JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

If you read the obits in The Kansas City Star, you know that family members, in preparing obituaries for the deceased, usually strive to capture the essence of the person. That is, what he or she excelled out, where he or she made his or her mark.

Frequently, it comes down to something like this…”Above all, he (she) loved his (her) family and was a devoted father (mother) and spouse. He (she) took his (her) greatest joy in spending time with family members.”

That is well and good. But I think that most of us want to be remembered for something other than being loving, loyal family members. Don’t the vast majority of us strive to make some kind of mark outside the home? Something that people will remember us by?

Marti Dolinar
Photos courtesy of Sherri Parker

Marti Dolinar, who died last Wednesday from an infection run amok, was such a person. He was seeking to do something that would allow him to sit back and say, “I’ve done something special here.” And he managed to do just that, in his role as The Smartman, a regular commenter on this and other blogs. He was consistently witty, outrageous, insightful and combative. He gave me and other commenters a target to shoot at. And he liked that.

One of his best catches was on a post I put up on Thursday, July 18, just six days before he died. Always a cheerleader for the Power & Light District, I giddily cited a KC Star story quoting a Downtown Council survey reporting that 13.4 million people had visited downtown last year — compared with 2.5 million in 2012.

The Smartman weighed in early the next morning, saying:  “If you take 13.4 million visitors per year divided by 365 days in a year, that averages out to 36,712 visitors per day. Explain that? Are we counting everyone that works downtown as a daily ‘visitor’? ”

That stopped me cold. I e-mailed the fellow at the Downtown Council who was in charge of the so-called “self-reported” survey but didn’t hear back. Then I e-mailed the writer of the story, Kevin Collison, and asked him about it, especially what the term “self-reported” meant. Collison said that the individual venues, such as Sprint Center, Gordon Biersch, the Bristol, Johnny’s Tavern, etc., submitted their numbers to the Downtown Council, and the council simply compiled and reported them.

That changed the whole complexion of the “survey” and essentially discredited it.

The exchange between me and The Smartman prompted “Chuck,” who has been the second most prolific commenter on this blog, to say, “Hell of a nice catch, Smarty.”

And now, to send Marti along on his eternal journey, I want to give him the floor, once again…Here are some classic comments that The One and Only Smartman penned on this blog the last few years.

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:: July 11, 2013, in response to a facetious rant in which I said I was “sick and tired of playing second fiddle to this guy The Smartman.”

Fitz, at best I am Ed McMahon to your Johnny Carson, Keith to your Mick, (Lewis) Diuguid to your Hemingway……that may be a bit extreme……but I remain your humble commenter.

:: July 10, 2013, on whether Kansas City should build a new single terminal at KCI:

I’d get more on board with a new airport if it served any real purpose other than stroking the Slyborg’s ego. (Slyborg is Mayor Sly James.) It will not improve tourism, convention business, or anything for that matter…At this point, with all the other social, operational and mechanical problems we have, $1.2 billion is just insane. The majority of that burden will fall on the local business traveler, not so much (on) inbound and departing tourists or business travelers. As time goes on more and more people will use Skype or Go To Meeting as option one for business meetings versus business travel. In the big scheme of things we are porcine in KC. We don’t need a new pig pen, just some fresh mud.

Ah, Fitz, welcome back, your pictures brought a warm smile to my face. Glad you enjoyed your trip. Hope you enjoyed the Reagan Library. Every time I think of my visit there, sitting in the final exhibit that shows the video from the funeral I well up with tears. Got to get back their soon.

:: Also July 9, 2013, on my account of going to an upscale Los Angeles restaurant filled with beautiful people:

I discovered a long time ago that when dining in LA, there are no ugly people.

I think upon my death I’ll have a website launched with my last lecture. It will start with, “To all of you idiots that voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.”

:: March 10, 2012, on a post that included a photo of our 25-year-old daughter, Brooks:

I’m assuming that your daughter got her good looks from her mother.

:: Jan. 18, 2012, on a response I had made to one of his comments:

One more thing. I’m not sure whether you complimented or insulted me, Fitz. I’m calling it a draw. Remind me not to send you a Christmas card again next year.

:: Dec. 1, 2011, on a post highlighting some of Chicago’s landmarks:

Fitz, Portillo’s is to Chicago what Gates and Bryant’s are to KC. Not the healthiest place to eat, but the dogs, ribs and Italian beef are BIBLICALLY good. The downtown location is as good of a place to people watch as Central Park or Venice Beach.

:: Oct. 30, 2011, recounting a chance meeting with former KCTV-5 anchorwoman Anne Peterson:

I was 18 at the time. She was covering the funeral of KCK Commissioner Tom Lally. As I approached her she smiled sweetly at me. For one of the few times in my life I was positively speechless. She moved on. I was frozen in time like a pillar of salt at the intersection of Sodom and Gomorrah. To have that moment over again. What might have been? I do think I’ve aged better than her so perhaps it’s all for the best.

:: Aug. 27, 2011, on my equivocation about using the F-word to describe my frustration at John Covington having resigned unexpectedly as Kansas City school superintendent:

With all due respect to your wife (who had succeeded in urging me to remove the word), put the F BOMB back. There are times, even in polite and civilized journalistic discourse that it is required to drive home a point. This is one of those times.

***

Today, Marti’s funeral is being held at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church on Strawberry Hill in Kansas City, Kan.  He was 52 and, for most of his life, made his living selling plastic packaging. He lived in the Brookside area with his girlfriend, Sherri Parker.

As his obit (published in Saturday’s Kansas City Star) said: “He had an overwhelming enthusiasm for life and a clever sense of humor.”

Amen.

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Yes, readers, this is terrible news…and, unfortunately, no joke.

The most entertaining and prolific commenter to this blog and at least one other — KC Confidential — died on Wednesday, apparently from an infection that spread from a leg to his brain.

I did not know The Smartman, but Hearne Christopher, who governs the KC Confidential blog, identified him as Marti N. Dolinar, 52. He was born in Kansas City, Kansas, and lived in the KC area his whole life. He was a resident of the Brookside area, I believe.

Here is Hearne’s account, which he posted on Thursday.

…I first got an inkling of trouble this morning, after reading a comment from our second most frequent commenter, “Chuck.”

At 9:59 p.m. last night, Chuck wrote this, “So long, Smarty.”

Naturally, that sounded an alarm, and a little reporting then led to the awful news.

Coincidentally, Dolinar’s obit ran in this morning’s KC Star. Here it is…

Marti N. Dolinar, 52, died unexpectedly Wednesday, July 24, 2013, at St. Luke’s Hospital, KCMO. The Funeral Mass will be 10 a.m. Monday, July 29, at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church on Strawberry Hill in KCK, where visitation will begin at 9 a.m. Marti’s wishes were to be cremated. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations in Marti’s memory to Wayside Waifs, 3901 Martha Truman Rd., KCMO 64137 or to the St. John’s Church Restoration Fund.

Marti was born June 27, 1961, to George M. and JoAnn (Goodack) Dolinar in Kansas City, Kan. He was a graduate of St. John the Baptist Grade School and Bishop Ward High School Class of 1979. Some of Marti’s favorite childhood memories involve his years as a Boy Scout and Eagle Scout of Troop 19. Early in his career, Marti worked as a music-promotion entrepreneur. He devoted the remainder of his career to working in the plastic packaging industry in sales. Marti loved music, animals, reading and spending time with his family. He had an overwhelming enthusiasm for life and a clever sense of humor.

He has now joined his devoted mother, JoAnn in heaven; leaving behind his dear father, George and beloved sweetheart, Sherri Parker; uncle, Ed (Fran) Dolinar; aunts, Josephine Uniak and Rose Gerkovich; many nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews.

“…a clever sense of humor.” A-men!

God, I’m going to miss you, Smartman, and so will our readers…May you be with God in heaven.

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It’s been intriguing to me to watch how House Republicans are stewing in their own juices on the immigration bill.

Speaker John Boehner says no proposal will come to the House floor unless a majority of Republican reps approve it.

Well, that makes it pretty difficult because a majority have their heads in the sand and either don’t want illegal immigrants already here to have a path to citizenship or they’re not satisfied with the Senate bill’s steps to reduce illegal immigration. That, in spite of the fact that 66 percent of respondents in a newly released Quinnipac poll said they believed illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay. Plus, 54 percent of respondents said illegal immigrants should be given a path to citizenship.

David Brooks, the most reasonable and thoughtful of the conservative columnists, in my opinion, had a great column Friday about the foolish opposition of a majority of House Republicans.

Among other things, he said that the Senate bill fulfills the main conservative objectives, including that it would:

— Spur economic growth.

— Reduce the federal deficit.

— Significantly reduce illegal immigration.

(If you want more about Brooks’ reasoning on those points, see his column.)

Brooks said that a chief complaint of conservatives is that “Republicans should not try to win back lower-middle-class voters with immigration; they should do it with a working-class agenda.”

Working-class, of course, is political speak for the white lower-middle-class people. In other words, conservative Republicans are inclined to cast their lot with the traditional, white voting bloc instead of the rapidly expanding ethnic melting pot.

Then, Brooks brought down the cudgel:

“Whether this bill passes or not, this country is heading toward a multiethnic future. Republicans can either shape that future in a conservative direction or, as I’ve tried to argue, they can become the receding roar of a white American that is never coming back.”

As another New York Times columnist, Charles Blow, said in an op-ed piece before the 2012 general election, conservatives “are on the wrong side of demographics.”

The immigration bill offers a golden opportunity for conservatives to take a step toward the right side of demographics. If they want to remain competitive politically, they should heed Brooks’ advice: “Pass the bill.”

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Here’s something I wanted to let you know about. Three of my former colleagues at The Star have established a scholarship fund at the University of Missouri in memory of the late Jerry Heaster, longtime Kansas City Star business columnist, who died last year.

Heaster

The Jerry Heaster Business Journalism Scholarship Fund will be administered by the Missouri School of Journalism’s Office of Development.  Each year, a special committee established by the journalism school will award a scholarship to a deserving student who plans to study business journalism.

The founders of the scholarship fund are former Kansas City Star Editor Mike Waller; former assistant managing editor Randy Smith; and current managing editor Steve Shirk.

Waller, who is now retired and living in South Carolina, went on from The Star to become publisher of the Hartford Courant and the Baltimore Sun. Smith teaches business journalism at Mizzou, his alma mater, and he is the first person to hold the position of Donald W. Reynolds Endowed Chair in Business Journalism at MU.

If you are interested in contributing to the fund or learning more about it, please send e-mail to Waller (mikeewaller@aol.com), Smith (smithrandall@missouri.edu) or Shirk (sshirk@kcstar.com). Or you could send me an e-mail, jim.fitzpatrick06@gmail.com, and I will send it along to one of them.

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James Atlas, a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, had an excellent article in the Times’ Sunday Review section.

The gist of it is that the ever-widening gap between the haves and the have-nots is reflected in airline travel, just as it is in daily life.

“This stark class division should come as no surprise,” Atlas wrote. “What’s happening in the clouds mirrors what’s happening on the ground. Statusization — to coin a useful term — is ubiquitous, no matter what your altitude.”

Despite the fact that the airlines logged about a billion passenger trips last year, Atlas continued, “We’re all going everywhere and nowhere at the same time.”

Atlas

Atlas quotes from historian Niall Ferguson’s new book, ‘The Great Degeneration,” in which Ferguson noted that the United States once “was famed as a land of opportunity, where a family could leap from ‘rags to riches’ in a generation.”

“Now,” Atlas said, extending the thought, “it can’t even leap from economy to business. You can make some progress in small ways: the gold club members get to board before the silver club members. The passenger who earns a certain number of miles is rewarded with a complimentary drink. But those in the back of the plane can fight all they want over their status. They’re still not getting any more leg room.”

I’m sure Atlas is correct, but in my travels I really haven’t noticed the gap widening as much as he describes. I was on one flight recently — Frontier, to Denver, I think — where the leg room was extremely tight. But on Southwest, which I try to use almost exclusively, it still seems OK. And I don’t see anyone getting preferential treatment once on their planes.

***

Also in The Times’ Sunday Review, our friend Robert Finn, bishop of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, got a mention from op-ed writer Frank Bruni.

Bruni

Bruni’s main topic was New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who as archbishop of Milwaukee several years ago, got permission from the Vatican to transfer $57 million into a trust for Catholic cemetery maintenance, where it might be better protected “from any legal claim and liability,” in his words. He was trying to shield the funds, of course, from awards in priest sexual-abuse cases.

Bruni wrote:

”…Over the last few decades we’ve watched an organization that claims a special moral authority in the world pursue many of the same legal and public-relations strategies — shuttling around money, looking for loopholes, tarring accusers, massaging the truth — that are employed by organizations devoted to nothing more than the bottom line.

“…In Kansas City, Mo., Rebecca Randles, a lawyer who has represented abuse victims, says that the church floods the courtroom with attorneys who in turn drown her in paperwork. In one case, she recently told me, ‘the motion-to-dismiss pile is higher than my head — I’m 5-foot-4.’

“Also in Kansas City, Bishop Robert Finn still inhabits his post as the head of the diocese despite his conviction last September for failing to report a priest suspected of child sexual abuse to the police. This is how the church is in fact unlike a corporation. It coddles its own at the expense of its image.”

Come on, Bishop Finn, the gig is up: Get outta here!

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A recent Gallup poll had some interesting statistics regarding what Americans consider their main source of news. Fifty-five percent said TV; 21 percent said the Internet; nine percent said print; six percent said radio; and two percent said word of mouth. The survey was conducted June 20 to 24, and 2,048 adults were surveyed.

Poor print…It just keeps on a fadin’. I could cry a river.

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In the barber shop yesterday, I was reading the paper while waiting my turn, and a guy in one chair said something like, “Is it my imagination or has the paper gotten narrower?”

The barber and I said, yes, we thought the width of The Star had been shrunk, once again, relatively recently.

To which, the guy in the chair immediately responded:

“First, they cut the news out of the paper, then they cut the comics out of the paper, and now they’re cutting the paper out of the paper!”

It was hyperbole, of course, but wickedly funny…

***

Last, we come to Charlie Wheeler, the former mayor who is getting kicked out of his house west of Loose Park because he is far behind on his mortgage payments to James B. Nutter & Co. A couple of months ago, after the The Star reported on the situation, Jim Nutter Sr. gave Wheeler a one-month reprieve, with an evacuation deadline of July 1. I’ve been going by Wheeler’s house periodically, and yesterday the front window coverings were open and it looked like the house might be fairly clear on the inside. But a car that I believe belongs to Wheeler’s son Graham was in the driveway, so I was pretty sure that Wheeler, his wife Marjorie and Graham were still living there.

Later in the day, I saw Charlie’s and Marjorie’s daughter, Marian, at Cosentino’s Market in Brookside, and I asked her what the story was. She said her parents had received another extension, this time until Aug. 1.

I swear, it won’t surprise me if Charlie doesn’t leave until the sheriff’s deputies show up with an eviction notice and accompanied by heavy lifters hired by Jim Nutter.

Come on, Charlie, think about your good name…Get outta there!

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It’s hard to get enough of California, isn’t it? So, by popular demand (well, I’m sure Smartman wants to see photos from the Reagan Library), here are more photos from our recent trip to LA and vicinity.

(By the way, if some of you could not open yesterday’s post, with the first round of photos, I apologize. I don’t know what was wrong; I just hope this one poses no problems…If you’d like me to send you a link to yesterday’s post, send me an e-mail at jim.fitzpatrick06@gmail.com. Maybe that will work.)

In light of the “new airport” controversy in Kansas City, I want to start off with four photos from LAX. Then, we’ll move on to recreation.

This is how a modern terminal building should look — open, welcoming and featuring plenty of natural light.

This is how a modern-airport food court should look.

This is the kind of airy, natural-looking bar area that a modern airport should have.

This is how an entrance to a major terminal — with one, large security area — should look.

Ceremonies before the Angels-Cardinals game in Anaheim on July 2. Don’t be misled by the number of empty seats. Attendance exceeded 39,000. (The Angels won 5-1.)

Our gracious hosts during our trip, Roger and Suzanne Johnson of Arcadia, and a friend from St. Louis, Mary Buttice. (Arcadia is in north central Los Angeles County.)

The group behind us…Movie stars, I’m sure.

A street in Arcadia.

Independence Day, Arcadia.

At the entrance to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. (Simi Valley is northwest of Los Angeles.)

Reagan’s 1984 presidential parade limo.

A jet engine on Reagan’s Air Force I plane. The plane takes up an entire section of the library facility.

While recovering in the hospital from John Hinckley’s assassination attempt, Reagan was on a breathing tube for a few days and couldn’t talk. So, he communicated by writing notes. This one says, “What does the future hold. Will I be able to do ranch work, ride etc.”

On a plaza, just behind the library building, a section of the Berlin Wall.

A view of the surroundings from behind the library. As Smartman said in a recent comment regarding the library, “The exterior panaromic views are spectacular.”

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