The Clothesline, Grey Eagle, Mound, Bierut, and Life in the Fast Lane.

Frank is speaking at the Westonka Library in Mound from 2:00 to 3:00 on Saturday, October 21.  
This is a wild week for me.  Along with my usual work, I am a guest speaker on “Memory and Eye Witness Testimony” for Alita Reque Peterson’s college classes Wednesday at CLC, speaking at the Sartell-St. Stephen Community Center Thursday morning on forensic psychology and Murder Book, testifying as an expert witness on a civil commitment case on Friday in St. Paul, and then speaking at the Westonka Library in Mound at 2:00 on Saturday on Forensic Work and Murder Book.  Speaking at the Grey Eagle Library was a blast with a friendly  group of people with great questions. Thank you!  It was nice to have the Minneapolis Tribune do a great review of Murder Book this week, unbeknownst to me.
 
I had an old leather jacket that was warm, but very plain, so I took it to The Clothesline in Pierz and asked them to stitch the Guiness harp on the back.  The Clothesline is a great store and it turned out perfect.  When I wear it out, guys always ask where I bought it.  One of my best friends from high school died last weekend.  My interactions with John Veith were always pleasant.  He used to drive a blue Ford Maverick with a great stereo system.  Anyone who knew John smiles when they remember Steve Miller’s Fly Like an Eagle whirling around the quad speakers in his car.  Whenever I play the Don Williams song, “Good Old Boys Like Me,” I think of John.  “When I was a boy I ran with a kid down the street...  I guess we’re all going to be what we’re going to be…”  John and Dean Marshik were the stars of our football team, starting as tackles already as sophomores.  I haven’t seen John for years so I can’t speak for his life recently, beyond a couple brief and friendly interactions.  He had a stroke years ago, which paralyzed one half of his body.  I heard he had been dead for days when he was found in an apartment in North Dakota.  It’s interesting how as you get older you see that what appeared to be strength as insecurity.   John was a good man.  My two closest friends from grade school were John and Luke Terhaar.  Luke was an attorney and a St. John’s graduate who died from the results of alcoholism at age 30.  But he was much more than that.  John, Luke and I knew each other at times when we were all doing well, and had brief interactions later.   Luke was a successful attorney with a major metro firm and a father.  John was a kind man who would help anybody.    I never criticize my friends (old or new) as while I was with them, they were with me.  Friends, like water, run to the same level.  If they were a mess, so was I.  Some of the best advice I received about leaving a bad situation came from a man who was raised in the bayou in Louisiana.  “Just walk in a straight line, and eventually you’re out of it.”   It seems like an odd thing to say, from a man who makes a living helping people, but sometimes you can be so close to people that you can’t help them.  They won’t listen to you.  They need an objective 3rd person, because when an addiction takes hold, they stop being honest with their friends.   
 
Class of ’82 had a reunion.  Brenda and I enjoyed visiting with a bunch of good people.  Kris Kowitz, a classmate of Brenda’s, was in the Marines in Beirut, Lebanon in 1983 when the Marines barracks were bombed and 241 people were killed.  As a soldier and member of the Marine band, Kris ended up removing bodies and playing at their funerals.  It was the deadliest day for the Marines since the battle of Iwo Jima in World War II and the deadliest day for the military since the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam war.  The car bomb was committed by Lebanese terrorists supported by Iran and was the beginning of terrorism by extreme Islamic forces against the U.S.  Kris is strong tough person with a lot of great stories.  She is now struggling with cancer and will soon begin chemotherapy, so please remember her in your prayers. 
 
On my way home from signing books at the St. Paul Art Crawl I decided to stop at Coborn's in Foley to pick up some fruit.  I was tired as I’d been in St. Paul all weekend (during the day) and rolled through the stop sign coming out of parking lot and was pulled over by a police officer.  This is a paraphrase of our conversation.   
 
Officer:  Do you know why I pulled you over?
 
Me:  Rolling through a stop sign.
 
Officer:  When’s the last time you’ve received a ticket?
 
Me:  This morning I received a ticket for driving 64 in a 55. 
 
Officer:  Really?  You’ve already got a ticket today?  Let me see it.
 
Me:  I know it’s not in the system yet, but I did receive a ticket this morning. 
 
Officer:  Okay.  Is the rest of your record pretty good?
 
Me:  No.  Not particularly.  I drive about 35,000 miles a year so I get speeding tickets.  Nothing crazy-- 70 miles an hour.  Probably every year since I received my license at 16.  I don’t have accidents.
 
At this point the officer started laughing and went back to check my record.  He returned, “I appreciate you being honest about so many things that it was to your disadvantage to be honest about.   I think I’m going to let you slide on this…” 
 
Life is good…

Quotes:

If money doesn’t grow on trees, why do banks have branches?
 
A boy asks mom to buy something at the store, to which she responds, “I’m not made of money.”  He replies, “Isn’t that what MOM stands for?”
 
Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.  - Isaac Asimov
 
Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back into the same box.  -Italian Proverb
 
Either this man is dead or my watch has stopped.  -Groucho Marx
 
 
 
Thanks for listening,
 
Frank
Lucas Koppy making a rose out of 5 one dollar bills. Lucas is a great guy and talented artist. He was next to me at the St Paul Arts Crawl so we shared some stories. You can see more of his work here .