I am so far behind in my homework, bloggin', reading my books and stuff. Too bad I have to sleep. That time could be put to good use. I have been keeping up on reading the newspapers though. Compared to East Liverpool it's been kind of quiet in the ville.
The Memorial Day week-end got me completely off schedule. I fully intended to go to the OEPA meeting last week. Being a real dummkopf I was thinking that Tuesday was Monday. Memorial Day was pretty much like a Sunday at our house - quiet and relaxing.
I realized I was a day behind when I read the accounts of the meeting in the papers on Wednesday. Sounds like the meeting went well for Baard. How was the attendance? Looks like more environmentalist folks showed up - Energy Justice Network, National Coal Campaign of the Sierra Club and George Peya. It's going to get interesting. So far I haven't read anything that even starts to convince me that this proposed plant will have a negative impact on our environment. We have two electric power plants in our area that have been burning coal for years now and it hasn't been proven that it is causing us to be worried about the effects on our health and well being. I think the technology being proposed by Baard will be even better than what is used in either Shippingport or Stratton.
The next meeting will deal with air pollution controls. No date has been set for that one. Hopefully I'll be awake when it rolls around.
The Buckeye Water District and their lawyers have been spending a lot of time in court the last few weeks. Judge Pike granted a stay on their fine they owe EL pending the BWD appeal. In other court action the water company agreed to pay two suppliers for material provided for the new plant that is under construction. This should allow them to work on getting the new system completed. Then they still have the law suit pending with the general contractor that started the project. Wonder if they regret not sitting down and working out those complaints before they started throwing people out? In my way of thinking it would have been much more cost effective.
Some say we are in a recession. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research since 1907 recessions occur on average every five years. Our last one was seven years ago and the worse one was during the Great Depression. That one lasted nearly four years.
I hope Gov. Strickland takes another look at his proposed new self-defense bill. It's a bill that would allow new protection from prosecution for folks that kill an attacker and claim self-defense. According from what I read in the MJ the proposed bill is vague and has too many loop holes. The bill is being backed by the NRA and is being opposed by law enforcement groups all over the state. It made me think of Eric Dillard's case. He's pleading self-defense for shooting Jamie Farley.
Speaking of Dillard - he was indicted by the Grand Jury recently. His case will now be moved to Common Pleas for prosecution.
According to newspaper accounts the last council meeting was mostly spent discussing the ouster of the St. Francis Animal Shelter from village owned facilities due to a section of the Ohio Revised Code. Is this the result of a power struggle between the village employed dog catcher and the St. Francis people? What prompted Councilwoman Rosie Goss to get the village solictor to look into it? I feel it's a shame this came about. The folks associated with SFAS seemed to be dedicated volunteers that put a lot of hard work into this project. If some sort of compromise can't be worked out at least the village should reimburse them for the money they put into that facility. That would help them get another place to carry on their good work.
Also at the last meeting it was announced the village is looking for a grant writer. We had one of those years ago. I think it's an excellent idea but offer a word of caution to our Wellsville administrators. Most of those grants require matching funds and they will have to keep in mind what the village budget can afford. Financially things seem to be going good. I would hate to see us get into another fiscal emergency. There's grant money out there and it's good they are moving forward to get some. Just remember it usually come with a cost to consider.
It was good to see that the Museum of Ceramics was able to work out an agreement with the Ohio Historical Society and keep the doors open. Hope they can make it work.
Speaking of historical societies Wellsville's is going to have a "Remembering Our Freedom" display featuring the 4th Armored Div. historical group presenting a live history of WWII. It is to be held the week-end of June 14 & 15 at the River Museum. If anyone has any WWII memorabilia to loan the museum contact Brassy Beresford at 330-532-3941.
I'm sure you have heard the term global economy. The steelworkers are in the process of forming a global union starting with England's steelworker's union. It's a step to cope with global economy and have a stratergy for steel labor. I also think it's a stratergy for survival for the unions to cope with the multi-national steel companies.
Gina Hampson is back to work on the floodwall murals. Her newest one is the Catholic School that use to be on 11th Street where the parking lot is today. The school was demolished back in the late 70's. The picture of the post card above was found on a web site called "genealogy pit stop". That picture is an old one. It was taken before the church was built and the fire escapes were added on. From what I understand the church was located in the basement when the school was built. Prior to that the church was where the old fire station is today.
I don't know how it came about but the Shade Tree Commission won't be needing money from the village after all to complete the Broadway Park project. It was reported that the request was taken off the village council agenda. Did they get another grant, more donations or negotiated a new deal to complete the project? It would be interesting to learn how it came about.
Do you remember Hans Hacker? He was a commercial artist by trade but produced many works of art. Most of his subjects were of the local area. I just love his paintings. The EL Historical Society is putting a project together to make a DVD and possibly a book compiling the late artist's works. They are looking for folks that have anything done by the late artist so they can photograph them. If you have anything to contribute contact them at
hanshackerarchive@comcast.net. They won't keep them. They just want to get a picture.
Wonder why the Citgo gas station in Chester is so expensive. About the time they raised their price to $4.09/gallon the stations in Calcutta dropped theirs to $3.89. Could it be greed that we have been hearing about on the news?
Finally I'm glad someone explained what the Cornhole contest was that was held at last week's Firemen's carnival. It seems to be a game similar to horse shoes. They toss bean bags at a hole in a slanted piece of wood. Points are won if the bean bag goes in the hole or lands on the wood. I wondered about that all week.
There! That almost catches me up.
ole nib
