When you’re a bachelor who doesn’t cook, you’re going to spend a lot of time eating in restaurants. And I have. Over 40 years of it, in practically every diner in Madison. Remember some of the ones everyone used to…
Bon appetit!
Bell Ringers
Bell Ringers With Christmastime upon us again, a familiar sound, that of the Salvation Army bells, fills the air outside many stores in malls and also downtown. Old Corporal has volunteered to be among the bellringers this year, as with…
Musicmen
Musicmen Our area is poorer today, because in the last week we’ve lost two local musicians who brought worlds of pleasure to so many of us for many years: Harold Kinman and Don “Duck” Youngblood. Say “Madison, Indiana” and “music”…
Old Madisonians
Old Madisonians Several years ago I got what I thought was a good idea: Form a local club or organization to be called The Old Madisonians. I don’t know just what we would have done, had it actually been formed,…
Post Mortem
Post Mortem After 21 long months of often maddening campaigning, we finally have a new president-elect in Barack Hussein Obama. Hopefully the tears of joy — and of disappointment, depending on your point of view — have all been shed…
SHORT AND SWEET
SHORT AND SWEET The election will finally be held Tuesday (let’s pause to say in unison, “Thank God!”) As a poll worker, I’m not going to make any partisan statements here, because I agreed not to. But I think there’s…
Mundt’s 75th anniversary
Mundt’s A lot of you folks who are too young to know, or who moved here from somewhere else, probably aren’t aware that a downtown institution is three quarters of a century old this year. Betty Mundt’s Candies opened for…
Writers
Writing Those of you who aren’t professional writers probably think the hardest part of writing a column is — well, WRITING. You probably imagine the ink-stained wretch sitting in front of his typewriter — make that PC nowadays — clacking…
Storm Aftermath
Storm Aftermath The sound of the chainsaw has been heard in our town for the past week as people removed downed trees from their yards, sidewalks and, unfortunately, often their houses. The unprecedented windstorm of last Sunday thankfully didn’t cause…
Wrong Drinking Age – Part II
DRINKING AGE part II Remember my first Corporal’s Corner column in mid-March, when I advocated the lowering of the U.S. drinking age from 21 to 18, which is what it is in most of the world? Looks like some other…
Mr. Change
Mr. Change So Mr. “Change, Change, Change” will have as his running mate Mr. “Senator For Ever.” Bad move, Barack! Whatever Sen. Joe Biden’s good points, and there’s no doubt he has many, you passed up the “right guy:” Sen.…
House of The Rising Sun
House of The Rising Sun As a master mason might gaze in wonder at the Taj Mahal; as a first-rate popular song writer might listen enthralled to Beethoven or Tchaikovsky; I found by accident one day in 2000 while working…
The Kinmans
——————————————————————————————— If we of the MCHS Class of 1963 had known Harold Kinman was going to become a Living Legend, we’d have treated him better! That’s a joke, folks. Harold was one of the best-liked kids in our class. And…
Consolidation
Consolidation You folks may remember that a couple of weeks ago I wrote on the possibility that one or more of the Madison Consolidated elementary schools may have to be closed down due to financial problems. This week I want…
Susan Atkins
Susan Atkins Susan Atkins is 60 years old, and she’s dying of brain cancer. But she won’t get to spend her last weeks or months with loving family and friends, and a group of people in California are glad. You…
School Board
School Board Dr. Tom Patterson, Madison Consolidated Schools superintendent, asked the school board last week to do something governmental bodies nationwide seldom do: Plan ahead. Actually try to figure out how to handle a crisis before it’s staring them right…
’08 Regatta
’08 Regatta O Boy Oberto-Miss Madison didn’t make the winners’ circle at the Madison Regatta, but she and driver Steve David did their darndest against formulaboats.com in the championship heat, besides winning two preliminary heats leading up to it. Old…
Noise Ordinance
Noise Ordinance With a new, proposed anti-noise ordinance having been drafted for the Madison City Council, the question of noise pollution has drawn a number of comments on the Old Madison website recently. During the same time period, I received…
POLITICAL HUMOR
POLITICAL HUMOR Political humor is as American as apple pie. As American as — well, Will Rogers, who if he didn’t originate it, gave it its first great popularity. But Rogers’ humor was designed to make us think as well…
THE CHIEF
THE CHIEF When John Wallace accepted Mayor Tim Armstrong’s appointment of him as Madison’s chief of police, he knew it would be a multi-tasking job. But he didn’t know it would include having to help his department recover from a…
Father’s Day
FATHERS DAY How sad and ironic that Tim Russert, NBC news show host who wrote two best-selling books about his father, died suddenly and unexpectedly on the eve of Father’s Day. It was always good to know that Russert loved…
Barber Shop
Barber Shop If you had just moved to Madison; or Seymour, or Bedford, or any town about our size; and you wanted to find out about local politics, likes and dislikes, the economy, who the leading citizens are (or THINK…