Posts Tagged ‘Chet Pleban’

Miami University soph Jacob Pleban, son of our town’s high-profiled barrister Chet Pleban, was observed by police officers on bike patrol, reportedly staggering in an alley behind Oxford United Methodist Church in Oxford, Ohio. According to the police report, an officer followed Pleban, 19, to a corridor leading to the church’s back door, where the student proceeded to urinate on the building. The officer reportedly identified himself as a cop and asked if Pleban knew he was urinating on the Methodist church. The officer wrote, “It appeared Pleban did not know what he was doing, but he replied, ‘I’m Catholic.’” Pleban was charged with public urination, disorderly conduct and underage intoxication. Jacob is a St. Louis University High alum.

It happened Sunday as KTVI-TV, Channel 2 aired the Phoenix Cardinals-Chicago Bears game played in Chicago. Just after half-time, the station suddenly switched to the Tampa Bay-Green Bay game. A viewer phoned the station and the person on the other end said they’ve gotten many calls. “We have nothing to do about it,” she said. “We were told by New York that the Cardinals-Bears game would be dull and they chose to switch to the other game in progress.” Then, the viewer phoned Fox in NYC and could only get recordings… Has Pinnacle Gaming dropped Mark Levison as legal counsel? That’s the word from sources in Jeff City. (Levison did not return phone calls for a comment.). Contrary to advice offered to then Pinnacle CEO Dan Lee by the company’s chief of government relations that he NOT make any direct contact with local elected officials in St. Louis county, let alone attend the council meeting, Lee was apparently persuaded by Levison to attend and voice his displeasure. The net result, as has been reported, is that the gaming commission is investigating Lee’s interaction with Councilman Steve Stenger and that Lee suddenly announced his “retirement” after seven years with the company. Prior to Lee’s appearance, the company was represented at the zoning hearings by local PR/lobbyist Mack Bradley in an “observe, do not speak” capacity. Bradley strongly advocated that Lee NOT attend or address the council meeting…

Before the plane left, do-gooder Jeffrey Fort challenged this columnist to try to get a table at Gotham’s Il Mulino. Even his barrister Chet Pleban and produce guy Charlie Gallagher couldn’t manage it.  Neither could the columnist. But, that turned into a mitzvah. The Stage Deli’s Steve Auerbach and Paul Zolenge had not only a table for me, but also put in the works a Jerry Berger sandwich of smoked salmon on a bialy. So, the columnist will soon join the real upper crust: the ranks of those whose namesake sandwiches appear on the Stage Deli’s menu.  Others? The tongue/swiss cheese and corned beef given the name of Larry King; Larry David’s corned beef and turkey; Howard Stern’s pastrami; A-Rod’s turkey, chopped liver lettuce, tomato and onion; Ben Stiller’s hot roast beef; Aretha Franklin’s pastrami and turkey and Dolly Parton’s twin rolls of pastrami and corned beef; and Tiger Woods’ Rueben … The columnist’s favorite alumnus of the Non-Partisan Judicial Selection Plan, Mo. Supreme Court Judge Michael Wolff, is clearly truthful, enlightened and so cool!  Has he ever smoked a joint? “It was a youthful indiscretion,” said Wolff over brunch at the Chase-Park Plaza.  “Unlike some others of my generation, I did inhale.”Wolff said he is a voracious reader and among his faves are: The Riverfront Times, New York Wired, Washington Monthly and the papers in and around Jefferson City.  The 64 year-old judge said that after mandatory retirement at 70, he’ll go back to teaching. Any hint where? Of Saint Louis University uber-president he says, “He’s transformed SLU and the city by making that gorgeous campus. I even like his engaging (the columnist thinks that is judicialese for “nude”) artwork on the campus.”  He looked back on his career on the bench and commented, “As a judge, it’s hard to get away from thinking about how law affects ordinary people, how it affects the average person. People with money can take care of themselves.”  Does the cool judge hit the casinos?  “It’s entertainment for five or ten minutes, but I do spend two dollars a week on my Powerball habit,” he admitted,  As to Judge Wolff’s family, he said, “My mother was a typical Irish Catholic – I don’t forget that!” We were joined by the Chase’s exemplary French Chef, Brian Hale, who hails from the whine region of St. Louis County. Brian Hale … Recession?  Mike Lordo says “not so much.”He and his brother have each just sold a 12-carat yellow and 13-carat emerald cut diamond rings at Lordo’s on Clayton Road … First there were Buster May, then Desmond Lee. Now, it’s Rex Sinquefeld who’s the outstretched hand from our town’s charity types. Who he? A zillionaire grad of Bishop DuBourg High (just like Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter), who wrote the definitive book on stock market returns and was co-founder of Dimensional Fund Advisors.