Thursday, June 17, 1999
Raising big bucks is as easy as HUC
BY JIM KNIPPENBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
You just gotta love this: A fund-raiser with a million in hand even though it's still five months off. Enough time to scare up at least another mil.
That's what we were hearing Monday whilst partying at Adams Landing. Occasion was a kickoff for the Associates of Hebrew Union College (HUC) dinner, a November event that always honors someone for doing more than his or her fair share.
This year, it'll be Dick Weiland, a lobbyist and tireless fund raiser. He's also known for cramming 700 phone messages into his shirt pocket, but no one's honoring him for that. He's being honored for work in Columbus (he commutes from Hyde Park), racking up bucks for state and local Jewish organizations.
His $930,000 in pledges is a record for the dinner (previous record was $734,000 for the 1998 event honoring Cinergy CEO Jim Rodgers).
“We'll hit $1.2 million,” Weiland said amid white wine, munchies and all kinds of congratulations from guests, such as fund-raiser Barbara Gould and art dealer John Shore.
MOVING IN: Hmmm. Looks as if Melissa Proctor did it: Miss Kentucky USA (the pageant) is moving to Northern Kentucky.
Proctor was Miss Ohio 1990 and now is local director of the Miss Kentucky pageant, traditionally held in Paducah. She thought Northern Kentucky would be a better home for the event, so she began negotiating.
It's official now: Nov. 13-14 at Newport's Syndicate. Proctor is lining up judges and hotel rooms.
Miss Kentucky USA is a feeder for Miss USA, which is a feeder for Miss Universe.
PORKING OUT: Whew, wouldn't Mrs. Trollope turn in her grave? Pigs are about to run in our streets again. (Mrs. Trollope, whilst visiting from England, blasted Cincinnati in the 1830s for the hogs running loose downtown.)
Occasion is the first Findlay Market Pork Chop Festival, a little do punctuated by a zillion pork chops ($1-$3 a portion) in a zillion preparations — barbecue to brandy to curry, fruits and exotica.
(Personal aside: We like our chops breaded, fried and greasy. Seems to us that if God wanted pork chops gussied up with fruits and vegetables, He wouldn't have invented cholesterol.)
Pork Fest grew out of the Enquirer's Year of the Pork Chop, a series Taste editor Chuck Martin cooked up. His goal: to give Cincinnati a new signature dish (lest everyone think all we do is dribble chili on our chins).
But you can't go whole hog without a pig run: hence 14 to 18 pigs will go for glory, says Findlay's Tom Jackson, race coordinator. Glory and the right not to be a more, uh, tasty part of the festival. “Right. They all go home at night.”
Nor will they donate to the Pork Chop Toss, where contestants compete in speed, accuracy and distance. “We'll use plastic chops,” Jackson says.
The fest is 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday at Findlay Market.
Knip's Eye View appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Have an item to report? Call Jim Knippenberg at 768-8513; fax: 768-8330.
KNIPPENBERG ARCHIVE
