A BIT OF EVERYTHING TODAY

Dear Reader –

It seems that many of you are under the weather, and this snowy nonsense is hardly the healthiest thing to have atop one. Let’s hope both you and the weather will warm up soon. I have a little time here today to throw a couple of items at you, including war news that has finally hit close to home for me. Also, even though spring is not here, springtime events like Pub Crawls are here, so read on to find out where I’ll be hanging this Saturday. And what about Friday, St. Patrick’s Day? Strictly for rookies! Slainte!

Horne

MORE INTERESTING NEWS

The President has called up the Wisconsin National Guard 1^st Battalion, 121^st Field Artillery for service, most likely overseas, and you know where that is. The battalion is located in Milwaukee on N. Richards Street, just north of E. Capitol Drive. You can take the #14 bus practically to the front door.

More than 400 soldiers will be affected by the order; according to a press release issued Tuesday.

According to the press release highlighted above, “with this mobilization, about 7,260 soldiers and airmen from the Wisconsin Army and Air National Guard – more than 76 per cent of the Guard’s total force in the state – will have served on active duty since September 11, 2001.” The total number of Wisconsin guard soldiers and airmen now on active duty exceeds 2,500. Members must report to the armory April 19^th. April 18^th should be a good night to go out drinking.

--Michael Horne

ABOUT THAT RICO LAWSUIT

I called City Attorney Grant Langley to find out the latest on the RICO lawsuit against Ald. Michael D’Amato and others. Langley was out, but I did receive a nice telephone call from Atty. Thomas L. (Tom) Shriner, Jr. [J.D. University of Indiana’72, magna cum laude] of Foley and Lardner who told me nothing’s happened yet, lo these many months later. I got the same message from Assistant City Attorney Jan A. Smokowicz (UW’80) handling the non-RICO complaint about D’Amato filed by members of the Bondar family on January 21^st. The city moved to dismiss the RICO suit, which names a whole passel of neighbors, which probably would have happened by now if the case was in a Wisconsin Circuit Court. As Shriner told me, in Wisconsin you file your motions, set a court date, and things work themselves out.

It is a different world in Federal Court, where you throw your paperwork at a clerk and wait for it to appear on top of the file. So, we have no clue right now what is happening with these cases. Amazing how the judiciary works sometimes. Also, according to news reports, sentences in Federal Courts have increased slightly since mandatory sentencing guidelines were eliminated.

--Michael Horne

RIVERWEST PUB CRAWL

The Riverwest Pub Crawl is back for its sixth incarnation, and will include 20 taverns this year, according to organizer Erik Peterson. The event will take place Saturday, March 18 beginning at 1 p.m. The sign-in is at Onopa Brewing Co., 735 E. Center St., and will be the last event to be held at Onopa which will briefly close for remodeling. The fee is $30; or $25 in advance, with a portion of the proceeds to benefit the Museum of Beer and Brewing. There will be dozens of beers available and plenty of free food, the best of which will probably be the Puerto Rican buffet at Club 99 – or will it be the appetizers at Nessun Dorma? – or whatever Dino’s might offer.

If you haven’t been to the Riverwest neighborhood recently, this will be a time to remember, provided you don’t drink too much. … Erik says business is booming at Metal Forms, the Riverwest manufacturer where he is employed as an engineer. He says the company recently made forms for a runway extension at Dallas-Fort Worth airport. The runways are 20 inches thick; the forms weighed hundreds of pounds apiece. … The Friends of the 261 will be bringing the fabled Milwaukee Road steam locomotive to Milwaukee again this summer, and will base several trips from our city. The train will be here the last weekend of July. We will have ticket information as it becomes available… Ald. Bob Bauman recently paid a visit (by train, of course,) to former Milwaukee Mayor John O. Norquist in Chicago, where Norquist runs the Congress for the New Urbanism. Norquist’s book “The Wealth of Cities” is now out in a paperback edition. … Jugglefest will be Sunday, March 19^th from 1 – 3 p.m. at Shorewood High School, 1701 E. Capitol Drive. The event is for all ages, but I am certain kids will dig it. It is presented by the Shorewood Recreation Department and is sponsored by our friends at Art Smart’s Dart Mart and Juggling Emporium on Brady Street. … Pam Percy and Martin Hintz (a.k.a. Boris and Doris on the Town), authors of the compelling occasional column in the Shepherd Express have placed their River Hills home on sale, apparently by owner. The property includes chicken coops and other outbuildings along with enviable propinquity to W. Brown Deer Road, and provides a handy base for unauthorized forays into the Bradley Family Sculpture Garden just down the road.

--Michael Horne