Another Casualty In The Iraq War

This just in from ALLEN G. BREED and KEVIN MAURER, Associated Press Writers

A photograph taken in the first days of the war had made the medic from New York's Long Island a symbol of the United States' good intentions in the Middle East. When he returned home, he was hailed as a hero.

But for most of the past five years, the 31-year-old soldier had writhed in a private hell, shooting at imaginary enemies and dodging nonexistent roadside bombs, sleeping in a closet bunker and trying desperately to huff away the "demons" in his head. When his personal problems became public, efforts were made to help him, but nothing seemed to work.

This broken, frightened man had once been the embodiment of American might and compassion. If the military couldn't save him, what hope was there for the thousands suffering in anonymity?

The whole story is here.

How the picture posted above came to be taken.

The New York Times Op-Ed piece on Losing Mr. Dwyer.

Marlene Dietrich

Click here for more "Bus Plunge".

Billie Jean King Here This Weekend At Cooper Tennis Complex

Tennis great Billie Jean King is in Springfield this weekend at the Cooper Tennis Complex and the Mediacom Stadium. The SN-L has the story here.

Bruce Jenner Here For Sunshine Run

1976 Olympic champion Bruce Jenner will be the keynote speaker for the events of this year's Sunshine Run.

Bruce is joined with Glen Campbell and Mary Tyler Moore as stars of the seventies who are still going stong today.

Welcome to the Queen City, Bruce!

"The City" Lost A Dogcatcher Today....

"The City" lost a dogcatcher today.

All that clamoring over the guy over at the courthouse who stuck the ten commandments up in his office and how his right of free speech and freedom of expression was being trampled, how come nobody's sticking up for this guy?

And how come Cliffie couldn't run either?

10:37 PM Springfield Cardinals Must Have Won

It is 10:38 pm and the fireworks are going off. The Springfield Cardinals must have won tonight. I live four miles from Hammons Field. Tell me again how loud the skatepark noise is. I guess I didn't make my point too well. "The City" is saying one of their reasons for wanting to take over the skatepark is because of all the noise complaints about the park from the neighbors. There are no neighbors to the skatepark, at least close neighbors. I hear more noise from Kennedy Stadium and Hammons Field than I ever have heard from the skatepark. Why is "The City" not going after those two venues for making too much noise?

You Are A Child Of The Universe - - - Les Crane RIP

Thanks to Desdinova for his post on Les Crane

And, because this bus is fair and balanced, the counter-point:

Visiting With Neighbors --City Manager Search Update

This just in from "The City"---well actually it came in a lot earlier but it was such a wonderful night, I've been out in the neighborhood visiting with my neighbors. Lots of nice folks out there who are hardworking, sensible folks who are concerned about the same things: Fix the fire and police pension fund, leave the skatepark alone, Kennedy Stadium has more nuisance noise than the skaters, and open the pools more days.

Folks I talked to seem to be unhappy with the government. Not just the federal but the state, the county and "The City".

Yes, it was a nice night to be out and about, not muggy and humid and there was a nice breeze blowing. People would wave or toot their car horns as they drove by. Everyone seemed to be honoring the new 25 MPH speed limit that was posted on the new signs. I didn't realize that every street that comes off of a 30 MPH street is getting a 25 MPH speed limit sign. Dang, that's a lot of new signs.

I passed that sign posted above on a corner down the street from my house. Frequent bus riders familiar with the neighborhood know it refers to a home for rent in the neighborhood. There is a sign on my corner. There seem to be an abundance of homes for rent in our neighborhood. More than I can recall ever seeing. Sunshine north to Parkview, Campbell west to Fort. That's the neighborhood.

Stanford is getting the sidewalks we turned down. I went over and looked at the sidewalks that are going in on the south side of Stanford between Portland School and Campbell. I hope they are not finished. The right-of-way looks pretty rough. Thanks to all those homeowners who maintain the right-of-way for "The City". I would suspect there is a city ordinance that requires you to do it, however.

Anyhow...this just in from "The City":

The City Manager Search Committee and City Council will meet on Monday, July 21, 2008, with Arcus Public, which will make a “binder presentation” of the initial group of qualified candidates to be considered for the City Manager position.

The meeting will begin at 5 p.m., Monday at the Great Southern office at 218 S. Glenstone Ave. It will be a closed meeting under Sec. 610-021 of the Missouri Sunshine Law, which allows an exemption for “Hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting of particular employees by a public governmental body when personal information about the employee is discussed or recorded.”

Arcus will present information on this group of qualified candidates including each one’s resume; information from preliminary interviews; an extensive questionnaire each was asked to answer; references and initial background checks.

The goal of the meeting will be to narrow the candidates to a group of finalists. Those candidates will be notified of their invitation to visit Springfield for a formal interview process. The names of the finalist candidates will be released after all of them have been notified; that announcement will likely occur on Tuesday, July 22, or Wednesday, July 23.

The finalists will be invited to Springfield on Aug. 3-5, 2008, for a series of interviews, meetings and public events. The public will be invited to two open-house style receptions to meet the candidates. The schedule will be released with the announcement of the finalists.

For more information, contact: Gary Deaver, Co-Chair, City Manager Search Committee, 866-6463; or Louise Whall, Director of Public Information, 864-1010.

Do you think they will promote from within and give it to this one or this one or anybody on this list?

No, I am not a paid apologist for "The City".

InBev Offer For Anheuser-Busch Accepted

(Brussels) Anheuser-Busch has accepted a $52 billion takeover bid from Belgium-based InBev NV to create the world's largest beer maker and end a month-long standoff.

While pitching the deal in recent weeks, InBev chief executive Carlos Brito has said that he is "committed to the city of St. Louis" and that changes here would be minimal.

One that Brito said will show up shortly after this week's Major League Baseball All-Star event in New York will be a minor one in the long standing uniforms worn by the St. Louis Cardinal Baseball team.

First-baseman Albert Pujols, one of the first to try the new outfits said, "While it may take a little time for Cardinal fans to fall in line behind the change, I personally like them a lot. They'll really be enjoyable during those hot, muggy days in late July and August. I expect all of the fans will be wearing them before the end of the season!"

Sporting goods stores around the St. Louis area report brisk sales of the new Cardinal memorabilia.

It is not known at this time if the Cardinal's farm team, The Springfield Cardinals, uniforms will be changed or remain the same.

Skatepark Stuff

Frequent bus riders know my opinions on the current litigation between the Springfield Skate Park Association and Park Board. Parks has filed suit against SSA to take over the facility.

I first posted this lst January:"A Dang Few Thoughts On The Springfield Skatepark".

Then, this post referencing the sale of the land under the park to the city by the school district was posted last January. The comments are interesting.

I made a post on the City Council meeting where the land grab took place. The link is here, the part about the skatepark is in the middle of the post.

This post here is press release from "The City" about the skatepark. It was published last May.

The SN-L has published stories on this subject. Other blogs such as Life Of Jason and Jackehammer have posted on this issue also. I am going to let the bus rider do the linking on these blogs--they are listed on the right side of this blog. When you get to their blogs, do a search on "skatepark". You will find numerous articles.

This here is a pretty good post on this issue. Stu's Potluck is also a blog linked on my sidebar.

Cars and People and Camping Trips

Our sister Jane, two years old, 19 St. Charles Place, Shrewbury, MO, photo taken in 1957. She is wearing Dad's socks and vertical and horizontal stripes, but no big hat!

Either going or coming from a jeep ride in the snow, House on South National, Springfield, 1969? It looks like John David and Edward are in the back. And, from the tire tracks, it looks like they are coming from a jeep ride. This was back before global warming when the big snows happened in December, not March or April.

Backyard camping trip, around 1956, Shrewsbury, MO. 7536 Nottingham Avenue. My grandma and grandpa owned a large acreage in Shrewsbury, they gave a bunch of land to the city for a park and divided up the rest into lots. My Mom and Dad got a lot and built a house on it. The backyard of this house backed up to the park. This is a photo of me and a tent in the backyard of the house on Nottingham.

1930 Model A Ford, John and Ed are second and fourth. I don't know who the other two boys are. This was taken in Shrewsbury, MO, about 1963 or 1964. The foundation is from the Summerhouse which was torn down to build a new garage. The boy sitting on the lawn chair is Skipper Russell.

My Dad took many, many color slides in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. In the late 1960s and 1970s he took many, many B&W photographs. Brother Tom dropped off at the house a huge box full of negatives and contact sheets. My intentions are to scan all the negatives, burn them to CDs and send them out to my brothers and sisters. I await my sister Jane's delivery of the color slides so I can do the same with them. Following are a few negatives I scanned last night while I was learning how to use the scanner.
Leroy Laine in front of garage at 1822 South National. Leroy was a friend of Bob's who was stationed with him in Vietnam. He lived in Rogers Arkansas. He was a helicopter pilot who flew "loaches". He drove and flew fast. When I was in Germany, he flew a medevac to the hospital where I worked, he was as surprised to see me as I was him. We flew together quite a bit on medevac orientation flights. It was different then than it is now.

My 1967 Truimph Spitfire. I literally drove the wheels off this car. I bought it from McAllister VW when it was on the corner of Benton and Trafficway in 1972 (?) for $1100.00. I got a soft top and a hard top. Note the "Celebrate Life" sticker on the deck lid. I am standing this way on purpose, the rear taillight lenses were engineered in such a manner that anyone who walked behind the car would naturally reach out and grab ahold of one for balance, breaking it off. They were not a dealer stock item and had to be ordered. For that matter, there was no Triumph dealership in Springfield. This Spitfire had 2 carburetors. A friend had a MGB, and we would frequently drive to Branson and around on road trips. This car is a classic example of why the British didn't make computers: they never figured out how to make them leak oil.

Joan sitting on the hood of Leroy's XKE. This view is looking at the houses that used to be on the west side of National, south of Sunshine. The house on the right is BJ Marsh's home. The other house has been torn down and is now his parking lot. Joan was born in 1964, I think this photo was taken in 1969.
John David Lee inspecting the damage done to the front of the 1965 Ford Country Squire Station Wagon. Bob had gone to the Fox Theater on the Square on a date and parked the wagon on Boonville Hill. He and Lynn went into the theater, the car jumped out of gear, it was an automatic, the car rolled down the hill and crashed into another car.

Leroy Laine's XKE and the Volkswagen convertible with all the "Celebrate Life" stickers on it. This was taken in the front yard of 1822 South National, located on the South East corner of National and Sunshine. Photo was taken about 1970? which is now a parking garage for St. John's Hospital. I think that is John David washing the right rear side of the XKE. The other boy may be Dennis Wilson, but I am not sure. There is even a "Celebrate Life" sticker on the VW's hubcap.

Dodge Truck stuck in the mud. This is the truck John wrecked by crashing into the bridge railing. I also came across photos of the bridge being built. A photo of the wrecked truck in this post of John's.

Nurnberg, Germany, 1972. Citroen 2CV. Oh yeah.