AL SMITH: THE TRUTH

 

It is true about Al Smith, who died last week at 94.

 

If you asked him what time it was he would tell you, and also how to build a clock. Al was that way; helpful, friendly, knowledgeable, and loquacious.

 

He was also everything nice people have been saying about him in stories since his death; a Lion of Kentucky journalism, a mentor to many, a strong supporter of small town and community journalism, and of many of us who knew him individually.

 

That he died of kidney failure seems ironic for a man who drank himself out of key jobs in one of the most colorful cities for journalism in our country--New Orleans. But he did, and never tried to hide it, or how much he owe AA to his recovery, and to Kentucky and to his wife Martha Helen, too.

 

You and I, as Kentuckians, helped redeem Al Smith, as he helped redeem us, from decades of Old South conservatism (which now seems rampant again - where is our new Al Smith?) of bourbon and backwater when what we needed, Al was convinced, was more of his (and FDR's) New Deal liberalism.

 

If journalism was his first love, education was next and he and Martha Helen supported so many projects in both fields it would be hard to list them all, or how much they improved Kentucky in his lifetime. Maybe the arts were next, and ditto.

 

For those who knew him mainly as the host of KET's "Comment on Kentucky," that alone should commend him to you; another project to help Kentuckians understand life's issues and what might be done about them to improve our Commonwealth.

 

An UN-Common Man has passed our way, for so many years, and we are now both richer for his having lived among us, and poorer for his passing.

 

I'm just sayin'...

A Sad Anniversary

 

No, not the virus, sad as that is, but one year since Breonna Taylor was shot, and she still has no Justice.

 

She is dead, killed by a cop. Her boyfriend, who fired at a cop has had charges dismissed, thankfully. But she is still dead, and no one has been charged.

 

One Louisville cop has been charged for firing into the WRONG (!) apartment that infamous night, but Breonna is still dead and no one has been charged.

 

The attorney general gave lousy information to the grand jury, which several jurors have since repudiated, as have lots of lawyers, but Breonna is still dead, and no one has been charged.

 

Waiting for the Jefferson County state's attorney to get off his butt and file charges have so far meant a wasted year, and Breonna is still dead through a cop's mistaken bullet, and no one has been charged.

 

There is still a federal probe going on and that may be our best hope.

 

The GOP controlled legislature has done far less to reform warrants and the police situation that several other states---incensed by what happened in Kentucky, than has our Commonwealth, which says a lot about us.

 

And one year later Breonna Taylor is still dead, through no fault of her own, and justice awaits...and waits...and waits.

 

***

 

Another anniversary of sorts, spring floods. They come in  many years and this year they came with a vengeance. No federal emergency declaration yet, which does not speak well of the Biden administration, and the Republicans in the legislature are trying to make sure they get to spend what COVID relief funds we get not the Democratic governor. I am not hopeful. It took years for Hal Rogers, then our most powerful Congressman to get funds for a flood wall in Middlesboro. Lee, Estill, Breahitt counties, and more, need some type of protection, and soon. So does Stoner Creek in Bourbon county, a public eyesore there.

And if the state gets funds, even finds them in strange places (such as the Fish & Wildlife agency) will they be spent rightly? Can we help the families flooded out for the umpteenth time to get on their feet, while making certain they do NOT rebuild on those misnamed 100-year and 500 year flood plains! The entire federal flood insurance program, once again, needs an overhaul; and some way to get the commercial insurance industry involved. After all, that's what they are supposed to handle, and they have refused to do so.  Fine public service from them, (Is there a Hammer for Big Floods as there is for Big Trucks?)

 

Remember, the Floods WILL be back.

 

***

 

Lexington has always had its colorful people; characters if you like. I wish to pay my respects to one of my favorites, who recently passed on. Nicholas Pitanis was a pillar of his Greek church, ran the Lexington shop on Romany Road for years and taught many of us, including me, the joys and pleasures of good food and good wine. When my wife and I were in his store, he would always flirt outrageously with her (showing his good taste.) He founded the local chapter of les Amis du Vin, which failed (and is IMHO, still needed here.) He wore colorful sweaters, told colorful stories of being a smuggler in his early years and welcomed all into his life. RIP Nikko,. Hail & farewell.