Monetizing My Website

I’ve been spending most of my time lately researching how to monetize my online contest, www.SmartestofUS.com . Originally I had thought I could charge and entry fee and use the entry fee to finance the prize. With 3,000 daily contestants and an entry fee of $10.00 I would be able to generate a prize purse of over a million dollars. In a conversation with my lawyer about the rules of the contest she informed me that based on her experience I would need an exit clause in the rules to get me out of the obligation of the prize money. She went on to explain that in her years or experience she had never seen an online contest produce the results I would need to make my contest successful and profitable. This was contrary to all the input that I had received from the web designers, the advertising agencies, and the programmers that I had been working with for the prior two months.

As I look back I’m not sure they were misleading me or I was just hearing what I wanted to hear. I’m thankful that my lawyer was straight with me and opened my eyes before I went through the internet minefield I was preparing to enter.

So here I am with a contest written and ready to be put on line to drive traffic to my primary site www.BestofUS.com . Google search led me to http://www.quantcast.com, a site that provides a demographic analysis of 80% of the sites on the internet. I then searched for sites that offered IQ tests on the internet and found that the top listed site, IQtest.com, had average daily traffic of over 10,000 U.S. visitors. Further research on www.alexia.com confirmed the daily traffic as well as gave me a list of all the links that tied to IQtest.com. With this information I'm armed with what I need to do to equal or exceed the traffic achieved by IQ. I’ll use Elance.com to find a firm to do my SEO putting www.SmartestofUS.com in the number one position on Google, Yahoo and MSN. I’ve brought the prize down to and Apple MaxBook thus bringing the cost of the prize down to a manageable amount. I’ll personally fund the kickoff PR and advertising campaigns. IQ doesn’t advertise and doesn’t offer a prize so with these two additional features and a better layout I should be able to exceed IQ’s traffic.

My task now is to monetize the site through advertising (pay per view, pay per click, and co registration). I’ll also build a full Personal IQ Analysis which I can sell for $10.00 and offer other Smartest of U.S. merchandise which will supplement the advertising revenue.

My next task is to get the site up and running, plug in the ad revenue and see what happens. I’ll keep you posted.

Stop! Those are My Tax Dollars

I have been a small business man for the past 20 years. I have found myself across the desk form a banker on numerous occasions; some asking for money to grow my business and some to ask for money to keep my business afloat during hard times. Each time the banker required me to put up my wife and my accumulated assets as a condition of securing the loan.

Today we are seeing executives coming before us, the taxpayer, asking for money to carry them through rough times, in many cases of their own making. I feel we, as taxpayers, are in a no win position; we have to keep some of them alive and running to keep our economy alive and running.

As the banker required me and my wife, the senior management teams of Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Citi Group, Bank of America, AIG, American Express, Regions, and the many others should be required to put their estates on the line if they want to borrow our money. If they truly believe that their plan is achievable they will put up; on the other hand if they don’t believe they will be able to repay us they will leave the room.

It is time that we, the taxpayers, start gaining some control over our money, if we don’t our children and grandchildren will work their lives to pay for our mistakes and lack of fiscal responsibility.

Borrow and Give Fiscal Policy

Below is a link to a video done by Fred Thompson, ex-presidential candidate. Watch it to the end and you'll gain a better understanding of where our nation is headed if we continue our current borrow and give-away fiscal policy. This was forwarded to me from my conservative friend Mike Zimmer, we have found something that agree on.

I've been a small business man for over 20 years, I've had to go to the bank and borrow money on numerous occasions; sometimes to grow my business and sometimes to keep my business afloat through hard times. On all occasions the banker asked me and Nita to co-sign the loan. In other words put everything that we had accumulated up to secure the loan.

Why aren't we, the taxpayers, demanding that the senior management team of Ford, GM, Chrysler, AIG, Citi Group, American Express, Bank of America and the many others put their estates on the line to save their companies? If they are not willing to risk their assets why should we be willing to mortgage our children's and grandchildren futures to bail them out? Put UP of Close Down!

Fred on the Economy:
http://blip.tv/file/1528079

Designing a Contest to Build Website Traffic

My website is www.BestofUS.com; its theme is built around the recognition of the “Best of the US”. I started in 2006 by building a database of the best doctors, dentists, lawyers, financial advisors by searching the internet for those professionals that have displayed their commitment to their profession through furthering their education in their field, received peer group recognition or have been singled out for their work. Over the past two years our listings have grown to over 65,000 listings in 10 professions. Last year we added The Best High School Students in the US. We currently have 3,600 students listed in 8 fields of study. If your interested in my motivation for this read Shannons Story on www.BestofUS.com.

In an effort to build site traffic I have designed and built an online contest, “Searching for the Smartest of the US”. The contest program will administer a 50 question 15 minute IQ test. The questions will be randomly drawn from a data base of over 3000 questions thus guaranteeing that repeating contestants will not receive the same questions and thus gain an advantage.

Initially I wanted to offer a sizable cash prize and charge a $10 entry fee. I hired Tsan Abrahamson to write my Official Rules that would comply with the 50 state laws that deal with online contests. I hired Solar Velocity to design the landing page and the contest look as well as act as host of the contest. I learned that I could run a pay per click advertising program with a $25,000 monthly budget that would drive 2000 potential daily contestants to the site. Under this scenario the contest would generate a $1,000,000 prize purse, a sizable profit to The Best of the US, and increased BestofUS.com site traffic.

This is when I learned about conversion rate and started seriously asking, “Will 2000 people per day pay $10 to find out if they are one of the Smartest of the US?” My decision, after three weeks of investigation and research, was; “No they wouldn’t put up $10.” The risk was just too high.

Thus I have to devise a new business plan that offers the contest with no entry fee, some form of a prize (like a Smart Car), and a sponsor who will pay for the leads that I will generate. That sponsor would be someone like Phoenix University.

The motivation to participate in the contest will be a long shot at the prize and to find out “Where do you rank among the Smartest of the US?” We might even award a wall plaque to the “100 Smartest of the US”.

I’ll keep you updated on my progress.

Searching for the Smartest of the U.S.

I am building a program to deliver an online contest Searching for the Smartest of the US. The ideas is driven by my website www.BestofUS.com and my desire to recognize the smart people in our country. After all we regularly recognize the Biggest Looser, the Most Eligible Bachelor, America's Got Talent, and Survivor. Why are ignoring the smart people. Can you name the last Pulitzer Prize winner?

The contest will be an annual year long event. Contestants will be invited to come to www.SmartestofUS.com,pay a $10 entry fee, take a 15 minute 40 question test to find the smartest people in the US. The winner will receive a $50,000 prize, 12 monthly winners will receive a $5,000 prize, and we'll award cash prizes down to the 1000 smartest person in the US. Over 16 million people search for online contestants and sweepstakes every month, nine million play online poker.

The questions have been written, a bank of 3000 to be drawn from, the program has been written, the designers are hard at work, and the advertising campaign is being worked on.

I want to share some of my thoughts about how to present The Smartest of the US contest in hopes that any readers will share their incite or opinions.

As I see it there are three ways that I can present my contest each with differing appeal and differing risk and reward:

1. With a fixed prize ($50,000 to winner and payout to next 1000 highest scores, an exposure of $500,000 plus). This carries a high risk; what if the revenue doesn't cover the advertising and prize cost? It carries a high appeal; able to state the prize in the ads thus pulling high traffic. How many people really think their one of the 1000 smartest so how many will enter? But then we are paying the top 1000 and the entry fee is just $10.00.

2. With a prize that is tied to the level of entire fees (sliding prize); the level of risk goes down and the exposure is just the advertising which can be stopped if the entries are not coming. The potential prize purse actually doubles if we reach our projected participation level of 2000 entries per day. The advertising copy is then limited because an inability to state a definite prize level early on, thus potentially less traffic.

3. Drop the entry fee and offer the same prize as stated in option #1, and sell the promotion up front to a Sponsor who can be tied into The Smartest of the US. (The Smart Car, Phoenix University, Apple Computer). With no entry fee a banner ad campaign could yield a daily traffic of 50,000 or more resulting in a lot of advertising impressions. If it's free most people would be interested in where they stand in a Smartest of US ranking. With a 5% conversion rate on leads it could generate 775,000 annual leads. I could show a $3.5 million value to Phoenix University, who's accustomed to paying between $25 and $60 for leads, and offer the promotion for sale at a sizable discount.

Give these options some thought and if you have any comments please share them with me.

The Mad DJ came calling

Halloween came to our house again this year on October 31. Nita and I bought enough candy for 150 Trick or Teeters, just like the past three years we got about 50 goblins at our front door. Nita and I still remember the year we ran out of candy and had to turn out the lights and go to the basement and turn up the TV down there so we couldn’t hear the doorbell. We’re going to the beach for Thanksgiving so we’ll try to get rid of some of our excess there.

These are pictures of Haileigh and Emma as the entered our house. Trent and Haileigh came up with this costume that the called the “Mad DJ,” the most creative costume that I have ever seen. Then take a close look at Emma, this is an Angelina Jolie in the making.


 
 
 
 

The Best of the US

I have been spending most of my time the last several weeks working on my website, www.BestofUS.com. I want to redesign the site and build it's monthly traffic. I feel that BestofUS has great potential to do good as well as generate cashflow.

The Best of The U.S.

www.BestofUS will be redesigned to have a landing page which will direct the visitor to the Professionals Page, the High School Page, and our new page which is under construction: The Smartest of US page.

The Smartest of US is a contest which we anticipating will bring us site traffic of 3000 to 5000 visitors per day. I own the URL SmartestofUS.com. The contest has the potential to generate revenue through an entry fee. The details are being worked out with our attorney.

The landing page will also offer current content consisting of RSS feeds to relative blogs and news. The site will look like WebMD.com or Wellness.com, with the flash screens directing visitors to our listing pages.

All pages need SEO, and SEM work. We need to build our web links with our 63,000 listed professionals and High School student’s social network pages.

With increased site traffic and public awareness we want to build our listing pages business plan around increased professional listing upgrades. We need to offer a monthly or annual payment plan with an automatic renewal. We currently have 63,000 professionals listed with 300 upgraded to include contact information and web link.

We need to market our Best High School Student page through FaceBook and MySpace, and support it through advertising. The page needs to turn into a Social Networking site for the Smartest Students keyed to College Admissions, Scholarships, Competitions, and Intern Opportunities.

Searching for the Smartest of U.S. (Under construction)

OverviewThe Best of the U.S. announces a year long $1 million competition to find the smartest individual in the United States. We will hold twelve monthly competitions starting January 1, 2009.

Participants will be asked to answer 50 questions online in an allotted time of 15 minutes.

Each entry will carry a $10.00 fee; contestants will be allowed to enter as often as they wish.

The 50 questions will be randomly drawn from a data base of over 4,000 questions.

Each month the top 10 scorers will qualify for the semifinals. The 10 semi-finalists will be tested in a testing center to determine the monthly winner. The monthly winner will be paid a cash prize of $10,000 and qualify as one of the 12 finalists.

The twelve finalists will be invited to a central location in February 2010 to be tested and to determine The Smartest of U.S.

The winner and 999 runner-ups will share in the $1 million purse.
Grand Prize = $100,000
1st Runner-up through 80th Runner-up = $5,000
81st Runner-up through 180th Runner-up = $1,000
181st Runner-up through 1000th Runner-up = $500

The top ten monthly competitors and their corresponding scores will be posted on the website everyday.

The top 1000 annual competitors and their scores will be posted on the website.

The competition is open to all residents of the United States 18 years of age or older.

The South Sea Bubble of 1720

Michel Zimmer, a friend of mine, brought another financial crisis of the past to my attention, The South Sea Bubble of 1720. As I did my research anger swept through my brain. Could our Financial Crisis have been a reenactment of the South Seas Bubble of 1720 that almost brought the English Empire to its knees? Could this all have been as a result of our political leaders turning a blind eye because they were involved in this whole mess from the beginning? Could there be high ranking officials in our government who had a personal interest is seeing the Sub-Prime Mortgage leveraging expand to the levels that it reached?
You read what I read on Wickipedia and let me know what you think.
Click on the headline and it will take you to Wikipedia or paste this address in your brouser. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sea_Bubble

Financial Crisis ....Thud

Thud…. This feels like the bottom. Oh, we’ll see another Hedge Fund or two go down, and we’ll see some insurance companies and pensions funds tell their dirty secrets, but that news is nothing compared to: BREAKING NEWS…"THE GLOBAL ECONOMY IS FALLING". This was as bad as Chicken Little screaming…"THE SHY IS FALLING". We’ve survived both, and we will create a base and then grow from here. If you have cash, next week is the time to buy.
Now we need to focus on our next president and congress delivered to compliments of George W. Bush. Don’t blame John McCain for not giving it his best; Jesus Christ couldn’t have won as a Republican.
Let me restate: These are My Opinions.

Financial Crisis….. Proud Owner of Banks

Today the US Government committed $250 billion of our tax dollars to purchase preferred shares of nine banks plus any number of others who wish to play. I think this is a good thing in light of the situation that we find ourselves in. In fact we as tax payers should make money on the deal. The problem is that we have taken a large step towards Socialism, and I fear it will not stop here. The Swap and CDO problem is not fully unwound; there are more casualties to come. The banks are rescued; next we will see insurance companies, and pension funds that need propping up not to mention the auto industry. They will have to be rescued as well and that means more tax dollars and more Socialism. The money is allocated, $700 billion, last week. What have our leaders done to us, our children and our grandchildren, and all so the fat cats could have a bigger boat, house and airplane?

Financial Crisis ….Stabilization?

Monday morning the DOW open up 425 points based on the action of Great Britain’s support of its markets and banks over the weekend. This stimulated anticipation of the US government’s additional support of the US markets and banks. This all looks good but we must remember that we are in a market that is being driven by liquidation not fundamentals and technicals. I believe there are still a slew of hedge funds, mutual funds, pension funds and insurance companies who have to adjust their balance sheets to allow for the devaluation of their sub prime based investment holdings. As these assets are valued in the market place the mark to market rule requires them to write them down on their books. In order keep their asset to liability ratios in compliance with regulations and to fund growing redemptions they will need to raise cash, which will mean more liquidation. Monday ended up 938 on the DOW signaling that investors want back in feeling that we have set the bottom. I agree that we have hit the bottom but I don’t think that we are out of the woods yet, we still have bad news to come from some of our largest financial institutions. I feel this is the time to own hard assets and arga assets. I like coal, natural gas, oil, gold, and agricultural ETF’s. I also like oil companies, we have seen a 40% drop in the cost of oil and a 15% drop at the pump; someone is making the 25% difference.
Definition: LIBOR = London Inter-Bank Offer Rate. The interest rate that the banks charge each other for loans (usually in Eurodollars). This rate is applicable to the short-term international interbank market, and applies to very large loans borrowed for anywhere from one day to five years. This market allows banks with liquidity requirements to borrow quickly from other banks with surpluses, enabling banks to avoid holding excessively large amounts of their asset base as liquid assets. The LIBOR is officially fixed once a day by a small group of large London banks, but the rate changes throughout the day.

Financial Crisis - More to come

The Lehman Brothers Auction that I spoke of yesterday took place today and the strike price on their debt instrument investments (COD) sold for 9.75 cents on the dollar. That means those who wrote the Credit Swaps (Insurance) owes the investors 90.25 cents on the dollar. Some assets have been sold over the past months in preparation for this and more assets will have to be sold to cover these shortages (estimated to be $60 trillion) or the writers of the swaps will go under or the investors will be left holding the empty bag. In all cases some money will have to be raised, assets sold, which will put more selling pressure on the stock market. Thus look for the markets to go lower next week. The long and short is that the $10 million package of mortgages that we spoke of yesterday is now valued at $975,000. I believe that this will cause more banks and brokerage firms to fail in the next few weeks. It will take a month or two for the dust to settle, ie… banks to close doors, the government to implement their $700 billion rescue package, and global governments to initiate a coordinated effort (this weekends G7 meeting). From there the market will have to build confidence and as it builds the market will rally. I will be putting my money in commodities, oil, coal, agribusiness, natural gas: these are things that you and I will continue to be purchased at some level as the economy regains strength. I don’t have to buy cars, heavy equipment, computers, software, or houses so I’ll stay away from consumer discretionaries. I’ll also stay away from financials; a year from now the financial industry will look very different then it dose today. I don’t know how but I don’t want to get caught in the effects of heightened government regulation which usually translates to less risk and less profits thus lower value. The world is not coming to an end, the sun will rise tomorrow, and we will get through this and come out of this crisis on the other side better then we entered. I’ll keep posting until I don’t have an opinion.

Financial Crisis...What's Next?

Today we saw a 678 point drop in the DOW. The DOW has now lost 25% of its value over the past thirty days, 39% in the past year.

Why? The Global Economy has been on a credit binge for the past 40 years and this is the day of reckoning. The Sub-Prime Mortgage Crises brought our banking and investment markets into the binging thus geometrically multiplying the effects of the overall misuse of credit.

Banks lent money to unqualified borrowers to buy homes. Both buyer and lender knew that the borrower would not be able to make the payments when the favorable mortgage terms reset; but both also knew that the price of real estate was going to continue to go up and thus this would not be a problem. Waiting outside the bank were a hoard of investment bankers; CDs were paying 2.5% and this new mortgage was paying 7%, they snatched them up as fast as the bank could write them. These Investment Banks were not held to the same rules as Consumer banks; they could use borrowed money (leverage) to buy these mortgages. They could borrow short term money at 2.5% and turn it into an investment that was paying 7%. Granted there was a risk in these Sub Prime Mortgages, so the Investment Banks packaged maybe a 1000 of them together all with different degrees of risk thus diversifying the investment a CDO. Smart investors recognized this risk and asked for some assurance that if these mortgages should default they would still get their money. In rides AIG on a white horse and offers a Credit Swap, (Insurance to pay the investor if the mortgage should default) but not being called insurance it was not held to the rules of insurance (You must keep deposits on hand to pay any claims).

Over the past 60 days we have seen banks fail. Auditors came in and found that their assets on hand were out of line with their debt obligations and they were unable to raise enough capital to bring their debt to equity ratio back into line. The consumer was OK, the FDIC stepped in and made their deposits up to $100,000 good. But that other bank that lent the failed bank some short term money the week before lost its funds. This is why the global banking system has frozen-up. Banks are afraid to lend other banks any money, banks are afraid that the assets they have on their books will be devalued (The mark to market rule: and asset is worth whatever the market will pay for it today). If such a devaluation should accure they could be forced to close their doors.

Over the past 60 days we have seen Commercial Banks fail or be bought out. As the mortgages started to default investors stopped getting their 7% interest payments, they panicked and demanded their money from their broker. First the brokerage frim started liquidating their holdings to cover the demands for cash, thus putting selling pressure on the stock market and starting the slide down. Bear Sterns, Merrill Lynch and AIG were not able to keep up with the outflow of money and sought a governmental life preserver, Lehman Brother filed for bankrupsy.

That brings us to two weeks ago when AIGs Credit Swap business came out from under the rock it had been hiding under. This is when the banks, hedge funds, pension funds, insurance companies, and institutional investors learned that their Credit Swap (Insurance) had no capital to pay claims. Remember if you have a package of mortgages with a face value of $10 million on your books with insurance, its worth $10 million even with the defaults, but if there is no money to pay off the insurance…What are your mortgages worth? Last week it was announced that there would be an auction to auction off Lehman Brothers CDOs and Credit Swaps on Friday October 10, 2009…tomorrow. Remember the Mark to Market Rule. Tomorrow everyone will know what the assets they hold on their books and in their portfolios are worth. That is why the market has been in a freefall for the past eight days of trading. If hedge funds had anything of value it was being sold in fear that Monday October 13 could be too late. That $10 million package of mortgages could be worth $120,000.

Over the next 90 days our banking system and our investment markets will take a new form, as they should. It is my opinion that if you own banking and investment firm stocks you could be in for some real hurt. On the other hand if you own stock in well managed companies you will have more in your account next year at this time then you do today. When it’s all over the greedy bankers, hedge funds, brokerage firms, and speculators will be the big losers, as they should.

Berlin, Germany

09/07/2008 We docked this morning in Warnemunde, a city of 8,000 founded in 1323 but did not come to life until it’s wealthy neighbors of Rostock discovered the pleasures of the sea, In the early 1900’s it was noted for it’s strictly segregated men’s and women’s beaches. Warnemunde has advanced over the past 108 years and now boasts of its beach dedicated to nude bathing. Our day started with a three hour train ride to Berlin. We caught a hop-on-hop-off bus for 12 Euro each to see the city. Our mistake; we got on a bus where the guide alternated between Germen and English description of the sights. It was hard to follow thus taking away from the city. I am glad we went to Berlin but I don’t see us coming back; it’s just another big city and the history has been changed with new construction. Over the past 100 years all the old building were either destroyed in WWII or have been replaced with new construction, many times replicating the old but still new. I found it confusing that most of the sights worth seeing were in East Berlin and not West Berlin. The history of the Gate and the Wall were interesting and did bring back memories but overall Berlin was disappointing to all of us.

Copenhagen, Denmark

09/05/2008 I turned a year older today, (23,360 days alive) not to go unnoticed by Ron and Avie. While relaxing on the sun deck I was jarred to consciousness by the public announcement, “This guy is celebrating his birthday today, that’s right it’s his birthday.” Ron stood over me making his declaration to over five hundred sunning cruisers.
I took my first bicycle spinning class and I’m looking forward to my next opportunity to bring this aging body back to fighting form. The evening ended with a lobster and grouper dinner (singing waters, “Happy Birthday”, cake) again courtesy of Ron and Avie, and a 70’s musical stage production that ended with a tribute to the group Queen. They couldn’t have chosen better for Nita and me; we sang along with every word.
What a fabulous way to celebrate your birthday, (one of the days I will remember) last year we did it in China.

Copenhagen, Denmark
09/06/2008 As we moved up the Baltic Sea the weather changed from 61 and sunny to 58 rainy and overcast but cleared by noon. Nita and Avie met Lars, one of Avie’s internet students for a private day tour while Ron and I sought out the free bikes that are available around Copenhagen. It turned out that the availability of bikes was not plentiful but after two and a half hours of walking Copenhagen we did find two bikes to finish out our city exploration. We found Copenhagen to be inviting, friendly and easy to get around in with many pedestrian areas. Most notable were the Danish women, they are beautiful; blond deep tanned skin, full figured and friendly. Not being able to locate the free bikes readily we made it a point to ask for help in our search from only beautiful women. This added to our difficulty because we often found it hard to follow their instructions having spent most of our time with them admiring their “features”.
Lars met Nita and Avie and they toured the city via the double decker bus with side trips to Tivoli Park, the pedestrian shopping area and the city lakes. The NCL cruise ships all operate under a “freestyle” eating plan which gives us a choice of eleven restaurants to eat in each evening thus we are with new people every night adding to the cruising experience.

The Norwegian Jewel out of Dover England

Thursday 6:30 PM we find ourselves at the Tzars dinning room; smoked salmon appetizer, leg of lamb entrée, and soufflé for desert. Exactly 24 hours have passed since we boarded our plane in Birmingham and we are now in the English Channel heading for the Baltic Sea. Those 24 hours are a blur. We did have a plane ride to London, little to no sleep, a bus ride from London to Dover, lunch and still little to no sleep.

We can’t help making comparisons between our new ship and the Royal Caribbean that took us to Spain in May. The RC was a floating luxurious Spa City, the NCL is a floating Ritz Carlton, and thus far the food is better on the NCL; then there’s the Carnival out of Mobile… it’s a NASCAR race with good food and good entertainment.

Ron survived the two plane rides, and swears that he has had his last. Our first stop will be Copenhagen, Denmark Saturday morning 8:00 AM; Friday is for relaxation and sleep.

"Let Me Buy the Sewer System"

The citizens of Jefferson County should buy the Jefferson County Sewer System for $1.2 billion. The sewer system generates $115 million in annual revenue. Being a governmental utility I am confident that there are some savings that could be realized by running the system as an independent profit oriented business. The Jefferson County Sewer System is not under the jurisdiction of The Alabama Public Service Commission so a small increase in rates of 10% would not be an obstacle. That $12 million would go directly to the bottom line. It looks to me like we would own a business generating us a 5.5% return on investment and own a business free and clear valued at $1.2 billion.

Mr. Bonner has a history of a 7.5% to 11% return on investment for the RSA, so I suspect that my projections are on the conservative side.

It looks like the marketers of the sewer bonds, J.P. Morgan, and several other Wall Street Banks will be forced to make the sewer bond holders whole as City Group, Merrill Lynch, UBS, and Wachovia are being forced to do by various states attorney general. This will leave only J. P. Morgan and the other Wall Street bankers as the counties creditors. Without a clean sale the Jefferson County Sewer System will be forced into default and a receiver will be appointed; the assets of the sewer system will be tied up in court for years. J.P. Morgan and the others don’t want that and they don’t want the Jefferson County Commissioners, everyone recognizes that they are in over their heads.

There are approximately one million of us in Jefferson County. The purchase of the Jefferson County Sewer System would require and investment of $1,200 apiece. We would own a “Cash Cow”, a “monopoly”. The sewer system has just been rebuilt; it is in compliance with the Federal Clean Water Act. This is an opportunity of a lifetime, let’s go after it, let’s keep it for ourselves, let’s don’t let Mr. Bonner steal it form us.

We've Gotten Off Track

One percent of the people in the US hold 40% of the nation’s wealth, while 40% of the people hold 1% of the nation’s wealth. This is the greatest imbalance of our nation’s wealth since the 1920’s. Theodore Roosevelt warned the Oil, Railroad, and Steel Barons that if they allowed the mounting imbalance of the nation’s wealth to continue we would face revolt jeopardizing Capitalism and the American way of life.

Over the past eight years middleclass incomes decreased by $2,000, expenditures on gasoline increased by $2,200, cost of health insurance increased by $363, food costs increased by $220 and mortgage payments increased by $1700; 5.2 million homeowners are facing foreclosure.

Tuesday Robert Steel, the president of Wachovia, announced the elimination of 11,000 jobs. Robert’s compensation package consist of a $1.1 million annual salary, an annual bonus of as much as $12 million, a restricted stock option valued at $10 million and a potential long-term incentive award of $15 million. (July 10 regulatory filing)

A close look at McCain and Obama’s tax plans reveal the following:


Your Annual Income McCain’s Plan Will Obama’s Plan Will
$38,000 - $66,000 Save you $319 Save you $1042
$66,000 - $112,000 Save you $1009 Save you $1290
$112,000 - $161,000 Save you $2,614 Save you $2,204
$161,000 - $227,000 Save you $4,380 Save you $27,89
$227,000 - $603,000 Save you $7,871 Save you $12
$603,000 - $2.9 million Save you $45,361 Increase Tax $115,974
Over $2.9 million Save you $269,364 Increase Tax $701,885

I think we’ve gotten off track.

Republician...Or Not

The U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve are stepping in and providing liquidity through the Federal Reserve to Fanny May and Freddie Mac, two publicly traded companies that hold the liability for $5.3 trillion, half of the mortgages in the U.S. In addition President Bush is proposing that we, the taxpayers, buy stock in Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac in order to further prop up the two firms. Analysts estimate that Fanny and Freddie could incur $1.5 trillion in losses on their current holdings. This $1.5 trillion would be added to our current federal debt of $9.4 trillion then figure another $163 billion of annual deficit spending and another $600 billion on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars by the end of 2008.

Bush took office with a debt of $5.8 trillion. If you were a banker and someone brought you this kind of financial statement would you lend them any money? Could this be why the U.S dollar has lost 55% of its value over the last eight years? Oil is priced in dollars. Could this be part of the reason that gas has gone from $1.38 to $4.00 a gallon over the past eight years?
I have thought for years that I was a Republican. If John McCain is a continuation of Bush Policy I don’t think I will be able to afford to be a Republican. I’m certainly not better off then I was eight years ago, nor is our country.

A Perfect Storm

General Motors and Ford are on the ropes. It’s not that they make bad cars that has put their existence in jeopardy. Over the past 55 years they have put themselves in a position that they can no longer compete with the foreign auto makers located in the U.S. General Motors currently has 145,000 employees and supports another 1.1 million retirees and dependents. Between retirees health care benefits and pensions each car cost GM $2,500 more to make then their foreign competitors. Because of antiquated factories they can’t change their production to the cars that we want as Honda and Toyota can. Thus the perfect storm has developed, their retiree costs are rising, they don’t make the cars that we want, and they can’t change fast enough. They are headed for bankruptcy.

Guess who is going to be on the hook for their retiree’s benefits. That’s right the government (Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974), in other words the tax payers, you and me. The same people who are going to have to bail out Freddie Mac and Fanny May. We, the tax payers, are already $9 trillion in debt. That number could easily double within the next twelve months as a result of these two mismanagements of Corporate America.

Please join me in demanding from Barack Obama and John McCain a comprehensive plan that addresses the banking crises, the U.S. auto industry crises, the housing crises, and our dependence on foreign oil.

Get answers before the election or shame on us.

Best of U.S. Stimulus Program

Earlier this year the Bush Administration with the approval of Congress initiated a $150 billion Stimulus Program in an effort to increase consumer spending and hopefully bring our economy back into a growth mode. In fact consumer spending did increase by 5% in May 2008 but most of that can be attributed to escalating fuel and food prices. Those Stimulus dollars that are not going to fuel and food will most likely go towards flat screen TV’s or other foreign made merchandise, resulting in more of our American dollars leaving our shores.

The Best of U.S. Movement supports another Stimulus Program of $150 billion offering consumers a free U.S. made automobile that gets 36 MPG or better when they turn in their gas guzzler for destruction. This program would take 7.5 million gas guzzlers off the road reducing fuel consumption by up to 833 gallons per year per auto or 6.25 billion gallons total. This would eliminate our need for 320,512,800 barrels of oil resulting in $45 billion not leaving our country each year. The auto replacement program represents 6% of the U.S.’s passenger cars and would reduce our nations overall fuel consumption by 4%, each year the program is in place. The Best of U.S. Stimulus Program, over 5 years, would reduce our oil consumption by 20%; we currently produce 25% of our needs. With the added drilling in Anwar and the Gulf we could be producing 70% of our need within 5 years leaving less 30% needed from other sources which we could purchase from Canada and Mexico. These figures do not account for the millions of Americans who would switch to more fuel efficient vehicles outside of the Best of U.S. Stimulus Program as a result of purposely pushing the price of gas up above $7.50 per gallon. Financing of any remaining balance owed on the gas guzzler can be arranged as long as the outstanding balance is less then the value of the new car.

The program would be paid for by a $1.00 increase in the federal gas tax generating $180 billion in revenue. Another $7.5 billion would be generated from the sale of advertising space on each car for the oil company that joins in partnership with the American public to end our dependence of foreign oil. The participants in the program and all other U.S. citizens who purchase an automobile that gets 36 MPG or better will be rebated $15,000 each rear to offset the increase in federal gas tax. It is also possible that a system could be developed with the oil company partner that when a program participant filled up at one of their stations with a special credit card that the $1.00 federal tax world not be charged. This would replace the rebate.

U.S. auto makers sold 17 million cars in 2007 and are expected to sell 14 million cars in 2008 resulting in the probability of bankruptcy for one or more of the three. Under our program each manufacture would be challenged to produce a four passenger auto and a six passenger mini van that achieved 36 MPG or better. The winner of the challenge would be guaranteed the sale of 7.5 million vehicles each year of the program. Without such a program it is very possible that there will not be a U.S. auto manufacture in the near future.

Summer of '48

The Summer of 1948
There was no TV so our evenings would be spent on the front porch or in the living room in front of the radio. Butch and I liked “Jack Armstrong –the All American Boy”, and as we got older “The Shadow”. Later in the evening Mom, Dad and Grandma would listen to “Jack Benny”, “Charlie McCarthy”, and the “Lux Radio Theater”. We would spend most of our evenings as a family around the radio. I’d fall asleep many nights with Dad and Grandma Talon listening to the Cincinnati Reds ball games. Mom wasn’t interested in baseball but Grandma Talon sure was, she knew every player, their averages and positions.
Then in 1948 we got our first television, a five inch black and white screen. There was nothing on most of the day other than a test pattern. At 7:00 it would light up. I remember inviting neighbors into our living room to watch “The Original Armature Hour” a show that everyone had heard on the radio for years and now there it was before our eyes. Within months we were watching “Kukla, Fran and Ollie”, followed by the “Howdy Doody Show”. Mom even bought Butch and me shirts just like Buffalo Bob wore; these became our favorite dress-up shirts.
I didn’t know my Grandfather Talon; he died before I was born. He must have done well for himself though because the house on Church Street was a nice home in its time.
During the summer the movie theater on Greenlee Avenue would show serials every Wednesday afternoon. Mom would walk Butch and me up Greenlee to the theater buy our tickets, a piece of candy and sit us down in the theater. “Now you stay here and watch the movie, I’m going to go to the grocery store and do some shopping and I’ll be back to get you when the movie is over. Do you have to go to the bathroom before I go?”
Butch and I looked so forward to Wednesday, over the years we saw all the now famous Superman, Flash Gordon, and Gene Autry serials. We’d come back the next week and the story would be continued from where it left off, always with the hero in a lurch.
Mom would pick us up and we’d walk back down Greenlee holding on to either side of Moms shopping basket.
The two girls that lived next door, the house that was six feet to the side of ours, were our main play mates from age 4 through 6. Ann, the oldest, was a little older then Butch and Mary was about a year older then me. Grandma Talon had a stone fish pond in the side yard that had large gold fish in it; somehow they lived through the winter freeze. This was off limits to me, for fear I would fall in and drown. To protect me from myself Dad had placed a piece of heavy wire over the top of the pond to make it more kid proof. One afternoon while playing tag in the back yard Mary aggressively tagged me and I fell into the pond face first. The wire did what it was designed to do but it also provided me with a substantial poke in the forehead that left a sizable scare that I would wear with pride in future years. Scars are reminders of the past.
There was also a stone arboretum in the furthest corner of the back yard. Vines had grown up the sides and over the top providing the four of us a perfect play house. One summer afternoon Ann brought an older girl, Margaret, from down on Greeley Avenue to play with us; she suggested that we play doctor and I was selected as the first patient.
“Take off your shirt and lay down on the bench,” Margaret directed me.
I removed my striped tee shirt, laid down on the bench and the operation began as the four of them diligently proceeded to work on me.
“Butch, you an I will be the doctors, and Mary and Ann are our nurses,” Margaret instructed. “Kobe you lay still and we’ll operate on you.”
Butch and Margaret probed at my belly with small sticks and Mary and Ann assisted. Having finished the operation they moved on to the next step in my examination.
“Pull down his pants and underwear,” Doctor Margaret instructed.
My pants were opened; underwear pulled down to my knees and my wiener was examined closely. It was determined that it also needed work.
Margaret leaned over me with the shaft of what we called a wheat weed in her hand. “Lie still while I fix you,” she said
Margaret secured my wiener in her left hand, pulling it up to its full length, with her thumb and fore finger she pinched the mouth of my wiener open. She placed the weed shaft into her mouth to wet it and proceeded to insert it into the mouth of my wiener as if she were threading a needle. I rose up on my elbows to get the best look at what was happening. The weed shaft entered and pricked the inside of my wiener with its end. I jerked and Margaret said, “Lay still, this is not easy,” as if this was a procedure that she had preformed often for the benefit of many six year old boys.
The pricking sensation continued not only at the weed shafts point but as its edges penetrated deeper. I started to feel like a small piece of barbed wire was being inserted into my wiener.
“Stop it that hurts,” I said.
“Of course it hurts, that’s why we have to operate on it,” Margaret explained. She moved her fingers higher up the weed shaft as if she intended to push it its full seven inch length into my wiener, and I didn’t have seven inches of soft wiener at that point of my development.
Butch, Ann and Mary looked on in wonderment while offering assurance that Margaret was doing it right.
The pain grew and I slammed my head down on the bench not able to look any longer. Margaret in full concentration pushed on. She pushed the weed shaft deeper and deeper, as the pain increased and my protests grew.
“Stop, stop,” I demanded.
Margaret looked at me with disgust, “You’re a baby, your no fun to play with.” She pulled the shaft out in one quick stroke delivering a maximum of pain and relief in one instant. The others dressed me and told me, “OK your better now the operation was a success, don’t worry about any pain it will go away.”
“Ann your next,” Margaret said.
Ann got up on the bench and we operated on her. We took off her shirt and worked on her tummy for a while then pulled down her pants to do some more work.
I bent over and looked closer, “Where’s her wiener.” I asked.
“Girl’s don’t have wieners,” Margaret said, “don’t be stupid.”
I looked at Butch to see if this was as big a surprise to him as it was to me, but he gave me a “don’t be stupid,” look.
I looked close and it looked like Ann had a sideways mouth between her legs. I didn’t want to be stupid but I need to know.
“How do girls pee if they don’t have a wiener?” I asked.
“Girls pee out of here,” Ann said pointing to her little mouth between her legs.
“How?” I asked again.
“Girls sit down to pee.” Margaret said pushing me off.
I tried to picture a girl sitting in the urinals that were in the kindergarten bathrooms at school. It must be hard.
Margaret bent over and came up with another wheat weed shaft lubricated it in her mouth as if she was preparing for another probing. I stepped in closer, I wanted to see this.
Having seen my operation and the associated pain Ann protested. “No, you’re not doing that to me.” She pushed Margaret away and got to her feet. She was quickly dressed and the doctor session ended.
We all avoided Margaret from that point on.

Charles H. Grinkmeyer

Charles H Grinkmeyer
The Life of Charles H. Grinkmeyer
We move to Champaign from Cincinnati, Ohio in the winter of 1952, I was seven years old. It was Chuck and Kay, our mom and dad, and Butch, Rooney and me. I think we were a typical family of the time. We were three Catholic boys being raised by an aspiring father and mother hopeful of making a better life for their family.
Mom had not been feeling well for the last several months she was sleeping a lot and complaining of back pain which was not like Mom. There was some question as to whether or not she would be able to take care of Rooney, our baby brother, by herself. She had had her mother, Grandma Talon, to help her while we lived in Cincinnati. It had been a tough decision and there had even been some long and hard discussions among the adults about moving and leaving Rooney. Grandma Tallon didn’t want us to go but she couldn’t keep Rooney because she had to work at the hospital and she’d be by herself. Aunt Ruthie, Dad’s youngest sister, was still living at home and she could help Grandma Grinkmeyer with Rooney if it was necessary.Mom’s doctor, Dr. DeCourcy., who had delivered all three of us boys, assured Mom and Dad that the lump in her breast was nothing more then a swollen milk gland, “After all Kay, you have had three healthy boys, the lump will go away in several months and you’ll be fine.”
Mom wasn’t a frail woman; she came from strong Scottish and German stock and had been an active young woman. She loved to roller-skate before she got married and had continued to skate as often as she could after she had us boys. She was about five foot five and weighed about 120 pounds, had striking auburn hair and wore glasses to read. She was a pretty 27 year old woman and the proud mother of three boys.
Chuck and Kay saw the move to Champaign as Dad’s opportunity to advance our family. We could not live in Grandma Talon’s house forever; there were now five of us. It was decided that we would all go to Champaign, together. It would be hard leaving our friends on Church Street, but Butch and I had each other and Rooney was just one so he hadn’t made any friends yet. The center of his world was Mom.
The movers came and took our furniture two days before we were to leave; Mom put blankets and pillows on the floor where their bed used to be and all five of us slept there together on the floor for those two nights. We rolled around and laughed, we were all together. Butch and I rode on Dads back like a cowboy on a horse; I wished Mom had not packed my Gene Autrey toy gun.
Jerry was born on December 13, 1950, and came home from the hospital just before Christmas. Uncle Eddie had played Santa on Church Street that year; I hadn’t realized it was Uncle Eddie at the time. Gene Autrey had a number one hit called Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Santa had brought us a copy that we could play on the crank-up RCA Victor record player. We all decided that baby Jerry’s nose was so red that he looked like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, thus he became known as Rooney. I don’t remember ever having so much fun as those nights on the bedroom floor.
Although Butch and I were leaving all our friends in the Saint Bernard neighborhood we were looking forward to the adventure in Champaign. After all we would be together as a family. Like most families the center of our life was our Mom. She was always there for us; her love for us three boys was abundant and readily accessible. I didn’t notice that she wasn’t feeling well I’m sure that she wanted it that way.
Chuck had taken this new job with Williamson Heating and Cooling and his new territory was in Champaign. Before Williamson Heating and Cooling, Dad had done a lot of things after he got out of the Navy. He had been a blackjack dealer over at the casino in Covington, Kentucky. He worked at the slaughterhouse owned by one of his uncle’s in downtown Cincinnati; he even was a press operator at the Beau Brummel Tie Company. Looking back at our life in Cincinnati, we were poor; I didn’t know we were poor at the time.
This move to Champaign was a real opportunity for Dad, and us, and a real tough decision considering Mom’s condition.
Butch was conceived just before Chuck went off to the Coast Guard in 1942. Chuck had met Kay at a roller rink and they had dated for several months before he got his draft notice from the Army. His buddies had told him how bad the Army was so he attempted to get into the Navy or Air Force but they couldn’t take him because he had already been ordered to report to the Army. He stumbled onto the Coast Guard recruiting office at the courthouse. The Coast Guard had not yet become a part of the Navy and was not bound under the same recruitment rules as the Air Force and Navy. He joined the Coast Guard on Friday, proposed to Kay on Saturday night and got Grandma Talons permission on Sunday. They were married the following Sunday and he was on a train to Oakland, California on Wednesday. Butch was born nine months later. Chuck moved up the ranks fast and was a sergeant teaching signal school in Oakland when he sent for Kay and Butch to join him in Oakland. He had rented one room apartment for $17.50 per month. Chuck ran the school in the afternoon, worked as a long-shore-man on the docks two to three nights a week and slept in the morning. Kay passed her time with Butch and the other military wife’s in the area. She grew to like the California weather but missed her mother and didn’t particularly like spend so much time alone while Chuck was working. Then Chuck got assigned to a ship and would be spending the next six months to a year on board. Six months after getting off that train Kay got back on the train for Cincinnati with Butch in her arms and me in her belly.
I was born on September 5, 1944 at 4:15 p.m. in Cincinnati, Ohio delivered by Doctor Giles DeCourcy. Mrs. Katherine Grinkmeyer had entered Good Samaritan Hospital on September 4, and left on September 15 with her second son. I had blond hair and blue eyes, weighed eight pounds and ten ounces, and was twenty-one inches long. Her hospital bill for my birth was $94.18. Her church had paid $74.00 and she owed $20.18. Fourteen years later I would learn that the Catholic Church had some expectations tied to that $74.00.
Mom took me to her mothers home on 514 Church Street in Saint Bernard, Ohio. Dad was on a ship and didn’t know I was born until September 24. I only have good memories of life in Saint Bernard. We didn’t have much but we lived in a working class neighborhood in Grandma Talon’s house with few expenses but fewer needs that I was aware of. Grandma Talon had a two story white clap-board house with a big fenced in back yard full of flowers, a stone fish pond and an arboretum. There was a porch across the full front of the house with a swing on one end. Inside the front door was a large foyer with steps on the right leading to three bedrooms and a bath upstairs, there was even a small kitchen in one of the bedrooms.
Down stairs the living room and dinning room were large with hardwood floors covered with area rugs. The dinning room had a large two pane window that looked directly into the neighbor’s house, where Ann and Mary lived. The neighbor’s house was no more then six feet away from the left side of our house. There was a good sized kitchen with a dinning table, a full bath and an enclosed back porch. Mom and Dad slept in what used to be the dining room, and Butch and I slept on what was the back porch on two steel cots. When Rooney came he slept in a crib next to Mom and Dads bed. I remember we didn’t have a refrigerator; we had an icebox on the back porch that the iceman used to fill twice a week with a big block of ice. On the right side of the house were steps into the cellar. Grandma kept her electric clothes washer down there and would hang our wash out on a line in the side yard.
Our world was our neighborhood, our extended family in Cincinnati and the Catholic Church. We were Catholics, being a Catholic was an important part of our life. We went to church every Sunday and prayed to Jesus and Mary the Virgin Mother. Butch and I were confirmed and our family followed all the Catholic teachings. We went to confession once a week, took communion every Sunday and never eat meat on Friday. Being a Catholic made me feel a part of something.One half of my education came from Mom and Dad and the other half came from the Catholic Church; meaning the nuns.
Both Mom and Dad’s families were all in Cincinnati. Chuck was one of five kids, the oldest son, and no one had ever left Cincinnati. Kay was one of two children and was very close to her mother. Grandma Talon was by herself. Kay her daughter, and Kay’s family were all she had left. Her husband had died some years ago and her son Jimmy had died in an automobile accident in 1940
Many of the weekends were spent with the Grinkmeyer family; aunts, uncles and cousins would go to a park somewhere, everybody would bring food, and we’d have a wonderful day together. Uncle Norb and Dad played on a baseball team; we’d all watch the game then have a cookout with our cousins. Other times Mom and Dad and Butch, and me would camp out in a tent along the river bank; we’d catch catfish and cook them over an open fire. Dad drove a Willies Jeep; it had a canvas roof and plastic side windows. It would go anywhere but was awful cold in the winter.
Grandpa Grinkmeyer was a true German, both his parents came to the U.S. when they were in their teens, and he had grown up following German ways more then American ways. I didn’t get to know him all that well. I do remember that he liked his beer. Sometimes he would take me with him down to the corner tavern and he would buy a bucket of beer. He’d let me carry the empty steel bucket down to the tavern where he would have the bartender fill it with beer, I’d guess it held about a half gallon of beer. He’d carry it back home because I might spill some and that would not be exceptable. Back on the porch, he would drink his beer from the bucket, Grandma might bring out a small glass and have a “swig”, but he would consume most of it. When he was done he would slide the bucket over to Butch and me and we would be allowed to “slurp” what was left. This never happened when Mom was around.He died at age 57, while we still lived in Saint Bernard with Grandma Talon, I suspect it had something to do with those cigarettes that he rolled with one hand and smoked all day.
Grandma Grinkmeyer was the center of the family until she died at eighty three years old. Her children were devoted to her and she was devoted to them, and she loved her grand children to death. In my eyes she never changed. She was a buxom German woman; when I was young she would hug me and I would be consumed by her breasts, she’d hold me so tight I’d have to fight for breath, while she held me there she take my feet off the ground and just shake me. I loved it.Moving to Champaign was a big change in many ways. Number 1 Patricia Court was the first house of four along one side of what used to be a farmer’s path to his hay barn. The hay barn still stood at the end of Patricia Court and would provide Butch and me with a lot of adventures over the coming year. All four houses looked exactly the same, only trimmed in a different color. Ours was number 1 Patricia Court, the first house off the paved road, trimmed in red. It was a three-bedroom, one-bath, living room and kitchen, about 600 square feet, with a gravel driveway pulling up to the back door. There were no trees, no shrubs, and weeds for grass. All around us were nicer homes made of brick with trees and grass in the yard and concrete driveways.
Our life seemed normal on Patricia Court, we had friends our age, we spent a lot of time outside, and Mom looked after Rooney, Butch and me. I don’t remember being aware that Mom was getting sicker or unable to do as much as she had in the past. Dad was developing his territory, which covered most of Illinois and some of Indiana, so he wasn’t around during the week. He got a monthly draw, and then got paid a commission check once a year for his sales of the past year, so it was important that he get off to a good start.
On the weekends Dad came home and he would play baseball with Butch and me with Rooney sitting on the ground next to him. There was no family in Champaign so the picnics and family get-to-gathers were no longer a part of our life.
Dad took Mom to the hospital at the University of Illinois because she wasn’t getting any better and her regular doctor couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her. They came home and talked over dinner; that was the first time that I heard the word cancer. I didn’t know what cancer was but I got the idea that it was something that was growing in Mom’s body. Butch, Rooney and I were sent to our room but we could hear they were talking about some kind of cancer treatment, money, looking after the boys and how long Mom would be away.Rooney was playing on the floor not aware of what was going on and how his life would change. Soon any memories that he may of had of his mother would fade, she would become someone that might be mentioned only briefly in passing conversation, but for the most part was about to exit his life for the next forty-five years.
It was scary to me, but I felt sure that Dad would see to it and Mom would make everything alright for all of us. After all that’s what mom and dad’s do.
Mom and Dad called back to Cincinnati the next day and it was decided that Rooney would go back to Cincinnati to live with Grandma Grinkmeyer until Mom got to feeling better and Butch and I would stay in Champaign. For the next several days Mom wouldn’t put Rooney down, she acted like once she sent him back to Cincinnati we would never get him back.
That weekend Dad took Rooney to Cincinnati to live with Grandma Grinkmeyer and Aunt Ruthie.
Mom went into the hospital and Dad had to continue working as well as spend time in the hospital, so Butch and I were looked after by a series of housekeepers’.
Mrs. Elkins was our typical housekeeper. She stood about 5 ft. 3 in. and came in at about 220 lbs., didn’t take a bath, at least not at our house, so had a very distinctive odor about her, something like sour milk. She was, however, a darn good cook but not much of a housekeeper. I remember Mrs. Elkins because she stuck around longer than anybody else. I suspect it was because she needed the money worst then anyone else.
“Now here are my rules while I’m looking after you. I make dinner at night and sandwiches for lunch, you eat cereal for breakfast. I keep the house clean. You two stay out of the house except to eat and sleep. I go home on Friday night and come back on Monday morning. You get your bath on Saturday when your dad is home. What happens here during the week is between us, I don’t bother your dad with what you get into, and you don’t bother your dad with what I am doing. Do you understand?”
That was how it worked to. We left the house in the morning, came by to pick up a sandwich and showed back up for a sit down dinner, left the house and came back around nine, went to our rooms and went to bed. Most nights Mrs. Elkins would be asleep on the couch or talking on the phone when we came home. On the weekends Dad went to the hospital and we were again on our own until he got home at night. Butch and I were eight and nine year’s old living on our own during the week with a place to eat and sleep.
I really didn’t know what was going on, I just knew that my Mom was sick but I figured she was getting better. I think Butch had a better idea what was going on, he seemed to be mad and getting madder. It was about this time the Butch and I started fighting a lot, and by fighting I don’t mean just words, I mean fists. There was no question that we were best of friends as well as brothers, but it seemed that I would do just about anything to irritate him and he would be more then happy to smash me in the face, or pound the breath out of my stomach. It was almost like we were starved for any expression of emotion and this was the best that we could do.
School let out for summer vacation so the next weekend Butch and I were in Cincinnati at Grandma Grinkmeyer’s house. Grandma Grinkmeyer lived in a row-house, with a driveway of the side where we would play. Her house was in the old part of Cincinnati, close to where my Grandfather worked at the Formica plant. It was one of those houses where you walked in the front door into the living room, behind it was the bedroom, behind that was the dinning room, and behind that was the kitchen, with a build on that held the bathroom. In the bedroom there was a set of steep steps that went up to two bedrooms. There was no bathroom upstairs and it wasn’t heated. The heat came from a coal fired furnace down in the basement. Aunt Ruthie and Grandma had been taking care of Rooney and now they had Butch and me as well. We spent our days with Grandma, or went swimming with our cousin Diane Mason. Her brother Tom was off studying to become a priest.
Aunt Ruthie would get off work and take us with her shopping or for a walk, but we would always end up in Saint Pious Church. Aunt Ruthie gave Butch and me each a rosary and told us, “Pray for your mom, Jesus loves you; Jesus loves your mom, pray to Jesus and his mother, The Virgin Mary, to make your mom better so that she can come home and be with you. You boys keep your rosary in your pockets so you can pray to Jesus anytime; when you get up in the morning, before you go to bed or during the day. Pray to Jesus, Jesus will make your mom better.”
Kay Talon Grinkmeyer died on July 14, 1953, she was 30 years old: I was eight years old, Butch was ten years old, and Rooney was two years old.
Butch and I had been in Cincinnati since school closed for the summer and Dad had gone back to Champaign to look after Mom in the hospital. On this particular July afternoon Butch and I were playing in the driveway and Aunt Ruthie was there looking after Rooney.Dad drove up, “hi boys,” all three of us at his feet clinging at his legs not wanting to let him go. After a few minutes, several pats on the head he went into the house leaving the three of us on the driveway with Auntie Ruthie.
He’s on the porch, three steps up, “Butch and Kobe come into the house I need to talk to you.”Aunt Ruthie stayed outside with Rooney. “He’s going to tell us when Mom is coming home and when Butch, Rooney and I are all going back to Champaign to be all together again.” I ran up the steps and followed him into the house, grabbing his leg as we moved together towards the sofa. Butch lagged behind, came through the door with his head down, and hands held together at his belly button. I looked up at Dad and his face was sad as he looked to Butch approaching us on the sofa. He reached out and turned to set him next him on his left side.
We sat on living room sofa, Dad in the center and Butch and me on either side. I remember that day as if it were yesterday. The sofa set against the side wall, it was brown and the fabric was soft, kind of fuzzy like short cropped hair on a dog. Even though it was the middle of the afternoon the lights were on the end tables and the curtains were pulled. I could hear Grandma Grinkmeyer in the kitchen and the cars going up the street outside.
There was the smell of food in the house, but then there was always the smell of food in Grandma Grinkmeyer’s house. Dad was wearing brown slacks, a sports coat and a tie; this was not his normal dress. Dad put an arm around each one of us pulled us close and said, “Boys, Mom died two days ago.”
Later while we were in the back trying to understand what had happened; inside Grandma’s house another battle was being waged in Grandma’s kitchen. Our aunts and uncles were trying to decide who was going to take who. They had figured this all out weeks ago. Uncle Norb and Aunt Flow volunteered to take Butch home with them and raise him like their son with their daughter Sandy. Uncle Eddy and Aunt Sis said they would take me and raise me with their daughter Cherry; she was just a baby and I could be her older brother. Aunt Dee and Uncle Phil would take Rooney they had one son.
Chuck said, “No, I’m going to keep my family together; I promised Kay that I would keep the boys together. I’ll be back for Butch and Kobe in a couple of weeks; I’ll be coming to get Rooney soon.”
I was lying face down in the ditch next to the culvert, preparing to make a break for the can, we were playing Kick The Can, when Dad called out, “Butch, Kobe come on the in here I have somebody that I’d like you to meet”
Butch and I ran to the front door and stepped into the living room. The living room was no bigger ten feet by twelve feet. Sitting in the armchair just inside the door was a lady. There was a table lamp next to her and the light on her made it look like she filled the whole room. Mrs. Elkins was in the kitchen looking around the corner and listening to every word.Dad was in a sports shirt and slacks, his hair combed back real neat, he had on shinny brown shoes. He was dressed to go out. Aunt Ruthie had told me that men get “slicked-up” to go out with ladies.
This lady didn’t look like any of the housekeepers that we had in the past. So I was sure this wasn’t a new housekeeper, besides Mrs. Elkins was over there watching. This lady had long thin legs, they were crossed, and her skirt let her knees show. She wore a tight flowered dress, not one of those baggy ones like the housekeepers wore. Her hair was all done up, it was dark and shiny, she wore long earrings, her cheeks were red, she wore lipstick, and she smelled good. She was smoking a cigarette, and she greeted us with a friendly smile and reached out to shake each of our hands. As she shook my hand she said, “My name is Grace Plotner, nice to meet you Kobe.”
“Boys, this is Grace Plotter, I’ve been going out with Grace for several months now. She and I are going to get married; she’ll be your new mom.
I didn’t know it at the time, and I’d probably didn’t come to realize it for many years that the lady we met that night, Grace Plotner was going to change the path that Butch and I would follow from that point on. She would do more to change the direction of my life than anyone else that I would encounter over the next fifty years. She would also provide me with the biggest disappointment in any relationship that I would have over the next fifty years.
Grace Plotner and Charles H. Grinkmeyer were married on June 6, 1954.
We never went back to Patricia Court; our new home was on Green Street. Grace Plotner, our new mom, and her mom, our new Grandma Plotner, had lived here. Grandma Plotner had to move downtown into a co-op and our new cousin Judy had moved in with her. Our new home was very different from Patricia Court. Green Street had a white picket fence around it; it had trees in the yard and well kept grass. Inside there was big furniture, carpeting on the floor, and a separate dinning room. Butch and I shared a room that was larger then our old room.
January 1956, we moved to Greencroft. This was not a normal house; this was a house of the fifties. You would recognize it as a house of the fifties if you were to see it today. It’s most outstanding feature was it’s butterfly roof. It was constructed of redwood siding and glass, a lot of glass. Chuck and Grace were making a statement, they had arrived. They were members of the Champaign Country Club, their new home was featured in the Champaign Times Sunday Home section, and Grace was driving a new pink, black and white Buick Roadmaster.
Grace had gone to the Chicago Furniture Mart and had purchase all new furniture, much of which was designed by the times most contemporary furniture designers in the country. My brothers and I now know that if we could put our hand on some of that furniture today we would have items worth $25,000 and more, but no one knows where it all went as Grace and Chuck moved over the following years.
It had been almost four years since Chuck and Grace got married and our family had been formed. Grace had taken control of the situation and Butch and I had been turned around. There was discipline, direction and respect for ourselves and others introduced into our lives. We were far from perfect, our scholastic achievement still had some short falls but we were trying.
It must have been decided in January that Grace would attempt to have a child, she was thirty eight years old and it was now or never. This was not a topic of conversation at the dinner table but the news of her pregnancy was share with the boys on late May.
“Rooney you’re going to have a little brother.” Grandma Plotner shared. She received a “well OK” look from Mom.
I was happy for her and I understood why she would want to have her own child. It was some task that she had taken on, coming into our family after the death of our mom, and raising three boys.
The pregnancy wasn’t easy for her besides her age she had some complications with her blood. She wasn’t allowed to put on any excess weight. Every afternoon for the last six months Grace would get on my bike and Butch and she would go for a half hour bike ride. At first it was funny to see her riding my English bike not knowing how to shift the gears and use the hand breaks. I got even funnier as her belly grew but she continued to ride the bike everyday, even in the rain until the day she went to the hospital.
I would say everyone was happy to see her having a baby, we were hoping for a little sister but it wasn’t to be. Steve came home ten days after being born on August 18, 1958.
Steve was a cute boy. It was obvious that he was a Plotner more then a Grinkmeyer. His hair was black, like the Plotners, not blond like his brothers. His features were long and narrow like the Plotners, not short and broad like his brothers.
We lived in Champaign until 1960, my sophomore year in high school. Chuck was offered a larger territory in Indiana so we moved to Indianapolis. This is where most of you got to know Grace and Chuck so this is where I will end my story. I wanted you to know more about Charles H. Grinkmeyer and how his life evolved. Obviously there is a lot before and after that I don’t know, and that is where I am asking for your help.
This story is posted on my blog on the internet (http://kjohng.typepad.com/secondlifeblog/). I would like you to go to my blog open my Memories section and click on Live of Charles H. Grinkmeyer. You’ll find a comments box at the end of the story. I’d like you to share your memories about Chuck, so that I might complete his life story.