Remembering Dick Bacon, Milwaukee's Man With The Tan

Dick Bacon in his silver, reflective enclosure along Lincoln Memorial Drive.
COURTESY OF MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL

Summer is the favorite time of year for most beach-goers. But Milwaukee once was home to a unique fellow who tanned year-round at the lakefront. Our Bubbler Talk questioner wanted to know: Who was that guy?
Many people who lived in Milwaukee before 2000, like Cynthia Hoffman, know the answer. The man was the late Dick Bacon.
"During those years, everybody knew who Dick Bacon was," Hoffman says. "The first thing I think of is this ultra, ultra-crispy tan body. And he would have this sort of tinfoil or metal contraption that he would sit in down by the lake and crisp himself."
Dick Bacon on New Year's Day in about 1975-76 (photographer believes this was probably the Polar Bear Plunge).
CREDIT COURTESY OF PAT WHITE
In the colder months – no matter how cold – drivers along Lincoln Memorial Drive would see Bacon, reclining in his silver, reflective enclosure. It was an eye-catching sight and many people would honk and wave. Bacon would smile and wave back.
But he wasn’t just known for the wintertime tanning. "I became aware of him in the '60s when I was a child, and my friends and I sort of knew of him as 'Mr. Bradford,'" says Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Jim Stingl.
Stingl recalls Bacon practically inhabiting Bradford Beach in the summer, typically wearing a Speedo swimsuit or something else skimpy.
"Most of the time that I was aware of him here, he was a middle-aged man. He wasn't like a 22-year-old or something. But he had a fantastic physique, which he had won awards for. He had been involved in Mr. Nude Universe kind of things."
For Bacon, it wasn’t just about showing off his body. The time at the beach was a way of life.
There's nothing for me but the sun, the sand and the sea. -The words of Dick Bacon, read at his memorial service, according to Jim Stingl
"He was a character in so many ways," Stingl says. "He was a nudist, he was a brewery worker, which made him very Milwaukee. His whole life was devoted to leisure and he was very unashamed about that."
Stingl became a columnist at the newspaper in 2000. He had been so intrigued by Bacon that he reached out to him in the early days on the job.
"One of the first things I wanted to do was call Dick Bacon and set up a meeting with him where he and I would get together and hang out in his aluminum foil tanning booth... He claimed it was 80 degrees inside all that reflective aluminum foil. And he was very nice and he said, 'Yeah, sure -- why don't we wait when it gets cold again and we'll get together,' and then he died."
Bacon died at the age of 67 of a heart attack -- not skin cancer, as people might assume. Stingl covered Bacon's memorial service and says Bacon would have loved the tributes shared, but not the fact that the service was held indoors, with everyone clothed.

The mad, sad, totally fab life of Paul Lynde

An imperfect TV icon, reexamined.

NBCU PHOTO BANK/NBCUNIVERSAL VIA GETTY IMAGES

“I'll take Paul Lynde.”
Not so very long ago, a lifetime ago, those words took Americans somewhere wicked. In the ’70s, if that sentence was uttered by a contestant on Hollywood Squares, lights would flash around the center cube in a grid of celebrities — those of the stripe who wind up on game shows — and settle on a genuine star. He was tanned, with shining teeth, if no leading man. He was in his 40s but looked older, and he had a whinnying snigger. But when it came to providing risqué answers to questions posed by the NBC show’s host, Peter Marshall, he could not be matched.
Is the electrical current in your house AC or DC?
“In my house, it’s both!”
Does Mark Spitz believe it’s easier to swim nude?
Well, it’s easier to steer...”
You’re the world’s most popular fruit. What are you?
“Humble.”
The audience would roar approval at his bawdy jokes, and Lynde would flash his Cheshire-cat grin. He delivered that performance thousands of times in the 14 years after the show’s 1966 premiere. Between Lynde’s center-square residency and his guest spots on sitcoms and variety shows, the actor was booking up to 200 televised hours each season by the mid ’70s. It made him rich enough to buy Errol Flynn’s L.A. mansion, where he lived with his dog, a terrier named Harry. “There was no one funnier than Paul Lynde,” says Whoopi Goldberg, who took over the center square in the Hollywood Squares revival that premiered in 1998. “I don’t know if the public thought about his sexuality.”
Being gay was the secret of Lynde’s success, even though it was a (half-hearted) secret. He hid his truth in plain sight, reveling in a camp persona. All these years later, people still don’t know what to make of him. Lynde’s brilliance was rooted in gayness, but he was deeply conflicted about it. “Paul’s following was mostly straight,” says Cathy Rudolphauthor of Paul Lynde: A Biography. “He was afraid if his following was mostly gay, it would open the eyes of his fans that he was also gay and that would end his career.” Lynde was both a role model and a walking stereotype. There was no one else quite like him on any screen. “He was probably the first gay person — whether he was using the word or not — in a lot of people’s homes across America,” actor-comedian Billy Eichner says. “He was ahead of his time in terms of being as overtly gay as one could be, unlike so many stars of that time.”

Read more: https://ew.com/celebrity/paul-lynde-life-legacy/


Racine releases reopening plan, restaurants will be able to open with 50% capacity Tuesday

From The Journal Times.com:

Racine Mayor Cory Mason addresses the media Friday morning as he, along with Police Chief Art Howell (left) and Public Health Administrator Dottie-Kay Bowersox (right), details the city's "Forward Racine" plan to roll back some of the local Safer at Home rules.


RACINE — The City of Racine published its "Forward Racine" reopening plan on Friday morning.
The plan details how businesses in each industry present in Racine will — and won't — be able to resume business starting at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, May 26.
If Racine sees a spike in cases — the coronavirus's spread in the city currently ranks among the fastest rates of spread for any city in the country — the reopening plan can be backtracked, according to Mayor Cory Mason and Public Health Administrator Dottie-Kay Bowersox.
Police Chief Art Howell said that those who do not follow the city's new rules will face citation and be identified publicly online for not following the order.
The plan will be re-evaluated on June 30, when more restrictions may be rolled back.
Racine is one of a handful of municipalities in Wisconsin with restrictions still in place after the Supreme Court overturned the statewide Safer at Home on May 13.
The city is now facing multiple lawsuits, calling for Racine's Safer at Home to be overturned. City Attorney Scott Letteney says that Racine's order is still legal, and that the Supreme Court's decision only said that how Safer at Home was enforced was illegal. Since there still is an outbreak in the City of Racine, the local public health administrator is still allowed to make such an order.

Pathway Rx Advances Research that Shows Potential for Medical Cannabis to Treat COVID-19

Data collected from previous studies conducted in collaboration with Swysh and commercial partner Sundial Growers reveals that some medical cannabis cultivars can help reduce the severity and complications of COVID-19 disease
LETHBRIDGE, ABMay 5, 2020 /CNW/ - Pathway RX Inc. ("Pathway Rx"), a research company dedicated to developing custom cannabis therapies to treat specific diseases and Swysh Inc. ("Swysh"), a cannabinoid oral health product developer, today announced that they intend to further advance their research to evaluate the potential for medical cannabis to treat COVID-19 and its possible complications.  These efforts will include the publication of more research papers and the initiation of clinical trials to validate the safety and efficacy of medical cannabis to treat COVID-19.
Results from a study by Pathway Rx were recently shared publicly and the research paper was submitted to a scientific journal for peer-review.  The study's data suggests that a limited sample of high CBD Cannabis sativa extracts modulate ACE2 gene expression and ACE2 protein levels in gateway tissues of the COVID-19 causing virus and also have the potential to inhibit its entry into cells, curtail disease spread and reduce mortality.  The study was conducted using artificial human 3D models of oral, airway, and intestinal tissues.  A second research study that examines the use of cannabis extracts for taming the cytokine storm will be published soon. 
"Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) has been generally accepted by the scientific community as a receptor required for the entry of SARS-CoV-2 into human cells," said Dr. Igor Kovalchuk, CEO of Pathway Rx and holder of a Health Canada License for Cannabis Research.  He added that, "Our initial findings warrant further investigation but it's possible that medical cannabis products could become a safe adjunct therapy for the treatment of COVID-19."
Among the 1,000 Cannabis sativa varieties that have been screened by Pathway Rx, only a small number have expressed medicinal properties.  The most promising of these varieties are licensed to Pathway Rx's commercial partner Sundial Growers Inc. (Nasdaq: SNDL) and are currently in production at its facility in Olds, Alberta. 
Pathway Rx aims to seek funding from many sources to support its research goals including the recently announced $1.1 billion from the Canadian Government to support scientific initiatives to address COVID-19.  "The Government of Canada's latest investment to support the health of Canadians creates a significant opportunity for Pathway Rx to advance our research and accelerate the development of custom therapies and products to help combat COVID-19," said Dr. Kovalchuk. 

As Wisconsin reopens, live music is coming back. Memorial Day weekend, more than 150 shows are planned.

From JSOnline:

, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Zac Matthews, a country artist from Milton pictured here at a gig in 2014, is playing two shows Memorial Day weekend. Matthews lost $70,000 when the coronavirus pandemic hit, but with the stay at home order over, more than 150 gigs have been booked across the state over the holiday weekend. (Photo: Piet Levy/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

With the stay-at-home order over in Wisconsin, live music is starting to come back to life. 
Collectively, across the state, bars, clubs, restaurants, wineries, campgrounds and other businesses have created Facebook pages for 158 live music events for this Memorial Day weekend. That doesn’t include streaming-only performances or concerts announced on Facebook that were called off. 
There won’t be gigs in Milwaukee and Madison this weekend, where group restrictions continue due to the coronavirus pandemic. And some of the planned shows could fall through.  
But having that many shows is a sign that there is energy behind bringing back live music — although there is caution too.
The holiday weekend arrives a little more than a week after the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Gov. Tony Evers' extended stay-at-home order for the state, which was scheduled to end May 26, the day after Memorial Day.
Not all venues that can open are opening. X-Ray Arcade in Cudahy will continue to be closed for the foreseeable future, owner Nick Woods posted on the venue’s Facebook page.
And many Wisconsin bands aren't returning to the stage yet either. In a Facebook post, the owner of Sunset Bar & Grill in Fort Atkinson wrote that a few of the bands the bar had booked for this Friday through Monday were "not comfortable with the crowds yet."
Nevertheless, Sunset was able to find replacements, and is planning for live music each day of the holiday weekend. 
Read more: But having that many shows is a sign that there is energy behind bringing back live music — although there is caution too.
The holiday weekend arrives a little more than a week after the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Gov. Tony Evers' extended stay-at-home order for the state, which was scheduled to end May 26, the day after Memorial Day.
Not all venues that can open are opening. X-Ray Arcade in Cudahy will continue to be closed for the foreseeable future, owner Nick Woods posted on the venue’s Facebook page.
And many Wisconsin bands aren't returning to the stage yet either. In a Facebook post, the owner of Sunset Bar & Grill in Fort Atkinson wrote that a few of the bands the bar had booked for this Friday through Monday were "not comfortable with the crowds yet."
Nevertheless, Sunset was able to find replacements, and is planning for live music each day of the holiday weekend. 

CDC estimates that 35% of coronavirus patients don't have symptoms

(CNN) In new guidance for mathematical modelers and public health officials, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is estimating that about a third of coronavirus infections are asymptomatic.
The CDC also says its "best estimate" is that 0.4% of people who show symptoms and have Covid-19 will die, and the agency estimates that 40% of coronavirus transmission is occurring before people feel sick.
The agency cautions that those numbers are subject to change as more is learned about Covid-19, and it warns that the information is intended for planning purposes. Still, the agency says its estimates are based on real data collected by the agency before April 29.
The numbers are part of five planning scenarios that "are being used by mathematical modelers throughout the federal government," according to the CDC. Four of those scenarios represent "the lower and upper bounds of disease severity and viral transmissibility."
The fifth scenario is the CDC's "current best estimate about viral transmission and disease severity in the United States." In that scenario, the agency described its estimate that 0.4% of people who feel sick with Covid-19 will die.
For people age 65 and older, the CDC puts that number at 1.3%. For people 49 and under, the agency estimated that 0.05% of symptomatic people will die.

Four for Fridays!

Good morning everyone I hope everyone made it through all the rain and flooding from last weekend. I posted the pictures so everyone knew how bad the rain was. Also we are getting more rain this weekend and please everyone stay safe. Here are your questions.

1) What plans do you have for your three day weekend?

2) Do you plan on visiting friends or family for Memorial Day?

3) Are you going to cook out on the grill this weekend?

4) Did you or do you have someone in the Military Service?

Have a happy and safe Memorial weekend!

Hungry bumble bees make plants flower early by cutting holes in their leaves

A hungry bumble bee cuts a hole in a leaf, stimulating the plant to flower early.
 
HANNIER PULIDO/DE MORAES AND MESCHER LABORATORIES

When bumble bee queens emerge from hibernation, they need to gather pollen and nectar to start their new colonies. If they wake up too soon, there may not be enough flowers in bloom. Now, researchers have discovered the bees have a way to order some fast food: They nibble holes in leaves, spurring plants to blossom weeks ahead of schedule. Many questions remain about the details of this strategy and how it evolved.
“It’s certainly surprising,” says Lars Chittka, a behavioral ecologist at the Queen Mary University of London, who was not involved. “We’re only at the beginning of exploring this phenomenon.”
Researchers at ETH Zürich chanced upon the discovery when they noticed curious bite marks on leaves while studying how bees respond to plant odors. They had added bumble bees to a research greenhouse and observed them cutting holes in the shape of half-moons. What was going on? At first, the researchers thought the insects might be feeding on fluid from the leaves, but the bees didn’t stay long enough to get much. Nor did they appear to be taking any part of the leaves back to their colonies.
A key observation—that bumble bees from colonies with less food were more avidly damaging the leaves—suggested another goal. The researchers wondered whether the damage triggered the plants to flower sooner, providing pollen to the hungry pollinators. After all, some plants speed up their flowering when they are stressed by disease or drought because these threats provide an incentive to reproduce sooner. But no one had ever shown that a pollinator can stimulate flowering. “I thought it was a long shot,” recalls Mark Mescher, an evolutionary biologist at ETH Zürich who co-led the research.
The researchers set up a greenhouse experiment with black mustard (Brassica nigra), a crop they had been studying. Ten plants were put in mesh bags with bumble bees that hadn’t eaten any pollen for 3 days; they proceeded to nibble five to 10 holes in each plant. On average, those plants flowered after 17 days; undamaged plants that had not been exposed to bumble bees took an average of 33 days, the researchers report today in Science. In a similar experiment, tomato plants sped up their flowering by 30 days. “The magnitude of the effects is huge,” Mescher says.

Harley-Davidson restarting production, bringing hundreds back to work

From JSOnline:

, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel


Harley-Davidson Inc. has resumed production at its U.S. manufacturing plants, with full staffing expected at the factory on Pilgrim Road in Menomonee Falls following Memorial Day weekend.
Currently, there are approximately 125 U.S. Steelworkers union members back at the plant, according to union officials, as Harley restarts production that was shut down in March after an employee tested positive for coronavirus and motorcycle sales plummeted in the economic fallout stemming from COVID-19. 
The engine and drivetrain facility employs approximately 1,000 people.
“Pilgrim Road plans to bring all hourly employees back after Memorial Day weekend for full production,” Ross Winklbauer, a Steelworkers subdistrict director, said Thursday. 
“A lot of it is going to depend on what goes on with the plant in York (Pa.), but the plan is to get everybody back,” Winklbauer said.
Addressing coronavirus, the company has staggered work start times and installed barriers between work stations.
“It’s going to be a new normal for them,” Winklbauer said.
In a statement, the company said: “Harley-Davidson has begun a planned phased approach to resuming production in its facilities, following the guidelines of public health and regulatory authorities and keeping employee health and safety front and center. At all of its facilities, Harley-Davidson has implemented enhanced safety measures, protocols to support social distancing and is bolstering its already-rigorous cleaning and sanitation practices."
Harley has launched a set of actions that will eventually lead to a new strategic plan for the company.
Harley refers to the plan as The Rewire. Among the goals is to "...reset the company's operating model in order to reduce complexity, sharpen focus and increase the speed of decision making."
The Rewire program "...will focus more on the markets and products that can drive performance in terms of profitability and growth."
In 2019, the company saw its bike sales in the U.S. drop for a fifth straight year and its global motorcycle shipments at the lowest level in a decade. 
Earlier this month, the board of directors named board Chairman Jochen Zeitz president and CEO, a position he had held on an interim basis after president and CEO Matt Levatich left in February following 26 years with the company.
In an annual shareholders meeting Thursday that lasted only 15 minutes, Zeitz said the company was focused on its five-year strategic plan. 
"Beyond our COVID-19 response, we must take significant actions now to rewire the company in terms of priorities, execution, operating model and strategy to drive sustainable and profitable long-term growth," he said.
During the meeting, which was held online rather than in person, a shareholder asked why most of the board members were still in place given the company's poor performance.
"A major shakeup needs to take place and get some new and real motorcycle people on the board," he said. 
Zeitz answered by saying there had been changes. 

"That being said, we also expect to elect one new board member this year. I feel very confident that the board we have is giving us all the knowledge we need to take the company through this important rewire phase," he said. 
From: https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/2020/05/21/harley-davidson-bringing-hundreds-back-work-milwaukee/5240119002/

Kenosha County judge becomes fourth judge assigned to Weidner open records case so far

From The Journal Times.com:


RACINE — A Kenosha County judge will now preside over the open records court case brought by former City of Racine alderman Sandy Weidner, according to court documents.

Weidner
Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Chad G. Kerkman was assigned to the case Thursday. The case, which has raised concerns statewide regarding transparency and public access to information, had been assigned to three separate Racine County judges before it was assigned to Kerkman.

The first request to substitute was made Weidner in April after the Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruled that an amended petition Weidner filed in February 2018, previously rejected by Racine County Circuit Court Judge Gasiorkiewicz, should have been allowed. Gasiorkiewicz presided over the case since it was initially filed Nov. 29, 2017.

Gasiorkiewicz
Weidner said that she asked for a different judge after the Court of Appeals ruling because she felt that Gasiorkiewicz has a “reputation for being the city’s go-to judge.”

The case was then assigned to Racine Circuit Court Judge Michael Piontek on April 30. On May 4, another request on the city’s behalf asked for another substitution. Attorney Michael Cohen, who represents the City of Racine in the case, said that the substitution request was made because the City of Racine had the right to file it.

Piontek

ADAM ROGAN,
The case was then sent to Racine County Circuit Court Judge Maureen Martinez on May 5. On Wednesday, the order for an out-of-county judge was made after it was determined that Martinez “knows or has familiarity with the parties,” the court record states.

No future hearing date had been set as of Thursday, online court records show.

Origins
The civil suit stems from a closed-session meeting in fall 2017, during which Racine City Attorney Scott Letteney showed City Council members a collection of emails that Weidner and two other aldermen had sent to constituents that Letteney thought violated attorney-client privilege.

The emails included correspondence about everything from the city’s Redevelopment Authority to a case involving a bar’s liquor license. It also included an email sent to a former Journal Times reporter about scheduling for a public meeting, a PowerPoint presentation reportedly given at a public meeting and details about development projects, including the abandoned arena project.

Letteney said he was going to send the emails to the city’s Ethics Board for review. When Weidner requested a copy of the emails, she was denied. She filed a lawsuit shortly after demanding the records.

Gasiorkiewicz sealed case details from public view, something he said was requested by Cohen on behalf of the City before the first hearing.

Weidner spoke to the news media in August 2018 about the case. Due to the case’s seal, she was found guilty of civil contempt of court. Weidner’s attorneys filed a challenge to unseal the case, as well as to the contempt of court conviction, with the Court of Appeals.

In January 2019, the majority of the documents in Weidner’s open-records case were made public — with some redaction.

As of May 1, the City of Racine had already spent more than $129,000 to litigate the open records court case brought by Weidner.

From: https://journaltimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/kenosha-county-judge-becomes-fourth-judge-assigned-to-weidner-open-records-case-so-far/article_1c92ff07-e52b-599a-ae55-80cc7b3b91aa.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1

Also see: https://racinecountycorruption.blogspot.com/2020/05/weidner-caseto-have-change-of-venue.html

Thursday, May 21, 2020

WEIDNER CASE TO HAVE A CHANGE OF VENUE TO KENOSHA COUNTY

From Racine County Corruption:

UPDATED

WEIDNER CASE TO HAVE 
A CHANGE OF VENUE TO 
KENOSHA COUNTY


WELCOME TO MORE
COURTROOM HELL


Did you know that Racine County 
is hiring and interviewing Judges ?

Official Racine County Circuit Court 
Judicial Hiring Notice:
*QUALIFICATIONS*
ABILITY TO IGNORE THEIR OATH OF OFFICE
RULE ON EMOTION, NOT ON LAW
CONSIDER ALL ALLEGATIONS AS EVIDENCE
SUPPRESS THE TRUTH
SPINELESSLY HIDE BEHIND JUDICIAL IMMUNITY
TAKE CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ALL LITIGANT'S ATTORNEYS
FAVOR THY PLAYERS WITHIN THE SYSTEM
FAVOR THY PARTY BEFORE COUNTRY
FOSTER CORRUPTION AND CONFLICT
MAINTAIN PAY TO PLAY SYSTEM AT ALL COST
QUASH PRO SE LITIGANTS
MAINTAIN BLACK ROBE CODE

Oops I'm sorry, most positions are already filled!



Weidner vs. City of Racine


In the continuing courtroom saga of Weidner vs. City of Racine,
Sandy Weidner is being assigned yet another judge, this time outside of the ever corrupt Racine County Circuit Court system.

As quickly as Racine Judge Maureen Martinez was assigned 
"the case"
is as quickly she has recused herself from this
nationally embarrassing fiasco.

Sandy Weidner will now stand before Kenosha County Circuit Court judge Chad Kerkman.

For well over two years, Sandy Weidner has been abused by corrupt and malicious judges who violated and attacked both her rights and 
the rights of the public.

Early in during courtroom proceedings, the basic right to amend her case was denied by Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz(herein referred to as Gagthebitch) and the court declared all records sealed
concerning the case.

 Lawless Pagan Judge Gagthebitch violated numerous Wisconsin statutes while conducting court and acted in a most prejudice and criminal manner. His illegal and criminal acts while conducting court sent Sandy into the abyss and was the beginning of her journey into courtroom hell.

Justice is a precious commodity within the
Racine County Circuit Court System.

Perhaps Sandy will fare better in another jurisdiction

Racine County citizens should be outraged at our courts for unethical and criminal misconduct concerning this case and the feckless oversight agencies that turn a deaf ear and blind eye concerning 
the misconduct of our judges.

Be outraged!