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WOW - THAT was fun. I was driving home Saturday night after leaving Elwood off. IT was about 11PM and I stopped at Arby's on East Wash for a $1 Ham and Chedder Melt. Just a little something something.
I was on the road again and took a bite and the texture was a little . . . . off. But I was sort of hungry and took another bite and . . . man it seemed weird. I only ate half and tossed the rest away a little disappointed.
It's now 2AM and I'm laying on my stomach but something is odd. My head is not touching the pillow. My stomach is so extended it's like I'm laying on one of those big bouncy balls. Rolling over I don't feel any better . . OH MAN I don't feel good.
For the next 18 hours my body is trying to expel every drop of liquid and is trying to turn itself inside out. I'm double gushing!! WHERE IS IT ALL COMING FROM!!!
ANYWAY - at the 24 hour mark I done and at the 36 hour mark I was feeling much better. I decided to get food in me. hmmmmm Oatmeal might be healthy, maybe some milk, a little banana, yogurt, bread.
WELL - ya'll know what happened next!! EVERY FREAKING 5 MINUTES - LITERALLY! for the next 5 hours I was back in the bathroom. And you know the problem - you better make damn sure that is just a fart. Being wrong can be catastrophic!! OH - YOU LAUGH!!
I feel MUCH better now - lessons learned - Do NOT drink Milk. Dairy products are bad except for yogurt. Do not eat oatmeal, seems like a good idea but fiber is not what your body needs at the moment. Starch is what is needed.
The miracle food was rice. As soon as I had rice - BAM - everything was good.
------------------------------------------So I was going to have a letter to the editor but all of a sudden since I'm a candidate (also called The Challenger Rod Melotte in the newspaper twice) it seems a letter to the editor is more of a campaign thingy. Dang it Paul - you saw through me.
I was watching CC meetings from the past and was amazed. Let see - Jodio's - A cop goes into the bar at 2:30AM and says to the bartender - you are drunk on the job. Bartender says - "no I'm not, test me. Go out to you car, get your breathalyzer and test me." Cop goes away without testing.
10 days later Jodio's gets 50 demerit points for having a drunk bartender. Reason they know this? Glassy eyes and she smelled of alcohol. IT'S A FREAKING BAR!!! AT TWO THIRTY IN THE MORNING. Absolutely no actual evidence.
Then there is the sewer gas problem. Ever since they "fixed" the sewer pipes 5 or 6 stores downtown REEK of sewage. Yet it seems everyone is passing the buck. If they call to complain they get a letter "What do do if you house smells like sewage". Lots of home tests have come up with nothing. Good thing we have a good fire department so when a building explodes they will get some practice. Hope City insurance covers the lawsuits!
Anyway this is what I WAS going to have in the paper
The Snow Removal Debate
There has been a controversy on the City Council about snow removal in the downtown area. Presently, very early in the morning when there is an overnight snowfall the city will brush the snow from the downtown sidewalks onto the highway so the snow plows can subsequently plow the snow leaving not only the sidewalks clear but the parking spaces clean. Timely, efficient and inexpensive.
It seems there are some businesses on the arteries that think this is unfair and wish to change this. Their argument is that why should the downtown and their 59 connected businesses get this freebie when they have to shovel their own sidewalks.
There have so far been four other methods discussed.
1. Have all 59 business owners get up at 6AM and shovel their own sidewalk before the plows go through (they currently do their own shoveling during the day). This is a ridiculous idea with so many problems it’s not worth talking about.
2. Have all 59 businesses get together, form a consensus and hire a contractor to shovel their sidewalks by 6AM. A good idea if you have a business group that all works together as one and actually live in the same state as their stores.
3. Have the city charge, per foot of sidewalk for shoveling which would be about $5 per per store for each 2-4 inch snowfall and thereby adding layers of bureaucracy.
4. Do nothing.
My opinion is that the downtown sidewalks are basically an extension of the highway. There is absolutely, positively no place to put unwanted snow except onto the highway when you shovel. You cannot compare downtown snow removal problems to artery snow removal problems. Apples to Oranges.
Twelve other towns were contacted on how they dealt with this problem with no consensus on the best solution.
Here is an idea. Instead of thinking Columbus is always doing it wrong, maybe Columbus is actually doing it RIGHT. If your government can do something timely, efficient and inexpensive without adding layers of money leaking bureaucracy isn’t that a good thing?
Is it the perfect solution to the problem? No, but is there a better solution? From the looks of it this is a problem all city’s deal with. Go with what works, keep it simple, don’t muck up the process that works with more layers, more people and more bookkeeping.
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I was told each candidate can have two columns in the paper of unspecified length between now and march something. I better keep my opinions to myself. . . . . YEA - like I can do that!!!
Anybody know a inexpensive printer. I'm making a flyer. Seriously - after watching the City Council meetings and some of the bullying going on . . . I just get riled. There are some good people on the council, not all are bad. But talk about an anti-downtown bias.
Columbus is like a tree with the downtown the trunk and arteries extending outward to where the water is. The arteries catch the water on it's tips, use some for themselves to grow and transfer the rest inward to not only grow the trunk but also grow the all the other arteries. It's a system that really works. Invented by nature.
It seems some on the council don't care about the trunk at all, they only want to grow the arteries. Screw the trunk, it's just old historic wood. But the old historic wood, the downtown is what Columbus is all about. Without it we become Oshkosh!!
Do you actually know what Oshkosh looks like? It's a very very beautiful town. But all you think of is that 10 miles of strip malls. That is the vision I think some leaders hope for. A strip mall nirvana. Screw the downtown. Just old wood.
We need to change this idea of us vs. them, downtown vs. arteries and get all the businesses to work together as one unit where all profit. Don't chop down the tree to feed the roots.
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