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Sandy Read Reiberg's avatar

Hoosier Heroes......or at least Hoosier Famous Bad Guys who ask us to test the theology I grew up with that everyone is actually good, they just do really bad things sometimes. This one may or may not be my favorite, as it is yours, Bob, because I cannot pick a favorite! They're all worth reading many times, in my humble opinion. Oh wait....I've never HAD a humble opinion, have I? But this one is a gem, I'll say that ever so humbly ..... and important for every Hoosier to read. BRAVO again - I liked it even more than my comments below from January 2024 indicate. Happy 2025.

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Robert  Basler's avatar

Sandy, I simply cannot believe what great taste in writing you have! This isn't your first experience with good literature, is it? Be honest...

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Jane Rea's avatar

One of your best and an admirable research effort.

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Patricia Coonan's avatar

Sure those weren't flying monkeys? Hard to imagine Jim Jones selling monkeys that were anywhere close to normal.

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Sandy Read Reiberg's avatar

Mercifully she did not accept ANYTHING from him, Bob. 🥴😆🤣

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Dave Cook's avatar

Who are you trying to fool, Bob? That's George Santos with those monkeys, back when he was a professor of anthropology.

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Robert  Basler's avatar

Okay, you're right, Dave. Just before he went to court to defend Scopes in the Monkey Trial, in your home state....

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Dave Cook's avatar

Those monkeys were FRAMED!

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Lee Ann Runkle's avatar

Speaking as a ‘decent and honest’ fellow Hoosier, this was one of your best.

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Robert  Basler's avatar

Thank you, fellow Hoosier...

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Leah Eichler's avatar

The monkeys. I can’t get over the monkeys

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Sandy Read Reiberg's avatar

Quite the stroll down the Hoosier Sidewalk of Stars, Bob. Well written, as always. My mom met Jim Jones before he was (in)famous, and felt something sinister even before his big hoorah. The Calcutta monkeys was a new bit of info I'd never heard. Though I've asked myself before the question of how Hoosierdom could produce such a panoply, I still don't have an answer. Thanks for thought stimulation.

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Robert  Basler's avatar

Thank you, Sandy. Your mom didn't accept a beverage from Jim Jones, I hope...

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Nathan's avatar

Let’s not forget disgruntled Hoosier, Tony Kiritsis, who, in the late 1970s, expertly rigged a sawed-off shotgun to the neck of a hapless executive at Meridian Mortgage and marched him down Market Street. Seems like Tony could’ve chosen a better way to address his grievances, but maybe that’s just me.

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Robert  Basler's avatar

Not forgetting Kiritsis, Nathan, but I mean, we've all been there, haven't we?

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Nathan's avatar

Fair point, sir. Fair point.

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trixiebettsDornoch's avatar

Makes you proud eh?

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Karen Ford's avatar

Loved this one!

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John C Abell's avatar

I guess you won’t be volunteering at the tourist bureau hotline any time soon ...

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Robert  Basler's avatar

funny you should say that. don't you think there's potential here for a great tourist attraction?

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Joyce Wadler's avatar

Bob,

I knew of these people, of course, but I had no idea they were all Hoosiers. The biographical details are hilarious. (Jim Jones sold monkeys? For $29? And by this (as we used to say in the Catskills) he made a living?)

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Robert  Basler's avatar

Joyce, I'm sure you've had this experience, where your research turns up something 20 times better than anything you could dream up. All I had to do was stand back and watch.

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