wcpn reviews Mayor Jackson's new safety plan,

This morning's nine to ten a.m. slot on WCPN radio was an examination of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's new get tough on crime Public Safety Plan , which entails getting both gangs and the guns that gangs would brandish off Cleveland streets in an effort to reduce homicides and violent crimes. A great idea. The wcpn host was joined by Cleveland council representative Nina Turner who was "encouraged" ,by Mayor Jackson's plan , and stated that " desperate times call for desperate measures". A point well taken. Also on board was Professor Ronnie Dunn from Cleveland State Universities Department of Urban Studies , who felt that a " community awareness component " , was an important consideration in this plan that was not addressed directly , and he expressed concern for the potential abuse of of racial profiling when Cleveland police start enforcing this plan. Guns are color blind , and the felons that use them in committing crimes come in all colors , ages , and demographic profiles. Callers to the show were of mixed opinions , though the distinct majority seemed to agree in principle with the mayor's plan , with the exception of a concerned mother of a five year old , who stated she was " against Mayor Jackson's plan" , citing concerns of the potential abuse of racial profiling as her reason.Professor Dunn departed halfway through the program , and was replaced by Cleveland Police Patrolman's Association representative Steve Loomis , who assured that the rank and file officers will work within the letter of the law in enforcement of this plan , not be overly aggressive or punitive in their approach. Loomis also stated that due to thin ranks officers were more often than not " reactive , not proactive" , when working with crime in Cleveland these days due to the Cleveland Police layoffs of 2004 .He also stated that "politics , simply politics" , play a major role in the diminished number of police on the streets at any given time. Adding that the City needs to add 300 officers to the 1500 that currently serve. With Cleveland's population at the 478,000 figure The ratio of even 1800 police officers to 478,000 citizens appears to be quite a low percentage. In checking the police to citizen ratio in Cuyahoga County's second largest city , Parma ,Ohio , I found that Parma employs 128 police officers to serve 85,655 citizens , an average of 1.03 officer to every thousand citizens. Digging even deeper I discovered the National average of police to citizen ratio per city is 2.8 to one. It does not take an Einstein to see how thin the Police Department in Cleveland , Ohio is in comparison to other cities. This numerical disparity translates to a very thin blue line indeed , and it would perhaps serve wcpn to research and include similar statistics in their future programs concerning Cleveland Police and their relationship to fighting crime. Severely understaffed seems an understatement! Some discussion occurred concerning the origin of the firearms that exist in Cleveland's streets. No one seemed to get the big picture , that firearms are big business , and that money on the streets of Cleveland can purchase just about any old item one desires for the right price. I sited in my January 2 , 2008 post entitled RESOLUTE , that a group of us were pinned down by gunfire on New Years eve , and it is an odd week that passes when some type of gunfire is not heard in our East side neighborhood. The obvious solution is to hire more Police officers to fight crime in all American cities afflicted by heinous and violent crimes. Our Federal Government currently has placed us in great debt by mustering the mostly United States troop strength in Iraq and Afghanistan for the purpose of holding fragile peace in those Countries and establishing democracies. Well politicians , democracy begins and ends on our home battlefields , and cities like Cleveland , Ohio and Detroit , Michigan could sure use the efforts of soldiers , police , or the United States Marines to fight crime and hold the fragile peace that exists in our war torn urban neighborhoods! How can any of these Federal politicians keep up the ruse of fighting a war to hold a peace overseas , when our own citizens face similar warlike conditions on a daily basis in America? Time has come for breaking the cycle of crime and poverty that send adolescents into gangs as a means of survival on Cleveland's tough streets. Prevention is always a better strategy than the proactive interventions that result after the crime is committed , and leads to increased incarcerations. The WCPN host did a credible job with regards to addressing this ongoing urban problem , but would better serve his audience with a bit more preparation prior to taking the airwaves.....On a sad though similar subject. One week ago , on Tuesday January 8 ,2008 , a high school friend , Jim Cappetto was struck from behind and knocked out in the hallways of Cleveland's South High School while attempting to break up a fight between gangs at the high school. Jim was best man at a mutual friends wedding some years ago , and he was the leather lunged voice at old Cleveland Municipal Stadium who vocalized the cheer JULIOOOO! , whenever Julio Franco stepped up to the plate for the Cleveland Indians. Jim Cappetto is quite a nice man , possessing an easy demeanor and smile , and a dedicated teacher for thirty plus years in the Cleveland system , and please keep him in your thoughts and prayers for a complete and quick recovery. An interesting and scary fact is that on the day of January 8 , 2008 when Mister Cappetto was attacked and injured , two Cleveland police officers and six security guards were present on the South High School campus. Not a small number of people to hold the peace. Enough said! Book Selling Time! The spike in Cleveland's murder rate in 2007 is reason for concern , though we must note that a decrease in other crimes was concurrent. We offer today an earlier view of the same sorry fatal subject the 1947 edition of CLEVELAND MURDERS , edited by Howard Beaufait. Merely one volume in a series on the subject by City in America. CLEVELAND MURDERS chronicles the notable examples of this sorry subject , including the Kingsbury Run multiple murders that remain unsolved to this day. Not exactly an uplifting read , but take note that events do not change that much through the years in Cleveland , Ohio. Not for the better at least.

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Odds set here for Wolstein , Stark , and Medical Mart

Gold and oil prices are up. Our United States economy is down. Seems that you need a scorecard locally to see who is currently winning the land grab wars in downtown Cleveland. More about this sport later. First up..... Let the New Year begin now that Ohio State University has lost yet another National Collegiate Football Championship .Who really cares about the nfl games that will follow? Nothing super about the super bowl , save the super amount of money that will be wagered on the remaining nfl scheduled playoffs and the gaudy super bowl. For this fan football is over until autumn 2008 . Thanks be for that. The Ohio State University versus Louisiana State University game last evening spoke miles for itself concerning who has the better collegiate football team.LSU hands down. The real test of a modern great State is in the number of major elected public officials currently incarcerated for crimes committed while holding public office.Let us examine how Louisiana and Ohio fare in this department. Just as in the Collegiate championship football game victors , the State of Louisiana wins hands down over Ohio in the number of elected officials serving time for committing crimes while holding public office , or their implicit involvement in fraud , bribery , and other politically related crimes. A short list of Louisiana politicians serving time currently , or facing time includes former Louisiana Governor Edward Edwards and his son Stephen Edwards , Orleans Parish School Board President Ellenese Brooks - Simms , former Louisiana Congressman Bill Jefferson , New Orleans City Council member at large Oliver Thomas , Judge Allan Greene , former Louisiana State Senate President Michael O' Keefe , and for good measure a sinner of the old fleshy school variety former Senator David Vitter. Whew! The list just goes on. No room here to document all the swampy political criminals that disgrace the great State of Louisiana. Huey Long would be proud of 'em , one and all! As in collegiate football , Louisiana has Ohio beat in the corrupt politician category hands down! Best Ohio can muster is the pitiful three stooges currently serving time for their white collar crimes : former congress Representatives James Traficant and Bob Ney , and the convicted " coingate " felon and former White house insider Tom Noe.How about them former politicos ?, Louisiana , and Ohio both appear to have terminal flaws in the respective Capital cities of Columbus , Ohio and Baton Rouge , Louisiana. Plenty of soap and water needed to clean up these disgraceful politicians! Game over... Let the local game of handicapping the players who use downtown Cleveland as a real estate scrum begin! For the year 2008 we will make book on which perspective real estate / development projects will actually get of the ground. Using race track logic , the long shot of the proposed projects is developer Stark's Warehouse District dream of one of his suburban " Legacy Village " , type developments , you know the faux little town square types complete with high end retail , big box stores , and a few residences proposed by Stark to fill the damnable empty parking lot space which now comprises fifty percent of the physical space that is referred to as the Warehouse district. I give Stark credit for attempting to fill in the long standing joke that the parking lot district that is also known as Cleveland's " Warehouse District" , is today via buying out the parking operators interests and filling it in with dense Urban development as a progressive City like Cleveland could have in it's design. Good luck however, money will be tight due to ongoing Federal credit problems , complicated by the Nationwide housing slump , and foreclosure mess. Corporate America is pretty strung out on borrowing large amounts of money to fund itself , and will be forced to tighten it's collective belt due to the likely event of a recession this year. Banks will be dreaming of dollars and shitting out nickels this year. Odds at Stark getting off to a 2008 start 85 to 1...... Developer Wolstein and his grand plans for the east side of the downtown Cleveland banks of the Cuyahoga River area known as the " Flats " , fares better to break ground in 2008 , though you can smell the taint of his slapping up an office building in true Cleveland " put the horse before the cart" fashion and poaching existing office leases from other downtown buildings prior to constructing any of the residential , or retail that Wolstein promised for the Flats site. Odds for the office building 10 to 1 , all other aspects of this Flats plan even coming close to getting started in 2008 , 70 to 1..... Now the big enchilada of developments , the more complicated Medical Merchandise Mart / Convention Center project currently having the public side funds collected via a sales tax increase that was generated in late 2007 by vote of the Cuyahoga County Commissioners. This project is racking up millions already via the tax levy , and stands the best chance of breaking ground due to the fact , if for no other reason , that money has been gathered and that usually translates to as much as spending it on your land baron friends , not putting funds aside for some sensible infrastructure improvements that would serve all of Cuyahoga County , not just the vested land grab players in this development ; Cleveland Clinic , University Hospital , the Corporate mess of hotels that is downtown Cleveland today , and most important the local land baron of choice ; Jacobs Group or Forest City that is recipient of the Medical Merchandise Mart / Convention Center location. Odds for this deal breaking ground in 2008 , 25 to 1. None of these projects really have the interests of the citizens of Cleveland or Cuyahoga County in mind via their designs. Unless of course you measure progress in the new service class jobs that these projects may attract when and if completed. Hard to believe , but we have yet to hit bottom in terms of population loss , tax revenues lost , and the ability to attract jobs to this region that are not the mop, bucket, and broom variety. If perchance all three of these projects fail so be it.Perhaps then more attention could be paid to real time problems that face our citizens daily , City services , Schools , and increased Safety forces among the many and diverse Urban problems that complicate life in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County..... Book Selling Time! So Ohio State football flames out in the Superbowl again. No problem! Coach Tressel seems to be a great fellow , and he is pretty secure in his job as long as he continues to manage to extract victories against " that team from up north". Read and listen to some of the best momenst in Ohio State Football history via your purchase of Eric Kaelin's BUCKEYE GLORY DAYS , THE MOST MEMORABLE GAMES OF OHIO STATE FOOTBALL. Last evening's Ohio State defeat for the National Championship is not included in this volume , though it will be considered highly memorable to the Tigers of Louisiana State University and their loyal fans. Louisiana politicians not currently under indictment for white collar crimes included. Best wishes to Kim and John , my family and friends.

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Shaker Heights , Ludlow gang beating not much news on wcpn

This mornings nine to ten a.m. slot on wcpn was dedicated to discussion concerning the tragic beating incurred by a Shaker Heights attorney who was out walking in his neighborhood on New Year's eve , and severely beaten by a gang of seven youths , with an iron pipe no less , traumatizing and hospitalizing him with severe injuries , resulting in the surgical placement of pins and plates in his legs. A rather sad and sinister state of affairs for a pretty stable suburban neighborhood . Though this man's recovery in a psychological vein will cause this poor victim shock and pain for sometime to come as well as those in his Shaker Heights Ludlow community that feel his pains and admire his courage. Present for the hour were Shaker Heights mayor Earl Leiken , Shaker Heights Council member Al Foster , and a member from the Ludlow Community Association named Chudzinski. The wcpn moderator initially confused the Shaker Heights councilman foster with being the Cleveland councilman , a rather embarrassing moment to be certain , and indicative of the less than stellar preparation that occurs in regards to this time slot. The Shaker Heights mayor elected to introduce himself , and proceeded to carry on concerning the recent Federal crime figures that show a marked decrease in crime in Shaker Heights. Unfortunately for the victim of the Ludlow beating , the gang that assaulted him were not included in this statistical abstract. Councilman Foster stated the obvious need for parental involvement , and claimed that race was not an issue. The victim is Caucasian , the juveniles Afro American. Both of these elected officials seemed sincere and to genuinely care about the fate of the City they represent, though neither had much to offer in the form of suggestions to prevent such occurrences from happening again. The Ludlow community representative Chudzinski expressed optimism , hoping that this was a wake up call for more vigilant neighborhood involvement. A matter of pulling together , not ripping apart his message. What is truly sad here is that no acknowledgement of the obvious sad social condition that acted as a precursor for this criminal condition , " baby childs" , there I said it , received any mention. Yes , " baby childs " , these youth who ganged up on our unfortunate victim were in the age range of fourteen to seventeen years of age , and it is more likely than not that perhaps some of these young men were conceived by young mother's perhaps not prepared to accept the responsibility to raise them . According to 2005 statistics for the City of Cleveland birth records , twenty percent of Mother's giving birth residing in the City of Cleveland were between eleven and nineteen years of age. Not a race issue , as much as a youth pregnancy issue. The usual two thousand ton elephant in the room , youth pregnancy ,was kept cowering in the corner by the participants and callers alike. What can one say in defense of children conceiving children save that it is time to break the cycle. Now! An Akron caller mentioned being robbed and pistol whipped on December 27 , 2007 near Shaker Square. Though this same Akron caller was cut off quickly by the wcpn host when she critically pointed out that the " big football stadium downtown was all good and well , though not of much use when it came down to urban brass tacks such as public safety". A Shaker Heights resident named Steve called in to report purchasing a taser. I think that Steve is a bit light in his expectations of self defense in this choice of weapons. Some small amount of time was spent in mentioning the education of parents concerning their off springs , though the obvious in this matter of parenting is to begin with breaking the cycle of teen childbirth. No more or less. Juvenile gangs again were not mentioned , though much has been written on this subject , and it is human nature that draws together children in a world , and a rereading of William Golding's LORD OF THE FLIES is all it takes to begin to understand the sad and sometimes cruel rites of passage that comprise adolescence. Oddly enough the one time that da p.d. should have been present at a wcpn , in the form of editorial columnist Dick Feagler , whose Sunday January 6 , 2008 dealt with this crime and the cultural reality of such events as urban flight and offered this advice via his conversation with a Shaker Heights police officer on walking in Shaker Heights " Go in two's , or get a big dog and walk it. Or take a cell phone with you pre-dialed to 911". Sounds like stern ,stellar and apt advice. Especially the cell phone particular. Police response in Shaker Heights is quick , and had the victim had a cell phone it may have made a difference.It would have served the listeners well to have been able to comment on Feagler's Sunday article , which walked the line between racism and modern urban real time life. Bordering a City such as Cleveland , presents Shaker Heights residents with some odd quality of life issues that can lead to becoming quandaries such as the unfortunate victim of this heinous and violent Juvenile gang crime. Shaker Heights is also around the corner from North Randall , Ohio , and it is only this past Friday evening January 4 , 2008 , that a multiple shooting occurred in a motel in a Northfield Road Motel located in North Randall , Ohio resulting in five men being shot ranging in age from eighteen to twenty years of age. In 2007 Cleveland , Ohio had a rash of violent crimes committed by a South east side , Slavic Village , gang who called themselves " The Goonies" , and beat and robbed many elderly victims. Our Ohio jails are filled to over capacity with these sad young cases of Juvenile / adult crimes. Our maternity words are swollen with children conceiving children. As for solutions , it seems that few quick fixes exist. Keeping the plight of such crimes front and center in our minds and having open dialogue concerning such modern dilemmas as teen pregnancies , and Juvenile crime is a great start.I only wish that I was kidding concerning being pinned down on New Years eve by random gunfire in our East side neighborhood. Staying well put instead of milling about the rather uncertain mean streets of Cleveland , Ohio that evening seems the norm not the exception these days. Perhaps if our political officials worked harder at the social ills of our Cities , and less at the corporate welfare issues that occupy their time , we would fare better collectively. I received a distress call the other day from a visitor to Detroit , Michigan a few days after the New Years. She was worried about taking public buses in Detroit after a middle aged woman was shot in the face for the crime of not having any money to give the assailant that committed a robbery upon her as she disembarked from a Detroit , Michigan Department of Transportation bus. My Friend purchased a second hand purse , and placed ten dollar bills in it to give up quickly if accosted in a similar fashion. What a way to have to consider to live in modern America ! Join a community group or block watch organization. Volunteer some of your hard earned time to participate in inner city youth programs. Sacrifice your nfl football sunday's and become a big brother or big sister. Hell , I do not even begin to know were to offer advice in this terrible matter of Juvenille crime. Start close to home , keep those that you Love and respect in good form , and look out for one another. We are only as good as our collective efforts. Book Selling Time! You guessed it 1 William Golding LORD OF THE FLIES. Most all of us have read this volume at sometime in our life , and the message of the cruel and sometimes violent and difficult adolescent passage has never been better addressed to my knowledge. Best wishes to all victims of terrible crimes such as the one suffered by the Shaker Heights Ludlow resident.Believe in Love and take a moment to care for those that you do. Pass it on.

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Resolute

A few hours prior to the New Years a friend asked what was my New Years resolution? I replied... To remain Resolute.

It is easy to see what problems exist in a destitute City in decline like Cleveland, Ohio today. Much more difficult to come up with strategies and means to help improve these conditions of decline.

I will remain resolute in scrutiny and critical examination of this Cities meager media concerns. Holding both the, for profit and public mediums accountable for their actions, or lack of said actions.

My pal Slipsy Junior moved here from Youngstown, Ohio some years back, and this region seems like paradise to him compared to the Mahoning Valley.

Be that as it may, Youngstown was always a greasy backwater burg between Cleveland and Pittsburgh that never served as much as a model for any Civic activity with the exception of a highly organized mix of crime and politics, that made Youngstown more resemble some loutish New Jersey city than Cleveland, Ohio in its better previous years.

I would have preferred a little better start to this New Years 2008, though being pinned down on our street awaiting the gunfire to cease was the way it began for a group of us eager to leave a party for a neighborhood club, though not willing to run the gauntlet of errant bullets being fired with rapidity into the sky as if a street in Baghdad, not Cleveland's east side.

This unfortunate display of local firepower seems to grow in intensity and length of time every New Years, and the smoke and gunfire did not die down until an hour had passed. Driving to fetch a New York Times the next morning brought a look at the spent cartridges and shell casings that littered many street corners and sidewalks.

These folks who discharge their firearms seem to have no regards to where the bullets might land, and I am surprised that more harm has not come from this barbaric practice. I have a distinct feeling that this practice is not status quo in Westlake, Bay Village, Strongsville, or any of the swell suburbs that most of the well fed and cared for members of the local media clans reside. Perhaps in the year 2008 some of these folks will consent to a cultural exchange program, and actually reside in the City of Cleveland that they purport to provide news coverage of.

Fat chance!

You see it is easy to cover a war from a comfortable distance equipped with a fat paycheck, and do not think that life in contemporary Cleveland does not more resemble a war zone than a civilized outpost.

I am tired of local crime and gunfire, and vow to remain resolute in letting as many other people who care for a taste of reality, versus the local media fictional tidy universe quilted by da p.d. at 1801 Superior. I do intend to describe the sordid truth and shameful conditions that rue life here today in Cleveland, Ohio 2008. In this I remain resolute.

To say that business conditions in Cleveland today are rough seems an understatement of fact.

The law of diminishing returns comes to mind, and the diminishing part of this equation is the population that has fled making it difficult to sell books to those who remain.

So I will remain resolute to sell more books outside of the area that we call home. We have over nineteen thousand books listed for sale online, and we have at least that many awaiting description and cataloging for sale.

If you are looking for a title and having little to show for your efforts please contact us. We will do the best we can to connect you with the book you are looking for.

Book Selling Time!

Forget the lousy lies of politicians, and the media concerns who do the lying for them. Celebrate the season with a warm look at Cleveland 's recent past provided via a copy of Richard Karberg's great illustrated volume of recipes and accounts of the late Silver Grille, an art deco restaurant which occupied the tenth floor of the Higbee Company Department Store on Cleveland's Public Square until it's closing in late December 1989.

Yet another dark sad day in downtown Cleveland history. The Silver Grille was a favorite "tea service style" lunchroom in the grandest fashion. This fine volume recounts the history as well as the recipes and flavors that made the Silver Grille a hometown favorite for over fifty years.

Happy New Years to all of our friends and Family!

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Fishin' around

our friend's lovely Geauga County farm pond out near Ansel's Cave, on a slate gray early November afternoon. A last piscatory gasp for a dying season, this short burst of time suspended against the encroaching darkness of the winter's snow and shorter afternoons that will follow.


A few sugar maples still show their majestic reds and golden yellows of pre frost leafy splendor.

Most color is gone now from these trees, and a strong wind cuts across the pond's surface, creating circular ripples, and the fond idea of capturing some of the fish within. Fishing is an act of the suspension of time and space in the pursuit of a fresh air sport that allows eye hand coordination, guile, and just plain old good fortune as its bedrock.

Enjoyment of a seasonal glimpse of nature is also a great reward of this old idea of "angling."

My pal the Cheeze is along, and he has been teaching me the art of selecting artificial baits versus the primitive methods of bait fishing that I have practiced the majority of my fishing days.

Sure, as a youngster I flipped hula poppers, jitterbugs, and artificial worms around similar farm ponds in another nearby County, though no greater pleasure in fishing seems to be found than landing a large stringer of pan fish by any means of bait, cleaning them and serving them forth within the space of a few hours time from removing them from their cold watery digs.

Today's exercise was the acquisition of fish flesh, to be specific largemouth bass and the odd bluegill, for the evening's supper and to keep our wives appetites at bay. Our first casts produced a pair of keeper sized bluegills between us.

Both of us lost fish due to improper hooking, or the fish's wiser efforts in escape. An hour passed, and I was rewarded with a scrappy two pound largemouth, that fought well, flipping the surface with determination before being unhooked from the rapala lure he found to his liking and into the cooler.

Cheeze followed suit with an equal sized largemouth a few minutes later, and that was where the fishing ended for the day. Not for the want of further effort.

We fished another hour or better, with no cooperation from the fish inhabiting the pond.

Taking a break to let the pond calm a bit, we rehashed an event that occurred earlier in the summer, when my cousin Rajah was visiting from Arizona, and we were joined by our friend Bim for a late summer afternoon's fishing adventure at this same friendly pond. Rajah decided that he was interested in fishing the adjoining stream for the suckers that replaced the native brook trout some years ago.

Being a surgeon and somewhat peculiar in his mannerisms, Rajah proclaimed that he was "a suckah for a suckah" and that it was his intention to catch and then display for our mutual amusement the ugliest possible sucker fish he was to take.

Rajah delivered as promised some malformed inedible examples of this "trash fish," sharing their true ogre-like crania with us then tossing the still live suckers head over tail into the adjoining woods not far from were Bim had settled into fish along the pond's shore.

Cheeze and I had spread out and were casting into the pond for bass when we heard a loud scream emit from Bim's mouth that he had heard a "bear" and at that same moment a very large bass decided to attach itself to Bim's fishing line.

To make a short story shorter Bim's eyes bugged wide from the bear scare, dropped his fishing pole into the pond and took off running for higher ground, loosing his buster bass, and his fishing pole in the process.

As I referred earlier, this fine pond is near old Ansel's Cave, and bears are known to wander into this zip code, often from Pennsylvania in search of a new home. Sorta like all the people that have left Cleveland for the suburbs, these bears have the same sort of agenda in mind.

Well Bim found no bear, and we all agreed that the thrashing noise was either Rajah falling into the thickets, or a raccoon or coyote fetching up Rajah's discarded ugly suckers.

A good laugh was had all around, and we settled into a productive afternoon's fishing that odd summer day. Before the Cheeze and I departed this November's day , with the sky dropping dark to the west and city beyond, I looked to the ground not far from the pond's edge, and sure as life the small piles of coyote scat confirmed the yips and yowls of the coyotes we heard earlier this afternoon.

No bear, yet a funny tale of Bim, the Bass, and the Bear.

Hey Cookman!

A great way to prepare any freshly caught pan fish that has been filleted is simple as possible being the only manner for this delicate flesh.

I prefer to heat in a medium fashion a small amount of butter in a sauté pan and place the filet skin side down into the pan, cooking only a minute per side for the bluegill, the bass if in the two pound range when whole is cooked correctly in this fashion in no more than three to four minutes per side.

Slide these treats on to a warm plate, garnish with fresh sliced lemon wedges, and some fine chopped parsley, serve with homemade coleslaw and your favorite potato or rice dish.

Cold beverages are required.

Bookselling Time!

If you are like me, and can't always make time for quality fishing, curl up with a good fishing book. We offer today a great American classic concerning our friends the FRESHWATER BASS, by Ray Bergman.

A nice example of a limited edition outdoors book, that any bass fisherman would love to read and own. As a passing thought remember this old ditty that I am apt to mutter every springtime as a parable for the season to come.

In lieu of coition, might as well go fishing! Alright, the gale winds are upon us, time to concentrate on the former instead of the later.

Best wishes to all those who love to fish and eat 'em. My Father who taught me how to fish, my family. Best to Kim and John, and special thanks to Bill and Jane and all their lovely Family out by the pond.

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