Carl Reiner Dead At 98

Television comedy legend Carl Reiner has died. He was 98.  Reiner, one of the most influential figures in TV history, created the Dick Van Dyke Show. 

His son, Rob Reiner, who would later become a movie writer, became famous as Archie Bunker's son-in-law on All In The Family.

Walla Walla Has New Controversy--A Policeman's Tattoo

Walla Walla in some ways, has not changed since I left in 1989. It has become a destination wine producing area, which up until this year's Corona invasion, had developed a robust tourist industry.    The majority of residents, however, seem to enjoy the slow pace, wanting to keep far away from the rush of big city life.  

So, once again, in a short amount of time, the city finds itself being a center of attention for all the wrong reasons. 

About a year ago, Senator Maureen Walsh, now retiring, commented that nurses spend their breaks playing cards.  The fall out included Walsh receiving thousands of decks of playing cards.

Now another event in the town has blossomed on social media.  Earlier this year, reports of vandalism occurred at the Walla Walla shul, Congregation Beth Israel.  A Go Fund Me page raised over 5 thousand dollars from the community and beyond. 

Then, last month, there was talk of COVID  Parties, where residents were said to be trying to contact the disease in an attempt to build up immunity.  County health officials would later say that it was an exaggeration or something to that effect. 

But now there is a story with a different twist,  The Times Of Israel has run a story of  a Walla Walla police officer with a tattoo similar to the Nazi SS symbols

The tattoo according to Officer Nat Small, the officer involved, was to honor a colleague killed in a sniper attack during the war in Afghanistan.   The symbols was used by the special forces unit that Small served with.  The use of the symbol for that unit ended with intervention in 2012.   

Congregation Beth Israel has written a letter to the editor asking for apology from the department and the officer, while the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has threatened a lawsuit if the tattoo is not removed or altered and the officer is still with the force. 

Because of the controversy, Whitman College has announce it is ending its relationship with the Walla Walla Police Department, immediately.   It will no longer hire off duty officers to provide security at events and members of the force are barred from using the fitness center on the campus.  

Walla Walla police chief Scott Bieber has stirred controversy, defending the officer at a rally.

By most accounts, Small is not a bad cop, and a pleasant person, his tattoo however has put the town between a rock and a hard place and can be costly to the community in many ways.  At the time, there is no telling when and how this can be resolved.

Starbucks Barista Receives Over $ 58,000 In Tips For Not Serving Woman W...

This is the latest viral post.  The customer really wanted to lay it into the barista, but it backfired.

Summer Breeze - Seals & Croft #1 Hit(1972)

Posted numerous times.  This is my favorite time of the year.

Future Seattle NHL Arena Named

In a move that has proven less then popular, Amazon has purchased the naming rights to Seattle's arena, formerly known as the Key.   The name will be "Climate Pledge Arena"  The claim is that it will be the first carbon neutral sports arena in the world.   

On twitter,  most blasted the news, either because the name doesn't roll off the tongue easy, or don't want what they consider "Seattle politics" mixed in with sports.

Also, while Amazon is an extremely successful local company, it is by no means, the most popular.

Burl Barer Mentions This Blogger In Podcast

Ok, I just blogged about him three days ago, but when I read that his podcast was going to be his story about how he broke in radio, I listened to see if he would speak about anyone that I am familiar with. As it turned out, he mentioned someone that I was very familiar with, Me.  

If you click here, you will hear about me about 5 minutes in.  

Puget Sound Media, one of the area's best radio-TV blogs, does a recap of the pod, along with a sound bite, which you can see and listen to by clicking here.   Thank you to Puget Sound Media for this picture. 

MLB Return Scheduled

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has announced that Major League Baseball will return in July.  The teams will play a 60 game schedule.  The sport like much of the world, has been on hiatus due to the Corona Virus. 

No word on what will happen in the Minor Leagues. 

Cosell Has A New Project--Now On Deck

A few months ago, Colin Cosell, the PA announcer for the New York Mets, passed the time since the baseball season was suspended, doing walk up greetings for fans.

Now Cosell has teamed with other well known sports voices for "Now On Deck".or Nod.  

He is teamed up with well known sports  announcers, all now needing something to do during the covid crisis to make personalized greetings for fans.  Fans can hear their names introduced by their favorite voices. 

A portion of the fees for this project go to the International Rescue Committee for COVID-19 relief. 

Burl Barer Rockin' In The 60s

Puget Sound Media found a great cut of Burl Barer, working in Seattle at the tender age of 22.  He was at KOL at the time and suffering a cold over Labor Day weekend.   The date was listed as September 4th, 1969.  You can hear it by clicking here.

Last JFK Sibling Jean Kennedy Smith Dies

Jean Kennedy Smith, whose brothers inspired  generations in the White House and Congress, has died.  She is the last of the Kennedy siblings, which included President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy, would go on to serve as Ambassador to Ireland.   She was the last of that generation of Kennedy's, although the widows of Robert and Ted Kennedy are still around at this writing.  

Seattle Police ‘cede’ Capitol Hill district to ‘autonomous 24/7 Antifa o...

Dan Springer, family friend and a neighbor of my in-laws in Woodinville, is a reporter for Fox News.    He does this reports from the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, a situation that may have severe political consequences and may present financial and health problems.

Springer does this report for Sky News Australia.  They are not shy about giving opinions.

Happy Father's Day!

Veteran Area TV Journalist Margaret Larson Retires.

Both area broadcasting blogs Puget Sound Radio and Puget Sound Media report the retirement of Margaret Larson.  Larson has been hosting the KING-5 daytime talk show New Day for the last decade.

Larson had been a co-anchor on KIRO 7 News in the 90s and later with KING 5.  Before coming to Seattle, she had been a new anchor on the prestigious Today Show on NBC. 

We had gotten to know Margaret from doing segments on New Day for The  UPS Store in Bellevue. 

Larson is also known for her work with Mercy Corp and World Vision. 

Hilary Madsen Endorsed For Judge

The 5th District Democrats endorsed Seattle attorney Hilary Madsen for Position 13 of the King County Superior Court.  Madsen is the daughter of Barbara Madsen, former Chief Justice of the Washington State Supreme Court.   Madsen is the wife of Rob Dolin, a longtime activist in the state Democratic Party. 

The position is nonpartisan. 

Two Nice Jewish Boys Podcast--The Hotel Corona

Israael has kept the Corona Virus under control with massive quarantine efforts.  In the latest 2 Nice Jewish Boys podcast, guest Noam Schuster, an Israeli comedienne, tells about her bout with the disease and her stay at the Dan Hotel in Jerusalem. 

Two Nice Jewish Boys · #197 - Welcome To Hotel Corona, Such a Lovely Place! (Noam Shuster)

What it means to be essential.

Very touching commercial for The UPS Store.

Wildlife In Sammamish

Deb and I took Dasher to Sammamish Commons, a huge park that rolls downhill from behind the Sammamish City Hall where we spotted this deer. 

Tot Shabbat!

The Temple B'Nai Torah streams a special Shabbat for children.  I wish this could have been done when I was little as the prayers were in Hebrew and the service was long.  But my sisterr and I were at the time, the only children attending services.  Well, every once in a while, the Marsh's would come from Pendleton.  They were  my parents age and had children our age.

Maple Valley Growth Continues

Yesterday, on my day I turned right at the roundabout yesterday, to see if it leads to SR 169.  

It doesn't, at least but I got to check out one of Maple Valley's newest housing subdivisions.  

It is just North of SE 240th Street. Behind the new Starbucks and offices that were built this last year.  

It is called North Pointe At Maple Centre.  I took this shot of playground.  

I was driving in my old Scion which is soon going to my nephew.  

2 Burl Barer at the McFeely Tavern featured in the novel HEADLOCK

I had forgotten that there was a part two to Burl and the McFeely.

Burl Barer at the McFeely Tavern featured in the novel HEADLOCK

 I had posted this a few years ago, however, that You Tube channel is no longer up. I was able to find a new version.

Here's Burl Barer at what used to be the McFeely Hotel.

Ron And Don Speak To Therapist On Podcast

In a rather unusual podcast, well known local radio personalities Ron And Don speak with a Seattle area therapist to examine race relations, human behavior, etc.  You can hear the pod in it's entirety by clicking here. 

Ron and Don began podcasting almost exactly a year ago, after doing the afternoon drive on KIRO radio for over a decade.

Bledsoe Story On ESPN

All football fans know that Tom Brady of the New England Patriots is the most accomplished quarterback of all time, but probably, few people remember that he got his start as a backup who came in after a severe injury to franchise QB Drew Bledsoe, A native of my home town of Walla Walla and a WSU Coug (I was told not to say "former Coug").

Bledsoe is shown in his Walla Walla vineyard in this picture from an ESPN feature (E60--Better  with Age) that I watched this weekend.

It features Bledsoe's Wa-Hi Career, his days at Washington State, his taking what may have been the worst franchise in professional sports at the time, his terrible injury, his losing his job to Brady and his current role as a premier winemaker. 

Legendary Coach Johnny Majors Dies

Johnny Majors, who coached the Pittsburgh Panthers to the national championship has died.  He also the head football coach at Tennessee when my wife was at that school.  As such, he has an unlikely link between my college days at WSU and my wife's at Tennessee.  

When I was a freshman at WSU, Jackie Sherrill was the rookie head coach, having previously been an assistant under Majors at Pitt.  At the end of the year, Majors would leave that school to become the head coach at Tennessee.  Sherrill abruptly left WSU to coach at Pitt,,the number one program in the country at the  time.  

Majors won 185 games as a head coach and had a 9-6 record in Bowl games.   Majors won 3 SEC championships at Tennessee. 

Wes Unseld Center

I was sorry to hear of the passing of Wes Unseld.  Unseld played center for the Baltimore Bullets, who would eventually be known as the Capitol Bullets, and later the Washington Bullets.  Long after Unseld retired, they would become the Washington Wizards.  

Unseld was not flashy or tall, and played his entired career with the Bullet organization, kind of the antitheses of the image of the modern athlete.  He was playing when I started following the NBA in the late 60s and his career continued into the 80s.  His Bullets won the championship in 1978, sadly against the Seattle Super Sonics.  The Sonics would come back the following year to win the title.  

Unseld would later coach and be general manager of the Bullets.  

Unseld and Wilt Chamberlain to this day are the only NBA players to be chosen MVP and Rookie Of The Year in the same season.

NBA Set To Return Next Month

The NBA has revealed a plan to finish the 2019-2020 season that was suspended due to the corona virus 

The season would resume in late July with 22 of the 30 teams playing at Disney World,  The teams, all playoff contenders would finish the season and then the playoffs will determine this season's champion, probably around October 12th.  Then the 2020-21 season would start in December. 

 Although basketball is basically a winter sport.  Fans have become accustomed to watching it as part of the Summer Olympics, which, by the way, would have been played this summer. 

The Beatles - Revolution

When the Beatles were leading the changes in the world, John Lennon, perhaps the most politically outspoken of the group, sang "but if you talk about destruction, don't you know that you can count me out".  No doubt, people want to change the world, but rioting and looting won't win you over.

Minshew Will Be The Jags Starting QB

Multiple sources have pegged Gardner Minshew to be the Jacksonville Jaguars starting quarterback.  Minshew led the Washington State Cougars to it's best season in years and is one of it's most popular figures due to his distinct mustache, and his ability to relate to fans.  

Minshew became the Cougar quarterback after the tragic off season death to Tyler Hilinski. ,  the Cougar heir apparent to Luke Falk.

Protests And Property Damage Spill Beyond Seattle

This incident happened just a few feet from our UPS Store in Downtown Bellevue.  We don't know if the store or any of the surrounding buildings were damaged.  Looters, who have nothing to do with protests and may not even be from this area, may be responsible.

The major part of the protests were in the Bellevue Square Mall area. 

Protests and looting also occurred in the South Sound area.