SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
April 10, 2024
Sullivan’s Salvos 4/11/24
In this edition:
*Happy 77th Birthday Gary!
*Iowa Women’s Basketball
*Supervisor Travel
*Did You Know?
*Happy 77th Birthday Gary!
Happy Birthday to local activist, Labor Leader, journalist, Scrabble Club President, and general man-about-town Gary Sanders, who turns 77 on April 14. If you know Gary, please drop him a line and wish him a Happy Birthday!
*Iowa Women’s Basketball
I have mentioned before in Salvos that despite my love of sports, I try not to write about it much here. But the Iowa Women’s Basketball Team has once again pretty much forced me to write about them!
What a season! Second in the nation for the second year in a row, and captured the hearts of fans everywhere! Congratulations, Iowa, on your best season ever!
My experience with the Iowa Women’s Basketball program is long and deep. I attended my first game in either ’78 or ’79. Iowa was coached by Lark Birdsong, the program’s inaugural coach. They were led by the great Cindy Haugejorde, a Minnesota prep who became a first team All-American and ended her career as Iowa’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder.
The game was played in the North Gym of the Field House. I’m not joking; there were about 5 small sets of portable metal bleachers on the home side, and two on the visitors. Had every seat been taken (and they were not) the place might have held 200 people. It cost exactly zero to get in, and there were no concessions.
Haugejorde had something like 28 points and 13 rebounds, which was a typical game for her, and led Iowa to victory over Mount Mercy. That is correct; Iowa was playing Mount Mercy. But, Mount Mercy was quite good then! And you have to understand, the NCAA did not even recognize women’s sports at this time!
I know it sounds like I’m talking about a game from 1928, but it was 1978. And the NCAA was still 4 years away from overseeing women’s sports. This game was played under the auspices of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). The AIAW was a very forward-thinking organization that simply got overwhelmed by the NCAA and their money. But in ’78, they were in charge.
A few years later, I arrived at the UI the same year as C. Vivian Stringer. Stringer immediately put Iowa Women’s Basketball on the map. And I had a great seat! You see, I did sports, news, and a little DJing at KRUI 89.7 FM, the student radio station. When Stringer and I started, KRUI had the broadcast rights to women’s basketball. So I did color and/or play by play for some of the best teams Iowa ever fielded.
In doing so, we got to know many of the players. Lisa Becker had been a local legend at CR Jefferson. The next year she was joined by Michelle “Ice” Edwards, who until Megan Gustafson and Caitlyn Clark came along, was without a doubt Iowa’s greatest player. Another group of stars were added the next year with Iowan Shanda Berry, Jolette Law, and Franthea Price.
Price was interesting to me. She was an incredible player – two-time First Team All American. Price could do it all, and much like Caitlyn Clark, did not lack confidence. She came to Iowa from Detroit, and was identified by some as having an “attitude.” In reality, Price was a social justice advocate before we used that phrase. She did not suffer fools, and she was the African American player most likely to call out the many aggressions a black female would face in Iowa City at that time. Even now, the UI is about 77% white. When I got here in the early 80s? Try 95% white. There were additional issues of gender and sexuality at play. It had to be difficult.
I got to know Price just a bit – she made it clear that she did not need me as a friend. She was tough, and pretty closed off to an immature white farm boy like me. It was not her job to educate me, and she didn’t try. As announcers, we had sometimes referred to her as “Fran” or “Frannie.” She made it clear that neither was acceptable. We played pick-up games together and against each other – yes, she was much better than me! But she did take note that I knew something about the game. When I graduated from high school, my whole school – kindergarten through 12 – had ZERO minorities. ZERO. I feel as though getting to know Franthea Price just a bit really opened my eyes to a larger world.
I never quit loving Iowa Women’s Basketball, always following closely over the years. Each of my daughters had a teammate at City High who went on to play for the Hawkeyes. Ever since my radio days, I have pretty much either A) been at Carver; B) watched on TV; or C) listened on the radio. I am always quick to go to the box score after every game. I have been hooked for a long, long time. And it has been a fun team to follow.
Then you have 2023 and 2024. What can I say? Caitlyn Clark has had the single greatest year and career of any player in any team sport in University of Iowa history. Better than Nile Kinnick – the best, period. Only 15-20 wrestlers might be able to claim a better season or career.
And the team? Not only the most successful, but the most fun to watch team in UI history! What else is there to say but Congratulations and Thanks! I have loved this team for a long, long time, and this is the cherry on top of a 46+ year fandom for me!
*Supervisor Travel
The Board recently had some discussions around Supervisor travel. Each Supervisor has a certain amount they are allocated for continuing education. There is wide latitude in terms of how Supervisors spend this money. Supervisor Green Douglass attended the Iowa Prairie Conference, for example.
I have attended the National Association of Counties (NACo) conference on 7 different occasions. It is typically well done, but it is expensive: rooms are needed for approximately 4 nights, and they are usually around $250 or more per night, depending on the location. The conference registration is usually well over $500. Throw in food and travel expenses, and it is quite easy to spend $2500 on the conference.
I have always been OK with this, because I believe in continuing education. But a recent discussion of Supervisor continuing education budgets was eye opening.
Supervisors Green Douglass, Fixmer Oraiz, and myself had each spent about half our allotted budgets for the fiscal year (through June 30). Supervisor Green had spent zero. Supervisor Porter, meanwhile, was $3500 over budget, and planning on going $9000 over budget. I find this problematic. Any County employee who did this would get disciplined. As it was, the other 3 Supervisors donated their budgeted amounts to cover the shortfall. There was just zero accountability.
In addition, times are changing. Our overall County budgets are getting tighter, and we are going to be forced to make harder and harder decisions. The first place our departments are looking when it comes to savings is continuing education.
This concerns me for a few reasons:
1. Many County jobs *require* continuing education to maintain certifications. Medical Examiner staff, planners, building inspectors, Sheriff’s Deputies, accountants, social workers, nurses, engineers, and many other jobs simply have no choice but to maintain their licenses.
Supervisors have no such requirements. Hell, we barely have to show up! So before our employees have to make sacrifices, I think Supervisors should lead on the issue, and personally spend less on continuing education.
2. Similarly, departments are now deciding to skimp on some equipment, software, etc. Those are things that help them to do their jobs better, and serve the public better. How can we justify increased Supervisor continuing education when any of these things get cut?
3. I’m not convinced that these conferences do much to make Johnson County a better place to live. Like I said, I have attended 7 NACo conferences. They were all fun. I learned at least something at every single one. But in all my seven years, I only brought home one idea that got implemented. It WAS a good one! – Our work with VITA and the EITC program has brought literally millions of additional dollars into Johnson County, and put it in the hands of our poorest residents. That was a real home run. But that is the ONLY time that has ever happened to my knowledge.
Supervisor Green Douglass came back from the Iowa Prairie Conference this year with a neat idea; I hope it blooms. (Pun intended.) But it is still safe to say the overall return on investment on these conferences has not been huge.
4. NACo tries to suck participants into several additional conferences. They have a legislative conference in DC every March. I hate to break it to you, but the GOP-led House does not give a damn what a few County Supervisors think. I cannot believe we get any value out of this.
5. Then NACo creates interest groups, such as a rural caucus and a women’s caucus, just to name a couple. There is nothing wrong with these, per se. But should we as taxpayers be paying for them? I find this to be very similar to the old “Who’s Who” books. Anyone can be in them – if you pay. NACo Committees are the same way; pay up, and you are on one. What is the benefit to local residents? Can anyone demonstrate that?
6. We have a history of saying no to these requests. Former Supervisor Terrence Neuzil got himself appointed to a NACo committee. But when he tried to get the rest of the Board to pay for his travel, the Board said no. So this is not a new thing. We’ve simply never had someone go so far over budget before.
Given all this, I think Supervisors need to seriously consider cutting our own budgets for continuing ed. The public is simply not getting the return on investment they deserve. It is called leadership.
*DID YOU KNOW? Iowa City native Tom Cech won the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering the catalytic properties of RNA.
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 @ 8:34 PM
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