THE BRIGHT SIDE
The Dyer Column.
The addition of the Dyer Column (Who’s Who in Walworth County) to the paper has become quite popular and revealing, as Mr. Dyer, knowing almost every person of distinction around Geneva Lake, meets with them on a personal basis to ask revealing questions which we then print here. The questions Dyer designs and asks are not about wealth or the accumulation of stuff, but about the thinking process flowing through this group’s productive brains. That the notables Dyer chooses all decide to reveal closely held and very personal views about themselves for the public to evaluate is a measure of Dyer’s ability and does something to explain why some of those chosen to be interviewed are the distinctive people they are.
December 7th, 1941, a day that has lived in infamy.
The publisher’s father served at Pearl Harbor on this anniversary day of that event. His dad was aboard the Kukui, a coast guard buoy tender docked in the harbor. The tender got underway mid-way through the attack and sailed out through the harbor entrance to survive the onslaught. His dad was a Seaman Class 3 during the attack and spend the rest of his life regretting that the ships only offensive or defensive weapon, a pole-mounted ,50 caliber Browning machine gun, was uncovered, only to discover that preventive maintenance had been ignored for some period of time and in the sea air and spray had deteriorated to the point of being unable to fire.
The Kukui sat outside the harbor for the whole day of December 7th, only being able to observe the combat and catastrophe that Pearl Harbor is known for to this day. The Kukui’s ships bell is located in the publisher’s basement sitting alone and never peeling in any way. The publisher’s father died, refusing to ever go on an honor flight to Washington, like other Pearl Harbor survivors. He felt that no honor was due to him. The price of combat and war is not always that of physical injury and death. Sometimes it’s a price of mental orientation that can never be dismissed.
The City of Lake Geneva’s Public Works Department put its community first again.
Last month the public works department hosted the quarterly Walworth County Public Works meeting in the newly renovated Riviera Ballroom. The department was excited to show off the meeting space along with the remodeled first floor. The catch was that anyone wanting a tour of the Riviera needed to bring in an item to donate to Lakeland Animal Shelter or a local food pantry. Attendees really took to this idea, with about sixty people bringing donations and receiving a tour of the Riviera.
A big “thank you” to Nan Elder who helped Tom Earle coordinate the drive and get the goods to the businesses. It’s wonderful that the city has such caring employees who give with all their hearts to other people in need, especially at this time of year.
