South Beach Hoosier posted this the other day on Hallandale Beach Blog, and meant to link to it here, but realized in the afternoon that it might be better to copy all of it here on the chance that someone who'd be interested in the subjects might come across it.
It's probably my longest post to date since starting SBH last year, but I think you'll see why that's so if you closely follow the dots.
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So, what's going on with Brian Bethell, the man who murdered Albert Avenaim of Aventura in Hallandale Beach -and two other innocent South Florida men- in 2006?
http://cbs4.com/video/?id=13909@wfor.dayport.com
The Brian Bethell who turned 43 recently.
You know, the man who brought two small kids with him and his girlfriend when they decided to go on a shopping spree with the dead men's credit cards at a Coral Springs Wal-Mart, as they had done before?
The man who was caught NOT due to anything in particular the Hallandale Beach Police Dept. had done, but rather because Mr. Avenaim's family had the good sense to take the initiative and put-up fliers at the store about the suspect, along with reward information.
This was why store employees recognized Bethell when he swung back by the store.
CBS-4's excellent reporter Ted Scouten did this report on the reward on March 3, 2006
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/wal-mart-employees-who-led-police-to-killer-get-reward/450206456
Yeah, the Hallandale Beach Police who were so concerned about the safety/conditions of the 2500 Hallandale Beach Blvd./Millennium complex for employees and visitors, that they provided evening security -from the comfort of their squad cars- for a few weeks after the murder of Mr. Avenaim.
But who, when asked, specifically, refused to say whether or not they were off-duty while they were parked in their squad cars, and when asked about all the self-evident missing, broken or obscured parking lot lights near the crime scene, acted like they couldn't quite hear you, even though you were just inches away.
This being HB, the squad cars were up near the Hallandale Beach Blvd. entrance, rather than being near the actual Avenaim murder crime scene.
(Not that their superiors higher up the chain were any more forthcoming with information, as Chief Thomas Magill and Capt. Robert Rodgers both played dumb about that whole situation after I specifically asked them about it last June.)
Yes, the Hallandale Beach Police whose concern for public safety was such that, according to Capt. Rodgers, they wouldn't specifically ask, encourage or nudge the owners of the complex towards fixing their longstanding safety/lighting problems.
As it happens, those self-evident problems are ones I've discussed at length over the past two years with a few print and TV reporters here in South Florida, and which were NOT addressed by the complex's owners until only 3-4 weeks ago.
Yes, the Hallandale Beach Police Dept. led by the still-serving Chief Thomas Magill, whom as I've chronicled here, is a man who tried to have two innocent Hallandale Beach Police officers criminally prosecuted -for something they didn't do.
See http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/dial-m-for-magill-and-mendacity.html
According to a recent check of the rather poky Broward County Clerks Office website, http://www.clerk-17th-flcourts.org/bccoc2/pubsearch/case_summary.asp?FMCE96017183=CIV&FMCE96017183=CIV&01017198CF10A=CRM&05116917TC30A=CRM&06006136MM10A=CRM&hidCaseNumber=06003321CF10A&06003321CF10A=CRM&06005634CF10A=CRM&06003572CF10A=CRM&06005168CF10A=CRM&CACE01010726=CIV&hidSendingPage=search_results&hidCourtType=CRM&hidGeneralType=CRM&hidS=party_public&SearchT=&mscssid=&user_type=&hidPageName=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clerk-17th-flcourts.org%2Fbccoc2%2Fpubsearch%2Fpublic_search.asp%3F&btnSummary=View+Selected+Case
Brian Bethell will FINALLY go on trial on the 28th of April.
Key Dates - Future Scheduled Events
04/28/2008
JURY TRIAL
Judge: PAUL L BACKMAN
You'd think that as the trial phase was getting closer, you'd see something about it in local media, but I've read nothing in the newspapers, seen nothing on TV, or, shocker, heard nothing about it on radio, in the South Florida of 2008, where a niche apparently exists for Mexican music, but NOT an all-news radio station.
Que pasa?
Over the next few days, if everything goes according to schedule, I'll be cobbling together all the things that I already know and have already written about the Millennium situation -and kept in the deep freeze Draft for months- which, along with some photographs I've taken over the years, will buttress my points.
I'll post them to both Hallandale Beach Blog, and parent blog, South Beach Hoosier, too.
You can then draw your own conclusions.
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Speaking of the curious lack of media curiosity down here with regards to the upcoming Bethell murder trial, below you'll find a series of emails and notes which I've put together, which, taken in toto, paints a very accurate but damning portrait of the local news media as they currently choose to practice their craft.
It also includes a bad memory for yours truly on a summer that might've been spent so much better.
What will soon follow is an excerpted copy of an email that I sent on February 8, 2008 to about a half-dozen or so Local 10 TV reporters, including Roger Lohse.
In case you don't recall the specifics of the news story under discussion below, it was Lohse's Local 10 news report on February 7th concerning the curious circumstances of the July 2007 accidental death of Myron Kafka of Hollywood, in the lobby of Millennium's HQ at 2500 Hallandale Beach Blvd. http://www.local10.com/news/13750861/detail.html
Perhaps this might help jog your memory a bit:
Excerpted from:
AROUND SOUTH FLORIDA
The Miami Herald
July 24, 2007
Miami Herald Staff Report
HALLANDALE BEACH BODY FOUND TRAPPED BETWEEN ELEVATOR, GATE
An employee at a Hallandale Beach medical office discovered the body of an 81-year-old man early Monday morning, police said. The man, identified as Myron Kafka of Hollywood, was trapped between an elevator and a metal gate. The incident happened inside the Millennium Building, 2500 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd.
The 5,000-square-foot structure houses several medical offices, authorities said. Police believe the slender man got caught between the gate and the elevator. He did not appear to be crushed, police said. "We don't know how he died or how long he has been there," said Andrew Casper, a Hallandale Beach police spokesman.
_____________________________________
A later report from AP: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wirestory?id=3412355
Man Dies Trapped Between Elevator, GateElderly Man Dies After Becoming Trapped Between Elevator, Security Gate at Medical Building.
The Associated Press
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.
An elderly man died of a heart attack after he became trapped between an elevator and a security gate in a medical building, authorities said.
The death of Myron Kafka, 81, was considered accidental, Hallandale Beach spokesman Andrew Casper said.
Broward County Medical Examiner Joshua Perper said Tuesday that Kafka had been dead at least two days when staff from the building discovered his body on Monday.
Kafka was trapped in the 14-inch space between the elevator doors and a locked, illegally installed security gate, authorities said. Perper said Kafka may have been there since Friday afternoon, when he was last seen alive. According to the medical examiner's report, Kafka had been at his doctor's office, located in the building.Officials ordered the gate removed and cited the property for installing it.
_________________________________
Long ignored public safety problems at 2500 Hallandale Beach Blvd.; HB Police ignore problem
Friday February 8th, 2008
I would like to speak with you soon -and possibly meet with you if possible- so we can talk about some other serious public safety problems I know about concerning the 2500 Hallandale Beach Blvd./Millennium complex, the subject of Roger Lohse's Thursday night report on Local 10's 11 p.m. newscast.
They consist of some first-hand observations I initially noticed in the aftermath of the Feb. 10th, 2006 murder of Albert Avenaim of Aventura, outside of Padrino's Cuban Restaurant, in a particularly senseless death, even by South Florida's grisly standards.
See www.local10.com/news/7000578/detail.html and http://www.websleuths.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-36379.html
This Sunday will mark exactly two years since Mr. Avenaim's untimely murder.
What do you suppose has changed about the Millennium complex, safety-wise, in those two intervening years?
Nothing.
And if you count the responsible property owners STILL not doing the minimum to do right by the public, and I do, it's actually worse than nothing, it's negligence.
In the days after the murder, I saw some things that just didn't make any common sense, but which, to me, were self-evident signs of negligence -dare I say gross negligence?- by the property owners and management, abetted in part by the City of Hallandale Beach's own incompetence, which, typically, responded with a fig leaf, rather than employing a pro-active
approach that showed some common sense and foresight.
Frankly, I suspect most of what I know to be completely unknown to the various insurance companies that cover the myriad owners/investors of that particular property, since the insurance companies probably assume that there's no way their clients at Millennium would intentionally put people in harm's way, whether employees or patrons of the various business establishments renting space there.
Through photographs I've taken of the property since Mr. Avenaim's murder two years ago, I can show that is NOT the case.
If anything, a reasonable person might infer from the preponderance of evidence that their inaction fell far below the standard that one reasonably expects, and actually shows a callous disregard for public safety, since it's clear they haven't maintained the property in a safe manner.
As you may already know, Millennium and their various partners have some rather lofty -I say grandiose- plans to transform that property into a huge office/condo complex showplace, complete with all sorts of amenities for their tenants and the public.
And who's leading that effort?
Well, none other than garrulous State Senator Steve Geller, the FL Senate Democratic leader, and someone I'm very open about regarding as a cancer on Broward County's political system and public policy arena, as my blogs make clear.
Yes, the Steve Geller that has his office located at the HB City Hall.
(Geller is one of the individuals I hold most personally responsible for the State of Florida moving its presidential primary from March to last week, despite the perfectly predicted downside of losing all Democratic delegates to the Denver DNC this summer.)
How do I know that Geller represents Millennium?
I was one of the select few to attend a sparsely-attended public meeting that Millennium was forced to hold, in December of 2006, in HB's Cultural Center behind their City Hall.
I got there early, expecting some emotional fireworks because of the rather predictable concerns about exacerbating the already bad neighborhood traffic-flow on HBB, the completely out-of-proportion size of the plan, etc., and sat at the table next to Miami Herald reporter Jennifer Lebovich.
Once I got there and had grabbed a donut and some coffee, and returned to the table I had all to myself, my biggest thought while jotting down some thoughts in my legal pad was making sure to leave early enough so that I could get home and not miss a minute of a new episode of LOST.
Really.
I'd forgotten to program my VCR.
But then, quite unexpectedly, to my great surprise, in walked Geller and his retinue with trademark showy boisterousness, with him not waiting even two beats before continuing on a rant/harangue disparaging then-Gov.-Elect Crist in tones that would've been loud enough for everyone in the room to hear if the room had been half-full -wishful thinking- say, 150-200 people.
As it was, counting his Millennium crew and the interested public, such as it was, there were no more than 25 people in that room, so his voice was bouncing off the walls.
To be so self-absorbed as to publicly belittle Crist in front of people -and a reporter- before he'd even taken the oath of office, showed me the side of Geller I'd often read and heard about, but never seen in person for myself.
But I recognized the type, since I'd had dealings with Rahm Emanuel in Washington before he was anybody of note, per se, and he already had that insufferable attitude and ego thing down pat.
Geller's whole shtick was so over-the-top as to be farcical, and I debated back and forth in my head at the time whether I ought to dispense with pleasantries and the subject at hand, and simply drop my knowledge of what hasn't transpired at 2500 HBB on Geller and Millennium, in front of reporter Lebovich, once the presentation was over and the Q&A began in earnest.
In the end, I just didn't trust the judgment of the crowd or Lebovich's ability to synthesize the narrative and connect all the dots in a way that would get all the pertinent facts out.
Given my interests and background, and the fact that I've been to dozens of these sorts of development meetings over the years in Northern Virginia and D.C., I thought I had a pretty good idea how the evening would go.
But after listening to the sheer volume of obfuscation and mis-direction coming out of Geller's mouth, his Pooh-poohing of the patently obvious worsening traffic problems on HBB if the project was approved, as if he could wave a magic wand over them, rendering them invisible, well, it was all I could do to not ask him straight out if he and his colleagues even recognized the name of Albert Avenaim -and then go on offense.
As to the seriousness of the safety issues, this isn't just a hunch or my opinion, but rather something which I've captured with photographs over the past two years, though to their great shame and discredit, the City of Hallandale Beach's response, nothing, is almost as criminally negligent.
(Even today, weeks after the Boca Mall murders!)
I've spoken with great specificity about it with a number of people, including serious newspaper reporters as well as the Hallandale Beach Police Dept., including Capt Robert Rodgers and Police Chief Thomas Magill.
The city and Police have done nothing, and the problems I know about remain much as they did two years ago: waiting for another innocent victim.
You'll recall that Mr. Avenaim's murder was solved NOT as a result of anything the HB Police Dept. did specifically, or even BSO, but rather thru the efforts of the alert Wal-Mart employees, after the guilty party, Brian Bethell, tried to use the third of his his victim's credit cards at their Coral Springs location, which he had previously done.
You'll also recall he felt so confident, he even brought along his girlfriend and two toddlers,which, I think, tells you everything you need to know about him.
(Unlike the situation with the individual who called police per the shooting of the BSO deputy in Hollywood late last year, after driving the suspect in his car to the Pawn Shop near 441, who received a monetary reward from Crime Stoppers, I believe Channel Ten reported that the Wal-Mart employees who thought something was fishy with Brian Bethell did not get any kind of reward from Crime Stoppers.)
I myself grew-up in North Miami Beach, but spent lots of time in both Hollywood Beach and Hallandale, so I recall what it was like physically before the final capitulation to the condo canyons.
When my family moved to South Florida in the summer of 1968, when I was seven, we stayed at the small hotel next to the iconic HB water tower for 2-3 weeks, until my parents found a suitable apt. in NMB they liked.
Because of that fact, and our regular visits there over the years, I distinctly recall the way the beach in Hallandale looked then, with actual dunes of some height, and whispering pines along them.
It was so peaceful and relaxing late in the afternoon, especially on Sundays.
What's happened to that area of the public beach since then is a disgrace, with the city not even having the common sense to conduct a shadow study before approving The Beach Club project, which happened while I was still in the D.C. area.
In order to keep my sanity, though it's far from the scope I had initially envisioned or hoped for, largely because of time constraints, I actually had to start a blog once I saw how absurd, pathetic and illogical things were done at HB's City Hall, where both "rhyme" and "reason" are unknown quantities.
Honestly, I can't help think that fictional mid-'60's Sparta portrayed in In The Heat of the Night has nothing on Hallandale Beach now in the backwards department.
Though I've lived in lots of different kinds of towns of varying sizes and nature all over the country, I've never heard of a real city where city employees were and are more risk averse to doing their job properly, and management was less reluctant to see to it that they did.
Lax oversight hardly begins to describe it.
Just so you know, that's the bias I bring to this matter.
Not to laugh about it, but I literally saw another prime example just 48 hours ago, right on HBB, where you can see it within spitting distance of the HB Chamber of Commerce.
Hiding in plain sight.
Yes, the forest for the trees.
Please contact me directly when you have some time to talk about the situation.
Sincerely,
DBS
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To give you some better perspective on the above, here's an excerpt from an email I sent on February 21, 2008 and sent to some Local 10 News execs.
Subject: More proof that Channel 10 News isn't what it used to be: the latest sad example
To: "Peter Burke" pburke@ibsys.com, "Michelle Solomon" msolomon@ibsys.com
Some constructive criticism, on the chance that it may do some good... but I won't hold my breath.
Two weeks ago, after watching Roger Lohse's Local 10 news report on Feb. 7th on Mr. Kafka's death alongside the lobby elevator of Millennium LLC's HQ at 2500 Hallandale Beach Blvd., a property I'm very familiar with, I tried to alert him and some of your reporters to the fact that I was aware of information that could show that there was a continuing pattern of neglect surrounding the maintenance of the Millennium property, going back to at least the time of the Albert Avenaim murder at Padrino's Cuban Cuisine two years ago -in the very same retail/office complex.
(Why yes, the very same one that State Senator Steve Geller, the FL Senate Democratic leader represents and lobbies on behalf of. Not that your news reports ever mentioned it)
As it happens, February 10th was the second anniversary of Mr. Avenaim's murder.
Sadly for you two, none of the half-dozen news reporters I emailed at Channel 10 bothered to respond to my query, despite my making it very easy for them to reach me and get the information.
I have to tell you, Mr. Burke and Ms. Solomon, even by South Florida's often shallow-end-of-the-pool news standards, that sort of jaded and apathetic response among reporters still surprises.
But it is what it is.
Frankly, the sad truth is that other than Michael Putney and Glenna Milberg, there's no compelling reason to watch your oh-so-predictable newscasts.
Not that you asked, but I've since spoken to a number of other reporters in town, print and electronic, some of whom immediately saw the facts for what they were, and were able toconnect the dots -just as I described them.
They didn't need to be asked twice.
Having photographs to buttress my points surely went a long way towards assuaging any of their doubts, yet strangely, that didn't seem to cut much slack with your own reporters.
By the way, the last time I checked, Brian Bethell, the man who murdered Mr. Avenaim and two other South Florida men two years ago, on his Friday spree killings-cum-Wal-Mart shopping sprees, was scheduled to go on trial in the not-too-distant future at the Main Broward County Courthouse in Ft. Lauderdale, with Judge Paul Backman presiding.
You might want to have someone check that out if you could tear your reporters away from their steady diet of chick lit lite/yenta-oriented botox/diet/fashion/shopping/pseudo-celeb/Idol stories.
In any case, I'll probably be there in court at first to take the measure of the jury and the D.A. to see how it all plays out.
Also, before I close, since your particular company seems to place such a high value on "relevant and engaging content," you should know that the so-called related links on your website's story, below, are nothing but Walgreens cosmetics commercials -not news!
And that's been the case for at least two weeks.
So much for any sort of quality control.
Please don't bother responding to this email, your reporters' actions(!) already speak volumes!
DBS, Hallandale Beach, FL
Lawsuit Filed After Bizarre Elevator Incident
The family of an 81-year-old man whose body was found trapped between a security gate and elevator door at a medical building in Hallandale Beach last year...Article: http://www.local10.com/news/15251505/detail.html
_________________________________________
Despite my specific admonition not to respond, what do you suppose I received on Feb. 21st?
Yes, an email from Michelle Solomon, someone I'd heretofore never heard of before sending an email to her about my experiences with the apathetic and not-so-curious Channel 10 reporters.
Subject: RE: More proof that Channel 10 News isn't what it used to be: the latest sad example
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2008
From: "Solomon, Michelle" msolomon@ibsys.com
I have sent this to our news director and general manager.
Michelle Solomon Executive Producer Local 10 Interactive www.Local10.com
WPLG WPLG-DT Miami-Fort Lauderdale
305-324-2604
Business msolomon@local10.com www.ibsys.com _________________________________________
And who is Michelle Solomon?
Read this post from a Fort Myers-based blog and judge for yourself.
The title says it all.
Local10.com Miami Steals Blog Content
http://activerain.com/blogsview/292203/Local1-com-Miami-Steals
__________________________________________
So, what do you think of that?
There are some other facts/bias you should know about in making up your mind about all of this media kerfuffle.
First, I sent a bcc copy of all my original correspondence to and from Channel 10, up the news food chain to the Post-Newsweek head News honcho, who is a woman based out of the ABC O&O in Detroit, WXYZ.
I've never heard back from her.
As for Channel 10 itself, I was offered a position as an intern at Channel 10 after my sophomore year at IU, the summer of 1981.
But I got screwed out of this great gig by the then-IU Telecommunications Dept. Chairman and the rules of the Dept. http://www.indiana.edu/~telecom/index.html
As it happens, the Chair back then was actually someone who knew me and my personality reasonably well, since I'd received nothing but A's in all my Telecom classes, including some taught by him, and was a hardcore contributor to back-and-forth classroom debate, which he emphasized in our small-class labs.
And by debate, I don't mean the never ending debate between female students I knew in the Dept. over who was a better role model:
a.) IU's beloved sweetheart from Indy, Jane Pauley, the lovable former Kappa Kappa Gamma, and Pol. Sci. major, then at NBC News and The Today Show, or,
b.) Louisville's very own golden girl, Diane Sawyer, who was then with CBS News and Sixty Minutes, a household name that most of my friends and classmates from the Lou-a vull area leaned towards because of their great familiarity with her.
Classmates like the ever-engaging Rita House, who usually sat right next to me in Telecom classes when my friend Gail Amster and I didn't share the same class.
Straight from memory, Rita could tell you just about everything anyone would ever want to know about Diane Sawyer's life and career.
Back before everyone could be an expert in a minute thanks to Google, that wasn't something to be trifled with.
Frankly, at the time, I think the Telecom Chair was a little surprised that someone who'd just been at IU for two years could've nabbed such a sweet gig, at the #1 local TV news operation in the whole state of Florida -and a Post-Newsweek station at that.
(This was back in the day when Channel 10, under the late Ann Bishop, regularly whipped every other local Miami TV station in sight, at both 6 and 11 p.m., regardless of whether she was doing the newscast solo, or with a co-anchor, like Dwight Lauderdale.)
Naturally, me being me, I already had some 'bright ideas' about how I'd navigate that internship position at WPLG into something better the following summer with the Post-Newsweek mother ship up in DC.
I even had some IU friends in the suburban D.C. area, also Telecom students, who told me that when the time came, if things worked out for me with Kate Graham's 15th Street Crew, at the Washington Post or over at Newsweek, perhaps I could even live with them over the summer.
Being in Washington, D.C. then -even with the oppressive summer heat- would've been heaven for me socially and professionally, plus, I'd have been able to get a first-hand view of D.C. years earlier than I actually did in 1988.
That experience might've led to my being a lot smarter about some choices I eventually made once I got to Washington, for instance, choices on where to live, and not fall for the hype about the so-called 'great living' on Capitol Hill.
Rather unexpectedly, instead of being happy for me or giving off Good Vibrations, the Chair of the Telecom Dept. played the role of 'the heavy.'
He said that the Dept.'s rules were written in such a way that only students who'd completed their Junior year could get media internships, or the credit that might attach.
I was further told that the Dept.'s reasoning was that such a rule would prevent younger students from beating Juniors in the Telecom Dept. to the punch and securing precious internships.
[Of course, the only other IU Telecom student from South Florida I knew or had even heard of was Lisa Abrell, the bright and friendly daughter of WTVJ/Channel 4's Joe Abrell, who had been the station's News Director, Director of Public Affairs, and host of a public policy show called Montage, which I had regularly watched.
In 1984 or so, he became a Dolphins VP under the Robbie family, apparently, being quite instrumental in the building of Joe Robbie Stadium.
Though Lisa and I weren't really friends, per se, since I lived up at Briscoe Quad my first two years and I think she was probably over at Forrest Quad or one of those older dorms east of the IU Library -Terra incognita for most people at Briscoe- because of our mutual interests of South Florida and Telecom, she was someone I'd say hello to and chat a bit with before or after classes we shared, or when I'd run into her on campus somewhere.
Usually, it would be about some (typically embarrassing) news story going on back in South Florida, and the two of us trying to get a bead on what was true, what was speculation and what would happen next.
I'm sure that due in part to Lisa's father's friendly and outgoing personality, the great respect people in the industry had for him, as well as the myriad contacts he had throughout the country, Lisa must've had entree and exposure to industry internships of the sort that I could only dream of.
But I could hardly begrudge her that, since it would've been foolish for her to have passed on an opportunity once she was aware of it, just because her dad was in the industry.]
While I understood the need for general Dept. guidelines, and could see how the Dept.'s idea might make sense for the Indy or Louisville markets, maybe even for Chicago, because of the sheer number of IU Telecom students living there, it made MUCH LESS sense when applied to someone like me, living a thousand miles away from Bloomington.
It's NOT exactly like I was elbowing out an army of older IU students applying for an internship at WPLG on Biscayne Boulevard.
I was fortunate in one respect, in that the Channel 10 Personnel Director at the time had enjoyed very good results with IU student interns at prior TV stations she'd been at.
But I was also very qualified for the position, the PD and I really hit it off personally, and I had a lot of impressive recomendations, so she really, really wanted me working there.
In fact, once I got the bad news, she called me and asked me to come down to the TV station so she could personally call the Chair up on the telephone and lobby/plead my case, because she could see that I'd be a great addition to 3990 Biscayne Blvd.
The same place my friend Roy Firestone had worked years before as the Noon and Weekend sports anchor.
But despite the Personnel Director's powers of persuasion, it counted for little in the end.
Unfortunately, as was so often the case at IU, a rigid adherence to unwieldy rules often counted for more than someone's actual ability and desire.
I suppose it's hardly surprising after what happened to me that summer, that I lost a lot of respect for that professor and could never look at him in quite the same way.
Once I got back to Bloomington, I had the good sense to remain civil with him, but his actions put the kibosh on what had once been our enjoyable, semi-frequent talks in the RTV hallway about current events in the media industry.
The same was true of our group talks where -with other Telecom students- we'd all walk back over to the RTV Bldg. after a Telecom class in another bldg., usually the Business Bldg.
Once I was back, I also made a concerted effort to share the particular details of that incident with other Telecom professors I was simpatico with as soon as possible, since I felt it'd come up eventually, anyhow, and I preferred they hear it from me.
But I can't deny that part of my sharing the news with them was also anger, and an attempt on my part to get these profs to drum it into the heads of the Freshman and Sophmore students in the Dept., that whatever else they may want to believe, the IU Telecom Dept. would NOT necessarily 'have their back,' even if they found themself with a great career opportunity.
Better that they know in advance.
No internship for South Beach Hoosier at Channel 10 that summer meant suddenly having to scramble at the last minute for summer jobs -plural.
Jobs that'd allow him to once again earn enough money for tuition to pay 3X's what in-state Hoosiers were paying for classes.
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In the Heart of a Great Country, Beats the Soul of Hoosier Nation
"In the Heart of a Great Country, Beats the Soul of Hoosier Nation." -South Beach Hoosier, 2007
Welcome to Indiana Coach Crean!
South Beach Hoosier's prediction -and wish- came true! Now, we can finally get back to the IU tradition: an emphasis on playing smart, playing hard, playing as a team -and winning with class. And graduating! No more one-and-done recruits!
Back Home Again in Indiana!
Assembly Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana; Click photo to see video of Straight No Chaser's version of Back Home Again In Indiana, 2:37
South Beach Hoosier's New Favorite "Good Government" Watchdog: Ashley Alexandra Dupré
Single-handedly managed to accomplish what a legion of voters, reporters, Special Prosecutors, White Papers, The New York Times and curious DA's with unlimited resources, COULDN'T! She cleaned up Albany! And, in the process, permanently eliminates a poster boy for the dis-connected, high-living, condescending hypocrites among the American political class. Already the early South Beach Hoosier favorite for TIME Magazine's "Person of the Year." Only surprising (mildly disappointing?) aspect of this whole Spitzer story is that it wasn't accomplished in South Florida. C'est la guerre!
South Beach Hoosier's all-time favorite film: MGM's 1952 The Bad and The Beautiful
Unscrupulous movie producer Kirk Douglas uses everyone around him in his climb to the top of Hollywood in Vincente Minnelli's powerful classic. DVD for sale at http://turnerclassic.moviesunlimited.com/product.asp?sku=D31316 Click photo to see original trailer!
The Enigma of Ashley Judd
Beautiful and beguiling, thoughtful and talented, Ashley is THE thinking-man's Phi Beta Kappa 'parallel universe' wife, the Wildcat yang to my Hoosier-by-choice ying. South Beach Hoosier wants SO badly for Ashley's enormous potential in Victor Nuñez's wonderful 1993 film, "Ruby in Paradise," to be fully realized and appreciated. Though I like Kate Bosworth as an actress, is there anyone who saw "Superman Returns" who doesn't agree that casting Ashley as Lois Lane would've made that a MUCH more nuanced film, and given the audience a reason to think it was at all logical for Clark/Superman to STILL be in love with her, even after his return and finding her married and with a kid? Backstory on this great photo, LONG one of my favorites, at www.ukhockey.com/posters.shtml
Cyndie (Brown) Welte Winning the 1988 Honolulu Marathon
Honolulu Advertiser, Dec. 12, 1988 "In a somewhat ironic turn of events, Cyndie Welte of Ohio, who had come to Honolulu as a spectator, won the $10,000 first prize for women. She led the women's field all the way, finishing 38th overall in 2:41:52. "I really didn't plan to run the race until about 10 days ago," Welte said. "I've been training for the Houston Marathon in February. But when I heard that Carla Beurskens (the defending champion and record-holder) wasn't going to run, I thought I might have a chance to win and decided to give it a try." Race officials reported that entries reached the 10,000 mark on Saturday afternoon, but, allowing for the usual number of no-shows, it was estimated that around 9,000 lined up near Aloha Tower for the 5:30 a.m. start." http://www.honolulumarathon.org/l/Facts___Figures/history/Historybyyear/1988.htm; Prior to her victory in Honolulu, Cyndie had won the 1987 Pittsburgh Marathon with a time of 2:34:09, and had been on the cover of Runner's World magazine, which I will try to include here in the not-too-distant future. Obviously, Cyndie was greatly disappointed that when the 1988 Olympic Marathon Trials were held in Pittsburgh, on the same course that she'd won on the previous year, while running well and confidently through most of the race, injuries eventually caught up to her, and in the end, she didn't qualify for the U.S. Olympic team that'd compete in Seoul. My own personal bias towards Cyndie notwithstanding, there's no doubt in my mind that if things had gone differently, and she'd made the Olympic team, regardless of how she fared in the race itself, with her great talent and appealing personality, that Cyndie would've become a hugely popular media star in the U.S. Not to mention, would've created tremendous interest and momentum for U.S. Track & Field for years, so that average American sports fans would know the names of their best track stars, even in years when there was no Olympics, unlike the current sad reality.
Hallandale Beach's iconic beachball-colored Water Tower, between beach and A1A/South Ocean Drive
Hallandale Beach, FL; February 16, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
The Original Notre Dame Legend
Knute Rockne, November 7, 1927; Sixteen months after his cover appearance, Rockne perished in an airline crash over Kansas on a business trip to California. "Knute Rockne, All-American," the wonderful 1940 film about Rockne's life, starring Pat O'Brien, with Ronald Reagan as ill-fated Irish football legend George Gipp, is a film I've seen at least two-dozen times. Like the best of films, every new viewing of it makes me appreciate some aspect I'd never noticed before, even though I know it by heart. Just like 1942's "The Pride of the Yankees" starring Gary Cooper as Yankee legend Lou Gehrig.
The Sport of the '60's
Green Bay Coach Vince Lombardi; December 21, 1962; Seven years later to the date of this cover, Lombardi coached his last game, a losing effort for the Redskins. Nine months later he'd be dead of intestinal cancer at age 57. The Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University is named for him. See http://lombardi.georgetown.edu/
Building For The Super Bowl
Miami Coach Don Shula, Dec. 11, 1972
Vince Lombardi Championship Trophies; April 2007 photo by Mario J. Bermudez
"It's why you play the game!" Vince Lombardi Championship Trophies from Dolphin victories in Super Bowl VII and VIII
1972 Miami Dolphins team photo at The Orange Bowl
The same color photo of the 17-0 Undefeated Team that for six years, rested in a frame on top of my bedroom dresser at my home in North Miami Beach. There it stayed 'till that fateful day in August of 1979, when I began packing for my new life in Bloomington. The photo made the trip to Bloomington intact, where it remained on my desk in Briscoe Quad 427-A for two very eventful years at IU, the latter being the year we beat North Carolina for the NCAA title. I placed it right below my 8' x 11' b&w glossies of the Miami Herald's All-County Gymnastics team. That was a tremendous team that featured many friends from all around Dade County, as well as my own talented friends and classmates at North Miami Beach High.
Recordings of IU songs to psyche yourself up before a ballgame!
"Taliaferro -Breaking Barriers from the NFL Draft to the Ivory Tower" by Dawn Knight
See http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=41771: Book photo from: http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/6442.html
College Football Hall of Fame Hoosier George Taliaferro
Photo: IU Press, http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/6442.html
Old-style "Obie" the Orange Bowl Committee mascot
The iconic image I grew-up with in Miami, before FedEx got into the picture
Miami Dolphins
South Beach Hoosier's first Dolphin game at the Orange Bowl came in Dec. 1970, aged 9, a 45-3 win over Buffalo that propelled them into their first ever playoff appearance.
It's All About "The U"
South Beach Hoosier's first U-M football game at the Orange Bowl was in 1972, age 11, against Tulane in the infamous "Fifth Down" game. In order to drum up support and attendance for the U-M at the Orange Bowl, that game had a promotion whereby South Florida kids who were school safety patrols could get in for free IF they wore their sash. I did. Clearly they knew that it was better to let kids in for free, knowing their parents would give them money to buy food and souvenirs, perhaps become a fan and want to return for future games. The ballgame made an interesting impression on The New York Times, resulting in this gem from the "View of Sport" column of Oct, 14, 1990, labeled 'Fifth Down or Not, It's Over When It's Over.' -"In 1972, aided by a fifth-down officiating gift in the last moments of the game, Miami of Florida defeated Tulane, 24-21. The country and the world was a much different place that fall because The New York Times took time and space to editorialize on the subject. ''Is it right for sportsmen, particularly young athletes, to be penalized or deprived of the goals for which they earnestly competed because responsible officials make mistakes? The ideal of true sportsmanship would be better served if Miami forfeited last week's game.' South Beach Hoosier hardly needs to tell you that this was YET another New York Times editoral that was completely ignored!
Sebastian the Ibis, the Spirited Mascot of the University of Miami Hurricanes
Before going to my first U-M game at the Orange Bowl in 1972, a friend's father often would bring me home an extra 'Canes game program. That's how I came to have the Alabama at U-M game program from Nov. 16, 1968, which was the first nationally-televised college football night game in color. (A 14-6 loss to the Crimson Tide.) After that first ballgame against Tulane, as l often did for Dolphin games if my father wasn't going, I'd get dropped off at the Levitz parking lot near the 836 & I-95 Cloverleaf in NMB, and catch a Dade County Park & Ride bus, going straight to the Orange Bowl. Onboard, I'd get next to the window and listen to WIOD's pre-game show on my Radio Shack transistor radio. A few times, I was just about the only person onboard besides the bus driver, which was alright by me. Once at the Orange Bowl, if I didn't already have a ticket, I'd buy a game program for myself and one or two for friends or teachers before heading to the ticket window, since you usually couldn't find a program vendor once inside. I probaly had a friend or my father with me for just under 40% of the U-M games I ever went to, but you have to remember that the team, though blessed with several talented players, like Chuck Foreman and Burgess Owens, was just so-so to average at best, and the games were usually played on Friday nights, so it wasn't exactly high on everyone's list of things to do. Depending upon the opponent, if I was alone, I'd often have entire areas of the Orange Bowl to myself. (Wish I had photos of that now!) For instance, I had a good portion of the East (open) End Zone to myself against Oklahoma in the mid-70's, when the Boomer Schooner and the Schooner Crew went out on the field after an Oklahoma TD, and the Schooner received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty from the refs, as would happen years later in an Orangle Bowl Classic game. (Against FSU?) I was there for the wins and losses under Pete Elliott, Carl Selmer & Lou Saban, and the huge on-field fight in '73 when under eventual national champion Notre Dame (under Ara Parseghian), they called a time-out with less than a minute to go, and already up 37-0. Their rationale? To score another TD and impress the AP football writers; final score 44-0. Well, they got their wish and beat Alabama 24-23 for the title at the Sugar Bowl. A year later, thanks to my Mom's boss, she and I saw Ara's last game as head coach of the Irish in the Orange Bowl Game from the East End Zone -in front of the Alabama cheerleaders!!!- in an exciting 13-11 Notre Dame win over Alabama and Bear Bryant, a rematch of the '73 national title game. I was also present for the U-M's huge 20-15 win under Pete Elliott against Darrel Royal's Texas Longhorns, the week Sports Illustrated's College Football preview issue came out with Texas on the cover, below. I was also present for lots of wins against schools called College of the Pacific, UNLV and Cal-Poly San Luis Obsispo, which I'd then never heard of before.
The issue I took with me the night of U-M's 20-15 upset of #1 Texas at the Orange Bowl
College Football, Texas No. 1, Hook 'em Horns, Sept. 10, 1973. Living in North Miami Beach in the '70's, my Sports Illustrated usually showed up in my mailbox on the Thursday or Friday before the Monday cover date. And was read cover-to-cover by Sunday morning.
The Orange Bowl, Miami, FL
Looking east from Little Havana towards downtown Miami and Biscayne Bay. From: http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?CID=D9594FFBB5B04E72841033A4BC62491E&APNum=2510760&SearchID=&vapnum=2510760&startat=/getPoster.asp
"The Orange Bowl Stadium, Scene of the Annual Orange Bowl Game, Miami, Fla."
Circa late 1940's. From: http://www.cardcow.com/100996/the-orange-bowl-stadium-miami-us-state-town-views-florida-miami/
"Half Time Pageantry At The Famous Miami Orange Bowl"
Photo was taken prior to OB stadium upper-deck being built. From: http://www.cardcow.com/74470/half-time-pageantry-at-the-famous-miami-orange-bowl-miami-us-state-town-views-florida-miami/#img_bk
"Indiana University Memorial Stadium" circa mid-1960's
"I.U. stadium, dedicated October 22, 1960, provides 48,344 fans with finest spectator facilities and convenience for greatest intercollegiate football, as played by the famed Big Ten. Stadium lots accommodate 12,000 autos within easy walking distance and Autumn season presents a nature sideshow of brilliant foliage. Indiana's Fighting' Hoosiers meet the best of the nation here each season." SouthBeachHoosier's very first Hoosier football game at Memorial Stadium was Sept. 15, 1979, a 44-13 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Something to cheer about! NBC's Friday Night Lights
Actress Minka Kelly as Lyla Garrity, the heartbreaking soul of the Dillon Panthers. I honestly don't think there's anyone on television with a more natural and beautiful smile than Minka Kelly. Photos and wallpaper of the show's characters are at: www.fridaynightlightsonline.com
University of Alabama cheerleaders, 1976
Longtime South Beach Hoosier favorite Sela Ward is in the middle; I attended the January 1975 Orange Bowl Game between Bear Bryant's Crimson Tide and Ara Parseghian's Notre Dame Fighting Irish, in Ara's last game. Alongside my Mom, who got the tickets from her boss, I sat in the East end zone of the Orange Bowl, in the row directly in front of the Crimson Tide cheerleaders and the Alabama marching band, known as the Million Dolar Band. (In those days, Sela dated future Dolphin 'Killer B' defensive star Bob Baumhower.) The romantic in me likes to imagine that Sela was sitting there, somewhere, in that row behind me, where the cheerleaders' animated and honey-sweet accents were like heaven to the then-13-year old South Beach Hoosier! So, I'd like to think that it was actually at that game where I first heard and saw the wonderful Sela, whom I've admired and adored since first seeing her on the big screen in Chicago in 1986's "Nothing in Common," starring Tom Hanks and Jackie Gleason. (Ironically, a film set in Chicago.) Over the years, I've closely followed Sela's career, watching every TV show, Made-for-TV movie and regular feature film she's appeared in. My favorites have been NBC's "Sisters" -which featured that other longtime SBH favorite and Kappa Kappa Gamma Ashley Judd- ABC's amazing "Once and Again." Sela won a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for the first and a second Emmy for the latter. More recently, she's been spot-on funny and believable in her guest starring role as the hospital's attorney and put-upon former wife of the ever-combustible Dr. Gregory House in FOX-TV's must-see "House." Back in October of 2002, I attended her book-signing at the downtown Washington, D.C. Olsson's bookstore next to The Lansburgh, home of the Sheakespeare Theatre. To beat the crowds I got to the bookstore about thirty minutes early, yet it was already starting to feel claustrophobic when I got there, jam-packed as it was with other men and women from around the National Capitol area who loved Sela as much as I do. When she finally walked in -no joke- a hush literally fell over the place. Then, the flash from a 1,001 cameras went off everywhere, and everyone started smiling the same silly grin that I always got whenever I saw her on TV or caught a glimpse of her in a magazine. I was definitely among friends. Sela's book, "Homesick: A Memoir" is a great look at the sort of life and family that's too often belittled in pop culture today, but it seems to me to have produced in Sela, someone who's incredibly admired for her talent, hard work and compassion, her well-rounded sense of humor and propriety, grounded in the sort of principles that her parents taught her in Meridian, Mississippi. Principles we ought to try harder to instill and imprint on younger kids today. Let there never be any doubt, South Beach Hoosier positively adores Sela Ward! At http://www.selawardtv.com/bama.html, you can read Sela's first-hand account of her life in Tuscaloosa, as a popular and well-liked Chi O who was admired and adored even then.
Sela Ward
More, December 2005/January 2006; Sela Ward - "At 49, I've learned that beautiful word no."
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Texas Monthly, October, 2005
"Cheerleading! If it's so wrong, why does it feel so right?" The single BEST article I've ever read about cheerleaders is this one by Pamela Colloff, from the October 2005 Texas Monthly article titled, "Flipping Out, with GREAT photos by Brent Humphreys, including the cover; See http://www.texasmonthly.com/preview/2005-10-01/feature
Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders, April 28, 2007 at Dolphins NFL Draft Party at Dolphin HQ, Davie, FL
(Photo by Mario J. Bermudez) Given South Florida's unique version of the melting pot -con salsa- demographics and mindset, these women are surely what most South Floridians would consider attractive women. But for this observer, who's spent hours & hours at IU cheerleader tryouts and who has known dozens of cheerleaders -and wannabes- in North Miami Beach, Bloomington, Evanston and Washington, D.C., the whole time I was watching these members of the Dolphins' squad perform, I couldn't help but compare them and their routines to those of some IU friends of mine who ALWAYS showed true Hoosier spirit & enthusiasm. Sitting at my table right near the stage and still later, while watching the long lines of Dolphin fans of all ages waiting to snap photos of themself with the cheerleaders, I couldn't help but think about those friends who always left me and other Hoosier fans feeling positive & optimistic. Was there anyone I saw in Davie who possessed these valuable intangibles: the dancing precision of IU Red Stepper -and Captain- Gail Amster, my talented and spirited Phi Beta Kappa pal from Deerfield (IL), who always sat next to me in our Telecom. classes as we took turns entertaining the other; the ebullient spirit & energy of two Hoosier cheerleaders -and captains- from Bloomington, Wendy (Mulholland) Moyle & Sara Cox; the hypnotic, Midwestern sexiness of Hoosier cheerleader Julie Bymaster, from Brownsburg; or, the adorable girl-next-door appeal of former Hoosier Pom squader Jennifer Grimes, of Louisville, always such a distraction while sitting underneath the basket? Nope, not that I could see. But then they were VERY tough acts to follow! And that's not to mention my talented & spirited friends like Denise Andrews of Portage, Jody Kosanovich of Hammond & Linda Ahlbrand of Chesterton, all of whom were dynamic cheerleaders -and captains- at very large Hoosier high schools that were always in the championship mix, That Denise, Jody & Linda all lived on the same dorm floor, just three stories above me at Briscoe Quad our freshman year, was one of the greatest coincidences -and strokes of luck for me!- that I could've ever hoped for. You could hardly ask for better ambassadors of IU than THESE very smart and talented women. In a future SBH post, I'll tell the story of one of the greatest Hoosiers I ever met, the aforementioned Wendy Mulholland, the Bloomington-born captain and emotional heart of the great early '80's IU cheerleading squads, and the daughter of Jack Mulholland, IU's longtime Treasurer. The acorn doesn't fall far from a tree built on a foundation of integrity & community service! (After he retired, Mr. Mulholland was the first executive director of the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County. I used to joke with Wendy that her dad's name was the one that was permanently affixed to the bottom of my work-study checks for years, while I worked at the Dept. of Political Science's Library, first, at the Student Building in the old part of campus, and then later, after it was refurbished, in magnificent Woodburn Hall, my favorite building on campus.) In that future post, I'll share some reflections on Wendy's great strength of character and personality; my intentions of returning to Bloomington a few weeks before Fall '82 classes started, so I could help Wendy train and work-out to rehab her knee, so she'd feel confident in trying-out for the squad again, following a bad knee injury that'd left her physically-unable to try-out for the squad the previous spring, a big disappointment to those of us who cared about both Wendy and the team; my incredulity at, quite literally, running into Wendy while walking down a sidewalk one afternoon a few years later in Evanston, IL, when we were astonished to discover we were both living there, with me trying to hook on with a Windy City advertising agency, and Wendy then-attending Kellogg (KGSM) at Northwestern, right when the WSJ had named Kellogg the #1 Business School in the country. I'll also share a story about Wendy performing a true act of kindness towards me in 1982, when I was having a real emergency, and she went above-and-beyond what I had any logical reason to expect. Yet, Wendy, along with her very helpful dad, Jack, came through for me when I was in a very bad time crunch. I've never forgotten Wendy's kindness towards me, and her true Hoosier spirit. There's NOTHING I wouldn't do for Wendy Mulholland.
Coincidence of birth? Message: Don't Mess with Texas!
The week I was born in San Antonio, the cover subject of TIME magazine (dated Feb. 10, 1961) was Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn of Texas, who held that title for 17 years. As Speaker, Rayburn won a reputation for fairness and integrity -and toughness. He was also a longtime personal friend and advocate for Lyndon Johnson in Washington when LBJ was the Senate Majority Leader. JFK's election as president three months before this issue, with LBJ as Vice President, and Rayburn as Speaker, started the tradition of a Boston-Austin axis within the Democratic Party that has existed ever since, witness Dukakis-Bentsen. See http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,967986,00.html Nine months after appearing on this cover, Rayburn died of inoperable pancreatic cancer. The largest and most prestigious of all the House buildings on Capitol Hill is named after him. Over the 15 years I lived in the Washington, D.C. area, I spent literally thousands of hours in this amazing building: at congressional hearings of both great and little importance, and in speaking/persuading/cajoling Members and Staff. That also includes lots of hours spent transfixed by the great annual party thrown in the Rayburn courtyard by the late Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez of my hometown of San Antonio, where it was packed cheek-by-jowl with great Mexican food, cold beer flown in from Texas, a kick-ass Mariachi band dressed in costumes with cute dancers, and tons of great looking women from Texas and those who were Texans-for a-Day every year at Henry B.'s party! Whatever his views on issues and policies, in person, he was a warm and gracious gentleman whom we could use a LOT MORE of on Capitol Hill. See the Rayburn cover story at: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,872094,00.html
U.S.P.S.'s 1995 Texas Statehood Sesquicentennial Stamp
I was born in San Antonio, the Home of the Alamo, at the Lackland Air Force Base Hospital during the first month of the JFK presidency. At the time, my parents worked at next door Kelly AFB, my mother for Kelly's base commander, my father in the Flight Surgeon's office. (They each saw President and Mrs. Kennedy the day before he was killed, when they Air Force One flew into Kelly and went thru the official receiving line. Our family has a photograph of them at the base that day that I've never seen published anywhere else in the myriad books and film footage of that time frame.) My maternal ancestors were Poles from a region of Prussian-controlled Upper Silesia, in what is now southwestern Poland, not far from the present day Poland-Czech Republic border. Overnight, those ancestors became Texas Hill Country pioneers, whose proud descendents have lived in Bandera ever since 1855. Due in large part to its large number of Polish, German and Czech immigrants, Bandera County was one of only a handful of Texas counties that voted AGAINST seceding from the Union at the state convention in Austin in 1861. A book I HIGHLY recommend on Texas' complicated history is "Lone Star Nation: The Epic Story of the Battle for Texas Independence" by H.W. Brands (2004), www.hwbrands.com
Bandera, Texas -Cowboy Capital of the World
Logo of the Bandera Convention and Visitors Bureau
Dr. King Is Slain By Sniper headline in the Memphis Commercial Appeal, April 6, 1968
My family moved from San Antonio to Memphis on Easter weekend 1965, when I was four-years old. We lived in Memphis 'till July of 1968, just weeks after Dr. King was assassinated there. Having lived thru all the chaotic and frightening tumult that took place there in the aftermath of the riots, even remembering the night I watched with my friends and their parents from the sidewalk -during curfew- as fully loaded Army troop transports and tanks rolled past my suburban apt. complex from the nearby Armory on their way downtown, when the opportunity presented itself, my father happily accepted a job offer in Miami. (We flew into MIA the day after Larry Csonka had signed his first contract with the Dolphins, as his face was the one I saw in the Miami Herald vending machines at the airport as we walked -and walked!- to pick up our luggage, me wondering who this guy with the unusual name was.) Because I was a very precocious reader, and was easily bored with kids books, The Memphis Commercial Appeal was the newspaper that helped me learn to read and make sense of the wider world.
1993 Elvis Presley Stamp -Watercolor of Elvis by Mark Stutzmamn
It was in Memphis specifically, and the Mid-South in general, on our weekend family drives around Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi, where I first developed my deep and enduring love and preference for many things: the Mississippi River; rhythm 'n' blues; Al Green; The Andy Griffith Show; Dusty Springfield; Petula Clark; St. Louis Cardinals baseball in the summertime; smoky sweet Memphis-style barbecue ribs; cornbread, and, of course, The King - Elvis. To a devout Elvis fan like me, who knows just about everything there is to know about him, the good and the bad, the best books ever written on Elvis -by far- are Peter Guralnick's masterful "Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley" and the follow-up, "Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley." Each is written with honesty and empathy, free of the judgmental cant and analysis that doomed other books that purport to tell the tale. It was also while living in The Mid-South, that I first became greatly interested in the American Civil War, following a summer day-trip to Shiloh, the site of the bloody April 1862 battle. It was on that summer day trip that I had a chance meeting with a VERY old man on the battlefield itself. A man whose own father had actually fought in the battle. And lived to tell the tale! For more info on Shiloh, see http://www.nps.gov/shil/ Spending a day there is an awesome experience and really puts things into their proper perspective, just as my later trips to Gettysburg, Harper's Ferry, Winchester, Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania did as well.
My "license" to talk about Arkansas, which I first saw in 1965
My Arkansas keychain 'license' is courtesy of Shannon (Lauterbach) Morales, my thoughtful, beautiful, brainy, beguiling, globe-trotting and multi-lingual friend. (And Asian foreign policy expert, too!) A Ouachita Baptist University grad with a beautiful singing voice, naturally, she's from a town called Hope! Yes, the same hometown as Bill Clinton. Yoroshiku! このページを和訳
1992 Bill Clinton for President buttons
As my friends and family can attest, I was for Bill Clinton YEARS before he ever announced he was running for president -much as I'd been for Gary Hart in 1983- and was even considering running as a Clinton delegate from northern Virginia to the DNC as early as 1990. Still, IF I'd had a vote in the U.S. Senate, I'd have voted to impeach him and remove him from office. You DON"T commit perjury by lying to a federal judge and suborning the perjury of underlings. PERIOD! And you certainly don't countenance your former aides stealing classified materials from The National Archives before their testimony to the 9/11 Commission, a la Sandy Berger. As for the sordid story of one of Hillary's brothers being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby for a presidential pardon from his brother-in-law for a felon client, and nobody from his White House intervening to put the kibosh to that, consider the cast of no-talents left running things in those last few years at the White House after the good people had bailed earlier: lots and lots of Hillary loyalists. As the sign on the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance to The National Archives reads, "The past is prologue." Don't say you weren't warned.
The Democrats' New Generation
July 20, 1992
IU is for Lovers -Virginia, too!
Arlington Baseball Coalition
During the 15 years I lived in the Washington, D.C. area, I was actively involved in the effort to bring MLB to Northern Virgina for about 8 years, on two separate occasions, the last with Virginians for Baseball, part of the Bill Collins ownership group effort.
"Not Just Buildings" by Kenneth M. Wyner
It's a view of the Washington Monument from below near the circle of American flags that surround it. Kenneth M. Wyner Photography (301) 495-9475, http://www.kenwyner.com/
U.S. Flag over the Pentagon
United we stand...
2001 Heroes Stamp
World Trade Center, Manhattan
9/11 pilot Mohammed Atta's Florida Driver's License
I followed the 9/11 Commission hearings very closely, more than just about anyone I knew, watching or taping many of them off of C-SPAN, and, consequently, often staying-up late at night to catch up on their activities. Though it seems obvious now, while I'd heard from many sources that some of the hijackers had used Broward County Library computers to access the internet to send messages -and book their flights- it never dawned on me to think about where they lived in South Florida. As it turns out, Atta lived in Hollywood, 4.67 miles from my father's home in Hallandale Beach, FL.
Looking south towards The White House at dawn from Lafayette Park
Fall evening 2002, with statue of "Ol' Hickory," the Hero of the Battle of New Orleans, Gen. Andrew Jackson in foreground. My favorite Jackson quote is "One man with courage makes a majority." It's still true! My favorite Jackson biography is the wonderful "Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times" by H.W. Brands (2005), www.hwbrands.com; 2002 photo by South Beach Hoosier
Hollywood in Cartoons, The New Yorker
"Gentlemen, I am happy to announce that as of today we are closing down our Washington news bureau and moving the entire operation to L.A."
Hollywood in Cartoons, The New Yorker
"O.K., so I dig a hole and put the bone in the hole. But what's my motivation for burying it?"
Hollywood in cartoons, 10-21-06 Non-Sequitur by Wiley, www-NON-SEQUITUR.COM
The Magic of Hollywood: A motion has been put forth that we should seek to create rather than imitate. All in favor of killing this silly notion, nod in mindless agreement...
Beverly Hills Hotel, Home of the Polo Lounge.
As a devout film fan well-aware of the hotel's place in history, I've OFTEN imagined various scenarios where I'd be staying here myself on some Studio's dime. Great iconic photo by B. Hartschorn; http://www.wghartshorn.com/homepage/main.html
Courtyard Los Angeles Century City/Beverly Hills
So THAT'S what fuscia looks like? Elizabeth Hurley to the rescue once again!
The Amazing Liz Hurley NEVER Disappoints! I've absolutely adored her since I first saw her 16 years ago in 1992, in an episode of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles," set in London, May 1916, playing suffragette Vicky Prentiss. And yes, continued to adore her even when she played a terrorist-loving flight attendant baddie in "Passenger 57," where she flashed that killer smile. Above, Fuschia bikini, £35, and cuffs as before, from Mango; http://www.mango.com/ , For amazing photography, see the people responsible for this shot at http://www.mertandmarcus.com/
Ashley Judd
REDBOOK, November 2007; Ashley Judd -How her painful breakdown deepened her faith
Ashley Judd
GLAMOUR, August 2006; EXCLUSIVE! Ashley Judd -Her perfect life was a lie: "I needed help."
Ashley Judd in South Africa
Conde Nast Traveler, September 2005; Ashley Judd's Big Mission (And New Best Friend)
Actress Erica Durrance (as Lois Lane) in The CW's Smallville, in Season 6's "Noir"
For roughly seven or so years, dating back to my days living in Arlington, VA, from the first moment I saw Erica Durrance on the small screen, I've had a very strong intuitive feeling towards casting Erica in the lead role in a screenplay idea I've had in my head for years. The story concerns the not-so-happy life of a Hollywood actress who was quite popular in the 1940's and '50's, someone equally popular with both men and women, which wasn't always the case with some stars. My own feelings about this Hollywood star from the Golden Era are quite simple: I've absolutely adored her in everthing she did, from the very first film of hers I ever saw, as a young boy in Memphis watching a Late Night TV movie. I was instantly smitten and enchanted! No point in identifying the actress now -perhaps in the future- but her true life story is one of whom it can truly be said, she had more ups-and-downs than the total of all the fictional characters she ever played on the silver screen. It's a role that's tailor-made for Erica for a number of reasons, not the least of which is her -to me, at least- great physical resemblance to this sweet-yet-sultry actress. That's especially true when seen thru the prism of this wonderful noir-ish photo by Michael Courtney/CW, which only makes the idea in my head seem more logical and plausible all the time. For years, prior to my ever having heard of Erica Durrance, the current actress I'd always envisioned playing this character was the wonderful Ashley Judd. In fact, I never really considered anyone else for the role, especially when everyone I spoke to about it always said said that it would be "perfect casting," too. So I wasn't on an island by myself with my ideas. But over the past ten years, with everything that's happened to Ashley, it seems increasinly clear to me that Ashley wants to play characters of a very different sort than I have in mind here. Or, as Variety or The Hollywood Reporter might characterize it, as they often do when projects don't come together, "Judd is going in a different direction." For real fans of Ashley's, like me, who've seen "Ruby in Paradise" a dozen times, and who've recommended it to everyone we knew to the point that people were tired of hearing her name, her film choices have been extremely disappointing. We want to see Ashley in films that offer her the kind of meaty role that'd let her talent and personality run with abandon. In the meantime, we consciously ignore her new films cause it hurts to think about 'em, knowing they'll be available on TNT Cable sooner rather than later. When and if she plays the sort of role we know will let her show her stuff, we'll be there at the theatre box office the day her film opens. So, we bide our time and see other actresses get roles that Ashley'd run circles around. Meanwhile, Erica Durrance walks into the picture... Let's see what develops...
Kari Matchett as Dr. Mariel Underlay in ABC-TV's sci-fi drama "Invasion," 2005-06
Her co-starring role as smart, clever and drop-dead-gorgeous Dr. Mariel Underlay from Homestead made me a fan of "Invasion" from Pilot 'till untimely cancellation. Though my views run more towards FAIR's than the DLC's on immigration, she was the only South Florida "alien" South Beach Hoosier would ever be happy to roll the red carpet out for. I loved this show! Obviously, I wasn't the only one to take notice, witness her terrific work in succession in great roles on 24, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and E.R.
Kelly Brook -The British Amanda Righetti?
It's how you say "swoon" with an English accent!
Why you should always look at ADVO's "Have you seen me?" fliers:
Because they work! Elizabeth Smart. I still remember the day she was found alive, and quite unexpectedly, finding myself crying the moment MSNBC broke the news that she'd been found ALIVE.
Best News Websites/Links for Madeleine McCann
Best sites for all FACTUAL things involving Madeleine McCann, the three year-old Everton fan missing from Praia da Luz, Portugal since May 2007, are below.
SkyNews and The Sun Website/Links for Madeleine McCann
Comparing PLAYBOY and The Princeton Review's List of the Top 20 Party Schools
Herman B. Wells on Campus Freedom
Dr. David Starr Jordan, June 8, 1931
The former IU president -then of Stanford- for whom everything named Jordan on campus is named, including the Jordan River that flows thru the heart of campus and Hoosier Nation.
South Beach Hoosier Hall of Fame: Jacquie Cherbocq
Bloomington and IU in Postcards
Indiana University in the News!
Maps for the Hoosier on the Go!
Politics aside, there's no denying she's one of the most talented Americans of the past 100 years.
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