Notes From Last Week

It was a quiet week-end for us. Had to go out of town Saturday for a family function and we missed the shindig at the Kenney Center for the kids Saturday evening. Hope they had a good turn out. The Kenney Center is an ideal spot for such events and it is mostly unused.

The dead line for filing for issues and non-partisan candidates for November's election has come & gone. In the ville we will be voting on three County issues - the renewal of the 1% sales tax, renewal of a 0.75% Children Services levy for foster child care and replacement of a 0.2 mills for the County Health Board Cancer Clinic levy. We'll be choosing two out five candidates for Village Council and two out of three candidates for the two open seats on the Board of Education. There is also an unexpired term on the BOE with Karen Dash being the only one to file for that. There were no village tax levies applied for this year.

Speaking of the County sales tax, Tom Giambroni brought us a story in last Thursday's MJ that the Commissioners are getting concerned about steady decline in sales tax receipts in the last three months. Wonder if the Clash-for-Clunkers and the boost in auto sales it brought about will see an improvement in the sales tax? According to news accounts it was such a success that GM is adding a second shift to make more of their Chevy Cobalts at their Lordstown plant.

The MJ has a weekly Roast & Toast column in which they praise folks for the good things they do and chastise others for screwing up or being thoughtless. Well, here's a Toast to the MJ. Last Wednesday they listed the winning numbers for the Mega Million drawing Tuesday night and they had me all excited. I had a big $10 winner until I found out the numbers posted were for the Saturday before that drawing. You guys sure took the wind out of my sails!

Thought there would be some roasting taking place at last week's BWD Board of Trustees Meeting in regards to the village wide water shut off three weeks ago. I heard a lot of complaints immediately following and during the nearly 36 hour shut off from both residents and Village Officials. There's a Public Speaking portion on the agenda at this monthly meeting that would be a perfect time to go on record registering complaints and ideas for improvements. There was not one single person present - neither Village Official or resident - to voice their opinion on anything. You get what you ask for.

Personally I think there are a couple of things the BWD can do to help us customers when the water goes off. One is furnishing a place to get water as soon as the water goes off or even before if they know it's going off. A water buffalo at Village Hall to get a couple of gallons of potable water for cooking and drinking would be a humane customer service act. Also advanced notification to customers should be incorporated into their policy book. There are phone systems available that would automatically place calls to phone numbers on a customer list. It could be a recorded message that is computer generated and started with a simple entry. Many people fill up bath tubs and such for washing up and using to flush toilets if they know the water is going off. The district has a recording available for up-dates customers can call. Even if it's a sudden shut off customers should be notified instead of left wondering what is going on.

Charlie Wilson sent us a couple of e-mails this past week. One is about the Credit Card Act that went into effect. Among the provisions for that act is that credit card companies must notify customers 45 days in advance of any increase in rates and also remind customers of their right to cancel the card before the rates take effect.

The other is some facts about what is being considered for the health care reform. One of them is that it will not cover illegal aliens living in this country as many protesters would have you believe. It will not create a government run care health system. If you have coverage and like what you have it will remain private and you can keep it. No problem. It will help people that have no insurance through their jobs and are ineligible for Medicare. It will close the donut hole for Medicare Part D in prescription costs that many senior citizens are experiencing. And for God's sake it does NOT promote euthanasia as the former Alaskan governor would have you believe. As I said last week it's far from settled but it's not creating a Huxley "Big Brother" health system.

Long time Daw Middle School principal Dave Buzzard is moving on to Columbiana for a similar position. Buzzard has been with the Wellsville system for 13 years. From what I was told this morning there will be a qualified interim, substitute principal in place for the start of the school year in a couple of days. In the meantime the position will be put up for bid for qualified applicants within the system for five days. If that fails to get a winning candidate it will be advertised for others to apply. Gee, and Mr. B happily announced that all certified positions were filled at the BOE meeting last Monday. Looks like "Murphy" stopped by in the mean time!

Here's a subject dear to me. Last fall a popular long time Pittsburgh blogger that went by the anonymous name of "Pitt Girl" shut down her blog for fear of losing her job. She never did anything scandalous on her blog. She was just voicing her opinion on various Pittsburgh subjects and politicians as is her constitutional right to do. Recently she started a new blog and brought herself out of the closet, sort of speak. Sure enough, as she feared, she was fired from her six year job at a non-profit agency as reported in the Pittsburgh Trib-Review. To me that is a grave injustice by the bureaucrats that don't have the spine to stand up for what's right while they are worrying about losing some corporate sponsorship or political backing. They certainly violated her freedom of speech.

The Youngstown Vindicator had a special section in their paper yesterday covering all the area high school football teams. That included the WHS Tigers which open at home next Friday against Strasburg. Tonight is your chance to meet all the Tigers plus members of the golf & volley ball teams, the cheer leading squad and band members at Meet The Tigers event that begins at 7 at the stadium.

It's my time of the year. High school football starts this week. The OSU Buckeyes get going September 5 in Columbus against Navy and the Steeler's regular season starts September 10. It don't get much better than that.

School starts Wednesday, August 26. Entrance bell for the high school is 7:55, 8:20 at Daw Middle and 8:25 A.M. at Garfield. Bet those students can't wait.

Getting your stuff ready for the Village Yard Sale? It's a week from this coming Saturday, September 5, from 9 A.M. - 4. If you want to set up at Village Hall it's only $3 and you can stop by the Mayor's secretary's office during regular business hours to reserve a space. Any proceeds go to the Fix-up/Clean-up Committee. We don't get into the selling part but the missus & I have fun going around looking for some of those treasures that always appear. You can set up at home or join them at Village Hall. The Friends of the Old Fire Station will be open again this year at the old fire hall. It your choice and a chance to make some money.

The Potter Players Community Theatre are currently putting on a play called "Shop 'Til You Drop - Dead!" It's dinner theater at DaLonzos and next Friday & Saturday will be your last chance to see this one. In the mean time, tonight & tomorrow night, they will be holding auditions for the mid to late October production of Steel Magnolias from 7 - 8 P.M. each evening at the theater located at 415 15th St. This play will be directed by veteran PPCT member Dave Pierce. It's your chance to get in front of the spot lights or even behind them. For more info you can call 330-532-5540.

ole nib