A Letter to Representative Elaine Nekritz Regarding Her Teacher Pension Bill

"The wife" has her say on pensions:

State Representative Elaine Nekritz

Dear Representative Nekritz,

You are quoted in the Chicago Tribune today (Sunday, March 24, 2013) saying you are going to go home for your spring break and "think about pensions."

While you are doing that, think about the downstate teachers outside of the Chicago suburbs who are getting very little in pension benefits and now will see their Cost of Living Adjustments frozen or limited to $750 a year should your bill become law.

As a woman, you know that taking time off from work to raise children is a part of life.  Downstate female teachers who took five-ten years off to "stay home with the kids" will be hurt if your bill becomes law. 

These women teachers were unable to go to graduate school because of family obligations.  In many cases they retired with pensions under $30,000 a year, and since women live longer than men, these retired women teachers who are widows or single are close to the poverty level right now.  Your bill will push them over the edge.

Representative Nekritz, you and your colleagues should look at the corporate tax breaks that are being given out to keep companies from moving out of Illinois, and while you are at it, look at CAT chairman Doug Oberman's $42 million dollar a year salary.  You might find that an investigation of THOSE factors mitigate your eagerness to hurt women teachers.

And also ask yourself why Laurence Msall and his billionaire fellow members of the Civic Federation are working so hard to limit teacher pensions.  Their work is not "civic"; it is self serving.  The Civic Federation members simply don't want to pay taxes.

I hope that you will listen to my voice crying out in the wilderness and that you will defend the pensions of retired teachers who are women.

Thanks for listening to my opinion.

Pam Wyman

Most Teachers Get Meager Pensions

Happiness Is Knowing When You're Happy!

Happiness is a Warm Fuzztone:  The Remaining Few.  L-R:  Jim (Rona) Wyman (organ), Ed Fischer (drums), Buzz Graham (bass guitar), Paul Cooler (lead guitar).  Photo taken in the Corbin-Olson cafeteria in the fall of 1966 at Western Illinois University.

An exciting week in the annals of a garage band life as Bev Cookson, who was mentioned in my recent blog posting about  garage bands, contacted me last weekend.

Bev was the girlfriend of Buzzy Graham, who was the bass player in my band at Western Illinois University in 1966-67 called The Remaining Few.

Bev and Buzz were an item when I began playing in The Remaining Few in October of 1966, and they dated throughout my tenure with the band.  Unfortunately, Bev and Buzz broke up, Buzz married a Macomb High girl, and both Bev and Buzz went on with their lives . . . their completely separate lives.

Another "unfortunately" is that Buzz died at the age of 58 in 2008.  He was a reading instructor at Rock Valley College in Rockford at the time of his death.

There is some unhappiness in the above words so let's get to the happiness part of this posting.

When I sat down at the computer last Sunday, there was Bev Cookson's reply at the end of my "Garage Bands I Have Known" posting.  Here's what she said:  "It's the middle of the night and insomnia has struck again. I was browsing and got to wondering whatever happened to [the Macomb band] Brillo and the Firebirds, believe it or not. So I Googled it. Anyway, long story short, it led to me to wondering whatever happened to Roger Vail, and lo and behold, it popped up. The Vectors, The Remaining Few, Fischer, Cooler, and Rona. Seems like a million years ago. How about a little "My Generation"? Loved you guys doing that song! Great band, great memories, even for a silly high school kid."

Bev and I have been exchanging e-mails ever since I received her note, and I have been gabbling to anyone who will listen about my days playing in garage bands, especially in the bands at Western.  

I have had a happy week, very happy!

I guess the reason why I've felt so good is because I realize that my life was really happy when I was playing in that band at Western, and I've been able to resurrect that happiness this week.  Dodging the pitfalls of life was always a concern, but I was able to successfully avoid all the negative things that came my way--at least then!

Bev mentioned in one of her e-mails how she made the ruffled shirts and burgundy vests that the band wore, and I remembered how she measured us for the shirts in the basement of Buzz's house and how when I looked at her running that tape measure up my left arm as she jotted down my sleeve length that I knew right then that I was happy and that I was going to remember that moment in time for the rest of my life.  

I knew I was happy when I was happy, and that is the key.  Knowing you are happy at the time you are happy.

It sounds a bit stupid, but it's true.  How many days do we plod through life looking for happiness.  "If I could only get to this point, I could be happy," we think.  And more often than not, that point never comes.

We reminisce about the days when we had happiness in our lives and strive all our days to recapture those fleeting moments.  More often than not that never happens.

But when Bev was measuring me for that shirt on that warm and sunny October day in 1966, I knew at that moment that I was happy--happy that I was away from home and all the conflict and unhappiness that existed in my family, happy that I was going to be wearing a cool looking shirt and vest, not to mention wearing burgundy Levis and  burgundy Beatle boots, and also happy that I was playing with guys who were not only good musicians but great guys as well.  And most of all happy that Bev Cookson was so devoted to all of us.  She loved our music, and we loved her for that.  Even after 46 years, I never forgot Bev's kindness.

The teenage years can be years of heartbreak and anguish.  I suffered from chronic depression in the fall of 1965 when I thought my life was falling apart.  A broken heart, an overbearing parent, academic struggles all contributed to the depression.

But the teenage years can be times of great happiness as well.  The key is recognizing happiness when it comes and then treasuring those moments in your heart.

Every time I hear that song, "The Way You Look Tonight," by Frank Sinatra, I think of my first real girlfriend getting in my dad's Chevy, turning towards me, and giving me this big smile on a beautiful June night in 1965, the early evening sun shining into the car onto her blue Madras blouse.

"Some day, when I'm awfully low,
When the world is cold,
I will feel a glow just thinking of you
And the way you look tonight."

I'm thinking of you today, Sandy, Bev, Paul, Ed, and Buzz.  I'm thinking of playing "My Generation," "The Jolly Green Giant," "Stepping Stone," "On Broadway," and "Little Latin Lupe Lu." 

And I'm happy, even if there are tears in my eyes! 

Hope this helps you too!

Pension Bill Must Be Stopped. CALL NOW!

O.K., teachers.  Enough 60's garage band nostalgia--it's time for all of you to get up off your butts and call your state legislators about this pension legislation that the Illinois House will consider tomorrow.

For you active teachers, you will be forced to pay 2% more of your salary to TRS, and you will teach until you are 67 years old.  As an active teacher, you will be paying more money for less benefits.  Female teachers who stayed home with the kids and went back into the classroom after four or five years, you will be 75 before you retire. 

Ready to teach The Canterbury Tales, Grandma?  How about the Speech to Convince?

Retirees, this bill is worse for you.  Your Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) will be frozen.  Retired teachers will not receive the COLA until age 67 (even if you have already been getting it), and then the COLA will be based on a meager salary of $25,000.  If, like me, you will draw Social Security benefits, the amount used for your COLA will be $20,000--that's 600 bucks a year.  SHEET!

Oh, yeah, if you worked in a job where you paid Social Security, there already is a law on the books where your SS benefits are garnished.  I worked 9 1/2 years full time and 34 1/2 years part-time in radio, but those benefits will go bye-bye next year when I turn 66 and begin to draw SS benefits.  I'll be lucky to get $250 a month from Social Security.

Geez, what did teachers ever do to these politicians.  They must have had a shitty teacher like the p.e teacher who terrorized my brother by reading his grades out loud to the entire gym class.

My mom took care of that asshole.  However, Uncle Roy's story will have to be saved for another day.  There are phone calls to be made tonight and Tuesday.

Mike Madigan.  The man pulling the strings.

Once again, Mike Madigan, Pat Quinn, and Tom Cross have left the unions in the lurch.  Neither the Illinois Federation of Teachers or the Illinois Education Association were invited to the table to negotiate future pension legislation.


The union proposal calls for everyone to bite the bullet--not just teachers!  Under the current bill being considered, teachers and other public employees pay.  Everyone else is off the hook!

The unions have proposed cutting out Illinois corporate tax breaks, having teachers pay more for their pensions, and requiring a law that forces the state to make its pension payments.  Union leaders would also like to see a graduated income tax law passed.  Right now billionaire Penny Pritzker pays the same percentage of her income for state income tax as a first-year teacher pays.

Where are Laurence Msall, the president of the Civic Federation and Ty Fahner of the Civic Committee this week?  Both Msall and Fahner have been pounding the drum for pension reform, and their groups made up of millionaires and billionaires have been pouring money into radio/television commercials against public employee pensions.  But these jerk weeds disappear every time push comes to shove.

But teachers and other public employees have one thing that these rich bastards don't have.  Votes!  Last night when I was going through my list of state legislators (My House and Senate districts will change Wednesday when the new General Assembly is sworn in), Senator Chris Lauzen of Aurora answered his phone in person.

State Senator Chris Lauzen

Lauzen, who has never been a friend of teachers, listened to my arguments and promised to look closely at any legislation that comes before the Illinois Senate.  I don't know if I persuaded him to vote "no" on Elaine Nekritz's bill, but I felt good about the phone call.

You must call too.  We have power at the ballot box, and these politicians do not want to be voted out of office.  Just think how many retired teachers and retired NIU professors live in DeKalb County.  Lauzen and other politicians know this, and they will not vote for a bill that undermines their chance for re-election.  

Probably the most persuasive argument against the current pension legislation is the fact that the pending bill is unconstitutional.  There is a clause in the Illinois State Constitution that prevents existing pension benefits from being “diminished or impaired.”

The two teachers unions are also telling legislators that they are violating their oath of office by voting for this bill:  “I do solemnly swear (affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of …. to the best of my ability.”

Maybe we should make a citizen's arrest and throw those legislators who vote for this bill in jail!

My wife and I were forced out of teaching because Mike Madigan and his buddy Rod Blagojevich skipped the $405 million dollar payment to the Teachers Retirement System in 2005.  We had one chance to get out under the old pension formula.  We HAD to retire.

I told Representative Kay Hatcher's secretary this morning that I wanted my old job back.  "If Kay votes 'yes,'" I told the secretary, "I want to go back into the public school classroom full-time.  And I'll sue if I can't return."  The secretary was quiet for a long time.

So find out who your legislators are, go to the We Are One Illinois web site.  Fill out the form, and the web site will automatically connect you with your legislator.  Leave a message for your state representative and your state senator.   Simply leave your name, address, and phone number, and tell them that the pension legislation being considered is unconstitutional.

It is a simple task.  DO IT!  YOUR FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT!

Garage Bands I Have Known!

A still from the new film Not Fade Away

The new movie Not Fade Away jogs my memory back to 1964 when the band The Rooks first took the stage in Crystal Lake, Illinois.  I haven't seen Not Fade Away yet--it's only playing in downtown Chicago-- but from what I've seen online, I lived that movie's story.

A couple of suburban kids decide to form a group.  They do.  The band prospers, but egos get in the way.  The band breaks up, and the musicians move to different bands and begin anew.  From 1964-1968 that was my scenario.  In fact I lived it many, many times!

So this morning when I received a "Happy New Year" wish on Facebook from former bandmate Hamilton "Tip" Hale, I was transported back to December 31, 1965, when Tip and I, along with John Baldwin, Mark Smith, and Jamie Pennebaker played at Mickey Cox's raucous New Year's Eve party on South Walkup Street in Crystal Lake.  We were the garage band called Aristotle and the Aminal Crackers, and we rocked the world that night!

I wish every New Year's Eve could be like 1965's.  Seventeen years old.  No responsibility.  Running wild and playing rock 'n roll music every blankin' day of the week.

How did I get in a garage band anyway?

Flash back further to the fall of 1964 and the delicatessen on Virginia St. in Crystal Lake, just across the street from Blanche Moan's grill.  Steve Brown worked there manning the snack counter, and I used to hang out at "the del" just so I could get away from my old man who was constantly on my ass about everything--hair, work, shitty grades, and not helping out around the house.  "The del" was only a couple of blocks away from home, and it became a place of refuge for me.  I was there all the time!

Brown, who was in the class ahead of me and who played the drums, started talking to me one day about forming a rock band.  He had already approached Mike Walkup and Tim McPike, who were both in the Class of '67, a year behind me, about playing with him.

Steve was sitting behind the yellow formica counter and started talking about his rock 'n roll plans.

"Rona, can you play guitar?" Steve asked me.

"No, but I took piano lessons in fifth and sixth grades," I told him.

"What?  You're kidding!" he said.  "Can you play the electric organ?"

"I'm not sure.  It's just like the piano isn't it?"

"Wow!  Two guitars, drums, and an organ.  That would be great!"  Steve jumped up and started excitedly pacing back and forth behind the counter.

"But I haven't played regularly in years, Steve," I told him.  "I do have a piano at home though."

"Go home and practice, and I'll bring Walkup and McPike over in a few days and we'll listen to you," Steve said.

When Brown, McPike, and Walkup came over to my parents' house to hear me, I played them "Rockin' Robin" on the piano, and they immediately asked me to join their new band, The Rooks.

My Danelectro amp.

A few weeks later, I found myself in Walkup's basement with a crappy organ that I was able to talk my parents into buying me at the music store at Meadowdale Shopping Center.  The store technician had installed microphone pick-ups in the organ, but I couldn't jack the sound up high enough to compete with the guitars because the organ would feed back through my used Danelectro amplifier.  It was a mess!

In another two weeks The Rooks played their first job at Milton College in Milton, Wisconsin, where Steve's sister went to school.  Then we were asked to play a dance in the lower gym in at Crystal Lake Community High School.  But my organ was still a problem because nobody could hear it.

My Farfisa Combo Compact

Brown, Walkup, and McPike were going to kick me out of the band unless I got a new organ.  About this time, in early 1965, Paul Revere and the Raiders had released the songs "Steppin' Out" and "Just Like Me," and the Raiders were all over television.  Paul Revere played a bright, candy apple red Farfisa Combo Compact electric organ.  So did Sam of Sam the Sham and the Pharaoahs, the group that did "Wooly Bully." The Medowdale music store had one in stock for $700.00.  Big money in late spring of 1965!  In fact, $5,100 in 2013 dollars!

Sam the Sham playing the candy apple red Farfisa organ.

Believe it or not, I was able to persuade my mother and father (mostly my mom--she was the musician in the family) to buy the Farfisa for me on credit. 

I can still see the bright red Farfisa sitting in Brown's basement the very first time I set it up in late spring of '65.  All of the sudden, I had become a valuable commodity in the band.  We had a great time playing together too!  Donna Brown's eight grade graduation party, the eighth grade dance at Lundahl Jr. High, Candy Kirchberg's birthday party behind the cart shack at Crystal Lake Country Club.  The gigs just kept on coming.

However, the Rooks broke up mid summer of '65 because I left to join the best band in Crystal Lake, The Jades, which was made up of Dick Lockwood, Gary Burhmann, Al Sherwood, and Mike Wienke.  The Jades played all over the county, including Vern Seaquist's famous summer party in Lakewood at Gate 21 in August of 1965.

But those guys in the Jades all got drafted that fall so that was the end of that band.  I still had another year of high school. 

The Remains:  From L-R:  Mark Smith, John Baldwin, Tim McPike, Jim Wyman, and "Tip" Hale (March 1966).

In fall of 1965, I joined Aristotle and the Aminal Crackers, which consisted of Tip Hale, Jamie Pennebaker, Mark Smith, and John Baldwin.  Baldwin and I had played Babe Ruth League baseball together.  Hale's and my mom's families were early settlers in the county, so my mom knew Tip's dad.  And Jamie Pennebaker was my neighbor on Eagle St.  We had grown up together!  Smith is another story for another day--he became a serial killer!

Jamie's mom worked nights at the Pinemoor, a neighborhood bar and pizza joint, so the band could practice, play cards, and drink beer to our hearts' content at Jamie's house without any adult interference.  Rubber Soul by the Beatles had just been released, and I remember sitting at the kitchen table playing cards and listening to "Norwegian Wood."  Aristotle and the Aminal Crackers were pretty darn good too!  Sometime that winter, Pennebaker was out of the band and Tim McPike, who I had played with in the Rooks, was in.  I don't remember how or why Jamie Pennebaker was replaced.  Aristotle and the Animal Crackers now became The Remains.

Vox Buckingham amplifier

I never made any money playing for the Remains because all the amps and the P.A. were bought on credit by Mark Smith's mom so all the money from the gigs went to pay off the interest on the loan.  I had a sweet Vox Buckingham amplifier, but had to give it back to Smith when the band broke up the summer of 1966.

Sears Silvertone amp.  Crosby, Stills, and Nash still were using one the last time I saw them in 2007.

I replaced the Buckingham with  a Silvertone amp from Sears that I got second-hand from a guy I worked with at the Terra Cotta plant.  My time in Crystal Lake was up, however, as I was off to Western Illinois University.  It was time for college!

I left my Farfisa and my amp at home when I traipsed off to WIU.  The break-up of the Remains had left a sour taste in my mouth because I had played my ass off and had made zero money.  But I was still playing music in my spare time.

I didn't know it then, but I am very caffeine-sensitive.  Every night I would drink a Coke before bed and then be unable to sleep.  So I would grab my music books and go downstairs to the Ravine Room in Lincoln-Washington Towers (Lincoln was my dorm) and play the piano at two in the morning.

There was normally no one down there, but one night these two hippy-type guys came over to the piano and started firing requests at me.  I played them all!  The two guys were Ed Fischer and Paul Cooler, who had been members of the band The Vectors during the previous school year.  Fischer and Cooler were both sophomores at WIU; I was a freshman.




The Shadows of Knight:  Joe Kelley is center in the back.

Joe Kelley, who played with the Shadows of Knight on their hit record "Gloria" had been in the Vectors the previous year at WIU with Fischer and Cooler along with Roger Vail and Buzzy Graham (townies from Macomb) so when Fischer and Cooler told me they wanted me to help them form a band, I agreed on the spot. The Shadows of Knight were legendary in the northwest suburbs, and getting the chance to play with guys who played with Joe Kelley was a lot closer to the big time than I had ever been.

I headed back to Crystal Lake that weekend with Charlie Schott in his '49 Ford, got my Farfisa and my amp, and joined the band at WIU called The Remaining Few.  Cooler was lead guitar, Fischer sang and played drums, and Buzzy Graham played the bass.



The Remaining Few, playing at a Saturday night dance in the Corbin-Olson cafeteria at Western Illinois University--fall of 1966. L-R: Jim "Rona" Wyman (organ), Ed Fischer (drums), Buzz Graham (bass), Paul Cooler (lead guitar).

 When I say the money began rolling in, I'm not exaggerating.  We played gigs every Friday and Saturday night.  Dances at the union, frat parties, high school proms and post-proms--you name it, we played it!  I was able to pay a lot of my college expenses with money I made from playing in The Remaining Few. 

The Remaining Few's first gig was at the Teen-a-Go-Go in the small town of Blandinsville, about a half-hour north of Macomb.  Buzzy Graham's girlfriend, Bev Cookson, got us the gig, and a bunch of my buddies from Crystal Lake, including Craig Knaack and Danny Treptow, came up to see us play.  Treptow had played in a competing band in high school back in Crystal Lake.

Well, the local Blandinsville girls started to dig on the college boys and began asking them to dance.  The local boys from Blandinsville objected to their girls dancing with the college boys so a big fight broke out.  We were playing "Stepping Stone" by the Monkees when the fur started flying.  Blandinsville had one cop, and he arrived to break up the fight and threw the college boys out.

The Remaining Few evolved as Buzzy was replaced by Bob Palazoa, and John "Bobo" Rosemond took over as lead singer.  Bobo, like Mark Smith, is famous today.  He is a noted child psychologist who has appeared on 60 Minutes.

The Remaining Few on the steps of Grote Hall, Western Illinois University, March 1967.  L to R:  Jim (Rona) Wyman (organ), Bob Palazoa (Zoa) (bass guitar), Paul Cooler (lead guitar), John (Bobo) Rosemond (vocals), Ed Fischer (drums) (Courier Photo by Kay Chin).

The Remaining Few played two gigs that are somewhat famous in western Illinois rock 'n roll histroy.  First, we replaced the Buckinghams as the featured band at the University Union Winter Concert in January 1967.  The Buckinghams couldn't get out of Chicago because of the famous blizzard.  I can remember seeing kids dancing for what seemed like miles as we played on that cold winter night in the University Union's Grand Ballroom.

Second, The Remaining Few opened for Saturday's Children and the Shadows of Knight in a concert at Robert Morris College in Carthage in May of 1967.  Cooler and Fischer had a happy reunion with Joe Kelley that night, and we partied long and hard with the two bands.  Both the Shadows of Knight and Saturday's Children came out of the Cellar, the most famous Chicago teen dance club in northwest suburban Arlington Heights.

Cooler and Palazoa left WIU, Fischer got married, and in the fall of 1967, I began playing with Roger Vail, who had been in the Vectors with Fischer, Cooler, and Graham.  This is my Roccoco Period in Garage Band annals.  There were just three of us in the band, Vail was the main guy, and we played the Showboat Strip Club as the house band--not a very happy time.

But during the summer of '67 I did reunite with Tim McPike, who was playing in a great band from McHenry.  We even had a chance to cut a record, but I headed back to college trying to avoid the draft.

Terry Cox

Other then jamming once in a while, my music career ended in 1968.  But I still remember giving Terry Cox, Mickey Cox's sister, a soul kiss at midnight on December 31, 1965.  That kiss wouldn't have happened without me being in a garage band.

And that kiss is a good memory to recall on January 2, 2013.  A very good memory!

Pension End Run May Happen NOW! Call Your Legislators!

Pictured above is Mike Madigan's Stooge, Representative Elaine Nekritz of Northbrook, who is leading the charge against active teachers and retirees.

I just heard on WBBM radio in Chicago tonight that the Illinois State Legislature plans to consider a pension bill on Wednesday, December 5th, the last day of the fall veto session.

According to the Associated Press, State Representative Elaine Nekritz, a Democrat from Northbook will hold a press conference Wednesday morning which will feature at least two unnamed Republican lawmakers.

Nekritz is House Speaker Mike Madigan's toad.  Madigan is of course nowhere to be found.

According to the Springfield State Journal-Register, the bill calls for the following provisions for teachers hired before January 1, 2011:

*Cost of living adjustments would apply only to the first $25,000 of a pension if the retiree does not receive Social Security and $20,000 if he or she does. This change applies to both current and future retirees.

*Pensioners would receive no COLA adjustment until they reach age 67 or five years after they retire, whichever comes first. The summary says this provision will apply to retirees already receiving COLAs. So an employee who retired at age 58 and is now 60 would not receive another COLA adjustment until age 63.

*The retirement age would increase as follows:  Retirement ages in the current statute would apply to employees 46 and older.  One year would be added to current retirement ages for employees between 40 and 45 years old.  Employees age 35 to 39 would have to wait an additional three years.  Employees 34 and younger would have to wait an additional five years to retire.

*Employee contributions to pensions would go up by 1 percentage point in fiscal year 2014 and 2 percentage points in fiscal year 2015.

*The salary that counts toward a pension would be capped at the higher of the Social Security wage base or the employees’ salary when the bill becomes law.

Once again the two teachers' unions, the IEA and the IFT, have been left completely out of negotiations.  I'm sure Laurence Msall and his rich cronies at the Civic Federation in Chicago have had their red noses right in the middle of negotiations.  The Civic Federation has spent millions in anti-pension propaganda.

And these Civic Federation jokers will not pay a dime if this bill passes.  The burden will be placed on the backs of teachers, and the rich Civic Federation members will wallow in their tax breaks provided by the State of Illinois.

I'm bitching and moaning when I should be calling--and so should you! Call now and leave a message in Springfield for your state legislator.  Tell him or her to vote "NO" on this unconstitutional bill.

If you get no answer in Springfield, call the local office and leave a message there.

Don't let the legislature pass this bill on Wednesday!

Chicago: The New Capitol of Golf Misogyny

The misogynists at Butler National Golf Club in Oak Brook are celebrating today after voting not to admit women members.  The all-male country club is teetering on the brink of financial ruin and would most likely host a major PGA tournament if women did become members, but the good old boys said "NO!”

Butler National hosted the prestigious Western Open from 1974-1990, and that tournament has now disappeared from the local golf radar screen.  Sadly, Chicago is not hosting an annual PGA event, which is a shame because our area boasts some of the finest golf courses in the world, and Chicago golf fans are some of the most rabid--note the huge crowds at Medinah for the Ryder Cup last fall.

But Chicago is also a bastion of misogyny, with  Bob O’Link and Old Elm golf clubs in Highland Park and  Black Sheep Golf Club in Sugar Grove all banning women.  Bob O'Link, which boasts former Bears coach Mike Ditka as a member, supposedly paid $250,000 to move its gas meter outside of the country club gates.  Apparently NICOR's meter reader was a woman and was entering the grounds to read the meter located next to the club house.  These jerk weeds didn't want any woman anywhere near their circle-jerk clubhouse so they paid the $250,000 to put the meter outside of the gate because no women are allowed on Bob O'Link grounds.

To quote the Doors Jim Morrison, "I wonder what they do in there?"

Do these Bob O'Link members have wives?  What do the wives say about Dad going to Butler every weekend? I know Ditka once said that he could get a wife anytime.  That seems to be the prevailing attitude of these jokers!

The two country clubs I have been associated with, Soangetaha and Crystal Lake, are family clubs where mom, dad, and the kids can go and enjoy the golf course, pool, tennis courts, card room, and restaurant.

But Butler National, even in the face of falling off of a fiscal cliff, refuses to change its no-woman policy.  Heck, even Augusta National has two women members now, Condi Rice and Darla Moore.  If the racists and misogynists at Augusta can admit women, you'd think that sophisticated Chicago business executives would right this extreme wrong at Butler National.

But nooooooo!

However, even the so-called family country clubs still have antiquated anti-women policies.  The wife and I were playing at Illini Country Club in Springfield a few years ago, and we wandered into the club's basement grill room.  "Can we get some lunch?" the wife asked the male bartender.  "Your husband can, but you can't" he replied.  "This room is for men only.  Our members like to come in here wearing a towel after their showers and have a drink.  Women are not allowed."

I had to get the wife out of there pronto before she caused a scene so we walked upstairs and had lunch in the country club's restaurant.  But the wife still seethes when I bring up our Illini grill room experience. 

And isn't the whole concept of male-only clubs antiquated?  Most public and private golf courses have ladies' days so there is never a problem with male golfers having to wait for women playing in front of them.  At Soangetaha the women play on Tuesday nights, Thursday mornings, and early on Saturdays.  No one complains because the schedule has existed forever.

If women are playing bridge in the Soangetaha grill room, the waitress closes the door so no one is disturbed in the other part of the restaurant. Men and women co-exist in peace.

Surely, there must be women corporate executives in Chicago who can afford the six-figure Butler National initiation fee.  And surely these women would be an asset to this very exclusive country club.

I just want the Western Open to return to Butler.  Former TV analyst and former U.S. Open champion Ken Venturi once called the Western Open "Golf's fifth major."  Let's hope the Butler members have a change of heart and let women  join and then persuade the PGA to bring back the Western.

Chicago deserves a yearly PGA event.