Columbus Abstract

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I'm going to post what WOULD have been in the Columbus Pioneer a few days ago. If you are wondering what happened to the CP go here.

But first a few things.

Bookmarks (3) have been sent to the printers and I'll see a proof in a few days. You should be able to get them where you could get postcards, except Walgreens who sold 300 cards in three weeks and then said they did not want anymore.

So here are the book marks. 72 dpi rather then 300dpi for the real things (meaning they look much better "live"). And they are also laminated.

And on the back of each one.

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Other news - I'm surprised my opinion of Andrew Dice Clay can get even LOWER then it was before last night. For anyone that watches the GOOD reality shows and not the dating/beauty/eating crap reality shows you all know that when you put the word "Celebrity" in front of a show it makes the show pretty unwatchable.

However - Celebrity Apprentice actually makes the show BETTER! Seeing 16 Celeb's, all who are not used to taking orders from anybody butt heads is fun. Watching Hershel Walker get pretty freaking angry Andrew Dice Clay was a joy. You see Mr. Clay just did not want to make cup cakes. Not his thang.

What makes this show interesting is that all these people do not want to only be known for what they are famous for (except Andrew I guess). Check it out on Sunday nights.

I won't mention Amazing Race as many of you have not seen it yet.
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Todd, in the comments yesterday mentioned something about a "start-up". This is still in the fuzzy hazy foggy area yet but let's pretend for a second that we made the TruthinesseInColumbusPolitics into something real. Not attack attack attack but an online "newspaper" that talks about the GOOD things happening with a slant towards talking people into a more historical Main Street style movement (as opposed to strip malls).

Current news when it happens, no bickering, sell ad space on the cheap. Put ad's in the newspaper informing people we're here and so forth.

What we need are writers that are "into" Columbus.

Again - just thinking out loud here.
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OK - Columbus Abstract. This was going to be in the Feb 26th edition of the CP.

I had cancer about 15 years ago. I went in to get a mole looked at and 3 days later I was having MOHS Chemo surgery as I was diagnosed as having a malignant melanoma on my shoulder. They took a silver dollar size chunk of flesh out of my shoulder down to my muscle tissue (sort of cool actually seeing my muscle) and then they looked at every single cell. Then to make sure they got everything they carved out another quarter inch and looked at every single cell. Bingo.
What they did next was interesting. They glopped what looked like tar into the newly formed hole in me, put a bandage over it and off I went. That was about fifteen years ago and you can not even see a scar. It healed from the outside in. The miracle of healing.

I mention this because it was about that time when I decided that since life really is a tenuous commodity why should I spend any time with negative emotions. I should spend more time looking at the positive. Life is too way to short. I won't say it really changed me but I do appreciate life much more.

Now when I first wrote this piece I was angry at a certain website and . . shall I say, I didn't mince words. I was not angry at the content but more at the hypocrisy of the site and blatant dirty politics. I let it sit and stew a couple days and realized that perhaps I was letting my emotions get the best of me. It's not that I did not like the people behind it, I just did not like their actions. I rewrote it and was happy until I slept on it now I am rewriting again.

I'm not going to get into a saber rattling war and I'm not going to bring the subject up again. For one thing it accomplished its goal and I just don’t have the energy and frankly, I would lose. There is a clear advantage to playing dirty politics - good guys do lose, bad news does sell newspapers and people do watch train wrecks, it's a fact of life.

So after reading about all the huge earth shattering problems Columbus must be having I decided to look at how the town really was doing. Being a guy that is in love with spreadsheets and graphs and statistics I looked at 36 other small towns in Wisconsin in the 4000 to 6000 population range so I could accurately compare.

Here are the facts and you tell me if Columbus is heading in the right direction.

NOTE - I wrote this in 2009 - things have sure changed haven't they.  In the past 3 years from 2010 to 2012 the growth rate is 1.1%.  Had a little jump in 2009 but from 2006 to now only 3.0%    4904 to 5055.   

Contrary to what many people believe, Columbus is an inexpensive place to live. When you look at the 2008 Cost of Living Index of my group of 36 small towns, the cost of living in Columbus is below the average of the other towns at an index of 82.6. The US average is 100.

What about city growth. Is Columbus growing? Sure is. The growth rate of Columbus is 10.3% since 2000 which is 33% faster than the average small town and faster than 85% (let me repeat that, 85%) of all the other small communities. This includes the growth rate of Cottage Grove which is 30.5% and sort of skews the numbers.

he average age of your normal Columbus resident is 37.4, slightly older than the average (37.0) and while the average income is on the low side at $48K, the poverty level is in line with other communities.

Crime? Not even close. Columbus is a very very safe place to live and much safer than the average small town. The US crime index is 320, the average small town in Wisconsin has a crime index of 143 and Columbus is at 114. I used a 6 year average for those numbers. Plus the crime index has been sinking for the last 4 years. Our Police Department has been doing a fine job and thank you.

Unemployment in Columbus is low also. 3.3% are unemployed compared to 3.7% for other small towns.

I can not really compare tax rates because you never know what is included. Some towns have lower taxes but they also do not have garbage pick-up or recycling and so forth while Columbus has a magnificent Fire Department. I'm particular to Fire Departments as I wanted to be a Fire Truck when I was very young (yes, I did say truck - I was confused as a child). You just can not compare tax rates. With that said if you must compare, Columbus is slightly higher than average and I'm sure it was mentioned on that certain website. It could be due to some of the blunders I hear about from past administrations. They all add up over time.

A couple of interesting tidbits. Columbus is 47.6% Male and 52.4% Female. The median house value in 2000 was $114,000 and in 2007 that value (before the assessments) is $174,000.

So with that said, things are not as bad as you might be lead to believe. All is well in Columbus except for some typical bickering that happens everywhere. If you think Columbus is bad you should see Madison. It's just that Madison does not have a website whose soul purpose is to anger it's citizens.
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The last of my moms, Sugerfoot poems.

Sugarfoot #6

She wrapped the small furred body in a blanket
as if to keep it warm, though it was cold
already. Clenching jaws against the grief,
she laid it in the earth where he had dug
a grave (so small) beside the greening poppies.
Together then, in silence, they returned
The disturbed earth, each gripping back the tears
(as best they could) to keep from further wounding
The other. Over it he placed a rock.
"in case the dogs should dig…." he turned away.

"I'd better go to work," her face was stiff,
"The day's half over. They'll be needing me."
"Me too." They went each to their separate ways.
She spent the day…the week…the month…not crying.

E.V.Melotte
From her book
Snapshots Along the Way: A Lifetime of Poetry

now ranked in the top 7 million of all books sold!
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If you are half way interested in the website I spoke of above give me a yell.

Rod