Twin Ports–Duluth Minnesota and Superior Wisconsin–politics reflect national divide...

From "Twinned Cities Now Following Different Paths" by Monica Davey, New York Times, January 12, 2014: 

• "But these days, when residents cross the bridge, they enter starkly different political territories. Since Republicans in Wisconsin took control of the State Legislature and governor’s office in 2011, and since Democrats gained full dominance in Minnesota last year, people here have watched essential elements of their daily lives — their savings plans, job expectations, personal relationships and health insurance — veer apart."

• "The states did not always seem so different. Animosity between Packers fans and Vikings fans once seemed the widest divide. Both Duluth and Superior lean Democratic. Both have their share of Lutheran and Catholic churches. People buy their clothes in Duluth, their cigarettes in Superior. They ride mountain-biking trails and join book clubs in Duluth, then cross back for a burger at Superior’s Anchor Bar."  

Today's front page of the New York Times  includes an interesting story by Monica Davey (read HERE) about the political dilemma now facing our own Twin Ports, Duluth Minnesota and Superior Wisconsin. The political divide between the two states' politics has grown wider since the last gubernatorial elections and the divides in our nation as a whole. Minnesota returned to a Democrat governor by electing Mark Dayton and Wisconsin voted in Scott Walker who soon after brought war on labor unions and changed that state's politics drastically.

Interestingly enough Times reporter Davey did not consult Mayor Don Ness of Duluth or Bruce Hagen of Superior–or any the usual political leaders. Instead she relied on tapping into the culture of the communities by interviews with owners of the Flame Bars (located in both communities), teachers living in Duluth but working in Wisconsin and a Duluth business executive.

A video in the Times web site does give a more positive perspective than the print story interview of the business executive. The executive shared that while faced with what is assumed to be temporary added business taxes that has hurt his company, Minnesota did give his company incentives initially for expansion and also discussed the high quality of life these taxes afford.

This dilemma facing our Twin Ports reflect the conflict in our nation. The story is well done and definitely worth the read.

The Palace Theatre in Superior, Brian Olson style...

The other day I checked out the new mural of the Palace Theatre, located on the outside back wall of Douglas County Historical Society in Superior, Wisconsin. The painting, created by Brian Olson, is an in depth image appearing to cut inside the building. It's utterly amazing and a 'must see.'

Dick Pomeroy: Eulogy for an old-style newsman

By Jim Heffernan

Scoop Pomeroy: Larger Than Life Even in Death...

I’m sick at heart that I’m unable to attend the funeral of my friend and former colleague Dick Pomeroy on Saturday (May 30) in Superior. Out-of-town obligations will prevent me from paying my respects to his family. Pomeroy, 86, died May 27.

So I will pay my respects this way, in hopes that family members – whom I don’t know personally – will somehow see what I am posting on my blog.

I met Dick when I began working at the Duluth News Tribune in 1963. I was an inexperienced young reporter and every so often this big, blustery older guy would show up in the newsroom, loudly greeting fellow long-time staffers and cheerfully engaging anyone he met. That included me.

In those days, the newspaper maintained a bureau in Superior at 1419 Ogden Avenue, staffed by a woman who handled circulation, another woman who developed “society” news, and Pomeroy who did everything else. He covered everything in Superior – city government, school board, courts, university, breaking news like fires and murders and traffic fatalities. If it happened in Superior, Pomeroy handled it, and in the meantime he’d drum up feature stories.

With a full head of blond hair, something over six feet tall, weight that varied between the lower and upper 200s, Pomeroy was an imposing figure, larger than life. Cheerful and good-natured, he was a boon companion to join out on the town, often in a quest to paint it red.

The first summer I worked as a reporter, I was sent to the Superior bureau to fill in for him when he went on vacation. That was when I really got to know him. Before he left he took me around to meet all of his news sources – the mayor, county officials, school officials, judges, police chief, and some sources at the Elk’s Club where work and a couple of beers went hand-in-hand on an average afternoon.

Fun beat. Dick took off on vacation, and I “manned” the Superior office for three weeks, listening for sirens and trying to cover Superior government goings-on.

As an aside, but interestingly in these times when news can make it around the world instantly, at the Superior bureau then you would type up your stories, put them in an envelope in the evening and place them on a city bus (hand the packet to the driver, bribing him with a copy of the Duluth Herald). Then you’d run back to the bureau, phone the newsroom in Duluth with the number of the bus, and a copyboy would be sent down to Superior Street to meet the bus and pick up your packet of dispatches.

Everybody in Superior called Pomeroy “Scoop,” a tribute to his success in “scooping” the Superior Evening Telegram, which, to be fair, had its own share of scoops. The Duluth and Superior papers competed then.

I could go on and on with memories of Dick, but two stories we worked on together stand out. One was in the 1960s when one of the News Tribune’s own newsboys (formally known as carrier salesmen), about 12, disappeared while delivering the Sunday edition – his wagon full of undelivered newspapers found unattended on his route. Later, the child’s murdered body was found in the grassy field near where Superior Senior High School was later built. I learned of the murder when I made the daily routine checks of area law enforcement agencies, working the Duluth newsroom alone on a Sunday.

There was only one thing to do: Call Pomeroy at home on his day off. Nothing stirred Pomeroy like a compelling story in Superior, and he went right to work on it, gathering every scrap of news he could and feeding it to me on the phone, after which I put the story together. The case was never solved.

My other memorable collaboration with Pomeroy also occurred in the late ‘60s when an AP dispatch from Germany identified a man charged with treason – betraying military secrets to the Soviets – as being a native of Superior. I was sent to Superior to help Pomeroy (not that he ever needed any help) track down this guy’s association with Superior and we went everywhere to try to find a trace of his past. Finally, at the library, we found a picture in an old high school yearbook and somehow, I don’t remember how, we tracked down the alleged traitor’s mother, who had a different last name from her son.

We found her scrubbing the floor after business hours in a café on Tower Avenue, an older woman who clearly had led a hard life. We got in a back door and Pomeroy broke the news to her that her son had been charged with treason in Germany. The woman was overcome with disbelief and then grief, as Pomeroy tried to console her while at the same time trying to get her to talk on the record.

But enough. I haven’t had much contact with Dick in recent years, getting occasional reports from mutual friends on his health problems associated with aging. He might be the last of the World War II vets who made up much of the News Tribune staff when I started.

To me, he represents the end of an era of newspapering (we didn’t fuss much with calling ourselves journalists), his death coming at a time when the era of newspapers themselves may be ending. There’s some irony there.