836. Schools closed tomorrow due to Covid.

 

Jefferson County Public Schools have just announced schools will be closed tomorrow, Monday, January 10, 2022.  Schools will move to home school NTI on Tuesday and remain in the NTI through Friday, January 14, 2022.

© Jeff Noble, Louisville, Kentucky, January 9, 2022.

835. The Obituary of Darryl T. Owens

Darryl T. Owens

Louisville - Darryl T. Owens was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1937. He grew up in Fort Hill and recalled those days fondly. Stressing religion, family and education, his mother Dorothy Minter Owens raised a son who quietly became a giant as a civil rights leader, public servant and a man of many firsts.

Owens graduated from Central High School and left Kentucky to earn a bachelor's degree from Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. There he pledged the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. and forged lifelong friendships.

"At Central State, we were lucky because everyone was invested in our success," Owens said while receiving a lifetime achievement award from the University. "They pulled our coats when they needed to. My friends and I joke about writing a book 'I am glad they didn't mind their own business. ' Our business was their business. They knew how hard the world would be and they knew that we were the ones who needed to go out into the world to make it a better place for less fortunate black people."

Go out into the world he did. Owens was accepted into Howard University Law School in Washington, DC where he earned a Juris Doctorate degree in 1962. Owens returned home to Louisville where he opened his law practice in 1965.

Owens devoted his life to public service and civil rights. As an attorney, political candidate and government official, he broke racial barriers by becoming the first African American to gain recognition on many fronts. He pounded on doors to assure access for those who had been left out and—once inside—worked to ensure that those rights endured.

From 1965 to 1969, Owens served as the first black assistant prosecutor of the Louisville police court. Ultimately, he would become the first black assistant Kentucky attorney general and the first black president of the Legal Aid Society. Owens served as NAACP President, Louisville branch from 1970 to 1976. He also served on the University of Louisville Board of Trustees, the Louisville Urban League and local and state government advisory committees.

He served as a juvenile court judge in 1980 and served as the trial commissioner of Jefferson County Court. He was a member of the Kentucky Workmen's Compensation Board and, from 1976 to 1983, Owens was instrumental in obtaining government grants to assist chronically ill patients, the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), the Big Brothers program, homeless programs, vocational educational programs and various parks in Kentucky.

Owens was the first African American elected to the Jefferson County Fiscal Court. For 21 years, he served on the Jefferson County Fiscal Court representing C District. Then in 2005, he was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives to serve District 43. Owens also became chairman of the Judiciary Committee during his time in the House. He introduced important expungement legislation. House Bill 64 included language to help ex-felons get jobs by expanding offenses that can be expunged and making it easier to remove felonies from their permanent record. Owens sponsored another bill to help reinstate voting rights for former felons.

He was a strong believer in the transfer of knowledge to future generations. One of his mentors was Georgia Powers, the first African-American and first woman elected to the Kentucky Senate. "In the olden days, if they had a meeting, everybody showed up," Owens once told an interviewer. "We showed up and we marched. We had leaders who we trusted. Young kids now don't understand the sacrifices that others have made so they can do what they do. That's our fault. We haven't told the story."

"Dedra and I always thought our father was bigger than life," said Debbie Owens, his oldest daughter. "Even during his illness, he had an ability to build relationships - doctors, nurses, techs and caregivers. They all loved him. He never lost his sense of humor. We laughed and loved until the very end."

He is survived by his wife Brenda Lucien Owens, daughters Deborah Owens (Ferguson Evans) and Dedra Owens of Washington, DC; stepson Desmond Sweatt and sisters Patricia Herring of Cleveland, Ohio, and Leslie Tucker of Phoenix, Arizona.

A viewing service will be held on Monday, January 10, 2022 from 3:00 to 6:00 pm at the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage located at 1700 West Muhammad Ali Boulevard, Louisville, KY 40203.

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, January 11, 2022 at 10:00 am at St. Stephen Baptist Church located at 1008 South 15th Street, Louisville, KY 40210. Live streaming of the service will be available on St. Stephen's website www.ssclive.org.

Masks are required for attendance at both events.

The family welcomes donations for the Darryl Owens Memorial Fund, in lieu of flowers . Checks should be mailed to the Central State University Foundation, P. O. Box 64, Dayton, OH 45401-0064. Donations can also be made directly by visiting www.centralstateuniversityfoundation.com

W.T. Shumake & Daughters Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.

Copied from the Courier Journal.

© Jeff Noble, Louisville, Kentucky, January 8, 2022.

 

833. A Snowy Day in Louisville - the view from First and Main

Photo by SamHunterPhoto

Downtown Louisville earlier today, looking west on Main Street. This is the point from which Louisville's addresses are numbered. The view is west on West Main Street. To the right is north on North First Street. At the bottom-center-left is southbound South First Street and at the bottom right corner is looking back eastbound on East Main Street.

All of these points begin as the 100 block with even numbers on the west and south sides and odd numbers on the east and north sides. Most, but not all, of Louisville's streets conform to this numbering system.

The north-south divide extends westward along Main Street to the Ohio River (including some blocks where Main doesn't exist and streets divide in the middle of a block). It extends eastward back to the railroad crossing where E. Main becomes Mellwood Avenue, then follows the CSX Railroad Old Road subdivision to Frankfort Avenue, then follows Frankfort Avenue and Shelbyville Road to the county line.

The east-west divide extends northward on First Street, in theory, to the Ohio River, although River Road not does comport to the system. It extends southward on First Street to the old City Limits line at Southside Drive and Strawberry Lane, where it then becomes irregular, sometimes following the CSX Railroad mainline, while at other times following Third Street Road, and at other times following the CSX Railroad Henderson subdivision line.

The most obvious bastardization of the block numbering system is the 100 block of Outer Loop, which runs for just over one mile, from Third Street Road to just east of New Cut Road. There are also several streets which skip large sets of blocks. Dixie Highway skips the 5400-6400 blocks. The west side of Preston Highway skips the 3500-3900 blocks. Shelbyville Road skips the 5100-7300 blocks. Westport Road skips the 4900-7300 blocks. Highland Avenue skips the 1600-1900 blocks. Taylorsville Road skips the 4800-8900 blocks. Mellwood Avenue skips the 2000-2100 blocks. There are several others.

Finally, for many years a road existed connecting W. Manslick Road with New Cut Road in the Fairdale area. It had been built by the Commonwealth when the Jefferson Freeway, later known as the Snyder Freeway, came through in the late 1970s. There were no developed properties fronting on it and it went unnamed and unaddressed for many years. Eventually, it was developed with warehousing and later a hotel. That posed a problem - what to call it. It seamlessly went from New Cut to unnamed to W. Manslick. Lord knows we didn't need yet another Manslick Road in Jefferson County and New Cut jutted off to the south where it met - you may have guessed - one of our several Manslicks. Eventually the Fiscal Court changed the name of the New Cut which jutted to the south to Old New Cut and let the road continuing south toward Fairdale be known as New Cut.

Someday I'll talk about Old Shep.

© Jeff Noble, Louisville, Kentucky, January 6, 2022.

832. On the passing of State Representative Darryl T. Owens

My friend Darryl T. Owens passed away yesterday after a long illness.  He was 84.  For many years he represented me in the General Assembly as the 43rd District State Representative.  He had previously served as a member of the Jefferson Fiscal Court for "C" District.  I've known Darryl for thirty-eight years and supported him in nearly every one of his elections, the exception being when he ran for Mayor of Louisville in 1985.

Darryl is mentioned in more than a dozen posts here along the Left Bank of the Ohio River at Milepost 606. You can search his name in bar at the top left of the blog and go read about our various interactions.  He was a firm yet fair person willing to do almost anything for anybody, especially if it meant taking on authorities.  He loved addressing inequalities and working to solve them.

Among the entries herein is one dated March 2, 2013, where I have posted an address I made to the Kentucky Democratic Party State Central Executive Committee on a number of topics, one of which mentioned the work of Rep. Owens.  I have copied the pertinent paragraphs below.  I've also included a link to his bio on the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights website.  It tells much more than I can say in one post.

Here is part of my speech to the KDP SCEC:

On a different matter, and in the other house of the General Assembly, I am also concerned and dissatisfied.  Two days ago, the Kentucky House, in the name of religious freedom, passed a law which subverts the gains Kentucky and a few - very few - of its local communities have made with regard to civil rights protections for lesbians, gays, and others.  In the name of religious freedom, which I would call religious preference, something forbidden by the United States Constitution, our House passed a law by an overwhelming vote – seven Democrats voting no and the balance of the Chamber in favor – which could strip away discrimination protections in the name of religious freedom.

Two attempts were made by my representative in the House, Darryl Owens, to amend the bill, one passed and one was not called for a vote - both in the name of protecting the gains made in civil rights over the years, and especially in the cities of Vicco, Covington, Lexington, and Louisville.

Each of these bills now head to the other Chamber where both will likely be passed. Each bill needs work and if passed as written I would hope Governor Beshear would give the General Assembly more time to think through their votes by vetoing these horrible pieces of legislation.

Here is the link for the KCHR website for Rep. Owens bio:  Biography of Darryl T. Owens

Darryl leaves a large legacy of work behind and will be missed.  Please keep his wife Brenda and their family in your thoughts.  Rest in Peace and Power, my friend.

© Jeff Noble, Louisville, Kentucky, January 5, 2022.

825. The Wolf Moon: January's Full Moon, 2021, in Lower Clifton Heights

The snow is still falling here in Lower Clifton Heights*. There are about 2.5 inches of the fallen flakes on my deck. The snow will eventually come to an end in a few hours and when it does we're in for even more magic in the wintry firmament.

To borrow a few lines from Clement Clarke Moore, "The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow, gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below." That luster will be from the first Full Moon of 2021, cresting tomorrow afternoon at 2:16 p.m., but go out tonight and see the wonder!

It's the Wolf Moon, the most appropriate night of the year to Howl at the Moon!

(* - Lower Clifton Heights. I live in a neighborhood called Clifton Heights, named for the hills above the Clifton neighborhood along Frankfort Avenue and overlooking the Muddy Fork of Beargrass Creek and in the distance, the Ohio River. But I live at the foot of the hill. Leaving from where I live is uphill in any direction, albeit to the west or east not a terribly hard incline but to the north or south, the grade is quite steep, including the driveway of our condos leading back to our carports. Thus I've decided to christen our little section of town, which lies along "Lower" Brownsboro Road, as Lower Clifton Heights.)

© Jeff Noble, Louisville, Kentucky, January 27, 2021.

819. Mary Margaret Mulvihill, Rest In Peace

Mary Margaret Mulvihill passed away the day before yesterday. She is someone who I've known of all my adult life although we haven't always been political friends. I did not know her the first time she ran for elective office, but in her next four races, I did not support her.

I first heard her name in the 35th LD elections of 1976, a three-way contest between her, the incumbent Ernestine Roach, and my uncle, Don Noble. I was 15 years old at the time. Ernestine, who lived in the subdivision behind my high school, won that race. As a note, Uncle Don died in 2005 and Ernestine died seven years ago today. That LD election began my involvement in City of Louisville politics as a "Stansbury Democrat" and put me on opposite sides with Mary Margaret.

My first long conversation with her was in April 1984, on another 35th LD election day, a race she won, in her dining room in North Audubon. She made me precinct captain of H-121 - the old 17-4, my precinct in Camp Taylor. I also came to be friends with her husband, Eamon, an Irishman who came to America in the early 1960s, who passed away in 2015.

Over a long period of time, I came to understand Mary Margaret's role in the formation of TARC, the social justice politics of Louisville and Kentucky, and the stern and effective way she served both in and out of public office, never ever stopping. When I decided to run for 35th LD Chair in 2000, despite a sometimes rocky relationship, I asked her to run with me as my Vice-Chair. (I remember going to Bellarmine's Knights Hall where she was attending a "B" District Commissioner debate with Dolores Delahanty and making this ask. It wasn't easy and she didn't make it any easier, but she did accept and with that acceptance brought together, at least in the 35th, two long-running factions of Louisville's Democratic Party under one tent.) We won that race over two other tickets, both of whom dropped out of the race before the election was held.

In the last twenty years, Mary Margaret has kept up her hard work in every way possible ultimately seeing the election of her son, Patrick, as Councilman in the 10th District, which overlays a large part of the 35th House District. I've mostly interacted with her in recent years through Patrick. Knowing Patrick since his days as a Little Leaguer at Germantown, I've supported him in his races for office, even when some around me haven't. While I haven't been in a district where I could vote for him, I do have property there and he has had a sign on my property in each of his elections. I know Mary Margaret is very proud of his accomplishments.

Mary Margaret has long been part of a group of leaders in Louisville - her, Suzy Post, and earlier this month Sue Speed - that is slowly passing from us and their work and devotion will be deeply missed in the future. May she Rest in Peace. ✝️

810. NPR and Soybean Futures

I listen to NPR News because I believe it has an intellectual bias I don't find elsewhere. Nonetheless I chuckled as I listened earlier to a report on the Chinese tariffs retaliation and the journalist trying to sound fully knowledgeable on "soybean futures." 

I do not remember "soybean futures" being mentioned on NPR in the past. It made me think of Barney Arnold and Jack Crowner and those early morning reports on the radio when I was a little kid.

809. Summer Solstice, 2018

About ten hours from now, at 6:07 a.m. tomorrow morning, we will pass one of those cardinal points on our annual journey around our personal star, the Sun. The Summer Solstice marks the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. In Louisville the period between sunrise and sunset will be 14 hours, 49 minutes, and 48 seconds, the longest day of the year. We're scheduled for some thunderstorms in between those two markers. 

Happy Solstice. 

I think it calls for naked dancing or something.

803. Burrel Farnsley, 1946-2017

Burrel Farnsley's memorial service took place today at Christ Church Cathedral.

Burrel and I have been friends for decades. He has regaled me with many stories about his youth, his family ancestry, his father (and especially his time as mayor and his Friday afternoon Open Houses at City Hall), his ownership of the Schenck Mansion with Sandy Speer up in Vevay, unending theater talk, and lots of the history of the United States, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Episcopal Church. I was a natural pupil for his history lessons.

After his loss to John Yarmuth in the 2006 Democratic Primary, he came and volunteered at our campaign headquarters and somehow became my responsibility. He wanted to do a special Voter Registration Drive to prove a point on voter turnout. He chose two precincts in Smoketown, L111 and L112, and I created the voter lists for him. His goal was to knock on every door of those listed and if the person whose name appeared on the rolls was not the person who answered the door, then he would offer to register whoever answered. If no one answered he left them an already-stamped envelope with a voter registration card to be returned to our office so we could track the results.

I drove him over to the area around Shelby and Breckinridge streets most every day and dropped him off and picked him up later in the day. He'd have a handful of new registrants. We kept track of the all of new voters registered due to his efforts and sent them a letter ahead of the election encouraging them to vote. At the time both precincts voted at the old Presbyterian Community Center.

As it turned out, voter turnout was up, not significantly, but up, in both precincts. Once the voter rolls were updated, we could see that many of Burrel's new registrants were also new voters. His plan was a success.

Burrel and I continued our friendship through the years as his illnesses and demons began to take a toll on his body. He continued to call the office through October from various places, the last being a nursing home in Indiana. Unfortunately, I did not take the last of the calls he made to the office. I regret that now. 

May he rest in peace. O God, Grant to him eternal rest. Let light perpetual shine upon Burrel. May his soul and the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Here is his obituary as posted in the Courier-Journal on January 2, 2018 by Legacy.com.

Burrel Charles Peaslee Farnsley, who was born on September 13, 1946, died on December 30, 2017. 

Burrel attended Atherton High School and he graduated from the Wooster School in Danbury, Connecticut. He also attended the University of Louisville. Burrel was a devoted Episcopalian and was a member of the Church of the Advent. He had also been a member of Calvary Episcopal Church. 

Burrel worked in the family's publishing business, the Lost Cause Press. A lifelong Democrat, he sought his party's nomination for mayor, Congress, and Senate. 

Burrel is survived by his brothers and sisters, Sally Bird of Arlington, VA, Ann of Vevay, IN, Alexander of San Diego, CA, and Douglass (Eliza), of Louisville, by his nieces and nephews, and by many friends. 

Burrel was predeceased by his parents, Charles and Nancy Farnsley. Charles Peaslee Farnsley was mayor of Louisville from 1948 to 1953. From 1965 to 1966, Mayor Farnsley was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Burrel was brilliant and will be missed by his family members and by his many friends. Burrel's family expresses their gratitude to the staff of Riverview Village for the outstanding care they provided during his final month. Visitation will be 4 - 7 PM Tuesday at Pearson's Funeral Home, 149 Breckenridge Lane. A Memorial Service will be 1 PM Wednesday at Christ Church Cathedral, 421 South Second Street.

Burrel's ashes will be buried in the Farnsley family lot at Cave Hill Cemetery. Pearson Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. In lieu, of flowers, memorials may be made to Calvary Episcopal Church or Christ Church Cathedral.

797. McConnell, Trump, and coal. Nixon goes to China.

Senator McConnell, recent Kentucky history, and a prediction on President Trump and the coal voters. 

Earlier today my high school friend, a conservative voter but one who'll vote a Third Party when pressed, explained to another high school friend, like me a Liberal Democrat, that one problem with Kentucky is we have a number of uninformed, ignorant, and one issue voters - her words, not mine. I couldn't agree more although we may disagree on which voters are which. But is this news? Is it news that we're finally showing up as a Red State? Neither is news. It must be said that Kentucky is a Red State and has been for some time even though we've just gotten around to electing a Republican governor last year and turned out our Democratic House this year. The truth is we've been Red since the 1990s. (Being Red appears to be popular right now in more ways than one.) The growth in voter identity (as opposed to registration) between 1996 and 2016 has almost entirely been in the GOP column.

If you look at the presidential numbers starting with Bill Clinton in 1992 and whoever the Republican has been, the Democrats have gotten about the same number of votes for 24 years, around the 700K mark, while the GOP candidates have increased up to about 1M. So that isn't an anti-Hillary or anti-Obama vote but is rather a change in values, or is it? The Democrats' last bit of strength in our state, outside of Louisville, Lexington, and sometimes Frankfort, was in coal country in Prestonsburg and Pikeville in the east and Owensboro and Henderson in the west. Only Henderson remains nominally Democratic, but it is both a natural gas town and a coal town. President Obama and Hillary Clinton's EPA policies, policies started by President Nixon I'll note, finally took their toll. But the voters believe coal is alive. It isn't. It is dying or dead, especially the type mined in eastern Kentucky.

The GOP has flat out lied about coal for about 15 years. I believe one of the good things which may come out of Mr. Trump's presidency is the truth about coal. The new president has surrounded himself with oil and gas proponents, not coal guys. I believe at some point President Trump will double-cross his eastern and western Kentucky coal voters by telling them the truth. It will be a "Nixon-goes-to-China" thing. It will take a Republican to tell them for them to believe it. Which gets us back to Senator McConnell and why he has been re-elected with relative ease since 1984.

He had his own "Nixon-goes-to-China" moment with tobacco in the mid-1980s, back when he still could tell the truth on matters. Democrats in Kentucky allowed him to own the issue of the tobacco buy-out program both in the '80s and the follow up provisions in 2004, which came to an end with the final payments of a $100B program paid in late 2014. He politically converted all the flat tobacco-growing land from D to R - the 1st, 2nd, and 6th congressional districts, with the tobacco buy-out. He has been rewarded and, perhaps, rightly so, giving tobacco farmers a way out with real money. They're now producing more corn and soybeans and even shrimp and catfish. Kentucky State University added an aquaculture program to train farmers to farm something else. But he hasn't done it with coal, that last remnant of Democratic voters.

Why? Because other than eco-tourism, there is little you can do with empty and topless mountains. So, they've continued to lie and promise a light at the end of the tunnel. To be sure, many Kentucky Democrats have joined in the charade. But it is only a false light and President Trump's gas and oil men, the original GOP in the GOP (gas, oil, and petrol) will, I believe, put an end to it. They'll make sure no more money is wasted on a product in competition with their own. It is possible then, when the GOP lie about coal is revealed and admitted to, that some of those former Democratic-voting Kentuckians may become Democrats once again in the voting booths and then, perhaps, we'll have a more balanced state politically. But it will take 20 years to get back to a good place and we'll all be older and ready to leave the future to someone else at that point, if not sooner.

Nil Desperandum.

794. Where is Crittenden Drive?

Mt friend Michael and I took a drive out to South Louisville this afternoon to enjoy the traditional Green River Style fish dinner at the Suburban Lodge on the corner of S. Third Street and W. Collins Court.  Our after dinner drive turned into an impromptu tour of the neighborhoods and streets - old, new, and gone - of the area.

We progressed out of the Suburban parking lot, itself a new location prompted by the extension of Central Avenue east of 2nd Street up and over the L&N yards over to Crittenden Drive, thereby connecting Freedom Hall with Churchill Downs.

Our first neighborhood was that of Wilder Park.  We were in fact on what was at one time called Wilder Parkway but now goes by the more mundane S. 2nd Street. We followed through the area passing the Wilder Park Park, renamed for Huston Quin, a one term judge on the Kentucky Court of Appeals and later, from 1921-1925, a Republican mayor of the old City of Louisville.

Cutting over to the east a few blocks we ended up on the western edition of Louisville Avenue, the only one which is left.  There was also at one time an eastern edition of Louisville Avenue with the L&N Railroad running down the middle.  One point of the drive was to point out to Michael, who was born just over 27 years years ago, where Highland Park was, since it isn't there anymore.

I had mentioned Highland Park while we were eating as the only real competition Suburban has for its style of fish is served up at the Highland Park Lodge which at one time was on the eastern Louisville Avenue in what was at one time Highland Park.  The Highland Park Lodge has since relocated to the former Okolona Post Office building on a street called Pinecroft Drive but what originally known as Lambert Road.  But, I digress.

Tracking down the two Louisville Avenues led us to the multiple Crittenden Drives in the area.  I have complained now and then over the last twenty-five years about the name-identification problems in this area to the various Public Works directors and offered solutions but to no avail.  As all of this area was new to Michael, he clearly saw the problems.

At the intersection of Crittenden Drive and the cross-street just north of the Watterson, the sign to the west identifying the cross-street said Park Boulevard while the sign to the east said Phillips Lane.   I told him neither sign was correct.  It should or could read Seneca Avenue or maybe Ashton Avenue to the east.  It should not read Phillips Lane.  It is hard to say what it should read to the west.  Park Boulevard is and has been for a century about two blocks west of Crittenden Drive, back when Crittenden Drive was known as Ashbottom Road.  S. Floyd Street turns into Park Boulevard where the old Highland Park city limits used to begin just north of the Dakota Street right-of-way.

All of the east-west streets, like Dakota and Seneca, were named for the Native American tribes which once owned and occupied the North American continent before the illegal immigration of white Europeans.  Oh, wait.  This isn't a political post.  It is a geography post.

At the intersection of this newly built and misnamed east-west street which the city has labelled as Park Boulevard and the other Park Boulevard, there is a sign indicating the continuation of this new road to the west and south along the L&N is called Crittenden Drive, this despite the fact there is another Crittenden Drive, the original one, the one formerly called Ashbottom Road, two blocks to the east.  There is, in fact, a U. S. Post Office, at 4440 Crittenden Drive on that original roadway.  Oh well.

We followed the new roadway, the new Crittenden Drive, alongside the railroad, to its intersection with a somewhat reconfigured but still recognizable Woodlawn Overpass.  This is the overpass we long remember as starting out on (that old) Crittenden Drive as Nevada Avenue and ending up on the South Louisville side as Woodlawn Avenue.  We've always had fun with names changing like that.  Anyway, we followed this new Crittenden Drive which eventually rejoined the old one out past the FedEx plant where once stood International Harvester (1945-1985) and before that, the Curtiss-Wright Airplane shops (1942-1945).  But that Crittenden Drive comes to a dead end somewhere around the old city limits line of the old City of Highland Park which was also, later, the old city limits line of the old City of Louisville.  It was at one time Eagan Avenue but in the 1980s was changed to MacLean Avenue.

We circled back up to the Woodlawn Overpass in what I described to Michael would be a double-loop, crossing over to Allmond Avenue and the Iroquois Station Post Office, which houses the Zip Codes 40209, 40214, and 40215.  Allmond circles around and ends at Strawberry Lane, the southern appellation of the western edition of Louisville Avenue.  About two blocks south of where MacLean Avenue once crossed over the tracks, a new bridge has been built, largely at the urging and with the funding direction of long time Alderman and Councilman Dan Johnson.  This is the Crittenden Drive Connector which leads to a new street entirely, "South Crittenden Drive," a street which wasn't there when I was in high school.

I'll be honest - I cannot tell what was where back in the day.  It looks to be about where the old Kroger Distribution Center was next to the old GES Department Store, in the curve south of the airport, where the original "new" Crittenden Drive broke off from Ashbottom Road and made its way around the old "bottom" of Standiford Field, back before the great Airport Expansion Project which began in the 1980s.

This new road hugs the railroad and the spur lines which feed the Ford Motor Company and extend eastward to General Electric, although they are rarely used east of the Ford plant.  The new "South" Crittenden Drive joins Grade Lane about two blocks south of where the older "new" Crittenden Drive once did prior to 1985.

In our short drive, we were on three different "new" Crittenden Drives, plus the Crittenden Drive Connector.  While Highland Park is gone and Park Boulevard seems a little misguided, and Seneca Avenue and Ashton Avenue are out of place, Crittenden Drive is alive and well in several different and unconnected places.

790. When We All Get To Heaven - a tribute to Wendell Ford

There's an old Methodist hymn that many of us know - When we all get to heaven.  It is very loosely based on the passage from the Gospel of Saint John, Chapter 14, Verse 2, the familiar scripture relating the many rooms of the House of God according to his son Jesus.  Well, maybe it is.  The writer, Eliza Hewitt, wrote it in the 1890s and along with the composer, Emily Wilson, was a regular at Methodist Camp Meetings in New Jersey.  If you've ever been to camp, you know there is a lot of fellowship, a lot of praying, and a lot of singing going on amongst friends close and not-so-close - like a big family reunion of those folks you only see at weddings and funerals.  Today's occasion for a blogpost was a funeral service of sorts, the State Memorial Service of the late Wendell Hampton Ford, former State Senator, Lieutenant Governor, Governor, and United States Senator, and a personal if somewhat distant friend.  Ford died January 22, 2015 at the age of 90.

I posted on Facebook a few days ago my first introduction to Wendell Ford in 1971, a rally for the election of Wendell Ford and Julian Carroll held at the old Okolona Democratic Headquarters followed by a parade out to Southern High School and another rally.  There would be many more meetings including one about six months later as I served as a page in the Senate, serving then-State Senators Tom Mobley and Walter Huddleston.  During the week, on February 18, 1972, I dropped into the Governor's Office and introduced myself to everyone.  I was 11 years old at the time.  Governor Ford sent me a letter later than day recounting my visiting his office as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do.  After visiting every-so-often with my grandmother, who probably did consider it second nature, I can only say I was following in her footsteps.  I still have that letter.

Through the years, Governor and later United States Senator Ford has been a friend, inspiration, mentor, and, for an abbreviated period, boss - twice.  In 1980 I worked under the direction of a lady from Jeffersontown who was one of his campaign bosses - I can never remember her name but I can always remember those big '70s style glasses she wore, along with wigs that were never quite where they should be.  She introduced me to "working a rolodex."  She had quite a rolodex.  Later, for a brief period in the mid 1980s, between one of those periods of unemployment at City Hall, I was offered a chance to work in the Senator's office in the District of Columbia.  I made a visit, got cold feet, and returned to Louisville.  It is one of the capital mistakes of my lifetime.

Over the years and especially since his retirement from elective office in 1998, Senator Ford has become one of the icons of Kentucky's political history, ranking up there at the top with Henry Clay, Alben Barkley, and, giving credit where it is due, Addison Mitchell McConnell, Jr., the only person serving longer than Ford as a United States Senator from Kentucky.  He has been the hero of nearly every Democratic campaign, the one person Democratic candidates seek out above all others for an endorsement.  He had most recently endorsed Jack Conway in his race to be one of his successors in the Governor's Office.

Yesterday and today, Wendell Ford became the twenty-first person to lie in state in our State Capitol, depending upon who is counting, who they are counting, and if they are counting all of our capitol buildings.  And today was the official State Memorial ceremony marking the life and death of this beloved statesman and politician.  It was beautifully delivered by Governor Steve Beshear, eulogist Thomas Preston, Lieutenant Governor Crit Luallen, cantor Colmon Elridge, and musicians from the Owensboro Orchestra. And that gets us back to that Methodist hymn, When we all get to heaven.

I have been enamored of our State Capitol and, indeed, our State Government since my very early visits with my grandmother as a little boy in the 1960s.  I remember the first time I was a page around the age of 7 for then-State Representative Tommie Riddle of Okolona.  I remember returning there when our neighbor at the end of the street, Dottie Priddy, was elected as a State Representative in 1969.  And I have a great fondness in my heart and soul for the time I spent in Junior KYA and KYA while a student at Durrett from 7th through 12th grades, and later as an Adviser for Lexington's Morton Junior High School while I was student at UK.  Then in 1980, with the help of Dottie Priddy, I got to go to work for the Legislative Research Commission, the official staff to Kentucky's General Assembly.  I was, in my mind, working in heaven.  I have never lost my passionate feeling for this wonderful body, working in a beautiful building, in what has been and remains one of my favorite cities on the planet.

Over all these years, I have come to know many, many people associated with that building.  Governors, lieutenant governors, other statewide electeds, and a lot of the folks who helped to put all those people in office.  Through involvement with the Kentucky Young Democrats (and thanks to Dale Emmons and others, the Young Democrats of America), I established friendships and relationships which have remained in tact over the decades.  I see them at political events, BBQs, football and basketball games (mostly in Lexington), and other sundry places, some planned, some unplanned.  Most of us gather the first Saturday in August for food and fun at Fancy Farm.  There are other events where any number of these folks might show up - the Hillbilly Days in Pikeville, Court Days in Mount Sterling, St. John's Picnic in Paducah, or the old Guidiglis family picnic in northern Kentucky, something I have lost track of.

Today's gathering in memory of Governor Ford brought all those people together, a sort of "When we all get to heaven" occasion.  There was plenty of rejoicing at seeing old and new friends and relaying and relating stories of the great man whose coffin was lying in state before the larger-than-life statue of Kentucky's president, Abraham Lincoln.  We were all there.  I saw former governors Carroll, Brown, Collins, and Patton.  I saw three congressmen, Yarmuth, Rogers, and Guthrie - but only spoke to one - a nice chat with Congressman Guthrie about how the 2012 redistricting plan wasn't quite put into practice.  We both laughed.  I saw Mary Sue Helm, who now works for Secretary of State Grimes, but for me is someone I've known since 1979 when we both worked in the office of then-Jefferson County Clerk Bremer Ehrler.  I saw Adrian Arnold, a former member of the House.  We chatted briefly.  Mr. Arnold came to the House in 1974, the same year as Steve Beshear.  Wendell Ford was governor at the time.  Later I stood behind James Kay, one of Kentucky's newest members of the House elected from Woodford County.  I saw my councilman, Metro Council President David Tandy, along with my senator, Gerald Neal.  I saw a number of my old Young Democrat friends, starting with Dale Emmons and Earl M. "Mickey" McGuire, who took me to my first YDA convention.  I saw many of my fellow members of the Kentucky Democratic Party State Central Committee, a body I sought office to every fourth year from 1980 to 2000 before finally winning in 2004 (and being re-elected in one fashion or another in both 2008 and 2012).  And while I didn't speak to him, the most powerful Republican in the Republic, and arguably the second most powerful man on the planet, the aforementioned Mitch McConnell was seated forty feet away, in a much more prominent place than mine.  I did say hello to former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chou, wife of the senator.  Both large city mayors were there although I only spoke with Lexington's.  Many current and former statewide electeds were there, including Alison Grimes (and her father, with whom I had an extended conversation outside the Governor's Office), Todd Hollenbach (father and son), John Young Brown (father, son, and grandson), Bobby Babbage, Ben Chandler, and old John Stevenson was upstairs in a wheelchair.  And the thing is, he touched all of these people and many more.

It was, in a word, heaven.  That isn't meant sacrilegiously.  I do believe in an afterlife which involves heaven.  But today was close.  It was quite a gathering.  The state's powerful and less-than-powerful, all together in a place they presumably love.  It is, I will note, the second such gathering of a place's powerful and less-than-powerful gathered together to pay respect to a deceased leader the likes of which we won't see again soon which I've attended in the last few days.

Rest In Peace, Senator Ford.          

(picture by John Rogers of Glasgow, Ky.)

1. Sing the wondrous love of Jesus,
   Sing His mercy and His grace;
   In the mansions bright and blessed
   He’ll prepare for us a place.
   • When we all get to heaven,
     What a day of rejoicing that will be!
     When we all see Jesus,
     We’ll sing and shout the victory!

785. As to my predictions - the promised report.

Last week, prior to the Election, I made a bold set of predictions for the Alison Grimes - Mitch McConnell race for the United States Senate.  At Entry #784, posted at 9:07 the night before the election, I predicted Mitch McConnell would receive 4,400 votes fewer than Alison.  Although the number does not appear in the post, my notes indicate that my prediction was for McConnell to poll 788129 votes to Alison's 792529. Despite my wishful thinking we all know that 4,400 margin of victory didn't happen and it didn't happen in a big way.  

In my defense (and this entire entry is "in my defense") McConnell's numbers were, relatively speaking" close to my prediction.  He outperformed my expectations by 2.36%.  That's pretty close.  I like it that I predicted the number I did for McConnell.  What does it tell us?  Mostly that his voters were very traditional, very reliable, and rather unmovable.  I have often described my style of "doing numbers" with the phrase "birds of a feather vote together." In Mitch's case, that is exactly what happened.  He did not receive an outpouring of new voters, people upset with Obama or Alison or Steve Beshear or anyone else.  He got 2.36% better than he should have gotten by my numbers.  That's no big deal.

Here's the big deal.  My prediction for Alison was 792,529 votes.  She polled 584,698, a deficit of 207,831, or only 73.77% of my predicted number for her.  Again we must ask, as everyone has been asking, why? Most people are blaming her loss on the president and his intense unpopularity in the Commonwealth. That can't be denied.  But there is more to it than that.

I'll be the first to admit (now that it is over) my predictions for her, unlike those for McConnell, were loaded in her favor.  I really wanted her to win.  She is a friends and her parents are dear friends who have been supportive of me in many ways.  My predictions numbers included some "seeded clouds" intended to make supporters recognize that a GOTV effort on Election Day was paramount in obtaining a victory, and pointing out as I did in the original post the importance and difficulty of getting those voters out especially in the two most populous counties, Fayette and Jefferson.  She didn't in either and the national networks called the race as soon as they could as that last poll closed in the Central Time Zone.  Alison had to do in Fayette and Jefferson what had never been done before and didn't.  My predictions in those two counties were, quite honestly, extraordinarily wishful thinking.  More than a few people through the night seemed to know that.

Sticking to traditional conservative values did not help where it might have - in the east and the west. Sticking to those same values or avoiding others, especially with regard to the president didn't help in Louisville and Lexington.  Would it have made a difference or do most people who always vote Republican continue to do so and do most people who always vote Democratic continue to do so?  Again, birds of a feather.  

In summary, Alison failed to move more than a few Republican-voting Democrats over to her column.  She also failed, in a large way, to give Fayette and Jefferson's non-traditional voters - those who only vote in presidential years - a reason to come out in her favor.  That was a needle we had to move and didn't. Doing those two things might have made the difference.  

But, back to those abysmal predictions of mine.  Other than my McConnell number which was marginally correct, my best predictions came in adjoining counties, Simpson where I missed the mark by 51 votes, and Warren where it was 89.  Grayson was the next closest at 95. Others close enough to brag about were Cumberland and Marion - each at 101, Nelson at 120, McCreary at 133, Robertson at 145 - and honestly I shouldn't include Robertson as it is hard to be off by 145 as opposed to easy, Monroe at 149, and Butler at 188.

Arguably my best prediction came from Fayette given its size where I was off 659 votes.  My worst, of course, was Jefferson at 33025.  I suppose that should be embarrassing.  The entire list is below.

Takeaway? Simple - running on traditional Republican values didn't move anyone and may have alienated some.  Let's see how those considering a 2015 statewide run respond to that. 


Below are my original predictions with the actuals to the right of those and occasional notes.

ADAIR - (2100) - (777)
ALLEN - (2100) - (435)
ANDERSON - (600) - (1406)
BALLARD - (100) - (926)
BARREN - (2100) - (1077)
BATH - 700 - (587)
BELL - (1400) - (2151)
BOONE (17000) - 3588 - Boone's deficit was 3588 lower than my prediction.
BOURBON - 200 (387)
BOYD - 200 - (233)
BOYLE - (1100) - (445)
BRACKEN - 100 - (577)
BREATHITT - even - (368)
BRECKINRIDGE - (300) - (990)
BULLITT - (4000) - (1870)
BUTLER - (1600) - (188)
CALDWELL - even - (1346)
CALLOWAY - (1800) - (787)
CAMPBELL - (6100) - (536)
CARLISLE - even - (609)
CARROLL - 400 - (366) - Carroll's win was 366 lower than my prediction.
CARTER - 900 - (169) - Carter's win was 169 lower than my prediction.
CASEY - (2100) - (425)
CHRISTIAN - (2500) - (1301)
CLARK - (1400) - (849)
CLAY - (2500) - (772)
CLINTON - (1900) - (418)
CRITTENDEN - (600) - (730)
CUMBERLAND - (1200) - (101)
DAVIESS - (1600) - (3195)
EDMONSON - (800) - (561)
ELLIOTT - 500 - (245) - Elliott's win was 245 lower than my prediction.
ESTILL (600) - (693)
FAYETTE - 5600 - Note - 4322 more votes than Conway got over Paul, not an easy task. - (659)
FLEMING - 400 - (1343)
FLOYD - 2300 - (3480)
FRANKLIN - 4000 - (1795) - Franklin's win was 1795 lower than my prediction.
FULTON - even - (283)
GALLATIN - (100) - (402)
GARRARD - (1700) - (502)
GRANT - (1700) - (488)
GRAVES - (1500) - (2506)
GRAYSON - (2400) - (95)
GREEN - (1000) - (744)
GREENUP - 100 - (799)
HANCOCK - 500 - (675)
HARDIN - (3800) - (1776)
HARLAN - (1300) - (2952)
HARRISON - (300) - (685)
HART - (500) - (548)
HENDERSON - 500 - (1140)
HENRY - (200) - (699)
HICKMAN - even - (449)
HOPKINS - (2700) - (2618)
JACKSON - (1200) - (1499)
JEFFERSON - 69000 - Note - 40050 more votes than Conway got over Paul, not an easy task. - A note here - Alison beat McConnell by 35975 votes.  I had hoped/prayed/predicted against all logic that she would win by 69000, a difference of 33025.  I noted in the prediction that she needed a 40050 vote bigger win than Jack got over Randy.  Jack got fewer votes than Alison as Rand got fewer than Mitch.  Jack's margin was 28950.  Alison got 7025 more votes than Jack.  I really need to break Jefferson down by legislative district.  (33025) - Jefferson's win was 33025 fewer than my prediction.
JESSAMINE - (3300) - (1955)
JOHNSON - (2300) - (1156)
KENTON - (13500) - 1864 - Kenton's deficit was 1864 fewer than my prediction.
KNOTT - 500 - (1417)
KNOX - (2500) - (1526)
LARUE - (800) - (558)
LAUREL - (7100) - (1516)
LAWRENCE - even - (1286)
LEE - (400) - (530)
LESLIE - (2500) - (329)
LETCHER - (300) - (1992)
LEWIS - (1600) - 168.  Lewis's deficit was 168 less than my prediction.
LINCOLN - (600) - (1375)
LIVINGSTON - (200) - (785)
LOGAN - (1800) - (213)
LYON - even - (671)
MADISON - (2500) - (2565)
MAGOFFIN - 700 - (1839)
MARION - 900 - 101 - Marion's win was 101 fewer than my prediction.
MARSHALL - (1100) - (1809)
MARTIN - (1200) - (952)
MASON - 300 - (1387)
MCCRACKEN - (4400) - (2381)
MCCREARY - (2100) - (133)
MCLEAN - even - (760)
MEADE - (400) - (930)
MENIFEE - 900 - (792) - Menifee's win was 792 fewer than my prediction.
MONROE - (2600) - 149. Monroe's deficit was 149 fewer than my prediction.
MORGAN - 700 - (1113)
MUHLENBERG - 1000 - (1943)
NELSON - (900) - (120) - Nelson's defeat was 120 fewer than my prediction.
NICHOLAS - 400 - (258) - Nicholas's win was 258 fewer than my prediction.
OHIO - (200) - (2024)
OLDHAM - (7600) - (297) - Oldham's defeat was 297 fewer than my prediction.
OWEN - (300) - (812)
OWSLEY - (500) - (384)
PENDLETON - (800) - (611)
PERRY - (700) - (2381)
PIKE - 200 - (5509)
POWELL - 600 - (734) 
PULASKI - (8400) - (1947)
ROBERTSON - even - (145)
ROCKCKASTLE - (1600) - (1081)
ROWAN - 1200 - (986) - Rowan's win was 986 fewer than my prediction.
RUSSELL - (2600) - (494)
SCOTT - (1700) - (934)
SHELBY - (2700) - (995)
SIMPSON - (800) - (51)
SPENCER - (1500) - (821)
TAYLOR - (1000) - (1848)
TODD - (700) - (488)
TRIGG - (1000) - (563)
TRIMBLE - even - (396)
UNION -200 - (1547)
WARREN - (6700) - (89)
WASHINGTON - (400) - (480)
WAYNE - (1000) - (889)
WEBSTER - even - (1342)
WHITLEY - (3700) - (694)
WOLFE - 600 - (554) - Wolfe's win by 554 fewer than my prediction.
WOODFORD - (100) - (1003)

776. Derby 140 - Early Line

As a rule, when I go to the track, I always make the same bet, irrespective of the race or the horses, a 2-3-9 Exacta Box. I've hit it twice this year in as many outings, once at Keeneland, once at Churchill. My Derby bet on Saturday, in addition to the normal 2-3-9 Exacta Box, will be a 4-12-19 Exacta Box. Go ahead and mark your Racing Forms.

773. To See or Not To See - Bill Clinton

William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States of America, will pay a visit to Kentucky tomorrow and it is not his first time here.  Like many, my first introduction to the president was in 1988 when he addressed the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, a marathon speech which lasted thirty-three minutes.  I can't honestly say if I was impressed or not.

That was July, 1988.  Skip ahead three years and nine months and the same guy was making a visit to Louisville, now the Democratic nominee for president in the election to be held about five weeks later on November 3rd.  There had been a presidential debate scheduled that evening in Louisville, a debate which had been cancelled by Mr. Clinton's Republican opponent, then-president George Bush, now referred to as George H. W. Bush.  Clinton came to Louisville anyway and spoke on a chilly evening on the steps of the Kentucky Center for the Arts.  Here is a link to his speech that afternoon.  http://www.c-span.org/video/?32822-1/clinton-campaign-appearance.  If you follow the link, you will find the speech and if you look over the soon-to-be-president's right shoulder, you will see a political mentor of mine seated two rows behind the speaker, the late Cyril Allgeier who served as a local municipal legislator for twenty-two years.  Rest In Peace, Cyril.  But, I digress.

At the time I was a member of the Louisville-Jefferson County Democratic Executive Committee as the At-Large Member from the 35th Legislative District.  As such I was allowed to be in an up-close rope line before and after several events that night and it was in the course of one of those that I had a brief chance to meet Mr. Clinton.  Pretty cool although he was, at that point, the fourth man I had met who was or would be president.  The interesting thing was I had not supported him in the 1992 Primary, where instead I was a supporter of the former (and current) governor of California, Jerry Brown.  In the Kentucky Primary held May 26, 1992, Brown ran third.  Governor Clinton carried the state's Democrats with 56%, followed by a 28% showing for "Uncommitted," followed by Brown with just over 8%.  Paul Tsongas, Tom Harkin, and Bob Kerrey filled out Kentucky's ballot. 

That was my first meeting of Bill Clinton, arguably one of the most popular presidents in history and the last Democrat to carry Kentucky, something he managed to do not once but twice.  During his presidency, the president made two more visits to Louisville, in 1996 when he spoke at Louisville Male High School and in 2000 when his speech took him to duPont Manual.  For the 1996 visit, I was seated with Kevin Hollenbach Holtz, the current State Treasurer's aunt, and we made our way around the campus eventually meeting not only the preisdent but also his Attorney General Janet Reno.  The campus was familiar to me as, in a former life, it had been the Sallie Phillips Durrett High School, from which I graduated in 1978.

The 2000 visit of the president came on October 30 at Manual High School in support of then-State Representative Eleanor Jordan's campaign for Congress.  I was intimately involved in that visit and had a hand in choosing the venue.  The president was introduced by my friend Rushi Sheth, who was at the time president of the duPont Manual Young Democrats and a junior in high school.  Rushi has also served as an At-Large member of the Louisville-Jefferson Democratic Executive Committee from the 48th Legislative District.  He was 18 at the time.

Since Mr. Clinton left office I've been fortunate to meet him two more times.  One of those was purely by accident by simply being in the right place - Lexington - at the right time.  It was brief and since I was somewhere I was not supposed to be, which created some little problem for his host, I will say nothing more.  The other was an October 2006 visit to Louisville in support of the Kentucky Democratic Party, at the time being led by Chairman Jerry Lundergan, a good friend of many years.  Thanks to the good work of Jonathan Hurst, who has long been an associate of Chairman Lundergan's, I was invited to a backroom meeting where once again I got in about forty-two seconds of conversation with the 42nd president.  I made a pitch for my then (and current) political employer John Yarmuth.  At the time John was the Democratic candidate for Congress, a position he was elected to a month after this meeting and has since been reelected three times.  He is currently seeking his fifth term in the Congress.  As a plus at the this meeting, I had my picture taken with the president.  Neither of us look too good as we were both recovering from severe illnesses at the time.  The unframed picture is among a stack on the top of the far right bookcase in my living room.

Tomorrow's visit comes in support of Alison Lundergan Grimes, the current Secretary of State of Kentucky, a candidate for the United States Senate, and the daughter of my friends Charlotte and Jerry Lundergan.  Charlotte and I serve together as members of the Kentucky Democratic Party Executive Committee.  The Lundergan's are two of the nicest people I have ever known, active in a great many charities in Kentucky, and owners of many ongoing business interests throughout Kentucky and also in Florida.  I have been to their home many times and expect to go again.  Heck, I may even see Bill Clinton there - you just never know.

I'll be sitting out tomorrow's visit by the president.  I am hopeful whoever takes that small seat which I could have had will enjoy the day, the speech, and the opportunity.  As Cyril Allgeier used to say, "I'll see it in the movies." 

743. A little more Louisville street trivia

This one may be too easy.  Curtis Morrison thought the last one was easy and quickly responded with an incorrect answer.

There are, to my knowledge, four answers to the following question.

Louisville is well known for streets which change names here and there.  We've previously written about such changes.  Most of the street name changes are at an intersection with some other street or, perhaps, a railroad.  Examples are Frankfort Avenue to Shelbyville Road (at Breckenridge Lane or Meridian Avenue), Breckenridge Lane to Chenoweth Lane (at Frankfort Avenue/Shelbyville Road), Baxter Avenue to Newburg Road (at Shady Lane) and Newburg Road to Buechel Bank Road (at Shepherdsville Road), Mt. Holly Road to West Manslick Road (at Fairdale Road), East Manslick Road to South Park Road (at Preston Highway), and Preston Street to Preston Highway (at Clark's Lane).  There are many others.  Some other of the name changes are the effects of road realignments.  Examples here include Saint Andrews Church Road to Greenwood Road (at Dixie Highway), 7th Street Road to Manslick Road and its companion, Berry Boulevard to 7th Street Road, Hill Street to Burnett Avenue (at Preston Street), and River Road to Bingham Way, technically an entirely new intersection that didn't exist before the realignment (and closure) of River Road from 1st Street to Preston Street.

Today's little quiz has four answers, or so I believe.  Here is the question:  Which streets change names in between intersections, that is in the course of the road after having intersected one street and before having intersected another?  the middle of a block, between two other street intersection, but not at an intersection.  One of these four sets of street names arguably doesn't fit because there should be a street where the name changes, it just doesn't exist.  Technically, the fourth one isn't really a name change.

So, what are the three (and arguably four) sets of names?  And, don't pull a Curtis and make a quick guess, unless you know you are right.  Although, to be fair, Curtis should get one of these right off the bat.