A Man of Steady Habits Passes

Zuckerbraun's Dept. Store

Jewett City has been described as a trip back in time, and nowhere has that time warp been more evident than at Zuckerbraun's Department Store.  Owner Jerome Zuckerbraun may have beem the most consistent business owner I've ever run across.   He passed away on April 1st at 86.   His store on North Main Street, opened in 1929 by his father, hasn't really changed in 82 years other than looking worse for wear.   You could find him having lunch at Dean's Corner every day promptly at 1:00.  He was one of the first business owners to advertise in The Extra back in 1989 and has had a regular presence with us ever since.  While "five and dime" stores have all but disappeared, Zuckerbraun's remained even as fires hit businesses on both sides of his old building in the past ten years.  Zuckerbraun had been in poor health and away from the store for over a year, but he insisted to his relatives and one remaining employee Doreen that he was still in control of things and there would be no "going out of business" sale on his watch.   Now the store's days appear to be numbered.   Part of Jerome Zuckerbraun's consistency was his reluctance to part with money, and I often wondered why he didn't retire to live the high life after a lifetime of work, but he would have none of that.   Who are we to judge?   In an era when everyone seems to haved maxed out their credit cards, Mr. Zuckerbraun asked for little.

Learning By Doing

If there's one stereotypical guy trait I exhibit, it's the reluctance to ask for directions.   People can explain it or leave the most exhaustive written instructions, but I have to immerse myself in something to actually figure my way around it.   Then once I do it successfully I never forget it.  I've gotten comfortable with doing a live weekend rock radio show at the very visible Mohegan Sun studio of 102.3 The Wolf (WMOS).  Now, a new element has been added to my duties this week as I do afternoon fill-in 3-8pm for Kevin O'Connor.   Kevin is also the very busy operations manager for Citadel's four-station New London cluster.  He asked me to merge and print the combined music and commercial logs for The Wolf while he takes a well-deserved week off.   I last worked with their type of music software way back in 1993 before anyone ever heard of Windows or the internet.  That was the easy part.  Figuring out how to transfer data between three computers that don't really communicate with each other meant I had to be constantly on the phone with some patient people in the New London offices who have plenty of their own things to do while trying to focus on my show too.  As I enter the third day of this new undertaking, I think I've finally gotten it!   I'm looking forward to returning to being my low maintenance self again.      

Sideshow Donald

Have you seen proof that Hawaii was ever legally recognized as the 50th state?   I haven't, so how do we know it wasn't all a big fraud?   Have you seen the documents?   I think it deserves to be investigated.   This type of thinking - or lack thereof - is exactly what drives this "birther" movement that doesn't want to go away.   Now Donald Trump has jumped comb-over first into the wacky fray, going on Fox News and anywhere else that will have him in questioning the authenticity of President Obama's Hawaii birth certificate,  pledging his own investigation and wondering why the President doesn't give more information.   I know why Obama doesn't respond - the accusations have been too stupid to dignify with a response.  Trump gets taken seriously as a potential Presidential candidate while Republican leaders are reluctant to take a stand against either the birther movement or those who refuse to believe Obama is a Christian and not a Muslim.   (Why does his religion matter anyway?)     The sad thing is that even if Trump turns up no more birthplace evidence than the other crackpots have, he probably will have gotten a big bounce in the ratings for The Apprentice.  The world is beset by real problems.   President Obama's birth certificate is not one of them.        

A Win's A Win

The game wasn't even half over when the commentators were already criticizing the quality of play and slow pace of the NCAA Men's Championship Game.   Do they have to remind us so quickly that it was the worst final since 1949?   Give me a break.   UConn still played better than Butler, and that's what counted in the 53-41 final.   In sports, Connecticut often gets an inferiority complex, with divided loyalties between New York and Boston, the loss of an NHL team and the dashed hopes of getting the Patriots.   In Eastern Connecticut, Dodd Stadium has been home to two other minor league baseball teams as we hope three's the charm.   UConn men's and women's basketball has been the exception, gaining national prominence for years.    We witnessed the disappointment on Maya Moore's face when the Lady Huskies lost to Notre Dame.   Her record at UConn is phenomenal.   We saw Kemba Walker become a sports celebrity in a brilliant season.   UConn Basketball is one thing that every Connecticut sports fan can feel good about, year after year.