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I can imagine some people being dumb enough to actually do what I was joking about. [roll] [roll]
 
Good morning, DLeague!

Tons of craziness in store the rest of this week. Invented crises after invented crises so keep your head down! Was told there would be something big in health care industry.

Excited about the UK football season! Finished one project to sell and on to try to get the next done! Friend of mine is selling some Kentucky themed stuff and doing a give away of autographed photos. If a fan buys 2 of his items, they'll be entered into a drawing to win an autographed 16x20 of a UK player. Other prints (unsigned) for 2nd and 3rd place in the drawing.

Don't know if we can link that stuff here. Told his wife I'd mention it on here if I could.

Liking the cooler weather. Hope you're enjoying it, too!
 
@AustinTXCat .... this hit your local news? Per Fox...

'The Buffalo Bills are reportedly looking at a move to Austin, TX if they are unable to secure a new home venue in Buffalo.'
Don't know who's paying what, but clearly Austin has more potential going forward (w/SA nearby also) than Buffalo does. Stadium on southside would make it more convenient to SA folks.
 
Good morning from ATX. Currently 74°F and cloudy, We received about 1" rain yesterday. 20% chance today. Expecting 89°F for today's high. We'll take it.

According to local news, it appears leaky capped oil wells have become a problem around the world. Just here in Texas, estimated oil 2.1 million wells were not properly documented and capped.

Must run a few errands at lunch. I'm also sitting in virtually on a Microsoft security seminar between 9 am - 12 noon CST.

Wishing happiness and health for all our fellow D-League members.

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Just flame them off.
 
Catching up a bit late D-League. My daughter got in last night after a bit of drama when her car broke down in West Memphis, Arkansas. Just a battery issue but not the place for a pretty 23-year-old woman to deal with trouble.

I had visions of a version of this happening.


But all turned out well and we had a small welcome home party.
 
Catching up a bit late D-League. My daughter got in last night after a bit of drama when her car broke down in West Memphis, Arkansas. Just a battery issue but not the place for a pretty 23-year-old woman to deal with trouble.

I had visions of a version of this happening.


But all turned out well and we had a small welcome home party.
Glad she's okay. West Memphis can get a little tricky sometimes. I'll be happy when I-40 Mississippi River Bridge fully reopens. Drove alternate bridges/routes out and back last month through Memphis. What a mess.
 
Glad she's okay. West Memphis can get a little tricky sometimes. I'll be happy when I-40 Mississippi River Bridge fully reopens. Drove alternate bridges/routes out and back last month through Memphis. What a mess.
Thanks Austin. She had mixed feelings about leaving your namesake city, but is glad to be home for awhile. Weighing opportunities in Montreal and Charlottesville, Va.
 
Any of you Campbell County KY residents remember George Rattermans, former sheriff during early 1960s? Interesting gent. 4-letter athlete at Notre Dame. Gifted. Played pro football for 10 years. I've been reading a few accounts about him lately. It seems Newport KY was quite lively -- and corrupt -- during the decades following WWII.

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Catching up a bit late D-League. My daughter got in last night after a bit of drama when her car broke down in West Memphis, Arkansas. Just a battery issue but not the place for a pretty 23-year-old woman to deal with trouble.

I had visions of a version of this happening.


But all turned out well and we had a small welcome home party.

I am thankful!
 
Catching up a bit late D-League. My daughter got in last night after a bit of drama when her car broke down in West Memphis, Arkansas. Just a battery issue but not the place for a pretty 23-year-old woman to deal with trouble.

I had visions of a version of this happening.


But all turned out well and we had a small welcome home party.
Glad that nothing happened...although I would imagine she was a bit nervous.
Memphis....not my favorite city.
 
Any of you Campbell County KY residents remember George Rattermans, former sheriff during early 1960s? Interesting gent. 4-letter athlete at Notre Dame. Gifted. Played pro football for 10 years. I've been reading a few accounts about him lately. It seems Newport KY was quite lively -- and corrupt -- during the decades following WWII.

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All that was a little before my time, but it was certainly a story people still talked about -- the infamous "mickey in the drink," the staged bed photos with stripper April Flowers, the extortion attempt.

My best friend in high school had an older brother on the fringes of lots of low-level gang stuff in Newport - gambling, prostitutes, running truckloads of cigarettes from Kentucky into Ohio, where they cost about twice as much back then, etc. He eventually went to prison for being part of a ring that stole cars in Ohio and brought them back to Kentucky to strip or sell.

By the way, Austin, there is a book out there floating around from the late 1960s called "Syndicate Wife" that gives a history of the mob in Newport. Its been decades since I read it -- and it can be a slog -- but it does have lots of detail.
 
Any of you Campbell County KY residents remember George Rattermans, former sheriff during early 1960s? Interesting gent. 4-letter athlete at Notre Dame. Gifted. Played pro football for 10 years. I've been reading a few accounts about him lately. It seems Newport KY was quite lively -- and corrupt -- during the decades following WWII.

5d7b9722e4a34.jpg


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Ratterman was from cinci (st x) and played qb for the browns for several years in mid 50s.
 
Catching up a bit late D-League. My daughter got in last night after a bit of drama when her car broke down in West Memphis, Arkansas. Just a battery issue but not the place for a pretty 23-year-old woman to deal with trouble.

I had visions of a version of this happening.


But all turned out well and we had a small welcome home party.
I used to have a customer in West Memphis. Been there a few times years ago. These days, no place is a good place to break down.
 
Glad she's okay. West Memphis can get a little tricky sometimes. I'll be happy when I-40 Mississippi River Bridge fully reopens. Drove alternate bridges/routes out and back last month through Memphis. What a mess.

Thanks Austin. She had mixed feelings about leaving your namesake city, but is glad to be home for awhile. Weighing opportunities in Montreal and Charlottesville, Va.

Glad that nothing happened...although I would imagine she was a bit nervous.
Memphis....not my favorite city.

When my daughter went to UK and we lived in Maryland and Florida I was uncomfortable until I hugged her. We encouraged her to travel with others.

On Montreal, Que: be careful. It is a wonderful city; however, some of the nastiest bastards and bitches that I have ever met live in Montreal. Charlottesville is 10 times better than Montreal. I have missed two flights in my life. Both were in Montreal because some Francophiles hated the fact that I could not speak French.

Note:
one of my favored uncles was from Quebec; Emilien Joseph Soucy. He was fantastic, but his mother would not speak one word of the Kings English because she was better than any damned Englishman. She would come to Kentucky and watch her soap opera in English but not say one damned word of it. Uncle Emil:
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When my daughter went to UK and we lived in Maryland and Florida I was uncomfortable until I hugged her. We encouraged her to travel with others.

On Montreal, Que: be careful. It is a wonderful city; however, some of the nastiest bastards and bitches that I have ever met live in Montreal. Charlottesville is 10 times better than Montreal. I have missed two flights in my life. Both were in Montreal because some Francophiles hated the fact that I could not speak French.

Note:
one of my favored uncles was from Quebec; Emilien Joseph Soucy. He was fantastic, but his mother would not speak one word of the Kings English because she was better than any damned Englishman. She would come to Kentucky and watch her soap opera in English but not say one damned word of it. Uncle Emil:
b7fa1f55-235d-4feb-a5be-d89a3439765b.jpg
Sound advice Bert. I've been both places and certainly hope she settles on U.Va...I love it down that way. A very pretty part of Virginia and a gateway on down onto the Blue Ridge Parkway.
 
Any of you Campbell County KY residents remember George Rattermans, former sheriff during early 1960s? Interesting gent. 4-letter athlete at Notre Dame. Gifted. Played pro football for 10 years. I've been reading a few accounts about him lately. It seems Newport KY was quite lively -- and corrupt -- during the decades following WWII.

5d7b9722e4a34.jpg


5d7b974b800e7.jpg
Ratterman. Yes. He did AFL TV commentary in its early years too.

I could go on & on about Newport corruption in 1950's. 8 - 12 casinos (small) lined York St. & 5th St. - just two blocks from the county courthouse. Dad & uncle worked two blocks away at Wiedemann's Brewery. Recall Dad saying that when Happy was running for Gov in '55 and gave a campaign speech in Newport, he told the crowd, "You run things up here & I'll run things down there.". They were why Newport had 30K people in 1960. Lots of well-paying jobs. BTW, it wasn't just Newport. There were other spots around the county & slots were common in bars.

Ratterman ran a reform campaign in '61 for Sheriff of Campbell & won. During campaign the mobsters drugged Ratterman & set him up with a hooker named April Flowers & took pictures they then spread around. But guess folks had finally had enough. He shut the casinos down & Newport was never the same. Most mobsters moved to Vegas including in-laws of Dad's brother.

Here's more. Let me know if you want more.


George Ratterman, a Cincinnati native who as Campbell County sheriff in the early 1960s helped to break organized crime's grip on Newport, died over the weekend in Colorado.
Ratterman, 80, a former quarterback for St. Xavier High School, Notre Dame and the Cleveland Browns, died Saturday of complications from Alzheimer's disease at the Johnson Center in Centennial, Colo., Ratterman's son, Matt, said Sunday.
Although an accomplished athlete, Ratterman made his biggest impact in Northern Kentucky politics. Running for Campbell County sheriff in 1961, he vowed to take out organized crime in Newport, known then as the Sin City of the South.
Several weeks before the election, after prodding from a mutual friend, he agreed to meet a local casino owner at a Cincinnati bar. According to court testimony, the casino owner slipped a mickey into Ratterman's drink, maneuvered him into a hotel room bed next to a prostitute and phoned his buddies at the police station. The arrest of Ratterman made national news and ultimately paved the way for his election and the end of organized crime in Newport.
"He knew they'd go after anyone who tried to close them down. But he used his fame to help a town," said son Tim Ratterman, who lives near his parents in Centennial.
In those days, thousands of tourists, conventioneers, mobsters and celebrities flocked to Newport's casinos, nightclubs and bordellos. In the 1950s, a U.S. Senate Committee ridiculed the city during special hearings on organized crime.
An Esquire magazine story in 1957 struck a deep nerve with community leaders, though, and they formed the Committee of 500 to fight back. They asked Ratterman to run for sheriff.
At first, Ratterman thought his fame might immunize him from foul play, which is why he agreed to meet with Tito Carinci, president and manager of the Glenn Rendezvous Hotel and its Tropicana nightclub and casino. Before heading to the hotel, they stopped at a Cincinnati bar for a drink, where, according to court testimony, a triple dose of chloral hydrate was slipped into Ratterman's drink.
"I was in a fog," said Ratterman.
The gangsters posed him with a stripper named April Flowers for photos, then had him arrested.
The arrest shocked Newport, but Ratterman's lawyer quickly arranged a news conference, where he announced that a doctor had discovered enough chloral hydrate in Ratterman "to kill a normal person."
In November, Ratterman won by a landslide.
"After I got arrested, I wondered a little bit," he told the Rocky Mountain News in a story in 2004, "but you can't quit then. After that, it really wasn't hard because when they found out I was serious about the whole thing, it cleared up by itself."
After he lettered in four sports at St. Xavier High School, Ratterman wound up at Notre Dame, thanks to the efforts of his father, who took him to the school in the spring of 1944 to tout him to coaches there.
Ratterman impressed Irish coaches with his crafty play, eventually lettering in football, baseball, tennis and basketball, one of only a handful of athletes to letter in four different sports at the school.
At Notre Dame, he was the backup quarterback to Frank Dancewicz in 1945 and to Johnny Lujack when the Irish won the national championship in 1946. During the 1946 season, Lujack usually played the first and third quarters and Ratterman played the second and fourth quarters.
After leading the college all-stars to a stunning victory over the NFL's Chicago Bears in August 1947, he signed with the Buffalo Bills of the old All-America Football Conference. He led the league with 22 touchdown passes as a rookie in 1947. When the league folded in 1949, he continued his career with the New York Yanks of the NFL in 1950 and 1951, the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League in 1951 and played with the Cleveland Browns in 1952-56.
One of the most innovative coaches in football history, Browns' coach Paul Brown hired a couple of inventors in 1956 to wire Ratterman's helmet with a short-wave receiver - football's first radio helmet. The experiment ended after a couple of exhibition games and a regular-season contest, when Ratterman discovered the local police department was using the same frequency.
After replacing Otto Graham as the Browns' starting quarterback in 1956, Ratterman appeared on Sports Illustrated's cover, but he blew out a knee and retired after playing in four games as the No. 1 man.
Ratterman made a lasting impression on Graham.
"Beyond a doubt, the best natural clown and comic I ever saw in pro football," Graham wrote in the introduction to Ratterman's book, "Confessions of a Gypsy Quarterback."
Ratterman later worked as a football analyst on television and radio broadcasts of the American Football League and the NFL for ABC (1960-64) and NBC (1965-73).
Ratterman moved to Colorado in 1967, working for a mutual fund company and later becoming a certified financial planner.
Tim Ratterman said his father never let his celebrity go to his head.
"He got nine letters at Notre Dame, and they used to give you a sweater with each letter - a beautiful sweater. But we only have one left in the family because he gave 'em all away to nephews and nieces.
"He always focused on more important things."
In addition to sons Matt and Tim, Ratterman is survived by his wife of 59 years, Anne, seven other children, 23 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Publication date: 11-05-2007​
 
Ratterman. Yes. He did AFL TV commentary in its early years too.

I could go on & on about Newport corruption in 1950's. 8 - 12 casinos (small) lined York St. & 5th St. - just two blocks from the county courthouse. Dad & uncle worked two blocks away at Wiedemann's Brewery. Recall Dad saying that when Happy was running for Gov in '55 and gave a campaign speech in Newport, he told the crowd, "You run things up here & I'll run things down there.". They were why Newport had 30K people in 1960. Lots of well-paying jobs. BTW, it wasn't just Newport. There were other spots around the county & slots were common in bars.

Ratterman ran a reform campaign in '61 for Sheriff of Campbell & won. During campaign the mobsters drugged Ratterman & set him up with a hooker named April Flowers & took pictures they then spread around. But guess folks had finally had enough. He shut the casinos down & Newport was never the same. Most mobsters moved to Vegas including in-laws of Dad's brother.

Here's more. Let me know if you want more.


George Ratterman, a Cincinnati native who as Campbell County sheriff in the early 1960s helped to break organized crime's grip on Newport, died over the weekend in Colorado.
Ratterman, 80, a former quarterback for St. Xavier High School, Notre Dame and the Cleveland Browns, died Saturday of complications from Alzheimer's disease at the Johnson Center in Centennial, Colo., Ratterman's son, Matt, said Sunday.
Although an accomplished athlete, Ratterman made his biggest impact in Northern Kentucky politics. Running for Campbell County sheriff in 1961, he vowed to take out organized crime in Newport, known then as the Sin City of the South.
Several weeks before the election, after prodding from a mutual friend, he agreed to meet a local casino owner at a Cincinnati bar. According to court testimony, the casino owner slipped a mickey into Ratterman's drink, maneuvered him into a hotel room bed next to a prostitute and phoned his buddies at the police station. The arrest of Ratterman made national news and ultimately paved the way for his election and the end of organized crime in Newport.
"He knew they'd go after anyone who tried to close them down. But he used his fame to help a town," said son Tim Ratterman, who lives near his parents in Centennial.
In those days, thousands of tourists, conventioneers, mobsters and celebrities flocked to Newport's casinos, nightclubs and bordellos. In the 1950s, a U.S. Senate Committee ridiculed the city during special hearings on organized crime.
An Esquire magazine story in 1957 struck a deep nerve with community leaders, though, and they formed the Committee of 500 to fight back. They asked Ratterman to run for sheriff.
At first, Ratterman thought his fame might immunize him from foul play, which is why he agreed to meet with Tito Carinci, president and manager of the Glenn Rendezvous Hotel and its Tropicana nightclub and casino. Before heading to the hotel, they stopped at a Cincinnati bar for a drink, where, according to court testimony, a triple dose of chloral hydrate was slipped into Ratterman's drink.
"I was in a fog," said Ratterman.
The gangsters posed him with a stripper named April Flowers for photos, then had him arrested.
The arrest shocked Newport, but Ratterman's lawyer quickly arranged a news conference, where he announced that a doctor had discovered enough chloral hydrate in Ratterman "to kill a normal person."
In November, Ratterman won by a landslide.
"After I got arrested, I wondered a little bit," he told the Rocky Mountain News in a story in 2004, "but you can't quit then. After that, it really wasn't hard because when they found out I was serious about the whole thing, it cleared up by itself."
After he lettered in four sports at St. Xavier High School, Ratterman wound up at Notre Dame, thanks to the efforts of his father, who took him to the school in the spring of 1944 to tout him to coaches there.
Ratterman impressed Irish coaches with his crafty play, eventually lettering in football, baseball, tennis and basketball, one of only a handful of athletes to letter in four different sports at the school.
At Notre Dame, he was the backup quarterback to Frank Dancewicz in 1945 and to Johnny Lujack when the Irish won the national championship in 1946. During the 1946 season, Lujack usually played the first and third quarters and Ratterman played the second and fourth quarters.
After leading the college all-stars to a stunning victory over the NFL's Chicago Bears in August 1947, he signed with the Buffalo Bills of the old All-America Football Conference. He led the league with 22 touchdown passes as a rookie in 1947. When the league folded in 1949, he continued his career with the New York Yanks of the NFL in 1950 and 1951, the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League in 1951 and played with the Cleveland Browns in 1952-56.
One of the most innovative coaches in football history, Browns' coach Paul Brown hired a couple of inventors in 1956 to wire Ratterman's helmet with a short-wave receiver - football's first radio helmet. The experiment ended after a couple of exhibition games and a regular-season contest, when Ratterman discovered the local police department was using the same frequency.
After replacing Otto Graham as the Browns' starting quarterback in 1956, Ratterman appeared on Sports Illustrated's cover, but he blew out a knee and retired after playing in four games as the No. 1 man.
Ratterman made a lasting impression on Graham.
"Beyond a doubt, the best natural clown and comic I ever saw in pro football," Graham wrote in the introduction to Ratterman's book, "Confessions of a Gypsy Quarterback."
Ratterman later worked as a football analyst on television and radio broadcasts of the American Football League and the NFL for ABC (1960-64) and NBC (1965-73).
Ratterman moved to Colorado in 1967, working for a mutual fund company and later becoming a certified financial planner.
Tim Ratterman said his father never let his celebrity go to his head.
"He got nine letters at Notre Dame, and they used to give you a sweater with each letter - a beautiful sweater. But we only have one left in the family because he gave 'em all away to nephews and nieces.
"He always focused on more important things."
In addition to sons Matt and Tim, Ratterman is survived by his wife of 59 years, Anne, seven other children, 23 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Publication date: 11-05-2007​
Cool stuff. I remember my grandparents discussing Newport, KY wild side during 1940s. Barely remember George Ratterman when he worked for one of the networks years ago.
 
Sound advice Bert. I've been both places and certainly hope she settles on U.Va...I love it down that way. A very pretty part of Virginia and a gateway on down onto the Blue Ridge Parkway.
My Higginbotham family came from Amherst County, VA (Southwest of Charlottesville). We, the younger brothers in the family, moved to Kentucky to claim our Revolutionary War Warrants. Amherst is hilly and wonderful without a bunch of people getting in your way.

My 5th great grandfather was Patrick Henry's attorney and next door neighbor. Patrick's sister is buried 400 feet from my back yard. We sort of stayed together geographically over the decades.

The Blue Ridge Parkway: two summer in college I worked on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I lived in Laurel Springs, NC (Postal address); however, it was actually in the Doughton Receation Area near the Bluff Mountain Overlook. (I was stupid enough one day to hike down to the creek, it nearly killed me and my stupid buddy.)

I love the eastern mountains of the U.S.
 
My Higginbotham family came from Amherst County, VA (Southwest of Charlottesville). We, the younger brothers in the family, moved to Kentucky to claim our Revolutionary War Warrants. Amherst is hilly and wonderful without a bunch of people getting in your way.

My 5th great grandfather was Patrick Henry's attorney and next door neighbor. Patrick's sister is buried 400 feet from my back yard. We sort of stayed together geographically over the decades.

The Blue Ridge Parkway: two summer in college I worked on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I lived in Laurel Springs, NC (Postal address); however, it was actually in the Doughton Receation Area near the Bluff Mountain Overlook. (I was stupid enough one day to hike down to the creek, it nearly killed me and my stupid buddy.)

I love the eastern mountains of the U.S.
Same here. People don't realize from the Maryland suburbs of DC you can be in the Blue Ridge Mountains and on the Appalachian Trail in the matter of a couple hours or less. I spend a lot of my time on the weekends there prowling around.
 
Guess I'll get some shoes and put the Mrs' pic on them.....

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My darling loves me, I have no doubt but why do I think if she had this chance my pic would be on both soles...?

She'd do it for the laugh effect. "Hey look..." and then start stomping and stomping, and stomping... I can hear her now... and just laughing and laughing and laughing.... I am almost tempted to buy her a pair... Just to hear my Darling laugh though she laughs well regularly. (Yeah, I am thankful!)
 
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A good early morning to all. Up very early...couldn't sleep...been up since about 3:30. Too early to start the lawn tractor? It's got headlights. No close neighbors. Nah..I'll wait.

Another cool morning...about 60. Must be global warming because I can't remember another late July/early August like this. But it's getting back to normal here soon. We've got a big function here at the property this weekend and it's supposed to be about 90.

Y'all have a good day.
 
Good morning from ATX. Currently 74°F and partly cloudy. Today's high should reach around 91°F. Chance for rain tomorrow. We've also experienced cooler weather during this summer, but expecting warmer temps next week closer to seasonal levels.

Happy Hump Day!

Wishing happiness and health for all our fellow D-League members.

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Catching up a bit late D-League. My daughter got in last night after a bit of drama when her car broke down in West Memphis, Arkansas. Just a battery issue but not the place for a pretty 23-year-old woman to deal with trouble.

I had visions of a version of this happening.


But all turned out well and we had a small welcome home party.
While still in the Army I was coming home to Kentucky traveling on I40 headed for Nashville where I would hit I65 north up to Etown and then on to Rineyville to my brothers house. Not far from the bridge area in west Memphis I broke down and was towed to a local all night auto shop (it was about 2 in the morning). As my car was being fixed I ask a the workers there (all black) where I could walk to to get a bite to eat while they were fixing my car. They were all nice guys but told me it was best that I stayed around them because being white in that area could be troublesome for me. I took their advice and stayed there until the car was fixed.
 
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