Category: Uncategorized

I am often amazed at the paradox of “green kiddie cars” You know, those mini cars for kids with batteries–the ones we used to have to pedal??? In one way, they promote alternative energy ideas by using a battery powered motor, instead of petroleum, but on the other hand, they help to foster a mentality in young minds which promotes more dependence on—-or expectations for automation, and secures an image in their minds of large gas hog vehicles, as if we need more of those in the US.

Just the other day, I saw two overweight kids, about 7 riding in one of these toys, munching on junk food.. (Does anyone eat at a table anymore?) Anyway, I thought—“Oh great, that’s all we need in a nation where obesity is everywhere within eye-shot…..riding a battery operated toy which was meant to be pedaled…and eating while they’re at it!”

Let’s see…. Kids who ride kiddie cars…. Hmmmmm…. Isn’t this the age group where young muscles are developing and could use some physical activity? I thought so. Nevertheless, these kids were seemingly having fun riding in their mini-Hummer, looking like the mini version site I see on the road daily: people riding in gas guzzling tanks while scarfing down food, Oh… and don’t forget add the cell phone!

Is this really the kind of toy we need in terms of promoting a physically healthier, less auto dependent future generation? I don’t think so. Bring back the pedals!

Posted by Angry Man In The Basement at 8:20 PM

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Labels: automation, bad health, exercise, kiddy kars, lazy, obesity, toys

Did you ever hear the old saying “it’s so old it’s new?” Well, that is what I can say about old time radio theater because listening to it is such a refreshing break from television or movies. I have a disc collection of CBS’s “Radio Mystery Theater” which ran from 1974 until 1982.

This show was produced by long time radio theater creator Hyman Brown and hosted by E.G. Marshall–who had the kind of storytelling voice that made you want to gather around a fireplace on a cold October night and just listen! CBS Radio Mystery Theater was actually a rebirth of radio theater which had been absent from—or rare on the radio airwaves for several years prior. It featured many great guest actors and iconic voices, as well as the little known performer.

Long before television people used to gather around the radio and listen to their favorite shows. Featured were such subjects as drama, adventure, comedy, horror, and mystery. My favorite is mystery. Now let me get on with why I like these radio shows so much!

In radio theater, unlike television or movies, I appreciate the fact that since there is no moving picture to go along with the dialogue, the script writing had to be very descriptive and imaginative to paint the picture of what is happening in one’s mind. There were no super enhanced computer effects to make up for the substance a particular story-line lacks, which in my opinion seems to be so common in many of today’s mainstream movies. Quality writing is what radio theater is all about and if that’s what you like that’s what you’ll get! Most of the time, the acting is fabulous!

Additionally, another advantage of radio theater is that it offers a chance for improving listening skills, increasing attention span—and developing your imagination. It gives the eyes a rest from the glare of the television too! I like laying down, closing my eyes and allow the picture to form in my mind…the characters, the scenes, the time periods etc…. It can become addictive!

Radio theater is still present today and probably the most popular is the variety show which can be heard on National Public Radio, Prairie Home Companion, hosted by Garrison Keillor. Visit the PHC site below—or the Skary Guy site to see how you can learn more about radio theater and obtain your very own library of CBS’s Radio Mystery Theater, hosted by E.G. Marshall!

http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/

http://www.skaryguyvideo.com/cbs.htm

 

I was recently walking through The Cleveland Metro-Parks When I noticed what appeared to be about as effective as bailing water out of a boat with a bucket full of holes–and that is, the use of a leaf blower. Are you disturbed by those who seem to use them obsessively while the noise the machines make is especially irritating?

Next to illegally modified pipes on motorcycles or the same on cars–or next to the noise from boom cars, incessant use of a leaf blowers tops my list as the most annoying and frequent noise pollution sound to date! Below are a couple of letters

I have written in the past few weeks about them and why I feel they are not needed. One is to the Cleveland Metro-Parks, the other to the discussion forum on the Cleveland Hts. Observer. If you have a problem with the abuse of these machines in your neighborhood, maybe the letters will help to enlighten you as to why these machines are a problem.

At the end of the letters, you will find a video link. This video is demonstrating just how moronic this leaf blowing practice can be. 4 guys with wide rakes and a tarp could have whisked up the leaves in less time and with more accuracy and no noise and pollution!…and perhaps a bit of needed exercise for Americans! If these are so convenient and quick…then why does it take this many guys to do this? Imagine the noise! This video is a poster child helping the effort in corralling these things!

Video – two men using awful, ghastly leaf-blowers

http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=LeWA5dYpMyE

Dear Hts. Observer Group,

I have read this post about leaf blowers and have much to share about this topic. To be honest, these machines, and the incessant abuse of them, are one of the reasons I moved out of the heights. (Overlook Rd…a cacophony of leaf blower noise. Morning noon and night….)

Being a noise pollution awareness activist, I have learned a heap about these machines–and the ideology that they “save time” is actually nonsense. The Sacramento California debate on this “blows” that logic out of the water. If anyone wants to see it, let me know. These machines merely give the illusion of clean. It’s really like running a giant vacuum cleaner outside without a bag or filter. Needed? Really??? Think about this for starters…..Since when did a parking lot have to be anti-septic?

In the very recent past, yard services, which were fewer, would have about 4 guys with wide rakes, a tarpaulin.. And a truck…. They would corral the leaves on the tarp, pick them up and place them in the truck to be taken to a proper place for composting, or legal disposal. (hopefully!) Doing the yard this way was very quick and efficient…Oh…and exercise too…How dare we, the fattest nation in the world get a bit of exercise!

I have witnessed unbelievable uses of leaf blowers—uses that were NEVER intended for these machines. I will list a few of those ridiculous uses in a second, but first, I want to finish the former…. A most idiotic behavior I witness all the time—to have 4 guys standing against the wind trying to corral the leaves into one place, without success……yet they continue to blow against gusts of wind up to 20 miles per hour…
In the time they take to do this, those guys with the rakes could have been finished.

The important thing to remember is that these machines blow up a whole lot more than leaves…rodent spittle, pollen, mold, fertilizers…. road dirt, etc. etc.. and a host of many other particulates, therefore the unbelievable uses I alluded to above, I will now mention.

They are but not limited to: blowing along a curb on a dry dusty day–making a dust storm polluting ambient air levels with all the dust, PLUS the especially irritating high frequency noise, blowing rooftops near hospital entrances or other public buildings where either children, elderly, or sick need access…. and yet another counter productive use—-the utterly senseless blowing in the wind!

Now, how did we come to using these and why do users go overboard with using them?

Well, as I said at the beginning of this thing, they give the illusion of clean, which helps to foster excessive use….they are quick to do what they do, making a certain given area only appear clean…BUT this is just temporarily …then when all the dust etc. settles, it’s right back where we started! Cleaner? Think about this…. If you live next to someone who uses one of these things, you will likely find yourself washing your car or windows twice as much because the dust settles all over buildings, windows, cars, etc… But because the immediate area looks so clean…and for goodness sakes….it was a quick effort….we will find uses going above and beyond trying to clean what we NEVER would have normally done when we just used a rake or broom. So in a way, these things make us tape into our obsessive compulsive behaviors.

Additionally, people who use these incessantly have become so accustomed to seeing their yards free and sterile of any harmless parts of nature such as small plant clippings, tree flower pedals, tiny sticks, and so on, that they actually have conditioned themselves to think the yard always has to appear this way! The minute a flower pedal drops from a magnolia tree, out comes the blower. Again, helping to foster obsessive behaviors.

I remember one time I saw a guy kneeling down on his driveway aiming one of these things as though he were about to sink the winning shot in a pool tournament…. “Hmmm“…he subconsciously thinks to himself…”Look how clean I got that driveway“… “I think I’ll just go on and on and clean the curb, the walk, ever little bit of detritus from the yard, while I am at it.”

In other words, these things make us do what is NOT necessary to do, by giving that quick clean all over impression, hence the idea is born that thinks these are needed to get big jobs done. Fact is, these things made people make a big job because we would have never done this much with the former tools. It was NOT necessary then, and it is not necessary now. As I said above, since when did a parking lot have to appear antiseptic? I have watched closely the specimens who incessantly use these and have detected an obsessive behavior pattern in all of them. I also saw one guy chasing one single leaf in the summer down the street until I just went over to him, picked it up, handed it to him and said… “Here”… Another time I witnessed someone actually trying to blow leaves OFF of a tree…Another person blowing out their car…. I mean seriously… How lazy has such a machine made some people? It looks pretty silly to see these guys dress up like ghost busters in back packs and all…ready to take on mother nature.

How have these things made quality of life better? By making it to where we don’t even want to open up our doors and windows due to the noise…from so many of these things being used all the time…or because of the dust that blows in to our homes? GOT ALLERGIES, ASTHMA? How does constant use of such a noisy polluting machine build a strong community where neighbors actually want to sit outside and enjoy summer peace.. converse.. hear sounds of backyard friendly nature?

We are cooped up all winter, then we have to hear this the moment the weather breaks. With so many other forms of noise pollution, some that are unavoidable, and maybe necessary, such as road repair—but blowers are just one form that has no social redeeming value. (by the way, let’s not bring up the illegally modified exhausts on cars and motorcycles or the same in illegal sound producing car audio equipment–another story unto itself–another day that I am on top of as well!)

How can a community be “green” and continue to use these machines that basically assault people on an ongoing basis with noise? They really aren’t that old…have not been around very long so what in the world did we do before them? I think it would be a much more social idea to return to those days of effective simplicity.

If these are such a save…then why have several communities (over 400 last count) across the nation place restrictions on certain uses of these things, or in some cases, flat out bans. L.A. for example, bans gas powered leaf blowers due to the combined 3 forms of air pollution—one from the engines, the other from the dust they catapult at 150 to 200 MPH into the ambient air…and the third, from the noise pollution.

An interesting fact put out by the US census Bureau….More than any other reason, whether you live in rural, city, suburb, the top reason people flee any given area is noise…so the noisier it gets, the more likely the quality of life and property value will eventually decline. Noise has many negative, harmful, and costly health implications as outlined in reports by the Southern Medical Journal and World health Organization—and this blowing business is just sooo unnecessary.

In addition, according to the information from newspaper articles we receive each day on the anti-noise lists, at least 3 times a month someone is either shot, beaten, attacked, or stabbed over a noise incident. If we do have to live with incessant blowing and a mindset that has been conditioned to think blowers are needed….then their absolutely needs to be an education as to the problems they create, so proper restrictions be placed upon certain uses and times when used–and at least, the use gets restricted to what they were actually intended to do—and that is, to blow leaves out of hard to reach areas ON the yard. As far as I am concerned, reducing this kind of activity is just a simple small step in becoming a more environmentally and socially responsible community.

It doesn’t matter how good these machines may appear to make any given community look….. If using them creates unnecessary—and just one more source of preventable air and noise pollution that degrades the quality of life that makes a place great in the first place–they aren’t worth it. Add up all the users, and we have a lot of dust and noise–especially when some people just don’t know when to turn it off! Sorry, I am just one of those individuals who has the selfish interest of wanting to breath and enjoy some reasonable right to peace. If you want to learn more about the problems these machines create, see www.noiseoff.org and get the facts.

Dear Metro-Parks,

I am the person who called to express some concerns I had with a method I have learned that you administer to your park maintenance crews. After a discussion with a couple guys on your crew, they suggested I contact The Metro-Parks directly. Thank you for returning my call.

The issue is with the inappropriate use of gas powered leaf blowers. As an allergy sufferer, an environmentally concerned person, and heavy user of the park system, I would like to enlighten you about these machines. I noticed your crew using them to blow along the curb in the parking lot at the boat marina. While it is unfortunate to have the general public abusing the uses of such a machine, it is really disappointing when I see those employed via public government using them. Why is the above use an inappropriate use for such a machine?

For starters, what I saw was not using these machines for their intended use, and that is—blowing leaves. What your employees are doing is blasting a powerful shot of air at some 150 to 200 miles per hour stirring up road dirt, pollen, mold, spittle, lawn chemicals, animal feces and a host of other detritus—into the ambient air (25 to 50 feet above us—breathing air) polluting a radius of approximately 50 to 75 yards. In addition, the fumes from these machines adds to the ambient air pollution. When you use the machine like this it only gives the illusion of clean–yet actually rearranges dust outside that was settled for nature to wash away–so that it settles on cars, windows, buildings, etc…as well as in people’s lungs.

I expect better awareness from a park system which boasts so much nature—in being more environmentally responsible. What I saw your employees doing could have been more responsibly done, and actually quicker….. with a push broom and rake. A parking lot does not have to appear sterile, especially when what they were sweeping and putting into plastic bags was mostly natural bio-degradable detritus which should, ideally, be scattered in the brush nearby, so it can get recycled back into nature–and not placed in counter productive non-biodegradable plastic bags. The myth surrounding these machines is convenience. The reality of using one is the equivalent of running a dirty sweeper inside your home without a bag or filter.

I also want to mention that I go to the parks to find a small semi-oasis away from the city–and a place of reasonable quiet. Running a leaf blower for 30 minutes to do a job I could have done in 15 using traditional methods, somehow undermines the whole experience of being in such a park. The noise is quite annoying . I would like to see the park with such a mission statement it has, to spend less time concerned with a parking lot and the cars needs, and more time focusing on the environmental integrity of the park, for walkers, bicyclists, and hikers. This means picking up the litter I see accumulating near the bluff sides and along trails. I would rather see the parks contain healthier river and forest systems than healthy parking lots.

It is no wonder that some 400 communities across the country have— or are in the process of legislating stricter regulation on obsessive and abusive uses of blowers. Even a vacuum system (blower with a vacuum and bag) would be a better alternative if you still feel the lot has to look sterile. If you would like to know more about why these machines are a problem and why their use should be limited, please visit the website www.noiseoff.org Thank you for taking the time to consider these concerns and I hope when I go to the park again, I am not assaulted from the noise and ambient air pollution created by the dirt blower.

Respectfully,
Robert S. Carillio

 

Not long ago, I was prompted to take action in composing several “Benefits of Trees” letters to be handed out to my neighbors after I witnessed over a few short years, what had been an non-stop cutting down assault on the beautiful tall oak trees which once dominated our neighborhood.

When you grow up with these trees and remember how they cradled and protected the neighborhood for so long, one grows to respect them and realize all the benefits they provide—yet get taken for granted. Cutting them down for frivolous reasons such as ‘not wanting to rake leaves’ is not only disrespectful to the institution of a long time living thing, but also to the many people who have grown to respect these trees for all the fond memories they have provided. One does not realize just how much the trees meant to the neighborhood until the trees gone. In many places which we considered to our “urban forest”, what remains is boring patch after patch of turf grass.

The letter I wrote was a bit passionate, maybe off-putting to some, but when I wrote it, I didn’t care because something had to be done, and I was not about to wait for a backwards city council to draft proper progressive legislation to protect historic trees on private property within city limits! The rather lengthy letter reminded people clearly what they may want to consider before removing in a matter of hours, what took a long human lifetime and much more to grow–and just what these trees meant to the value of the neighborhood! If you have a similar tree assault problem in your neighborhood, maybe this letter can inspire you to do something a bit proactive in your own way. My choice was to go straight to the neighbors and remind them a thing or two about trees. I think it worked because the cutting has stopped!

Dear Resident,

I have been a long time resident of the “Genesee/Oak Knoll” area
neighborhood and a volunteer former member of the one time Warren City
Arbor Commission. I write today to many of you to share a few thoughts
about what I am seeing with the poor stewardship of our city’s trees
both on public and private properties. This most valued asset of the
neighborhood has been entirely taken for granted and it has really gone
far enough to the point I felt I had to write one resident at a time
hoping that you will take all the following beneficial assets about
trees on board before you chose to remove one.

If you are considering removing trees on your property, please take a
few moments to read the following information before you pay a lot of
money to have it done by one of the various so called “tree expert”
companies which often don’t even have a qualified degreed arborist
working for them…yet are allowed to continue this destruction of our
trees in the neighborhood.

Granted, over the years, some have been or may need to be removed for
obvious safety reasons — or they have been blown down by storms, but
many more are continually coming down for somewhat frivolous reasons
such as not wanting to rake/mulch leaves, or allowing sun to penetrate
to the ground. (which can be easily achieved through trimming the tree,
rather than removing it wholly)

By making the decision or “a” decision to cut down the perfectly
healthy tree in your yard, you will have contributed to being a part of
the following problems….

* Helping to make already dirty air even dirtier, (Ohio has amongst the
worse air quality, in various categories, in the nation — see EPA
website) as well as to help increase the effects of global warming
effects caused by greenhouse gases, which trees assist in greatly
reducing. Trees help remove air pollution while producing oxygen we
need…to continue to remove then will be costly to all of us via
health care and many other ways!

* Helping to make a town, which is already chronically noisy , even
noisier. Trees help to reduce noise pollution acting as a sound buffer.
(loud motorcycles, boom cars, gas powered leaf blowers, etc.)

* Helping to make water resources dirtier. Trees are integral parts of
the hydrogen cycle and help clean our water for free……no one will have
to pay extra taxes for this service!

* Helping to undermine the beauty and value of the neighborhood. Often,
well maintained housing in neighborhoods which boast lush tree lined
streets often have higher property values. Trees add beauty and value
to the neighborhood! The high aesthetic and monetary property value of
the Oak Knoll neighborhood owes this in part to the trees. Many
neighborhoods would die to have trees like this and yet we keep cutting
them down each year without replacing them! Now our neighborhood is
beginning to look like a cheap housing development…bare and naked…and
not with the “cozy and safe” feeling that well tree planted streets
provide. As other neighborhoods continue to lose their trees, this kind
of “forested” neighborhood amidst the concrete of the city, will be
rare, hence a much sought after feature in the neighborhood by
potential good home buyers. Please think about the sense this makes.

* Helping to create higher heating and cooling bills. In a national
Arbor day Foundation study, it was discovered that in towns and cities
where trees were more abundant, that heating and cooling bills were
lower than the averages. Trees help in reducing utility bills. *See
National Arbor Day Foundation

* Helping to Increase landfill waste, landfill space, and consumption
of more energy to manage them. Paper is one of the top 5 “ingredients”
in landfills. The highest point in Trumbull County to date is a
landfill! Ohio accepts trash from 7 states while struggling to manage
our own.

* Helping in destroying harmless “backyard wildlife” habitat. This
creates a scenario where this wildlife could now become a problem, such
as taking refuge in chimney’s and spouting, or in garages, because they
have no place to go. Trees provide beneficial habitat so that we can co-
exist peacefully with harmless yet beneficial small animals.

* Helping to create more drought-like conditions or intense rainfall in
the Summer, which could lead to excessive water consumption or
flooding. Trees are an integral part of the hydrogen cycle. By
removing too many trees, when it does rain, it will be intense heavy
rain which can greatly contribute to soil erosion around the home and
water in basements of homes. Tree roots can help “suck up” water and
hold soil together.

Note: Trees provide the above benefits and many more for free! Nobody
has to pay any extra taxes for this. It is our hope that you did not
remove this tree for the somewhat frivolous and lazy reason of:
…..“because you don’t want to rake leaves” If so, you may want to learn
the money and time saving benefits of mulching, vs. raking and/or
bagging. It’s not likely that the tree was a threat to safety as
indicated above, but whatever the reason, we strongly urge you to
replace what was destroyed so that we can leave, and provide current
future residents with all the benefits trees offer. In the long run,
you only stand to gain. Warren has done nothing to plant new trees in
recent years. We have only been taking them down. It is one sobering
thought to see how many the city removes without replacing them, let
alone all the residents who do, and who do not replace them. Take a
look around and notice how many times this happens. Why chose to be a
part of the many problems that are created due to lack of trees? It’s
shameful that what takes several years to grow, is destroyed in a
matter of a few hours.

Forested urban neighborhoods was once our most appealing visual aspect
of our neighborhoods and it‘s pitiful that we risk losing this because
of the fool who says he doesn‘t want to rake leaves, or some other weak
excuse. Worse is when the tree gets removed by the one who thinks that
just because one tree fell, or had a branch fall off, that we must act
in a “Chicken Little-like” paranoid way and start cutting all of them
down for fear that the one in 50 million chance of someone walking by
when it may fall, will actually happen…and that this ideology based on
gripping someone in fear, takes precedence over all the major benefits
our neighborhood trees provide on a daily basis, that we take for
granted. Even if something like that DID happen, a property owner is
not likely to be held responsible for what would be construed by the
insurance community as an “act of God”

Lastly, please note that just because a tree is rotting from the
inside, does NOT mean that it is going to fall over… or that this is a
bad thing. For many trees this is a perfectly natural cycle of life and
does NOT necessarily warrant it’s removal.

For more information on the benefits of trees, please visit The
National Arbor Day Foundation on the internet at:
http://www.arborday.org/

If after strongly considering all of the above, and you still think you
need to remove the tree, please plan on replacing it with a native
species.

Thanks for your cooperation!
If you have any questions, please call me at 330-393-4448

R. Carillio

 

John McCain is apparently determined to do favors for the nearly 30 oil companies which have contributed to his campaign by promoting offshore drilling under the guise of it “lowering fuel prices.” He will use high fuel prices as a great opportunity to ram through the oil drilling agenda. He knows people are worried enough about fuel costs to make it the issue of election.

McCain knows for those who live in very auto-dependent areas, there is much worry about how you’re going to afford a work commute, get the kids to school…. or if your job requires a lot driving….well…. the answers seem clear to support offshore oil drilling—especially if your immediate alternatives are few. McCain knows people will be open minded to any possible solution which may help them in a crunch. As Move On Dot Org indicates, “McCain is preying on that anxiety by offering offshore drilling as a quick fix.” But will it help???

I don’t think it will help at all. Oil has already fetched this price here so why should it come down? I agree when Move On Dot Org stated in a recent email “Offshore drilling won’t fix gas prices or our dependence on foreign oil… there simply isn’t enough oil offshore or in the Arctic, and it will take up to a decade to get what little is there. Even then, we would only save 3 or 4 cents a gallon!”

What will reduce current fuel dependency? Well, as a country which could really stand going on a strict diet from an insatiable appetite for oil—we may want to reconsider how we use it in the first place before we demand more of it from the earth. If the earth were an IRS agent, we’d be audited for wasteful oil use. Let’s reconsider current use by asking ourselves questions like….”Are we wasting it by keeping 20 acres of suburban lawn in mow?” “Driving energy gluttonous vehicles?”…..”Obsessively using gas powered lawn equipment?”…. “Eating a diet that is highly oil dependent to produce?”

The way I see it, our government should be promoting an agenda that supports reducing dependence on OIL…(by promoting cleaner, greener, renewable sources) and not just reduce dependency on foreign oil. The current agenda only deepens dependence with our current oil appetite—and what little we get from offshore drilling, it will be used up faster than it can even go from the ground to the pump.

I also feel the offshore oil drilling agenda is nothing more than a means to break through much needed regulations in protecting our environment. If oil companies can succeed in breaking down the most protected areas in our natural world, then they have their foot in the door—and nothing is sacred. It’s not worth the environmental pollution risks to feed the coffers of a few for a short time—while at the same time do NOTHING to relieve higher fuel prices.

Drilling is not worth leaving heavy dirty footprints on last pristine areas on the globe—all so that, for example…. some 5′ 110 pound oblivious to the world woman can drive around in her SUV talking on her cell phone in a vehicle which has the capacity for 8……while her one passenger obese kid scarfs down a Happy Meal!!

The fuel we need lies in the fuel we waste and the alternatives we do not explore. With the money we are spending in Iraq right now, we could have developed a car which runs on Kool Aid! Lay off the drill because offshore drilling under the guise as fuel price relief is a behemoth of a scam!

Watch the ad below from Move On Dot Org

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3996&id=13372-7690762-wir.lCx&t=5

 

This is a great article about how nipping small crime related problems in the bud can reduce the bigger crimes. This story is from Buffalo New York. If you are concerned about community quality of life issues, please check this out!

http://www.buffalonews.com/home/ story/403639. html

I come across some great products all the time locally and nationally, mostly produced by smaller companies or independent businesses. Here are a few!

Great deodorant products!

http://www.lafes.com/index.html

Great natural soaps!

http://www.santafesoap.com/

AND, see why the raw food diet for pets makes a lot of sense!

http://www.threecheersrawrawraw.com/

Lastly, some great home cleaning supplies!

Natural & Organic Food, Health & Nutritional Supplements & Natural Health Beauty Products. Buy everything from organic baby clothes to natural beauty products, herbs and eco-friendly cleansers with same day shipping at a discount at Ediblenature.

Remember, when you purchase such products, you help support local or independent business which preserves local economic identity. With all the clone zone franchises to chose from these days, why not try some products, goods, services, etc..which are unique and one of a kind? You will be helping to support businesses trying to do the right thing environmentally as well as help drive down the costs of the better products by slowly increasing the demand.

Most of these businesses I have spoken to wish to concentrate on creating products which emphasize on quality instead of quantity, so will continue to remain smaller enterprises. Check out your locals or independents today….Very often the quality, service and knowledge is superior and hence you save money in the long run by sparing yourself the runaround or disappointment!

 

Please take some time to see the efforts of this wonderful organization in South West Ohio. It is a great place to schedule a hike…rip the technology out of the ears and hands for a day (no ipods,cell phones please) and just let nature’s sounds and sights let you experience what you’ve been missing!

www.highlandssanctuary.org

I have attended quite a few of these fantastic weekends dedicated to showcasing the native aquatic habitats of North America. The link below is when myself and a well rounded cast of professional assistance, hosted the 2001 North American Native Fishes Association’s annual national convention. This event took a whole year to plan and was over in just a few short days. Guests traveled as far as Britain and the U.S. west coast. It will always be a great memory for me….

http://www.nanfa.org/convention/2001convention.shtml

Geauga Trumbull Solid Waste District is working with local Sheriff Departments and Health officials to crack down on littering and illegal dumping in their district. Litter laws are enforceable by local Sheriff’s departments and Police departments. For more information please see below…..

http://www.startrecycling.com/