Some things going on

There’s some things going on that we figured we’d tell you about.
Locally, if you get the the QC Times was a story about local car nut
Darrell Longlett and his lovely wife. Since they got married in a leap
year, they’ve been married either 11 or 44 years. Congratulations! Keep
cruisin with that good looking Merc.

Legislation in our state has been introduced to create a vehicle
registration class for street rods and customs. It would include
special license plates and allow replica vehicles to be registered as
the same year as they most closely resemble. It’s a start. Sema has
been hard at work on this and the state is using thier model legislation
for the bill.

And from New York City, Curtis Sliwa sent this email-

Bullying, Cyberbullying and Gangs:

Online Training In-Service Seminar Launch
The Alliance of Guardian Angels is proud to announce the launch of
a new online program designed to raise awareness and involve the
school community in protecting students from bullying, cyberbullying,
and gangs.

The Online Training In-Service Seminar (OTIS) “Bullying, Cyberbullying
and Gangs” was created in cooperation with the Monmouth-Ocean
Educational Services Commission, a seasoned provider of quality online
in-service training seminars for educators. This online training
provides 24/7/365 availability for parents, schools, and community
members-all reflecting the experience and expertise of the Guardian
Angels.

This 2-hour program features remarks and presentations by Curtis Sliwa,
Guardian Angels Founder and CEO, NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly,
technology expert Jim Anderson, StandardID, and Barry Colicelli,
retired Captain of the Newark NJ Police Department, now a Special
Assistant to the Mayor’s Office of Anti-Gang Initiatives and Youth
Development in Trenton, NJ. MOESC’s series of Online In-Service
Training Seminars (O.T.I.S.) have been well-received by school
districts as they offer opportunities for educators to earn
professional development credits through convenient, economical
web-based programming.
For more information contact Tim Noguiera at tnogueira@moesc.org

That’s a little of what’s going on. Comments are welcome.

Thursday rant

There was an explosion in the Waukeegan Mall. The news coverage is ongoing, but
a gas pipe is suspected to be the cause.

A few things are sticking in my craw about this current City Council.
During a Meet and greet at Vandeveer park the then candidates all said
they were all for our parks. The ones who got elected went on and on
about amenities. Now all of a sudden the city wants a library at the
vacant Prarie Heights, and wants to do away with the zoo. We have
plenty of money for thousands of tons of extra salt, and overtime for
plow drivers. We have exta money for our pothole crisis, but we don’t
have $200,000 plus for a zoo.

It was mentioned by the Mayor that the animals at the zoo live in
deplorable conditions. Why not change the conditions? I’ll bet the cost
of the new sidewalk at Vandeveer park will cost more than it would to fix
the zoo. Let’s hope this City Council keeps some of their campaign
promises and listen to the citizens that elected them. Remember Mayor,
we heard you on the campaign trail saying our parks are our greatest
resource. The zoo is part of one of those parks.

Since the pothole crisis began we’ve noticed that someone is going to
have job security. We think the potholes are multiplying. We have a tip
for the city, fix it right the first time. Pouring hot asphalt into a
pothole filled with water is not the right way.

And lastly, we have a problem with house on Main Street that the Church
wants to tear down. We don’t think it very christian for the Pastor to
visit relatives the day of the funeral to try to buy the property. We
don’t think the church should condone lying. Yet they insist they had
no intention of tearing it down, they did. If parking is so precious at
this house of God, maybe they should look into building a parking ramp.

That’s our take on it, your comments are welcome.

Boyd dies, and the MotorIoway 500

Nitrous55 reminded me of the passing of Boyd Coddington yesterday.
Coddington, 63, died yesterday morning of unspecified medical causes.
He was the owner of Boyd Coddington Hot Rod Shop, La Habra, California.
He was also the star of “American Hot Rod” on the Learning Channel. He
also had his own line of custom wheels. If you ever met him you know he
was an interesting guy. He will be missed.

The MOTORIOWAY 500 is coming up, for those interested, here is the
route and stops.

Wednesday June 4
Gathering Day in Marshalltown with ShineTime on the Town Square

Thursday June 5
Marshalltown to Waverly with stops in Conrad, Iowa Falls, and Hampton

Friday June 6
Waverly to Waterloo with stops in Charles City (maybe a side-trip to
the Little Brown Church in the Vale), New Hampton, and West Union with
ShineTime at the “Friday Loo”

Saturday June 7
Waterloo to Quasequeton including a stop at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Cedar
Rock house

This is open to all vehicles pre-1983. More info., applications and
costs call John Brewer 563-326-2111 or go to-
http://www.motormemories.com

school fights

By now most of us have heard of the school fights that happened today. North high had a fight involving around 30 kids, and West had a smaller fight. There is even talk of a lawsuit against the city by one student at North. Our take on it is that the kids should get expelled, and the 22 year old sister of a student should get jail time. Those involved should also be charged in court. There is no excuse for this kind of behavior. We don’t know the race, creed or color of the combatants, but they should be charged with mob action.

There should be a news conference tomorrow. We hope it helps clear things up. Until the air clears, comments on any subject are welcome.

Winter storm, ethanol, and potholes

 According to the news we’re going to get hit with freezing rain and
snow again. We’re not clear on how much because the news sources don’t
agree on how much, or just when we’ll get hit. Ah, life in the midwest.

  On the QC Times there’s an interesting thread going on about
ethanol. These people seem to have the problem nailed. To read about it
go to-
http://qctimes.com/articles/2008/02/18/opinion/opinion/doc47b7bb22d4f71209423070.txt?showComments=true

 The short and sweet on the ethanol debate is it’s inefficient, expensive,
uses more energy than it produces, and pollutes more. We really can’t
add much to what the commenters have to say.

 We also noticed our Mayor on TV saying we have a pothole crisis. We’re
guessing maybe he drives a smaller car. It’ been like a mine field for
some time now so it would be nice to get it fixed. Lets hope we don’t
get another cold wet winter or the streets will really be a mess.

 That’s just a couple of things that we’ve been talking about. Comments
on just about anything are welcome.

Input

Alderman Ambrose wrote a letter to the editor published in today’s
QC Times. For those with access it’s here-
http://qctimes.com/articles/2008/02/22/opinion/letters/doc47be4dbfa8d85892671623.txt

For those with webTV, or who don’t care to go to the Times website,
here it is-

By Ray Ambrose | Friday, February 22, 2008 |

The Davenport City Council and staff are developing your $165 million
city budget.

Now is the time every taxpayer in the City of Davenport should contact
their alderman and mayor on how they want their hard earned money to be
spent by the city.

Are you satisfied with the taxes and fees you are currently paying the
city, or are you ready for tax relief?

Would you support an increase in taxes for another library, the west
side sewer tunnel and added amenities on the downtown riverfront?

What about cutting taxes and fees?

I believe we should tighten our belts and concentrate on public safety,
improving our streets and sewers, along with cutting taxes and fees.
However, I want to hear from my constituents on this and any city
issue.

Ray Ambrose

4th Ward Alderman

Davenport

—————————————————

We were surprised that the comments on the Times website, so far at
least are mostly civil. And he makes a good point. If enough people
contact their elected officials and let them know how they feel about
this, then said elected official couldn’t claim they didn’t know.
Personally, we feel the library should be a no go until other priorities
are met. We also feel diving into develpments on the riverfront
are no go. The sewer tunnel should be a priority, and the phony rain
water runoff tax should be abolished. That’s our thoughts, yours are
welcome. Feel free to comment on this, or any other subject.

Angel anniversaries

The local chapter of the Guardian Angels just celebrated our one year anniversary. It was a good feeling when word came from Chicago. Happy Birthday to us.

Also celebrated is the entire Guardian Angel organization. The following is from Curtis Sliwa himself-
Guardian Angels 29th Anniversary
On this, the 29th anniversary of the start of the Guardian Angels, I can think of no letter that better compliments all that we have achieved during this time than to have an invitation go out to us from strife torn Kenya. If you look at the recent news headlines you see that this stable democracy in Africa has been torn apart of late by sectarian violence and lawlessness. The fact that people would think of our program as a possible remedy as they have previously in New Orleans, Cape Town, Mexico City, and Rio De Janeiro speaks volumes for all that you have done and all that we have achieved.

Happy 29th Birthday! Keep up the great work all over the world, and friends of
the Guardian Angels, as you can see, we’ve never needed your help as
much as we need it now.

Best,
Curtis

Feel free to comment on whatever’s on your mind.

Recalls

 The FCIC has updated it’s recalls page again. For the most recent
recalls, go to- http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/recallsdesc.htm

Automotive products has Kawasakis, buses, VWs, Volvos and more.

Children’s Products has cribs, bracelet sets, wood blocks,
construction sets, toy racing cars and more.

Food Products has beef, organic sesame seeds,Valentine cards and
pops, and more. 
 
Health Products has  fentanyl patches, Icy Hot, syringes and more.

 We have the computer back on line now. We had to format everything and start over, but it’s up. We’ll be busy reloading everying that was on it before the crash. So feel free to comment on any subject, I’m going to go have a brownie.

Long weekend blues

 This weekend reminded me why I don’t like long weekends. The computer crashed, our satalite TV went out just before the Daytona 500, and the weather. At least the weather wasn’t as bad as was predicted.

 Posts might get a little sparse until I figure out what happened with the computer. I know the hard drive is just about shot, but maybe with a little luck we can get it to run a while longer. We won’t be commenting until we get this under control, but I’ll check in from time to time.

 So play nice, and comment on what’s on your mind. We’re going to try to figure out how to get the hard drive to play nice.

The FBI gets involved

  The FBI has gotten involved in the shootings at NIU. To read the story from the FBI website go to-
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/feb08/university_shooting_021508.html
If you have Webtv go to the text.