A new year, bright and gleaming, sure to bring us all the joys that 2006 denied. Riiiiight.
I thought I'd take a few moments to compile a list of my hopes/wishes for Ohio in the next 365.
An effective governor. Democratic governor + Republican house/senate all too often = gridlock, and we can't afford gridlock. Our state is still struggling to transition from a manufacturing base to something more sustainable, and we need leadership. I hope Taft's Third Frontier initiative continues in some guise.
A solution to the school funding inequity issue. Dodging the Supreme Court mandate is not a policy. And I would love to see the public school system improved across the board, instead of farming out our obligation to our children to Mcschools.
Intelligent use of federal highway funds. Do we need three lanes on I-71, I-70, I-77 and I-75? Without a doubt. Why not redirect some of the funds allocated to less crucial projects and get them done now?
A new source of investigative journalism. I admire the work our major papers do, but they are under enormous pressure to cut budget in the face of declining readership. The television and radio media rarely dig into anything that doesn't provide pretty pictures. Perhaps we in the blog-o-sphere are the answer, but without financial support how many will have the time to dig? How many will have the power of the public to convince the powers that be to cooperate?
At least one professional sport team success. I'd take a title by anybody at this point; Reds, Indians, Bengals, Browns, Cavs, Blue Jackets, Crew. And a national championship for the Buckeyes on Jan. 8th.
A sustained cold snap. We need it to kill off the bugs, break up the soil, open the ski lodges, and lure ice fishers onto Lake Erie so that the Coast Guard can practice their ice-floe rescue technique.
An alternative to building more coal-burning power plants. Ohio is already the scourge of the northeast. Our smokestacks emit noxious gases that land gently on the trees of Maine, killing them. As I read on a bumper sticker the other day, "Insatiable is not sustainable."
I mean, forgive me for being childish, but come on! Do you think we've not noticed the incredibly balmy (for Ohio in late December) weather? It was 45 degrees today. I wore a spring coat! It's just crazy. According to the National Weather Service, both Cincinnati and Columbus have seen only a "trace" of snow, as opposed to their usual December averages of 3.6 and 5 inches of snow, respectively. The Boston Mills and Brandywine ski resorts are both temporarily closed, and they have yet to announce an opening day. We are in for a warm, wet winter. And that just sucks.
Is it better to have no hope than to have hope dashed? That's the difference between Browns and Bengals fans this week.
The Browns played doormat to the hapless Tampa Bay Bucaneers Sunday, ending the day with their third-string quarterback at the helm. Once again, Head Coach Romeo Crennel looked shell-shocked in the post-game interviews, trying to explain why his team was unable to defend or score upon one of the league's worst teams.
The Bengals, by contrast, played one of the league's better teams in the Denver Broncos. And although the team, and especially quarterback Carson Palmer, struggled through the first three quarters, an exciting end-of-the-game touchdown drive had fans on the edge of their seats.
Until the team flubbed the usually automatic extra point, resulting in a 1-point loss 24-23. The loss drops the team to 8-7, and puts them at the mercy of another candidate for the league's worst team, Oakland.
The Cleveland Cavaliers continue their up-and-down performance, losing to Detroit, the team that beat them in seven games last spring for a trip to the finals. The team looked overmatched in that game, especially on the perimeter. They came back, however, to edge the Orlando Magic 86-83. LeBron continues to have another all-star season, but the question remains about his supporting cast. Do they have the scoring punch to compensate on James' off-days? The second leading scorer, Larry Hughes, has averaged 13.6 ppg, and most people expect more from him.
The Columbus Blue Jackets recently set a club-record five game winning streak, including a thrilling 4-3 win over Detroit on the Jacket's home ice. Fans were beginning to keep track of the final playoff spot and what the club would have to achieve to earn it. However, they ran into a couple of the better clubs in the league in the New York Islanders (4-0 loss) and a rematch with the Detroit Red Wings at their place (5-0 shellacking). That thud you may have heard was their ass hitting the ice. Two things are apparent; Ken Hitchcock's coaching has turned around the club's attitude, but the club does not yet have the talent and/or experience to compete with the better squads. I am encouraged by the progress shown recently, though. Goalie Pascal LeClaire has gone on the disabled list, which will hurt the team.
The Ohio State Basketball team, at the time ranked #3 in the country, faced #4 Florida on Saturday. They now know that they aren't deep enough inside to compete, and not quick enough at the guard position to drive on tall, quick inside players. They were whipped, soundly, and for the first time looked like the young players they are. Don't expect miracles from this group. As talented as they are, they can be beaten by disciplined, physical squads.
The second half of the 20th century may be remembered as the era of the shopping mall. Now there is a web site dedicated to dead (or, in many cases, moribund) malls. Deadmalls.com documents the passing of these hallowed grounds of consumerism. The posts are user submitted, similar to a wiki, so take the facts presented with a grain of salt.
What saddens me is the realization that this list is only a small fraction of the locations that even I, a non-shopper, could name off the top of my head. I can't help but wonder at the wastefulness of our constant pursuit of the new and novel. The first malls were built to replace the downtown shops, then enclosed to provide a Disneyland-like atmosphere. Now the hottest fashion in malls is to emulate the appearance of small shops in a downtown district.
The Ohio malls memorialized on Deadmalls.com -- how many of these have you visited? Southwyck Mall, Toledo Euclid Square Mall, Euclid North Towne Square Mall, Toledo Salem Mall, Dayton American mall, Lima New Market Mall, Columbus Southland Mall, Marion Woodland Mall, Bowling Green Westgate Mall, Fairview Park Columbus City Center Mall, Columbus Arcade Square, Akron Rolling Acres Mall, Akron Portside Festival Marketplace, Toledo Randall Park Mall, North Randall Surrey Square, Norwood Westland Mall, Columbus Beechmont Mall, Cincinnati Forest Fair Mall, Cincinnati Western Woods Mall, Cincinnati
So sad, and yet so true. The twelve days of Ohio are over. In case you missed them, here they are again!
On the first day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: a state bird (by Jamie)! On the second day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: a Twinsburg festival (by Tom)! On the third day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: sports museums (by Katherine)! On the fourth day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: women astronauts (by Jamie)! On the fifth day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: great actors (by Tom)! On the sixth day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: art museums (by Jeffrey)! On the seventh day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: baseball World Series Championships (by Tom)! On the eighth day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: presidents (by Jamie)! On the ninth day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: doubled cities (by Katherine)! On the tenth day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: famous Ohioans (by Jeffrey)! On the eleventh day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: Native American tribes of Ohio (by Tom)! On the twelfth day of Ohio, the bloggers gave to me: trivial Ohio facts (by Jeffrey)!
There was a time when Cincinnati was the biggest town in the Midwest. Business and industry were booming and the population had surged past a hundred thousand. It lacked one thing, however. The city needed a bridge to connect it with Covington, Kentucky, right across the Ohio River. That was a tall order.
It would have been a fairly simple matter to build a bridge to connect the two towns. The problem was the insistence of the state government of Ohio that nothing interfere with navigation on the river. There were a few rules that would have to be followed. There were to be no piers in the river channel. That was a big problem. There just weren't any bridges that long without some sort of support. The state insisted the bridge would have to span 1400 feet and be at least 112 feet high. Cincinnati residents asked their representatives to give them a break. They got it. The bridge could be 100 feet high and 1000 feet long. That sounded a bit better, but still unprecedented.
Fortunately for Cincinnati, John A. Roebling was finishing work on his suspension bridge across the Niagara River and was willing to take on the task. Roebling wasn't afraid to try new ideas. He made plans for a bridge using vertical suspenders and diagonal stays running from the towers. These features, never before used on this scale, enabled Roebling's bridge to span 1,057 across the Ohio without blocking navigation. Work was started in 1856 but moved slowly. Construction was delayed by economic hard times and by the Civil War. It's hard to concentrate on building a bridge when your city is in danger of invasion. Slowly, but surely, the structure neared completion.
Roebling, however, found another project to work on. He used the techniques tested in Cincinnati to build his masterpiece, the Brooklyn Bridge. In the last two years, Roebling's son Washington A. Roebling supervised the project. Finally, on January 1, 1867, the Covington-Cincinnati Suspension Bridge was opened. Until the bridge in Brooklyn that it made possible was opened, in 1883, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. Its cost? A bit under two million dollars. Don't laugh, that was a fortune in those days.
For a look at the website of the Covington-Cincinnati Suspension Bridge Committee, a citizens' group dedicated to preserving this great Ohio landmark, click on the link below.
Hey, everyone knows about the Wright brothers. What about some famous people who were born in Ohio, but found their fame elsewhere? You might not even know they were buckeyes.
You've heard of Zanesville, right? You've probably heard of Zane Grey, too. Ever made the connection? Zane Grey wasn't only born in Zanesville, his family started it. For a writer of westerns, he started pretty far east.
How many of you knew Steven Spielberg was born in Cincinnati? A lot of well known people came from there. Take Ted Turner, he was from Cincinnati, too.
It helps to have a sense of humor, especially when dealing with Ohio politics. Erma Bombeck, who was born in Dayton certainly did. So did my favorite on the list, the great humorist and cartoonist James Thurber. That's his picture at the top. He came from Columbus and told some good stories about the place. While we're on the subject of humor, Ambrose Bierce was from Meigs County. He could tell a funny tale or two when he wasn't in a darker mood.
Did you know Clarence Darrow was born at Kinsman, in Trumbull County. His law practice got started in northeast Ohio, before he moved west. Then there's Norman Vincent Peale, who preached the power of positive thinking.
Next we have someone whose face might not be familiar, but you'd probably know her voice. Nancy Cartwright, from Kettering provided the voice of Bart Simpson. Don't have a cow if you didn't know.
Finally, a woman was born in Licking County, or Athens County, the sources differ, back in 1838. She went on to lead an eventful life and was the first woman to be nominated for president. Her name? Victoria Claflin Woodhull.
It's odd. I can't believe how hard it was to cut this list down to only ten people. The only easy part was leaving out presidents,astronauts, and actors. They were covered in other posts. Ten? I could have listed a hundred and still had more. If you'd asked me years ago, back when I lived in Pennsylvania, about famous people from Ohio, I'd have thought of a few presidents, the Wright brothers,and Thurber. I had no idea how many famous people were born here. I do now, and I'll post on some of them from time to time.
I'm not talking about the pat-down and feel-up security checkpoints, or confiscating your mouthwash. What you should be asking yourself is how alert and professional the air traffic controllers in the tower above you are.
I ran across some interesting stats about tower staffing of Ohio airports from the Gannett News Service.
Columbus- They're authorized to have 48 controllers and trainees, but actually have 46 on staff for a 96% staffing rate.
Akron/Canton- Targeted for 26, they actually have 19 certified controllers and 4 trainees, an 88% staffing rate. Four trainees seems like a lot, depending on where they are in the program.
Cleveland Hopkins- Authorized for 67 staff, they actually have 52 controllers and 10 trainees for a 93% staffing rate.
Dayton- Supposed to have 53 controllers and trainees, Dayton actually has 35 certified controllers and 4 trainees, for an abysmal 74% staffing rate. Assuming each staffer works a 40-hour week, to make up the missing 26% staff they'll have to average 14 hours of overtime apiece. I'd be pretty fried working such a schedule.
Cincinnati- Authorized for 86 people, they actually have 75, only one of which is a trainee, for an 88% staffing rate.
Toledo- Should have 27 on staff, but currently only have 21, for a poor 78% staffing rate.
Why does this matter? Remember in August when a plane leaving the Lexington Ky. airport chose the wrong runway and crashed on takeoff, killing 49 people? That tower was supposed to be staffed by two controllers, but only one was on duty, and he was trying to cover both radar and control tower operations.
Another issue explored in this report is the high percentage of these controllers eligible for retirement in 2007, which could exacerbate the shortfall.
I'm not saying we should be alarmed, but perhaps we should be asking why we're spending millions to confiscate aftershave while leaving the tower understaffed.
Are you a generous Christmas giver? Perhaps you'll feel like a piker compared to the gifts the state government is about to bestow on Ohio communities in the about-to-pass biannual capital appropriations bill.
By the way, I don't intend this to be a 'look how wasteful our government is" post. I'm sure every project in the budget has its passionate defenders, and things I think wonderful others would view as foolhearty.
Among the projects your money will fund in the next two years:
Hocking College Center for Hospitality Training -- $1,838,986
Butler County Voice of America museum -- $750,000
Johnny Appleseed Museum, Urbana -- $50,000
Galion Historic Big Four Depot restoration -- $30,000
Cleveland State University windtower generator project -- $400,000
Ukranian Museum -- $100,000
Mountain Bike Park in Midtown Cleveland -- $100,000
Little Brown Jug (horse race) facility improvements, Delaware -- $50,000
Delaware skate park-- $50,000
Center for Science and Industry, Columbus -- $1,000,000
ODNR Ohio Fairgrounds display area improvements -- $700,000
Gallia County French Art Colony -- $100,000
Jamestown Opera House -- $50,000
Cambridge skate park -- $50,000
Woodward Opera House -- $50,000
Heritage Center of Dayton Manufacturing and Entrepreneurship -- $1,300,000
Morgan County Historical Opera House -- $25,000
Shawnee State Motion Capture Studio Project -- $281,300
First Lunar Flight Project, Trumbull Co. -- $150,000
Mason ATP Tennis Center -- $1,300,000
Georgetown Community Tennis Center -- $75,000
Star Park Skate Park improvements (Meigs Co.) -- $65,000
The full list (174 pages!) is a fascinating read. I'd be interested in seeing a comparison of funding by county vs. the power of the state reps and senators from that county. I'm also surprised at the apparent influence of the skateboard and opera lobbies.
Keep in mind, though, that these local projects represent only a small portion of the budget. A vast majority of the funds are allocated to education.
I think it's interesting to note that our two-year budget of $1.78 billion is approximately 1% of our national budget for the war in Iraq in 2007 alone.
What baseball fan could receive a better gift that a World Series victory by the Reds or the Indians? It's been a long time, although the Tribe came tantalizingly close in 1997.
The last crown was brought home by the Reds back in 1990, when the Lou Pinella-led team defeated Oakland 4 games to 2. The club that year was lead by Eric Davis, Barry Larkin and Chris Sabo, with top-flight starting pitching by Tom Browning, Jose Rijo, Norm Charlton and Jack Armstrong.
Before that we go back to the days of the Big Red Machine, winners of back to back titles in 1975-76 with arguably the best-hitting team in history. Sparky Anderson led a squad with all-stars at almost every position, including Hall-of-Famers Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and Tony Perez, and the bad boy of baseball, Pete Rose. Among the arms that contributed were Jack Billingham, Don Gullett and Gary Nolan. In '75, the Reds won an astounding 108 games.
The Indians last glory year was just after WWII in 1948, when they licked the Boston Braves in a six game series. Starring for the Tribe were player-manager Lou Boudreau, Joe Gordon, Kenny Keltner, and the first Afro-American to play in the American League, Larry Doby. Pitching was the strength of this squad, though, anchored by Bob Feller and Bob Lemon.
When I talk about our art museums and say Ohio has an embarressment of riches, I'm not overstating the case. It's amazing how many we have. And it's not just quantity, it's quality.
Let's start at the top of the list. The Cleveland Museum of Art is world class in anyone's book. It's still closed for the massive expansion project. They're still busy with special exhibits and events, though. You can also search for your favorite items in the collection on their website.
I can't say I don't play favorites, but few would disagree with adding the Toledo Museum of Art to the list. That's the Great Hall, with works of the Baroque, in the picture. This one has expanded, too. The new Glass Pavilion displays one of the best collections of glass in the world.
Cincinnati enters the picture with the Cincinnati Art Museum. It's they biggest of the lot, with more than 60,000 items, but quality isn't sacrificed. It's downright superb. If you're interested in the ancient art of the Middle East, they have the only collection of Nabataean art outside Jordan.
Columbus isn't far behind. The Columbus Museum brings back memories of a fine collection. It has to be good. I remember it even when I haven't been to Columbus in more than twenty years. You have time to catch their exhibit of landscapes by Edgar Degas. He didn't only paint dancers well. The show runs until the 21st of January.
Another one of my favorites is a work of art itself. The Allen Memorial Art Museum, at Oberlin College houses on excellent collection in a 1917 Renaissance palace designed by Cass Gilbert.
Finally, Ohio had the first museum dedicated to American art. The Butler Institute of American Art was started in 1919 and they're still ahead of the curve, They have the Beecher Center for new media and electronic art.
Remember, though, the list isn't complete. You'll find more museums all over the state at the "read" link.
In the truth is stranger than fiction department, the Cincinnati Post reported today that Hamilton County resident Ted Dres was found strangled to death yesterday with his 13-foot pet boa constrictor wrapped around his neck. His body was lying face-down in the snake's cage. The SPCA was called in to help remove the snake and take it for safekeeping.
In captivity, the boa lives on a diet of small animals such as mice, rats and chicks, although adults are sometimes fed rabbits. The snakes are native to the Americas, from northern Mexico through the Amazon of South America.
Boa constrictors are thought to live 25-30 years. Handlers recommend that two adults be present when handling an adult boa, due to its strength. Deaths due to boa attacks are rare, but they do happen. I'm sure this story will be making the rounds for quite a while.
My policy has long been to not keep any pets that might view me as emergency rations. Although, come to think of it, my cats have been giving me funny looks lately.
Now, this is clever. Honestly. The Cincinnati Ballet has come up with a way for people to win either discount tickets or free tickets to this year's production of The Nutcracker. You can either do your own nutty dance to The Nutcracker ballet music for a chance for free tickets, or vote for one of the people who are in the Cincinnati Ballet video for a chance for $10 off. The video is a hoot. Besides getting a chuckle, it's fun for enjoying snippets of the ballet's music. You can vote for your favorite dancer or submit a video of your own Nutty Dance on You Tube. In case it's too late to vote, this video is worth watching anyway. It's professionally done.
A new year, bright and gleaming, sure to bring us all the joys that 2006 denied. Riiiiight.
I mean, forgive me for being childish, but come on! Do you think we've not noticed the incredibly balmy (for Ohio in late December) weather? It was 45 degrees today. I wore a spring coat! It's just crazy. 
Is it better to have no hope than to have hope dashed? That's the difference between Browns and Bengals fans this week. 
The second half of the 20th century may be remembered as the era of the 
So sad, and yet so true. The twelve days of Ohio are over. In case you missed them, here they are again!
to start.
There was a time when Cincinnati was the biggest town in the Midwest. Business and industry were booming and the population had surged past a hundred thousand. It lacked one thing, however. The city needed a bridge to connect it with Covington, Kentucky, right across the Ohio River. That was a tall order.
Hey, everyone knows about the Wright brothers. What about some famous people who were born in Ohio, but found their fame elsewhere? You might not even know they were buckeyes. 
Did you ever realize that we share quite a lot of names with quite a lot of other cities? Look at this list.
How safe are Ohio's airports? 
What baseball fan could receive a better gift that a World Series victory by the Reds or the Indians? It's been a long time, although the Tribe came tantalizingly close in 1997.
When I talk about our art museums and say Ohio has an embarressment of riches, I'm not overstating the case. It's amazing how many we have. And it's not just quantity, it's quality.
In the truth is stranger than fiction department, the 
