Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Birthday of Note: Is It Waltz Or Rokita?

The Star's Talk Of Our Town column today includes its normal birthdays of note item. "State Sen. Brent Waltz, R-Greenwood, will turn 33 Thursday," Susan Guyett writes. In the hard copy edition, the item runs with what is supposed to be a picture of Waltz. If my eyes aren't playing tricks on me, the photo is actually that of Secretary of State Todd Rokita (R). There are those among us who think that Rokita and Waltz have a distinctive similarity, but their OUTward appearance is not one of them.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gary, are you suggesting something about Waltz? Come on, just because the guy has never been married, lived with his mommy and daddy until he had to move out to reside in the senate district he ran for, and inherited his wealth at 19 from a rich man to whom he was not related there's something there?

He's a good old-fashioned wingnut, Gary, even made a speech on the floor "defending traditional marriage."

You may feel obliged to delete this comment as it is from an anony-mouse, but I can assure you the above is factual, and a visit to the Indy Star archives will back it up.

Anonymous said...

Damn. Juicy stuff.

Waltz or Rokita. Pick your goof, er, poison.

Anonymous said...

Just because someone was never married doesn't make one gay. In fact I would use this word to describe him ... SANE!!!

And gays actually WANT marriage? what for? I'm straight and I couldn't wait to get out of my marriage. I seen this sign at Spencer's once .. "Marriage is a Mutual Misunderstanding".

Sign me - Been there, Done that, she got the T-shirt.

Anonymous said...

Well Been There, it's not so much Waltz's singleness as the strange fact that he was "befriended" by a rich old man who left him a fortune.

Regarding marriage, you're missing the point. It's about civil equality, not whether it's right for you or me :-)

Anonymous said...

Talk of the town also mis-identified Rick Cockrum as Steven Stills from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Not a great day for the proofreaders at the Star...

Anonymous said...

is there EVER a good day for proofreaders there? Or grammarians, for that matter...

Gary R. Welsh said...

They do indeed misidentify Rick Cochrum as Stephen Stills in the hard copy. I'm sure Rick is getting a lot of laughs out of that one. They at least corrected it on the online version.

Anonymous said...

I'm still stuck on the old man leaving Waltz money.

Who was it, and how much?

I need to find his rich brother.

Anonymous said...

Yeah.. anyone have a lead on the rich family? I could sure use a sugar daddy....

Anonymous said...

Well, maybe if you're a 19 year-old twinkie as Waltz was and you find the right troll you can have his luck. From an Indy Star article before Waltz was elected:

During school, he struck up a friendship with George P. Rice Jr., an Indianapolis lawyer, college professor and nationally renowned public speaker. They met through Waltz's parents, who were involved in banking.

Apparently, Rice saw promise, Waltz said, and took him under his wing.

When Rice died in November 1991, Waltz inherited almost all of Rice's property and money. The payout was several hundred thousand dollars, and by all accounts it was well-invested.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Thanks.

Verrrrrry interesting.

Is Waltz married? (Not that marriage is the be-all-end-all)

Inquiring minds need to know.

Anonymous said...

No, Waltz is not married. There is speculation that he has moved back in with his mommy and daddy. His car (which is the same red Jag his boyfr...err, I mean his old lawyer friend, left him) is very often in the drive of his parents' house according to a neighbor.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and another point, the Indy Star article is inaccurate according to a neighbor. It states that Waltz and Rice struck up their "friendship" during school, referring to Wabash College (an all male school, go figure).

According to neighbor, Waltz and the old guy were hanging out well before Brent was collge age.

Anonymous said...

The story at Wabash College was that Waltz claimed that his parents sought out a rich old man with no heirs. When they found one, the made sure that Waltz was in a position to inherit.