Running red lights

This weekend, I was sitting at a light on Route 60 at West Pea Ridge Road and the Russell Creek bridge. The light had been red for at least five seconds when this white pickup came up behind me in the other lane and zoomed through the red light like it wasn't there. Right after that, a van with the green light came through the intersection. From the angle the van approached the intersection and given the other traffic there, the driver might not have been able to see the white pickup until it was in the intersection, but I can't be sure of that.

This morning I was on my way to work. I was at the traffic light on 10th Street at 6th Avenue. It had just turned red. But that didn't matter to a green Ford -- I think it was an explorer -- that headed on north through the red light. The driver must have assumed that no one else would be in the intersection three seconds after the light turned red. It was good for him or her that no one was heading westbound on 6th and had timed the lights so they could go through without stopping.

At times like these, I wish I were a cop or that I had a Kojak light or that I could legally put the fear of traffic court into these jerks.

Just wondering. . .

Whatever happened to all those global warming hurricanes that were supposed to hammer the Southeast this year? You know, the record number the experts had predicted?

Be wary of names advocacy groups use

Try this:

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — In Arizona, they’re called the Non-Smoker Protection Committee. In Ohio, it’s simply Smoke Less Ohio.
Anti-smoking advocates? Hardly. Both are staunchly pro-tobacco and supported in part by North Carolina-based cigarette maker Reynolds American Inc., which is working hard this year to defeat proposed smoking bans in those states, as well as ballot efforts to raise cigarette taxes in California and Missouri.
The nation’s second-largest cigarette maker plans to spend $40 million to defeat all four measures, enough that company officials have warned investors the campaigns will affect the company’s earnings in the second-half of 2006.

Things like this would make you wonder if the National Ringworm Prevention Alliance (I just made that up; please tell me it does not really exist) is really funded by people who want you to contract the skin problem.

How does "Smoke Less Ohio" become the name of a group that actually doesn't want you to smoke less?

Time to go nuclear again?

According to an article by the AP that moved a little while ago, the Tennessee Valley Authority is looking at adding a second nuclear reactor at its Watts Barr station, the site of the last nuclear power plant to come on line in the United States. To do that, TVA management is asking its board of directors to approve $20 million for a detailed engineering study of what it would take to add the second reactor.

Watts Bar is about 50 miles south of Knoxville.

There's also talk of a consortium being intersted in building a next-generation reactor at the TVA's unfinished Bellefonte nuclear station in Alabama.

According to the AP, the TVA believes it will need new base generation capacity by 2014.

Watts Bar 1 came on line in 1996.

Here in West Virginia and in the Ohio Valley as a whole, nuclear power has never been much of an option. If memory serves, the Zimmer power plant this side of Cincinnati started out as a nuclear project but converted over to coal. And there may have been talk of a nuke plant along the Ohio somwhere in Indiana, but my memory on that one is hazy. If I'm wrong on any of this, please let me know.

I guess the point of all this is that the United States needs more electric generating capacity. I've never like nuclear power because of the waste it produces. But is that waste any worse than the mercury put into the environment, especially into our rivers, by burning coal?

Maybe it's time to give nuclear another chance.

But first we'll have to ge the Yucca Mountain situation straightened out, I guess.

This one will take some more research before I can form a firm opinion. I would say the same is true of most Americans, although many won't want to admit it.

What's up at Marathon Oil Co.

Now that we’re a few months into this deal of higher gasoline prices and the search for alternate fuels, wonder what the Tri-State’s only refiner is up to? Here is some information lifted from Marathon news releases.

On July 10, Marathon Oil Corp. and The Andersons Inc. jointly announced they had signed a letter of intent which could lead to the formation of a 50/50 joint venture that would construct and operate a number of ethanol plants. The Andersons will provide day-to-day management of the ethanol plants, as well as corn origination, risk management, and dry distillers grain and ethanol marketing services. Site selection is expected to be finalized soon. The initial plant is expected to have a nameplate annual production capacity of 110 million gallons of ethanol.
Timing of construction is contingent upon selection, regulatory requirements, permitting and economic incentives.

This past Monday, Marathon and the Kentucky Clean Fuels Coalition jointly announced that Marathon will be adding storage and distribution of biodiesel fuel at the company's Kramer's Lane Terminal in Louisville. The Kentucky Clean Fuels Coalition (KCFC), the Kentucky Soybean Board and National Clean Cities, Inc. collaborated with Marathon to attract grants that helped enable the installation of the blending infrastructure.
"This is the first biodiesel storage and distribution project in Kentucky and Marathon's second biodiesel fuel location," said Gary R. Heminger, executive vice president of Marathon Oil Corporation and president of the Company's refining, marketing and transportation operations.
Biodiesel storage and distribution at the terminal is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2007.

If I read Marathon's Web site correctly, the company will announce its second-quarter earnings on Tuesday, Aug. 1. On July 6, the company released a statement saying it estimates its refining and wholesale marketing gross margin for the current quarter will average approximately 29 cents per gallon. Take this next for what it’s worth, but that would mean Marathon’s profit on a gallon of gasoline would be less than what state and federal government takes in taxes.

I’ll have more on this after the earnings release. Marathon usually provides some pretty interesting information that I’ll be looking for.

Rotary Park

Is it just me, or is it odd that three weeks after we run a story about how a new middle school might be built on the site of what is now Rotary Park, there’s been no outcry to save Rotary Park?

Why do people give in to such strange requests?

This one grosses me out.


Alleged library foot kisser indicted

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — A grand jury has accused a man of sucking on a woman’s toe at the public library in nearby Boardman after he asked to kiss her feet to see her reaction as part of a sociology project.

A Mahoning County grand jury has charged Joseph Colella, 28, of suburban Poland Township, on a charge of gross sexual imposition. If convicted, he could be face up to 1 1/2 years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

A 27-year-old woman told police that on July 11 Colella asked to kiss her feet. She turned him down but said she relented when he repeatedly insisted, and he began kissing her foot and then sucked on a toe. She pulled her foot away and the man asked her reaction, to which she replied she was freaked out. The woman left to clean her foot and he was gone when she returned.

She called police and picked him out of a photo lineup. Detective Michelle DiMartino said Colella also was a suspect in a similar case in 2000. Colella could not be reached for comment. A message seeking comment was left Tuesday at his home.

A lot of quarters

The Huntington Municipal Parking Board reported an increase of $96,264 in parking meter revenue for the fiscal year that ended June 30. When they heard that figure Monday night, some members of the Huntington City Council thought there must be something wrong.

Let's set that question aside for the moment. How much is $96,264 in parking meter revenue?

Here’s the deal:

Parking meter revenue increased by $96,264.

That would require 385,056 quarters.

According to the U.S. Mint, one quarter weighs 5.67 grams.

Total weight of all those quarters: 2,183,267.52 grams. Let’s round that off to 2,183,268 grams.

Weight in pounds: 4,813.

Weight in tons: 2.4.

Number of rolls of quarters, assuming $10 per roll: 9,626.

Any way you look at it, that’s a lot of quarters.

How many trips would you have to make to the bank in a car or a pickup to deposit that many quarters?

A very expensive $63.80 tax refund

So I get to work yesterday, and here's an e-mail waiting for me. The address led me to think it was from the IRS. At least until I read the thing. Here is the text:

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $63.80. Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 6-9 days in order to process it.
A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons. For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.
To access the form for your tax refund, please (I have removed the link)
Regards, Internal Revenue Service
© Copyright 2006, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved..

This has to be a scam, so I click on the link and sure enough, they ask for some information so they can credit the refund my credit card account. All I have to do is supply the "IRS" with my credit card account number and other personal information.

A contact I have with the IRS says he has received at least 20 calls from reporters in Ohio and West Virginia about this phishing expedition.

By the way, I went back to the link today and it was gone.

W.Va. records 34th ATV death this year

This is not a post bashing ATVs or ATV riders.

According to The Associated Press, Nicholas Scott Hunt, 19, of Darwin, W.Va., died Saturday of injuries suffered in an ATV accident at Accoville. He reportedly was not wearing a helmet. Hunt was the 34th person killed in an ATV accident in West Virginia this year. Last year, West Virginia set a record with 40 ATV-related deaths.

That's all the information I have, so I can't say whether Hunt would have survived if he had worn a helmet.

I've driven ATVs, both the three-wheeled and four-wheeled varieties. I tried a three-wheeler after having experience on a four-wheeler, and the three-wheeler scared me. I got into a jam or two on the four-wheeler, but I got out of them by being very careful for the next few minutes. I didn't push my luck or say to myself, "Hey, let's see how high I can get in the air if I go real fast up this little hill." Seriously, I have driven on Route 10 in Lincoln County and seen teenagers and young adults doing just that.

ATVs are fun. On a farm like the one I grew up on, they can be very useful. The number of deaths could be proportional to the number of ATVs in use. The number of deaths per ATV rider or miles ridden could be going down for all we know, but the number of deaths keeps climbing. I don't have ready access to a database of ATV injuries, so I can't tell whether those are going up or down.

But as long as the deaths keep occurring, there will be calls for further restrictions on ATV use. You can expect that when we record our 41st death this year or when new milestones are reached, such as 50 or even 75.

Time off

My yard needs mowed, my downspouts need replacing and I need to get me down to the Ohio River and burn a few terabytes of memory in a digital camera.

See you in a week or two.

By the way, I'm not an official West Virginian yet. I've lived on this side of the river 16 years, and I haven't made my pilgrimage to Myrtle Beach yet. And I won't make the pilgrimage this year, either. My kids haven't been there, so I guess we'll have to call them West Virginians Lite.

Later, Michelle and oldnumber7 and the rest of you.

Amtrak offshoring jobs?

From a news release issued today by Sen. Robert C. Byrd:

America’s national railroad should not have its jobs outsourced to foreign countries, U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., said on Thursday.
Amtrak’s senior management recently informed Byrd and Murray that the railroad’s Board of Directors, all appointed by the Bush Administration, will invite private vendors to take over major parts of its national reservation system, including vendors based overseas.
"After having to fight to keep Amtrak alive in the face of budgets that would have put the railroad into bankruptcy, now we are fighting to keep Amtrak’s jobs here in the United States,” the Senators explained. “Amtrak is America’s railroad. It is funded in part with American tax dollars. Its jobs should be American jobs.”

Okay, I'm all for Amtrak. But it should pay more of its way. On the other hand, why subsidize jobs overseas? I have to side with Byrd on this one.

Huntington: 51,475

An editorial in a Charleston newspaper today mistakenly says Huntington's population slipped below 50,000 in the 2000 census.

Actually, the 2000 census counted 51,475 people here. Annual estimates made since then show the city's population as being below 50,000. But there is something important to consider.

The census count was made as of April 1, when Marshall was in session. The annual estimates are based on July 1, when Marshall is in summer school and enrollment is lower. Thus, the annual estimates (assuming they are accurate) would miss several hundred or several thousand Marshall students who are here in spring but not in summer.

That's why I don't get too upset about the estimates showing the city's population being a little less than 50,000.

Tax reform

Gov. Joe Manchin plans to call a special session for November to discuss changes in the state tax system.

A document outlining deficiencies in the current system and recommendations for change is sitting somewhere in the governor's archives. It's the report issued by the Underwood administration.

But seriously, folks, does anyone expect a Democratic governor and a Democrat-controlled Legislature to give that report any serious thought?

From this writer's point of view, any change in the state tax system would start with getting rid of that ridiculous privilege tax or whatever it's called. It's the one that required me to pay sales tax all over again when I moved to this state. I had already paid a sales tax to Ohio when I bought the car. So I move over here, and I have to pay it again. No wonder so many people who move to this area don't even think about buying a home on this side of the Ohio River. The privilege tax and other taxes probably are responsible for much of the growth in the Fairland Local School District.

Some folks will get out their calculators and say the overall tax burden is less in West Virginia than it is in Ohio, but the perception of higher taxes here and the types of taxes that are levied help drive people away from this state.

(Note to tax officials: You can nitpick my use of "sales tax" if you wish. Call it whatever, in effect it is a sales tax. You didn't collect the tax on me when I bought the car, but you collected it when I moved here.).