Farm Aid IV and Paper Sacks

The recent announcement by Guns N Roses about their first US tour in five years reminded me the first time I saw them.  It happened to be the last time Steve Adler played drums for the band.

In April 1990, I was living in Covington, Kentucky, a suburb across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. Covington was like the neighborhood on the wrong side of the tracks as far as Cincinnatians were concerned.  Or in this case, on the wrong side of the river.

However, Covington was considered one step-above its neighboring Kentucky cities on either side: Newport and Ludlow.  I was always amazed at the bridges connecting Covington and Cincinnati.  Two of them are still fresh in my mind.

The monster-sized, double-decker Brent Spence bridge makes no one forget this multi-laned, multi-Interstate bridge.  I-71 takes a sharp left into Cincinnati at the end of the Ohio side of the bridge, and I-75 veers towards the northwest.  But the classic bridge to me was the Roebling Suspension Bridge.  With its steel grated deck and huge suspension wires and classic limestone bridge moorings, this bridge was a blast to drive over.  Although, one day it swung violently back and forth.  No one could figure out why.  But it was never shut down because of it.

Back to Guns N Roses. My friends and I bought tickets for Farm Aid IV held on April 7 in Indianapolis.  The concert would be held in the Hoosier Dome.  One of the performers for this charitable concert was Guns N Roses.  The Hoosier Dome was later renamed the RCA Dome and then later torn down for the favor of the current Lucas Oil Stadium.

Farm Aid really hit home for me.  Family farms were part of my roots and anyone helping them out got my support.  Still chanting: Farm Aid, Farm Aid, Farm Aid!

So, my friends and I decided that instead of staying at the Crown Plaza Hotel the night after the concert, when we had reservations, we went up the night before the concert. Well, actually, early morning by the time we drove the two hours from Cincinnati to Indianapolis.  Unknown to me in those days before the World Wide Web and smart phones, there were two Crown Plaza hotels in Indianapolis.  The reservations were for the one in the Indianapolis suburb.  We had arrived at the downtown hotel two blocks away from the Hoosier Dome.

We not only convinced the hotel clerk to give us a room, but also at the lower rate of the hotel in the suburb. Really that was surprising since our “luggage” consisted of brown paper grocery sacks, and our clothing choices certainly did not match the other hotel clientele.   But at 3:00 in the morning, they probably figured it was an easy charge on my American Express card.  That card got me into a lot of places back in the 80s when AMEX actually had some clout.

Well, when we left the room next morning, with our paper grocery sacks under an arm, I decided to check out.  Guess who was checking out beside me with her bright red hair--Bonnie Raitt!  And who was behind me in line? Lou Reed! All of the stars for the concert had stayed in the same hotel.  And hotel security could not believe three guys with paper grocery sacks tucked under arm actually were allowed to stay in the hotel and were, in fact, mingling with the stars.

Well, after talking with a few managers in the hotel lobby because everyone was curious why we were carrying paper grocery sacks, we were able to give our tickets in the nosebleed section to some random people on the street.  We got free VIP tickets for down in front of the stage!  Sweet luck!  

After dropping our sacks into the trunk of my car, we went inside the Hoosier Dome and saw some great acts.  14 hours of great acts.

Beside the aforementioned Guns N Roses (live performance of “Civil War”), Bonnie Raitt, and Lou Reed; we also saw Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Neil Young’s live solo of “Rockin in the Free World”; John Mellencamp and his live performance of “Pink Houses”; Stealing Horses; a highly energetic Joe Ely (worth just seeing him); the rhythmic speech of Jesse Jackson; at the time an unknown named Garth Brooks; John Denver; Bruce Hornsby; Don Henley; Willie Nelson; and surprise guest appearance of Elton John!  Elton John performed “Candle in the Wind” dedicated for the AIDS victim, Ryan White, who died hours after the end of the concert.

The concert was a fundraising success.  But to me it was a success as a participant who not only supported a good cause but also got to see up close some great musical acts.  Farm Aid IV is still a vivid memory.

Critique of Hamilton County Commission Redistricting

So the Hamilton County Commission finally decided on redistricting for county commission districts.  This is not an easy task.  But it is an important one for anyone eligible to vote.  Why?

County commission districts set the parameters for the county election office and board to determine what the precinct lines will be.  The precincts will be used to determine what city council districts will be and what state house and state senate boundaries will be.  Some pretty hefty stuff not to take lightly.

So I have some problems with this redistricting plan passed by the commission.

First, I disagree with the premise that county commission districts could not crossover the Tennessee River.  Really, in this day of the Internet and texting and automobiles, we can't have county commissioners and school board members living on the other side of the river?

Now, I can understand that districts 1 and 9 should not have crossover lines over the river.  The foresight of not having a river bridge north of the Thrasher Bridge is just astounding.

But district lines for districts 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 could certainly cross the river at will.

I have a problem with three eastern districts in the county being way more people than in the western districts.  And part of this blame lies within the convenient fear of not crossing the river.  This reluctance has created three districts with more than 40,000 people in each and three districts with less than 35,000 each.  That disparity in representation is significant to me.

I do support the objective of creating two majority minority districts.  This would be districts 4 and 5. District 4 is an interesting ethnic blend.  Over 4,000 district 4 residents are Hispanic and about 28,000 are African-Americans.  That leaves about 9,000 who are neither.

But I thought the eastern, fast growing districts in 7, 8, and 9 had an interesting ethnicity:  combined the three districts have over 13,000 African-Americans and over 5,000 Hispanics.  I think the county commission district missed an opportunity to have a stronger Hispanic voting bloc by not adding East Lake and Ceder Hill current precincts to District 8.  Someday, there will need to be consideration for doing that type of planning.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is the ethnic-challenged-district that is District 1. The lack of ethnic diversity by a huge percentage might give the perception of racial gerrymandering even though we all know in Hamilton County that is not the case. Maybe the lack of a bridge over the Tennessee River in the northwestern part of the county that is tucked underneath the Cumberland Plateau has created a visible trace of being cut-off.  But a mere 1,200 people out of 34,000 plus are identified as either African-American or Hispanic in District 1.  It's easy to see how representing one district has a wide gulf of difference for representing another district.  And again for me, I have a problem with that concept in the redistricting plan.

New People, New Leaders in Hamilton County PTA Council

Last year, I led a group that restructured the Hamilton County PTA Council.  And what a change that re-structuring brought for PTA leaders and students in public education!

The council has four new officers who never served an elected office on the council before!  And almost every committee chairman is a new council leader!  This is awesome in that PTA leaders are being trained and developed to become the new council officers of tomorrow!

It is always good to see growth in PTA leadership on the council.  New people bring new perspectives as leaders.

 

The Rising

One of Bruce Springsteen's finer musical achievements, his album The Rising written out of the tragedy that was 9-11.  The song "The Rising" is about a fireman who loses his life saving others that day.  This video has the powerful lyrics:  "Can't see nothin in front of me" start the song about the firefighter crawling in the darkness of 9-11.