SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
November 8, 2023
Sullivan’s Salvos 11/14/23
In this edition:
*RIP Lora Shramek
*Election Results
*Veterans Day
*Casualties of War
*Following Up With “Peter”
*Did You Know?
*RIP Lora Shramek
I am terribly sad to report the death of Lora Shramek, longtime Johnson County Human Resources Director. Lora had been with Johnson County over 25 years; in fact, she was the only HR Director Johnson County ever had!
Lora was a Johnson County girl through and through, having been born, raised, and lived most of her adult life in Monroe Township west of Swisher. Lora was smart, hardworking, and really cared about Johnson County employees.
Lora treated every nickel of taxpayer money as though it was her own; I’d love to see more of that! She will be deeply missed by everyone at Johnson County. My prayers to her family and all who loved her. RIP, Lora.
*Election Results
School and municipal elections are in the books. Let’s chat about some of the results:
In a very unusual circumstance, the Swisher and Shueyville areas led the way in terms of turnout. That was driven by a large College Community School District Bond referendum, which was one of the few in Eastern Iowa to pass.
In the ICCSD elections, the incumbents plus one (Lisa Williams, Molly Abraham, Mitch Lingo, and Charlie Eastham) easily defeated a right-wing slate of three, defeating them by margins of greater than 85-15. Way to go, ICCSD! We needed to make a statement, and we did!
In the Iowa City Council elections, there was no such clear message. It was a strange election, with many people splitting ballots in different ways. In the end, Andrew Dunn won in District C, Laura Bergus won in District A, and Mazahir Salih and Josh Moe won At Large.
There were two noticeable upsets: In Solon, it appears longtime Mayor Steve Stange was defeated by Councilor Dan O’Neil. In Tiffin, longtime Mayor Steve Berner was defeated by newcomer Tim Kasparek. It will be interesting to hear what moved voters in each of these communities.
Thanks to all who ran! Congratulations to all the winners!
*Veterans Day
Happy Veterans Day on November 11. Thanks to all the men and women who have served our country. I appreciate your service, and wish you peace.
Veterans For Peace invites you to join them to reclaim the spirit of the Armistice and welcome honored guest and Nobel Peace Prize nominee David Swanson on Saturday, November 11. They will gather at 10:30 AM at the Weatherdance Fountain Stage on the Iowa City Ped Mall.
Bugler Roscoe Porch will sound Assembly prior to the start, and sound Taps after the bell ringing at 11:00. Then Swanson will talk about how "The World Needs an Armistice Day.” Refreshments and pizza immediately following at the Iowa City Public Library where Swanson will deliver his main address: "A Global Monroe Doctrine Needs a Global Armistice." This event is free and open to the public.
*Casualties of War
The following ran in Salvos in May of 2021.
I am going to share a little story. I was at a good friend’s business the other day, standing in the parking lot talking, when a guy runs up and says, “Call 911! The guy in the bus stop is barely breathing!” So my buddy and I run over to the bus stop. I get about 3 feet away from the guy and I am shouting, “Hey! Can you hear me? Can you respond?” He didn’t say anything, although his eyes opened momentarily. I agreed with the first man; this guy’s breathing was shallow. So my buddy called 911.
An ambulance arrived so quickly it was amazing; probably one minute, tops. A fire truck followed literally only another minute later, and police arrived within 5 minutes. When this guy (we will call him Peter) heard the ambulance sirens, he got very agitated. He stood up, although he was pretty wobbly. I could tell that he had soiled the shorts he was wearing.
Peter ran up to the Ambulance (it was only a few steps) and started screaming “F You!” at the top of his lungs and slapped the window. The Ambulance crew kept their windows rolled up, and a police officer approached Peter. Peter started screaming, “I am a F_ing veteran! I am a F_ing veteran!” The officer did a great job of deescalating Peter (CIT at work!) and got him to sit in the bus shelter.
I approached the ambulance, and since I didn’t recognize either person, I introduced myself. They told me they see Peter all the time – that is how they know his name. They said he gets hospitalized frequently. Meanwhile, the officer offered to ride in the back of the ambulance with Peter. Peter just sat there, muttering, “I am a f_ing veteran!”
By now, I had spent 15 minutes watching this, and I needed to get to an appointment. So I said goodbye to my friend and left. I don’t know what happened to Peter.
So, the next day, I spoke to Gary Boseneiler, Veteran’s Affairs Director for Johnson County. I mentioned Peter, and asked if Gary knew of him. Gary not only knew of him, but has met with Peter many times. According to Gary, Peter is calm and respectful when he visits Gary’s office. And yes, Peter is a veteran of the US Armed Services.
We talk a lot about how few of our soldiers die in war nowadays. The US has lost 7036 soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan over the 20 years of those wars. While 7000 people strikes me as an unthinkable loss of life, that compares quite favorably to the 60,000 lost in 11 years of Viet Nam. But counting deaths does not give us the true cost of war. Unfortunately, all wars seem to lead to many additional casualties.
That is correct. Casualties are NOT just deaths. Casualties include any person who is killed, wounded, imprisoned, or missing as a result of war. And the human costs of our never-ending wars include many broken men and women. People like Peter. People who signed up to serve. He didn’t do this to himself. WE did this to him. WE made him do this. This is OUR fault as a Country. We own this.
As I said, 7035 soldiers have died in our long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the number of veterans who died by suicide in 2018 was 6,435. Our veterans are bringing the wars home.
Let’s get our veterans the help they need. And let’s quit sending American soldiers abroad to come back as casualties of war.
*Following Up With “Peter”
You just read the story of “Peter.” It ran just 16 months ago. Johnson County Veteran’s Affairs Director Gary Boseneiler caught me in the hallway the other day. Gary informed me that Peter is dead. He was 38 – I would have guessed him to be at least 15 years older.
Like too many real-life stories, there is no happy ending here. As I said above, let’s get our veterans the help they need. And let’s quit sending American soldiers abroad to come back as casualties of war.
*DID YOU KNOW? World War I officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919. However, the fighting ended about seven months before that when the Allies and Germany put into effect an armistice on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
For that reason, Nov. 11, 1918, was largely considered the end of “the war to end all wars” and dubbed Armistice Day. In 1926, Congress officially recognized it as the end of the war, and in 1938, it became an official holiday, primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I.
But then World War II and the Korean War happened, so on June 1, 1954, at the urging of veterans service organizations, Congress amended the commemoration yet again by changing the word “armistice” to “veterans” so the day would honor American veterans of all wars.
Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
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---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 1:56 PM
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