The legendary Johnny 'TV" Peluso

Former WWll P.O.W. Johnny 'TV" Peluso holding

a brick collected by another former WWll P.O.W., Adam Wood. One of 15 children Johnny moved to Newport when he was 3 months old. In the 1970's when I came to town he was the well-known mayor of Newport. He also ran a TV repair shop. In World War ll Johnny was at Normandy at D-Day. Later he was at the Battle of the Bulge where he was captured by the Germans.

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Johnny is almost 90 years old. He has been married for 69 years. His wife is in the hospital right now. Last month he ran for Newport City Comissioner. He got my vote. He is also in the landlord business. If that gal upstairs didn't pay her rent by Monday, he was evicting her and all her biker boyfriends. (Sadly, I just found out that Johnny's wife, Margaret, passed away yesterday.)

Me and Johnny

When I first came to Newport, I slept on the sofa of Vic Stadtmiller. We were deckhands together on the Delta Queen. Vic was a huge fan of the Big Red Machine, especially Pete Rose. He bought a giant TV from Johnny just to watch the Reds. One day I was laying on the sofa when there was a knock on the door. It was Johnny's henchmen there to reposess the TV. Vic hadn't been making the payments.

Jeff Nash of Newport, Kentucky

I met my good buddy Jeff one Thursday evening at Sis's Family restaurant when I was dining all alone. He is a life long resident of Newport, scoring high on the mugometer. He helped me nail down a roof this week. Too bad he didn't show up Wednesday , Thursday or Friday. Lots of good Jeff stories: one evening he just didn't feel like going to jail so when the cops started chasing him across the 12th street bridge he climbed underneath it and hid on a steel beam. They thought he had jumped into the Licking River and after the rescue boats couldn't find him, declared him dead. In the meantime he had snuck off to his sister's.

John Van Eaton

John would be my friend even if he didn't have the beautiful Natchez, Mississippi girlfriend Catherine. Every Saturday John is to be seen at Findlay Market where he produces sauerkraut and hot pepper relish.

Finzer Bros.

This brick came from the farm that John's grandfather had up near Xenia, Ohio. John picked it up for me when he went up there to get gallon jugs of water for sauerkraut.

John and Jim Van Eaton posing in front the brick from their Grandpappy's farm