GaryOsberg.com

My weather app says 55 degrees tomorrow. Wonderful! Next Tuesday is Super Tuesday. Minnesota is included and so we should consider attending our caucus. In 1968, I was living in Coon Rapids, Minnesota and commuting to Roseville to work at Norwood Engineering. I was 25 years old and the morning drive guys on WCCO, Boone and Erickson, challenged their listeners to find out where the political parties were to caucus that evening. I ended up going to Mississippi School. After the caucus leader, Ralph Brakstad, had read off the slate of folks that the “leadership” had selected to represent us at the City Convention, I rose from my seat to nominate myself. Ralph scratched the last name on the list and replaced it with mine.

In the winter of 1970 I attended a Coon Rapids City Council meeting to complain about the snowmobiles running up and down the street that we lived on. I was very disappointed in the way I was treated, so I told my new found activist neighbors and friends that I had the $5 for the filing fee, and if they could help me raise the funds, we would take on “the machine”. It worked. We won the election in the fall of 1971. The next year my buddy Gene, who had helped me to get elected, ran for Council at Large and he won that election. By 1974, the entire council had been replaced with younger, more representative council members. The system can work, but it starts with getting involved. I encourage you to try it. Don’t let the jerks rule.

The APHC show this week is the final live broadcast of the winter run at the Fitzgerald Theater. It also is the last time that Garrison will host the show at the Fitz. Special guests include blues maestro Taj Mahal and the duo of Robin and Linda Williams. One of my favorites, Peter Ostroushko, will team up with Dean Magraw on string instruments. Tenor, Vern Sutton, who was on the stage for the very first broadcast July 6, 1974, will sing some old favorites. The Royal Academy of Radio Actors will join Rich Dworsky and the house band. Garrison will bring us up to date on the latest News from Lake Wobegon. Enjoy the show.

“My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” John F. Kennedy