Closing Small Post Offices Not The Answer

The federal plan to close as many as 3,600 small, mostly rural post offices is not the right answer to solving the financial woes of the U.S. Postal Service and I predict this plan will significantly change in the future and spare the closure of at least some, but not all, small postal stations.

Here’s why.

America’s rural voices truly will be heard in Congress and across the nation. The postal policymakers will actually “listen” this time instead of simply “hearing” -- and will then soon come to publicly admit their current plan does not fully appreciate or take into account that postal delivery across this nation is among the most basic fibers of American society – count on it folks. Having your mail delivered and then looking forward to that almost daily ritual is so ingrained in the American lifestyle that to take it away from those served by the 3,600 or so postal stations targeted for closure is like saying Americans no longer can have their apple pie or their favorite ice cream.

This fabric of American culture, as defined by mail delivery by hand to postal stations large and small, urban and rural, to post office boxes large and small and to households, has served as a lifeline for many generations of our citizens. And this friends, is what the policymakers need to “hear” and what I believe they will indeed hear --- that will lead to coming up with a different solution – a better, but not perfect plan.

I would ask policymakers to invite some key stakeholders to participate in a newly formed and diverse roundtable – a workgroup if you will – to forge a better postal service management plan. I will be the first to tell you that such a modified plan will indeed still involve closure of some small postal stations, just not 3,600 of them. I will also tell you that it will involve yet another postage fee increase and likely reduced services to many small and rural postal stations (as in every-other-day delivery or perhaps even less frequently.) I envision such a plan will still create heartache and inconvenience for some, but I do believe that a better plan can be, and should be devised that will afford the opportunity for as many communities and people as possible to retain their postal lifeline for years to come.

As a country we can do better. As policymakers, we can try harder. As a nation, we can preserve a lifeline and a fabric of our culture. No finger-pointing, no accusations, no negativity – just allow for the opportunity to devise a better plan for own self-governance and postal service. Our best in managing postal services is yet to come.

Is Shipwreck Salvaging Grave Robbing?

About 20 years ago I was an active recreational sport diver who enjoyed diving on a handful of various shipwrecks in the Great Lakes as well as the Atlantic Ocean. Our sport dive limit was a depth of 130 feet. Most of the shipwrecks I got to visit were anywhere from 30 to 120 feet deep.

Among the things of which I became immediately aware was a contentious debate among divers and shipwreck salvagers about retrieving objects left behind on shipwrecks. This debate has existed for generations and will continue do so, especially now on the eve of a giant auction by Premier Exhibitions of more than 5,550 artifacts recovered from the RMS Titanic that sank in the North Atlantic 100 years ago this day (April 15). Premier is the parent company of RMS Titanic Inc., which is the only company that has legal authority to recover artifacts from the sunken luxury liner.

In reading several stories about this anticipated sale of Titanic items and having visited several Titanic artifact exhibitions, my thoughts today on this 100^th anniversary of the ship’s demise and immense loss of life simply brought back to mind the continued debate about the recovery of artifacts from a shipwreck – any shipwreck.

And mind you, while it is true that the RMS Titanic will live in infamy as the most famous nonwar casualty shipwreck of all time, the debate about the appropriateness  of removing objects from a sunken ship continues on board the decks of sport diving and research boats worldwide regardless the ship’s name.

You perhaps can see the debate clearly, yet this discussion is anything but clear. On the one hand, there are those people who simply feel that removing objects (i.e. personal property) from a shipwreck, especially a fatal shipwreck, is wrong and is nothing more than grave robbing. Another camp feels there is nothing wrong with artifact recovery as a sort of “finders keepers; losers weepers” philosophy. I suppose a third legion of belief is one that is found among researchers and historians in that their goal is simply that of historic preservation – noble, acceptable, all for the common good kind of historic study and preservation.

Yet, there is this nagging notion that a good number of the RMS Titanic artifacts will one day soon become bookshelf, reading table, workbench and work station desk ornaments --- sort of adding to one’s personal home and workplace clutter. Well, I don’t have a response and certainly not a clear-cut opinion on this debate. My limited amount of previous amateur, nontechnical shipwreck diving was done under the personal rule of “Leave It Be”, and in many areas of the world this prohibition on artifact recovery actually is a law. I dove with others who saw nothing wrong with removing items from a shipwreck and that was their own choice. The issue is full of well-meaning sentiment and strong beliefs on both sides and is one that will continue to be debated with no single conclusion of a right or a wrong – it just is.

Just Shut Up About Tiger Woods Please

I only feel guilty about this specific subject matter because someone is getting yet even more public attention through my current post and that is exactly what I advocate stops immediately for an undefined period of time.

So my message to the world today: “Just shut up puh-leeze and no more mention of Tiger Woods for awhile – by anyone.”

Give it a break (Rush Limbaugh and all others who work in mass media.) I do not want to hear or read these two words “Tiger Woods" any time before at least the conclusion of the third round (June 16) of this year’s U.S. Open and only then if he is in contention to possibly win the event. The lone exception is if he wins a golf tournament prior to the conclusion of the U.S. Open’s third round.

I mean he’s a talented athlete, but give it a rest. There are so many more important stories and subject matters than TW, the golfer. Also throw in there please for good measure omitting any more public references to Lindsay Lohan and Justin Bieber for awhile.

Let’s instead hear and read about some real difference-makers in our community. Let’s get the media’s focus back on “LOCAL STORIES OF OUR INTEREST!” --- meaning something more than who got shot, who got robbed and the latest fatal motor vehicle crash. There are just so many more people, places, subject matters and items of local interest. Let’s you and I dictate that the media agenda change now, so that means no more sports talk radio for me when golf comes up as a subject. It also means if I think someone is going to mention TW, LH and JB – I’m down and gone Brother! Mark me as 10-3 (stop transmitting).

That’s it --- messages and blogs can be more powerful when kept brief.

What Cherry Blossoms?; Ohio's Dogwoods Are Blooming!

Cherry Blossom Festival In D.C.

The world-famous cherry trees of Washington D.C. again are in bloom which signifies a traditional rite of early spring – a new beginning. This year marks the 100^th anniversary year for this tradition that began in 1912 when over 3,000 Yoshino cherry blossom trees were presented to the city as a gift of friendship from the citizens of Toyko, Japan.

This year’s national Cherry Blossom Festival is observed March 20 through April 27. Nearly 4,000 cherry trees in full bloom grace the D.C. streets each spring. As one can imagine, lots of events are planned for the five-week celebration. Typically, when the peak of the cherry blossoms has passed, redbuds and dogwoods here in Ohio are in full bloom. A little surprise though for this year is that Ohio’s redbuds and dogwoods came into bloom last weekend thanks to early unseasonably warm weather.

Sport anglers have been on Lake Erie catching walleyes now for about two weeks. The annual spring walleye run in the Maumee and Sandusky rivers in NW Ohio generally hits its peak each year from April 1-10. Some are now reporting the peak walleye run has come and gone, but I suspect there are more fish to enter the river in these next couple weeks.

Plenty of people have been out mowing their lawns. I remember as a kid having a handful of lawn mowing customers that I would first see in the first week or so of April, not the middle days of March. Plenty of birds and bugs have been observed outdoors. Lots of folks are predicting this to be among the most buggy of Ohio summers due to the recent mild winter.

Garden centers have been busy. The best advice is to remember that early to mid-May is typically when the threat of frost has passed. This means that despite the eagerness of backyard gardeners, it’s far too early to plant your tomatoes. I like this early spring and despite the mild winter just past, we Northerners always seem to be ready for the warm season.