Generations

“For this generation, ours, life is nuclear survival, liberty is human rights, the pursuit of happiness is a planet whose resources are devoted to the physical and spiritual nourishment of its inhabitants.” Jimmy Carter

Hartsfield Village, 12/31/2014; Jim and Vivian Neel behind Fred Bembenista (with hat)

In the August/September issue of Generations, a free publication of high quality covering Northwest Indiana and the south Chicago suburbs, appeared “Ball Room Dancers: A Love Story of Jim and Vivian Neel.” In 1938, a few months after graduating from Hammond High, Jim met Vivian Cramer on a blind date.  They got married in September 1942, five months before Jim received a draft notice.  After completing basic training, Jim was assigned to an infantry division at Camp Swift near Austin, Texas, when he fell gravely ill and was discharged for health reasons. With World War II underway, he worked for a forging company that had retooled to supply artillery shell casings for the war effort.  After the war Jim worked for Sinclair Oil in East Chicago while taking two classes a semester at Indiana University’s Calumet Campus. Interviewed shortly after his wife passed away, Jim said, “Vivian was a dancer.” She not only got Jim interested in ballroom dancing, but they started an instructional studio.  “We taught everything but polka,” Jim stated.  After the Neels moved to Florida, they entertained at senior citizen centers.  In 2007, after living for a quarter-century in the Sunshine State, the Neels moved to Schererville to be closer to their progeny.

From Generations I also learned about Mary Ben-Such-Young, a native East Chicagoan born in July 1918, to Romanian immigrants John and Mary Ben.  At Inland Steel John managed to get adequate work during the Great Depression because one of his brothers was an open-hearth foreman.  Mary’s mother, a strict Catholic, closely monitored her social life.   In order to attend her senior prom, Mary had to go with her brother.  Mary graduated from East Chicago Washington in 1936 but struggled to find permanent employment. At age 19, Mary started dating fellow Romanian John Such (the stepson of Eli Suciu, who had Americanized his name).  Married in August 1939, the couple had three daughters in rapid succession.  In 1944, John was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease and eventually was unable to continue as a crane operator in the mill.  Mary found work as a secretary for East Chicago’s Sanitary Department and then at Inland Steel.  John died in 1967; ten years later, Mary married high school music teacher Nick Young.  During their 21 years together they went on a half-dozen cruises.  Nick passed away in 1998, but Mary recently celebrated her ninety-ninth birthday at Sheffield Manor in Dyer.

Bridge partner Dee Van Bebber was visiting her son in Ohio, so I played Tuesday with good friend Tom Wade.  Opponent Steve Midmore said to him, “You’re the only one here under 60.” Actually, Tom is a couple years shy of 70. Our best round came against Joel Charpentier, my partner last week.  When I told Tom he was doing great, Joel quipped with slight exaggeration, “That’s what he told me, but we finished near the bottom.”  Tom put me in 6 No Trump, and I would have been set had Joel’s partner led a Heart; fortunately, she was void in that suit.  The very next hand, Tom had six Diamonds, and I had six Hearts, but we had only one of each other’s suit.  We ended up in 4 Spades, each having four in that suit.  Tom cross-ruffed brilliantly, and we were the only couple playing that hand to make game.

Wednesday, my partner was 94-year-old Henrietta (Hank) Cecil, looking not a day over 85.  We finished in the middle of the pack, pretty good considering our unfamiliarity with each other’s tendencies.  When she mentioned graduating from Purdue in 1945, I brought up football Hall of Famer Hank Stram; turned out she and her husband had been friends with the Strams.  Anna Robbins, from one of Portage’s pioneer families, provided everyone with tomatoes from her ample garden.  Lynn Boyman noticed a map of Florida on my shirt and pointed to Vero Beach, her winter home and previously Dodger spring training quarters.  Lynn and Marcy Tomes were Valparaiso H.S. classmates, and she was one of ten new people who volunteered to be interviewed in the Fall by IUN History students. Terry Brendel is in a Saturday discussion group with IUN Medical School Dean Pat Bankston that he claimed dates back 108 years. Brendel is the September speaker and invited me to come.

Ruth Westberg; photo by Donald Valiska

Ruth Westberg became an Emerald Life Master, having accumulated 7500 master points.  Frequent bridge partner Dan Taylor responded with this accolade for Barbara Walczak’s Newsletter:

  The thing that is most amazing about Ruth is not how well focused she is or the fact that she is 90 years old and hasn’t lost a bit of sharpness, or the fact that she plays enough games per week to put people who are half her age to shame.  The most amazing fact about her is her steadfastly encouraging nature and kindness to me and the fact that she treats all of our games as team efforts.  I do not play nearly as well as she does.  But she can always be counted on to make all of our attempts as something we do together.  She is loyal and kind, and my life is better for the partnership we have together.

Sheriff John Bunch

Lake County Sheriff John Buncich’s trial has been headline news all week.  He’s been charged with multiple counts of bribery and wire fraud for allegedly accepting $32,000 in cash and checks to help pay off his campaign debt.  In exchange for buying tickets to the sheriff’s “summer fest” fundraiser, towing operators had reason to expect that more county business would come their way.  Buncich’s former deputy Timothy Downs and towing operator Willie Szarmach are testifying against him as part of a plea bargain deal that they could not refuse without risking lengthy prison terms.  I have no love for Buncich and have deplored his past history of heavy-handed methods bordering on thuggery.  During the eight-year tenure of his predecessor (and my friend) Roy Dominguez, Buncich tried to thwart him at every turn, even allegedly attempting to interest the U.S. Attorney in investigating Dominguez’s relationship with towing companies.  Nonetheless, I question whether taxpayer money is being well spent.  More appropriate perhaps would have been a fine and penalty for nonpayment of taxes.  Owner of Samson’s Towing and a 20-year veteran of the Merrillville Police Department, Scott Jurgensen, for instance, reportedly got paid $120,000 to be an FBI informant. Defense attorney Bryan Truitt concluded: “We believe the evidence will show the FBI tried to buy a crime where a crime doesn't exist.” 

attorney Bryan Truitt

The jury heard tapes of conversations between Downs and tow operators (some also wearing a wire) that were nearly indecipherable, but jurors was handed transcripts provided by the prosecution.  In one, FBI informant Jurgensen throws in remarks intending to make explicit what was only implied.  In another, tow operator Willie Szarmach admitted receiving no promises from Buncich.  According to Becky Jacobs of the Post-Tribune, this courtroom exchange took place between Szarmach and defense attorney Larry Rogers:

            "Did (Buncich) tell you give me X amount of dollars and you will tow for me?" Rogers asked.

"No," Szarmach said.

"John Buncich never promised you anything, did he?" Rogers asked.

"No," Szarmach said

In retrospect, what appears to be gross negligence is Lake County council members and commissioners egregiously granting the sheriff sole authority to control the tow list; they must have regarded this as one of the perquisites of the job. Buncich also had the power to appoint sheriff’s deputies; the upshot was that if recipients were pulled over by police, they could hand over license and registration in a billfold containing their deputy sheriff’s badge. Several people I know turned against Sheriff Dominguez because he wouldn’t continue the practice of deputizing supporters.

Buncich seemingly played by the prevailing norms by not directly soliciting money or promising any specific tit for tat; but he got greedy, was perceived as arrogant, and made enemies in high places, including within the Lake County Democratic Party.  Now, instead of copping a plea, which would be understandable, given the inflated felony counts, Buncich is fighting for his freedom and reputation.  Two generations ago, when kickbacks by vendors conducting business with city or county officials was near-universal, this week’s courtroom drama would have seemed far-fetched, but then the hammer came down on Gary mayor George Chacharis and Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Metro Holavochka, public servants perceived as arrogant who had made powerful corporate enemies.  The discretionary powers of U.S. Attorneys have grown incrementally in the past few decades.  What I regret is the absence of proportionality.  Republican officeholders with impunity steer huge amounts of public money to favored law firms and consultants.  Politicians beholden to billionaire donors such as the Koch brothers or corporate interests must be cheering as Buncich squirms. Meanwhile, the reputation of honest public officials suffers.

Sexagenarian Marla Gee emailed friends that red tape put the kibosh on her plans to study in Liverpool, England.  She wrote:

  British Immigration now requires that student visa applicants maintain (in a "bank or building society") $6,300 (4,830 British Pounds) for at least 28 days, and at no point can these funds drop below that amount.  I explained that the small scholarship, in addition to the student loan, from the university in Liverpool was sufficient to cover my housing, tuition and books.  I went on to say that the monthly direct deposit I receive from Social Security (and a small pension from a prior job) would more than meet my day-to-day expenses while there.  Unfortunately, they were not interested in future funds.  Hope University will not issue my CAS numbers without evidence of this money; hence, the visa process has been aborted because of this.  I can't remember the last time I had 6,000 bucks just lying around in the bank, I'm sorry to say.

What bureaucratic bull crap, as my dad would say.  Marla will, however, continue work on a Valparaiso University master’s degree.  In a follow-up note Marla wrote: “It's been a weepy morning for me, reading all of the kind responses from so many good friends.  I'm in a bit of a dark place right now, but I'm a tough old bird and will be just fine!”

Brother-in-law Steve Pickert, 71, posted this report about his beloved dog Succotash (above, in 2011), the successor to Tater Tots:

Sadly, Succotash needed to euthanized today. She became unable to stand and was in some pain. Nothing was broken, etc. Apparently it was from muscle wasting of old age - she was 14.3 years old. I couldn't ask for a better son than my Beamer. He carried her into the car and into the vets. Cleaned up her mess in the car. We stayed while she was put to sleep. I am surprised how much I miss her. I always called her a waste of fur, because she wouldn't bark at strangers approaching my house, or even coming into the house. When she barked, it was to warn me that a turtle got into the dog yard (no joke).

Amanda Marie (above) sent me a friend request.  I hadn’t heard from the IUN graduate in two years, since she stopped was a park guide at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.  After stints as a ranger at Yellowstone and Joshua Tree National Park, she is at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.  I love her spunk, ready smile, and warm heart. Here’s her latest Facebook message:

    One of my favorite aspects about working at Bryce is the large number of European visitors we see on a daily basis. 

    Like this one van full of Swiss folks. They pull up to my window and say, “We are a car.”  To which I respond, “Oh, you look like a person to me.” They all burst out laughing, and tell me in the best way they can that that was well-played. As they were driving away, one of the guys in the back goes, “Beep beep!”

    These are the types of interactions that make my day.

In a New York Review of Books critique of Timothy Tackett’s “The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution, Colin Jones wrote this wonderful sentence: “With the instincts and passion of an experienced truffle-hunter, Tackett has snuffled his way through dozens of municipal, departmental, and private archives . . . in a quest for letters and diaries from the Revolutionary period.” Toni’s mother Blanche knew where to unearth truffles in Philadelphia’s Pennypack Park and let me have a few – a real love offering.  They are rare and highly esteemed.  Our Miller physician for over a quarter-century, Dr. R.R. Barton, went truffle-hunting but refused to tell Toni the location.

 In Chicago, singing with Foreigner

Becca and the Chesterton H.S. Sandpipers provided the chorus when Foreigner sang “I Want to Know What Love Is” at Huntington Bank Pavilion in Chicago.  From time to time you could clearly see her on the big screen.  Cheap Trick opened for them.  Next day, James was wearing a t-shirt with Cheap Trick’s logo.   Couple years ago, Dave, Phil, and I took James to his first concert at Memorial Opera House to see the Shoes.

Trump has interrupted his extended vacation long enough to make saber-rattling statements baiting North Koran leader Kim Jing Un.  His latest tweet claims we are “locked and loaded,” a favorite phrase of National Rifle Association leaders.  During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, it was the President who restrained the generals; now we dare hope the reverse is true.

During the two-day “Teen Jeopardy” championship, the contestants’ weakest category appeared to by pop culture, as if they were too busy studying to be normal adolescents.  Nobody knew BMO, the “Adventure Time” sidekick of Finn and Jake.  On day one, Michael Borecki bet everything in Final Jeopardy on the category” Famous Names” but when the clue was: in 1989 University of Capetown awarded this person an honorary degree in absentia.  Easy: Nelson Mandela, but the guy, probably over-thinking the question, guessed Mahatma Gandhi.  At the end of day two, Sharath Narayan (second from left) edged out Alec Fischthal by one dollar.