Around the Region

Gary sites: sunset at Marquette Park & inland marsh, photos by George Sladic

    “When does a man become a revolutionary?  Just when is that precise instant when he perceives with unmistakable clarity that he is but a humble tenpin in the cosmic bowling game of life.  And others are balls in that game.” Jean Shepherd, “Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters.”

 Johnny Carruthers, Dan Dakich, Matt Lelito

Dakich guards Michael Jordan

At Innsbrook Country Club in Merrillville sportscaster Dan Dakich spoke at the Andrean High School boys basketball banquet.  The 1981 Andrean graduate, who as a junior starred on the a 59ers team that reached the state semi-finals, congratulated the players for winning the class 2A championship.  Famous to Hoosiers fans for holding Michael Jordan to 13 points in IU’s 1984 upset of number 1 ranked North Carolina in the NCAA tournament, Dakich often announces Big Ten games and is especially hard on lackluster defenders. Dakich thanked the players for giving “old guys like me a hell of a thrill this year.”  Pointing out that he still holds the school record for most points in a single game, 49, he challenged sophomore Kyle Ross, who notched 31 against Hammond High, to “break the hell out of it.”  Afterwards, Ross told NWI Timesreporter James Boyd, “What he said motivated me to break that record, and I’m for sure looking forward to that.”  I saw Dakich play numerous times while he was Andrean.  In the state semi-finals against favored New Albany, he scored 32 points, but with no time left on the clock teammate Mike Paulson missed two free throws.  While in college Dakich worked summers in the IUN mailroom and was always affable when interacting with the History department members.

Jim and Marcia Carson were at the Chesterton bridge game after a lengthy vacation in Australian and New Zealand.  They visited the Al Noor Mosque just weeks after a gunman killed 42 Muslims attending Friday prayer. Outside, flowers, messages of hope, and other expressions of condolence were still plentiful.  A man approached Jim and Marcia and offered to take them inside, explaining that he had been at prayer when the assailant started mowing down worshippers right to left and would have been next had not a worshipper, Naeem Rashid, charged at the assailant, sacrificing his life.  It had to have been an incredibly moving experience.  Having been inside the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, I could imagine what it was like inside.  Unlike the U.S., where nothing is done in the wake of mass shooting, New Zealand quickly passed gun control legislation. Prime Minister Jacinta Ardem described the mass killing as “one of New Zealand’s darkest days.”

Driving west on 80/94 to IUN, signs warned of long delays due to flood water blocking several lanes near Kennedy Avenue.  Things looked OK at the Ripley exit, but before I could reach the I65 South exit, vehicles appeared to be at a near standstill.  I managed to ride on the apron for half a mile and didn’t get significantly delayed.  We’ve had an incessant downpour for several days, and that stretch of the expressway has been susceptible to flooding.

This NWI Times headline caught my eye: “I couldn’t hold it,” man says after urinating outside [North Porter County] government complex, police say.” Enough said.  Another headline read: “Drunken man arrested for nudity at the Dunes [State Park] after trying to enter others’ tents, police said.”  Dean Bottorff, former Post-Trib headline writer, could have improved on these.

Urban League chapter president Vanessa Allen-McCloud is opposing Merrillville attorney Adam Sedia’s selection by the Lake County Judicial Nominating Commission as one of three finalists to fill a seat on the Superior Court. Allen-McCloud noted that Sedia had posted Facebook messages disparaging Mexicans and Muslim immigrants.  One questioned the integrity of Judge Gonzalo Curiel, an East Chicago native, whom he inaccurately accused of belonging to an organization, the National Council of La Raza, that he compared to the KKK. Sedia subsequently deleted the posts and quit using Facebook.  Even though Lake County Republicans favored Sedia, Governor Eric Holcomb selected Hammond city attorney Kristina Kantar.  Downstate a gunman shot two judges, one critically.  The police first announced that they had just left a strip club and later amended the report to simply identify the crime scene as near a White Castle.

Mayors Karen Freeman-Wilson and Duke Bennett of Terre Haute (above) are holding their breath as Governor Holcomb ponders whether to sign the bill allowing land-based casinos in their cities, in Gary’s case near Route 80/94.  Freeman-Wilson told Dan Carden of the NWI Times:“For us, it’s always been about the ability to develop Buffington harbor into the North American Intermodal Gateway.  The movement of the casino out of this corridor will give up the opportunity to work with the private sector to develop this intermodal facility.  And it doesn’t just create economic opportunity for the city of Gary, but it creates it for all of Northwest Indiana.”

Phyllis Smock took a photo showing Ray with the Mueller Report in one hand and Sam Adams in the other.  He wrote:

    The Mueller Report lists at least a dozen examples of obstruction of justice for which Trump is not charged because a sitting president cannot be indicted, according to Justice Department rules. He is under investigation for his fake charitable foundation, which the State of New York ordered closed for being a money funnel for Trump, pretending to be a charity. And the list goes on. It is no exaggeration to say the President of the United States is a one-man crime wave. Only his position as president, aided by an army of private and government lawyers, have kept him from jail. He is not the only culprit. His hand-picked Cabinet officers have been involved in numerous scandals and abuses of power. People serving at high levels in the executive branch who have tried to speak truth to power have been shown the door, often learning of their firing via Twitter.

    The release of the Mueller Report, even in its redacted form, has set the president on edge to the point that he appears manic and paranoid. He is lashing out in all directions with outrageous charges. When Attorney General Barr preempted the Mueller Report with his own spin on it, declaring the president did not collude with Russians, Trump declared victory and pronounced himself vindicated.  But as the details of the Mueller Report started to sink in with Trump and with the public, Trump changed his tune and played the victim. He reverted to his earlier characterization of the Mueller investigations as a witch hunt. 

    Trump went way too far when he said before a crowd at the National Rifle Association that the Mueller probe was an attempt to overthrow the government tantamount to a coup against him and his administration. He said there was corruption at the highest levels of the Department of Justice. He claimed in his speech before the NRA that he beat back the coup without using a gun. He continued to run down the very government that he was elected to lead. It has never been about the government or the safety and security of the American people, it has always been about him, and how he has been maligned and hounded by Democrats.

Ken Orris came across my Portage Shavings at the library and located me at IUN, saying he had to have it.  I mailed him one free and included my latest, volume 48, more than three times the size of 96-page volume 20, with loads of photos in color and, due to modern technology, printed at a cost less than I paid 28 year ago, when the entire copy had to be re-typed and half-tones cost ten dollars apiece.

Former student Jim Reha, now retired from teaching but a docent at Saginaw Valley Naval maritime Museum on board the naval destroyer “Edson” wrote: “They needed an Army guy to keep the sailors in line. Seriously, I enjoy it greatly.  We even have a former mayor of Bay City as a volunteer.”  Reha also teaches military history to seniors at Saginaw Valley State University and will be speaking on JFK’s wartime experiences at a university luncheon. Toni and I were at Jim and Deb’s wedding, and before he moved away he gave me a series of Time/Lifepictorial histories covering twentieth-century American history decade by decade.

 Dick Maloney, Terry Kegebein, Jimbo, Mel Nelson, Frank Shufran; photo by Bob Fox

My bowling team, the Electrical Engineers finished the season in fourth place, up from fifteenth a year ago. I stuffed myself at the banquet; someone always brings delicious corn pudding, and another provides Polish sausage and sauerkraut in a crock pot.  My Cole slaw was popular; this year I provided a bowl and tongs, which made it more accessible than leaving it in the container.  I got Bob Fox to take a photo of the Electrical Engineers, including Melvin Nelson on the DL since January (between me and Frank Shufran; on my left are Dick Maloney and Terry Kegebein), but minus Joe Piunti, who only missed one week all year. Gene Clifford was sporting a black eye and other facial bruises. Turkey hunting, he tried to switch hands at the last moment, and the rifle recoiled, causing the injuries.  “All I got was feathers,” Clifford said, vowing to go out again if it ever stopped raining. Driving through Lake Station, I saw several homes surrounded by flood water, but Deep River had not closed Ripley Street like 11 years ago.

I finally saw the “Game of Thrones” episode “The Long Night,” with the climactic, hour-long battle scene at Winterfell.  Late-night comics had ridiculed how dark the scenes were, but it ably depicted the fog of war and the terror that the white walkers inspired. It was difficult to keep the three dragons straight and I was left uncertain about the fate of several characters, including Lady Brienne, but I loved that it was – spoiler alert – Arya and not Jon Snow who saved the day and saved the Night King.  Just three episodes to go – sigh.