Author: Kyle (Page 1 of 3)

Bob Roe

 

  It’s 10:00 am on a Wednesday. Bob is in his natural environment, the very place he established decades ago, “Bob Roe’s Point After”.

The cool snowy morning, the neon beer signs, the audible chatter of the morning crowd, and the smell of smoke exemplify Bob Roe and the grit that he brings to the family sports bar. He is a seasoned veteran in the pizza and wings niche. He has the experience. He knows how to run a successful family business; now he watches his daughter Terri do 95% of the work and carry on the tradition. Terri says to “Keep Bob entertained” as she cleans the office. Bob’s responsibilities are less these days as he describes his limited duties as the “DOPO” or “Director of Pizza Operations”. “I can’t do everything I used to, but I like to stay involved”, says Roe. Before he gets into his personal story Bob shows his humorous side and jokes, “No pictures, I might break your camera”.

Bob told about the lessons he learned from his father long before pizza and wings. “I worked for dad at Roe Dairy for a long time, until I was 34 or 35, when the business went downhill”. His father taught him grit and how to grind from the lessons he learned when he played football for the Iowa State Cyclones in the late 1920’s. “There will always be ups and downs in life, the main thing is to keep goin through the highs and lows”, Bob says.

“One Sunday afternoon I took my kids to Pizza Hut and ordered a pitcher of soda while we waited for our pizza. We waited for 45 minutes and the pizza had still not arrived”, said Roe. He noticed how busy they were and realized that they weren’t going to get their order anytime soon so they proceeded to Jerry’s Pizza. “They too were extremely busy and then a light bulb went off in my head”. He realized the opportunity for Pizza business in Sioux City and before he knew it he owned his own pizza place on the west side of town. Opportunity presented itself and not long after he had his Morningside location. “If I hadn’t taken the kids out for pizza on that Sunday afternoon, I don’t know what I would be doing now”, Roe joked adding, “Life is full of fate”.

Mr. Roe prides himself for having the first Buffalo wings in Sioux City and really leading the way with this new food. He got the recipe from his brother-in-law who knew a woman that worked at the original Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York. Anchor Bar claims to be the home of the “Original Buffalo Chicken Wing”. Through connections Bob brought “Buffalo Wings” to Sioux City in 1984. Current Morningside College student Micah Neary praised Bob Roe for Wing Wednesday and the friendly venue they provide for college students at Bob Roe’s. Micah’s favorite item on the menu is the “Honey Mustard Wings”.

Roe emphasizes the importance of being involved in the community, saying how that has been a big secret to the success of his business. He helps donate scholarships and funds to Morningside College as he has connections to Morningside when he was a student there in 1960 and 1961. Bob has also been involved with the local Boys Club for 33 years. Just recently they had an auction where over $24,000 was raised for the Sioux City Boys Club. He truly does treat everybody like family. On Thanksgiving he hosts his family party down at Point After and even includes some of his employees and customers in the celebration.

Bob is a legend in the Morningside Community whether he will admit it or not. After two strokes he cannot participate in his favorite hobbies like bowling and golf so he returns to what he’s always known, pizza and wings. Roe is the backbone of this establishment and he will always make sure he is contributing if he has anything to say about it. He has provided great food, but more importantly he has provided the community atmosphere that has been so attractive and made his business as successful as it is today. Bob isn’t going anywhere anytime soon and neither is his legacy.

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Sioux City Couple Wedding Shooting

Sparks were flying on Saturday quite literally as one married couple ended the day with a bang.

Richard and Laurette Brunson were married on Saturday in unique fashion on their front porch in front of thirty relatives and friends.

Things seemed to be going well as the two celebrated their big day; all until a small food fight turned sour.

Police report that fifty year old Richard Brunson shot his newlywed wife, Laurette Brunson with a .22 calibre handgun. All of this resulted after she threw a plate of wedding reception macaroni salad at him.

Police were called immediately, but by the time they arrived the groom was gone. His location is currently unknown. Laurette is still in St. Luke’s Hospital in satisfactory condition after being shot in the abdomen.

Sioux City police are encouraging that if you have any information on Richard Brunson please contact the Sioux City police department immediately.

Stuart Scott ESPY Speech

Stuart Scott was not sure he belonged when he received the Jimmy V award Monday night. “I now have a responsibility to never give up”.

Scott was astonished to be mentioned in the same category as Jim Valvano and other greats who have accepted this award in previous years. More than that he said he feels responsible to “Never give up”. Scott said, “You don’t beat cancer when you die, you beat cancer by how you live”. Scott is a man who has never looked shaken or rattled and on stage he looked mentally strong and confident.

In front of an emotional crowd in Southern California, Stuart Scott gave a heart felt speech on the acceptance of the Jimmy V perseverance award. He talked about his everyday struggle with cancer and how he just got out of a 7 day stay at the hospital. “When I couldn’t fight, others did”, said Scott. “Doctors did, and family fought for me”. He said how he needs the support of others in his life like his sister Susan, who he called the other day because he “Just needed to cry”. It was evident that he was moved by the award and was motivated to beat cancer with the support of family and friends.

 

Oregon Shooting Draws Mixed Reactions

This article talks about how the country was once again shaken by a school shooting. Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook all stir terrible memories in the minds of Americans. Roseburg, Oregon is another addition to this list.

President Obama plans to visit Roseburg on Friday to meet with the grieving families. While a fair amount of people continue to push for more gun control laws Obama’s visit is stirring mixed reactions. Many people, including a local newspaper, said that the President is not welcome in Roseburg and accused him of using the town’s anguish to advance his gun-control agenda. There are many citizens who feel the same way. The Mayor stepped in and said Obama is welcomed and they “will extend him every courtesy”.

Gun control is a very hot topic right now and that is what makes this news story very relevant. It is especially important for presidential candidates to take their sides and make their opinions known. It will be interesting to see how Obama’s visit goes and how this affects peoples outlook on gun-violence. There is mourning in Oregon and across the country right now. We will see how leaders and politicians handle this situation and how much they listen to the people of Roseburg.

Dr. Patrick Blaine. The Most Interesting Man in the World

If you are looking for an experienced traveled man look no further than Patrick Blaine. If his name isn’t intriguing enough, his life is.

On Tuesday we were privileged to have Blaine as our guest in class. It is hard to know where to even start with Dr. Blaine. He is a professor here at Morningside College who teaches English, Spanish, as well as some C&C courses. His degree in Comparative literature allows him to do many things here on campus like advise the Spanish Club and help with the International Student Association. One of his favorite things to do is travel and he values international education so he plays a big role on the Study Abroad Committee. Blaine will be teaching a couple courses in Sicily, Italy for a few months starting in January.

Dr. Blaine was born in Washington D.C. This is rare because not many civilians are born in D.C. at government hospitals, but his dad was serving in the Military at the time. Blaine grew up in Western Pennsylvania most of his life and then decided to study at the University of Washington in Seattle. He followed with graduate school in Iowa City at the University of Iowa. He said that he, “Wasn’t scared of Iowa like many people on the coast are”.

He now has a wife named Monica who grew up in Chile, and a baby on the way. Patrick is fluent in Spanish and English, he speaks some French and plays with a couple other languages as well. Him and his wife speak in Spanish when they are at home alone, but speak English when a guest is present. They have decided that it will be “unacceptable” for their child to not be fluent in both English and Spanish.

If you can name it, Blaine probably plays a role in it. Film Festival? Charities? Downhill Skiing? He does it all. He enjoys playing around and making his own beer. “It makes a nice gift, instead of buying something I can always bring my beer”, said Blaine. Not only does he enjoy making beer he said that he has a “Passion” for it. He went on to tell us that his favorite sport is downhill skiing and he loves taking long motorcycle trips.

Patrick has traveled to many countries already in his life. He said that one of his best experiences was a two week horseback ride from Chile to Argentina through the Andes mountains. Surfing in Spain was another highlight for him as he thought back on his numerous trips. Blaine said, “In general people are friendly all over the world as long as you give them respect”. He really has enjoyed traveling and meeting good people all over the world, but he did give us a warning to stay away from Kelso, Washington. He implied that nothing good happens there, the people are ugly, it is dirty, along with many other disturbing traits.

It was fascinating to listen to Dr. Blaine and his experiences. If you see him on campus, take the time to listen and learn more about him as well as the world he has seen.

Aftermath of Columbine

This article dives into the story of Columbine. Everyone can remember the shooting that took place not far outside of Denver in 1999. Were the stories we heard accurate? Did the killers (Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold) target certain groups of students like the media made it sound? After digging deeper it was discovered that Harris was deemed a psychopath by some psychologists and Klebold was a suicidal depressive. The truth is they wanted to blow up the whole place and kill hundreds with a propane bomb that failed to detonate. Only after that did not work did they kill with guns. Still the idea of loner vs. bullies continued to be the theme in the media and applied to later shootings.

Now some parents live in fear that their children could be the next victim. Is there necessary evidence to be worried? Some research suggests that school shootings are increasing while others say the opposite. Different factors make the results vary. The truth is gun violence continues to be a problem in the United States. Not necessarily a focus on schools, but gun violence in general is a problem. Only when an incident happens close to home does it seem to shake us. The truth is more than 300 shootings happen everyday in the U.S. When people see gang violence in areas that don’t seem close to home they become more immune. But for some reason when a school shooting happens it is a bigger deal. Many children’s lives are at risk.

This is an article that is relevant and newsworthy now more than ever. As the media portrays shooting in different lights we may be misled. Should we be concerned about increased school shootings? Maybe, maybe not. What should be confronted is the overall gun violence problem. Does the next school shooting need to happen before people are awoken to the problems outside of schools?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/28/us/when-columbine-is-invoked-fears-tend-to-overshadow-facts.html?ref=us

Banana Twinkie

Today I stumbled upon a banana flavored Twinkie. I picked it up and listened to the innocent crinkle of the plastic wrap. I slowly opened the plastic wrap to unveil the absurd product. At first smell it did bring memories of banana bread. I brought the yellow cream filled sponge cake to my mouth and took a bite. I instantly regretted it as my cholesterol shot through the roof and I prepared to call 911. At the same time I absolutely enjoyed the flavor. I am not a big banana fan, but this was much better than anticipated. The texture of the sponge cake and bread complimented each other perfectly and began to melt in my mouth. All of the sudden my situation wasn’t so bad and all my worries seemed to melt away.

Up and Coming Band

John Dodge and Don Cooper are excited about their future as a band. They are building momentum after doing a show with Jackson Browne and James Taylor last summer.   Don told us, “Together we’re ‘Don Juan’, thats our name”.

Cooper says that he “Loves to write songs, and loves to play guitar”, but he didn’t think he could make a living doing it. He was an English teacher “Just in case”. He said how he held onto this “Just-in-case attitude” for a long time. He finally realized that he was settling for something less than what made him happy.

It is clear that Cooper has found what he loves to do now. He got back into the music business and says, “It makes me more real, it makes it feel like you’re livin”.

Being on the road so much can cause tension and complicate things, Dodge says, “It’s tough, but it’s worth it”. He emphasizes that, “You don’t have to live in the Hollywood Hills”, or “Drive a Mercedes-Benz”.

They hope to have a product on the streets, or on the airwaves by the end of the summer.

 

 

Scavenger Hunt

Today I ran around campus looking for a good piece of advice. This is much harder than one might think as good advice is hard to come by. Luckily I ran into a couple of wise baseball players named Elliot Conover and Drew Kasperbauer.

I got to know them a little bit and found out that they play baseball here at Morningside. After all the small talk I dove in and asked them the hard question. I asked “What good advice do you fellas have for me?”. They thought long and hard as they were taken aback by such a deep question this early in the day. Elliot responded first, he said, “Keep working hard, if it was easy everybody would be doing it”. Drew nodded in agreement and went on to tell me, “No matter how hard you think it is at the time you will always get through it.”

This was an incredible experience that I won’t soon forget. I was lucky to stumble upon such wisdom today.

Los Angeles Struggling With Homeless

Los Angeles became the first city to declare homelessness a public emergency on Tuesday. Although cities across the country struggle with this problem, LA decided they needed to do more. The problem in Los Angeles is the lack of shelters for the homeless compared to other cities where more shelters are provided. The official estimate of people living in the streets is 26,000 compared to the 3,000 unsheltered in New York City . The mayor and city council have decided to pledge $100 million in the next year on housing and other services.

This is an important and relevant article that address a big issue in this country that has been ignored for too long. The article specifically focuses on Los Angeles, but most American cities can relate with the issue in one way or another. They did a good job of incorporating both the Los Angeles Mayor and the New York Mayor and comparing their different situations. The lead sentence was okay. If it was me I would have stated the public emergency earlier in the lead to address the issue and draw people in.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/us/los-angeles-plans-100-million-effort-to-end-homelessness.html?ref=us&_r=0

 

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