Got My Journal to Keep Me Warm!

In reflecting on past postings about the Rapid City Journal, I believe I’ve been a bit unfair. They do much good work, even though I think their priorities sometimes get screwed up – like many of their headlines.

As have several Journal subscribers, I even toyed with the notion of cancelling my subscription. However, the Rapid City Journal is the major daily in our little part of the world, so I’ve abandoned that idea. I’ve simply widened the scope of papers that I read; it’s more time consuming – but what the hey, I’m retired!

And now, I’ve found an additional reason for continuing to pay the paperboy for the RC Journal.

I’m a fair weather bicyclist. And now for those who roll out their two-wheelers in the dead of winter, there’s a way to beat the cold – newspapers.

It seems that some cyclists in the Tour de France stuff newspapers under their jerseys as thermal insulators. Partly tradition, we’re told, but apparently newsprint is a good insulator and will trap body heat.

I learned of this little trick from a front-page article in the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal. (Note to the Rapid City Journal: that’s the front page of the weekend section – not the front page of the newspaper!)

Thanks to good friend and retired public broadcasting colleague Bill Campbell for the use of this photograph. It was taken near Bowman, North Dakota while Bill was trekking from White Sulphur Springs, Montana to Chicago during the balmier summer months of 2006.

Kunerth on Fighting Poverty

Another Bill Kunerth piece shared via the Argus-Leader newspaper in Sioux Falls, which asked the question: What's the best way to help prevent people from going hungry in our state and nation, not to mention the world? The average person on food stamps in South Dakota reportedly gets $21 a week for food -- much less than some of us spent in one day for Thanksgiving. Here's Bill's take on the topic:

In answering questions that involve major social problems, my response is always the same—coordination among many individuals and agencies. So, the best way we can deal with hunger (poverty in general) is through a cooperative effort at all levels of government, the business community, churches, the educational system, medical and legal communities, and voluntary efforts by individuals and organizations.

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An excellent example is the Beyond Welfare program in Ames, Iowa, which is entering its 11th year. Beyond Welfare is a non-profit organization which helps people move from welfare into the main stream of society. It is funded by city, county, and state governments, foundation and federal grants, churches, and local donations. It operates with a board of directors, the majority of whom are participants in the program. Weekly pot-luck meetings are held in a church and involve participants, staff members and volunteers who discuss the program, individual concerns, success stories, and future activities.

Unlike many other similar programs, Beyond Welfare emphasizes bringing people out of isolation and into a friendly, caring, supportive community.

Beyond Welfare has a Wheels to Work program which has provided 150 cars to persons without transportation, loans to cover emergencies, assistance in employment, clothing, housing, budgeting, nutritional advice, child care, and help in returning to school. Participants are expected to contribute services to others, especially when they get on their feet. For more information on the program, call 515/292-5992, beyondwelfare.org

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Bill Kunerth lives in Belle Fourche and is Emeritus Professor of Journalism at Iowa State University. Here is an excellent video about Beyond Welfare.

Merry Christmas, Rupert

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is apparently pushing forward with plans to “revise” the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule. If it happens – and he appears to have the votes to swing it – he’ll be able to present Rupert Murdoch and other media barons with a sweet Christmas present.

They’ll have a clear path to owning a TV station and a local daily newspaper in the same market. Current FCC rules don’t allow such cross-ownership. (Of course, Murdoch already has a waiver to the rule and owns the New York Post and the television stations WWOR-TV and WNYW-TV in New York City. And there are other markets, too, that are grandfathered in the sweet arrangement.)

The cross-ownership wobbling is a retrenchment from Martin’s original plan, which would have opened the floodgates for media consolidation. Michael Powell, FCC Chairman in 2003, tried the same thing and got thoroughly pummeled by Congress and the public. Chairman Martin and his supporters are pushing for a December 18 vote, allowing just a four-week period for public comment.

We’re pleased to see Republican Trent Lott and Democrat Byron Dorgan joining forces to inject a bit of accountability into the process. They’ve introduced S 2332, the Media Ownership Act of 2007. It would require a 90-day comment period on any proposed media ownership rule changes. Not only would it delay Martin’s consolidation initiative until 2008, the measure has strong bi-partisan support and would also require hearings on local service.

If the Commission’s experience in Seattle earlier this month is any indication of public disaffection with the notion of more media consolidation, they’re in for a rough ride.

I think Chairman Martin may find a lump of coal under the tree this year.

Kunerth: Legislature Has Work To Do!

Good friend Bill Kunerth of Belle Fourche is on a panel that regularly provides viewpoints to the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader on a variety of issues. It's part of what they call Dakota Comments. The Legislature has been studying whether to adopt a code of conduct. Do we need one, in light of Ted Klaudt's actions in the past year? And if we do, what ought to be included in the code? Here's Bill Kunerth's take on the topic.

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The state definitely needs a conduct code for legislators, and more. Some state codes spell out specific conduct prohibitions. e.g. improper sexual activities, alcohol and drug abuse. Others refer to general behavior.

I prefer the latter, such as in the Illinois code (I know, it’s a lousy state to use as an example) which cites “conduct unbecoming to a legislator or which constitutes a breach of the public trust.” Then, allow a bi-partisan ethics committee of legislators and/or an ethics commission of parties outside the legislature to define and enforce the rules.

The South Dakota Legislature does not have a permanent ethics committee but formed an ad hoc group to hear the case against Senator Dan Sutton. It was dissolved after the hearing.

In addition to rules on moral conduct, South Dakota needs to strengthen its accountability and openness laws. Our state ranked 50th in a 2002 Integrity Index of state governments which evaluated these areas. It was conducted by the Better Government Association and the Ford Center for Global Citizenship (check “BGA Integrity Index”) and judged freedom of information laws, whistle blower protection, campaign financing, gifts/honoraria, and conflicts of interest. Not much has changed since the study, except for a commission named by Attorney General Larry Long which is helping close some of the gaping loopholes in the state’s open records law.

South Dakota also received an F in a 2007 study on campaign disclosure by the UCLA Law School and Center for Government Studies. These reports make clear that the South Dakota Legislature has work to do in the areas of ethics, accountability and openness.

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Bill Kunerth is an Iowa State University Emeritus Professor of Journalism.

A Tribute to Slim

He was a hero, and we didn’t know it. And I doubt he ever considered himself a hero – but isn’t humility a common trait among the truly heroic?

I didn’t know him well, but Warren Beamish and his wife Gladys were good friends with our family.

He loved horses and would perform with his horses and as a rodeo clown in communities around western Nebraska and the surrounding region.

Warren grew up in Michigan during the Depression years of the ‘30s. It was there that he became acquainted with my uncle Alex Miller and decided to accompany Alex back to Chadron, Nebraska. He was a “hired hand” for my grandfather Bill Maiden, among other jobs he had over the years. In 1942, Warren married Gladys Warren.

In World War II, like so many other young men, he went into the Army and was shipped overseas. It was in July 1943, when – as part of the American invasion of Sicily – that “Sergeant” Beamish and one other soldier helped open up enemy beaches for an Allied assault.

Official Army records indicate that “…on 10 July 1943…a few minutes after landing…Staff Sergeant Beamish, then a Sergeant and squad leader, volunteered to accompany an army officer and, under fire from enemy guns, succeeded in moving inland, assaulting a gun position and pill box which was being manned by six Italian soldiers.”

After opening up a landing site, they then proceeded up the beach, capturing another 25 Italian soldiers manning 20 millimeter and 50 caliber guns. Their actions opened the beach for 500 yards, allowing a successful assault – the largest such amphibious assault of its kind up to that time of the war.

For his “extraordinary heroism” during this major Allied invasion, Staff Sergeant Warren W. Beamish was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the highest combat medal awarded by the United States military – second only to the Medal of Honor. Read the text of the award.

Who knew? Like so many of his era, Warren came home from the war and – according to his wife Gladys – never talked about his war-time exploits. He merely got on with his life in Chadron, Nebraska. He and Gladys raised two children, Bill and Bonnie.

Warren "Slim" Beamish died on July 21, 1998. He was 80 years old. We've compiled a few photos to help tell this story.

It was Warren Beamish and others like him who won that war. Winning for us a way of life that most of the rest of the world can only dream of enjoying. It is right that we should honor him and others who've fought for our country.

Thanks, Slim. Belatedly, but with much admiration.