Karr and Wieneke go face to face; mayor downplays it, bills it as 'Cowboy v. Colonel'

CEDAR RAPIDS - It's not readily apparent that council members Chuck Wieneke and Don Karr have come to dislike each other as the two sit side by side at the City Council table during council meetings.

But the two dislike each other, it turns out.

The hard feelings spilled over into something of a face-to-face spitting match of sorts immediately after the Tuesday evening City Council meeting, with Wieneke and Karr each having their own versions of who touched whom and who said what.

The confrontation came after a marathon five-hour council meeting that could have turned anyone a little testy.

Neither Wieneke nor Karr has any interest in shifting seats at the council, they said on Thursday.

“I think it's fair to say that Mr. Karr and I definitely do not see eye to eye on many things,” Wieneke added, while Karr contended that Wieneke offered to take him outside for a fight.

By the way, Wieneke, 65, and Karr, 64, both seem like guys who can take care of themselves.

Mayor Ron Corbett on Thursday said he had no intention of moving the two tangling council members to different spots at the council table.

Corbett said Karr has referred to himself as a cowboy, and the mayor has come to calling Wieneke "colonel" from his years as a lietenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force.

"It's cowboy v. colonel," Corbett said.