No shortage of stories

Few people in town have as many personal stories about the subjects of my book as former mayor Beau Satori.

When he moved to town as a new college graduate in the 1970s, there were relatively few people his own age, so he wound up befriending Louis and Elsie Freund, Ira Whitney, Glenn Gant, and Bettina Whitman (to use one of her names), all of whom will make an appearance in my book in one way or another.

After becoming active in politics, he crossed paths and swords with the town’s entire old-school establishment and half of its new. He also somehow wound up watching Willie Nelson’s grandchildren at a Farm Aid concert in Iowa.

So when I interviewed Beau recently, I didn’t have one person in mind. We covered a lot of ground, yet it still felt like a drop in the bucket.

We talked about the strange experience of a retired Manhattan Project nuclear physicist, what Captain Don was best known for (in certain quarters), and the black dog statue that once stood in Basin Park, among other things.

I’ve got quite a few more essential interviews to do before I can wrap up writing, but I might have to circle back to Beau one more time to clarify a few points we didn’t have time for. This town has just too many damn stories.