Elector Day is coming.

We're printing a slew of these for duty in the days prior to the election, because it's always worth remembering: An Elector Makes Democracy Pointless. Note also that in conservative Indiana, the rules have been liberalized (read: rationalized), and we can serve beer while the polls are open.

“I think the bridge is doing me a favor."

I think so, too. One of the most revealing aspects of the bridge closure has been watching the media watching us, don't you think? As business people, we express optimism ... and too often, they just want something to attach -geddon to.

Restaurant owners hopeful ahead of New Albany openings, by Harold J. Adams (Courier-Journal)

Walking along East Market Street in New Albany you can’t miss the bright yellow and blue colors painted outside Louis Le Francais, the French restaurant adding the latest international touch to the city’s recent downtown restaurant renaissance.

“Louie the Frenchman” is directly across the street from La Bocca Italian restaurant which is only a few doors away from the Habana Blues Cuban restaurant around the corner from La Rosita Mexican establishment.

Owner Louis Retailleau says the bright hues are typical colors of his native southwest France. “They are happy color, the sun, the sky, the earth.”

This happy Frenchman has been preparing nonstop for a Friday night private preview opening at the restaurant at 133 East Market Street. It’s a party “to give an idea of what I’m creating here in New Albany...a French restaurant with a Frenchman at the helm,” Retailleau said during a brief pause Thursday.

The Armagnac native is trying to recreate a typical small French restaurant “with a lot of atmosphere, a lot of ambiance” at a reasonable price, he said.

The menu will include such staple dishes as duck l’orange, lamb with au jus and cassoulet. Thursday afternoon he lifted the lid on a giant kettle of simmering lamb stock that would be 18 hours in the making ahead of Friday night’s invitation-only party.

Louis Le Francais will open to the general public on a yet to be determined date in early November beginning with a dinner-only prix fixe menu for somewhere in the neighborhood of $25.

“That will be an appetizer, salad, the main course (and) dessert,” he said.

Retailleau said he’s not concerned that the closure of the nearby Sherman Minton Bridge might prevent some potential Louisville customers from crossing the Ohio River to sample his fare.

“I think the bridge is doing me a favor,” he said. “Because there is a flow of people from New Albany and the North that used to go to Louisville, and I hope they will come here, try it and love it and come back.”

There is similar optimism two doors away at Quills Coffee which is also slated to open sometime in November. The coffee shop is maintaining its original Baxter Avenue location in Louisville and adding another in U of L’s Cardinal Towne center but will centralize the operation in New Albany, wholesale account manager Philip Revell said.

“We’re going to roast all the coffee there and then distribute to the Baxter location and the U of L location, and to wholesale customer’s too,” Revell said. More than a few fellow New Albany merchants are hoping the confidence of Retailleau and Revell is well placed.

Upcoming New Albany events.

From Develop New Albany, a good compendium of forthcoming events, with a late addition from Mike Kopp following.

---

Fall is a great time to leave the car in park and get out and take a walk in the cool crisp autumn air. Walk the streets of Historic Downtown New Albany and you will see a variety of locally owned businesses and restaurants that take pride in offering unique menu choices and handcrafted and inspired works you won't find anywhere else. Develop New Albany is proud to help support the efforts of all of our downtown small businesses!

Provided below are some of our upcoming Downtown New Albany Events:

• Culbertson Mansion..Haunted Tours & More (Month of October)

• Powering Creativity: AIR, FUEL, HEAT - Opening Reception @ Carnegie - Oct. 28th

• Brew History: All Bottled Up Decommissioning Event - Oct 28th

• Hedge Apples available @ Downtown Farmer's Market - Saturday from 9am - 1pm

• 1st Tuesday Event @ NA Exchange - November 1st

• Purchase Your tickets for the 3rd Annual "JingleWalk" Event - November 26th 2pm-6pm

• "Light Up" Downtown New Albany - November 26th 5:30pm

• Raq'n Around the Christmas Tree Fundraiser - December 1st

Stand up comic with a hidden agenda.

In his letter to the editor, Floyd County Republican Party chairman Dave Matthews tactfully (?) refrains from mentioning names, but we imagine he’s peeved at Jack Messer, Scott Blair, or perhaps both. That’s because the two independent candidates (for mayor and 6th district council, respectively) probably will take far fewer votes away from the Democratic front-runners in their races than from Matthews’ own handpicked candidates -- and remember how few Republicans actually declared in advance of last spring's primaries?

The world’s smallest violin is playing a tasteful lullaby. Yawn.

Candidates should be who they are

Voters, watch out for imitators! I already know of two cases where our “independent” candidates would have you think of them as Republican candidates ... unless, of course, you happen to be a Democrat. Telling you that they are the Republican candidate is not the truth.

New Albany Firefighters endorsements.

New Albany Professional Firefighters Legislative Committee Endorsements (left to right): Ben Fee, Greg Phipps, Jeff Gahan, Tonye Rutherford, Samuel Heavrin.

(Cribbed from Facebook)

ON THE AVENUES: Bully pulpit electoral vistas.

ON THE AVENUES: Bully pulpit electoral vistas.
A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

The general election approaches. Just last spring, I harbored a middling desire to contest it. This notion was rendered moot in the primary, where I finished fifth in a field of six and failed to advance.

Que sera, sera.

Given the unconventional nature of my campaign (not one red, white or blue cent was expended), it was highly encouraging to receive more than 1,300 votes, even if they were not enough to finish in the top three. An adage holds that the first time out, building name recognition is the goal, and so I’d say my first-ever run was a very cost-effective introduction to the electorate.

As for what it means in the future tense, fifty-one years have given me no firm idea of what I intend to do when I grow up. The only truly reliable deity is serendipity, and life is what continues to happen while we’re busy making other plans. Some variety of community service, politically speaking, may yet occur before I’m finished. Right now, I’d rather sell (and drink) lots of Progressive Pints.

---

While not entirely unexpected, perhaps the most revealing aspect of the primary campaign for me was attending Democratic Party events, and realizing in sadness and disgust that with only occasional exceptions, the higher placed the local Democratic Party power broker, the lesser chance he or she holds any beliefs remotely approximating the Democratic Party’s platform as it is now, as opposed to as it was back in pre-LBJ times.

As a leftist doomed to inhabit this benighted shard of riverside floodplain, it felt like a bad time travel film – Planet of the Dixiecrats, perhaps – wherein an entire supposed ruling caste stands stock still, refusing to read the memo, as decades tick past and the remainder of the world proceeds inevitably into the future.

Uninformed stasis makes perfect sense as a Republican worldview, as Dave Matthews’ career as GOP party chairman so tellingly attests, but the fact that the same reasoning girds the crumbling remnants of the Democratic Party’s ward-heeling machine, now reduced to a late-model station wagon suspended atop concrete blocks, tells us exactly why eight years of an 8-1 council “majority” has yielded almost nothing except missed opportunities.

And so, I might have sought an at-large seat as an independent, and might yet, but the reason I didn’t was the immensely entertaining opportunity to glide into Democratic strongholds and make statements like this:

Let’s begin by speaking aloud the unthinkable: I voted for Barack Obama in 2008, and I will again in 2012. Terms like left, liberal and progressive don’t offend me.

They describe me.

While campaigning for council, it’s my intention to fight for the relevant principles and values of the Democratic Party, and to apply them to our situation, right here in New Albany.

New Albany’s overarching need is to fight the good fight for greater local determination. The Indy-centric budgeting system we have now is inefficient and infected with malicious Republican ideology. Cutting essentials in education, public safety and social services is madness.

Accordingly, it’s my core belief that current Republican policies are the problem, not the solution, and I don’t much care if Ed Clere and Ron Grooms and Steve Stemler and Tony Bennett and Mitch Daniels don’t like it, because they’re Republicans – even Stemler – and we’re not.

It was worth it just to watch the unreconstructed party elders cringe like vampires at the garlic buffet.

---

On October 22, it will be seven years to the day of the very first NAC blog posting. In the course of almost 5,000 more posts since then, we’ve never stopped learning, and from this amazing, ongoing, always edifying discussion, my 2011 campaign planks largely were drawn:

Human dignity has no price tag; we must re-animate the Human Rights Commission.

“No” votes aren’t leadership. Council members must be open to new ideas, willing to learn, and able to adapt to changing realities.

We must pursue optimum localization of the economy for a more sustainable economic foundation, with more money staying in New Albany, and greater economic self-sufficiency.

Economic development funds are for economic development. They are not sewer rate subsidies, bribes for wealthy multi-national corporations, or meant for the oligarch protection society, i.e., One Southern Indiana.

Economic localization is bottom-up, not top-down. Enhanced cooperation between existing entities like New Albany First, Develop New Albany and the Urban Enterprise Association is welcomed insofar as their activities reflect grassroots needs.

Environmental restoration and sustainability are fundamental to resolving longstanding problems with storm water and the sewer system.

Sustainable green initiatives harmonize with the goal of remaking the city and its streets into a place primarily intended for the use of people, not their cars. We must maximize the advantages of urban living according to what these are, not how suburbanites think they should be.

Progressive, family-friendly neighborhood policies also come from the bottom up. Many current problems result from generations of bad remedies and design flaws. We must rethink these, plan, explore cause and effect, recognize inter-relatedness and repair them.

We must enforce ordinances. All proceeds from enforcement should be kept here to help fund further improvements, which include mandatory rental property inspections.

No tolls! The Ohio River Bridges Project is a multi-billion dollar transportation boondoggle disproportionately burdening Hoosier small businesses, Hoosier workers and Hoosier families.

Slowly, sometimes imperceptibly, the terms of our civic dialogue continue to change, and although I lost in May, these platform planks live on. To as great an extent as possible, and admittedly with imperfection, my candidate endorsements in the forthcoming general election were made with these positions in mind. Granted, not all the winners will embrace them, but for once, they’ll at least be aware of them.

Will the Sherman Minton be back on line by March 2?

News story: Bridge repairs set to be done by March 2

Photo credit: News and Tribune's Kevin McGloshen

From the Guardian: "Occupy protests mapped around the world."

Occupy protests mapped around the world

Where are the Occupy protests taking place in the world after the camps in Wall Street and Madrid? See the full list of places we have found so far - and help us collect more

• Explore the list - and help us add more
The map shows events for which there is at least one independent verification, based on readers suggestions and Guardian research. It's possible we're missing details - go to the full list to add or change events

Is rock and roll dead?

New Labour's passive consumers, Coldplay as Enya, the Manics' impending "Achtung Baby" moment ... it's such a delight when musicians are capable of thinking and speaking, as well as playing.


Also in the Guardian, Jarvis Cocker provides his views on the changing state of music, as in this description of product pricing: "It's a good picture of what capitalism does. They find a formula that kills off the thing they're trying to make money out of."

At least the homophobic bigot Win Walker is not running for office in New Albany.

And Jeffersonville can have and keep the Republican council candidate, thank you. To see why, read his homophobic message below, and note that to my knowledge, no ordinance remotely touching on any of this is scheduled for consideration by the city's city council -- although perhaps one should.

Generally I refrain from commenting on politics in neighboring communities, and in passing along the following odiously toxic missive, I'm neither (a) trying to give Jeffersonville a black eye, because doltish prejudice masquerading as a "Biblical world view" is a contagion spread across all of America, and not confined to one burg or the other, nor (b) giving Walker the attention he obviously craves, given that by his own admission, he isn't getting nearly enough of it in his bid for office.

But I believe in shining a spotlight on bigotry, now and always, come what may. Life is far too short to abide the Win Walkers of the planet without a response, and my position is this: If Win wins, fundamental human rights in Southern Indiana lose. Vote against him, early and often.

Friends,

It’s time for an update on my campaign for Jeff City Council. I have received some positive feedback from previous messages, but not a large volume. Maybe it’s time to take on a more controversial issue.

Most of you have heard of the ‘Fairness Ordinance’ in Louisville, wherein homosexuals are given a special status not available to most of us. In a word, I will resist any such ordinance in Jeffersonville.

Not that I dislike or fear folks of that persuasion, but in fact, my Christian faith calls for me to love them. However, in my view, loving them does not mean approving that lifestyle, which social studies have shown to be harmful. I have decided that I’ll stick to the biblical view of sex and marriage. Of course, that doesn’t mean passing laws against other views, but marriage between a man and a woman is, and should be, codified into law, and it currently is (Defense Of Marriage Act). President Obama, in spite of previous statements to the contrary, is now trying to dismantle DOMA.

Transgender rights are all the rage right now. You don’t see much of this reported in the news, but it’s already happening, as reported at http://www.citizenlink.com/2011/10/11/california-governor-signs-two-transgender-bills/ . Imagine a woman seeing a man in a women’s restroom and reporting it to someone. If the man claimed that he thinks he is a woman, the ‘real’ woman could be sanctioned or prosecuted for ‘discriminating’ against him/her.

In fact, I believe we should be moving toward fewer special status classifications in our country. The seven current HUD classifications for which there is discrimination protection are:

race
color
national origin
religion
sex
familial status
handicap

In my 33 years selling real estate, I found no problem living with these classifications, but think they are becoming less necessary. The first 3 and last 3 are becoming less distinguishable and definable. The 4th one, Religion, is the only one protected in the First Amendment to our country’s constitution. Ironically, religious freedom is lost when special protections are given to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders (GLBT). If you want to know how this occurs, or have other thoughts on this subject, please contact me.

Also, I need folks to work at the polls for me. If this interests you please call me.

Yours in service,

Win Walker, Jr. - Candidate
Jeffersonville City Council - At Large
win@winwalker.com
www.winwalker.com
812-284-2000

For further background, the following is from Walker's campaign website.

Win is a long-time resident of Jeffersonville, family man and small business owner

For over 30 years, Win has run small businesses and has chaired or served on the boards of many local civic and charitable organizations, such as Leadership Southern Indiana and the Better Business Bureau of Kentuckiana.

My Pledge

Operating from a biblical worldview, Win believes in:

1) Being a good steward of the resources we have
2) Honest, open decision making
3) Smaller, simpler, more efficient government
4) Encouraging Community Involvement

NAC Guest Column: "Y They Removed the C from YMCASI."

"Y They Removed the C from YMCASI," by Kathleen Martin and JT Lindroos

Less than two weeks after our local newspaper printed a "Jeers" item* we had submitted on wasted watering at the Floyd County YMCA (heavily funded by Horseshoe Casino in southern Indiana), we received a letter from its executive director, Joe LaRocca, rescinding our 33-month membership at the facility. The primary reason cited was "since you are not happy here" with some vague, anonymous references to complaints and nothing about any broken regulation. LaRocca never suggested meeting with us first about our inferred "unhappiness" prior to the letter, nor has there ever been any transparency whatsoever on the sources of these anonymous allegations. JT's quizzical response to LaRocca's letter was initially ignored for 10 days, and only after reminding he owed a response, LaRocca then replied to him in a note that begins "Dear Ms. Martin." Mindless insult to undue injury.

A subsequent call to the national YMCA organization recommended we contact the Board of Directors about our baseless ouster, which we did. Robert Kleehamer, Chairman of the YMCASI Board, kindly set up a meeting that would include himself, LaRocca, and the two of us. [A fifth, previously unannounced attendee was Paula Lomax of the YMCASI staff.] We had the good sense to record the hour-long meeting, which we could tell was going very well for us with Mr. Kleehamer. We were able to properly present our perspective on matters and, finally, JT had the opportunity to voice his personal witness of our experiences, something he'd always been denied by staff in the past.

Shortly before the meeting's conclusion, the Board Chairman asked what we now wanted. When we said "immediate reinstatement," Mr. Kleehamer swiftly replied "Done." But then LaRocca interjected he wanted "to continue the meeting" -- without us, of course -- and then overruled his own Chairman by stating "no, you are not reinstated today, we'll get back to you." Again, we are so glad we have all this on tape. Mr. LaRocca did not get back to us, however, until after much prompting from various directions and more than two weeks after the meeting. His most recent email response is now a written overruling of Mr. Kleehamer's on-the-record reinstatement of us. So much for democracy and transparency, not to mention such clear-cut undermining of the Y's core values of honesty, caring, respect and responsibility to us, the national organization, the community and the environment.

So, now that we've exhausted every benefit of the doubt and hope for the right thing to happen behind closed doors, we can fully share our experience as members of the Floyd County YMCASI with the public. If this is not useful in changing some of the decision-makers at the facility who are involved, maybe it can at least mitigate any unchristian, ego-driven decisions considered in the future. If neither of these are outcomes, it will at least serve as a cautionary tale -- a caveat emptor -- to anyone with a current, or considering a future, membership with this New Albany, Indiana-based organization.

We became YMCASI members at the end of 2008 when the facility was sparkling new. We faithfully paid our monthly dues for 33 months straight. Our workouts quickly became a welcome routine for us a couple of early weekday mornings as well as a longer session that included the pool area on Sundays mid-morning, and this rarely varied. In mid-May of 2009, barely six months into our membership, there was a serious incident in the aquatics area. Per the instruction of the duty lifeguard, Kathleen opened a supply closet to retrieve exercise equipment and, dripping wet, immediately slipped into a bad fall on the smooth closet floor. No caution was first given, and there was no sign posted of "slippery when wet" either, even though we were told after the fact it was well known to staff this floor was untreated and slippery.

Kathleen’s pain was excruciating, especially the entire left forearm that took the brunt, yet our experience with staff in the aftermath only increased the injury of her needless fall. The head lifeguard arrived with an icepack and a report to fill out. When she was asked, Y didn't the lifeguard retrieve the equipment and, if not, Y didn't she at least caution about the closet, she had no answer except that the guards aren’t allowed to leave their chairs. Well, we knew for a fact that this guard and all others hopped up to turn on spa jets whenever needed, so that was no excuse. When asked Y there wasn't a caution sign, and we suggested, please, put one up now after this injury, she told us "The chief doesn't like tape on the doors." As to Y the equipment wasn't already out poolside as it had been in prior weeks, she answered again "The chief doesn't like equipment hanging around the pool area." Y isn't the floor textured? "We have textured paint, but haven't applied it yet."

Needless to say, this was a clear-cut lawsuit for gross negligence, and we did briefly discuss it, especially as Kathleen's arm took over a month to heal, but we decided instead not to make waves for this brand new facility that we wanted to see thrive. We didn't even complain to the "chief" himself (Joe LaRocca) at that point in time. But the whole incident left a sour taste in our mouths to discover the staff is so poorly trained with regard to public safety. The head lifeguard's uncaring excuses for allowing any patron to fall proved this attitude trickled down from the very top, however: After all, the ugly aesthetic of a temporarily taped sign was a greater concern to LaRocca than preventing paying patron injuries.

It wasn't but a couple weeks from our decision not to press suit or even make waves with "the chief" that we discovered there were at least two other falls after Kathleen's on that same, untreated floor. Leann, a therapy pool lifeguard herself, told us how she broke her coccyx in a fall there, and a patron in the pool overhearing us said she knew of another member's fall as well. Now of course, we felt truly awful we had not filed suit and so perhaps save these others from such needless pain and injury, or at least made big enough waves that would have forced signs to be put up, with or without tape.

Week after week, resentment built as we watched a few younger aquatics staff members in utter dereliction of duty. A last straw came in early September 2009 when the female guard never once broke eye contact in a 20-minute conversation with a male guard standing by her chair. The patrons in the pool were completely ignored, and so we finally contacted LaRocca about this. In that email about the staff chatting each other up rather than doing what our member fees pay them to do, we finally referenced back to Kathleen's fall in mid-May. We never got a written reply to our email and Kathleen only finally received a phone call after persistent requests for one. No apology was given and clearly a target was put on her back at that moment, and anything we reported after that was being compiled and kept in a file folder.

There was also a fitness staff member named John who was very often on duty the same hours as our weekly routine. No doubt John was a model employee when administrative supervisors were around to observe, but personally we never saw him do any work whatsoever. It wasn't enough that he didn't lift a finger, which a couple others didn't either, but he also spent much of the time we crossed paths talking with on-duty or off-duty staff members. One of those he engaged in conversation was a particularly loud and incessant talker, the sort who feel entitled to share cell phone conversations with everyone around them. Even our music at a safe level through our ear buds wasn't enough to drown out her loud, nonstop chatter egged on by John. Besides his role in disturbing the peace of our workouts, John would even turn away paying patrons asking him for assistance in order to continue his personal conversations.

Nothing worked at stopping their patron disturbance. Clear looks suggesting to take down the volume only emboldened them. Directly asking them to respect the space of paying members had no effect either. As a last resort, we contacted their supervisor, Julie Calloway (whose husband works with her on staff, too). Calloway’s harsh and defensive stance took Kathleen by surprise, but we knew from that point on we could never initiate a call to her about staff problems again. Unbeknown to us, we’d clearly stepped on the wrong toes involving some sort of cronyism if not outright nepotism. Calloway and, later Lomax, merely reinforced the trickle down attitude from on high – “we don't want to hear your problems or complaints” -- so instead we filled out suggestion cards on a couple of occasions about John's continuing behavior and broken equipment reported to him in 2009 (and still not fixed when we left).

Next thing we know, administrative calls are initiated from the other end in the spring and autumn of 2010, and Kathleen records Paula Lomax and later the aquatics director parroting "maybe the Y isn't the place for you" -- the identical passive-aggressive phrase from both staffers toeing the "party line." It didn’t matter that Kathleen had found the Y a perfect fit for her in prior memberships in Los Angeles and Boston facilities. The administration was determined to twist our legitimate suggestions for patron safety and needed improvement into "stifle yourselves or go elsewhere." The printed “Jeers” item on August 20th mentioned at the top was the proverbial last straw to break the backs of too easily bruised egos.

We must question: Y do they bother with a suggestion box at all? Y do members we've met along the way tell us they've also come up against attitude whenever they've made a complaint about something -- like the leak leaving a persistent puddle on the oval track for months on end (ironically something we never complained about ourselves)? Y has LaRocca never asked to speak with our list of people who could provide the opposite experience of our membership and counterbalance whatever these unnamed, anonymous complainers have purportedly alleged (which still has never been revealed to us)?

A city councilman suggested this concerted railroading all goes back to the serious fall Kathleen took and even the merest suggestion of a negligence suit. Another city official suggests we accidentally bruised the wrong egos, and yet another suggested it's a generational divide in work ethics -- slacking vs. giving a tinker's damn -- with the slackers banding together against our feedback to save their jobs. Probably some combination of all these factors but nevertheless patently unjust, and it creates a major interruption in our health regimen. Until he reverses his position and reinstates us -- as his Chairman of the Board already did back on September 19th -- LaRocca ought to pray for us to remain in good health in the interim.

If you have a dime, give Joe a call and ask him to justify to you his decision as he never did so to us: 812-206-4891

And then let us know Y in email to juha [@] oivas [.] com

Take and (always) give care, Kathleen & J.T., October 17, 2011

*News and Tribune CHEERS & JEERS: August 20, 2011

READER JEERS

... to the Floyd County YMCA landscapers for wasting great amounts of water because of an unadjusted sprinkler system they were notified of.

From at least early morning Tuesday through 6 a.m. Friday, needless streams of water were created all over the entrance concrete, walkways and gutters.

Water is the planet’s most precious commodity.

— Juha Lindroos and Kathleen Martin, New Albany

Habitat fetes Clere for feting Habitat.

Last night, I had a dream about vinyl siding. I've no idea why.

Clere receives honor for Habitat-saving legislation; Group names Rep volunteer of the year, by Maureen Hayden (News and Tribune)

... “Vacant lots are still scarce, but there are plenty of dilapidated houses in almost any community,” Clere said.

Decision 2011: A compendium of pitiless previews.

NAC ends this series by expressing sorrow that your "elect me" yard sign got torn down. We suggest you complain to Bank of America, the owner of the abandoned house where your sign was planted. You actually DID ask Bank of America for permission, right? Yeah, we thought so.

Now, on to the summary.

We made no picks in the 1st or 2nd, but we're inclined to take a chance to go with Knable (R) in the latter.

Phipps (D) is the overwhelming choice in the 3rd, and McLaughlin (D; incumbent) the paper thin nod in the 4th. We selected the challenger Rutherford (R) in the 5th and fellow newcomer Wilkinson (D) in the 6th.

For at-large, we've advised you vote for only two candidates, the incumbents Gonder (D) and Zurschmiede (R). There is nothing encouraging to say about the remainder of the field, even if one of them must, by the revolting imperative of election law, be chosen to serve.

Our choice for mayor is Gahan (D).

If you are a candidate and your name does not appear here, you may wish to offer a rebuttal. If so, please reply electronically to the in-box of the senior editor: roger(at)newalbanian.com

Decision 2011: Long ago and far away in the 1st District.

Decision 2011: Conservative, more conservative, and not enough Everclear for District 2.

A "Decision 2011: follow-up: 2nd District reconsidered?

Decision 2011: Phipps clearly the pick of the Third.

Decision 2011: The unbearable incontinence of Kochert, still looming under the 4th District race.

Decision 2011: Rutherford over what's-her-name-this-month in the 5th.

Decision 2011: For those in the 6th about to plant a yard sign, we don't salute you.

Decision 2011: Reluctantly votin' for the lowdown mind-bending at-large blues.

Decision 2011: Gahan tops this field.

Decision 2011: Gahan tops this field.

The mayoral contest analysis now beckons. Candidate listings are cribbed from the clerk's office, followed by brief comments by the senior editor.

Democratic mayoral nominee Jeff Gahan’s spring primary victory was a tonic, and a much needed refutation of New Albany’s ingrained, perpetual and shambolic political shenanigans.

Gahan defeated Irv Stumler, who had expediently defected from lifelong Republicanism to become, overnight, the bizarrely anointed successor to the purportedly Democratic mayor, Doug England. It was the act we’ll always remember as The Deal, and it reeked of backroom cigarillos.

But the Deal was undone by voters, and ever since the morning after, the same platform-deprived party functionaries who noisily celebrated the attempted England/Stumler coup d’etat have been falling over themselves like Larry, Moe and Curly to curry favor with Gahan, who appears visibly uncomfortable every time he’s near them … and that’s as strong a recommendation for his fundamental character that can be made.

Taken alone, the entertainment value of this panicked, self-interested caterwauling on the part of sinecure seekers would be sufficient reason to cast a November ballot for Gahan. Fortunately, there remain numerous reasons to support him apart from it.

Gahan has eight years of city council experience, and a record upon which to be judged. It is true that he and NAC have not always agreed. However, if we are to focus on the future, and on numerous, positive and shared visions for the city’s operation, we can agree to disagree.

Gahan is no leftist, but he’s also not an unreconstructed Dixiecrat. In terms of temperament and core beliefs, he falls far closer to the vicinity of principled conviction wherein a true Democrat’s political instincts should lie.

Gahan has chosen not to announce his appointments prior to being elected. Although his restraint has not spared us the indignity of job seekers swapping their obsolete Stumler tees for Gahan wearables, it’s the sensible thing to do.

Gahan owns a small, local, independent business, and was instrumental in advising and assisting the start-up of New Albany 1st, New Albany’s first-ever grassroots organization dedicated to the interests of small, local, independent business. Yes, the political wing of One Southern Indiana endorsed him, but there is no indication that he kowtowed to the oligarchs, or has abandoned his anti-tolls stance.

In the end, it would be wrong for previous disagreements to serve as deal-breaking impediments to making a considered, rational choice for mayor. Gahan is that choice.

Libertarian Thomas Keister’s sense of humor is valued, but one simply cannot take a three-and-a-half-year sabbatical from current local events, then belatedly throw a hat in the ring in the expectation of being taken seriously. We believe Keister has something to contribute to the body politic even if he has not quite found it, so let’s hope he stays connected between now and his next run, whatever office it may be for.

After the spring primary was finished, D.M. Bagshaw finally was chosen to run for mayor by the detached suburbanite Republican Party chair Dave Matthews, but only after the city’s GOP precinct committee heads couldn’t or wouldn’t even try to pick a candidate. In all of this, there is little to inspire confidence, even if Bagshaw himself seems likeable, if overmatched by the requirements of the job.

Finally, there’s outgoing “Democratic” councilman Jack Messer, who is running for mayor as an “Independent” after dallying with local “Republicans,” leaving New Albany’s Greens, Constitutionalists, Objectivists, Labor and Raza Unida parties insanely jealous that they couldn’t buy at least a piddling dime dance with him.

We like Messer – always will – but we don’t back Jack for mayor, precisely because there was a general loss of focus when his mayoral ambitions began to take root, to the detriment of his being able to decide who he is and what, if anything, he belongs to. Still, Messer was a fine at-large council representative for a long, long time, and his contributions often constituted the sole council rebuttals to the digressions of the Burger King & Li’l Stevie.

NAC co-editor Jeff Gillenwater adds:

Without having much to add to what Roger has already explained (except a general disgust for what's happening in Indy along educational lines that I think Jeff Gahan and I share), I'm in agreement.

The most important thing this city can do to position itself well for healthy long-term decision making is to end the patrician strangleholds that have turned off and run off the talented and willing from the region for the past few decades if not longer. Opportunities come not from them but in spite of them.

Whether we've agreed or disagreed or will in the future, Jeff has at least shown a capacity for the adaptation and adoption of better ideas as they're presented. A much improved council would undoubtedly help that continue and I think will be necessary for real direction change, but I also think Gahan in the mayor's chair makes that more possible than the other candidates.

Greenway, 18th St. to Loop Island: Part Two.

As it reaches the rear of the old Moser Tannery, with the Loop Island wetlands to the right, the asphalt atop the levee yields again to concrete and a gentle descent to the base of the final section of cement floodwall. The path follows the floodwall to its end, coinciding with the entry portal to the wetlands at the rear of the Moser Tannery property. From this point, it only a hundred or so yards to the old railway trestle across Silver Creek, and a very short way through junkyards, dumps and quarries to Emery Crossing Road on the Clarksville side.

Greenway, 18th St. to Loop Island: Part One.

On a drop dead gorgeous autumn Sunday, I walked from my house to the Riverfront Amphitheater, then all the way to Loop Island wetlands via the Ohio River Greenway's alternating finished/unfinished sections. The newest length from 18th Street to the wetlands is shown in these photos, but first there's a map and a view of the K & I Bridge. Part Two follows.

Decision 2011: Reluctantly votin' for the lowdown mind-bending at-large blues.

During a week-long survey of alleged options in New Albany's forthcoming municipal elections, we've spent a fair amount of time clutching air sickness bags. It's time for the slate of at-large council candidates, three apiece from the two biggest irrelevant political parties. You can vote for as many as three, but in reality, you should not feel obliged to select that many. Tomorrow: The mayoral contest. Candidate listings are cribbed from the clerk's office, followed by brief comments by the senior editor.

NEW ALBANY COUNCIL MEMBER AT-LARGE
(Precincts New Albany 1,3,5,6,7,9 through 29 and 40 through 44)

R Steve Burks 1111 Lafayette Drive 502-931-8280
R Harry T. Harbison 207 Robin Lynne Drive 812-945-0537
R Kevin W. Zurschmiede (incumbent) 1733 E. Elm Street 812-945-7827
D Shirley Baird 45 High Park 812-949-1449
D Doug England 1738 State Road 111 812-944-1982
D John Gonder (incumbent) 602 Captain Frank Road 812-944-3121

Last spring, the current mayor made a momentous decision. After three years of threatening the city council with impending retribution, and then quickly running away to refuse to fight another day, he decided if you can't (or won't) beat 'em, join 'em. He'd become a council person himself, but only after turning City Hall over to a pliant, genial, caretaking elderly successor. Executive and legislative branches would be united, enabling absolutely nothing to occur, but far more efficiently than ever before.

This clumsily transparent power play was too much even for this city's benumbed Democrats, who promptly spurned Doug England's hand-picked erstwhile Republican replacement, Irv Stumler, in favor of two-term councilman Jeff Gahan.

The other half of Mayor England's plan ended more successfully, as he finished with the highest vote total in May's at-large Democratic primary, followed by incumbent councilman Gonder and newcomer Baird. They are joined by Republicans Zurschmiede (the sole GOP council rep at present), perennial aspirant (since the Eisenhower administration?) Harbison and glowering pastor Steve Burks, who never met a right-of-way he doesn't crave for signage.

And yet maybe Burks' fundamentalist congregation is right, and these six candidates genuinely provide proof that the deity has had just about enough with us. Either that, or the cosmos has a blacker sense of humor than previously thought. Harbison is ancient; Baird well meaning but far too entrenched with the supremely pointless local Democratic futility structure; and England frankly undeserving of further political office after sleep-walking through his third term as mayor -- maybe Guido's absence as enforcer was more important than we thought.

NAC's picks: That leaves Gonder, who thinks globally and acts locally, and should continue to improve as a council representative, and perhaps Zurschmiede. The latter has a bad habit of 1Si envy, but his performance on the council generally has been solid, if unspectacular. When voting at-large, the vote you refrain from casting is as important as the box you tick.

NAC's Sunday morning breakfast buffet, now featuring egg on 1Si's face.

Can I have a side of candidate endorsement hash with that?

New 1si head involved in Kentucky lawsuit; Lawsuit claims Wassmer misused chamber funds, unfair firing of employee, by Matt Thacker (NewsandTribunePopUpAdGenerator.Alabamaretiree.gov)

Matt Hall, interim CEO for One Southern Indiana, said the organization is aware of the lawsuit, but would have no comment. He declined to say whether they knew about the lawsuit at the time Wassmer was appointed.

"But it's kind of hot and smoky/In this ante-room to Hell."

Slowly, steadily, in stacks of five or six, I transport my obsolete CDs from work to home. It's almost time to ask Graham for help in building more shelves to hold them. Until then, forgotten gems are uncovered, such as Al Stewart's conceptual song cycle "Between the Wars" (1995). My favorite remains "Joe the Georgian," the perfect accompaniment to a Progressive Pint enjoyed while seated in the Red Room.

Now I've got my payment
For the service that I gave
They've given me my ticket
To this place beyond the grave
I suppose it's kind of funny
I suppose it's kind of sad
Thinking back on all the times we had

But it's kind of hot and smoky
In this ante-room to Hell
And I won't make up a story
'Cause you know the truth so well
It's much too late to worry
That we never had a chance
And when Joe the Georgian gets here
We will dance, dance dance
When Joe the Georgian gets here
We will dance

We all set off together
On this sorry ship of state
When the captain took the fever
We were hijacked by the mate
And he steered us through the shadows
Upon an angry tide
And cast us one by one over the side

But it's kind of hot and smoky
In this ante-room to Hell
And I won't make up a story
'Cause you know the truth so well
It's much too late to worry
That we never had a chance
And when Joe the Georgian gets here
We will dance, dance dance
When Joe the Georgian gets here
We will dance

There's Kamenev, Zinoviev,
Bukharin and the rest
We're sharpening our pitchforks
And we're heating up the ends
We've got a few surprises
For the mate when he appears
I hope he likes the next few million years

And it's kind of hot and smoky
In this anteroom to Hell
And I won't make up a story
'Cause you know the truth so well
It's much too late to worry
That we never had a chance
And when Joe the Georgian gets here
We will dance, dance dance
When Joe the Georgian gets here
We will dance

Or insert your own.

Top Ten Rejected Rock Spelling Words

10 New Albany - Have What The Elected Official On The Floor Is Having

9 Casino Is Over Yonder

8 Envelop New Albany

7 Citizens Faux Accountability Rocks

6 Nepotism, Despotism, Whatever

5 Vicki and Hilary, Sittin’ In A Tree

4 Sense Free Zone

3 One Way Or the Highway

2 Riverfront Underdevelopment Zone

1 Welcum To City

Eagle Scouts spruce up New Albany floodwall sign

Decision 2011: For those in the 6th about to plant a yard sign, we don't salute you.

We've spent the week thoughtfully contemplating New Albany's November 8 municipal elections, and to be honest, emigration keeps coming up in conversation. Today marks the end of numbered council districts. Tomorrow are the council at-large hopefuls, and the mayor foursome on Monday, October 17. Candidate listings are cribbed from the clerk's office, followed by brief comments by the senior editor.

NEW ALBANY COUNCIL DISTRICT 6
(Precincts New Albany 27, 41, 42, 43, 44)

R Matt Oakley 1118 Eastridge Drive 502-599-1251
D Suellen Wilkinson 1028 Castlewood Drive 812-948-9844
I Scott A. Blair 3925 Rainbow Drive 812-697-0128

Voting for the person? All three candidates for Jeff Gahan's seat in the 6th are first-rate, so that one's a wash.

Like the remainder of the Republican slate, with the possible exception of Jessica Knable, Oakley's given no hint of a position on specific issues. Neither has Blair, although one would expect an independent to be able to demonstrate his vision in contrast to the pathetic record of local political parties in doing so.

Wilkinson is running openly and proudly as a Democrat, and for that she ordinarily would deserve credit from the likes of me, except that in Floyd County, such a close and intimate alignment with the crumbling Democratic party structure implies a decided Dixiecrat shading, and nothing resembling her Wisconsin blue state credentials.

Am I the only one in the city seeking to judge hopefuls by their views on issues facing the city, and not yard sign placement?

NAC's pick: In spite of her proximity to the outgoing England administration, the choice is Wilkinson.

For the record: Kingsport TN, 1949.

A couple months ago, I was surprised to discover that research into the dusty archives of lower-tier baseball had advanced to the point where my father's name appeared for the first time ever on the Internet site www.baseball-reference.com, albeit without statistics.

Nonetheless, there it was: In 1949, for the Kingsport Cherokees of the Appalachian League, Roger G. Baylor played in at least a few baseball games. He was 24 years old, surely over the hill for the lowest of the low minors; then again, he'd put in three years in the Marines during WWII before turning 21.

I looked again tonight, and incomplete numbers now are posted: http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=baylor001rog

It may have been "D" league, and his batting average was only .213, but more than half his hits went for extra bases, and that's not so bad. Finally, ten years after his death, my dad enjoys numerical immortality on the Web. It is a very strange world, although one that I continue to appreciate.

Lest we forget: The no-tolls effort continues.

(submitted)

No Tolls Supporters:

The Federal Highway Administration has still NOT approved tolling on I-65 for the Ohio River Bridges Project.

Something is giving them doubt--we need to reinforce it!

Tolling I-65 will be bad for our river city community and we need to keep sending FHWA officials our letters!

Use the following points to create a letter. Simply click on the appropriate email address below then copy and paste the text (edit as needed) and send to the FWHA to voice your opposition to tolls--or use your own words. But tell the FHWA NO TOLLS:

"I do not believe my voice and opposition to tolls has been heard because of bureaucratic process and disinformation by the Bridges Project Team. My position remains: No tolls-build what we can afford beginning with the East End Bridge."

• Our community has spoken! No Tolls on I-65! All of our local elected government and our citizens are opposed to tolling I-65.
• Tolling I-65, the main transportation route through our community will create a socio-economic division in our river city.
• The burden of the tolls will lay heavily on the working class of our community.
• Tolling I-65 will create a heavy burden on Southern Indiana businesses that will spill over creating a negative impact on all of Southern Indiana.
• The Sherman Minton bridge has had a negative impact on both sides of the river--the same impact that tolling the I-65 will have!

INDIANA FHWA: Bob Tally, (FHWA co chair) Indiana Division: robert.tally@dot.gov, P: (317) 226-7476, Fax: (317) 226-7341

KENTUCKY FHWA: Jose Sepulveda, Division Administrator, Kentucky Division Office, Federal Highway Administration: jose.sepulveda@dot.gov, 330 West Broadway, Room 264, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601 P: (502)223-6720 FAX: (502)223-6735

FEDERAL FHWA:
Ray Lahood - Cheryl J Walker/ Special Assistant
Federal Highway Administration
Office of the Federal Highway Administrator
(202) 366-6378
Cheryl.Walker@dot.gov

About No2BridgeTolls.org
We are a broad-based coalition of businesses, organizations and private individuals who are opposed to tolls on the I-65 Corridor/Kennedy Bridges System. Our targeted focus has been driven by recent announcements by the governors of both states to shift the financing burden for all of the downtown infrastructure needs to the Kennedy Bridge and its I-65 supporting new Downtown Bridge. We have formed under the entity of "Organization for a Better Southern Indiana, Inc." (OBSI.) Our purpose is to educate the public of the true impact of the current proposed bridge toll on both sides of the river. We are a 501-C6 non-profit organization that has been formed for the purpose of disseminating information. We are not against the bridges--just tolls or user fees on the I-65 Corridor/Kennedy Bridges System, which will divide our community, be a regressive tax that our citizens and businesses cannot afford, and will adversely affect the local economy, disproportionately affecting Southern Indiana.

A "Decision 2011: follow-up: 2nd District reconsidered?

What’s a leftist like me to do?

I won’t put too fine a spin on this, but merely note that it’s dawning on me: There probably needs to be a deeper discussion about the 2nd District council race than my oblique side step on Tuesday.

That I sidestepped the race at all owes to something very characteristic of my worldview, which might be summarized briefly as a first-response, hyper-sensitivity to matters of conscience.

Freedoms of thought, expression, identity and self-realization, and freedom from religious, political and social repression all come first with me, and all else comes second. Life is not about money. It is about living. Simply stated, then, it remains my presumption that when it comes to what might be called the “social agenda,” I could not differ more from what 2nd District challenger Jessica Knable (R) believes.

However, we’ve somehow engaged in a quirky, sporadic dialogue pertaining to public policy issues. Know that I don’t agree with everything she has written; readers may wish to review her Facebook campaign site postings for a refresher. Just consider this response to my question (paraphrased): How do you differ from your opponent, the incumbent Bob Caesar?

I differ from Bob in the followings ways: I will bring a unique voice and perspective to the Council because I am a 43-yr-old mother of four children who attend three different New Albany public schools, as such I have real interest in the Council and School Board communicating - they presently do not. I have nothing whatsoever to do with the current administration; I believe this is plus. I promise to answer all questions in a timely fashion. I promise to be available; this will not be a part-time job for me, but rather a full-time one. I promise to do my research and homework before meetings, and to be prepared. I want to preserve the parks, especially Community Park as a green space, no development. Finally, I will decline the health-benefits offered the Council, thus saving our city about $80,000 over four years. As far as social conservative issues go, I really do not see where their place would fit in on New Albany's Council. I promise you will not hear my views on abortion.

In previous communications, Knable has offered support for the emerging buy local movement, particularly as it pertains to the current period of bridge closure. She has indicated skepticism as to the River View development claims. And, her fellow GOP candidate Bledsoe’s recurring obscurantism to the contrary, she has seemed capable of understanding and perhaps even advocating the two-way street issue.

By contrast, Caesar’s campaign to date is sadly reminiscent of the recent 1800 Tequila television ad:

That’s cool. Jessica Knable just answered another question.

What has your candidate done?

Nothing.

Decision 2011: Rutherford over what's-her-name-this-month in the 5th.

On November 8, New Albany's municipal elections will provide a brief, hopeful respite from the general malaise, after which we can lapse yet again into profound depression. NAC is considering these options, with a council race each day through Saturday, at-large hopefuls on Sunday, and the future mayor on Monday, October 17. Listings are cribbed from the clerk's office, followed by brief comments by the senior editor.

NEW ALBANY COUNCIL DISTRICT 5
(Precincts New Albany 9, 14, 15, 26, 28, 40)

R Tonye A. Rutherford 1680 Woodlawn Drive 812-945-6722
D Diane McCartin Benedetti 1343 Slate Run Road 812-989-7179

If you intend to use your birth name whenever possible so as to remind people you're a McCartin, that's fine, but then you probably should recognize that doing so rather obviously precludes you from voting on your brother's zoning needs of the moment. Legalistic protests aside, that's called a conflict of interest, and like Bob Caesar's sad pro-1Si votes, it has a way of never, ever leaving the collective memory.

By contrast, I've found Rutherford to be affable and earnest. Like most of the other GOP candidates, his innermost policy thoughts are unknown, but he has yet to parrot reactionary Republican social issue stances, and that's always a welcomed positive.

NAC's pick: Benedetti's view of governance hails from the strip-mall-in-a-cornfield model of sprawligarchy, so let's try some change for the hell of it: Rutherford in the 5th.

On Oct. 28, you can help NABC say goodbye to Leticia Bajuyo’s “Brew History: All Bottled Up.” Here’s how.

It’s time for NABC to bid a fond farewell to Leticia Bajuyo’s “Brew History: All Bottled Up,” the New Albany Public Art Project Bicentennial Series installation commemorating New Albany’s breweries and taverns.

Leticia’s sculpture has serenely and elegantly occupied a corner of Bank Street Brewhouse’s parking lot since its completion in the late spring of 2010, but it was never intended to be permanent, so on the evening of Friday, October 28th, NABC is hosting a community celebration in the BSB parking lot to mark the occasion of its decommissioning.

It’ll be no ordinary wake, because in the process of honoring Leticia and her creation, we’ll be weaving together elements of art, recycling, alternative energy, localism … and plenty of beer.

Leticia and helpers will spend the day on the 28th gradually disassembling, and officially decommissioning, her “Brew History: All Bottled Up.” The beer bottles inside it will be available to those attendees and passers-by interested in souvenirs, and all the remaining materials will be recycled or incorporated in one of Leticia’s future projects.

("Brew History: All Bottled Up" is featured in the new book, Sculpture and Design With Recycled Glass, by Cindy Ann Coldiron, whose book will be available for purchase on the 28th, courtesy of Destinations Booksellers. Go here for more details.)

Beginning at 6:00 p.m., Bank Street Brewhouse’s usual parking area will be cordoned off for the occasion of the evening celebration, with beer, wine, chili and snacks available outdoors, and the usual menu being presented inside. In case of inclement weather, the party moves beneath the existing patio roof.

As an added incentive, we’ll be unveiling NABC’s IX – Ninth Anniversary Ale, a Smoked Chocolate Port-Barrel Aged Stout brewed last winter by former brewmaster Jared Williamson (available at the Pizzeria & Public House, too). The actual NABC anniversary date is October 25, but we’ll wait a couple of days just for the fun of throwing it into the Friday evening mix.

Music by Toledo Bend is being booked by our good friends at The Dandy Lion boutique and shop, located just a block south of Bank Street Brewhouse. The Dandy Lion will be open later than usual on the 28th, so plan on strolling down and paying them a visit.

But there’s more. From 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the 28th, there’ll be an opening reception for "Powering Creativity: Air, Fuel, Heat," a joint exhibit of Ohio Valley Creative Energy and the Carnegie Center for Art & History. It’s happening right across the street from BSB, and the artists and organizers will be joining us to combine their after-party with Leticia’s decommissioning fete. Go here to learn more.

That’s not all! There’s even more on tap for Friday, October 28, because it’s also the occasion of Jeff Milchen’s visit to New Albany.

“New Albany First is proud to welcome Jeff Milchen, co-founder of the American Independent Business Alliance. Jeff is an international leader in helping communities to build vital local economies and in enhancing economic opportunity through supporting local independent businesses. We're thrilled to have him coming to New Albany.

“The event is set for Friday night, October 28th at 7:00 p.m. for a presentation/discussion on the importance of localism and supporting independent businesses. The event will be held on the beautiful second floor of the River City Winery on Pearl Street.”

I’ve invited NA First, Milchen and all the attendees to make the short walk from River City Winery and join the arts celebration at BSB. Know also that NABC will have beer samples on hand for both the Carnegie Center/OVCE opening (where jazzman Jamey Aebersold will be providing music) and the NA First/Milchen presentation.

Links:

Leticia Bajuyo, “Brew History: All Bottled Up” and New Albany Public Art Project Bicentennial Series: http://www.napublicart.org/bajuyo.php

The Dandy Lion: http://www.facebook.com/thedandylionshop

Ohio Valley Creative Energy: http://ohiovalleycreativenergy.org/

Carnegie Center: http://www.carnegiecenter.org/exhibits.html

New Albany First: http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Albany-First/142589112460702

American Independent Business Alliance: http://www.amiba.net/

Destinations Booksellers
http://www.facebook.com/newalbanybooks

ON THE AVENUES: Can't you smell that smell?

ON THE AVENUES: Can't you smell that smell?

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

Back during those heady postwar days, America’s empire of the cash register was the last one standing in a world bankrupted by conflict.

We imagined our nation as the personification of a handsome, Nebraskan, corn–fed farm hunk, with wavy hair and muscles rippling, atom-powered rockets in his pockets, but moreover, raised the “right” way by God-fearing, plow-lugging folks, all pious and well-meaning and virginal.

The CCCP was a concern, to be sure, but fortunately the United States intended only the best Christian Capitalist Consumer Protection for those countries soon to be colonized, though not for reasons of territorial aggrandizement in the physically acquisitional sense.

(Except for Hawaii, of course; after all, we needed somewhere dependable to go on tropical holidays, and those pineapple salespeople could draw up the statehood contract, take their cut, and git ‘er done. Alaska was a non-tropical afterthought, albeit one with plenty of pretty petroleum.)

Nowadays, we’d just outsource the whole kit and caboodle to China, but back then, what we needed were markets. Not only that, it was either Moses, Ben Franklin or Henry Ford who’d once asserted that the Burmese, Kenyans, Uzbeks and residents of inner Winnipeg merely wanted to be just like us, so long as they remained exactly where they were over yonder, and continued to purchase their Bible-toting suburban start-up kits from genuine American distributors on a time payment plan.

---

At about this same time, it was widely held outside the narrow confines of the Bronx that rooting for the New York Yankees was like rooting for U. S. Steel. Youthful and otherwise inexperienced ears may not grasp the analogy, but make no mistake: It was intended as derogatory to both named parties.

In short, how is it that an ordinary person in hock to the higher-ups might be duped into feeling an allegiance to the ball clubs and companies with all the money?

How could any dues-paying, card-carrying member of organized labor’s various unions ever cheer for the Yankees, if by doing so meant implicitly siding with the length, breadth and power of the Man? (This was before George Steinbrenner, by the way).

Granted, while rooting for either of these behemoths legitimately might be considered indicative of human neuroses capable of being understood (and spelled) only by the likes of Sigmund Freud and Sidney Freedman, it’s at least possible to argue that sports enthusiasm generally is harmless, and perhaps even mentally healthy, in carefully regulated, smaller doses.

They’re only children’s games, and so long as the viewer displaces his or her extensive list of personal grievances and hostilities by leaving them to the combatants on the field, rather than bludgeoning targets in real life, perhaps it helps to grease the wheels of pervasive apathy.

But rooting for a corporation? How is it possible?

Cheering for U.S. Steel, Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, or Archer Daniels Midland?

Really?

It’s inexplicable, unfathomable and more than a bit degrading, and yet it’s exactly the path Americans chose to follow as the Greatest Generation receded into decay and the circuses grew ever more elaborate. Even those professing to hate the Yankees came to pull for the corporate giants, primarily because we were deluded into thinking that every man can be a king by investing in the rich man’s game.

Unfortunately, as the famous writer F. Scott Smith once observed, “The rich are different than you and me -- they have the Republican Party to ensure they hold on to their money.”

---

One such bloated monstrosity, which somehow still inspires affection in non-shareholders spite of itself, is the multinational amalgamation known as Anheuser Busch Inbev (ABInbev).

It was reported the other day that in Texas, a Houston-area wholesale distributor of Budweiser was paying cash to bar managers to take a certain local brewer’s beer off tap, and replace it with one of the distributor’s own brands.

While these allegations remain unproven, they do not come close to constituting a shocking revelation. Payola is illegal most places, and no one cares, because in subterfuges both great and small, payola is the way that each and every one of the ABInbevs and U.S Steels of the country came to be where they are today.

Naïveté simply has no place in determining the value of your stock.

Interestingly, a quick glance at the wholesaler’s web site shows that while ABInbev’s brands obviously are its malt and butter, a few craft brewers are on the roster, too. It’s entirely possible that the wholesaler paid to remove one craft brewer’s brand, and replace it with another, and how bizarre is that?

Moreover, in the wake of Internet outrage over the Budweiser wholesaler’s act of imperialistic hubris, there also were hints that some craft brewers – gasp! – have themselves practiced pay-for-play when it comes to draft placement.

Ah, but them’s fightin’ words.

Not us! We’re the honest, localized, creative and exuberant segment, not the old-time, immoral, ginormous ass hats. Craft brewers don’t play by the rules, we subvert them … conjure new paradigms … inject honesty and ethics into the equation ... and so on. The Greatest Generation of beer wholesalers was the one playing dirty pool, not the chosen, the redeemers, the innovators.

On the other hand, perhaps it points to the direction we’re all heading as our segment of the beer market matures, because however much we may like to think of ourselves as different, we still must play according to the rules of a system that is flawed at best, and at worst, inextricably broken.

There’s no glib moral to this story. Will the economic system we’ve chosen to abide in America permit the craft beer business (as well as others like it) to grow according to its own merits, with a semblance of ethical propriety, and without having to use the odious, time-tested “tools” of the trade?

Or, does the money stay where it is?