Odds and ends, 11/23/07

Someone anonymously sent me a photocopy of an opinion piece in the Evansville Courier & Press from Nov. 19. The article had to do with Indiana ranking near the bottom of a list of states ranked by their "greenness," meaning environmental protection.

From the article: "Who would have thought of Indiana as being one of the worst states in the entire U.S. in matters of pollution and health, ranking just above poverty-stricken West Virginia? But, again, we have been there for a very long time."

I don't know how the person who mailed this to me wanted me to react. I hope it wasn't with anger, because all I can say about this comment is, "Truth hurts, don't it?"

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Today is the day after Thanksgiving. There is little traffic on 5th Avenue. I have not been over to Pullman Square to see if there's any busy-ness there. My wife went out to the mall today to pick up something she had ordered that came in Tuesday. She said she saw the sea of steel and fiberglass in the parking lot and decided to wait until next week.

Here in the news business, expect things to slow down on the local front. At this time of year, people tend to kick back and take things easy. Folks are burning off vacation time. They're postponing major decisions until the first of the year. There's no need to rush to get things done, because the people you need to consult with probably aren't around when you need them.

On top of that, winter arrived today. We had snow out where I live. But it's still fall, too, because there are still leaves on some trees. I noticed that the red leaves peaked in October and the yellow ones peaked last week. I knew the summer drought would be good for fall colors. But I also knew gasoline would be selling to $3.50 to $4 a gallon today, and we know how that prediction turned out.

So let the mellowing begin. We could use some. After Jan. 1, things will start happening again, and fast.

Too fast, probably, even in this town.