The Electron Pencil

Carp Combs On Big Talk

My guest on tomorrow’s installment of Big Talk is an institution in local politics, longtime Perry Township trustee Dan “Carp” Combs. He’ll tell us about Indiana’s unique dependence on the township governance system and, for that matter, what in the world it is that a township trustee does.

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Carp’s son Levi placed himself in the middle of a swirling storm last week when he authorized his daddy-o to publicize some incendiary comments made by Combs fils‘ municipal laborer’s union local president. Papa Carp fills us in on that and clues us in on why he’s called Carp in the first place.

Tune in tomorrow during WFHB‘s Daily Local News. A regular Thursday feature on the DLN, Big Talk airs at 5:45pm. See you then.

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Gentle Or Tough — Who’ll Make The Call?

Big Talk guest Combs tells us we — the American peeps — have to stop shouting at each other. Good advice under normal circumstances but, I’ve gotta say, these ain’t normal circs.

What with the ascendance of L’il Duce to the highest office in the land plus the resultant throwing off the chains from every brown-skin-hating, grievance-addicted chatterer from here to there, it’s really time for all of us of good conscience to scream to high heaven over this state of affairs. If that means we have to shout at the bitter, small-minded opposition, so be it.

Carp’s a gentle, soft-spoken soul. Sadly, we’re in for a ride wherein loud, hard-nosed gals and guys will be needed.

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Fair & Balanced (Sorta)

Just a CYA reminder: I offered American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) local prez Rick Albright the opportunity to state his case here, verbatim, on The Pencil, as I’d done for Carp Combs last week. Thus far, Albright has declined to respond to my offer.

Now, a reminder for you: As always, if you miss the broadcast version of Big Talk, you can always catch the podcast on WFHB’s website as well as the unabridged version of the original interview here on this global communications colossus.

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Misquoted

This media powerhouse, like all such purveyors of gas, gets accused of misquoting folks all the time. Take last night: I received an email from a former Pencil subject and guest on Big Talk. Y’got me all wrong, the missive, essentially, read.

Only it wasn’t me who got her wrong; it was she, herself! She readily admits it. The details: Cathi Crabtree was a Clinton-pledged delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Philly this past summer. She provided the Pencil with reports from the convention floor as well as surrounding environs and then came on my show and told me the story of her life. One of the ironies of her story, said she, was the fact that for a hot minute back in the ’80s, she was a backer of Saint Ronald Reagan.

Television Screen Grab Of Cathi Crabtree

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Crabtree’d grown up in a Republican household in southern Indiana and then found herself in like with a Republican swain when she left the crib. Her life on the dark side, she recalled, went so far as to pull the lever for RR the first time she was eligible to vote. She winced when telling the tale.

Now comes this correction [all email-y sic]:

Just realized I did NOT vote for Reagan … I was eligible to vote in 84 but did not (bad) but in 88 bush sr was running … bad but not as bad as Reagan! Relief! 😜

I sympathize with her. That’s the kind of realization that can keep a gal/guy up at night, wanting at that very minute to call everybody in the world so as to set the record straight.

Consider it straight now, CC!

The anecdote reminds me of a basketball tale. Charles Barkley, AKA the Round Mound of Rebound, wrote an autobiography in 1992 entitled, Outrageous: The Fine Life and Good Times of Basketball’s Irresistible Force. In it, Barkley, well-known for his frank, often offensive, always rash statements, insulted, among many others, an NBA owner and an opposing center. When the book hit the streets, beat reporters crowded around Barkley with questions about the insults. Barkley looked taken aback. “I was misquoted,” he said.

Just in case you missed the gag, it was an autobiography.

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Shout

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