SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
July 16, 2024
Sullivan’s Salvos 7/18/24
In this edition:
*RIP Jack Ryan
*Assassination Attempt
*Solon Beef Days
*Johnson County Fair
*The PATV Macrame Owl
*Did You Know?
*RIP Jack Ryan
Jack Ryan of Cedar Rapids died recently at 71. Jack spent over 30 years with Laborer’s Local 43 in Cedar Rapids, including 18 years as Secretary of the local.
Jack worked side by side with my Dad for over two decades. Very few people have a friend and coworker as loyal and supportive as Jack Ryan. He loved and supported my Dad and our family, and I loved him back.
RIP, Brother! Sullivan and Ryan forever!
*Assassination Attempt
I do not need to tell you how broken the American system of government is. Things are not working. Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor recently summed up my feelings when she said, “With fear for our democracy, I dissent.”
Then, on July 13, 2024, a gunman shot at former President Trump. This type of political violence is never acceptable. This type of gun violence is never acceptable. We simply must do better as Americans.
I am going to do everything I can do to defeat Donald Trump in November. Everything legal, that is. And that is the key. The only way we survive as a country is with a basic agreement to follow the rule of law.
While the vast majority of my fellow Democrats were horrified by the assassination attempt, a few joked about it. Nothing that happened Saturday was funny. If you found yourself joking about it, I think you should be ashamed of yourself. Please do better.
Meanwhile, we need to somehow, someway, find a way to move forward. Agreeing that political violence has no place in America would be a good start.
*Solon Beef Days
The 53rd annual Solon Beef Days runs Friday and Saturday July 19 & 20 in Solon. Steaks, rides, entertainment, a parade, and the now-legendary hay bale toss are just a few of the items on tap.
I say this every year, and it is because it comes from a place of pride: I can honestly say that I have been to roughly 47 of the 53 Beef Days. I wear it like a badge of honor! Make this the year to start your own streak!
For all the details, including a full schedule of events, see: http://beefdays.com/
*Johnson County Fair
The Johnson County Fair runs from Saturday, July 20 through Wednesday, July 24. This is a great opportunity for the whole family to take a step back toward our agricultural roots!
I enjoy the fair. Yes, it is typically hot out there. But that is why they sell ice cream! So, please stop out and enjoy the Fair. You’ll be glad you did!
For the full daily lineup of events, see: http://www.johnsoncofair.com/entertainment.html
*The PATV Macrame Owl
I was chatting with my friend Gary Sanders the other day, and we started laughing about the incident with the macrame owl on PATV. As we were laughing, I realized that this had happened in 1995. 30 years ago! Very few people in Johnson County today were here then and remember the incident. So kids, sit back and listen to the story of the macrame owl!
First, allow me to explain PATV. It stands for “Public Access Television,” and was created as part of the deal between Iowa City and the predecessor of Mediacom. That deal brought cable to Iowa City in 1979.
The original cable lineup had a few levels. “Basic cable” – which was necessary to get reception in pretty much every apartment building - was under $10/month and featured ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, Fox (which was brand new), the new “superstation” TNT from maverick billionaire Ted Turner, WGN (which carried the Cubs), and the PATV channels. “Expanded basic” cost a bit more and got you MTV, ESPN, CNN, and the like. On top of that, a customer could pay for additional movie channels like HBO.
Remember – this is the early 80s! There was no internet, no cell phones, no social media, and home video games were in their infancy. Television was *THE* thing, and television options had just increased dramatically. People had their tvs on, and they were flipping through the channels. A lot of them landed on the Public Access channels.
What was (is) local public access? Have you ever seen Wayne’s World? Two guys in a basement on Aurora, Illinois public access? Well, we had the same thing here. My late friend Bob Welsh was the Chair of the first Telecommunications Committee in Iowa City, and they fought hard for as many local public access channels as they could get.
The Iowa City Telecommunications Committee led by Welsh argued for and got several local access channels. Iowa City cable subscribers had City Channel 4, the Library Channel, the Kirkwood Channel, and PATV. I may even be forgetting one or two. These channels carried the meetings of local government bodies, the Friday Night Concert Series, readings at Prairie Lights, special events, and the like. Except PATV. It was experimental.
The most prolific PATV “star” was a fellow named Ken Wessels. I never quite figured out the point of anything Mr. Wessels was trying to do. It was a strange, bumbling effort that almost accidentally came off as Avant Garde. Several of my friends played drinking games with the episodes! But I can tell you this much – people watched! More people knew Ken Wessels than knew who their City Councilors were!
My friend Gary Sanders hosted a couple of political talk shows, a game show, and numerous political forums. A surprisingly large number of people watched. A woman I knew named Ava Su Ganwei had a show that could have been described as Bob Ross without the painting. My friend Andy Small did all sorts of rude and obnoxious shows, looking to get a rise out of folks. Tom Nothnagle had a music show where he played his guitar. My late friends Terry Cunningham and Keith Ruff did a disability show called Access Iowa City. It was all delightfully weird, and all delightfully Iowa City.
But the PATV thing that caused the biggest stir was called “Exile on Stupo Street.” This show was created by a fellow named Ralph Barton, a 24-year-old theatre student at the University of Iowa. It consisted of a soundtrack of birds and rodents squawking. Onscreen, there appeared a Playboy centerfold with certain parts pixilated. And then there was a macrame owl on a popsicle stick. That’s it. That was the show.
Iowa City Mayor Susan Horowitz was not happy. She wanted it pulled. A City Councilor named Mike O’Donnell wanted PATV shut down. He had a large group of angry residents behind him, too. Barton claimed freedom of speech. Next thing you know, Johnson County Attorney J. Patrick White was being asked to decide if “Exile on Stupo Street” was protected by the First Amendment, or if it met the definition of “obscenity.” We had our own “R. Mutt” situation right here in River City! This was big news – as I recall, it became a national story.
PATV was in crisis mode, fearing for its existence. Doug Allaire, who had been my instructor at the UI, was Chair of PATV at that time. Doug did a great job navigating the stormy seas.
After much deliberation, White declined to press charges against both PATV and Barton. White wrote, ”The photograph is not appreciably different than many which are widely available in other formats.”
It is truly amazing how many of these folks have since passed. Welsh, Allaire, Horowitz, Ganwei, Wessels, Small, Cunningham, and Ruff are all no longer with us. I don’t know what ever happened to Ralph Barton.
J. Patrick White served another decade as County Attorney. He also reads Salvos and will probably let me know if I got any of this wrong!
I also know what happened to City Councilor Mike O’Donnell; I beat him by a mere 127 votes to secure the third and final Democratic nomination for Supervisor in the June 2004 primary election. Ironically, my victory was in part due to a disastrous performance from O’Donnell on one of Sanders’ PATV forums!
And that, kids, is the story of the PATV macrame owl!
*DID YOU KNOW? The gasoline-powered tractor was invented by John Froelich in 1892 in the Iowa village of Clayton.
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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