PABST: "FULLY INDEPENDENT AND AMERICAN-OWNED"

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld.com

By Michael Horne

The folks at Pabst Brewing Company, who usually don't have much to say about anything, have issued a statement on the Budweiser-InBev merger:

"In response to the many inquires we have received regarding the acquisition of Anheuser Busch by InBev:
"No doubt, the AB-InBev combination will create a formidable competitor. And it is true, Pabst Brewing Company will be the last of the famous iconic U.S. brewers to be fully independent and American-owned. ... However, this combination will have no impact on our mission to create and brew the best beers in the industry."

The unexpected Pabst statement drew immediate derision in a Beer Advocate forum, where beer aficionados noted that it is highly unlikely that Pabst received "many inquiries" -- or any at all regarding the Anheuser Busch acquisition. Also, many readers pointed out that Pabst does not operate any breweries, but contracts its production to Miller, not that there's anything wrong with that. Miller produced 6.6 million barrels of Pabst-owned products last year.

And what about the statement, "fully independent and American-owned?"

Some readers thought Pabst and its brands were owned by Miller.(In 1999 Miller bought the Olde English 800 Malt Liquor and Hamm's brands from Pabst. But Pabst retained some 25 other brands, including its flagship beer and Schlitz.) One alert reader directed people to my 2006 post here at Milwaukeeworld entitled "Who Really Owns Pabst? (An Uncharitable Foundation.)" An update is in order.

Pabst is still owned by the Kalmanovitz Charitable Trust, which received the assets of S&P Holding Company in July, 2000 at the death of Lydia Kalmanovitz. Although the Kalmanovitz estate was in excess of $300 million, the trustees set the value of S&P at a fair market value of $2,000,000, according to the trust's IRS Form 990PF for 2001. The reason for the absurdly low valuation, according to the trust, was that "the company has lost money in recent years, is heavily indebted and is in the process of debt restructuring."

Another, more probable reason for the valuation is that foundations must give away 5 per cent of their assets each year, and Kalmanovitz only gave away $108,000 in that year. By 2003, the fair market value of Pabst was pegged at $10,000,000, and it still donated just the $108,000 in the form of $36,000 checks to three institutions affiliated with the trust's three board members at the time.

The 2004 tax return shows a fair market value of $55,573,000 at year end, and the trust distributed $700,000 to four California charities. The 2005 return , the most recent available, shows a fair market value of $50 million and donations of over $6 million. A 2003 article in the Business Journal serving Greater Milwaukee noted that the trust had hired Merill Lynch to find a buyer for Pabst, since federal law required the divestiture of the asset within 5 years of its acquisition. No buyer has appeared, nor has any action been taken to force the divestiture.

Pabst? I don't buy it!

FUN FACT:

In Missouri, the Kansas City Tribune notes that Boulevard Brewing Company is the largest Missouri-based brewery, now that Anheuser Busch has gone international. Boulevard produces 145,000 barrels of beer annually, or about 1 barrel for every thousand produced by AB. In Milwaukee, the news of the loss of the Miller headquarters to Chicago was tempered by news that production at the plant would increase from 6.6 million barrels to 10 million barrels. In St. Louis, however, the public has been slow to accept the news that their city is no longer the headquarters of the world's largest brewer. Will this open up an opportunity for Miller to gain share in the Show Me state?

--Michael Horne

BRADY STREET PHARMACY SAYS "NO" TO DRUGS

But Cafe, Theater, Retail Functions Remain
Prescriptions Transfered to Hayek's

Special to the Readers of milwaukeeworld.com

By Michael Horne

The Brady Street Pharmacy, 1696 N. Astor St., has dispensed with its drug dispensing function, sold its inventory and transfered its files to Hayek's Shorewood Pharmacy, 4001 N. Downer Ave. The coffee shop -- now Cafe -, the intimate theater performance space and the variety store remain open as always on the busy corner. Owner Jim Searles, a registered pharmacist who stood behind the prescription counter 12 hours a day, seven days a week unassisted for decades, had been one of the few survivors in the formerly mom-and-pop drug store business, and withstood an onslaught from a Walgreens and CVS just blocks away.
However, as drug costs spiraled out of control, and as insurance companies became even more recalcitrant about settling claims, the pharmacy operation lost its luster.
The counter was always a jumpable one, and Searles refused to work behind glass, so security was a 24-hour concern for him. He says the rise of Oxycontin-related criminal activity is a concern throughout the industry. Even the Prescription Center, 330 E. Mason St., on a busy downtown block, now is protected by glass.
However, the transfer of the business to Hayek's, now one of the very, very few remaining independent pharmacies, came without notice on July 1st 2008. There were some signs, however, when Searles was unable to fill some common prescriptions for regular customers a few weeks previously.
Searles is coy about his new business plans, but has instituted late afternoon dinner specials at the cafe, and is planning something for the behind-the-counter where the drugs used to be and where he still stands, but he won't say what.. The inventory of personal goods, snacks and other items has thinned considerably, and cigars apparently have been discontinued. Searles says the lousy economy has hit his regular customers hard, and he is trying to keep his selection affordable. The cozy theater, never a profit center, is not heavily programmed, but has featured a variety of local productions including several notable Russian-language concerts. It is run by a separate non-profit, The Astor Street Performing Arts Center (ASPAC) The building is also a museum of old cinema equipment and contains a fair collection of early Milwaukee bottles which have been retained. The upstairs is a meeting area, and is used for practice by dance troupes and other organizations.
The exterior of the 1915 building, originally the Astor Theater, is being gradually remodeled to reflect the vintage original. New signs on the N. Astor St. frontage, replicating the original, read "Vaudeville" and "Photo Plays." Searles says he has been using the Astor Theater name since 2000, but it is likely locals will call the place "The Pharmacy" for years to come.
Searles is maintaining his pharmacist's license, which he he has held since 1969, although you are unlikely to find him filling in at Walgreens anytime soon. However, now that he is not responsible for being in his registered pharmacy during each and every minute it is open, (he lives upstairs on top of it) perhaps Searles might get a chance to visit Milwaukee for the first time in decades, and see for himself how businesses have evolved around here since the last time he got out.

COURT BANS NECRO SEX IN STATE

LAURA J. TENNESSEN, 1988 - 2006

Jurist Rules Lack of Consent Easy to Prove when Victim is a Corpse

By Michael Horne

The tentacles of the activist Wisconsin Supreme Court reached out and strangled yet another legislative prerogative Wednesday, July 9th, 2008, when it ruled that sex with a corpse is illegal in this state, overruling the free-and-easy decision rendered in by Grant County Circuit Court Judge George S. Curry [UW '72] in the case of State v. Alexander Caleb Grunke 2006CF000140 and related cases against his brother Nicholas Owen Grunke and cousin Dustin Blake Radke. The three attempted to disinter the body of Laura J. Tennessen shortly after her death at 20 in August 2006 for the purposes of having sexual activity with her corpse. They selected Tennessen after looking at her obituary photo. [See above.]

Curry's opinion that state statutes do not include a prohibition against sex with a corpse was unanimously upheld by an appeals court panel in State v. Grunke et al, 2007 WI App. 198. Judges Charles P. Dykman [UW '65], Margaret J. Vergeront [UW '75] and Paul B. Higginbotham [UW '85] ruled that Judge Curry acted properly because the "legislature did not create WIS STAT 940.225(7) as a general necrophilia statute." Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen [UW '90] appealed to the Supreme Court, leading to the decision.

In the decision, Justice Patience Drake Roggensack [UW '80}announced, "In order to achieve a conviction for third degree sexual assault under Wis. Stat. 940.225 (3), the state must still prove the element 'without consent' beyond a reasonable doubt; that endeavor is subject to a simple proof when the victim is a corpse." She said it was plain that the law meant to prohibit corpse sex, and proceeded to explain her position for nearly 40 paragraphs, and used "plain" in paragraphs 27, 28, 31, 32, 34, 36 and 37.

Not so fast! replied dissenting justices Louis B. Butler Jr. [UW '77] and Ann Walsh Bradley [[UW '76], who wrote, "to begin, it is always suspicious to me when an opinion asserts that the meaning is plain and then proceeds to spend a multitude of pages explaining it. It is as though the lengthy explanation belies the assertion. If it is so plain, why is the explanation so complex and lengthy?"
Butler and Bradley said "the majority reaches the desired result through an undesirable analysis," and suggested the legislature did not intend to criminalize necrophilia in the statute.
Alas, the legislature need not bother writing an anti necrophilia law now that the Supreme Court has expanded its powers and done so itself. Is this good for society? Perhaps, since we cannot tell for certain if our badly divided legislature could summon the political will to speak out against the sexual violation of corpses.

HOW ARE THE COUSINS DOING THESE DAYS?
Dustin B. Radke now lives on High Street in Mineral Point where the cops keep hassling him giving him speeding tickets, tickets for not wearing his seatbelt, tickets for not registering his car and all sorts of stuff like for possession of THC and drug paraphernalia. Alexander Caleb Grunke hasn't been in any trouble since the necrophilia arrest, and neither has his brother Nicholas Owen Grunke. It cannot be determined by press time whether they've been laid lately or if, indeed, they have any desire for living flesh. At least by now they should know what "R. I. P." means the next time they try to select a mate from under a tombstone.


FUN FACT! Did you notice that every judge in this matter has a University of Wisconsin Law School degree? Imagine how the arguments and decisions might have been different if Jesuit-trained Marquette Law School graduates had been in their places! They'd still be arguing "what is sex?"
--Michael Horne

BUTLER PENS PRO-WALGREENS DECISION

By Michael Horne

Just months after being portrayed as a dangerous liberal intent on eliminating the rights of property owners, and losing re-election to a handpicked candidate of the corporate elite, Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler wrote the unanimous decision favoring Walgreens in its tax assessment dispute with the City of Madison.
In the decision, released yesterday, Tuesday, July 8th, 2008, Butler agreed with Walgreens that the assessors in Madison improperly valued two stores in that city when they based their calculations on the above-market rent paid by the drug store chain.
Instead, he wrote, the assessors should have used the lower market rental rate in their calculations. The savings could amount to $150,000 in Madison, and another $600,000 if you include the 18 Walgreens in Milwaukee that have challenged their assessments. Other chain stores that had been assessed based on above market rents they paid would also have a claim.
The biggest question the average reader would have is "Why does Walgreens agree to pay above market rents?" The answer is that Walgreens stores are owned by developers and are built with "super adequacies" -- special features required by Walgreens. These features, amortized over the length of the lease (20 - 60 years) result in a rental rate that is premium to the market. This is the amount the Madison assessors used to base their valuation of the properties. However, the Wisconsin Property Assessment Manual, cited by Butler, cautions that above-market rents should not be the basis of assessments, and gives the reasons therefor.
Milwaukee Assessment Commissioner Mary Reavey is taking a different approach to the issue. She tells milwaukeeworld, "If I were Madison I would have not agreed that the contract rates were higher than market. We have seen that these and other franchise properties have created their own market in a sense." She says her department feels there are enough Walgreens in the marketplace to base her valuations on sales of comparable real estate, thus avoiding the complications of this case.
In any event, this can be viewed as Butler's valedictory opinion -- you wonder if he was assigned it just because it was so pro-business. It shows that Butler decided cases based on the law as he interprets it, and not on political pressures, as was charged against him in the campaign.

NO CHARGES YET IN COP CASE
No charges have yet been filed against Milwaukee Police Officer Jeffrey Buckson, charged in a sting with taking money during an arrest. But now you know his name.

OBAMA HQ TO DEBUT
The Milwaukee office of the Barack Obama presidential campaign will open this evening, Wednesday, July 9th, 2008, at 7984 W. Appleton Avenue. ... The Obama plane that made an emergency landing in St. Louis earlier this week is owned by Midwest Airlines, and was previously leased by the Clinton campaign according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

OCONOMOWOC FACES REALITY IN PABST FARMS
The City of Oconomowoc will have a public hearing this evening, Wednesday, July 9th, 2008, to discuss developer Maureen Stapelton's plans to build -- hold your breath, please -- affordable housing in the community's Pabst Farms development. "We approved jobs in this community and now we have a responsibility to give (employees) a place to live today," she told The Daily Reporter's Sean Ryan.
City officials had zoned the Pabst development for low density construction and a decided automotive focus. Stapleton says the recent, if belated, awareness of high gasoline prices has business owners concerned about relying on their workers traveling great distances to their jobs.
This news brought the following response from former Milwaukee mayor John O. Norquist, now head of the Chicago-based Congress for the New Urbanism: "General Growth, the biggest retail developer in the country, pulled out of PBR Farms because the numbers don't work. GG knows the the Happy Motoring fantasy is over and that sprawl is the biggest risk factor in real estate. Someone should tell WisDOT and SEWRPC. Wisconsin is focused on investing in infrastructure suitable for the 1960s." Norquist went on to point out an article in the Chicago Tribune that said suburban office space demand is at the lowest level since the last recession. Today's younger workforce prefers the city.
--Michael Horne