MU President Stephen Kopp at editorial board 10/31/07

Marshall University President Steve Kopp visited our editorial board meeting today. We talked about a lot of topics. I don't want to scoop the reporter who was there (this time), so I'll add my two cents worth sometime on Thursday.

You may find some of his comments a bit interesting. Stay tuned.

Odds and ends, 11/1/07

If you want to see how the presidential candidates compare on health insurance plans, check out the Kaiser Family Foundation site.

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Here's something I hadn't heard of before. This is from a news release issued by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction pertaining to that state's dropout rate:

State law requires school officials to record the reason for a student's decision to drop out of school. Recently, there has been a rapid increase in the number of students who report they are dropping out of high school to enroll in a community college. In 2003-04, 7 percent of dropouts reported community college enrollment as the reason; in 2004-05, the percentage was 9.6. In 2005-06, 12.1 percent or 2,692 students gave community college enrollment as the reason for dropping out. A majority of dropout events continue to be related to attendance issues. Other reasons identified include students moving with school status unknown (9.5 percent) and academic problems (6.5 percent).

I'm not familiar with the situation in North Carolina, and I don't know how many kids here drop out of high school so they can enter community college. The question is, if you're moving on to a higher form of education, are you really dropping out? And are you doing a bad thing?

As for me, I can't see how you are. I would say a good number of seniors at Huntington High are ready for the next level. They're in school because they have to be there to get that diploma. Maybe they should just drop out and enroll in community college, a four-year college or a university, if that's allowed.

That might not be best for the school, but it could be good for the kids.

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From a news release from an Ohio council in aging:

American businesses can lose as much as $34 billion each year due to employees’ need to care for loved ones 50 years of age or older.

Hey, that's me. I didn't realize you became so fragile at age 50.

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Final thought:

We receive more syndicated column material than we can run. Last week, this came in a Thomas Sowell column:

High school seniors who want to go to a selective college in the fall of 2008 should already be making arrangements to take the tests they will need before they apply ahead of the deadlines for such schools, which are usually in January or February.

One of the consequences of taking these tests is that, if you do well, you may be deluged with literature from colleges and universities all across the country.

Some students may feel flattered that Harvard, Yale or M.I.T. seems to be dying to have them apply. But the brutal reality is that the reason for wanting so many youngsters to apply is so that they can be rejected.

Why? Because the prestige ranking of a college or university as a "selective" institution is measured by how small a percentage of its applicants are accepted. So they have to get thousands of young people to apply, so that they can be rejected.

Does this really happen? I have no idea, because neither Harvard, Stanford, Yale or Crown City A & M ever tried to recruit me. If it does happen, it's too bad there's nothing we can do. It sounds like fraud to me.

Another vehicle needed

The 217,000-mile Jeep is gone. The other person's insurance company bought it a couple of weeks ago. The adjuster said it would be towed to Kentucky and sold at an auction to people who would strip it for parts.

The Ross family has not yet had the memorial service for the Jeep, probably because my wife thinks it’s a really dumb idea. We have one key left from the Jeep that other driver’s insurance company did not want. So my kids and I probably will bury it, along with its insurance card, sometime soon.

We're a one-car family. Because we're likely to be out at any hour and because we don't have close family close by, we need a second car. We have thought about buying something old, high-mileage and cheap, or we could go in debt for a few years and buy a new vehicle. If we go that route, it will probably be a van.

It has to have cupholders (at least 82, as it will normally carry five people), and it must have electrical outlets all over the place. Plus at least two heating/AC vents for every person. And seats that can fold down so I can haul a grand piano and a 20-foot extension ladder at the same time. Seats should be cloth, not vinyl or leather, and they must resist stains for when a large milkshake topples into one.

(I remember my first car. To keep it new inside, I attached a sign to the passenger side sun visor. It said, “No smoking eating drinking. Enjoy yourself.” Usually, people asked two questions within five minutes. Why didn’t I allow eating in my car, and how did I manage to keep it looking so good on the inside. Many of them never made the connection.).

I really don't like buying vehicles. I feel as vulnerable as people do when they're talking with reporters or editors. Seriously. It's a situation where you feel the other person has the advantage and there's no way you can get it.

But buy I must.

After that, it's on to 200,000 miles again.

I must admit that I feel a little sad whenever I see another Jeep Cherokee on the road. But I also think that losing the Jeep may have been a blessing. You never know when a vehicle will have a catastrophic mechanical failure. I kept the Jeep off I-64 whenever possible for that very reason. Re-arranging the household budget to accommodate a new car has shown me where we have had a little fat that needs to go toward home repairs (a topic for another day), another vehicle or for savings.

But even with all that, I still miss that Jeep.

Odds and ends, 10/29/07

Chris Harris/The Herald-Dispatch

New Beginings Apostolic Church members volunteer their Saturday to paint the east bridge at Ritter Park Saturday, October 27, 2007.

The 12th Street bridge at Ritter Park was painted by a church group this past weekend as part of "Make a Difference Day." The paint job certainly made a difference, in more ways than one.

When I saw the article in the newspaper yesterday morning, my first thought was whether the group had permission from the Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District to paint the bridge. Some of us remember that this particular bridge was the first one that a rural Cabell County resident attempted to paint pink last year for breast cancer awareness.

His problem was that he did not receive permission from the park district to paint that particular bridge. So he slapped some white paint over the pink and moved down Fourpole Creek. He got the mayor's permission to paint the 8th Street bridge, and the rest is part of Huntington's history.

Anyway, I called the park district office this morning, and the church group did indeed have the district's permission and cooperation in painting the 12th Street bridge. The district cleaned the bridge and even provided the paint. I went over the bridge this morning, and I couldn't see any of the pink paint that had been peeking through the previous white paint-over.

Things really do go better when you arrange things ahead of time. We used to have a photographer here whose philosphy was that it's easier to receive forgiveness than permission. In this case, permission was a lot better

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People in Point Pleasant can expect to see large passenger riverboats dock at their city park almost every week next summer. Even the Delta Queen, in what could be its final season, will dock at Point Pleasant, according to a story in The Point Pleasant Register.

Meanwhile, at Harris Riverfront Park, we can expect more of the same in terms of visits by large passenger riverboats -- practically nothing.

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Here's a game that the two major political parties in Ohio will play next year to increase voter turnout: Fill the ballot with hot-button initiatives.

This is how the AP describes it:

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Next month’s ballot will be free of statewide issues — but don’t think voters in a state so pivotal to the 2008 election will find such a light lineup next year.

With the presidential contest coming, outside groups with a stake in who wins are sure to find Ohio’s ballot an attractive place to help them reach their political goals.

The strategy helped elect President Bush in 2004 — when conservative voters came out in high numbers to approve the gay-marriage ban supported by one of Bush’s biggest contributors — and groundwork is already being laid to adjust voter mindsets in ways beneficial to certain candidates before next year.

Though labor unions have played down the link, the sick-day initiative they’re backing for a possible ballot spot in 2008 would bring out many voters who’ll side with whatever Democratic candidate ends up winning the party’s nomination. They’ll be trying first to force the Legislature to pass it.

Dubbed the “Healthy Families Act,” the mandate to require bigger employers to offer a minimum of seven sick days per year will surely resonate with the state’s working class voters, most of whom lean Democrat or independent. ...

Republicans, though, may emerge with a family issue of their own to counter the Democrats’ values talk: a gay adoption ban. ...

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A couple of years ago, I was wondering about AK Steel, which has a big operation in Ashland.

Events have shown why I'm sitting at a keyboard instead of investing other people's money.

Two years ago, AK Steel stock was selling at $6.95 a share. Late this afternoon, with closing still a few minutes away, it was selling at $53.21. If I had invested $1,000 in AK Steel two years ago, that investment would be worth $7,656 today.

That's a lot better than ExxonMobil or Marathon Oil.

As I said, that's why I'm not in the financial planning profession.

Porter Wagoner, RIP

AP photo

I'm a bit sad today.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Porter Wagoner was known for a string of country hits in the '60s, perennial appearances at the Grand Ole Opry in his trademark rhinestone suits, and for launching the career of Dolly Parton.

Like many older performers, his star had faded in recent years. But his death from lung cancer Sunday, at 80, came only after a remarkable late-career revival that won him a new generation of fans.

The Missouri-born Wagoner signed with RCA Records in 1955 and joined the Opry in 1957, "the greatest place in the world to have a career in country music," he said in 1997. His showmanship, suits and pompadoured hair made him famous.

He had his own syndicated TV show, "The Porter Wagoner Show," for 21 years, beginning in 1960. It was one of the first syndicated shows to come out of Nashville and set a pattern for many others.

"Some shows are mechanical, but ours was not polished and slick," he said in 1982.

Among his hits, many of which he wrote or co-wrote, were "Carroll County Accident," ''A Satisfied Mind," ''Company's Comin'," ''Skid Row Joe," ''Misery Loves Company" and "Green Green Grass of Home."

The songs often told stories of tragedy or despair. In "Carroll County Accident," a married man having an affair is killed in a car crash; "Skid Row Joe" deals with a once-famous singer who's lost everything.

In 2002, he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

In May, after years without a recording contract, he signed with ANTI- records, an eclectic Los Angeles label best known for alt-rock acts like Tom Waits, Nick Cave and Neko Case.

Wagoner's final album, "Wagonmaster," was released in June and earned him some of the best reviews of his career. Over the summer, he was the opening act for the influential rock duo White Stripes at a sold-out show at New York's Madison Square Garden.

"The young people I met backstage, some of them were 20 years old. They wanted to get my autograph and tell me they really liked me," Porter said with tears in his eyes the day after the New York show. "If only they knew how that made me feel — like a new breath of fresh air."

To many music fans, Wagoner was best known as the man who boosted Parton's career. He had hired the 21-year-old singer as his duet partner in 1967, when she was just beginning to gain notice through songs such as "Dumb Blonde."

They were the Country Music Association's duo of the year in 1970 and 1971, recording hit duets including "The Last Thing on My Mind."

Parton's solo country records, such as her autobiographical "Coat of Many Colors," also began climbing the charts in the early 1970s. She wrote the pop standard "I Will Always Love You" in 1973 after Wagoner suggested she shift from story songs to focus on love songs.

The two quit singing duets in 1974 and she went on to wide stardom with pop hits and movies such as "9 to 5," whose theme song was also a hit for her.

Wagoner sued her for $3 million in assets, but they settled out of court in 1980. He said later they were always friendly, "but it's a fact that when you're involved with attorneys and companies that have them on retainer, it makes a different story."

At a charity roast for Wagoner in 1995, she explained the breakup this way: "We split over creative differences. I was creative, and Porter was different."

He said in a 1982 Associated Press interview that his show "was a training ground for her; she learned a great deal and I exposed her to very important people and the country music fans."

She was present at the ceremony in May 2007 honoring Wagoner on his silver anniversary with the Opry. At the time, he called Parton "one of my best friends today." She also visited him in the hospital as he battled cancer.

Wagoner, who had survived an abdominal aneurysm in 2006, was hospitalized again this month and his publicist disclosed he had lung cancer. He died at 8:25 p.m. CDT Sunday in a Nashville hospice, said Darlene Bieber, a spokeswoman for the Opry.

Country singer and Opry member Dierks Bentley visited Wagoner in the hospice over the weekend and said Wagoner led them in prayer, thanking God for his friends, his family and the Grand Ole Opry.

"The loss of Porter is a great loss for the Grand Ole Opry and for country music, and personally it is a great loss of a friend I was really just getting to know," Bentley said. "I feel blessed for the time I had with him."

Pete Fisher, vice president and general manager of the Opry, said the Opry family of musicians and performers was deeply saddened by the news. "His passion for the Opry and all of country music was truly immeasurable," Fisher said.

Wagoner was born in West Plains, Mo., and became known as "The Thin Man From West Plains" because of his lanky frame. He recalled that he spent hours as a child pretending to be an Opry performer, using a tree stump as a stage.

He started in radio, then became a regular on the "Ozark Jubilee," one of the first televised national country music shows. On the Opry since 1957, he joined Roy Acuff and other onetime idols.

At one point his wardrobe included more than 60 handmade rhinestone suits.

"Rhinestone suits are just beautiful under the lights," he said. "They've become a big part of my career. I get more compliments on my outfits than any other entertainer — except for Liberace."

While he continued with the Opry, and even had a small part in the 1982 movie "Honky Tonk Man" starring Clint Eastwood, his recording career dried up in the 1980s — until his return this year.

"I stopped making records because I didn't like the way they were wanting me to record," he said. "When RCA dropped me from the label, I didn't really care about making records for another label because I didn't have any say in what they would release and how they would make the records and so forth."

As I e-mailed an acquaintance today:

(Right about now, an angel is running up to St. Peter and saying. . .

Oh momma I’m excited
I’m almost out of breath
What I saw lacked to make me run myself to death.
I was on the mountainside
When I looked down below.
And glory be I thought I’d better come and let you know
That we got company comin’
We got company comin’
We got company comin’ up the road.
They’re down the road about a mile
They’ll be here in a little while
There’s company comin’ up the road.

(When Porter gets there, St. Peter and others will sing. . . )

Howdy neighbor howdy
Coming in and sit right down
Come on and tell us all the news. How are things in town?
Put on a pot of coffee and bake a big fat hen.
We’re cookin’ up a country ham to feed the hungry men.

Pull your wagon in the yard and turn your donkey loose.
Kick that old hound out of the way and watch that bitin’ goose.

Oh, howdy neighbor howdy…


You get the idea.

I well remember Porter from his 1960s and 1970s show, although when he lost Dolly and moved the show to Opryland, it lost some of its appeal. Also, when Roy Clark hired Buck Trent away from the Wagonmasters, that hurt.

Porter Wagoner wasn't one of the great artists a la Johnny Cash or Willie Nelson. He was a great entertainer, and he knew what his TV audience wanted. In an era when TV networks looked

down on country music, Porter Wagoner and his business associates found a way to bring it into our homes weekly.

Come to think of it, Porter's show began dimming about the time that "Hee Haw" and "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" gained national attention.

I have some of Porter's vinyl releases. I have yet to buy his final CD. Maybe now I have more motivation.

For what it's worth, the older I get, the less I like newer music and the more I want to embrace the classics I grew up with: Porter Wagoner, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Tom T. Hall, Charlie Pride and the like. It's a rare "guest artist mentor" on American Idol who can hold a candle to those guys.

I'd rather listen to Conway Twitty than J Lo.

Bye, Porter.

Odds and ends, 10/26/07

Schools are for education, not re-education, one judge has ruled:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A federal appeals court ruling says mandated anti-harassment training in an eastern Kentucky school district constitutes a “chill” on free speech among students.

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati sent the case back to federal court in Kentucky for a judge to consider nominal damages for student Timothy Morrison.

Morrison sued the Boyd County school district claiming the required anti-harassment training imposed a “chill” on his ability to profess his Christian faith and opposition to homosexuality.

U.S. District Judge David Bunning upheld the training in 2006. The training grew out of a lawsuit by a group of students who sought to form a Gay-Straight Alliance club at a high school.

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You know those bottles of hand sanitizers you use when you don't have access to soap and water? According to Newsweek, they may not be very effective if you've gone a while without washing your hands.

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If nothing else, Bill Clinton knows how to handle hecklers, including the 9/11 truthers. Good job, Mr. President.

Odds and ends, 10/25/07

Here's something that totally surprised me. Not.



BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) — Data gathered by State Farm Insurance shows that vehicles are most likely to collide with deer in West Virginia — a one in 57 chance.



The Bloomington, Ill.-based insurance company says second place goes to Michigan, followed by Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Iowa.



The least likely state for deer-vehicle collisions is Hawaii, with odds of more than one in 16,600.



The company used deer claims data from the last half of 2006 though the first half of 2007 to determine the odds.



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I don't know about you guys, but the fall colors have been pretty good in my neck of the woods so far.

Odds and ends, 10/25/07

Here's something that totally surprised me. Not.

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) — Data gathered by State Farm Insurance shows that vehicles are most likely to collide with deer in West Virginia — a one in 57 chance.

The Bloomington, Ill.-based insurance company says second place goes to Michigan, followed by Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Iowa.

The least likely state for deer-vehicle collisions is Hawaii, with odds of more than one in 16,600.

The company used deer claims data from the last half of 2006 though the first half of 2007 to determine the odds.

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More to come.

Daylight and darkness.

For those who wonder about such things and don't believe everything they were taught in school:

The Huntington area officially experiences 10 hours and 53 minutes of daylight today. The sun rose at 7:47 a.m. and will set at 6:40 p.m. EDT.

Hours of sunlight will diminish until we have only 9 hours, 29 minutes of daylight from Dec. 19-24. Forget what they may have told you in school about the first day of winter also being the shortest day of the year. Ain't necessarily true.

After Dec. 24, the days will lengthen until we reach 12 hours of daylight on March 16, 2008. From June 17 through June 22, we will enjoy 14 hours and 51 minutes of daylight.

All times courtesy of the U.S. Navy.

"Censorship" in school books?

All this controversy about a couple of books being used in Advanced Placement classes in Kanawha County have gotten some local people talking. They toss around words like "censorship" without knowing their true thoughts.

I believe in the First Amendment, but I don't believe in abidicating my parental responsbilities to the public school system. As the parent of a Huntington High student, I reserve the right to object to study material the schools provide my child. So far, I have not found anything so objectionable that I would mount a protest at the school board office.

However, here we are dealing with AP classes, which in theory prepare kids for reading material they will encounter in college. The objecting parents in Kanawha County are doing their college-bound kids no favors by objecting to these books. And these parents should check to see if their kids are watching “CSI,” “Cold Case” or “Law & Order” on TV.

I remember what it was like in high school. I remember being exposed to the word "abortion" the first time. It was on the cover of Newsweek. Nowadays my kids hear that word all the time.

To sum up: This the right principal to fight for, but this is the wrong fight for it. Let's move on to the next tempest.

Odds and ends, 10/23/07

Someone asked me yesterday about the Republican presidential candidates debate the previous night. I said I didn't know there was a debate.

I live in West Virginia. For all practical purposes, I don't get a vote in the primary. So I don't follow the primary campaign that much.

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For years, farmers have complained that ATV riders trespass on their property and tear up stuff. Now AEP has the same complaint. According to an article in The Point Pleasant Register, it seems ATV riders are getting into the landfill at the Mountaineer Power Plant in Mason County, W.Va., and causing some damage.

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How many big coal-fired power plants in one area is too many? That's what regulators in Ohio and West Virginia will have to consider soon, if they aren't already.

According to The Pomeroy (Ohio) Daily Sentinel, a public hearing will be held Thursday for a permit to build a new coal-fired power plant along the Ohio River between Pomeroy and Ravenswood, W.Va.

I liked this paragraph:

If the plant is built, it is said to employ 100 people, possibly create 127 jobs in other businesses and burn nearly three million tons of coal a year. Still, despite the economic prosperity predicted by some from the plant, other residents are concerned about the environmental impact of another coal-fired power plant in the area with American Electric Power's Mountaineer and Philip Sporn plants located nearby and across the Ohio River in New Haven, W.Va.

Let's do some counting. Between Ravenswood and Cheshire, Ohio, I count four big power plants already: Mountaineer and Sporn, both at New Haven, W.Va., and Gavin and Kyger Creek, both at Cheshire. Add the propose AMP-Ohio plant near Pomeroy, a new plant on the Ohio side near Ravenswood and another generating unit at Mountaineer, and you have a lot of coal being burned along a stretch of river measuring about 40 miles.

We're not counting the hydroelectric plant at the Racine Locks and Dam, also in that stretch of river.

There could be a race to get units built should regulators decide that a certain number of power plants is enough.

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This came in an e-mail. I don't think the writer wants his/her name attached to it. I will therefore use it here anonymously. The writer makes some good points.

We just got the neighborhoods cleaned up. However, concert promoters have taken it upon themselves to litter the city (phone poles, buildings and bus shelters) with not one, but sometimes FOUR concert posters. Like grafitti, when one appears, another appears and so on. Combined with unremoved yard sale, rental and party signs, some poles have six signs on them. It is illegal to post signs (of any kind) on posts (and a long list of other places). While we can’t stop people from posting, we can curtail it. We can contact the Veteran’s Memorial Field House, Civic Arena and Monkey Bar to educate their promoters. And if the posters appear, give them 48 hours to remove them. If they aren’t removed, then fine them.

It’s another one of those things we shouldn’t have to say, but we do. It’s getting out of hand. Not to mention, the litter on the poles is tomorrow’s litter on the ground.

UPDATE: The writer has given me permission to use her name. It was Stacy McChesney, president of the Highlawn Neighborhood Association and a citizen member of The Herald-Dispatch editorial board.

Smoking in convenience stores

As a matter of policy, we don't run letters to the editor that criticize a business for a specific business policy, and we don't use the letters section to get involved in business disputes.

For example, if you want to say local stores should carry more produce and fewer canned goods, fine. If you want to say the 151st Street Corner Grocery charges too much for canned beets and should carry more iceberg lettuce, we'll probably pass on that one. Or if you write a letter saying Dr. X should give you a 30-day grace period to pay your bill instead of 15, we'll pass on that one, too.

A lot of writers don't realize that if we let them say Dr. X has strict billing policies, fairness would require us to run Dr. X's letter saying the previous writer is a deadbeat who never pays his bills.

And we never know if the person writing the letter has a real grievance or is a rival business trying to stir up trouble.

We also don't run anonymous letters.

Having said all that, I wish to pass along this letter. It came without a signature. It violates the policies I mentioned above. But I want to pass it along anyway. I have removed the name of the business in question and the location. Suffice it to say the store is in Kentucky.

I have lived in (place) for almost 20 years. I am a frequent shopper at the (store) location in (place), and I wish to voice a complaint about the smoking allowed in the store by employees.

While controlling the actions of patrons isn't always possible, controlling the actions of your employees and management should be within reason. Over the last few months, anytime you enter the (stoer) in (place), you're overwhelmed by the smell of cigarette smoke. It is so heavily concentrated in the store that it clings to your clothing and hair even though you've only spent two to thre minutes in the store. Tonight I was in the store to purchase a beverage and the air was so thick with smoke that I couldn't catch my breath. I coughed and wheezed until I could get to my asthma inhaler.

The store also STINKS! The (place) (store) location is the only location I've visited that reeks of cigarette smoke. I have literally seen the employees smoking in the store. If they's smoking in any other (company) location it is apparently out of view, smell and breath of the customers.

I don't know if the store is under new management, but in all the years I've been a patron at the store I've never found it to be as unpleasant an experience as it is now. You would expect these surroundings and atmosphere if you walked into a bar -- not a convenience store. The store employees and management have no regard for the public health of its customers or their children.

I'm not going to spend the time to verify the facts or accusations in this letter. I do know that for the longest time, I did my best to avoid certain businesses in Lawrence and Boyd counties that allowed smoking inside. I don't like the smell of smoke, and I don't like to breathe secondhand smoke. A few years ago, I was traveling with my daughter. We stopped at a fast food place in Ironton. There was a crowd of older people smoking in the nonsmoking section. We ate our food and left as quickly as possible. When we've been down that way since, we have avoided that particular place.

The indoor smoking ban in Cabell County made me aware of how much smoke I had to tolerate over the years, whether here at work, at the movie theater or wherever. I'm glad we have the ban. And I hope the writer of this letter gets his or her point across to the management of the store in question.

Favorite spots along the Ohio River

People who know me know that I like the Ohio River. Even if it is a smelly, polluted waterway, it's where I grew up.

So allow me to provide this list of my 10 favorite places along the Ohio, at least the ones I have visited.

10. Locks and Dam 52, Metropolis, Ill. This is one of two remaining 1929-era dams left, and it will be demolished in a few years when the new Olmstead Locks and Dam is finished. The sound of water running through the wooden beams holding back the river is so . . . rivery.

9. Cave-In-Rock, Ill. This is a cave sitting high above the river. They say pirates used this cave as base for raiding flatboats floating by in the pre-steamboat era. The tree at the mouth of the cave has to be the most photographed tree along the entire 981 miles of Ohio River.

8. The mouth of Tombleson Run near Letart, W.Va., in Mason County. I once had a good friend who lived up in that area. When I would visit him, I would come home by way of Letart so I could visit this spot. You have to park along the road, walk across the railroad tracks and around some trees to get to the best spot. You could see the old farmhouses across the river, and you could glance downstream at Letart Island and the Racine Locks and Dam. I haven't been back up that way for years, so I don't know how it look now.

6 and 7 (tie). The ferries at Sistersville, Ohio, and Augusta, Ky. There's nothing like crossing the river on a ferry. When the Silver Memorial Bridge was out of commission in 1977, I sometimes crossed on the ferry there. The best time was at night when my car could be at the head of the ferry.

5. Tu-Endie-Wei park, Point Pleasant, W.Va. Sitting on the wall at the mouth of the Kanawha River and watching life go by . . . It's pretty good. When the light is right and the boats are in the right position, it's a great place for getting a picture, too.

4. Mouth of the Guyandotte River boat ramp, Huntington. Sometimes I go there when I need to be by the river but without all the stress of Harris Riverfront Park, which would have made this list a few years ago. And it's under my favorite bridge on the river.

3. The new boat ramp along Ohio 7 about seven miles north of Crown City, Ohio. There's some good riverbank there that I need to explore before the banks turn to mud. Across the road are a cornfield and a church. I've taken pictures of them about once a month for the past year. Soon I will put all those pictures into an album that tracks the seasons.

2. The Ohio side of the Gallipolis Locks and Dam. Some people go there to fish. I like to go there and listen to the water pour over the rollers. Being that close to something that big and something as powerful as the river . . . can't beat it.

1. My secret place. It's where I used to skip rocks on the last day of summer vacation, and it's where my boys like to go do the same thing. If I could choose one spot for my memorial service after I die, that would be it. Dress casual. No ties, dresses or skirts allowed.

Almost made the list: Mound Hill Cemetery, Gallipolis, Ohio, where you can see for miles along the river; a hill near Tell City, Ind., where you can do the same thing; Harris Riverfront Park, Huntington; Ohio 124, where it gets down close to the river near Mustapha Island, Athens County, Ohio; the public boat ramp at Manchester, Ohio.

There are other places I want to see that I have not visited yet. One is in Pittsburgh, but it's not Point Park. I've been there. It was okay, but I would have to try it again before I would put it on a Top 10 list.

Praise ye Tamarack

The Associated Press offered a story for this past weekend about that great place Tamarack, that big, expensive arts and crafts store along the Turnpike at Beckley. The story told of all the great things Tamarack sells. It did not mention that Tamarack loses $2 million to $3 million a year.

Gov. Joe Manchin has said he wants to turn Tamarack over to the state Department of Commerce. Perhaps that department can operate Tamarack on a break-even basis.

You know, there's a reason that most people who work for the state are not out making money running retail stores. They don’t have the management training in retail to identify a viable market, raise capital, acquire a location, select merchandise, market that merchandise and earn a profit.

For some reason, people in government sometimes think they know so much, they can use the bottomless well of taxpayer money to finance all sorts of moneymaking schemes. And sometimes, those schemes work.

That seems to be the case especially in West Virginia, where home-grown private capital is scarce. If local people don't have the money or inclination to go into the retail business, then the state should.

The best thing for Tamarack would be to lease it or sell it to a private concern that knows the market that Tamarack aims to satisfy. Private investors are in better position to know what works and what can make money. They are free of the restrictions placed on state government in procurement and sales. They are relatively free of political pressures. And if they lose money, it does not take away from more vital functions of state government.

Before one or two people start telling me that I don't know what I'm talking about and that I shouldn't pick on Tamarack, let's just say this basic principle holds true for a lot of things. Government should be running hospitals unless it's an absolute necessity. And government shouldn't build expensive gift shops unless it's an absolute necessity.

UPDATE: Let me rephrase what I just said, only in less formal langauge.

Gaston Caperton got the idea that West Virginia needed a showcase for its artisans and craftsmen. He didn't want to invest his own millions in it. He must not have been able to find any private investment, or else he didn't want to look for it. So he dipped into the Turnpike toll revenues to build it. He got to cut the ribbon and take the credit and then walk away from it when his term ended. Now he's far away and he doesn't have to worry about Tamarack. He bears no responsibiltiy and probably no remorse for the drain Tamarack has put on the turnpike authority. He probably won't drive the Turnpike anytime in the next few years, so what does he care, you know? He won't have to drive the road that could have been better had that oversized souvenier shop not been built.

And that's the way government investment in what should be private enterprise works. Anyone writing a textbook on politicians who think they are entrepreneurs is welcome to ponder this one.

Pelosi, Armenia and Krauthammer

My favorite columnist on foreign affairs is Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post. He has a column today on the Armenian genocide resolution in the House of Representatives. He gives his thoughts on whether he thinks this is a deliberate attempt by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to sabotage the American war efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Forgive me, but I have to steal his last paragraph:

Is the Armenian resolution her way of unconsciously sabotaging the U.S. war effort, after she had failed to stop it by more direct means? I leave that question to psychiatry. Instead, I fall back on Krauthammer's razor (with apologies to Occam): In explaining any puzzling Washington phenomenon, always choose stupidity over conspiracy, incompetence over cunning. Anything else gives them too much credit.

Odds and ends, 10/18/07

According to an article at sciencedaily.com, barred owls have decided residential neighborhoods in Charlotte, N.C., are as good a place to live as old-growth forests:



Urban wildlife numbers have been increasing in recent decades, notably in populations of squirrels, Canada geese, raccoons and deer, but the appearance of significant urban populations of barred owls, the third largest owl species in the US, is a surprise to many biologists.


"If you read about barred owls in the textbooks, it says they need large stands of old-growth forest to survive," notes University of North Carolina at Charlotte ecologist and ornithologist Rob Bierregaard, who has directed the six-year-old research study. "Either the barred owls in Charlotte haven't read that book or the book is wrong, because they are really here and apparently doing quite well."


"We have concluded is that there may be a third possibility: that old suburban neighborhoods in fact are an old growth forest, at least as far as the barred owls are concerned."



I wouldn't mind a couple of owls establishing a household near my house. There probably are several, but I haven't seen them. Raccoons, deer and Canada geese, on the other hand, can stay away.



Someone will have to tell me this, because I don't know that much about the feeding habits of deer, but I have noticed some low-hanging branches on trees at my house have been stripped of leaves. I asssume it's either a deer in search of food or a son in search of something to do with a low-hanging branch.



My apples and peaches were gone a long time ago. That's what I get for having an apple tree of a variety that doesn't grow well, particularly in poor soil. I grew up along the Ohio River, and you never had a patch of bare ground there.



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I got DirecTV back last night after being without it for a couple of months. We decided we wanted it for the science and history and news channels. I turn on one news show that I used to watch from time to time and I thought, this stuff is garbage. Same old broken record.



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Earlier this week, Ohio State University announced that it retains its spot as the nation's largest university, with 52,568 students on the Columbus campus and more than 60,000 overall when the regional campuses are included.



The one thing that struck me was this: OSU says it retained more than 92 percent of its freshmen from last year. One problem Marshall University and others in West Virginia have is that so many students drop out during or after their freshman year.



Here's another interesting statistic from Ohio State: Women account for 49.3 percent of the student body. That's less than half. I thought that nationwide, more than half of college students are women. There must be a different dynamic at work in Columbus.

Odds and ends 10/17/07

After reading an e-mail saying global warming is in the crisis stage and another saying it's overrated -- both from outfits claiming credibility on the issue -- I have to wonder what kind of investment in education and time it would take to really become knowledgeable on this issue. If I wanted, I could take an hour or so and argue either side eloquently while cherrypicking facts.

That's why I'm most skeptical of politicians ready to use global warming as an excuse to further plans they have for other programs.

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The Herald-Dispatch and WSAZ-TV NewsChannel 3 are sponsoring a public forum on Harris Riverfront Park. It's next Thursday night at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena.

When it opened in the 1980s, Harris Riverfront Park (hereinafter referred to as "HRP) was the biggest draw in downtown Huntington. The Superblock had been vacant for going on 20 years. HRP was a great place to spend an hour or two along the river. It became a spot for festivals and other public gatherings.

But as with everything else in Huntington, neglect and decline set in. Just as garbage trucks broke down from overuse and lack of maintenance, and as streets collected more and more potholes as patching and paving programs slowed to a halt, HRP went downhill.

No one, it seems, kept it up.

The opening of Pullman Square damaged HRP in two respects. One, Pullman Square became the crown jewel of downtown Huntington, and HRP was forgotten. Two, in building Pullman Square, pedestrian access to HRP was virtually cut off.

Before Pullman Square, 3rd Avenue was one-way westbound. If someone wanted to walk to HRP, he would cross 3rd at a traffic light. After that, crossing little-used Veterans Memorial Boulevard was easy. After Pullman Square, high-speed through traffic was diverted to VMB. With no traffic signal to aid them, pedestrians take their lives in their hands crossing the street. A few months ago, I saw an old man crossing VMB slowly with a walker.

And we don't have to mention crime, vagancy and panhandling problems.

What does Harris Riverfront Park need? Police patrols. Some paint. A good cleaning. Signage directing people there. Elimination of trees where homeless people still live, despite the sweep this past summer.

These and more will be discussed at the forum. If you can be there, great. If not, send along some questions you want asked, and I'll see what I can do. I can't promise anything, but I will try.

How 'bout them Rockies?

The best baseball team no one has ever seen. Maybe next year ESPN will break its long addiction to the Yankees and the Red Sox and show other teams from time to time.

Remember when the Cincinnati Reds were big around here? At one time, The Herald-Dispatch even sent sports writers to cover Reds games every now and then. Nowadays, it's like who cares?

By the way, since the Reds won their last World Series (1990), the Florida Marlins have come into existence and won two. The Rockies started up at the same time, and they are about to play in their first World Series.

The Reds have gone 17 years since winning the pennant. That is the third-longest drought in their history. The longer droughts are 1940 to 1961 (21 years) and 1919 to 1939 (20 years). Who wants to say the present drought will extend another for years, making it the longest ever?
If Reds fans feel too bad for themselves, they can always take solace in the fact that the Pittsburgh Pirates used to be good, but they haven't been in the World Series since 1979. And don't forget the Cubs and the Nationals.

But the biggest bottomfeeders have to be the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. They've never come close to the postseason. At least the Texas Rangers and the Montrel Expos can say they were there.

And is it just me, or have major league uniforms gone from snug to baggy? Just wondering.

Private vs public schools

For years, we have documented the declining enrollment in Cabell County public schools. Most of the decline can be traced to the falling number of school-age children in the county. But part is an exodus of children to home school or private schools.

These are numbers I got from the state Department of Education. The list goes only to the 2005-06 school year. But they are instructive:




Note that the number of home-school children has gone up quite a bit. And enrollment in church-based private schools is up 574, while public school enrollment is down by 1,275.

More comment on this later. For now, I just wanted to get the numbers up here and see a discussion started.

Manufacturing jobs in WV

The manufacturing base of West Virginia once was dominated by American companies. Now, companies based in other countries are the best source of new industries.

Is it just me, or is there something wrong with that?

More than 20,000 West Virginians work for foreign companies. That statement came from Steve Spence, executive director of the West Virginia Development Office, at the West Virginia Economic Development Council’s fall conference at the Pullman Plaza Hotel in downtown Huntington on Monday as reported in The Herald-Dispatch this morning.

Here’s something that wasn’t said: According to the West Virginia Bureau of Employment Programs, the total employment in manufacturing in West Virginia last year was 61,003. Most of the major job gains that are announced in manufacturing in recent years have come from foreign-based companies. Also, foreign companies have bought some manufacturing facilities in West Virginia.

So maybe 1 manufacturing job in 3 in West Virginia derives from a foreign company. At the present rate of growth, how long will it be before half or more of West Virginia’s manufacturing jobs are at foreign companies?

If Toyota can make money here, why not Ford, GM, IBM or any of a number of large American companies?

From all indications, foreign manufacturers have done well in West Virginia despite problems with workers comp, the legal climate and all the other things that American companies criticize when looking at the state.

We have our problems, but people who are able to look at the United States with a fresh set of eyes have found ways around them.

Odds and ends, 10/12/07

One of the big differences between driving in West Virginia and in Ohio is the fear of being caught speeding. When I'm in Ohio, I'm always on the lookout for the Ohio State Highway Patrol. In West Virginia, there's no such fear. That's why so many people consider the speed limit on roads such as I-64 and Route 2 to be polite suggestions.

A few years ago, I was in a heavy downpour on I-64 near Milton. My wipers were running at their highest speed. I could barely see in front of me. And still people zoomed by at 70 mph or more.

I wouldn't complain if the West Virginia State Police paid some troopers overtime so they could spend an extra shift per week on the highways enforcing speed limits. Let them recover the overtime from speeding tickets. I don't care.

I hate driving the interstates in West Virginia, mainly because there is so little law enforcement that stupid and dangerous drivers make me fear for my life.

Give us some enforcement, please.

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Speaking of which, I don't travel to Buffalo, W.Va., in Putnam County much anymore. When I do, I take the back roads. I'm tired of I-64 and the crazy drivers (see above note). A much more pleasant route is to go up the Ohio River on Route 2, into Mason County, then right on Jerry's Run Road. About 10 to 12 miles later, you're on U.S. 35. From there, you turn right and head toward the new bridge over the Kanawha River. It takes about the same time, and the drive is much more pleasant.

I've always enjoyed back roads. I enjoy looking for small towns that barely exist anymore.

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Conservative types who look at Hillary Clinton as the devil incarnate might want to read Charles Krauthammer's column today in the Washington Post. The main point:

I could never vote for her, but I (and others of my ideological ilk) could live with her -- precisely because she is so liberated from principle. Her liberalism, like her husband's -- flexible, disciplined, calculated, triangulated -- always leaves open the possibility that she would do the right thing for the blessedly wrong (i.e., self-interested, ambition-serving, politically expedient) reason.

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A reader asks why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pursuing a nonbinding resolution equating the Turkish slaughter of Armenians before World War I with genocide. This was my response:

I have just received your letter. Other than the face Speaker Pelosi's district has a large Armenian population, let's look at this possibility:

The Armenian genocide resolution insults Turkey. The United States uses Turkish air space as a supply route into Iraq and Afghanistan. If we cannot supply the troops in Iraq, we will have to pull them out. Insult Turkey, lose supply route, leave Iraq.

Or am I wrong?

Am I? I cannot verify the part about the air space. I have read it somewhere, but I cannot remember where, so I am willing to stand corrected.

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A recent front-page article on vandalism got me thinking about a story I heard while attending a Fairland Local School District Board of Education meeting in Lawrence County, Ohio, back in the 1980s.

There was an executive session, meaning we regular people had to wait and chat while the board was behind locked doors discussing a sensitive matter. A woman attending the meeting began telling of what happened to her neighbor in recent days.

It seems the man heard someone driving in his front yard one night. The next morning, he found tracks where someone had done doughnuts in his lawn. Later that day, a middle-aged man and a teenage boy came to the neighbor's front door. The man apologized for what his son had done and promised the son would be there the next Saturday to repair the damage. The next Saturday came, and so did the man and the boy. The man stood and watched while the son did all the work to repair the lawn.

True story? I hope so.

The end of the road

The word came today from the insurance guy. The Jeep is totaled. After more than 217,000 miles, it's history, at least as far as my family is concerned.

My soon-to-be eight-year-old is in mourning today. He planned on inheriting it in 2015, when he turns 16. By then I hope to buy him a used short-wheelbase used Thomas Built C2 school bus.

My daughter was almost apologetic about the Jeep last night. On Monday night, I drove it to pick her up from watching the Fire Prevention Parade. She gave me a hard time for driving the old vehicle that could break down at any time. Some 48 hours later, she was apologizing.

I kept telling her she would get the Jeep someday, but there was no way I could do that. As someone on this blog said, the Jeep is probably too unstable for a new driver. Anyway, I want her first car to have side airbags if at all possible. The Jeep was good in its day and okay for a middle aged driver, but I really shouldn't plan to turn anything like it over to a teenager if I can help it.

We will probably have some sort of memorial ceremony soon. And I will probably write something for the weekend.

I'll miss seeing the odometer turn over 300,000. Having owned a 1976 Ford that deafened you with the sound of rusting metal, having a vehicle that got 200,000 miles was a joy.

Even if it did drive like a truck.

I liked it. And I'll miss it.

(Pictured: My 1996 Jeep Cherokee at Mound Hill cemetery at Gallipolis, Ohio, in early May. It was near sunset on a chilly Sunday evening. From this point, you can see and hear for miles along the river. As nice as this view is, the one 90 degrees to the right is better. It's a great spot if you ever need to get away from everything and think. I have a nephew buried there, and restauranteur Bob Evans is buried there, too. This part is at the edge of the cemetery, and there is a small park nearby. If anyone needs directions, contact me.).

Odds and ends, 10/10/07

There was dew on my grass this morning. And dew on the car last night.

It's been so long since that happened, I can't remember.

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From the AP:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Several sites in West Virginia are being considered for a liquid coal plant.Vancouver, Wash.-based Baard Energy is already proposing a $5 billion coal-to-liquids fuel plant in east-central Ohio and is considering developing a second plant.

Company President John Baardson says he’s discussed four or five possible locations with West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, who has been promoting coal-to-liquid technology. Baardson would not dislose the sites, nor did he offer a timeline on a decision.

Another company has proposed a liquid coal plant for Mingo County.Any such project in West Virginia would face opposition from environmental groups, who oppose the process — saying it could generate too much carbon dioxide and increase coal mining.

Several thoughts:

First, I will have to do some research on my own about the amount of carbon dioxide and other gases such a plant would emit. (I may be skeptical about the idea that humans are totally responsible for whatever global warming is going on, but I also see no reason to add large volumes of "greenhouse gases" to the atmosphere for no good reason).

Second, are we looking at any monetary incentives to get this plant here?

Third, what kinds of liquid fuels are we talking about? Jet fuel for the military? Gasoline and diesel fuel for the consumer and industrial markets? Feedstock for biodiesel?

Let's get some answers before we jump on the pro or con bandwagon.

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Crow cam?

The scientists developed miniaturised video cameras with integrated radio-tags that can be carried by wild, free-flying birds. Using this new ‘video-tracking’ technology, they spied on the behaviour of New Caledonian crows, a species renowned for its sophisticated use of tools, recording behaviours never seen before.

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I have to ask this one. It sounds really petty, but maybe it's not.

You know how Hollywood women celebrities don't wear the same outfit in public twice? We're running a photo of Hillary Clinton on the editorial page tomorrow, and I was wondering how many times she can wear the same outfit in public. With men, it doesn't matter because to most of us, one navy blue suit or one blue Oxford shirt looks like another. But women's wardrobes are more distinct.

Does she have to live by the Hollywood rule or a variation of it? Has anyone heard or read anything about this? Or noticed it themselves?

Is Wal-Mart the evil empire? No.

Over on the user forums at www.herald-dispatch.com, there is a discussion going on about how Wal-Mart has been the largest private employer in West Virginia for about nine years now. It got to the point where I had to reply to some of what was being said. These are my comments posted there:

Okay, I'll swim in this river.

What is so wrong about Wal-Mart that cannot be said about many other profitable corporations of national scope? The difference is that Wal-Mart is larger and more visible. Try comparing its personnel policies with those of other Fortune 500 companies, especially as regard new hires.

Wal-Mart grew because it was more efficient and delivered what the customer wanted, and still does. The decline of downtown stores and neighborhood mom-and-pops began long before Wal-Mart built its first store in this area.

If you want a goods-producing company to be West Virginia's largest employer, then get on your legislators to change the legal and regulatory climate so such a company will want to locate here. And encourage other people to get an education so they will have the skills that such a company will want.

If Wal-Mart is the state's largest employer, it's not because Wal-Mart is an evil empire looking to take over an entire state. It's the largest by default, because no one else can or will fill that spot.

Disclaimer: I have a relative who formerly worked at Wal-Mart. It was a job. He/she worked hard for his/her money and learned a lot about the retail business in that time. He/she would go back if necessary.

It's nice to be able to dump on Wal-Mart. It's a lot easier than facing the real problems that West Virginia has.

EPA vs. AEP

The largest environmental settlement on record or the largest environmental spin job on record?

I'm still trying to figure that one out, what with the EPA settling a lawsuit against American Electric Power.

Here are the details, beginning by quoting a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice:

On October 9, 2007, the United States, eight states, and thirteen citizen groups announced a settlement agreement with American Electric Power (AEP) under the Clean Air Act’s (Act) New Source Review (NSR) provisions that obtains relief at sixteen (16) of AEP’s coal-fired power plants (46 units) located in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia.

By several measures this is the single largest environmental enforcement settlement. It is the largest environmental settlement as measured in terms of injunctive relief. As described in more detail below, it is estimated that AEP will spend more than $4.6 billion to comply with the consent decree. The settlement also is the largest as measured in terms of pollution reductions obtained from the owner or operator of a Clean Air Act stationary source(s). Upon full implementation, the settlement will secure at least 813,000 tons per year of air pollution reductions from AEP’s 16 power plants.

In 2006, nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions at these 16 plants totaled 231,000 tons per year. By 2016, these AEP emissions will be reduced to 72,000 tons per year, continuing in perpetuity. In 2006, sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions at these 16 plants totaled 828,000 tons per year. By 2018, these AEP emissions will be reduced to 174,000 tons per year, continuing in perpetuity. This SO2 reduction -- from a single settlement -- is more than the SO2 emitted from most states (45 out of 50). This reduction in emissions is one of the largest percentage decreases achieved in any of the United States’ prior settlements with coal-fired electric utilities, and it reflects a multibillion dollar investment by AEP.

The settlement requires the installation and continuous operation of pollution control technology such as selective catalytic reduction devices (SCRs) for the control of NOx and flue gas desulfurization equipment (FGD), also known as scrubbers, for the control of SO2 emissions.

In addition to the significant reductions of SO2 and NOx, AEP will pay a $15 million penalty, the highest penalty paid by any electric utility in settlement of a New Source Review case. Under the settlement, AEP also committed $60 million to perform or finance environmental mitigation projects.

Here is AEP's interpretation, based on a news release issued by the company today:

AEP also will provide $36 million for environmental projects coordinated with the federal government and $24 million to the states that were parties to the agreement for environmental mitigation. AEP will pay a civil penalty of $15 million.

The NSR provisions require new major sources of emissions or existing sources that undergo major modifications to install additional environmental controls. The complaint alleged that AEP made major modifications at some of its coal-fueled generating units without obtaining the necessary permits and without installing controls required by the Clean Air Act to reduce SO2, NOx and particulate matter emissions.

“Since November 1999, when the initial complaint was filed by the government, we have remained firm in our belief that we operated our plants in compliance with the New Source Review provisions,” said Michael G. Morris, AEP’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. “That remains our position today.

“But we have also said that we would be willing to consider ways to reasonably resolve these issues,” Morris said. “This consent decree represents such a resolution. It recognizes the billions we have spent on environmental retrofits at our plants as part of ongoing business and the significant emissions reductions achieved at our plants. It also takes into account our existing plans for additional environmental retrofits on other plants. The mitigation projects included in the agreement are the types of activities that we have often undertaken on our own. And most importantly, this agreement enables us to make much-needed efficiency improvements at our plants without fear of additional NSR allegations.

“While we would have preferred that the agreement not include a civil penalty – a position we argued vigorously during our discussions with the plaintiffs – this settlement is an excellent outcome for our shareholders. It eliminates the potentially significant financial risk of pursuing the litigation to its conclusion while still achieving the environmental improvements that both we and the government want,” Morris said.

So AEP will do what it says it was going to do anyway, only this time under pressure of a court order. That $15 million penalty? Based on the company's second quarter financial statement, that $15 million represents 5.3 days of profits for AEP.

The pollution reduction is necessary. How much of it was really on the construction schedule before all this, I know not at this point in time.

But I do know that I'll need a day or two to sort out the real news and the real significance of this from all the spin. Both sides can claim victory. Who really won? Right now, I can't say.

I have read one interpretation already that this case shows that the Clinton-era Justice Department, which filed the original suit, was much more vigilant about going after polluters than the Bush 43-era Justice Department. I'm looking for other interpretations. It's like global warming. I get the feeling everyone will read their own prejudices or talking points into this.

I do know that if this does hurt AEP in the pocketbook, we consumers will feel it eventually.

Odds and ends, 10/9/07

So oddsmakers say Al Gore is the favorite to win the Nobel Peace Prize this year for his work talking about global warming. Didn't Yasser Arafat win the same award a few years ago for bringing peace to the Middle East?

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The other night I wrote about deer coming out of the woods and into the front yards of people in the country. This morning I saw at least three wild turkey doing the same thing.

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My Jeep may have come to the end of the road at 217,000-plus miles. There was an accident his morning. It will take a few days, but I will see if it will be repaired or totaled. If it's totaled, I'll miss it.

I was so looking forward to hitting the 300,000-mile mark in a couple of years, too.

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The other day, I posted a link about how pigeon poop was bothering people at Paul C. Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, where the Bengals play (where the Bengals' offense plays, that is). Saturday I picked a Columbus Dispatch and saw parts of Ohio Stadium have the same problem.

Hmmm. I have a sister-in-law who's supposed to attend an Ohio State game soon. Should I warn her? She can be pretty gung-ho in her support of THE Ohio State University.

Speaking of which, I got a not-so-nice look from her a few years ago when I saw her on a Saturday afternoon and asked how Barely Beat Marshall was doing that day.

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By the way, I visited Athens, Ohio, a few weeks ago with my sons. I took a photo of one in front of a historical marker saying the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 provided for the creation of an institution of higher learning at Athens to be known as the Ohio university.

THE Ohio University? You mean, THE Ohio State University isn't the only "THE" university in Ohio with "Ohio" in its name? I'll have to check this one out.

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Confession time: I watched a little bit of Katie Couric on the "CBS Evening News" last week, and she isn't as irksome as she was before. She's still not my favorite, but I have a slightly higher opinion of her than before.

I get my satellite TV back next week when the guy comes to replace my dish. Meaning I get to see all those cable TV talking heads that I have been able to live without since the storm in August or whenever it was.

College sports arms race

From a Paul Daugherty column in the Cincinnati Enquirer:

UC football is 5-0, and suddenly Kelly's $800,000-a-year base salary isn't big enough. Nippert Stadium needs luxury boxes, there is no outdoor practice field and, really, how are we supposed to compete without an indoor place to practice?

Sounds familiar, eh? An undefeated team in the Big East is hitting up its fans and supporters for more and more money as it joins the bigtime athletic arms race. UC is bigger and its alumni and supporters are probably wealthier than those of Marshall, considering the doctors, lawyers and engineers UC puts out every year.

Remember when former Marshall football coach Bobby Pruett complained constantly about not having an indoor practice facility or this, that and whatever? This at a time when students were shut out of some required classes and faculty pay was the lowest in Division I schools?

At some point, this has to stop. Universities are for education, not entertainment, no matter what the marketing department and fans who never set foot on a college campus say.

Abuse of power?

I found this on Instapundit and followed the link:

Others on the Democrat side are pushing ahead with other plans. Rep. Henry Waxman has asked his investigative staff to begin compiling reports on Limbaugh, and fellow radio hosts Sean Hannity and Mark Levin based on transcripts from their shows, and to call in Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin to discuss the so-called "Fairness Doctrine."

"Limbaugh isn't the only one who needs to be made uncomfortable about what he says on the radio," says a House leadership source. "We don't have as big a megaphone as these guys, but this all political, and we'll do what we can to gain the advantage. If we can take them off their game for a while, it will help our folks out there on the campaign trail."

Okay, this really bothers me. A Congressional leader assigns his "investigative" staff to sift through stuff said on talk radio and then "call in" the FCC chairman to "discuss" the Fairness Doctrine.

Tracking Limbaugh et al bothers me not. What they say is put out there for public consumption, and all sorts of people collect their comments for use later. It's all part of the game that Limbaugh et al knowingly engage in, and which makes them wealthy. But the manner in which this is being done, and by whom ... It's nice to know that the powers of Congress are coming down on people that "leading" members disagree with.

The Fairness Doctrine is dead, and it should stay that way. Do you really want George W. Bush and/or Hillary Clinton dictating terms of political discussion in this country?

Deer without fear

Something I've noticed the past week or two or three:

There have been a lot of deer along the country roads where I drive. They seem to be spending more time grazing in lawns. I assume that's because the food supply in the woods has dried up -- literally. Deer are grazing closer to the road, and they no longer run away at the sound of a car passing by, even a few feet away.

And I have seen a lot more small deer -- which I assume are young deer -- than normal.

Has anyone else noticed this, or has anyone else noticed anything else unusual about deer this fall?