(Via Blue Indiana) Jerry Denbo (D-French Lick) is retiring, effective immediately. Precinct committeemen will choose a replacement.
I can’t think of all the names at the moment, but it seems like a lot of House Democratic incumbents are going to be off the ballot in 2008. Ok, it looks like Denbo’s resignation had been anticipated for awhile now but hadn’t been formally announced. I imagine there is strategic value of some sort to Denbo’s resignation coming right after election day. The other Democratic vacancies are Dave Crooks (Washington); Joe Micon (West Lafayette); Bob Kuzman (Crown Point); and Duane Cheney/Jack Clem.
Update More on Rep. Denbo’s resignation here. He says he needs a better income than just a legislator’s salary — he used to be an insurance agent but couldn’t keep the business afloat while he was active as a legislator. The article also says he is getting a divorce. It doesn’t explicitly say that this is why he needs more money, but a correlation between the two is certainly plausible.
This is not in keeping with the subject at hand except it’s about French Lick,mentioned above..In a recent Chicago Cubs fan magazine there was a fascinating account of the Cubs Spring Training facilities in French Lick during 1945,due to constraints on wartime travel,they could not take the train to California where they had been training. That was the last year the Cubs were in a World Series,and they started it all in French Lick.’When it rained,they went inside a pavillion and threw the ball’ And fascinatingly enough, the Cubs trained also in French Lick in 1907-1908, the last time they won a world Series.Next time I’m in Indiana I’m going to make a side trip to French Lick just to see if there are any monuments to the Cubs and historical reminders. Maybe it has a hint of Cooperstown.From today’s mindset, I just cannot imagine baseball Spring Training in Southern Indiana,but it must have been marginally warmer than Chicago.
Lou:
I didn’t see any historical reminders other than what they mention on the tour of the West Baden Springs Hotel. Maybe they played in the hotel lobby (largest free standing dome in the world until the construction of the Astrodome)?
The renovated hotel is definitely worth a visit.
I didn’t know of the Cub connection to French Lick. There is a monument to Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown, the ace of the Cubs’ pitching staff when they won their only two world championships in 1907 and 1908, at his birthplace in Nyesville in Parke County. I’ve never been there, but maybe I check it out sometime. French Lick is worth checking out in any event. Like Cooperstown, it is an out-of-the way place in a beautiful setting. The town of French Lick isn’t nearly as charming as Cooperstown, but perhaps the gambling money will change that.
Speaking of Cub hall of famers from Indiana, Lou, do you know of the connection between 1930s second baseman Bill Herman and a modern Indiana political family?
West Baden Springs Hotel is a neat piece of history to visit. I remember twenty years ago driving through West Baden and seeing the old hotel looming in the distance; time and the elements trying to erase it from the landscape. My wife and I went there about four years ago to see the restoration in process. It is beautiful and still spectacular. I believe the hotel part is now open for guests.
Denbo’s “greatest” moment was getting ripped by Mark Boyle during an interview regarding a letter Denbo and a Republican legislator (bi-partisanship!) sent to the NCAA and CBS after Duke beat Indiana in the Final Four in ’92. The letter basically accused CBS of fixing the game so it could get a better matchup, but Denbo wouldn’t say the word “fix” when Boyle asked him if he indeed thought the games were fixed.
Boyle asked Denbo if any state time or money was spent on this. Denbo: “29 cents for a stamp.” Boyle: “DON’T YOU THINK 29 CENTS IS TOO MUCH TO SPEND ON SOMETHING AS IDIOTIC AS THIS?” Denbo: (Click.)
I didn’t know about that. But, my estimation of Jerry Denbo just went up. I’m still carrying a grudge against the poor officiating in that game generally and the incompetent referee Ted Valentine in particular.
Damon Bailey, Alan Henderson, Greg Graham, and Calbert Cheaney all fouled out and IU still had a shot to tie the game in the final minute. Crazy game. It’s amazing that the man is still allowed near a basketball court. That’s not to suggest that I subscribe to Denbo’s conspiracy theory, but at best, Valentine is an attention-loving camera hog who holds grudges and puts himself above the game. An official who wants to be noticed should not be an official.
I have baaad nightmares about that game. I was working for my parents between college and seminary, and tavels forced me to watch it at a truck stop in Tennessee. I was one unhappy person in a sea of rednecks…Then I moved to Minnesota that fall and had to deal with Christian Laettner’s whining on the Minnesota Timberwolves-and trust me he did a lot of it! If that wasn’t an intentional foul against Eric Anderson, I don’t know what one is.
I watched the first half in my college apartment and caught the second half on the radio with the bus driver on the way to my girlfriend’s formal dance. I was in a foul mood all night. She broke up with me shortly thereafter — I can’t swear the two things were related (that was the second & final time we broke up), but it’s a possibility.