By Ian Perrotta

As far as documentaries go, the film on Hamtramck’s own Art “Pinky” Deras was a grand slam.

On Monday (Aug. 23) the premier of “The Legend of Pinky Deras: The Greatest Little-Leaguer There Ever Was” was shown at the Hamtramck High School Community Center to a packed crowd. Among those in attendance were Deras himself, as well as several former teammates including ex-Major League player Tom Paciorek.

The film was produced by Brian Kruger and Buddy Moorehouse and is being released by Michigan-based Stunt3 Multimedia’s Blue Hammer Films. It tells Deras’ tale from his Little League days through his retirement from the Warren Police Department.

Incredibly, the story of Deras’ remarkable ability was one that almost wasn’t told. Kruger originally found out about Deras while doing research for a documentary on one of the first girls to play Little League ball. After speaking with a Little League official, he casually asked if there was a Hall of Fame. The response was a definite no – “it would be a nightmare dealing with parents” – but the official did say that if there was one, it would start with Pinky Deras.

Intrigued by the official’s comment, Kruger decided to find out more about this player from his own backyard. To his amazement, he found nothing that documented the young Deras’ brilliant career despite his dominating performances with the much heralded team from Hamtramck.

“The Hamtramck team from that era has always been sort of a mythical team in Michigan history,” said Kruger. “We thought there would be lots of info and things on Pinky, but we were shocked to find out there wasn’t anything.”

Now, there is. Thanks to some research by Kevin Deras (Pinky’s son) that unearthed some old 16mm reels of the 1959 Little League World Series game, as well as images from the Hamtramck Historical Commission and interviews with several players from the ’59 and ’61 teams, the multimedia-enhanced story of Pinky Deras can finally be told.

The documentary begins on the ball fields of Hamtramck, where a young player was making waves with his incredible size and talent. Six feet tall and 135 pounds at the age of 12, the legend of Pinky Deras was already spreading by the time the Hamtramck team made it to Williamsport, Pennsylvania to play the final three games of the Little League World Series.

In those days, there was no second chance at glory. Teams had to win 13 games in a row to be crowned champions. Luckily for Hamtramck, during the season Deras went 18-0, pitching 16 shutouts and 10 no-hitters while striking out 298 players in 108 innings. His dominance also extended behind the plate, where he hit .641 with 33 home runs and 112 RBIs. Led by Deras, Hamtramck was the team to beat.

“It was best to be on the same side as Pinky,” says Paciorek, who played with Deras in the Pony League. “I’ve said Art was the greatest Little League player for the last 40 years.”

Fortunately for Hamtramck, Deras was on their team. In the ’59 World Series, he guided them to a 12-0 victory over a team from Auburn, California, and in 1961 he helped defeat a team from San Antonio, Texas 1-0 in the bottom of the 10th inning.

“When you drive into Hamtramck and see the signs for the ’59 and ’61 teams – those things could have never been accomplished without Pinky Deras,” says Paciorek.

After his Little and Pony League career, Deras went on to become a successful high school athlete, starring in football and basketball as well as baseball. With such natural talent and ability, he was offered a scholarship to play quarterback for Michigan State. However, by that time he had been offered an $80,000 signing bonus to play baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals. Due to economic circumstances, out of what he says was necessity, he chose to take the money.

Despite his early athletic success, Deras’ career in the major league failed to materialize. After five minor league seasons and with the threat of the draft looming, he joined the Army Reserve in 1968. He fulfilled his military obligations and returned to Hamtramck, but not to baseball. Tired of the pressure and expectations that came with playing ball, he instead became a police officer in Warren, serving for 30 years before retiring in 2001.

These days, Deras is back in Little League baseball, but this time as a father watching and cheering on his own son. And although he was once at odds with his past life of greatness – at one point he threw away all memorabilia related to his Little League glory days – he has now made peace with all that happened.

At Monday’s premier, he was the same old Pinky that everyone remembered. Standing among his former teammates as they reminisced about the past, he remained humble and soft-spoken about his accomplishments. He politely posed for pictures and signed autographs, graciously accepting his moment in the limelight.

“It’s a special day,” he said. “When you think back, that Little League has been going on since 1946 or so, for someone to recognize me as the greatest player of all time, it’s really something. Now, I don’t know if I deserve that title, but I’ll take it.”

A 30-minute version of “The Legend of Pinky Deras: The Greatest Little-Leaguer There Ever Was” will be shown at 1 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 29, on WXYZ (Channel 7). For a DVD copy of the full 42-minute documentary –including the broadcast of the 1959 Championship Game between Hamtramck and Auburn, Calif., as well as a CD of photos and newspaper clippings – visit www.stunt3.com. Copies are $29.95, which includes shipping and handling.

Hamtramck is still waiting.

Waiting for the administration of Detroit Mayor Dave Bing to get off its ass. Well, that’s not how Hamtramck officials would say it, at least on the record, but it is the growing sentiment they feel.

Hamtramck is specifically waiting for Bing’s administration to complete – and reveal – an audit of a tax sharing agreement the two cities share from GM’s Poletown plant.

The plant straddles both Hamtramck and Detroit, although the majority of the site is located in Detroit. Nevertheless, Hamtramck receives about $3 million a year from the plant.

At least that was the deal for the last 20-some years.

That income came to a halt last year when Detroit claimed part of the agreement had expired and that Hamtramck has been overpaid.

Hamtramck says Detroit is withholding $3 million – money that was already budgeted for last year and this year.

Detroit officials said the audit would be completed earlier this month. Hamtramck City Manager Bill Cooper said Detroit has tried a “stall tactic” by requesting information that it already has on file.

Cooper said the point person in Bing’s administration has had only “limited” contact with him.

While Hamtramck waits, the city faces an increasingly dire financial squeeze. Layoffs have already taken place and unless the Poletown revenue comes in the near future, it’s likely the city will face a $3.3 million deficit.

Cooper has warned that by this January, the city could be entirely broke. If Hamtramck can’t meet its bills, there is a likelihood that the state will once again step in and appoint an emergency financial manager.

However, even with an emergency financial manager in charge, there is little more that can be done. The manager cannot break the city’s labor contracts. But, the manager could merge the city’s police and fire services with another community or the county.

Cooper said if Detroit continues to drag out the dispute he will file a lawsuit to force the issue.

Four teen suspects are believed to be behind a crime spree on a recent Friday.

The incidents occurred on Aug. 14 at 6:30 p.m. when one of the suspects approached a 75-year-old man getting an item out of his car parked on Caniff just east of Conant.

The suspect had his hand wrapped with a material to indicate that he had a gun. The elderly man was robbed of his wallet, and the suspect was last seen getting into a waiting Chrysler 300.

An hour later, police received a report of a purse snatching at Bozek’s Market. When police arrived, however, no victim was present. But, there was a 19-year-old man sitting in a car in the parking lot and he told police he was approached by a similar looking suspect.

The suspect took the man’s cell phone and was last seen getting into a Chrysler. Soon after, a police officer noticed the car and attempted to pull it over.

The driver took off and a wild chase ensued, which included traveling against traffic on I-75. The speeding Chrysler eventually got off the freeway and then jumped the I-75 embankment at Nevada.

Three of the four suspects were caught. The suspects were 14, 15 and 16 years old and were held in a county juvenile jail. (They were released last week pending charges.)

The Chrysler they were driving was stolen in an armed carjacking incident a few days earlier.
Charges are pending a photo line-up, said Detective Derek Suwolkowski.

Hamtramck’s auto theft investigation unit may be on the financial chopping block.

The possible cut of two investigators is part of the city’s ongoing struggle to make up for a projected $3.3 million budget deficit. The city has already laid off several employees, including the special events coordinator who had been organizing this year’s Hamtramck Labor Day Festival until just several weeks prior to the event.

Although the two auto theft investigators are paid partly through a grant provided by insurance companies, the city is required to kick in $30,000 for each investigator.

City Manager Bill Cooper said the elimination of the squad is because of a lack of money.

“That’s what it comes down to,” he said.

Auto theft is one of the highest number of crimes committed in the city. According to FBI crime statistics for 2008, over 400 vehicles were stolen that year in Hamtramck. Cooper said that unless alternative funding is found soon, the squad will be cut in mid-September.

Police Chief Mark Kalinowski said although he couldn’t discuss the matter in detail, he said he is looking into other revenue sources to save the unit.

Hamtramck’s finances nosedived in the past year due to a dispute with Detroit over how much tax revenue collected from GM’s Poletown plant should be shared.

Hamtramck had been receiving about $3 million a year from Poletown tax revenues. That revenue was stopped last year until the dispute is settled.

Attention Hamtramck retirees, the city has a deal waiting for you.

In an attempt to cut expenses and chip away at a projected $3.3 million deficit, the City of Hamtramck is offering its retirees a yearly $7,500 payment to opt out of a city-funded health insurance plan.

The city’s Financial Director, Nevrus Nazarko, says the plan would appeal to those who can receive health insurance coverage from another employer or their spouse.

A likely candidate would be an ex-elected official. In previous years the city offered lifetime health insurance coverage to elected officials who served at least 10 years.

The $7,500 payout will be offered to a family of two. For those who are single, $4,000 will be offered.

Nazarko said the city could save upwards of $450,000 a year if at least 50 retirees accept the offer. He said the rising cost of health insurance has been a “huge liability” for the city.

In the past year, health insurance cost has increased by over 20 percent.

The city has about 150 retirees. The future cost of providing health insurance looks grim, Nazarko said. He said the city’s health insurance liability over the next 30 years will cost $70 million – an amount he said the city will not have.

Nazarko said if the city fails to meet its obligation, he expects retirees to go to force a court-ordered property tax increase to cover the insurance cost.

Hamtramck is not alone in facing a variety of financial challenges. Many cities are turning to contracting out services, such as police and fire protection, in order to avoid retirement obligations.

With school starting back up in just two weeks, a rush is on to complete a citywide sidewalk repair project.

In fact, repairs should be wrapped up no later than Labor Day weekend, said Martin Ladd, the Director of Public Works.

A number of sidewalks and curbs were repaired this summer thanks to a $900,000 federally-funded project called “Safe Routes to Schools.” Out of that amount, $750,000 was spent on the repairs. The remainder of the money is being used for educating students on safe walking practices.

In the last couple of weeks repairs were focused in the Caniff-Brombach area, which is near Kosciuszko Middle School.

Sean Bieri is an illustrator whose work will be shown at Café 1923, and there will be an official opening this Friday to support the exhibit. The Hamtramck resident is also, among other things, the current Artistic Director of the Metro Times.

Let’s talk a little about your background – generally, but then also specifically as an artist/illustrator. Are you a native Detroiter? Where exactly did you grow up? When did you first develop an interest in drawing, and how did that come about?

SB: I grew up in Waterford. My dad worked as a technical artist for, at various times, GM, AMC, and Lionel trains. There were always lots of art instruction books and drawing supplies around the house, stuff left over from his school days. His mother worked for Xerox and would bring home cardboard rolls of paper, the leftover tail-ends of stuff they used for printing. My brother Mark and I would swipe my dad’s supplies and we’d constantly be making drawings on the paper rolls. Mark gravitated toward a more realistic style (he’s an oil painter now), but I always loved drawing cartoons, imitating newspaper strips (I was a big fan of “Tumbleweeds”) and Mad magazine. I moved to Detroit in ’88 to go to school at Wayne State (BFA in drawing).

You are, or were, a Hamtramck native, is that right? Has Hamtramck “shaped” your art in any discernable way? Did you ever have a show in Hamtramck?

SB: My wife and I bought a house and moved to Hamtramck from the southwest side of Detroit in 2001. The most important aspect of Hamtramck for me, art-wise, has been the succession of cafés that have sprouted up here — Shadowbox, Urban Break, now Café 1923. They’ve all been like second homes to us creative-types. Hanging out with other cartoonists at the Shadowbox in the early ’90s was my introduction to Hamtramck. But this will be my first solo show in town (or anywhere, really).

You’re heavily involved in HATCH, the Hamtramck Arts Collective founded in 2006. Also, the Dr. Sketchy portion of HATCH, wherein folks pay $5 or so to sketch some of Detroit’s most va-va-voom models, seems to have your charcoal-y fingerprints all over it. Why don’t you tell us a bit about both groups in general, mainly your level of involvement and overall sense of the projects?

SB: I’m one of the co-founders of Hatch. Our membership boasts all sorts of artists, and we try to give them opportunities to make and disseminate their work, through group tables at art fairs, shows at the café, online and elsewhere. We’ve done educational workshops for the community, organized gallery crawls and other activities. Our main concern at the moment is fundraising in order to convert the old police station on Evaline into gallery and studio space. We’ve already made a lot of progress with cleaning the place out, but now we need some major skilled labor done. (Any millionaires out there reading this — call me, we’ll talk.)

Dr. Sketchy was the first big activity Hatch sponsored. It’s an internationally-syndicated operation out of New York City that puts on figure drawing sessions with sexy burlesque dancers, sideshow circus-type performers and other fun folks as models. We usually hold the sessions here at the Belmont Bar or at the Scarab Club in Detroit, and we have music and prize drawings and other fun stuff going on. It’s a place for artists of all skill levels, who may not get a chance to draw as much as they’d like to, to create in an upbeat, no-pressure environment. I started up the Detroit branch in ’06, one of the earliest branches in the U.S. I think, and it’s been a big hit here ever since.

You’ve also the current Art Director over at the Metro Times, and according to your Gallery intro on the HATCH website, have been involved “in some capacity” with them for about 15 years. Presuming you work at the Metro Times offices proper, you must “see some things,” for better or worse. Any funny tales, interesting sidebars, that sort of thing, from your time there? What exactly goes into the average day of an art director for Detroit’s hippest rag? I see you’re a married guy – does the Metro Times figure in your future plans, assuming you’ve mapped some out? Or are you brewing some other notions?

SB: I started working at MT in ’90, left in 2000 to work at an ad agency, then came back again as art director in 2004. The work week ranges from slow (mid-week) to crazy-busy (early in the week, when we’re rushing to get the pages assembled and shipped to the printer).

Naturally, a paper like MT has always attracted a colorful cast of characters, and I could tell some stories… but I won’t! But I keep thinking: Since I started helping out at the campus newspaper at Oakland Community College in the mid-80s, I’ve worked through the last days of mechanical newspaper production through the early days of desktop publishing to now, when it’s virtually all done electronically.

Plus, I’ve worked in alternative newsweeklies since their early-90s heyday, into the age of the internet and through to today, when the future of print media is in a state of flux and uncertainty. So in a small way, I’ve been a first-hand witness to one of the most important stories of the information age, and it’s not over yet. I’d like to stick around and see what happens next.

So you’ve gotten your own show, opening this Friday Aug. 27 at the Café 1923 on Holbrook. Congratulations! Will this be mostly your illustrative art, or other stylings, or a mix, or what? I presume you’ll leave the performance art to Satori Circus. I also imagine that you may be selling at least some of these items. Care to talk about prices, or any other aspect of your “art-as-commerce”?

SB: The show is all cartoon-style illustrations that I’ve done for Metro Times since 2004. They’re framed laserprints, for sale for $35 each (there are no “originals” really – the hand-drawn elements of the work are all in pieces in my attic somewhere and the finished art is stored on a hard drive). I may be making up postcards featuring some of the work too. Right now, I’m planning a closing reception on Friday, Sept. 17.

Anything else I haven’t covered that you’d like to mention? Anyone, or thing, you’d like to plug? I suppose we might extend that to music you’ve heard lately, art shows or artists, baseball, the weather … Have a go!

SB: Let’s see … The Specs Howard school has been hiring me lately to host all-ages sketching sessions at their campus in Southfield (there’s one scheduled for this Friday night at 6 p.m.). Also, the science fiction website Tor.com has gotten into the habit of hiring me once a year to draw zombie cartoons for them (zombies are the greatest monsters because they’re us minus all our good aspects, which makes them perfect subjects for both horror and humor). And there will be a mini-Dr. Sketchy session happening at the People’s Art Festival on Sunday, from 1-2 p.m. at the Motor City Blog booth (featuring the lovely Lushes LaMoan modeling).

You didn’t ask for advice, but here’s what I got for any aspiring graphic artists out there: Go rent To Inform and Delight, a documentary about seminal designer Milton Glaser. He’ll tell you everything you really need to know.

By Walter Wasacz

It was nice to get a call a few weeks ago from one of my oldest, dearest Hamtramck buddies, Stanley Nalepa, a retired public school teacher who was a recreation baseball mentor to me in the 1960s.
It reminded me of what an exciting time it was to be a youth ballplayer in the city.

Beginning early in the 1950s, Hamtramck kids had few peers on the diamond. Participation in Little League, Pony League and Colt League — not to mention bantam and minor leagues that served to instruct and feed the Little League American and National leagues — was bursting at the seams.

Tournament teams, which were made up of the best of all the players in each league, were extremely competitive. More often than not, the best team the Hamtramck National All-Stars would face in district play would be the city’s American All-Stars. Coaching was top notch. Kids were taught fundamentals first — like how to field a ground ball at third base and make an accurate throw to first base to get the hitter out. Nalepa also reminded me of that in his call.

Stan — everyone called him “Bob” — was a bit of playground legend: at strikeouts, which were played against the wall at Dickinson School, or long ball, which used the length of the playground.

We used to hit a lot of fly balls into people’s yards and front porches on Edwin St. back then. But rubber balls, which we’d buy at candy stores like Stack’s or Kwik’s on Conant, usually didn’t do much damage unless they hit a window directly. Which wasn’t often, thankfully.

But Nalepa really excelled on the neatly manicured grass diamonds at Veterans Memorial Park and at Playfair, where the Pony League played. He was an All-Star for the Americans in Little League in 1959, but he wasn’t a World Champion then. It was the Nationals that made it to Williamsport and stormed past Auburn, Ca. in the final game. Nalepa did win a World Series title in 1961, with the Pony League, and came close in 1963 with the Colt League squad. He was also quite a player for the Hamtramck American Legion, played college ball at Central Michigan and later became a manager of the Colt League All-Stars.

Nalepa picked me to be a member of a pretty good tournament team in 1970. I was the only 15-year-old on a veteran group made up 16-year-olds like Bill Nahorodny (a catcher who played in the Majors with the Phillies, White Sox, the Tigers and other clubs), and a bunch of great St. Ladislaus High School players who kept the Greyhounds as one of the most best teams in the Catholic League each year.

The training was really superb. It prepared me to play ball at a pretty high level for Austin in the Catholic League’s Central Division. I never faced Catholic Central’s Frank Tanana, who was then the region’s best all-round player and later a great Major League pitcher, because I was a few grades behind him. But I saw him pitch a bunch of times and knew he was going to be huge.

I never saw Art “Pinky” Deras pitch either. He was the kid that everyone wanted to be in Hamtramck. He pitched and hit that Nationals team to the World Series championship in 1959, and did it again with the Pony League team two years later. He was a star in Colt League, at Hamtramck High and signed an $80,000 bonus — a ton of money in the mid-1960s — to play for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Briefly, while he was still in the Cardinals’ farm system, a sporting goods store named for him operated on Jos. Campau near Faber. It was on the same block that included Playdium Bowl and a decent coney island whose name I’ve long forgotten. The buildings on that block are all gone now, replaced by a fast-food drive-through restaurant.

Deras’ remarkable story is now the subject of a documentary to be aired this Sunday on Channel 7. There was a premiere of the film earlier this week at the HHS Community Center.

It comes highly recommended and opens more than a few portals into the community’s rich history, when excellence was the expectation. It’s a nostalgic journey for adults who might recall those sweet, golden years but also a legacy for kids in present day Hamtramck to grab onto.

Anything possible is the message — even being the best in the world at whatever we do within reach of us all.

(“The Legend of Pinky Deras: The Greatest Little-Leaguer There Ever Was” will be shown at 1 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 29, on Channel 7, before the Little League World Series championship game.)

The new documentary on Art “Pinky” Deras’ isn’t the only thing related to baseball making headlines this week. The effort to save the stadium at Veterans Park continues to meet with success.

Last Thursday’s (Aug. 19) meeting of the committee to save the grandstands yielded a number of positive results and helped bring the effort a little bit closer to happening. In addition to being attended by a core group of preservationists – which includes baseball author/historian Gary Gillette, City Councilmember Cathie Gordon and historical preservation expert Rebecca Binno Savage, among others – the meeting also brought in former Major-Leaguer Ike Blessett and Hamtramck Recreation Commission President Dave Olko.

At the meeting, it was decided that the non-profit Friends of the Hamtramck Historical Commission will serve as the committee’s fiduciary. This will allow for donations going toward the preservation effort to be tax-free and will also keep the books open for public scrutiny. Moreover, it will provide for a way to disperse money after it has been raised.

Additionally, at the meeting it was also decided that a website should be created to help promote the effort. That task will be undertaken by the City Of Hamtramck’s IT professional. The idea is that with a website, news of the effort can spread more readily and rapidly, which could lead to a significant donation or sponsorship if it reaches the right person. And speaking of reaching the right person, there is also talk of filming a promotional video to help spread the word.

But before the proverbial ball can really get rolling, the state must first approve a preliminary application for historical designation, which usually takes a few months. After the preliminary application has been approved, the committee must then apply for historical designation through the American Historical Society.

“Each state decides what is historical, so we’re still dealing on a local level,” said Gordon. “But because they only meet a few times a year, it will probably take a year for it to go through.”

In the meantime, word of the effort has already begun to spread. Two weeks ago, Rob Neyer, a senior writer for ESPN.com, mentioned the effort on his blog, saying that “one of my favorite research presentations at the SABR Convention last weekend was given by Gary Gillette, who discussed his research into a forgotten old ballpark called Hamtramck Stadium.”

In his post, Neyer also mentioned that Major League Baseball (MLB) spends a lot of money to highlight the contribution of the Negro Leagues to the sport and suggested the organization donate some money to the effort.

“Every summer, Major League Baseball goes to a great deal of trouble celebrating the old Negro Leagues,” he wrote. “So why doesn’t Commissioner Bud Selig kick in just a few thousand bucks to preserve the few Negro Leagues ballparks? And why doesn’t he establish a fund to mark the graves of those neglected Negro Leaguers. Seriously. Isn’t this pretty easy stuff?”

It’s questions like those that make Councilmember Cathie Gordon feel that the city is truly on to something with its bid to save the stadium. She says she thinks that the city can garner national news from the effort, which could ultimately lead to some big money from corporations like ESPN, Nike or the MLB.

She says there are lots of grants for historical sites, and the fact that this site involves African-American history makes it even more likely to receive one. Regardless, she says things are going in the right direction.

“I look at it this way: we’ve met one time and we already made ESPN,” she says. “If we market this right, who knows – we may have the Negro League ball game played here every year like they do at Tiger Stadium.”

The next meeting of the committee to save the stadium will be Thursday, Sept. 19 at 10 a.m. in the third floor conference room at City Hall.

The Police Department’s two auto theft investigators may have to be eliminated because the city can’t afford to kick in its part of a matching grant. The state’s auto insurance companies have a grant program that gives communities $50,000 for each auto theft officer it assigns.

The cities, in turn, have to make up the difference in salaries, which for Hamtramck is about $30,000 for each officer. This hasn’t been a problem until this year. Hamtramck is facing a $3.3 million debt thanks to a dispute with Detroit over tax revenue sharing with GM’s Poletown plant.

Detroit is withholding $3 million until the dispute is worked out, and if Detroit prevails that means Hamtramck is out $3 million.

In the meantime, Hamtramck has its hands tied and has to come up with ways to cut from the budget.

But there is another way to keep these important jobs. Considering that in 2008, according to the FBI crime statistics for Hamtramck, there were over 400 stolen cars in the city, our elected leaders need to step up.

The City Council, except for Councilmembers Cartrina Stackpoole and Shahab Ahmed and Mayor Karen Majewski, has refused to raise the city’s property tax rate to its legal limit – a mere 2.3 mills.
Any increase above that would require voter approval. If the council were to raise the rate 2.3 mills, an extra $500,000 a year would be generated.

But Councilmembers Tom Jankowski, Mohammed Hassan, Kazi Miah and Cathie Gordon refuse to do the right thing. Some, like Hassan and Miah, ran for office on a platform not to raise taxes.

That’s a cheap and cynical way to get elected to office – and irresponsible. If you want to have a fully functioning city you have to pay your fair share.

As for Gordon and Jankowski, we’re not exactly clear on what their problem is with raising our tax rate.

Yes, it’s an unpopular thing to do with voters but – again – if you want a nice and safe city to live in you have to pay for it.

Because of the refusal of these councilmembers, Hamtramck faces losing its auto theft investigators. Our quality of life is now further imperiled.

And if this city becomes more unsafe, that means our house values will also decline. Hamtramck doesn’t need to become the next Highland Park.

It’s time our elected officials grow some backbone and do the right thing. Otherwise, Hamtramck will be run into the ground because of their stubbornness.