Where is Satch?
Gregory Petrolati
I was a subscriber to AUTOWEEK several years back, primarily for
their columnist Satch Carlson. He fell out of grace with the mag.
so when they dropped him I dropped them.
Does anyone out there know what he's doing these days?
Is he still writing? If so, where?
His collection of articles RUNNING ON EMPTY is very popular amongst
my auto-centric friends...
--
"Gee Brain, what'll we do tonight?"
"The same thing we do every night, Pinky... Try to take over the
world!"
Ian Meades
Satch Carlson used to be a school teacher in Alaska, and also wrote a column for
the Anchorage Daily News. Unfortunately, he was found to be having an affair with
one of his students and although she was over the age of consent Mr. Carlson found
himself well and truly embroiled in controversy and his reputation was trashed.
The publications he wrote for dropped him pretty quick, he resigned his teaching
position and left the State. The incident created quite an uproar in Anchorage,
resulting in some bizarre laws which restrict the kind of relationship a person
in a position of trust can have with somebody under their charge, whether or not
that person is of consenting age (it even covered having an affair with your
dental hygienist). No charges were ever brought against Satch - under the law
existing at the time he didn't do anything illegal. The most anyone could accuse
him of was exercising bad judgement. Ironically, the investigating police officer
started dating the young lady soon after the incident, and I recall that they were
engaged at one time - if that isn't the epitomy of hypocrisy, I don't know what
is.
I don't know where Satch is now, or if he's still writing (maybe under a pseudo-
nym?). I too miss his wit. And despite his failings, he was reputedly an excellent
English teacher. I did see that he placed pretty high in last years One Lap of
America - 2nd or 3rd I think.
If you hear anything about his whereabouts, please email me.
--
Ian Meades Unocal Energy Resources Division
Internet: Ian.M...@st.unocal.com Exploration and Seismic Technology
Phone: [714] 693-6867 P. O. Box 68076
Anaheim, California 92817-8076
robert.l.taylor
>
>I was a subscriber to AUTOWEEK several years back, primarily for
>their columnist Satch Carlson. He fell out of grace with the mag.
>so when they dropped him I dropped them.
>Does anyone out there know what he's doing these days?
>Is he still writing? If so, where?
>His collection of articles RUNNING ON EMPTY is very popular amongst
>my auto-centric friends...
Satch is still Satch. Well, his given name is Gordon (?), but "Satch"
seems to fit his persona.
I was disappointed that Autoweek dropped him, but I was able to follow
him over to the BMW Car Club's monthly: The Roundel. In addition to
a monthly column (it may still be "Running on Empty"), Satch writes
feature articles. Many (all?) of these deal with his own misadventures in
things automotive, especially running the AlCan rallys.
His stories haven't changed greatly from the AutoWeek days; he just tries
to sneak the BMW marque in now and then. Satch has also been a popular
guest speaker at some of the BMW club events.
Without knowing the details of the events leading to his dismissal from
AutoWeek, I'm not in a position to editorialize. But this is the Net:
I thought AutoWeek handled the whole affair :-) miserably.
-Bob Taylor (r.l.taylor att!cbnews!bt or b...@angate.att.com 508-691-3122)
(AT&T Bell Labs 6th Fl., 300 Brickstone Sq. Andover, MA 01810)