ANTIWAR VANDALS VEX LANDLORD

By Michael Horne

On St. Patrick's Day, last Saturday, I thought it would be unseemly to stumble drunkenly about town without first commemorating the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. A ceremony was to be held at O'Donnell Park commencing at noon, where the better part of a thousand protesters were expected to denounce this nation's foreign policy. I was among them.
It was a peaceful protest, with flag-draped coffins, signs, songs, chants and even a congressional speech, delivered live by Rep. Gwen Moore. It was at once spiritually uplifting and emotionally draining, and was under the expert leadership of George Martin, who has always stressed that mass demonstrations must be lawful and peaceable. And you didn't read about it in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel until today, and only after 21 people were arrested for breaking windows at the Army Recruiting Office, 3133 N. Oakland Avenue. Even in that story, the newspaper's reporting was secondhand -- apparently nobody had been assigned to cover the O'Donnell Park rally, which has now become an annual event.
The newspaper had printed a number of pro-war stories in its Saturday edition under the headline "War Supporters know ultimate cost all too well." In the coverage, the paper profiled a number of war supporters and veterans, but dismissed the antiwar movement in one sentence: "In Milwaukee, a noon rally today at O'Donnell Park Plaza is co-sponsored by Peace Action and Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant-rights group."
But it wasn't until the unorganized rowdies trashed the recruiting office that the daily newspaper took note of the antiwar movement in this city, and poorly at that.

WHO SUFFERED DAMAGES IN THE PROTEST?
If the violent protesters Monday evening thought they would strike at the heart of the Military-Industrial Complex by tossing bricks through the windows of the Oakland Avenue recruiting station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, they were wrong. The Army doesn't own the building, but rents its space from Jack Oliva, 67, of Mequon, who bought it about 10 years ago for $330,000.
Jack, like many people of Sicilian heritage and of his generation, learned that housepainters can always find a way to make a buck, and he followed that trade with great distinction. Over the years he wielded his brush he saved his money and purchased numerous east side flats long before they were considered attractive investments. The only thing he has in common with the military, other than the landlord-tenant relationship, is that both favor a wardrobe in which khaki is abundant.
He rented one of his flats, at 1530 N. Cass St., to me for seven years. In addition to me he likewise had a number of other tenants who were probably not as reliable at paying rent as the Department of Defense would eventually prove to be. After a number of years in which Jack kept painting and buying houses, his wife decided enough was enough, and Jack sold most of his holdings, only to buy the Oakland Avenue building just to keep his hand in the game, and to keep his paintbrushes busy.
The investment has paid off in some respects. Jack's assessment on the place is now $911,900; his taxes of $20,550.61 have been paid in full.
But the property has been a nonstop headache for other reasons: this is not the first time that protesters have smashed his windows, and the building is continually being tagged by idiots protesting, or by idiots just being idiots.
It must be very frustrating to Jack (I couldn't get hold of him immediately). There are so many valid targets for antiwar protests, and his property is not one of them. Let's hope the movement doesn't get distracted by stunts like this that draw media attention away from important issues and provide intellectual fodder for the hardly nuanced news coverage we tend to find on AM talk radio. Maybe the newspaper might find something newsworthy in the actual antiwar movement, and not in these distractions.
--Michael Horne
P.S. Reminder -- This is the first day of spring, which means we have nine months of perfect weather ahead of us until it becomes winter again! --M.H.