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

Alliances can develop very quickly in politics.

Such is the case with me and Tom and Debra Shrout, St. Louis residents who head a campaign committee that is working against Amendment 7 on the Aug. 5 ballot. Until last Sunday, I didn’t who they were or what they were doing. But now we’re working closely, at a distance of 250 miles, to defeat Amendment 7.

Amendment 7 is the turd that the Missouri General Assembly and the “concrete cartel,” as Tom Shrout calls it, pushed onto the ballot in an effort to shift a significant part of transportation funding from dedicated revenue streams to a statewide general sales tax.

Before I introduce Tom and Debra, I want to tell you a little more about Amendment 30.

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Section 30 of the Missouri Constitution states clearly that transportation projects are to be paid for with gas taxes, sales taxes on vehicle purchases, and vehicle license fees.

The idea — entirely logical — is for vehicle-related revenue streams to pay for transportation projects.

But the proponents of Amendment 7 want to flip logic onto its head. They want to change the constitution to impose a general 3/4 cent sales tax that all Missouri residents would pay, regardless of how much they use the roads. The proponents would increase the most regressive of all taxes — the one that hits hardest those least able to afford it.

And guess what? The truckers and trucking companies, which put the most wear and tear on state roads and highways, would get a pass.

That’s what I mean about trying to shift the burden…As was the case with Jackson County’s 2013 proposed sales-tax increase for medical research, the proponents of Amendment 7 want everyone else to buy the paint for their pretty picture.

We can’t let them get away with it!

The state Constitution offers a clear avenue for raising new transportation revenue: raising the state’s gas tax.

That tax has stood at 17 cents a gallon – sixth lowest in the nation as of last year — since 1996, or almost 20 years. If the Missouri General Assembly and the “concrete cartel” (essentially, the heavy constructors, the engineering companies and the materials suppliers) want to raise more money for transportation needs, they should come back to us with a proposal to raise the gas tax.

That’s the appropriate way to go. That’s the fair way to go.

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Back to Tom and Debra. Their committee is called Missourians for Better Transportation Solutions. (In terms of creativity and clarity, that doesn’t hold a candle to my 2013 Committee to Stop a Bad Cure. Fortunately, victory or defeat probably won’t come down to the committee name.)

They have strong backgrounds in transit, particularly Tom, who in 2010 retired after more than 20 years as executive director of Citizens for Modern Transit, a nonprofit organization based in St. Louis.  Now, Tom and Debra own and operate a consulting company called Avvantt Partners, which focuses on organizing community support for improved public transit. One of their clients has been Jackson County, for which they worked on a transit education program.

Missourians for Better Transportation Solutions will be a low-budget operation. But it will get out its message. The Shrouts are planning on having at least one direct-mail piece to frequent voters in Kansas City and St. Louis, and they’re exploring the possibility of yard signs.

In addition, I helped make arrangements for the committee’s purchase of a killer billboard. For strategic reasons, I’m not going to divulge the location at this time, but I can tell you it gets about 90,000 impressions a week, and it’s going to get us a lot of votes.

Tom and Debra are also active on social media — a beast that is foreign to this “dead-tree-media” fellow.

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Here’s a link to the web site of Missourians for Better Transportation Solutions. (I hope you will consider making a contribution.)

To learn more about Tom and Debra, go to http://www.avvantt.com/

In the event we get yard signs, send me an e-mail at jim.fitzpatrick06@gmail. com and let me know if you’d like one.

Finally, let me leave you with this thought. In the medical-research campaign, I saw how logic and passion can overcome big money. We’ve got those two elements again, and I wouldn’t trade them for the millions of dollars that the concrete cartel is spending to try to bamboozle Missourians to vote for Amendment 7.

I’m one of many political activists who believe yard signs are a very effective campaign tool.

One candidate who is using yard signs to spectacular advantage this summer is former Kansas City Royals’ second baseman Frank White, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Jackson County Legislature.

White’s opponent in the Aug. 5 primary is Sherwood Smith, a retired Kansas City firefighter. Under normal circumstances — that is, without a former All-Star second baseman in the picture — Smith would be a formidable candidate. He presents and speaks well, and he has served as political director for the International Association of Fire Fighters Local No. 42 and later as the first African-American president of the Missouri State Council of Fire Fighters.

Along with The Kansas City Star, the firefighters’ union is the best organized and most lethal political force in Kansas City. As former Mayor Charles B. Wheeler likes to say, “You can beat The Star, and you can beat the firefighters, but you can’t beat The Star and the firefighters.”

Not that they’re together that often, because The Star almost always opposes the firefighters, who generally are most concerned about union interests.

O’Neill

But as I was saying, White’s yard signs are outstanding. Credit for the concept — the words “elect Frank White” inscribed in blue between the red seams of a baseball — goes to local p.r. and political consultant Pat O’Neill, of O’Neill Marketing & Event Management Inc. in Westport.

O’Neill, whose late father was also a gifted p.r. man, has many successful political campaigns under his belt. The biggest upset he was involved in occurred in 2002, when Wheeler, then out of office for 23 years, defeated then-state Rep. Henry Rizzo for the Democratic nomination for Missouri Senate and went on to be elected to a four-year term.

Why and how did Wheeler win? In my opinion, he had the best yard sign I’ve seen in 40 years around Kansas City politics.

Here it is:

…Now O’Neill has Frank White as a client. And what do you do with a candidate like that — someone who just might have the second-highest name recognition in Kansas City, after the one and only George Brett?

You don’t have to introduce him to voters; you don’t have to put out a lot of “white papers” (although White has those); and you don’t have to raise a ton of money to promote him. In fact, when the first round of campaign finance reports were filed, Sherwood Smith had raised much more money than White.

What you do is put his name on a baseball and tell people he’s running for office. Let the words “Frank White” — sandwiched between the seams of a baseball — tell the story.

O’Neill put it this way: “My first thought (regarding strategy on signage) was, “Frank White’s running for something. Whatever it is, ‘Let’s elect!’ “

You’ve seen that sign…Everybody has. Here it is.

Congratulations, Pat. As sure as the sun came up this morning, you’ve got a winner.

To me, the most galling proposal on the Aug. 5 ballot in Kansas City and across Missouri is the proposed 3/4-cent state-sales-tax increase for transportation.

Like a lot of tax-hike measures, it is tempting on the surface — $480 million annually for state transportation needs and $54 million a year for local road projects.

Projects to be financed — promised, anyway — include construction of a new Broadway Bridge in Kansas City and a third lane for I-70 between the outskirts of Kansas City and the outskirts of St. Louis.

The tax, if approved, would also direct about $14 million a year to the cost of expanded streetcar lines on Main, Independence Avenue and Linwood Boulevard and a MAX bus route on Prospect Avenue.

(If voters approve an expanded streetcar district Aug. 5, they would be asked later to approve a 1 percent sales-tax increase to finance the expansion. Because of the city’s agreement with the state, however, residents of the expanded streetcar district would pay only 1 percent more in sales taxes, instead of 1.75 percent more.)

But even with the “streetcar shuffle” this 3/4 cent sales-tax increase looks like a terrible deal for the average taxpayer.

Consider, first, that the main beneficiaries would be:

— The trucking industry, which is most responsible for tearing up the highways and roads

— The heavy construction industry, which excavates the dirt and rock, grades the land and builds the roads

— Engineering firms, which design and engineer the projects

— Material supply companies, like those that provide cement and asphalt

— The law firms that represent all the industries mentioned the above.

Under the name of a committee called Missourian for Safe Transportation and New Jobs, those special interests are going to pour several million dollars into their effort to pull the wool over the eyes of Missouri voters and convince them that a general sales tax is the best and only way to get better (and more) roads and bridges in Missouri.

It’s utter balderdash, I tell you.

A few points:

1) Implementing this tax increase requires amending the Missouri Constitution. Yes, amending the constitution! We would be voting to change the state constitution to allow the imposition — for the first time ever — of a general sales tax exclusively for transportation. I am no constitutional scholar, but amending the constitution to pave the way for a sales tax for better roads seems ridiculous. Four other proposed constitutional amendments are on the Aug. 5 ballot. They cover such areas as farming policies, gun rights and protecting electronic communications. It makes sense that they fall under the constitutional umbrella — but not a sales-tax increase for better roads.

2) The sales tax is the most regressive of all taxes. That is, it hits low-income people the hardest. Look at it this way: If a person with an annual income of $20,000 pays $1,000 in sales taxes in one year, the sales tax amounts to 5 percent of his or her income. But $1,000 in sales taxes on an income of $100,000 a year amounts to only 1 percent of income. Yes, people with higher incomes spend more than people in lower-income brackets, but in most cases the spending differential does not amount to a multiple of five times.

3) Missouri already has one of the highest sales tax rates in the country. The state currently charges a 4.225 percent statewide sales tax, while local governments add an average of 3.36 percent, according to the Tax Foundation, an independent tax-policy research organization based in Washington. The combined rate of 7.58 percent ranks Missouri 14th among all 50 states.

…The logical way to raise hundreds of millions of dollars a year to improve and add roads, highways and bridges is to raise the state gasoline tax.

The gas tax has stood at 17 cents a gallon (one of the lowest rates in the nation) since 1996.That’s almost 20 years! Raising it to 26 cents would generate an estimated $300 million more per year.

Hiking the gas tax is an entirely logical way to go because the more we use the highways and bridges, the more we should pay. And the more that Big Trucks tear up I-70, I-49 and our other interstates, roads and highways, the more they should pay.

But the trucking companies, the construction industry, the big engineering companies and the law firms that represent those industries want to stick this tax on all consumers, regardless of how much they use the roads.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has come out strongly against this proposal, and so has the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

To my astonishment, The Star this afternoon posted an editorial endorsing Amendment 7. Here’s the link.

The recommendations of Nixon and the Post-Dispatch are good, credible indicators, however, that Amendment 7 is a bad deal for Missouri taxpayers…On Aug. 5, let’s weigh in with a resounding “NO” vote on Constitutional Amendment No. 7.

The difference between an overarching presentation of a big story and a parochial one couldn’t have been clearer than in The Kansas City Star’s and The New York Times’ coverage today of developments in the world of for-profit colleges.

The contrasting coverage highlights the effects of the downturn of fortunes for most big-city daily newspapers.

Where we have landed, after all these years of the newspaper industry’s precipitous decline, is that readers of most metropolitan dailies’ print and online editions get cheated because they get a narrow, incomplete view of many stories with broad and deep implications.

Such is the case with the story of Corinthian Colleges Inc., one of the country’s largest operators of for-profit colleges and trade schools. One of Corinthian’s main brands is its Everest colleges, one of which is located at 92nd Street and State Line Road in Kansas City.

With that backdrop, let’s take a look at The Star’s coverage of the U.S. Department of Education’s recent crackdown on Corinthian, which basically under-educates students and over-promises jobs, while relying on — and getting rich on — federal student aid that accounts for the vast majority of its revenue.

The Star

A locally written story on Page A-7 of today’s Star carries this headline: “Everest College to carry on despite sale.”

The headline clearly signals that the story’s focus is the fate of the 92nd and State Line school, not the national scandal surrounding for-profit colleges, especially Corinthian.

In his lead paragraph, staff writer Brian Burnes (a good hand whose work I formerly edited) reports that “Operations at Everest College in Kansas City will continue as usual…even though the facility is among the 85 schools currently listed as being for sale by its corporate parent, Corinthian Colleges Inc.”

The second paragraph goes like this:

“The first thing we wanted to make sure of is that all of our students were able to continue their education without any delay or additional costs,” said Kent Jenkins Jr., a national spokesman for Corinthian. “That is the case at Kansas City Everest.”

After reading those reassuring words, I guess Star readers are supposed to wipe their brows, jump up from their kitchen tables and say, “Well, thanks be to God!”

The only hint in Burnes’ 11-paragraph story of what has been afoot at Corinthian comes in the fourth paragraph:

“Last month Corinthian…announced that education officials had limited its access to federal funds after it failed to provide documents and other information. Critics had accused the corporation of altering student attendance information and job-placement rates.”

Note how Burnes backed into the unsavory aspect of Corinthian’s dealings. First, instead of stating the situation as fact, Burnes has Corinthian announcing that the education department had imposed sanctions. Second, he says critics had accused the corporation of wrongdoing.

Now, let’s take a look at the flip side of this story.

The Times

The paper’s leading editorial carries this headline: “Lessons of a For-Profit College Collapse.”

Well, now, collapse? That puts things in a whole new light, at least for me.

…Before going any further, I will readily acknowledge that what a writer can say in an editorial and what he or she can say in a straight news story varies greatly: One is opinion, the other is arm’s-length reporting.

Nevertheless, the contrast in basic information provided by The Times and The Star is jaw dropping.

Here, for example, is The Times’ factual description of  the Corinthian mess:

“Corinthian, which is being investigated by federal regulators and by several states, has finally come to a kind of reckoning. It has reached an agreement with the Department of Education to shut down or sell about 100 campuses during the coming months.” 

Burnes could have written essentially the same thing, but he didn’t. In addition, The Times didn’t back into the company’s difficulties; it let the investigators hand down the incriminating allegations:

“According to federal officials, the company refused to turn over data that would have allowed it to determine how well students were succeeding and actually admitted to falsifying job placement and or grade and attendance records at various locations.”

Falsified records? Compare that with Burnes’ words — “altering student attendance information…”

There’s more. The Times also cited a lawsuit filed last year by the California attorney general in which the a.g. alleged that Corinthian “deliberately singled out low-income single parents who lived near the poverty line, urging recruiters to focus on ‘isolated’ people who had ‘low self-esteem.’ ”

In sum…

The Times’ editorial leads me to believe that the operators of Corinthian Colleges Inc. are a bunch of scheming, greedy bums. Burnes’ story, on the other hand, makes it look like Corinthian administrators merely hit a speed bump.

Pretty bad, wouldn’t you agree?

We’re just back from five days on Cape Cod (our first trip there) with my aunt and uncle who live outside Boston.

I never really expected to get to Cape Cod, but one of Aunt Nanette’s and Uncle Jim’s four adult children — a son who is an executive with a Hong Kong-based investment holding company — owns (along with his wife) a rental/vacation home on Cape Cod, and it wasn’t rented over the July 4 weekend.

So, the four of us loaded up Uncle Jim’s 2003 Saab — loaded so full that the view from the rearview mirror was completely blocked — and headed east.

I’ve got lots of photos for you, but, for orientation purposes, here’s a map that will help put things in context. (Sorry, you can’t “click on an area to zoom in.”)

My cousin’s house is in Yarmouth, which offers excellent access to the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, via Hyannis Port, which is south of Yarmouth.

I didn’t make it to Martha’s Vineyard, but only because I was so entranced by Nantucket that, after Patty and I spent one day there, I went back by myself for a second day and rode a bike out to ‘Sconset Beach on the east side of the island.

Now, let’s get on to those photos!

Three-fourths of the cast of characters: Patty, Uncle Jim and Aunt Nanette, on the deck of the house in Yarmouth.

About a quarter-mile from the house in Yarmouth was Gray’s Beach, which isn’t all beach.

The boardwalk at Gray’s Beach.

Some kids used a platform and railing at the outer end of the boardwalk as their personal diving platform.

Day One at Nantucket. A section of the harbor.

One of at least three bike-rental places on Nantucket Island. (Note the slogan.)

Downtown Nantucket is quaint…but very expensive!

Main Street and small sections of other streets, including this one, feature the original cobblestone.

From the top window of the First Congregational Church, Nantucket’s downtown stretches out before your eyes…if you’re willing to climb up 97 steps, that is. Not I!

Built in 1686, this is the oldest house on Nantucket Island. An early Nantucket settler named Peter Coffin had it built for his son, Jethro Coffin, and his bride, Mary Gardner. (Note the elongated back roof line, in the so-called “saltbox” style.)

Fast forward to July 3, 2014. That’s Rosanne Cash after an afternoon sound check at the Dreamland Performing Arts Center in Nantucket. She performed there that evening. (Photo by Patty Fitzpatrick)

In the early afternoon of July 4, an ominous sky formed over Chatham Beach, at the southeastern corner of Cape Cod. The tail of Tropical Storm Arthur was closing in. That night and into the morning of Saturday, July 5, the wind howled and rain hammered the Cape.

Two TV news crews that had come over to Chatham from Boston drew a crowd…Before going on the air live at noon, the reporter in the black shirt mentioned that he had not been scheduled to work the holiday…Such is life in the news biz.

By the afternoon of Saturday, July 5, the skies had cleared and people were out in force on Marconi Beach, along the Cape Cod National Seashore in Wellfleet.

In the surf.

Up and down the beach, people were asking each other, “Who is that photographer?”

Day Two on Nantucket…The bike trail to the town of Siasconset and ‘Sconset Beach.

This stand of tall, lush grass along the bike trail brought me to an abrupt halt.

When I saw this guy pushing himself along the shore line on Quidnet Pond, not far from Siasconset, I again interrupted my bike ride. Turns out the man — who’s name is Fulvio — had retrieved the board after Tropical Storm Arthur had pulled it loose from its mooring near his house. He found it deep in the grass on the opposite side of the pond…It’s not a small pond, either.

This house also brought me to a screeching halt…To tell you the truth, I’m thinking about buying it — price is no object — and moving to Nantucket in a couple of weeks. (Watch this space for further developments on that.)

Another part of my plan is to join the Sankaty Head Golf Club, where golfers tee off next to Sankaty Head Lighthouse. The club is private, but I’m counting on them letting me in, seeing as how I’m a famous blogger.

After a two-hour bike ride, I finally made it to the town of Siasconset, where just about everyone would like to be “ensconced,” I would think.

I saw just one member of the “ensconsed” family.

A lone, narrow road leads to the limited, public portion of ‘Sconset Beach.

And then, magically, peacefully, I was there.

…and it was hard to pull myself away.

But two and a half hours later — after catching the bus back to downtown Nantucket and enjoying a late lunch at a  brew pub — I was boarding the boat to return to Hyannis and Yarmouth.

…This morning, we packed the car again and departed Cape Cod. Aunt Nanette and Uncle Jim dropped me and Patty at Boston Logan International Airport for the return trip to Kansas City. But in my mind, as you can see, I haven’t landed…

Photo by Patty Fitzpatrick.

As I read The Star this morning — and also taking into account tidbits I’ve heard in the last couple of days — it struck me that today is a day to highlight some significant endings.

Endings…as in, “That’s all folks.”

Some days are like that aren’t they? Prospects that have been developing and mushrooming suddenly get derailed or lose air; people you don’t expect to die do; a politician, star athlete or other high-profile person sidles off the stage.

Endings come in all manner and form, and sometimes it’s good to note them.

So, a moment of your time, please…

:: Kansas City’s hopes for the 2016 Republican National Convention are over. It’s down to Dallas and Cleveland, which makes a lot more political sense than Denver or Kansas City. Sly James’ doing The Mashed Potatoes with GOP site-selection committee chairwoman Enid Mickelson at the Downtown Airport didn’t get the job done…What should he have done differently? It’s as clear as the nose on your face: Sly should have grabbed Enid close and done a slow dance with her. Wasn’t it plain enough that the woman would have greatly appreciated “just one minute of real love”?

For the record, here’s the Sly-Enid dance that cost us the convention…

Sawyer

:: In September, ABC’s Diane Sawyer is stepping down as anchor of “World News,” to be succeeded by understudy David Muir…I’ve always liked Sawyer partly because she can report an emotional story without getting emotional but by expressing tremendous empathy. She really cares about her subjects. Another reason I like her is she and I grew up in Louisville, Ky., during the same era. She’s 68, same as I. She went to Seneca High School, a public school, while I went to St. Xavier High, an all-boys, Catholic school. I never heard of her until she became a weather forecaster on WLKY-TV, Channel 32, in Louisville. Now, she is one of Louisville’s two most famous alums, along with Muhammad Ali.

Mossman

:: The last $1 movie theater in the area, Noland Road Fashion Square in Independence, closed this week. It was losing money; its owners couldn’t afford the conversion to digital projection; and it was a victim of consumer diversification. Brian Mossman, the well-known, independent movie-theater owner in Kansas City, told The Star:

“The newer generation’s movie-going habits are different than that of the older generation. They are not that particular how they view their movies. They can experience them on iPods, on their phones or through Netflix. The movie business is like a big pie, with each slice being a different way to see a movie. Those slices have gotten smaller each year. Something had to give, and unfortunately it was the dollar houses.”  

Deines

:: I’m sure many of you saw the obit of a 30-year-old Lincoln, Neb., woman, Sara Beth Deines, a 2002 Shawnee Mission South graduate. Deines died in a scuba-diving accident last week at Table Rock Lake. Searching Google, I found that Deines got separated from a diving partner Friday while on the lake near Kimberling City. It took searchers two days to find her body. She graduated from Washburn University in Topeka in 2006 and married her college sweetheart, Chris Deines, at the Village Presbyterian Church. For the last few years the couple had lived in Lincoln, where Sara worked for the Department of Health and Human Services, handling Medicaid and long-term care matters…I’m sure that, like me, when you see those photos on the obit pages of smiling young people, brimming with vitality and happiness, it makes you stop and think about endings, especially sudden.

Collison

:: Finally, Kevin Collison, a mainstay business reporter at The Star, has given his notice and is taking the job of marketing communications manager at the engineering firm of Burns & McDonnell. Kevin has been at The Star since 2001. After arriving at The Star from The Buffalo News, Kevin quickly established himself as an authority in one of the most important facets of Kansas City area life — real estate development and urban revitalization. As Kansas City emerged from its decades-old funk, with new projects popping up everywhere and Downtown getting a thorough makeover, Collison was there to report it — before anybody else…This particular ending has a couple of hopeful dimensions: First, Kevin is leaving on a high note: “It was a ball,” he told me this morning. Second, at age 60, he gets a fresh start with a growing company whose horizon — unlike that of The Star — is uncluttered. We readers will dearly miss you, Kevin. All the best!

The early 1970s were a pretty lonely time for me. I had arrived from my hometown of Louisville in the fall of 1969 to take a reporting job at The Kansas City Star.

After a few months of apartment dwelling, I moved into a house in the 5800 block of McGee, where four other guys were already living. Our rent was $250 a month — $50 each.

My social life revolved around the newly opened New Stanley Bar in Westport. Dates and girlfriends didn’t come very easily, and for the most part I didn’t date the girls long enough for them to qualify as “girlfriends.” But that, to some extent, was the nature of the 70s.

One thing that soothed me and ushered me through those years was the beautiful, soul-touching music of Carole King and Gerry Goffin.

I bought the album “Tapestry” shortly after it came out in 1971. Three of the best songs on that great, timeless album were by King and Goffin — she writing the music, he the lyrics. They had been married, divorcing in 1968, but they had continued their musical collaboration.

Tonight, while reading The New York Times online, I got a jolt: Gerry Goffin died earlier today in Los Angeles.

How can that be, I thought? Wasn’t he my age?

Well, no, as a matter of fact he was 75 — eight years older than I. It just seemed like we were contemporaries because we were all thrashing through the 70s together; Carole King and Gerry Goffin were right there with the rest of us who were stumbling around Westport.

Over and over, I played “Tapestry” on a cheap stereo that I bought at Penney’s at the Indian Springs Shopping Center. That’s how long ago that was, when Indian Springs was actually thriving.

I played “Tapestry” on that stereo until, one day or night, a burglar went through the unlocked front window of that house on McGee, waltzed in and stole the stereo.

Boy, was I pissed off! I couldn’t play my records! Plus, I’d been violated!

Of course, I got a new stereo — this time at a record store at The Landing Shopping Center on Troost…Again, that’s how long ago that was, when The Landing was also thriving.

But back to Carole King and Gerry Goffin…

The three “Tapestry” songs they collaborated on were “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” (which The Shirelles took to No. 1); “Smackwater Jack,” (“You can’t talk to a man with a shotgun in his hand”); and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” which Aretha Franklin rode into the Top 10.

Gerry Goffin and Carole King at the RCA recording studio in New York around 1959. (Photo from the Michael Ochs Archives, via Getty Images. Published Thursday, 6/19/14, on The New York Times website.)

Of course, before their marriage broke up, King and Goffin collaborated on several great songs in the 1960s, including “Up on the Roof,” “One Fine Day,” “The Loco-Motion” and “Go Away Little Girl.”

I didn’t realize this until I read The Times’ story, but the singer on “The Loco-Motion” was their babysitter, who performed under the name Little Eva.

That song, released in 1962, also rose to No. 1.

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I still have a turntable — much better quality than the ones I got at Penney’s and The Landing — and I still play some of my old albums on it. I like it partly because of nostalgia and partly because I just like pulling the records out of the jackets, placing them on the turntable and trying to place the needle at the start of the record without scratching the vinyl surface…And then there’s always that mystery of how the record, needle, turntable and electricity combine to bring forth those amazing, wonderful sounds.

“Tapestry” has not been among the dozen or so records that I keep upstairs, adjacent to the turntable. But tonight, after reading about Goffin’s death, I ran down to the basement — as fast as my 68-year-old, surgically repaired knees would allow — and went to the milk-carton carriers where I keep the bulk of my record collection.

And there it was — “Tapestry” — right at the front of one of the three plastic carriers.

…At least I had that thing close at hand, ready to bring it upstairs when needed. And I need it bad now.

First, thanks to you repeat visitors for continuing to read the dated posts on this blog.

Believe me, you haven’t wasted your time because I will soon be conducting a quiz over the last two months’ of posts. The winner — hold on now — will get free tickets to the truck and tractor pull finals at the Missouri State Fair!

(That’s assuming the winner doesn’t mind 99-degree temperatures and 88 percent relative humidity. That’s almost a given, seeing as how the “pull” finals are Monday, Aug. 11.)

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But on with the shew…And are you lucky! Today, I’ve assembled a dynamite slide show. So, sit down, pop open a cool beverage (can’t go wrong with a Mexican Coke) and fix your eyes on the big screen.

Click, click…Here’s the most casual-looking Kansas City Royal, Alex Gordon, sliding into home plate Monday night and blowing a bubble in mid-slide…Folks, you can’t teach that stuff; Gordo truly is The Natural.

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Click, click…Here’s Martin Kaymer, the German who won the U.S. Open Golf tournament by eight strokes, after holing a par putt on No. 18 to close out the victory at Pinehurst, NC, on Sunday. (I attended the first two rounds of the tournament, last Thursday and Friday, and got to see Kaymer and many of the other pros up close.)

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Click, click…Here is, without question, one of the biggest turds who ever came through Kansas City. John Covington won everybody over as the prospective savior of the Kansas City School District, then suddenly and inexplicably left us in the lurch to take a job in Michigan…Is it any surprise that he has now quit the job he jumped to? In a statement, Covington said he was bailing to care for his ailing mother in Alabama and start a consulting business. I can’t wait for the next Covington report, which will probably go something like this: His mother died while he was on a fishing trip and he’s decided to leave the consulting business to build Habitat for Humanity houses.

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Click, click…Here’s another guy who should be in the Kansas City Charlatans Hall of Fame. A court has ruled that yet another Clay Chastain light-rail proposal should go on a Kansas City election ballot…Now, I ask you: How can anyone take seriously anything that this blowhard has to offer for the city he abandoned several years ago. Keep your medicine-man show in Virginia, Clay!

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Click, click…Here are a group of people excitedly awaiting Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s announcement of yet another tax redu….Oh, wait. I stand corrected. It’s soccer fans at the Power & Light District celebrating the U.S. team’s victory World Cup over Ghana Monday night.

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Click, click…Here’s a General Motors ignition switch…Boy, am I glad I switched to Fords!

**

Click, click…Here’s Stacy Lewis, one of America’s best hopes to win the U.S. Women’s Open. The tournament is this week, and it’s being played at Pinehurst No. 2, the same course where the men competed this past weekend. It’s a first: Back to back men’s and women’s opens at the same course…This photo was taken just after Lewis won last year’s Women’s British Open championship. (P.S. Stacy is one of many top women pros scheduled to compete next week in the Walmart Northwest Arkansas Championship just down I-49 in Rogers.)

A few minutes before the start of Saturday’s Belmont Stakes — when Frank Sinatra Jr. was singing “New York, New York” and a high-voltage atmosphere gripped Belmont Park — a TV camera caught Steve Coburn, co-owner of California Chrome, and his wife Carolyn crying in the stands.

It was an extremely touching moment, coming just before California Chrome’s attempt to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed got the job done in 1978.

A few minutes later, however, after his horse had struggled home tied for fourth place, Coburn ruined not only the day but the Triple Crown adventure that his beautiful, speedy horse had taken him on.

As you’re undoubtedly aware by now, Coburn, when interviewed by NBC after the race, lashed out at the owners of the horses who had not run in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes and had come to the Belmont with fresh horses. One of those fresh horses, Tonalist, came out a long nose in front of another fresh horse, Commissioner, to win a stirring renewal of the Belmont.

Instead of congratulating Tonalist’s connections, Coburn launched into a rant based on his allegation that the owners and trainers of the fresh horses had somehow sucker punched California Chrome (and Coburn, of course) and that they were “cheaters” and cowards.

As I watched it unfold on TV, I really couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I’ve never seen anything like it in the 40-plus years I have been following thoroughbred racing.

I interrupt this post to tell you that this morning, Monday, Coburn went on “Good Morning America” and finally apologized for his unsportsmanlike conduct.

“Very ashamed of myself,” Coburn said, with Carolyn at his side. “Very ashamed. I need to apologize to a lot of people.” 

Carolyn added: “I’m proud of him for coming up here and doing this. It was something we needed to do. Our story has given so much joy to so many people. I hope that this 30 seconds (of ill-tempered remarks) doesn’t destroy all that.”

…In the minutes after Coburn lashed out, I began to realize that I really shouldn’t be too surprised at what he had said. In the course of five weeks, the 61-year-old Coburn had established himself as a loudmouth and show-off, although, right up to the moment of his sour-grapes comments, he had seemed not only harmless but also engaging.

As we all know, however, those big personalities can sometimes go south in a hurry. And, oh, how quickly the complexion of things can change when one allows the bile in his brain to reach his lips.

Caroline Coburn appeared shocked at either her husband’s ill-tempered remarks after the Belmont Stakes or at his reaction to her advice to clam up. “I don’t care!” he told her.

Just after the interviewer cut away from Coburn, Carolyn apparently advised him to button his lips. His reaction was to wheel around and say angrily, “Well, I don’t care!”

Now, there, I submit, is a guy who is double stupid.

First, he didn’t know when to keep his mouth shut, and then he didn’t have the good sense to listen to his wife’s sound advice.

As I have advanced through life and nearly 30 years of marriage, I have come to appreciate more and more my wife Patty’s counsel in virtually everything I do — from what route to take when driving from Point A to Point B to the importance of listening to other people instead of planning what I’m going to say next.  

It took me a while, but I came to realize that marrying well carries an obligation: Listening to your spouse and taking his or her advice very seriously.

**

I have to amend something: Coburn is actually triple stupid. If you’re the forgiving sort, you might say, “Well, he was wrong in what he said, but he was caught up in the heat and disappointment of the moment.”

Granted. But a night of sleep apparently didn’t bring any clarity to Coburn’s judgment, because on Sunday morning he was still firing with both guns on national TV.

…Here’s the deal. The same quality that made Coburn fresh and interesting — “rookie” racehorse owner who speaks his mind — is the same quality that quickly converted him into a heel.

The rookie part of the equation is particularly important; you could go a thousand years without seeing or hearing a veteran thoroughbred owner run off at the mouth like Coburn did.

As California Chrome’s 77-year-old trainer, Art Sherman, said insightfully, referring to Coburn:

“He hasn’t been in the game long and hasn’t had any bad luck.”

Coburn was convinced his and his horse’s magical run was going to continue at least through the finish line at Belmont Park. He couldn’t accept the fact that California Chrome lost because of one or more of the following reasons: he was tired from the first two races; he was poorly ridden by jockey Victor Espinoza; or he was hurting from a hoof injury he suffered at the start of the race.

The really bad part is that, as award-winning racing writer Bill Finley said in an ESPN.com story Sunday, California Chrome will henceforth be carrying on his back not only his jockey but Steve Coburn’s exposed personality.

“California Chrome will still have his fans,” Finley wrote, “but not as many as before. Coburn took care of that.”

Okay, okay! I yield.

I am not going to be the selfish sourpuss, the turd in the punch bowl or the kid who won’t play nice in the sandbox.

Count me in as a supporter of bringing the Republican National Convention to KC in 2016.

You’ll remember that I wrote a week or so ago about how the Republican convention was going to be a big inconvenience for us residents and that we did not need the “one percenters” taking over our city and leaving the rest of us “behind the ropes.”

But now, instead of crying the blues, I’m singing “Happy Days Are Here Again.”

One factor in my change of heart was that upon arriving in Kansas City on the Amtrak train from St. Louis last night, the first thing I saw when I walked out of Union Station were the words “KC 2016” electronically projected in massive type on the stone wall of Liberty Memorial’s northern base, across from the station.

It was impressive.

But the biggest factor in my capitulation was reading about — and seeing video of — Mayor Sly James’ boisterous greeting of the Republican Search Committee at Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport yesterday.

In case you didn’t see the video, here it is. And below is The Star’s front-page photo of Sly dancing with the GOP site selection chairwoman Enid Mickelson.

It was a little hokey — how could it not be? — but Sly, with his uninhibited, engaging personality, pulled it off perfectly.

It was clear that Enid and other members of the site selection committee were into the moment. They clapped their hands and smiled widely as Sly and Enid danced.

Another inspired touch was the 1970s-era atmosphere that the greeting party contrived, harkening back to the days when Kansas City hosted the 1976 Republican National convention.

Those greeting the search committee included former TWA flight attendants dressed in period uniforms and the Schlagle High School (KCK) marching band. In addition, the TWA Constellation — “the Connie” — that a group of area TWA aficionados restored many years ago, was parked nearby.

I think it would be difficult for any of Kansas City’s three competing cities — Denver, Cleveland and Dallas — to top the welcome that James and the others gave the GOP yesterday.

Another factor in my change of heart was a column that Steve Paul, a member of The Star’s editorial board, wrote on the Op-Ed page last week. I can’t find it now because The Star’s link to the electronic archives seems to be temporarily broken, but the gist of it was that Steve urged Kansas Citians to resist the urge to be small-minded and to always, always, push for whatever will move Kansas City a step ahead.

He said specifically that we should do everything we could to get the GOP convention here.

Thank you, Steve, for laying down that challenge. And now I’m calling on you, blog readers, to accept that challenge, too.

Yes, I’m talking to you, Jennifer, and you, Jason, and you, John Altevogt (do all my readers’ names start with “J”?) to step up forward and do what you can to bring this convention to Kansas City.

We can start by grabbing our umbrellas and going down to Sprint Center this afternoon and trying to buttonhole the search committee members as they come out of Sprint Center after a scheduled tour.

Yes, it’s hokey, but no hokier than dancing on the tarmac!