With the same level of determination and a lot more smarts, 700 members of AFSCME Local 2733 and members of six other smaller bargaining units gave back contract benefits totaling about $6.6 million to help reduce Washtenaw County’s projected 2010-11 budget deficit. I have lived in Ann Arbor 49 years and do not recall a similar circumstance. Were county services over? Were the jobs of up to 150 union members over? The Locals said “Hell, no.”

It was a big deal.

The big deal wasn’t the savings of $6.6 million. It was the commitment of more than 700 union members. They got involved and were part of the solution. Likely they will stay involved, taking an even greater interest in county government and providing a balancing oversight for future spending practices. These unions now have a dog in the hunt.

My grandfather knew something about dogs. On a hot summer night, he used to sit in his rickety rocker on a wooden porch in the foothills near Maggie Valley. I may have had a good day, or I may have had a bad day … but his response to the report of how my day went was always the same. “Sonny, just remember – the sun don’t shine on the same dawg’s ass every day.” So before I went to bed that night, everything was put back in a more balanced perspective: That day was neither a good day nor a bad day, and I slept a lot better because of his wisdom.

I think the sun might shine on the ass of the county unions’ dog in the not-too-distant future – hopefully to the tune of restoring the $6.6 million in wages that they gave up for the betterment of their members and the people of Washtenaw County.

Like the county, the city of Ann Arbor is also facing a financial deficit. Their director of labor relations, Robyn Wilkerson, is currently negotiating five contracts that have already expired. She reportedly stated that she is not completely sure of what that deficit might be. That’s not a good sign.  If you don’t know where you are, it’s hard to negotiate you way to where you need to be.

Over the years, I have known all of the city administrators going back to Guy Larcom in the early 60s, and I’ve spent too many of those years auditing the financial accounts of the city. Administrators in many other cities have a very short shelf life – not much longer than an opened can of white albacore tuna. In recent years, the city has been fortunate to have the services of its current administrator, Roger Fraser.

The number of full-time city employees has been significantly reduced during his tenure. Roger believes that frequently work expands to fill the size of the workplace. The only way to gain efficiencies is to eliminate positions and see if the work goes away without impairing city operations.

The city’s finances are more complex than those of the county. The county takes in property taxes, fees and government subsidies, pays for recording/collection operations (via the clerk and treasurer), maintains county drains, staffs the sheriff’s department and operates the jail.

The city, on the other hand, has more separate funds and fiefdoms. And in the distant past, all of the Downtown Development Authority revenues were going into the city’s general fund to pay for police, fire, streets and sewers, parks, assessor, human resources, etc.

Now, the parking structure/lot revenues go to the DDA to pay for parking operations and for improvements downtown. Plus, the increase in property taxes within the DDA district –the “increment” in tax-increment financing (TIF) – goes to the DDA. To determine accurately the city’s projected financial deficit, the working capital and the projected revenue and expenses of all of the funds – including those of the DDA – need to be considered. I agree with Robyn at this point: I am not exactly sure of what the projected deficit number might be.

But as John Belushi said, “Nothing is over until we say it is.” So let’s hope that the city and its employees can also work together in solving what will be an increasingly difficult financial position over the next three years.

About the writer: Del Dunbar, a CPA and partner with Dunbar & Martel, has lived in Ann Arbor since the 1960s.

The option of increasing future revenues is like trying to change the tire on an 18-wheeler that is still moving – downhill. It isn’t going to happen. Hoping to get voter approval to increase the county millage rate by 1 mill (back to the maximum 5.5 mills authorized in 1964, but which has been gradually rolled back thanks to the 1978 Headlee Amendment) likely cannot be achieved, given the current economic climate.

At any rate, millage reapportionment makes sense only if you could consolidate many of the functions of county and township government. But consolidation would put loveable Ebby Betts, the township treasurer for 40 years, out of a job. (Yes, Ebby is a hypothetical creature, but nearly every township has one.) Consolidation makes good business sense, which is why it will not happen. Year after year, proposed state legislation to modify township government dies in committee. Township dues paid to the self-serving Michigan Township Association to lobby the legislature protect these 200-year-old antiquated fiefdoms. Besides, everybody feels comfortable with Ebby.

With most of the county income coming from declining property taxes and dwindling state revenues, the commissioners need not spend much more time on the revenue side of the budget. The other revenue sources – fees, investment income (which in the tank), etc. – don’t amount to a mouse pelt big enough to nail on the wall.

The Ann Arbor Chronicle has provided exhaustive reporting on the county’s budget crisis. The reporting is so extensive that it numbs the mind with endless alternatives. Trying to sell a few buildings that likely have no buyers, or expecting interest rates to zoom up so the CDs will yield 3% instead of 2% isn’t going to beat off the alligator closest to the boat. Cutting expenses is the only viable option.

Now about the boat. Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending upon your perspective – the county commissioners and the staff are bunked up in steerage, one deck above the engine room and next to the pounding of the bilge pumps. How did they get there?

The gist of it is this. The county’s annual budget is about $105 million – not even a rounding error for AIG, the Wall Street scoundrels primarily responsible for this global economic meltdown. About 80% of the county budget is for wages and benefits. Of the 1,350 county employees, about 1,000 are unionized.

The union leadership is on the poop deck of this boat and will be giving directions to their helmsman on the bridge. The outside hull on this ship has a $30 million hole in it – that’s the projected deficit. Which course will they decide to take? Accept contract concessions for 2010 or gut the crew? Will the union leadership agree to reasonable wage and benefit adjustments so their members can continue to provide Washtenaw County with services that are desperately needed in this economic storm? Or will they decide that seniority is “all about us leader guys” and throw their younger shipmates over the side?

Their decision will determine what actions the county is forced to take. Personnel cuts will likely eliminate critical services needed by people who are already shortchanged emotionally and economically by this recession.

Once the course is set, there is no turning back.

[Editor's note: County administrator Bob Guenzel is expected to make budget recommendations to the county board of commissioners at their Sept. 16, 2009 meeting. He has said that the extent of cuts to services and jobs will depend in large part on whether unions representing county workers agree to negotiated wage and benefit cuts.]

About the writer: Del Dunbar, a CPA and partner with Dunbar & Martel, has lived in Ann Arbor since the 1960s.

Earlier this month, the politicos did a groundbreaking for the $44 million I-94/Westnedge Avenue road widening project. Vice President Joe Biden espoused the view that “we are quite literally paving the road to recovery right here in Kalamazoo.” From one lifelong Democrat to another: Say it ain’t so, Joe! $44 million won’t do it, and this project – while offering temporary construction jobs – is just another “plug the dike” tactic as Michigan searches for political leadership that will offer a sound long-term strategy for economic growth in Michigan.

Widening a freeway interchange isn’t the answer when the public indicates that it is getting a little fed up with huge malls and big box stores (think Circuit City or Linens ‘n Things, both among a growing number of retail bankruptcies). New highway expansion is not an indicator of economic growth. As the population grows, the Westnedge Mall will eventually go dark as upscale retailers leapfrog to the newest and wealthiest neighborhood further out from the city. We need livable communities where people prefer one car rather than a three-car garage, maybe even a community where people don’t have to get in a car every day. Why not invest the $44 million for the Westnedge interchange into light rail, buses or even bike paths?

Here’s another example of a misguided approach. The many “think tanks” in Michigan point to a pot of gold – the yellow brick road of biotechnology. Biotech companies have turned a profit in only one year out of 40. Since most of us don’t understand this complex science, it makes for good political spin – and, unfortunately, false hopes for the future. Ann Arbor will likely have its share of these “clean jobs,” thanks to the importance of the University of Michigan and the emphasis it is putting on biotechnology. Unfortunately, these local jobs will not make a significant difference to Michigan’s economic future. Michigan cannot effectively compete for the biotech dollars with wealthier states that are already years ahead politically and technologically in this field. Get over it. It makes good politics, but it ain’t going to happen.

The Republicans, led by Ann Arbor resident Ron Weiser (who’s chairman of the state’s Republican Party and one of about five Ann Arbor Republicans), will likely decide who the next governor is. Look for Weiser and his team to provide the much-needed long-term strategy to generate permanent job growth in Michigan. That strategy will likely take advantage of what Michigan does best. For example, Michigan is second only to California in agricultural diversity. So why aren’t we second in food processing jobs? Let’s turn rust bucket empty manufacturing facilities into farms.

What about putting more money into tourism? There is a body of water, lake, river or stream within 6 miles of any spot in Michigan. As most of you know, our state has the largest body of fresh water in the world – so why do exiting college graduates look upon Michigan as a smokestack and not as a lighthouse, as they start their new careers in states with a much more positive image?

We have more skilled transportation engineers in southeast Michigan than any other state. If we can’t produce cars cost effectively, at least we should be able to design and engineer transportation systems as well as anybody else. We need a strategy that will create more permanent employment in Michigan. It doesn’t have to be centered on clean, well-paid professional jobs. What’s wrong with tractors, a little dirt, beach sand, and Michigan designed transportation systems? Why not offload deep water cargo at Monroe and use rail transportation, thereby saving three days or more of ship traffic offloading at expensive land sites in Chicago? Land is relatively cheap in Monroe for an inventory distribution hub between Europe and the Midwest. (Savannah, with cheap land, is the third largest seaport in the U.S., as Caterpillar and John Deere warehouses, among many others, serve as a distribution center for the South to Europe and South America.)

We need an overall long-term strategy that uses Michigan’s natural competitive advantages to build new permanent jobs for our children and their children. Such a strategy is not built on ground-breakings, ribbon-cuttings, unfocused short-term tactics (patches), media headlines and sound bites. We need a person with a vision and a strategy that is willing to get his or her hands dirty and lead this state out of a hole. It will likely require a person willing to serve only one term. Turning this ship around has a maximum political shelf life of about 4 years, but comes with our lifelong thanks for the sacrifice.

About the writer: Del Dunbar, a CPA and partner with Dunbar & Martel, has lived in Ann Arbor since the 1960s.

“Not so,” Mr. Lee tells CNN on tax day. The assessment seemingly was set high enough in hopes of encouraging Mr. Lee to file his past-due returns and pay the correct tax with interest and penalties. “Won’t happen,” further retorts Mr. Lee. “I feel badly about the whole thing but I just can’t bring myself to figure out the complexities of the California income tax forms. I hope they will call me and we can agree on some number and I’ll just pay it.”

If Mr. Lee, a businessman with a few rental properties, is confused by the California returns, he is most fortunate not to be doing business in Michigan. The governor’s new Michigan Business Tax, with its mind-numbing complexities and inequities, sets the gold standard for costly tax attorneys and CPAs. Likely the governor’s  State Treasurer has already realized – or soon will – the significant free give-a-ways, tax credits, and subsidies that will be needed to get any prospective new business to buy into the MBT mess, a tax adopted at 2 in the morning by a sleep-deprived (brain dead?) legislature surrounded by dozens of well-paid and wide awake lobbyists.

April 15^th has come and gone for another year and with it the prolific number of blogs and editorial demands for tax change. Mr. Timothy F. Geithner, the new U.S. Secretary of Treasury, will likely offer up some changes (crafted by dozens of lobbyists imbedded in the Beltway) to a tax system already teetering on the brink of collapse from complexities and complications. The system can’t take too many more patches, particular from The Secretary, who recently nicked the Treasury for about $17,000 in unpaid Social Security taxes on his own personal return.  More changes, more complexities, more unfairness is putting the tax system itself at risk. A small patch here or there now seems to be causing a leak somewhere else.

I have been in the tax compliance business, as a some-time teacher and full-time practitioner, since 1967. It is time for our industry, with all of its attorneys, CPAs, estate and tax planners, auditors, etc. to just go away. Shoo…go home. Our tax system doesn’t need a tweak, it needs a hatchet job.

The  hatchet job would eliminate the income tax and adopt a national sales tax on consumption and financial transactions. All of the illegal drug and gambling money that is laundered through our banking system daily would be taxed upon deposit. If Bennie the Bookie decided to get out of the market entirely and go to cash on deposit in the back yard, at some point he will likely spend it. Those front row tickets at the Lakers games must be had. There would be no sales tax on necessities. The national sales tax on other items would be graduated, with luxury items being taxed at a higher rate at the time of purchase. 

The system is already in place to accurately assess and collect the tax. If you are one of the 700 people at Merrill Lynch who had a bad year in 2008 (each only making more than $5 million), you would pay a financial sales tax when you stored your money in your CMOs, REMICS, and all of those other financial products that no one but you can understand. And, at this point we’re not so sure about your depth of understanding, either.

We, as a people, don’t like  to focus on the income side, keep records, disclose salary and perks, keep track of what the person in the next cubical is making, paying or avoiding in taxes. But everyone likes to buy and consume or even invest. There would be no record keeping for Mr. Lee or any other consumer/investor. Bill and Winston, could become close friends, join the local coastal touring society and each drive out of the Mercedes dealership with a new roadster – but each would also be a little lighter in the pocketbook. This way, everyone participates by giving back for our national well-being at a time they are the happiest…at the moment of consumption.

The U.S. Treasury estimates that the amount of unpaid taxes is in the billions, enough to fund the Pentagon’s budget for six months. The department also anticipates that it will get worse this year as more people have to go into a self-employed/cash survival mode. It’s so unfair. 

Consider the following: A middle-aged, self-employed single woman making $50,000 a year pays over $15,000 in taxes while barely able to make the monthly rent payment in a 700-square-foot studio in Brooklyn. Sam Slick, a real estate developer across the river in Manhattan, wants to sell his Park Avenue property for $100 million. Unfortunately, his tax attorney computes that the taxes on sale would approach $35 million, leaving only $65 million for Sam, hardly enough for a down payment on a new estate in the Hamptons. So Sam mortgages the property for $100 million at Bear Stearns, pockets all the money, pays no tax on the loan proceeds and upgrades to a beachside villa in St. Barth’s. Sam croaks the following spring, and before he can even push up some daisies, Sammy Jr. inherits the Park Avenue property. The income tax unpaid on the $100 million is forgiven in the estate tax process. The Treasury Department calls it an estate “step-up” adjustment.  Further, Sammy Jr. falls in love with his father’s young widow (“Wiffels”), defaults on the $100 million non-recourse mortgage at Bear Stearns, takes the rest of the residual estate and hikes off to enjoy the beach with Wiff and the rest of the glitterati.

Sammy Jr. and Wiff may live happily ever after on St. Barth’s, free of U.S. income taxes because of the income exclusion rules for U.S. citizens residing in a foreign country. No, they don’t pay French income taxes either, because France does not tax the residents of St. Barth’s.  However, the sales tax is very steep on a bottle of expensive wine. After a great day at the beach, it’s a tolerable expenditure for the common good.

Oh, by the way, your tax dollars paid off Sammy’s defaulted mortgage (now called a “toxic asset” by Mr. Geithner) which Bear Stearns sold to Goldman Sachs shortly before going out of business.

Say it ain’t so…but it is.

About the writer: Del Dunbar, a CPA and partner with Dunbar & Martel, has lived in Ann Arbor since the 1960s.

I only talked with him a few times before he got sick. He seemed far too quiet and too young to have had so many successes. Plus, he was always skinny despite devouring at each Michigan Historical Society meeting what seemed to me to be an inordinate number of raisin oatmeal cookies.     

“The world is run by those who show up” was the motto he adopted in dedicating his life to improving health care for the people of Michigan. He worked tirelessly to ban smoking in the workplace, increasing childhood immunization rates, advocating for AIDS education and better end-of-life care. Although a Michigan State graduate, his adage seems particularly applicable to Ann Arbor.

Kevin was a public advocate who extended his motto to “Show up, be hard on the issues, soft on people.” President Obama may have unknowingly adopted Kevin’s motto with his grassroots campaign that produced a record number of voters who, despite long lines, showed up last November 4th. This renewed interest in showing up was beamed around the world later that evening from Grant’s Park, and again at his inauguration in January.

Kevin’s public policy attitude is also alive and well in Washtenaw County. A while ago, an older gentleman (my age) at Knight’s restaurant complained to me about our liberal city council persons. I asked him if he voted in the last local election and he said he doesn’t bother anymore and hasn’t in some time. So who is to blame? Actually, it takes relatively few votes to elect a person to council in several of the city wards. The activists rally their troops and show up.

Over the past two or three years I have found myself doing a slow burn at several city council meetings as one activist presenter continually misrepresented the facts in pressing her  anti-growth agenda. To me it seemed to be more of a personal attack on anything and everything that was fair and reasonable. After the meeting she came over and said to me, “I wish you were speaking for our side, this is going to be a close call.” Upon further reflection later in the week I realized that there was nothing personal in her diatribe at all. It was just local politics and she was going hard on the issues. I didn’t particularly like her then because I didn’t understand her. Kevin would never have made that mistake.

When I look at the composition of our city and county government, I believe we have pretty good people working for us and have had for some time. At a Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners meeting last year I showed up for the first time ever to speak on behalf of a developer. Before the meeting, one commissioner said he supported the project but couldn’t vote for it for political reasons. He asserted, “Don’t worry – you’ve got the votes and the board is going to do what’s right. If it was even close, I would cross over.” This commissioner will likely be re-elected as long as he runs because he is and always will be, despite political necessities, soft on people, particularly when it means jobs.

I have been in Ann Arbor since 1960. To my knowledge during that entire time Washtenaw County has been free of the political corruption and malfeasance that has plagued Detroit and a few other communities in Michigan. Maybe that’s because many of its residents and most if not all of its elected  officials are as concerned as Kevin was – and they show up.

(Kevin A. Kelly, age 52, died on Dec. 15, 2008. He was the former Michigan State Medical Society Executive Director. His efforts and contributions on behalf of charitable organizations outside of MSMS are far too numerous to mention within this column.)

Hey, the party is over. We don’t save much anymore. We spend what we earn, borrow some more from other governments, to buy all of the latest plasma electronics at low prices at Wal-mart. America’s largest retailer then ships the $10 billion we borrowed in merchandise payments back to China each year and we start the cycle all over again.

When the financial market’s balloon recently exploded, our government blows up another balloon by printing more money and distributing it out to banks to loan to us so we can keep spending and avoid the party-ending migraine hangover. This new infusion of money cheapens the value of the dollar so we have to borrow more to just maintain the same lifestyle. In some respects this spend-and-borrow lifestyle is our own Madoff ponzi scheme with our children and grandchildren being the eventual victims of our own actions.

To withdraw from this spend-and-borrow addiction, we in the private sector need to start making competitive American products for the global marketplace and saving a part of the profits. Those of us in the public sector need to shrink the size of government and make it more efficient.

Why do we need 1,242 townships in Michigan? Can’t the townships’ duties of assessing property, collecting taxes, conducting elections, and providing fire and police services be turned over to local counties (who also provide most of these services) in an effort to pull Michigan from its fiscal crisis? I could just as easily send my taxes to the county offices as to the township treasurer’s farm on Old U.S. 12 (who then remits the taxes back to the county). On second thought, why do I have to mail the payment anywhere? I should be able to pay the taxes over the Internet, just as I do many of the other household bills.

Why do we need 84 county road commissions in Michigan? Are the roads in Washtenaw County so different than the roads in Livingston that we need separate commissioners, lawyers, accountants, auditors, maintenance supervisors, etc.? Recently I was trying to get to Detroit Metropolitan Airport on a snowy afternoon. I had no problem on Washtenaw roads but when the snowplow got off at the county line, the Wayne section of the freeway had not been plowed and traffic was at a crawl. If the Washtenaw road supervisor had more regional responsibility, I likely would have made my flight on time.

These local entities were established before Michigan became a state and their size allowed people living on the perimeter to walk to the township hall and return the same day. The argument for the status quo is that the township people are friendlier and provide more personal service. Unfortunately, this form of localism is a luxury we can no longer afford.

Public and private sector consolidations will eventually happen. A weak dollar and a shrinking property tax base will require that hard choices be made. The party is over. Let’s not leave our hangover to our children.

To an antiquarian book collector it was the perfect spot, much like a trout fisherman finding just the right pool on a bedrock bottom of the North Fork. I asked the store owner the location of books on early American History published prior to 1900. She tried to appear interested in helping me but she wasn’t. Her gig was first edition modern literature and her brain cells were filled with Margaret Atwood.

This was actually a very good sign. It was an indication that the books I was interested in would be fairly priced. Purchasing her first edition signed copy of Atwood’s “Alias Grace,” which was located in the locked glass case behind her desk, would be painful. Likely the book had occupied that space undisturbed since shortly after it was published in 1996. Like most bibliophiles, she would be very generous with her knowledge of modern literature while at the same time secretive about the sources of her stock.

The time passed very quickly. After over two hours of fruitless searching, I noticed an attractive leather bound book entitled “Great Britain and Illinois Country,” which I had never seen before. The book probably arrived in a brown paper bag of someone cleaning out the attic. The price was $22, which meant the proprietor likely paid $3 or $4 at most for the book. The book was published in Washington, DC in 1910. The inside free fly page was stamped “Surplus-Library of Congress-Duplicate.” I do not usually buy ex-library books since you can often find the book later without the discard stamp and in better condition. However, below the stamp was the signature “O. W. Holmes.” It was worth $22 to investigate whether in fact this book came from the private library of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., the very distinguished Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. After some due diligence, the signature authentication was a success.

Justice Holmes joined the court in 1902. He retired at age 90 and is considered one of the greatest justices of the last century. He caught pneumonia three years later and died. A copy of his will disclosed that he left all of his worldly possessions to the United States government. Despite the good fortune, I found it irritating that some government clerk had discarded a part or maybe all of his private library.

The opportunity of finding something by happenstance is a bonus that comes with endless hours of browsing. I do not understand the attraction of mass-manufactured retail mall or big box company books – everything from biographies to mysteries to self-help works – whatever will command at least $24.95 (with the remainder stock later sold off at $5.95 at SaleBooks.com).

While you can find recently printed popular classics in B and B&N, the likelihood of finding something unusual does not exist. Old books frequently offer up slips of paper, letters or newspaper articles that sometimes offer clues to what attracted the initial reader to the book in the first place. To an antiquarian book collector, the book’s previous owner, the signature and inscription, the craftsmanship, and the chain of ownership form a circle of knowledge as important as the contents of the book itself.

The Internet has become a popular place to acquire old books. However, there is a lack of excitement in finding books on eBay or elsewhere. Often disappointment follows when the book arrives in poorer condition than represented and the Web description contained omissions and errors. The Old Bookshop is a treasure hunt where book enthusiasts can occasionally save a valuable book from the junk pile.

Bookshop owners usually have such extensive knowledge of an area of interest that should warrant some PhD recognition. In Ann Arbor, Jay at the West Side Book Shop is extremely knowledgeable on polar exploration. Paul at Motte & Bailey is consumed by medieval history and in particular the Crusades. In times past, the proprietor’s mania for limited subject matter often led to bargains in valuable underpriced books in other fields of interest. This is less so today. ABE.com has greatly leveled the playing field by providing a listing of many out-of-print books, their condition and current asking prices. A bookshop owner is able to rather quickly determine the approximate value of most any book that comes in the brown bags and boxes. The knowledge of books that made the used and collectible book business profitable in the past is available to all.

Ann Arbor has many old bookshops, as have other urban and academic communities such as Chicago, Madison and Chapel Hill. Typically housed in old and quirky buildings, these meeting places are important to a vibrant community lifestyle. Like meeting new people, similar by-chance meetings like with Oliver Wendell Holmes in the Old Bookshop will hopefully continue to be a part of our new ” localism.”

I thought I knew Bob Gregory well. He grew up in the Cass City area during the Depression, graduated from Middle States Teachers College, now called Central Michigan University. He was quiet, reserved – a Midwestern meat-and-potatoes sort of person.

When I attended his recent memorial service, I realized that I really didn’t know him that well at all. He wasn’t just in the Navy. He flew PBMs searching out enemy submarines and flying escort for ships carrying troops to Europe. He was a Patrol Plane Commander and Navigation Officer of the Squadron. He never mentioned this to me, because he likely would not have wanted to repeat the experience.

He was not just a forestry professor at the U; he introduced economics into the international forestry debate. His textbook – “Forest Resource Economics” – was the standard, used throughout the world, and not much has changed since.

William Strauss and Neil Howe, in the book “Generations” (Quill, 1991), would place Bob squarely in the middle of the “GI” Generation. Born between 1901 and 1924, they were the new children of the new century. Tom Brokaw called them the Greatest Generation. It was a generation that stressed the group over the individual, one for all and all for one. Loyalty and commitment were more important than self expression. They were shaped by the Depression, WWI and WWII, the post-WWII economic boom, McCarthyism, Kennedy, and the Cold War. “Regular guy” was a compliment to this “can-do generation.”

Beginning with the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts, they were group-oriented and believed in public harmony and social discipline. They held the presidency longer than any other generation in American history (Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 1). They won 99 Nobel Prizes and held majorities in both houses of Congress for an unprecedented 20 years. They created the largest jump in educational achievement in American history. It was also a time of Blackjack chewing gum, wax coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water, home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers, newsreels before the movies, washtub wringers, and telephone numbers with a prefix (Olive-6933).

The memorial service was held at the Greenwood Church in Ann Arbor, a perfect place with its sanctuary in the woods. Bob would have liked it. Aaron Riley, Bob’s grandson and an accomplished violinist, ended the service with “Ashokan Farewell,” the mournful classic made popular in Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary. To me, Aaron was playing for a whole generation of Americans that will soon be gone.

Strauss and Howe believe that every generation repeats itself sequentially in a fixed pattern. If they are correct, hopefully my grandchildren, born after 2001 as part of the Millennium Generation, will be a lot like Bob and Ann.

I still remember the streets and house numbers as well as some of the more scandalous family entanglements on “my route.” It was hard to keep anything from the paperboy since things seem to either happen or clear out just before daybreak. Recently, a retiree in Ann Arbor said that she grew up at 126 Tyrell Street in my home town. I blushed at the reference because I always had difficulty “collecting” the 40 cents owed each week for the daily and Sunday from her folks. They would always ask me to come back tomorrow which meant another long bike ride the following afternoon. I didn’t tell her that I was from the same bump in the road, because I just didn’t want to go back there, even in my mind.

The papers would be delivered in a 1949 Ford truck to Mr. Derry’s basement long before daybreak. I got there soon thereafter and prided myself on being able to fold a paper tighter and faster than Jimmy, my older colleague. It was important to twist the papers as tight as possible so that I could fit all 82 papers in one dirty canvas paperbag with the Free Press logo on it. That way I could prop the bag on top of the handle bars and it made the delivery much easier. I hated Thursdays because the papers were fatter because of the advertising for the weekend. Going to two bags meant I had to put the lighter bag over my left shoulder, making it much harder to navigate my blue Columbia in the snow.

I only got 82 papers. If I miscounted and shorted myself, then I had to go all the way back to get the extra paper. Usually the extra paper was not there, because Jimmy would always leave after me. He didn’t go to school (because he didn’t want to and his parents lived on a farm). He would take my paper as an extra in case he had miscounted or in case one missed overhead fling resulted in a wet and muddy tabloid. The end result was that I had one very unhappy customer. I would get stiffed 7 cents (collecting only 33 cents) the following Saturday afternoon when I “collected.” I would have to pay 5 cents out of my own pocket to cover the cost of the missing paper. The paper really wasn’t missing. If Jimmy didn’t need it, he would take it home to his folks to read.

I could understand why the family was upset about not getting the paper. That was pretty much all the news there was. Not that the paper had anything great in it, but everyone followed the Tigers. (They wanted to know exactly how many home runs Charlie (Paw-Paw) Maxwell had hit. Any other happenings seemed to take place at Carter’s Funeral Home, the bus station, or the Meteor Bar. But those are other suppressed memories.

The daily newspaper as I knew it is now in a heap of trouble. My two sons, both in their mid-thirties, read many online national newspapers. Just as the major banks got rid of community banking as we knew it, institutional newspapers seem to be leaving communities behind with shrinking newsprint and a cost structure that no longer makes business sense.

From adversity always seems to come a little opportunity. The Ann Arbor Chronicle – “the community newspaper and town hall” – is somewhat the way I remember the news, it just isn’t folded as tightly as my papers. The difference is I didn’t get paid anything to write this column and you didn’t pay anything to read it, so we’re even. I don’t like to owe anybody anything.