw him at another friend’s memorial service in September. There was a tube in his nose providing him oxygen, but he seemed largely unchanged. We talked and laughed and sipped a drink before I headed home, not realizing I should have lingered that night.<br />
Life passes quickly. That’s why it is so important to find people you want to be with, who bring you joy and make you happy, who try to teach you to place your stiff, untalented fingers on the elegant neck of a guitar to evoke music, even when you both know it’s a fruitless effort.<br />
I will miss Bob, but I sure will remember him. Always.<br />
Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2006664754692398952.post-54279961215548958372019-02-09T06:14:00.000-08:002019-02-09T06:20:49.118-08:00The scientist who studied UFOs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEislrcX0-GMcd147HyEl5Thp8KBHtjpBqCT35tB0Az-EOEzIFrnJaL37eTF2tZ3WsQr3LxqoSm_rD7L38LxDaFv2P1WQtvduBxt1JWM88vLssX-6BxwoxMEu4K2PWRCrQMzhWTfZ1hyKLM/s1600/508714CE-6291-4CE3-B230-7A1B806B7405.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="578" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEislrcX0-GMcd147HyEl5Thp8KBHtjpBqCT35tB0Az-EOEzIFrnJaL37eTF2tZ3WsQr3LxqoSm_rD7L38LxDaFv2P1WQtvduBxt1JWM88vLssX-6BxwoxMEu4K2PWRCrQMzhWTfZ1hyKLM/s320/508714CE-6291-4CE3-B230-7A1B806B7405.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">A bookish, bespectacled astrophysicist, dead more than 30 years, is an unlikely hero for a TV series.</span><br />
<div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">But Dr. J. Allen Hynek was a truly unique scientist with a fascinating story to tell. That’s why a History Channel series is well worth your time.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.history.com/shows/project-blue-book?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7ZqZweuu4AIVDNbACh1i0gcVEAMYASAAEgJ5SPD_BwE&ef_id=EAIaIQobChMI7ZqZweuu4AIVDNbACh1i0gcVEAMYASAAEgJ5SPD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!4850!3!326184929012!b!!g!!%2Bproject%20%2Bbluebook&cmpid=paidsearch_G_ProjectBlueBook" target="_blank">It’s</a> titled “Project Blue Book,” and is on at 9 p.m. Tuesday, and is guided by executive producer Robert Zemeckis, who directed the “Back to the Future” trilogy, “Forrest Gump” and “Cast Away.” It has drawn mixed critical reaction, but it’s required viewing at our house.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Hynek is depicted as an earnest young professor who gradually senses he is being used by the Air Force to cover up the truth behind strange events and mysterious lights in the sky. The truth isn’t quite that black and white, although Hynek did start as a total skeptic and end up believing UFOs were ... something from somewhere.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">After a few years, two things stood out in his mind, he later said.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">“One was the completely negative and unyielding attitude of the Air Force,” Hynek said. “They wouldn't give UFOs the chance of existing, even if they were flying up and down the street in broad daylight. Everything had to have an explanation. </div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">“I began to resent that, even though I basically felt the same way, because I still thought they weren't going about it in the right way. You can't assume that everything is black no matter what,” he said. “Secondly, the caliber of the witnesses began to trouble me. Quite a few instances were reported by military pilots, for example, and I knew them to be fairly well-trained, so this is when I first began to think that, well, maybe there was something to all this."</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">His first field research took him to Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City as well as to Bismarck, N.D., where a 27-minute dogfight between a fighter pilot and a UFO is still being studied. It’s the basis for the opening episode of the series.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Over the course of nearly two decades, Hynek traveled the country and met people who told him amazing stories. Eventually, he came to believe weather balloons, swamp gas, misidentified planets and aircraft could not explain about 20 percent of the cases.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">“I hold it entirely possible that a technology exists, which encompasses both the physical and the psychic, the material and the mental. There are stars that are millions of years older than the sun. There may be a civilization that is millions of years more advanced than man's,” he said. “We have gone from Kitty Hawk to the moon in some 70 years, but it's possible that a million-year-old civilization may know something that we don't ... I hypothesize an 'M&M' technology encompassing the mental and material realms. The psychic realms, so mysterious to us today, may be an ordinary part of an advanced technology."</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">I saw Hynek speak at South Dakota State University on March 2, 1978. A large crowd came to his lecture, and the headline in the SDSU Collegian, the school newspaper I joined that fall, said “Hynek: UFOs are real.”</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">More than 40 years later, that remains an open question.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">“Project Blue Book,” starring Irish actor Aidan Gillen as Hynek, is based on his experiences with the top-secret UFO investigations he worked on from 1952-69. It also features pilots and UFO witnesses struggling with what they saw and experienced, typically corrupt military leaders trying to hide the truth and a pair of Russian spies.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Some critics say the series would have been better served to take a more documentary approach, and I lean that way as well. Hynek’s experiences and his decision to become an outspoken UFO advocate are an incredible story that has largely been forgotten. Adding the Cold War aspect, the mysterious men in hats and the people they kill and seek to silence, may provide more drama, but it gets in the way of a truly historic tale.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">When Hynek spoke at SDSU, he was promoting his 1976 book “The Hynek UFO Report.” In it, he explained why the people he met had raised doubt in his mind.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">“The witnesses I interviewed could have been lying, could have been insane or could have been hallucinating collectively — but I do not think so,” he wrote. “Their standing in the community, their lack of motive for perpetration of a hoax, their own puzzlement at the turn of events they believe they witnessed, and often their great reluctance to speak of the experience — all lend a subjective reality to their UFO experience.”</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Many people were impressed by Hynek’s research and willingness to consider the amazing theory that visitors from another planet, or dimension, or perhaps a manifestation of our collective conscience. He died in 1986, still searching for answers.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">The History Channel series, coming on the heels of a new biography, shows Hynek remains a figure of great fascination. During the last 20 years of his life, he became a celebrity interviewed on talk shows and consulted by filmmakers.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Stanley Kubrick praised Hynek as he was making “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Kubrick said he was impressed by Hynek’s belief we were starting on the greatest adventure in man’s history.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="http://https://youtu.be/63yGG-lMpmE">Steven Spielberg</a> said Hynek was a key advisor to him during the making of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” the 1977 blockbuster starring Richard Dreyfuss as a man who sees a spaceship close up and is compelled to learn more. He ends up having a “third kind” — he meets the aliens, who take him aboard their ship at a prearranged landing at Devils Tower in Wyoming.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Hynek came up with the terms for the three kinds of encounters: the First was seeing something, the second was discovering evidence, such as burn marks, broken tree limbs or marks in the ground, where a UFO was reported. A Close Encounter of the Third Kind was actually meeting an alien.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">In the Spielberg movie, as the aliens emerge from their ship, a bearded, bespectacled man steps through a crowd, puts a curved pipe in his mouth and takes a long look.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">It’s J. Allen Hynek himself.</div>Prairie Perspectivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02154574048042724149noreply@blogger.com1