Walden Pond Beavers Safe For Now
Posted by Editor in Politics, Walden Pond on October 14, 2009
Yesterday this reporter witnessed the Green Committee’s 4pm march on Walden Pond to save the beaver’s new dam from Art Weather’s backhoe. Led by Mandy Henderson, the committee was joined by several Pearlville School teachers and dozens of students who seemed happy to have something new to do after school. Most carried some version of a homemade sign calling to “Save the Beavers.” Included was a group of about 20 high school boys who chanted “Save the Beavers” and “We Love Beavers” with great enthusiasm, although it did not appear that they were overly concerned about saving the beaver dam.
Art Weathers appeared to ignore the group completely as he backed his backhoe off the low-boy and moved into position to take his first bite out of the dam. As he raised the shovel it looked like the Green Committee was going to lose this round.
Then at the last moment Susie Weathers, Art’s ninth-grade granddaughter, ran to the top of the beaver dam and stopped with her arms extended in front of the shovel. “Stop it, Grandpa!” she cried with tears streaming down her face. Art clearly had not anticipated anything like this. Despite his gruff exterior, he would never hurt anyone. But he is a skilled backhoe operator and would have used the shovel to gently push any adult into the water without a second thought. But children, no. His granddaughter? No. “Stand back, Susie,” he yelled, as he put the backhoe in reverse and backed away from the beaver dam. “If that don’t beat all,” he said as he walked to his truck and drove away.
Mandy Henderson saw this as a great victory snatched from the jaws of defeat, and led her troops back to their cars chanting “Save the Beavers.” Nobody seemed to notice that while Art had vacated the site, the backhoe remained in position.
“Save the Beavers” March Today
Posted by Editor in Politics, Walden Pond on October 13, 2009
This morning Art Weather’s truck was sited traveling down Rt. 50 pulling a low-boy trailer with a backhoe. As soon as word of this reached town, the Green Committee called an emergency meeting. Following that, Mandy Henderson called me at the Post. “We’ve scheduled a march on Walden Pond for this afternoon at 4:00. You are the only media outlet in town, so you’d better be there. We’re going to stop that nut from destroying the beaver dam. This morning you heard Art Weathers threaten me, so if he pulls his gun out there, you will be there to record it for the public.”
I had planned to focus on other things today, like the Senate Committee vote on the Health Care Bill, but this event is too good to miss. Stay tuned.
Beavers Back to Work on Walden Pond
Posted by Editor in Cozy Corner, Politics, Walden Pond on October 13, 2009
Beavers are once again a problem on Walden Pond. Art Weathers, whose farm borders the pond, reports that the beavers are rebuilding their dam and restricting water flow where it empties into Pearl Creek. “Come Spring, I will need that water for irrigation. That dam has to go,” said Art this morning at the Cozy Corner. Art knows he is in for a civic battle. The Green Pearlville Committee threatened him with legal action after he dismantled the beaver dam last year. The committee claims ownership of Pearl Creek because it flows thru the town.
Town Attorney Ray Ramsdel has refused to take legal action against Mr. Weathers because the town does not have jurisdiction in the county. In a statement last year, he said “The town could sue Mr. Weathers if he caused a change in the creek’s flow that adversely affected the town. But we can’t sue beavers, and in any event the creek has no economic impact of the town, whether it is flowing or not.”
Mandy Henderson of the Green Committee was also having breakfast at the Corner this morning. “Art Weathers, if you so much as remove a twig from that beaver dam, we will be all over you. The beavers have the right to their home the same as you, maybe more so, because they are better looking,” said Mandy. “Make my day, I shoot trespassers,” replied Art as he left the restaurant.
Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Congratulations to President Barack Obama for winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. He joins former recipients including Yasser Arafat, Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan, and Al Gore. The Nobel Committee said the prize was awarded to Mr. Obama for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen the international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” and his efforts to promote a “global response to global challenges.”
What exactly is global response to global challenges? What extraordinary efforts has this president made to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation? Why is Muammar Qaddafi the president’s biggest international fan? Mr. Obama’s foreign policy of Apology & Appeasement is already making Jimmy Carter look like Winston Churchill. This is what works for the Nobel Committee.
The world is closer to major conflict today than when Mr. Obama took office, as a direct result of his lack of foreign policy definition. The current example is the review of the Afghan war strategy. The generals ask for more troops, the same generals who managed the successful surge strategy in Iraq. Mr. Obama campaigned on the position that the war in Afghanistan is much more important than Iraq. Now he says the strategy needs further review. If Mr. Obama is truly a peace president, it’s time to eliminate Al Quaeda and the Taliban. But how likely is it that the Nobel Peace Prize winner will listen to his generals and implement a surge strategy in Afghanistan? Americans who believe that wars should be won are waiting for the president’s decision.
Reverend Jeepers: Vote For Issue 3
Lately the television is filled with commercials for and against the Issue 3 referendum on gambling casinos in Ohio. The argument against casinos has traditionally focused on a forecast of increased crime and prostitution. This time the detractors focus on jobs, stating that the 34,000 jobs created by casinos in major Ohio cities will not all go to Ohioans, that many workers will be imported from New Jersey and Nevada.
Supporters of Issue 3 point to the huge amounts of money that Ohioans spend at casinos in neighboring states and the resulting tax revenue flowing out of Ohio, plus the obvious benefit from 34,000 new jobs.
I support Issue 3. As a minister my position may seem surprising to some. But let’s look at the facts: 1) The Pearlville Community Church hosts regular Bingo Nights and a Las Vegas Night every year. This is gambling and we have not seen any criminal activity related to it. 2) The state of Ohio is broke, and it is silly to continue sending Ohio tax dollars out of state. 3) 34,000 new jobs are good for Ohio. So what if some of those jobs are imported? The state has been losing jobs for years, so now it’s a bad thing for workers to move here from other states? When they arrive they will buy homes and spend money and pay taxes. I’m OK with that.
Rufus Honored
Yesterday Town Council voted to approve Fred Schiesser’s proposal to name Rufus the Town Mascot. Betsy Miller had the only negative vote. In a brief ceremony Mayor O’Bannon signed the bill and praised Rufus: “You have become an icon of Pearlville as a result of your service to the community as a member of the Town Council, and the bravery and perseverance demonstrated in your escape from your abductors and your long journey home. All of us should keep you in mind when we face personal challenges. When times got tough, Rufus got going.”
Mayor O’Bannon gave Rufus a new collar with “Rufus of Pearlville” embossed in the leather. In addition, the mayor gave him the key to the new food and treats locker at Town Hall. Rufus accepted his honors with customary dignity and humility. In his first act as Town Mascot he gave his honorary biscuit to his friend Tater, and put the Border Collie in charge of fire hydrant security.
Rufus’s Story Coming Soon
Posted by Editor in Cozy Corner, Grassmans, Rufus on October 7, 2009
I ran into Wayne Kobel this morning at the Cozy Corner. Over breakfast he told me that Rufus has finished telling the story of his dognapping adventure to Klak Grassman. The Grassmans understand dog language and Klak is translating Rufus’s story to Dr. Kristen Marling, our resident expert in the Grassman’s version of American Sign Language. When the translation is complete Wayne will offer Rufus’s story to the Post. “I want everyone to know what happened to Rufus. This will have no effect on the charges against Betsy Miller because this kind of testimony is not allowed in a criminal case. But if Rufus’s story helps to prevent something like this happening again, it will be worth telling,” said Wayne.
Vote for Issue 2
Posted by Editor in Agriculture, Editorial, Politics on October 7, 2009
I did not know anything about Ohio Issue 2 until the recent ads came on TV. The supporting website, www.safelocalohiofood.org says that “Ohio families need the safe, nutritious, affordable, locally grown food that Ohio farmers provide each and every day.” Every time my wife comes home from the grocery store it appears that we have this already.
But Issue 2 proposes to create the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board to set animal care policy. Do we need to set animal care policy? Maybe we do because the Humane Society opposes Issue 2 along with several environmental groups including the Sierra Club. See www.hsus.org/legislation.
It appears that Ohio needs to set its own standards for domestic animal care before the national lobbying groups impose their misguided will on the state. Give the Humane Society and the Sierra Club control over Ohio farming, and the result will be less supply, higher prices, and fewer farmers. I’m voting for Issue 2.
Dognapping Update
Yesterday Betsy Miller was formally charged with conspiracy in the Rufus dognapping case. Her trial was scheduled by Judge Slagle for October 28. Mrs. Miller maintains her innocence and she remains a candidate for reelection to the town council. “The charges are false and I will not turn my back on service to the town.” Her attorney requested a motion to postpone the trial until after the November 3 election which Judge Slagle denied. Last month her husband Dick Miller was sentenced to one year in the county jail for his lead role in the dognapping. The Miller’s employee, Jim Federer, received a 3-month suspended sentence.
Opinion by Rev. Joseph Jeepers: On Evidence of God
It was a pleasure reading Dr. Dan’s review of his visit to the Creation Museum. I have been there myself three times and plan to visit again. Dr. Dan is right when he says the museum’s presentation of Genesis is controversial. Genesis asks us to believe a story that lacks physical evidence in a time when the great body of evidence makes Genesis look like a myth. And if it’s a myth, then how do we know that God exists?
We often point to natural wonders as evidence of a Creator. I have found it impossible to examine a maple leaf or witness a rainbow or the birth of a baby without thinking of the one God that created such miracles. But there are always detractors who point to reasonable evidence that these wonders have a logical origin. The faith versus science argument is endless.
There is one bit of physical evidence that even the most scientifically-oriented person cannot argue, and it has been visible since the beginning of time. Surely many others have taken the same notice, but we do not hear much about it.
Eclipses: Most of us have seen them and some of us have been lucky enough to witness full eclipses, both lunar and solar. The precise nature of eclipses is intriguing. In a full lunar eclipse, the earth’s shadow on the moon is not smaller than the moon, making the moon look like a donut, nor is bigger than the moon. The earth’s shadow is the same size as the moon’s diameter, covering it precisely. In a full solar eclipse, the earth exactly blocks out the sun, again not bigger or smaller than the sun as viewed from the earth.
For you astronomical mathematicians out there, what is the probability, in an accidental universe, that precise lunar and solar eclipses would occur as viewed from the only planet in a solar system where intelligent life exists and can view the phenomenon?
Experts have estimated that there is some number of potential planets where life is possible. If so, how many of those have at least one moon, and have lunar and solar eclipses that are precise when viewed from the surface of the planet? I suspect that the probability of such an accident is so small as to lack any creditability.
According to the Bible, God wants us to rely on faith in Him rather than our own reasoning. God is smart. He knows that man has an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and as knowledge is gained and reason is applied, many of us will question the story that is the basis of our faith. We have our core belief, but we like hard evidence. But there is not a lot of hard evidence that cannot be dismissed by the logical mind, and faith can be difficult to maintain.
The eclipse is physical evidence of the existence of God. He created this phenomenon as evidence for all generations. Primitive people easily accepted the eclipse as a creation of God, along with every other natural phenomenon. Today science explains rainbows and shooting stars in a logical way. Any argument of God versus science in most things does not change the minds of the participants. But the next time you are confronted with scientific reasoning as the answer for everything under the sun, ask for a natural explanation of the unnatural precision of our eclipses.
Reverend Joseph Jeepers is the Pastor of the Pearlville Community Church.
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