Burying the Lead

Normally I don’t pick on fellow writers, but the lead for a press release I received this past week is just too tempting. I understand that a public relations job involves putting the best face you can on a company, but I don’t think there’s room for any more superlatives after this sentence:

“HGI Company, an award-winning, full-service, multi-faceted commercial printer, and Quad/Graphics, one of the world’s leading catalog, magazine, retail insert and direct mail printers, today announced that they have entered into a strategic partnership to provide clients with an enhanced product and service offering a global scale that is fast, flexible and meets rapidly evolving needs in a changing marketplace.”

My lead for the same story had a little less meat on it:

“Quad Graphics is purchasing a minority interest in a Burlington-based commercial printer.”

Okay my version is a little less sexy, but when I finally get around to selling my bucket of bolts I wouldn’t mind having that writer pen my ad.

Go Ahead, Make My Day!

Shaking hands with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is a little different than the usual grip and grin with a political candidate. He extends his right hand and rather than giving you a firm tight grip, you get a tentative almost passive grasp. It’s not by design, but rather by necessity.

If you haven’t followed the story of the Democratic candidate for Governor he was with his daughters, niece and sister outside State Fair Park last August when they heard a woman scream. The woman was being attacked by a 20-year-old Milwaukee man and Barrett tried to step in and help. Instead the man turned on him and beat him with a tire iron.

Barrett says when he woke up in the hospital he thought he’d broken the hand by hitting the man, which caused the hospital staff to chuckle. He learned later from one of his daughters that he’d swung at the man trying to protect himself and missed, but did land one blow before the man beat him down with the tire iron. He says one of his daughters called police and in a moment reminiscent of the character Elaine in Seinfeld she pushed the man and told him to get away.

Barrett says the man broke several of his teeth and he had to have staples put in his scalp. The teeth have since been replaced and he had surgery on his right hand. Wednesday there’s another surgery during which one of the fingers on his right hand will be re-broken so it can mend properly.

Now they are waiting to see what happens with his attacker who is going through the legal system. Apparently the man tried to cop an insanity plea, but no one bought it. Barrett says his attacker may reach a plea agreement, but if he doesn’t there would be a jury trial in May.

Barrett says for in his run for governor it would have been a better story if his attack had a “Clint Eastwood” ending, but instead he became just another victim of a violent crime. He jokes that the one thing he’s learned about the incident is he’s no longer 25-years-old in his “fighting ability” or “healing ability.”

Barrett related most of this story to me after we taped an interview that aired today on KFIZ. He had a lot to say about the incident. Most crime victims have stories too if people will just take the time to listen to them. It’s another form of healing. Bones mend, teeth can be replaced, but some scars go deeper.

When Grown Men Cry

I’m sure sometime when I was growing up I probably wanted to be a policeman or a fireman, although I can’t remember for sure if that was the case. Still I’ve had a very healthy respect for the job that they do.

Last week’s “pinning ceremony,” as someone aptly put it, was probably a first for Fond du Lac. The first time the City held a joint “pinning ceremony” for the police and fire departments. In this particular case it involved the new assistant chiefs for each department.

Fond du Lac Assistant Police Chief Kevin Lemke, and Assistant Fire Chiefs Steve Beer, Randy Cunzenheim and Todd Janquart earned that promotion through their experience and devotion to the job. If you live in a community long enough you’re lucky to get to know a few of them.

Kevin Lemke I’ve known since moving to Fond du Lac. I know he likes piloting, biking, and is a whiz at computers. Steve Beer has had some hard luck on the job with injuries, but always mends and comes back for more. Randy Cunzenheim has been able to secure nearly $1 million in grants for the department and I recall one incident off-duty where he even helped a neighbor out who met with some tough times. Todd I don’t really know that well, but Fire Chief Peter O’Leary and fellow department members speak highly of him.

One thing that was very apparent at the ceremony was how important family and friends are to each. Kevin’s father, a veteran of 29 years on the Fond du Lac Police Department, pinned his badge on him and made a joke at his son’s expense. Todd’s sons and wife took part in his pinning and their pride was obvious. The same could be said for Steve’s family. Randy had friend and mentor, former Fire Battalion Chief, Toby Leeds do the pinning for him.

Less than a hundred people were on hand to see a ceremony, the likes of which the City may never see again. It was one occasion when grown men were allowed to cry. For men who don’t flinch in the line of duty only being in the company of family and close friends can move them to tears. That’s not a weakness when you are willing to put your life on the line for the protection of others.

Pictured from L-R; Kevin Lemke, Steve Beer, Randy Cunzenheim, Todd Janquart, and Fond du Lac City Council President Tim Lakin. Photo by Terry Lemke.

Elway Ending

Will Brett Favre get the Elway Ending he's seeking, retirement after a second Super Bowl win? I'm not as big a Favre fan as when he played with the Packers, but it's an interesting story line.

The NFL would probably like a Vikings-Colts Super Bowl matchup because then you can tout two starting quarterbacks with 7 MVP trophies between them.

It's also ironic that to get to the Super Bowl Favre will have to win at the Super Dome, the scene of his Super Bowl triumph with the Green Bay Packers.

Win or lose it should be an interesting NFC Championship Game this weekend and as a Packer's fan I'm torn. As a green and gold fan I'm almost obligated to root against the Vikings. It also would be really nice to see the Saints go to their first Super Bowl.

Special Delivery

Specialist Melvin Ortiz of the Wisconsin Army National Guard had barely arrived at Volk Field Wednesday afternoon when he was rushed off the plane. His wife Johana had gone into labor before making a trip from Milwaukee to greet her husband who was returning from deployment to Iraq with other members of the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team. Ortiz signed special paperwork that allowed him to be with his wife when she gave birth to a 7 pound, 8 ounce baby boy at West Allis Memorial Hospital. Ortiz will have another reunion with his wife and new son Eduardo after he completes the demobilization process at Fort McCoy.

Blue Christmas

I’ve been fortunate over the years to be able to spend Christmas with family at my parent’s home in the U.P. just about every year, save one. That was my first year living in Wisconsin in 1987. I spent nearly every cent I had to move to the Badger State and being low man on the totem pole had to work that Christmas.

My Mom was kind enough to ship all my gifts via UPS to my new home, a single story duplex just off Lake Minocqua, but they didn’t arrive. At least I didn’t think they had. We were assured they had and were told to check with my neighbor because if I wasn’t home they were probably dropped off there. My neighbor told me she couldn’t figure out why her small car had suddenly been stocked with Christmas gifts.

I resolved that I wouldn’t open them until Christmas and decided to have the best holiday I possibly could. I did have some friends from back home that now lived and worked in Minocqua, in fact one worked at the same radio station. They had their own Christmas going on though.

I’ve never minded working on Christmas Day because it’s the one day of the year when people who call the radio station generally are filled with good will and if they weren’t I had enough to go around. It was of course a White Christmas because I was living in the state’s great Northwoods.

My biggest gift and possibly the best I’ve ever received on any Christmas came while I was milling around my small one-bedroom. There was a knock on the door and my Mom, brothers and sisters had given up their Christmas to come and see me. It was a four and a half hour trip for them and it meant quite a lot.

I had $10 on me and went down to a convenience store to buy gifts for them. They weren’t the best gifts, but they were all I could give and provided me with a story I’ll always be able to trot out at Christmas time. That Christmas taught me it wasn’t about getting, but giving. I hope you have a Merry Christmas. I’ll be with family.

Uncle Jimmy

There are some people who don’t need a loud booming voice or a boisterous personality to make a mark on life. Such a person was my Uncle Jimmy (Redeker). He died over the weekend. He was having heart problems. He was the youngest of five siblings in my Mom’s family and had hearing problems throughout his life.

His wife, my Aunt Janice, is a force of nature. He also had three girls; Jamie, Judy, and Jeanne. Needless to say he was outnumbered by the female sex in his own family. How he would have felt about having a son instead of three daughters I’ll never know. As far as I do know he was proud of his three girls.

Uncle Jimmy was soft spoken and I never saw him get flustered during any of our family gatherings over the years. When I was a kid we used to visit with their family over Christmas, but that practice ended somewhere over the years because nobody’s kids wanted to spend hours listening to others boasting about what Santa brought them for Christmas. Through it all my Uncle Jimmy remained diplomatic.

I guess some might say he was mousey or henpecked. I prefer to think of him like Jimmy Stewart in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” He would bear what he needed to for the sake of family. There are some who don’t like my Aunt Janice and to visit my Uncle Jimmy meant having to deal with Aunt Janice. It was a small price to pay to see Uncle Jim.

Life is full of regrets and one of mine will be that I didn’t go to see my Uncle Jimmy the last time I was on vacation. My Mom told me he wasn’t doing well and we should go to visit him. I put it off thinking I could see him during Christmas vacation. How I wish now I had one of those days back. I don’t know what we would have talked about. It could have been any thing because it’s not what you say when you’re with family that’s important, it’s that you have that time together.

Questons for the Senator

It was supposed to be a forum on the value of education, but U.S. Senator Herb Kohl recently handled some tough questions off the subject. The Wisconsin Senator did extol the value of an education, particularly telling how his own helped him in his career as an entrepreneur and politician. However as with any forum where a politician allows the gathering to fire questions, the core topic was deviated from.

Q: Do you favor a longer school day or school year?

Kohl: Our students are already getting a good education, one of the best in the world.

Q: What happened at Ft. Hood, Texas?

Kohl: No one is sure why what happened did. The shooter just snapped and killed several people and injured many others. I attended the Memorial Ceremony. It was a very nice ceremony.

Q: Are you against the War?

Kohl: Wars are a bad thing. I’m not a fan of wars, but this isn’t a perfect world is it?

Q: Would you run for President?

Kohl: I have no plans to do that. I like what I’m doing for the state of Wisconsin now.

Q: If you were President what would be the first law that you would make?

Kohl: I’d outlaw wars.

At that the three 5th grade classes Kohl was visiting at Waters Elementary School in Fond du Lac erupted into applause and cheers.

Must Win Situation

You have to admit that no matter what you do in life at one time or another you’re going to be caught using a sports cliché. For me the most bothersome is “a must win situation.” With so much at stake in big-time college sports and professional sports isn’t every game “a must win situation” for coaches? If you aren’t sure ask the Green Bay Packers coaches and management after last week’s embarrassment in Tampa Bay.

Politicians frequently borrow sports clichés to feed the media sound bites on issues. You can probably supply your own, but I’m not sure if “a must win situation” would be appropriate for certain topics. Then again how would you describe the need for health care reform? Turning around the economy? Finding enough vaccine for H1N1? Creating new jobs?

Losing is not a pleasant experience. However even winning can sometimes have costs that aren’t entirely palatable. Fond du Lac kept Mercury Marine, but union workers had to give in on benefits and pay. In addition the city, county and state had to offer up incentive packages totaling more than $120 million. Some would say it’s still a “Win-Win” outcome and I tend to agree. “Win-Win” is another cliché I’d like to banish to Siberia (yet another cliché).

If every situation in life were “must win” where did the term “acceptable losses” come from? That one probably didn’t come from a sports coach. To me “acceptable losses” is another that shouldn’t be applied to real-life situations. I certainly wouldn’t use them in the case of jobs, pay cuts or 401K losses. Maybe if it were used in talking about weight loss.

So to get it out of my system, tomorrow morning I’ll make sure I turn off my alarm clock on time. It’s a “must win situation.” Get to work on time. It’s a “must win situation.” Do a better job at work. It’s a “must win situation.” And have a nice day because it’s a “must win situation.” As for putting up with the over-used term, “It is what it is!”

Scary Station

Who says radio stations can’t throw a scare into you? Certainly not the people who work at them who can from time to time share a spooky tale. A station I worked at in Munising, Michigan also had some apartments on its four floors. It was an old house and complained with its constant creaking at night. It wasn’t until I learned a little history about the home that my imagination began to take hold of me.

At one time the building housed a funeral home. The cellar is where they prepared the bodies. Out of convenience it had steps going down to the cellar from the outside. Of course it had those big doors that opened up and out so you could wheel the dearly departed easily down into the basement. Never saw a ghost there, but I did see a murderer one time.

Maybe I should qualify that a bit. We used to also run a copying service out of the station and a frequent visitor was a guy we nicknamed “Rambo” because he always dressed in army fatigues with a camouflage headband. He had a way of unnerving people around him. One night he was at a local watering hole and leaned over and bragged to the guy on the next stool that he’d just killed his mother. Turned out he had.

When I worked in Minocqua I heard a story about a guy who was working by himself late one night at the radio station and heard a knock on the front door. As the story goes when he opened it no one was there, but there was a large tombstone leaning against the door. Never did find out if that was just a story to scare the new guy or if it actually happened there.

Unfortunately the station did have a tragic story connected to it while I worked there. A talk show host with the station died in a fire at his home one weekend. Never did find out the truth about that, but the story goes he was fond of cocaine and his fiery death may have been a result of that.

Here’s my favorite radio station ghost story. It comes from Pat Sullivan, a guy I worked with at WBEV in Beaver Dam. Pat’s been around the radio biz a while and was working at another station along his travels. He was warned that the station was haunted. He was asked to work the morning shift at that station one day and got there before anyone else.

Pat was getting ready for his air shift, gathering wire copy and other preparation work. He was totally engulfed with what he was doing. Before he went on the air he grabbed a cup of coffee and headed to the studio. Later when he saw a co-worker he said something like “Boy I was busy and thanks for making the coffee!” The co-worker says,"Pat you were the only one here. Did anyone mention that the ghost is friendly and sometimes helpful?”

Wrong Robert

Let me introduce you to Wrong Robert. Occasionally he makes an appearance in my household. He's ill-mannered and short-tempered. He doesn't have consideration for the other person and punctuates his verbal utterances in a loud voice. He's the Mr. Hyde to my Dr. Jekyl. Fortunately he doesn't appear that often.

He emerged from hiding the other day when I returned home from work to two voicemails, both from the same collection agency. I ignored the first two calls last week. I'll explain later. This time I called the toll-free number back to see what was shaking. Imagine my surprise when they said they were looking for Robert Nelson. Then they said it was for a medical bill. Well I was curious since they said it was for a bill from March of 2008. Well I did have hip surgery last year and was in the hospital and a rehab facility about that time, but I told them I had paid all my bills. Could I have overlooked one?

That's when they asked if **** were the last four numbers in my social security numbers. I said what since the person on the other end of the line clearly lacked the ability to pronunciate. She said are your numbers ****? I said no and if they called again they'd be talking to a lawyer. She said since my numbers weren't **** they wouldn't be calling again. Thank God my numbers aren't ****.

You have to understand that Wrong Robert was created when one of AT & T's former baby bells assigned me the same phone number that another couple in Fond du Lac used to have. She, God Bless Her Soul, did sewing piece work and must have been pretty good at it. He however left a string of unpaid bills in his wake. I got calls for more than two years for the couple.

One of those calls was from a collection agency working for Wells Fargo. They called and asked for Robert, my luck the guy had the same first number. When they said I owed them over $800, I said that wasn't possible I have never had an account with Wells Fargo. They said are you Robert ****? I said no, Wrong Robert. After that whenever someone called and asked for Robert, I'd say which Robert are you looking for?

Incidentally someone called the other day wondering if my wife still did piece work. Wrong Robert.

Bottoms Up

Is it just me or are more of those people we elect to office making the news for drunken or drugged behavior? Wisconsin Assemblyman Jeff Wood was recently arrested for his 4th OWI. State troopers pulled him over in the Town of Rib Mountain. This time prescription and non-prescription drugs led to his erratic driving. Two of his arrests have occurred within the last year. Earlier this year I asked a fellow Assemblyman about Wood and all that lawmaker could say is, “That young man needs our prayers.”

Sheboygan Mayor Bob Ryan on the other hand didn’t break any laws when he was caught on video making sexual remarks about his sister-in-law. It became a YouTube sensation. He was definitely drunk in the barroom exchange with drinking buddies.

One law enforcement officer I spoke with says he feels sorry for Ryan because he was obviously filmed in the tavern on someone’s cell phone with no clue what was going on. That officer said while Ryan may have crossed the line with his remarks, he said them in what he thought was a private conversation. Ryan is also under fire for allegedly firing a human resources director who claims she was let go for refusing his sexual advances.

It’s not making national news, but an incident in the Upper Peninsula definitely caught headlines in my hometown of Manistique. An Alger and Schoolcraft County Probate Judge was arrested for drunken driving in July. Manistique is the County seat for Schoolcraft County. Judge Charles Nebel was over the limit and tried to get away from state troopers at speeds of over 100 miles per hour. He apologized later saying he used bad judgment. Ironic isn’t it.

Recently Nebel was sentenced to a year’s probation, weekend “impact programs” and had to pay over $1,200 in fines and court costs. He could also face judicial review. He was appointed to the bench this past February. If he runs for re-election it will be in November of 2010. It will be interesting to see what punishment awaits Wisconsin Assemblyman Jeff Wood. He gets an oral ruling on his 3rd OWI in Columbia County Court in December.

Recently a story was shared with me about a longtime Wisconsin lawmaker who took credit for another colleague’s work on a bill by reintroducing it with a few minor changes as his own. He was to have his moment in the spotlight, but instead another lawmaker called him on it asking him why he was taking credit for something they’d already seen before. It wasn’t an effort to show him up, just to get his goat. Several of his colleagues knew he got hammered the night before and wanted to see him suffer through his hangover.

Keep in mind Wisconsin legislators are working on a package to stiffen penalties for drunken driving. Maybe we should take the car keys away from them.

Share the Story, Share the Blame!

Information sharing in this day and age can be a tricky thing. I found that out recently when I received an e-mail from someone who was disappointed that we carried some names in a story about a murder-suicide apparently before the names were officially released. The last thing I want to do is be the bearer of bad tidings to a family before they are notified through official channels. How I made that mistake takes a little explaining.

We share stories with about six other radio stations in the state, the Associated Press, and the Wisconsin Radio Network. Consequently we use stories that others share with us. Such was the case involving a couple from Horicon. You know what they say about assuming. Well I didn’t see a problem with the information I got from another station we share stories with. Now that I think back on it I probably know where they got their information.

The Dodge and Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Departments are kind enough to send us copies of their daily logs each day. Each log contains information from calls for service. Some times it’s brief, but can contain names and addresses that aren’t generally shared with the public. There’s an implied understanding that sensitive information shouldn’t be passed along without first checking with the law enforcement agency. That’s usually in cases involving crimes or accidents in which a person or people are killed or injured. Or for that matter someone commits a crime, but hasn’t been charged yet. Discretion comes into play.

I’ve seen radio and television stations, and newspapers use information from those logs as sources for a story. Anyone that’s ever heard a drama unfold on a police radio knows that you should wait until the smoke clears before you start using details that are uttered or written in the heat of the moment. The logs I’m sent I typically use as leads or to confirm details I’ve already gotten about a story. When a propane tanker recently overturned on a Fond du Lac County highway I heard the original call on a scanner, called a Sheriff’s Captain to confirm, and later when writing the story I checked back on the Sheriff’s log from the morning to get the time of call.

Over the years I’ve learned enough to know that whatever story you do it’s bound to have an impact on someone listening to it or reading it. If it concerns a death, I’m more than willing to wait until the family has been notified by law enforcement. However some of my colleagues aren’t. So if they are a bit premature in their reporting and they share the story with me, then we’re both to blame. Anyone who browses the Internet can you tell you there’s a lot of information available. The danger is it may not be correct or worse ethical.

Number One On The Water

I've never covered a story that so physically and emotionally drained me as what has gone on with Mercury Marine in the last few weeks. From dawn to dusk and beyond I had to be on call for any breaking development as the company considered whether it would continue to make outboard motors in Fond du Lac.

Anyone who has followed the news knows that too many manufacturing jobs have left Wisconsin. It looked like Mercury and its 70 year history in the state would be another casualty. However as we've seen in Fond du Lac over the last few years the community is resilient and there's just some special element that allows us to bounce back from adversity.

Three union workers Fred Toth, Felipe Rodriguez, and Rick Schmidt got a lot of credit for their petition drive and effort to get a revote after union workers rejected Mercury's proposed contract changes. I won't dispute that important contribution, but also know that city, state, and county officials, union leaders, and Mercury executives continued to talk. If they hadn't there wouldn't have been a third vote and eventual passage of the contract that will save manufacturing jobs and bring others to the city.

The toughest day was early that Sunday morning after a second vote attempt ended short. Union members stood in the parking lot at Machinists Lodge 1947 tired, frustrated, angry. The community awoke that Sunday morning to news that hopes had been dashed. I went home at 3:30 that morning after reporting from the union hall most of the night. All seemed lost for retaining Mercury's manufacturing jobs.

That following Tuesday Mercury and union officials met and decided there would be a third vote. It seemed there was still a glimmer of hope. Constant visits to the union hall this past Thursday and Friday I got different reactions from those who voted. At first I was guardedly optimistic, but was still surprised Friday night when union leaders announced that the contract had been ratified. Mercury would stay in Fond du Lac.

Unlike a football game the losers wouldn't simply lick their wounds and practice for the next game. Stillwater, Oklahoma residents felt more than slighted. After all three votes on a union contract. Sorry, but this is where I admit to being biased. I was not pro-Union, not-pro Mercury, but pro-Fond du Lac during this entire drama.

I went home this past Friday night shortly before midnight still sorting out my emotions. It had been an 18 hour work day. I felt for the union workers that had to make their own sacrifices to save their jobs and preserve other jobs for years to come. I also feel that Mercury officials did not want to make a decision to leave Fond du Lac, a community that has supplied a hard working and loyal workforce to it for the better part of 70 years. I also rejoiced for community leaders who knew what kind of impact Mercury leaving would have had on thousands of residents.

Of course there's still the matter of city and county officials finalizing incentive packages for Mercury, but the biggest sacrifice has already been made by Mercury's union employees. If city council and county board members can't realize that then they really should consider whether they are truly watching out for the best interests of those they represent.

I may never be able to watch a pickup truck pulling a boat and trailer with a Mercury motor go by on a highway again and not feel a twinge of pride in what this community has accomplished. As County Executive Al Buechel put it, we did not want to become the “Detroit” of Wisconsin. Amen!

Vacation Observations

A couple times a year I get the opportunity to vacation with family in the Upper Peninsula. It’s an escape from the usual routine to a place that differs a bit from Wisconsin and Michigan’s Lower Peninsula if you will.

On the drive there and back here are a few things I encountered. I had to stop dead on Highway 41 northbound three times as I ran into traffic waiting to take the exit to EAA AirVenture. It wasn’t too bad except for the people who were in the wrong lane to hit the exit.

In Marinette I saw a place called Jerry’s Bar. I don’t know who owns it, but it struck me as funny because I have a former brother-in-law named Jerry who loves to have a few. In Rapid River there’s a restaurant called “Mikey B’s.” Not sure how the food is, but there are no golden arches.

In my hometown of Manistique a couple of businesses side-by-side have moose as mascots. They are not real of course. One is a moose in a white shirt and checkered bib overalls in front of the Big Boy Restaurant. One friend refers to it as Bullwinkle’s Big Boy. The other moose is decked out in a tuxedo in front of the hotel next to it. The only live wildlife I saw was a gray fox that crossed the road in front of me. Usually I see some deer too.

Shopping is different. Some of the products we see on grocery store shelves you can’t get in Fond du Lac and vice versa. I saw chocolate flavored Chex Cereal. I guess if you make the treat puppy chow that would come in handy. I also saw a Mexican-flavored pasty. They had regular pasties too.

I’m hooked on the news so I kept track of what was going on either through television or the internet. The story about the Fond du Lac man whose private part was glued to his stomach by spurned lovers was on the Today Show. One story making news in the U.P. was about a Schoolcraft County Judge caught drunk driving by State Police after a chase that exceeded 100 miles an hour. Judge Charles Nebel spent a night in jail and issued an apology saying he made some inappropriate decisions. Well, duh!

I tried to have a conversation with my 14-year-old nephew Max while I was visiting my brother John one night. I had to compete with X-box. He was playing a game online with some chap from England. As my 11-year-old nephew Derek put it, “Boy that guy Max is playing with sure is snotty!”

The sad thing about vacation isn’t that it has to come to an end, but how easy it is to step back into the routine. Well to put it in perspective I just remember something I saw just before I went on vacation. Across the street from the Fond du Lac Police Department’s parking lot a small bird was comfortably perched atop of a sign. The sign read, “Two hour parking only!”

Cancer Comes To Dinner

Prayer is uniting family and friends of my cousin Doug whose life is being threatened by cancer. He got the news that liver and pancreatic cancer could end his life in 6 to 8 months. He’s seeking a second opinion as he begins chemotherapy to add months not years to his prognosis. We’re hoping a second opinion means a second chance.

I enjoyed dinner with Doug twice during a recent vacation in Michigan’s U.P. He talked openly about how ill he’s felt since March when he was tested and was still waiting for definitive word when we enjoyed venison stroganoff at my sister Kathy’s one night and a day later turkey at my mom’s.

As is usual with Doug he leavened the conversation with humor. Last year he found out he had diabetes. He joked at the dinner table that he had lost weight and was finally eating right and now that he is…well you get the picture. The cold beer he used to enjoy with the rest of us has been replaced by diet soda.

Doug and the rest of his family were originally from Illinois and vacationed in the U.P during the summer. As pre-teens up through our early adult years a bond grew tight between our families. I can’t say I’m that close to him, but my brother John the other day said for him Doug is like a third brother. That bond grew tighter after Doug and his longtime girlfriend, “Al”, as we call her moved to Manistique.

I’m not sure what challenges lie ahead for them, but I’m hoping somehow that life takes a kinder gentler road and the journey will take much, much longer. My sister Diana says she’s going to remain optimistic, I will too.

It’s unfortunate that cancer has reached the point that it can be casually discussed at the dinner table. It’s been the subject of too many family discussions far and near. It’s an uninvited guest. It demands too much from us and the people that we care about.

Mercury Rising

I’ll admit that the chance of Mercury Marine leaving Fond du Lac scares me as much as it does others. I’m hoping it’s a worst case scenario. The fact that the company employs over 1,850 workers and at one time more than 3,200 is staggering. Its impact on other businesses and the economy of not only the area, but state also can’t be diminished.

I grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and saw some major employers there go by the wayside due to the economy of the times. In college during the summer I worked at a limestone mine, which at the time employed more than 300 people. Given the U.P’s size it was a major employer in the area. After graduating from college I landed a job at a radio station in my hometown. I heard that the mine and its union had a contract bargaining session coming up and it may be difficult.

I asked a prominent banker in the community how it would be impacted if for some reason the mine were to shut down. He laughed at the thought and not too politely. That was staggering for a young reporter still learning the ropes. Needless to say the contract negotiations dragged on. Meantime I took a job at another radio station up the road. Within two years time the company shut down because it couldn’t reach terms with its workers.

The good news is the mine was sold to another owner, but when it reopened it only employed 60 workers and none of them were with a union. I’m not saying unions are a bad thing, but workers at the mine mistakenly thought the mine wouldn’t close and their jobs were safe. That mine is once again facing ownership and closing questions.

The local paper mill also employs about 300 workers. It’s been open for more than 100 years. However they saw the writing on the wall years ago and started making recycled papers. The mill actually prospered after the switch. I have to wonder how the paper industry is going these days with more reports generated on the Internet and newspapers closing from declining readership.

At one time I envied my brothers and sisters because my love of radio always meant making less money than they did. However my two brothers John and Matt work for that mine I mentioned and have been furloughed twice already during the mine’s busy season. My sister Kathy works as a corrections officer in the state of Michigan. Last year the state cut its corrections employees from 40 to 32 hours a week. They also got some furloughs. Now the prison she worked at has closed and she was transferred. Her drive to work went from 30 minutes to 70. Things are tough all over.

I’ll do my best to remain optimistic about Mercury’s chances, but I also fret over any business closing. It is always personal and it always does effect more than the people who lose their jobs. As someone recently said to me, “It doesn’t do any good to get retrained for work if there aren’t any jobs out there.”

Uncle Walter

To be honest with you Walter Cronkite had more of an impact on my parent’s viewing habits then influencing my life as a newsperson. He left the anchor chair on CBS-TV in March of 1981, nearly a lifetime ago for some. But it’s the impact he had on TV journalism that was the focus of tributes this past weekend.

Think about the things he reported on during a six-year span from 1963 to the end of that decade. First there was President Kennedy’s assassination, the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., the Tet Offensive in Vietnam (which signaled a turning point in the War), the rioting at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and the landing of Apollo 11 on the moon. These were formative years for television news.

By 1972, more than 70 percent of Americans polled voted him the most trusted man in the country. If Walter Cronkite came out in your favor, it was an endorsement. When President Johnson heard Cronkite say the Vietnam War wasn’t winnable, he was heard to say that they’d just lost Middle America.

Today’s TV news is too often more about celebrity than substance. It’s almost expected that a reporter will make a personal observation in reporting on a national story. In Cronkite’s heyday that was the exception to the rule. The news was the story, not the reporter. You can in part blame that on the advent of 24/7 news channels and the promotion of news personalities. Even in my role, with the exception of this blog, I report the news and rarely give an opinion about a story.

When CNN debuted in 1980 it marked the emergence of immediate news. It was the beginning of the end of the network nightly news. Although you still have three primary nightly network news casts, their audience has eroded and the role of anchor isn’t what it used to be. However credit Walter Cronkite and his colleagues that when the nation has a tragedy or a crisis we still turn to the network news channels out of sheer trust. Weren’t you glued to coverage during 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina?

For me Walter Cronkite is like an uncle. I never knew my Grandpa Nelson. He passed away before I was born. Pictures I’ve seen of him however look like old time pictures of Walter Cronkite. I’m told that like the famous newsman he always had an interesting spin on things. And that’s just the way it is.

Thriller

Normally I don’t speak ill of the dead, so in summing up Michael Jackson’s Memorial Service I’ll try to focus on the living. I tried not to get hooked into watching the event, but while waiting in a dentist’s office for a 6-month hygiene appointment ended up watching some of it with other patients.

Some reporters who spoke ill of him while he was alive were busy praising him in his death. I was waiting for the ceremony to begin, but the traffic backed up in L.A. due to the Jackson procession took longer than most imagined it would. In a bankrupt state extra costs for law enforcement for a service that rivaled a state funeral for a president or king. Okay so he was the King of Pop.

The actual teeth-cleaning saved me the agony of sitting through most of the service. Later at home I caught some of the speakers including Brooke Shields who a reporter later noted hadn’t seen Michael Jackson in years. I made it through until Jermaine Jackson started singing “Smile” a song actor Charlie Chaplin wrote. Shields pointed out that it was Michael’s favorite song. A song written by another tortured genius who in his time faced his own sexual allegations.

While he was living I got the impression Michael Jackson craved the attention. It seems only fitting that in death he got more than he ever enjoyed at any single moment of his moon-walking days on Earth. In the wake of that service the real circus will begin. Still I’m interested to know what kind of TV ratings the service produced. It has to rival just about anything ever seen.

The gal who worked on my teeth asked me how long I though it would be before the attention surrounding Michael Jackson’s death would subside. I wasn’t sure how to answer that, but speculated that we just couldn’t get enough about Princess Diana. I also wondered how Elvis Presley would have fared if the kind of media and technology we have today would have been around when he died in 1977. My dental technician said Jackson’s service still would have been bigger. She’s right Elvis Presley didn’t have MTV.

I still maintain that someday there will be a cable television channel out there that will only carry items about celebrity deaths. Their biographies, films and music videos, their best TV work, gossip on how their estate will be settled, even the funeral services themselves. What would you call a channel like that? An obvious choice would be “Thriller!”

Celebrities' Three

There’s an old belief that celebrity deaths come in threes. So the other day when I heard Farrah Fawcett had died, following Ed McMahon’s death earlier in the week, I asked someone at the radio station who they thought might be next? The answer came later in the day, Michael Jackson.

Each of them brought entertainment to us and had a special place in the hearts of millions. I always thought that Ed McMahon was more than a second banana to Johnny Carson. He impressed me as being more intelligent than most of the late night talk show co-hosts.

It’s hard to believe now that Farrah Fawcett was only on “Charlie’s Angels” for one season. But it was enough to launch her as a celebrity icon. I never had her famous poster, but certainly had enough friends that did. I actually liked more of her serious roles like “Burning Bed.” With her battle with cancer and struggle to keep some of her life private, she seemed a tragic figure like Marilyn Monroe.

I have to confess that I was one of the few who didn’t buy Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album back in the day. I did enjoy the music, but apparently didn’t feel the need to own the record like so many others. Actually my favorite “Thriller” moment wasn’t from the video of the same name, but the dance the cast staged to the song in the movie “13 Going on 30.” Given the context it was used in that Jennifer Garner film it was fun.

Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson all had their better celebrity days behind them, although Michael Jackson had a comeback tour scheduled. We will never know if it would have succeeded.

I can imagine when Ed, Farrah, and Michael got to the pearly gates this past week. Johnny Carson introduced Ed McMahon this time. Farrah simply flashed her famous smile, and Michael moon-walked in. There are now three new additions to heaven’s own walk-of-fame.