By STEVE SCOTT | Jan 21, 2006
Maplewood politics are enough to get a person's Fruit of the Looms in a knot.
A newly seated City Council is bringing to the table sharp divisions over key issues such as redevelopment and city leadership.
But it appears the council must first resolve an internal squabble that rests on such offbeat questions as: If you dress up as a grape while running for mayor, is it an improper campaign activity or nothing more than juicy political gossip?
The bizarre debate grows out of a recent city investigation of whether it was improper for a new council member and the new mayor to stuff campaign envelopes at a city fire hall last fall.
Mayor Diana Longrie, who participated in one of the two afternoons in question, said nothing improper occurred — at least nothing more egregious than when her then-mayoral opponent, Council Member Will Rossbach, appeared at a city Halloween event to work the room in an attention-getting Fruit of the Loom grape costume.
"Is sitting around watching a football game stuffing envelopes, is that 'campaigning'?" asked Longrie, a key player in Maplewood's quickening game of political football.
"What if you have a council member running for mayor and you have an event at the Community Center sponsored by the Maplewood Historical Society and he dresses in a grape suit?" she asked, implying that Rossbach was caught purple-handed campaigning on city property, too. "Everyone knew he was running for mayor, and they couldn't miss him."
Rossbach dismisses Longrie's brief accusation.
"Indeed I was dressed in an outfit of grapes, like the Fruit of the Loom underwear guy," said Rossbach, who lost to Longrie in the mayor's race but retained his spot on the council. "But I don't remember talking about any campaign stuff. We were talking about grapes."
Memories come home
BY STEVE SCOTT | Nov 22, 2006
The story is told how Paul Molitor, 1993 World Series hero, stood stocking-footed in the champagne-drenched winners' clubhouse after a representative of the Hall of Fame walked away with his shoes as a memento.
On Tuesday in his native St. Paul, Molitor and his cleats had a reunion of sorts.
The hall of famer and his spikes were both on hand as the Minnesota History Center announced the opening of "Baseball As America," a touring exhibit of more than 500 pieces of memorabilia straight out of Cooperstown.
It's the first time these treasures have left the brick confines of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in that idyllic New York village. St. Paul is the 11th city on the exhibit's tour, which began in 2002.
"It's a little mind-blowing to think you have some things displayed in Cooperstown," said Molitor, a former Milwaukee Brewer, Toronto Blue Jay and Minnesota Twin. "Naturally, being from here, it's exciting to have them in St. Paul. It's a pretty powerful exhibit."
Hall of famers Harmon Killebrew of the Twins and Ryne Sandberg of the Chicago Cubs joined Molitor on Tuesday to make a pitch for the exhibit, which opens Friday and runs until March 4.
Killebrew hit 573 lifetime home runs but easily remembers the longest one ever hit at the old Met Stadium. He belted it 530 feet into the left field's second deck. "No, it was 800 feet," he cracked. "It gets longer with age."
Torah scribe has followed sacred calling to the letter
By STEVE SCOTT | Oct 28, 2006
The writing was on the wall when she saw "Fiddler on the Roof" as a 3-year-old.
Mesmerized by the Hebrew letters she saw in the movie, Avielah Barclay sensed a sacred calling that would not let her go, until decades later she became the only female Torah scribe in all of Judaism.
In a St. Paul synagogue this weekend, she will do what no Jewish woman before her has done for at least 250 years: inscribe letters in a Torah scroll, one of the holiest acts of Judaism.
"The Torah is the heart and soul of what the synagogue is all about," said Rabbi Randall Konigsburg of Temple of Aaron, celebrating its 50th year in its synagogue on Mississippi River Boulevard. "So our congregation is very excited about having her here."
They're not the least bit opposed, either, to having a female scribe — a soferet — put quill to scroll.
That hasn't been a universal response. Barclay, an Orthodox Jew from Vancouver, British Columbia, has been accused of heresy. "Oh, yeah, but that's boring," she said. "People send me e-mails saying, 'You're going to burn in hell.'
"It's perfectly fine for people not to accept this, but I would rather people would engage in intellectual discussion with me."
Loving a challenge: Pastor returns to her first love
By STEVE SCOTT | Dec. 19, 2004
The Rev. Linda Loving has gone where even Kofi Annan has treaded with fear.
"I've been in Linda Loving's pulpit," the United Nations chief said when he met her two years ago. "It's a terrifying place."
Part of it is the sheer height of the thing, statuesquely perched 15 feet above the glazed tile floor at St. Paul's House of Hope Presbyterian Church like a sentinel's post in a medieval castle.
"I finally got over sobbing before I preach," said Loving, one of the few women in the entire Presbyterian denomination to lead a church this large. "I always say you should be terrified to bring the truth of God. If you're not quaking, you're not connected to it."
Sobbing today is a shared experience at House of Hope. Loving is leaving behind a prestigious preaching post, a residence next door on Summit Avenue, a six-figure income and her second career.
She's claiming a third career -- and a return to her first love: acting.
"Right now, people are grieving her loss," said Teddy Altman, who worked on Loving's staff. "But she's doing what she always preached to them. She's doing what makes her heart sing."
Most clergy philosophical about Vikings-Packers on Christmas Eve
By STEVE SCOTT | Dec. 18, 2004
Silent night, holy conflict.
On Christmas Eve, the National Football League is pitting the Vikings vs. the Packers, and potentially football lovers vs. churchgoers.
"I think that, on such a powerfully holy day, sports shoudl defer to a faith-driven moment in the life of the Christian community,'' said the Rev. Eugene Tiffany, pastor at St. Olaf Catholic Church in downtown Minneapolis. "But they're not going to do that."
Tiffany, whose church is seven blocks from the Metrodome, is quick to point out he's not an anti-sports Scrooge. He played baseball and hockey and was once a high school coach.
"I think to a certain degree the NFL is a little amused by churches flailing around trying to say something meaningful about this whole thing, but they own the show," he said.
Comments (1)
Anonymous said
at 10:41 am on Aug 22, 2007
I like the Silent Night Holy Conflict one ! All of them are good.
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