PUBLIC NOTICE: Meeting of Bexley Public Radio community programming advisory committee.

PUBLIC NOTICE

A meeting of the Bexley Public Radio community programming advisory committee is scheduled for 4:30 p.m., Monday November 2, 2009.

The meeting will be conducted at the Bexley Public Radio office, 2700 E. Main St., Suite 208, Columbus, OH 43209.

The sole agenda item for the meeting is management review of regular volunteers, paid staff, if any, and programming. For comparison purposes, the committee may use standards and categories used by EEOC. Such standards may also be applied to nominees and applicants for membership on the community programming advisory committee without regard to whether management or board approved such applicants or nominees. Consideration may also be made regarding alternatives to the EEOC standards so that actual diversity, constructed diversity or innovative diversity of the community is considered. The deadline for applications to serve during 2010 was March 2, 2009. The deadline for nominations to serve during 2010 was April 6, 2009. The deadline for applications for service during 2011 is Monday March 1, 2010, The deadline for nominations for service during 2011 is Monday April 5, 2010.


The admission fee charged to attend the November committee meeting is $10.00.

Public Notice: Meeting of Bexley Public Radio community programming advisory committee.

PUBLIC NOTICE

A meeting of the Bexley Public Radio community programming advisory committee is scheduled for 4:30 p.m., Monday October 5, 2009.

The meeting will be conducted at the Bexley Public Radio office, 2700 E. Main St., Suite 208, Columbus, OH 43209.

The sole agenda item for the meeting is board review and vote on nominees and applicants for membership on the community programming advisory committee. The deadline for applications to serve during 2010 was March 2, 2009. The deadline for nominations to serve during 2010 was April 6, 2009. The deadline for applications for service during 2011 is Monday March 1, 2010, The deadline for nominations for service during 2011 is Monday April 5, 2010.


The admission fee charged to attend the October committee meeting is $10.00.

Laura Franks reports Bexley CPI for Third Quarter, 2009

This is Laura Franks reporting the Bexley Consumer Price Index for the Third Quarter, 2009.

The Bexley CPI reports on the aggregate prices paid for a uniform basket of merchandise purchased at retail in Bexley and nearby retail stores.


The Bexley CPI measures the change of prices for typical retail purchases made by Bexley residents.

The Bexley Consumer Price Index can be compared to the price changes reported by the Bureau of Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. The comparison can provide useful information for Bexley consumers about local price changes compared to price changes in other parts of the United States.

As of the third quarter, 2009 compared to the second quarter, 2009, Bexley prices showed a marked increase of 14%. This increase is attributable to two factors. Two items that were previously marked down, one 44% and the other 29%, were returned to their pre-sale cost.
In addition, for the first time since the firstt quarter 2008 none of the items in our market basket were discounted. The result is the highest total cost we’ve seen since the inception of the Bexley CPI in October 2007.

Even though this is the most significant increase in prices for our market basket for 2009, I still conclude that it is always nice to live in Bexley.

This is Laura Franks for the WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM Bexley Consumer Price Index Report.

Bexley Public Radio Foundation broadcasting as
WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM, Local Power Radio
2700 E. Main St., Suite 208
Columbus, OH 43209
Voice (614) 235 2929
Fax (614) 235 3008
Email wcrxlp@yahoo.com
Blog http://agentofcurrency.blogspot.com

Bexley Public Radio Foundation is exempt from federal taxes under IRC Section 501(c)(3). Donations are deductible from federal income taxes for individuals who itemize. Checks may identify the payee as Bexley Public Radio Foundation or WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM.

Design is copyright 2009. All rights reserved. Bexley Public Radio Foundation. Text is copyright 2009. All rights reserved. Laura Franks.

Dianne Garrett interviews author Gina D’Andrea

Author Gina McKnight D’Andrea is interviewed by Bexley Public Radio correspondent Dianne Garrett. D'Andrea's children book
The Blackberry Patch was recently published by Tate Publishing of Mustang, Oklahoma.

"The Blackberry Patch is the story of an adventure in a patch of blackberries! illustrations throughout will capture the attention of adults and children and carry the story to its sweet and tasty conclusion.

Drawing on her own childhood experience, D'Andrea tells a story of the pleasures given in God's world.

The enjoyment of five senses is part of the tale along with the natural hazards of brambles and other dangers. The metaphors are subtle but provide substance for adult reflections about this tale.

D'Andrea spent her childhood in the Ohio foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Her knowledge of the details of a blackberry patch will give readers, children and adults alike, a well-told story. The story also hands down to a younger generation useful knowledge and the yore of rural life. If Gina continues this tale as the first of a series (Strawberry patch, Raspberry patch, Mushroons and so on) she can become the Foxfire series for children.

Join author Gina McKnight D'Andrea and learn how all five senses are engaged in the blackberry patch. On this hazardous quest through brambles and swarming varmints, find the blackberry patch and a delicious, natural treat.

The book is available from the publisher and Amazon.com. It can also be ordered through Barnes & Noble and Borders. It is
24 pages - $8.99 (paperback).

John Matuszak: 2 kings of TV comedy pass on

I'd like to pay tribute to two television icons who recently passed from the scene.

One is a writer who gave us a group of army surgeons who fought against the insanity of war with their own kind of divine madness.

The other is a seller of propane and propane accessories who rode herd on his loopy neighbors and family members in the town of Arlen, Texas.

Goodbye, Larry Gelbart, co-creator of the TV series M*A*S*H, who died Sept. 11 at 81.

Goodbye, Hank Hill, patriarch of the animated series "King of the Hill," which aired its last episode Sunday after a 12-year run.

Gelbart served his comedic internship thinking up gags for cut-ups Danny Thomas and Bob Hope (even touring Korea), and then did his residency keeping TV audiences in stitches along with Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks and Neil Simon.

He won a Tony for "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," about a scheming Roman slave thwarting authority.

The Vietnam War was still dragging on in 1972 when Gelbart took on the challenge of introducing a serio-sitcom about combat to American audiences more accustomed to the domestic doings of the Brady Bunch.

TV viewers were beginning to accept more contemporary offerings such as "All in the Family." But it was far from certain that they were ready for the combination of comedy and carnage Gelbart and Co. had in mind.

Gelbart wanted to stay away from the "frolics at the front" mentality of such wartime shows as "Hogan's Heroes." The early episodes did lean toward the silly side, with surgeons Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce and "Trapper John" McIntyre boozing it up, chasing nurses and tormenting Major Frank Burns, in between 18-hour stints in the OR.

The series hit its serious stride with the first season's "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet," in which a childhood friend of Hawkeye's dies on the operating table before his eyes.

"All I know is what they taught us in command school," Col. Henry Blake tells the grief-stricken Pierce. "Rule Number One is that young men die, and Rule Number Two is that doctors can't change Rule Number One."

Never before had a television audience been presented with such a portrait of humor and horror as M*A*S*H. It took them awhile to embrace it, with the series languishing at the bottom of the ratings for the first season. But with network support it built a following that allowed the series to continue for 11 seasons, becoming an American icon enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution.

Through Hawkeye, his alter ego, Gelbart's perspective on war could be applied to our own current adventures in nation-building:

I don't know why they're shooting at us. All we want to do is bring them democracy and white bread, to transplant the American dream: freedom, achievement, hyeracidity, affluence, flatulence, technology, tension, the inalienable right to an early coronary at your desk while plotting to stab your boss in the back.

Gelbart stayed with the show for the first four seasons, its most creative and iconoclastic. He went on to earn Osacar nominations for screenplays for "Oh,God," a wickedly funny epistle on our misguided attitudes about religion, with George Burns as the Almighty; and "Tootsie," in which a cross-dressing Dustin Hoffman took on feminist issues.

With other changes in the cast and creative team, M*A*S*H lost a lot of its edge and became increasingly sanctimonious and formulaic, although it remained popular. Its two and a half hour finale in 1983 drew a record audience. Even those of us who had abandoned the show, like myself, had to watch to say "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" to the men and women of the 4077th.

Watch those early episodes now on DVD, minus the network-imposed laugh track, and realize just how groundbreaking the show really was, how the combination of comedy and drama still cuts to the bone.

Besides making me a pacifist, I have one other thing to thank Larry Gelbart for. He gave me my only nickname. After work my friends and I would gather to watch M*A*S*H reruns. Our apartment became known as the Swamp, after the surgeons' slovenly quarters, and I became Trapper John, or simply Trap, to all the people who came to kick back and get a little crazy (with lots of coffee instead of alcohol).

I tuned into the last original broadcast of "King of the Hill" with the hope that the final frames would at least approach the sublimity of the earlier efforts. Unfortunately, it was as flat as the southwestern plains.

Most comedies have a short creative life, usually about four or five years. There is only so much gold you can mine out of a particular situation or character.

"King of the Hill" stayed sharp for about that long. What made the series appealing to me was that Hank Hill was the only American father on TV who wasn't treated like a complete idiot. He could be as misinformed as the rest of his redneck neighbors, but he usually recognized this at some point and was able to make amends. Just as often, when everyone else doubted him, Father, it turned out, did know best.

Creator Mike Judge treated the denizens of Arlen with a balance of satire and sweetness. Soccer moms and school board dunderheads took their hits along with the local yokels.

So I'd like to say my own goodbyes to Hank, his Boggle-champion wife, Peggy, and pudgy pre-pubescent prop comic son, Bobby; neighbors Dale Gribble, the conspiracy theorist who never discovered that his wife was having an affair under his nose; desperate divorcee and army barber Bill; mumbling Boomhauer, with an accent as thick as Texas five-alarm chili; and the entire galaxy of Lone Star State residents he conjured up.

Thank goodness for reruns, I'll tell ya what.

Bexley Public Radio Foundation broadcasting as
WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM, Local Power Radio
2700 E. Main St., Suite 208
Columbus, OH 43209
Voice (614) 235 2929
Fax (614) 235 3008
Email wcrxlp@yahoo.com
Blog http://agentofcurrency.blogspot.com

Bexley Public Radio Foundation is exempt from federal taxes under IRC Section 501(c)(3). Donations are deductible from federal income taxes for individuals who itemize. Checks may identify the payee as Bexley Public Radio Foundation or WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM.

Design is copyright 2009. All rights reserved. Bexley Public Radio Foundation. Text is copyright 2009. All rights reserved. John Matuszak.

Simon Doer: The Most Sensitive Man in Bexley asks"Does the City Need an Audit Committee?"

Audit Function in Bexley City Government – Best Practices?

By the Most Sensitive Man in Bexley, Simon Doer


RECENT AUDIT LORE IN BEXLEY.

An August 28, 2009 news article by Dean Narciso for The Columbus Dispatch reported that “among the notable candidates to be bumped” in the removal by the Franklin County Board of Elections of “26 candidates from the Nov. 3 general election for failing to properly fill out paperwork or gather enough signatures” was “Bexley Auditor Larry A. Heiser, who didn't complete circulator statements as required by law. Heiser was running unopposed for his second term.”

While simply an introduction to the fact that Bexley has an auditor, that event (without in any way reflecting on the audit services provided by Mr. Heiser or his most recent predecessors, Gary Qualmann and Richard Al Levin) may also suggest an opportunity to examine best practices in city government related to proper auditing oversight.

THE RISE OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR.

In the private sector a crisis in corporate governance led to Sarbanes Oxley legislation and requirements that public companies focus on establishing Audit Committees on corporate boards of directors to ensure proper oversight.

In 2002 Congress enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in response to allegations of corporate ethics issues, problems with financial statements and business failures. A focus of the Act known as Section 404 requires management to acknowledge, establish and maintain adequate internal controls. The auditor and senior management must separately and respectively attest or assert in writing that the controls are effective.

MUNICIPALITIES MIMIC BUSINESS AND ESTABLISH AUDIT COMMITTEES.

Similarly the governance of many cities has required Audit Committees for proper oversight. For example, the City of Cleveland in 2000 established an Audit Committee composed of seven (7) members as a requirement of Chapter 154 of its Administrative Code:

The City Audit Committee members consist of the following:
“the Mayor, or his designee; the President of Council, or the Chairman of the Finance Committee as his designee; the Director of Law; one member appointed by the Mayor; and two members appointed by the President of Council. The final member, who shall serve as Chair of the City Audit Committee, shall be chosen jointly by the Mayor and Council President, shall have at least ten years experience in auditing or financial accounting, including some experience in governmental finance or auditing, and shall have no financial or contractual interest with the City of Cleveland in accordance with the ethics provisions of the Ohio Revised Code. In addition, the Chair shall not have had any duties pertaining to the audit of the City of Cleveland for at least five years prior to his appointment.”

The stated purpose of the Audit Committee in Cleveland “is to serve as the focal point for communication between the legislative and executive branches of the City of Cleveland, the independent auditor retained by the City, the Department of Finance, and the Division of Internal Auditing as their duties relate to financial accounting, reporting, internal controls, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. The City Audit Committee is to assist the staff and employees of the City in fulfilling its responsibilities as to accounting policies and reporting practices of the City of Cleveland and sufficiency of auditing relative thereto. The City Audit Committee shall be the principal agent in ensuring the independence of independent auditors, the integrity of management and the adequacy of disclosures to the public.”

STATE AUDITOR ENDORSES AUDIT COMMITTEE.

In the Winter of 2006 then Auditor of State, Betty Montgomery, in the Ohio State Auditor’s Best Practices publication endorsed audit committees by city councils:

“Audit Committees – Governments should establish audit committees to oversee internal and external audit functions.”

The article continued:

“The National Committee on Fraudulent Financial Reporting (i.e., The Treadway Commission) has stated that audit committees can serve as “informed, vigilant and effective overseers of the…reporting and internal controls process.” To be an effective independent overseer, the audit committee must be positioned between senior management and the external auditors. The audit committee should serve as a liaison between management and independent auditors. Although the committee could include officials from the entity, it is preferable that the committee include representation that is independent from elected officials and management. Thus, such committees provide an independent perspective on an organization’s control environment, which greatly bolsters an organization’s ability to mitigate fraud even at the highest organizational levels.”

(As further stated in the Ohio State Auditor’s Best Practices publication: “For an extensive discussion on audit committees, please see the Spring 2005 issue of Best Practices at www.auditor.state.oh.us/Publications/. Additionally, by visiting the AOS website, governments can access a toolkit developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AIC-PA) that is designed to help government audit committees operate as efficiently and effectively
as possible.”)

PRECEDENT BY BEXLEY’S SISTER CITY.

Even Bexley’s sister city, Bexley in England has an Internal Audit Committee. It has been active. A September 11, 2009 Bexley Times article reported that Audit Committee exonerated former Bexley Council leader, Ian Clement, on August 10 in connection with his use of a council credit card when he agreed to pay back charges he claimed on that card (however, continues to face other charges under the British Fraud Act related to credit card use).

SHOULD BEXLEY ESTABLISH AN AUDIT COMMITTEE?

Just as Sarbanes-Oxley was intended to increase investor confidence, hold corporate leaders accountable and focus on effective financial controls, it may suggest that public confidence in city government can be similarly addressed by the Bexley City Council seriously considering and establishing an Audit Committee to oversee internal and external audit functions. An advantage may also be the engagement of properly qualified residents to serve on the audit committee as active citizen participation in that aspect of oversight of city governance.

That is one sensitive man’s opinion. What is yours?

Bexley Public Radio Foundation broadcasting as
WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM, Local Power Radio
2700 E. Main St., Suite 208
Columbus, OH 43209
Voice (614) 235 2929
Fax (614) 235 3008
Email wcrxlp@yahoo.com
Blog http://agentofcurrency.blogspot.com

Bexley Public Radio Foundation is exempt from federal taxes under IRC Section 501(c)(3). Donations are deductible from federal income taxes for individuals who itemize. Checks may identify the payee as Bexley Public Radio Foundation or WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM.

Design is copyright 2009. All rights reserved. Bexley Public Radio Foundation. Text is copyright 2009. All rights reserved. The Most Sensitive Man in Bexley.

John Matuszak: American legends meet again at Schumacher Gallery

One was a poor boy from Ohio who suffered numerous personal failures before answering Abraham Lincoln's call to arms, a decision that would propel him to national fame and the White House.

The other was a wealthy Virginian from one of America's first families, his father a Revolutionary War hero and his uncle a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

They were destined to meet on the battefields of the Civil War, the struggle that ultimately determined the fate of the nation, freedom for African Americans and the future of government "of the people, by the people, for the people."

Capital University's Schumacher Gallery has mounted "Grant and Lee," a traveling exhibit illustrating the lives of these legendary military figures. The gallery has also partnered with the Motts Military Museum to display additional historical artifacts related to the leaders and the war.

Cassandra Tellier, director of the Schumacher Gallery, has been impressed that these two men could stand on opposite sides of the irrepressible conflict and still be regarded as American heroes.

Motts, who has operated his museum in Groveport for 10 years, also noted that this was a unique aspect of the Civil War, that bitter enemies could feel deep respect for each other once the shooting stopped.

But they both acknowledged that issues that sparked the war - from states' rights to racial equality - still smolder in American life.

"The Civil War is still being fought," Tellier said.

The exhibit originated through the Virginia Historical Society, but Tellier thinks that a stop in Ohio is fitting considering the state's leading role during the war. Ohio sent 300,000 troops to the Union ranks, and provided key generals, five of whom later became U.S. presidents.

Brother Against Brother

While the personal backgrounds of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee were poles apart, they did have some things in common.

They both attended West Point, with Lee achieving a stellar record while Grant excelled only in horsemanship. They both fought in the Mexican War.

They both owned slaves, inherited from family members. The Motts Museum has provided actual slave shackles, a reminder of the reality of human bondage.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Lee was offered command of the Union armies, but could not consider raising his sword against his native Virginia, calling it "my country."

Grant, after lonely tours on the western frontier, had left the army and was working in his father's tannery, struggling to support his family. He returned to military service at the urging of his friend William T. Sherman.

After some early setbacks, Lee took over the Army of Northern Virginia and built a near-legendary reputation as he confounded a series of Union generals.

Grant made his mark in the west, earning the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant.

While Lee's forces were locked in mortal combat at Gettysburg, Grant's men were besieging Vicksburg, the last stronghold on the Mississippi River.

The Schumacher displays a newspaper printed on the back of a piece of wallpaper, illustrating the privations suffered by the city's residents.The vagaries of combat are demonstrated by a Union and a Confederate belt buckle, both with a bullet that stuck in the plate rather that striking the wearer.

On July 4, 1863, the same day that Lee's defeated troops retreated from Gettysburg, Grant received the surrender of Vicksburg. This set the stage for the showdown between Grant and Lee, as Lincoln brought his fighting general east to command the entire Union army. Grant devised a strategy to use his superior forces to drive Lee out into the open and wear down his ranks. At the same time, he sent Sherman into Georgia to strike at the heartland of the South.

The strategy paid off on April 9, 1865, as Lee was compelled to surrender his starving and decimated army. The generals met in the living room of Wilmer McLean, who had hoped to escape the war after a cannon ball tore off his porch during the first battle of Bull Run. Lee, who initiated the meeting, was resplendent in his dress uniform. Grant, caught unprepared, wore his typical dirt-stained private's tunic with minimal insignia.

Grant dictated generous terms to his defeated foe, and when the beaten rebels filed away, they were saluted by the men in blue.

Lee went on to head Wahington University. He died in 1870. Grant was elected president in 1868 and served two scandal-plagued terms. But he did champion progressive policies, including fair treatment for Native Americans and the outlawing of the Ku Klux Klan.

After leaving the White House, Grant again found himself broke, and was dying from throat cancer. With the support of Mark Twain, he completed his memoirs shortly before his death, leaving his family with financial support and the nation with a literary treasure.

The Schumacher and the Motts Museum have brought to life an important part of American history. A children's section allows young people to discover this remarkable era on their own.

"Grant and Lee," made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, will be open through Oct. 17. An opening reception, with historical re-enactors and the firing of the Statehouse cannon, will tak place Sept. 11 from 5-7 p.m.

The event is part of the Bexley Art Walk, with other area galleries open to patrons.

The Schumacher Gallery is located on the fourth floor of the Blackmore Library and is open from 1-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday.

Bexley Public Radio Foundation broadcasting as
WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM, Local Power Radio
2700 E. Main St., Suite 208
Columbus, OH 43209
Voice (614) 235 2929
Fax (614) 235 3008
Email wcrxlp@yahoo.com
Blog http://agentofcurrency.blogspot.com

Bexley Public Radio Foundation is exempt from federal taxes under IRC Section 501(c)(3). Donations are deductible from federal income taxes for individuals who itemize. Checks may identify the payee as Bexley Public Radio Foundation or WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM.

Design is copyright 2009. All rights reserved. Bexley Public Radio Foundation. Text is copyright 2009. All rights reserved. John Matuszak.

Bans on texting while driving. Sharon Montgomery speaks out.

Sharon Montgomery was Wednesday's guest on the Eastside News Roundup. She was interviewed by host John Matuszak and Dianne Garrett about legislative proposals to prohibit "Distracted Driving" or "text-messaging while driving." State Representative Nancy Garland called in to join the discussion with Sharon.

Sharon said "There is a lot of concern about distracted driving and a lot of talk about what we should or shouldn't do about it. The first step in solving any problem is identifying it. To understand distracted driving, I like a "traffic signal" approach: stop perpetuating myths, be cautious of opinions, and go with the facts."



Around 42,000 people die in traffic crashes on American roads each year. About 1300 of those deaths are on Ohio roads.

These numbers can also vary some from year to year but recent tabulations calculate that 78% of traffic crashes and 65% of the near-misses are a result of distracted driving.

Sharon said that the crashes are not accidents. She explained her point of view from a law dictionary definition of accident as something that "could not be reasonably anticipated." A driver can "reasonably anticipate" that if he doesn't pay attention, he's likely to miss something. It is also "reasonable" to anticipate that what is missed could be important and that missing it could have a bad result. A driver may choose to ignore that "reasonable anticipation," but that doesn't change the fact that it is reasonable to anticipate a crash if you don't pay attention when you're driving. It is a fact, then, that crashes caused by drivers using phones (for conversation or written messages) are not accidents. They can be anticipated and prevented.

Prevention will need a comprehensive approach that includes education, both as public awareness and driver training, new laws, with consistent and visible enforcement and penalties severe enough to act as a deterrent. Data collection and analysis are also needed to measure the scope of the problem and the effects of preventive measures. Sharon also said that increased availability of public transportation will help, too. When fewer cars are on the road, fewer cars will crash.

Shaaron said that it is a myth that all driver distractions are the same. Some are unavoidable--unexpected things can happen outside the car. Some of the avoidable ones, the ones drivers choose to create, are more distracting than others. They can be more distracting because they last longer, and/or because they engage the brain more. Eating a hamburger takes essentially no thought. Carrying on a conversation involves processing what the other person is saying and formulating your response.

Phone distraction is part of the bigger myth of multi-tasking. Brain studies show us that we are not multi-tasking. We are not doing two cognitive tasks at the same time. Our brains are flitting back and forth between the tasks. This is like using a computer. We can have more than one window open at a time, but we can perform functions in only one of them at a time.

Another popular opinion is that this problem will get better over time, as people get more experienced with driving while phoning or texting. The facts are that brain and behavioral studies show that our "other-tasking" skills decline with age and that the people who do the most media multi-tasking actually do that flitting back and forth less effectively than people who are less frequent multi-taskers. The fact is that the number of mobile phone owners grows dramatically each year. Already about a third of eight-to-twelve year olds and two-thirds of teens own a phone. The children with phones will have the phone anywhere/anytime habit deeply ingrained in them before they ever start to drive. Even the children who don't own phones see their parents and other adults using them anywhere, anytime. We learn by example. The fact is that the number of tasks these phones can perform increases continuously.

There are four kinds of unsafe drivers who phone or text. There are the ones with experience and skill with the phone but not at driving and the ones with experience and skill at driving but not with the phone. There are the ones who have experience with both driving and the phone but who are less successful at dividing their attention between mental tasks. There are the ones who have no experience yet with the new ways to use the phone.

The number of mobile phone owners and the number who admit to using them while driving goes up every year so it's a pretty safe assumption that the number of crashes caused by phoning/texting drivers is also increasing each year.

Will laws against this be hard to enforce because the police can't always see the phone? No harder than drunk driving laws. Police can't see alcohol in a driver's blood.

Will laws against this take away your personal freedom? No; your rights extend only to the point that they infringe on someone else's rights. We each have a right to safety on the public roads. Do you complain that speeding laws take away your personal freedom?

Won't education be enough, without a law? People don't always do what they're taught. People have a natural tendency to think, "It won't happen to me." If education were enough, we wouldn't need any traffic safety laws.

Aren't the general distracted driving laws enough? If they were, this problem wouldn't be escalating. Can we "single out" this one distraction? Yes; we've already "singled out" drunk driving and speeding in a construction zone. Should we "single out" this one distraction? Yes; we have years and years of research showing that it is more distracting than other non-driving behaviors drivers engage in.

The bottom line is that just because we can do something, doesn't mean we need to do it, or should do it in every situation. And, it certainly doesn't mean we must do it. The vast majority of calls and texts done while driving are unnecessary. A momentary convenience for one person can result in a life-time of problems for another person.

Bexley Public Radio Foundation broadcasting as
WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM, Local Power Radio
2700 E. Main St., Suite 208
Columbus, OH 43209
Voice (614) 235 2929
Fax (614) 235 3008
Email wcrxlp@yahoo.com
Blog http://agentofcurrency.blogspot.com

Bexley Public Radio Foundation is exempt from federal taxes under IRC Section 501(c)(3). Donations are deductible from federal income taxes for individuals who itemize. Checks may identify the payee as Bexley Public Radio Foundation or WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM.

Design is copyright 2009. All rights reserved. Bexley Public Radio Foundation. Text is copyright 2009. All rights reserved. Sharon Montgomery.

John Matuszak: New titles at Bexley Public Library.

As our local libraries struggle with maintaining resources in the face of state funding cuts, I thought I'd offer a few book suggestions that should serve as a reminder of the reservoir of information available - a deep ocean of knowledge that could be lost.

On the Waterfront: The Pulitzer Prize-winning articles that inspired the classic movie and transformed New York Harbor - It was a routine assignment for the New York Sun's ace veteran reporter, Malcolm "Mike" Johnson - look into the murder of a hiring boss on the city's tough waterfront. What Johnson discovered, through months of dogged investigation, was a virtually lawless society where corruption was the rule and violence was the final word. Before Johnson's articles began to appear in 1948, most Americans had never heard of the international criminal syndicate that extorted millions from shippers and truckers, jacking up the costs of consumer goods across the country and fueling gambling, smuggling and other illegal activities. Johnson also showed that the gangsters had allies in labor unions, the halls of Congress and even the Pentagon. The courageous reporter, who had served as a combat correspondent during World War II, endured threats to his life and reputation to tell this story that earned him the Pulitzer. Screenwriter Budd Schulberg was inspired by Johnson to take on his own investigation, that led to the screenplay for On the Waterfront. More importantly, the articles and the movie led to important reforms. The book includes Schulberg's articles, as well as an introduction by Johnson's son, Haynes Johnson, an historian and also a Pulitzer Prize winner, the only instance of a father and son both earning the award.

A Stupid and Futile Gesture: How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon changed comedy forever - by Josh Karp - An insightful and often funny behind-the-scenes account of the creation of a comedy empire and the man who gave it its smarts and its soul. Without Doug Kenney - who grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio before attending Harvard - there would have been no National Lampoon magazine, which he headed, no Animal House or Caddyshack, screenplays he co-wrote before his untimely death in 1980. National Lampoon, in print, on records and on tour, launched the careers of John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Christopher Guest and many others. The book follows Kenney (who also played Stork in Animal House) through his formative Midwestern years as an intelligent outsider, to the intellectual ferment of university life and the highly charged, competitive New York offices of Lampoon. It also chronicles Kenney's descent into the cocaine-crazed world of late '70s Hollywood. A must for those whose own sense of humor was happily warped by the nothing-sacred pages of National Lampoon.

No Quarter: The Battle of the Crater, 1864 - by Richard Slotkin - In the summer of 1864, as Union and Confederate troops endured a long, hot stalemate in trenches before Petersburg, Va., Union General Ambrose Burnside formulated an audacious plan: tunnel under the rebel lines, pack the mine with tons of explosives and blow a gigantic hole in the enemy defenses. On paper the plan seemed ingenious. In practice, it turned out to be one of the major disasters of the war. Slotkin, one of the country's most respected cultural historians, shows that the failure of the assault and the slaughter that followed had as much to do with racial politics as military missteps. At that time, Union leaders were struggling with the necessity of sending black troops into combat, an act that southerners (and many northerners) viewed with horror. Hanging over the Battle of the Crater was the memory of the brutal massacre of black prisoners by Confederates at earlier engagements, which led to the order of "no quarter" that led to atrocities on both sides - with Yankees even killing their own black comrades. Slotkin is also the author of a novel about the assault on the Crater, which confronts the moral dilemma of fighting a counter-insurgency. Other books include his trilogy on the impact of the frontier mythology on American society, and Lost Battalions, which chronicles the struggle of black troops for recognition during and after World War I. That is a battle still being fought. In No Quarter, Slotkin points out that white soldiers from both sides are memorialized at Petersburg - but that there is no memorial for the black troops who fought and died there.

IBM and the Holocuast: The Strategic Alliance between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation - by Edwin Black. When the Nazis formulated the Final Solution for the Jews of Germany and the rest of Europe, how did they come up with the lists of names of the millions whose ancestry condemned them to death? How did they move and massacre all of these people with such ruthless efficiency? The answer, Black discovers, is through the use of IBM's high-speed tabulating machines, the forerunner of the computer. He also shows that the company did not merely sell the machines, but worked actively to train the technicians of the Third Reich and create systems specifically for their needs. IBM's president, Thomas Watson, who created a cult of personality around himself as "The Leader," also found an affinity with Hitler and his demand for absolute loyalty. Black, an investigative reporter, has also authored Internal Combustion, on how corporations and governments crafted the transportation policies that keep us addicted to oil; and War Against the Weak, revealing that Germany's ideas about creating a master race originated in America with the study of eugenics.

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Design is copyright 2009. All rights reserved. Bexley Public Radio Foundation. Text is copyright 2009. All rights reserved. John Matuszak.