An occasional note on dividends. This is an informal collection of some information on dividend increases for U.S. stocks.
Bexley Public Radio hopes this is a positive note amidst the dreadful reports from Wall Street in recent months.
No commentary, analysis or recommendation is offered in this informal journal.
Alliance Resource Partners LP (NASDAQ: ARLP) August 4, 2009 announced an increase to its quarterly distributions to 74.50 cents per share. This represents a 2% increase over last quarter’s distribution and a 12.90% increase over its distribution announced this time last year. This master limited partnership engages in the production and marketing of coal for utilities and industrial users in the United States. Alliance Resource Partners LP has increased its quarterly distributions in each of the past seven years. The units currently yield 8.30%.
Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) August 27, 2009 announced a 6.3% increase to its dividend, pushing the already-rich yield to 7.5%.
The quarterly payout is rising two cents to 34 cents a share. The increase, which will cost Altria some $170 million a year, comes as Altria's business has lost a pair of lawsuits this month as smokers and/or their families seek damages against the cigarette giant.
The company, whose brands include Marlboro, has long been an attractive investment in some quarters for its dividend. The dividend boost also comes months after the company completed its $10.3 billion takeover of smokeless- tobacco company UST. That boosted long-term debt levels to $11.18 billion as of June 30 from $6.84 billion at the start of the year.
While Altria continues to suffer from falling cigarette volumes, earnings from the business have been rising and the company has been helped by its stake in SABMiller PLC (SAB.JO).
AmerisourceBergen Corp. (NYSE: ABC) August 6, 2009 the Chesterbrook drug distributor, today declared a dividend that represents a 20 percent increase.
The company said that the dividend to be paid Sept. 8, to shareholders of record on Aug. 24, will be 6 cents, up from 5 cents.
The dividend was a nickel for the last three quarters.
American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE; AWK) August 4, 2009 announced that its board of directors has declared a 5.00 % increase to its quarterly dividend to 21 cents per share. American Water Works Company, Inc provides water and wastewater services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in the United States and Canada. This is the company’s first dividend increase since going public in 2008. The stock currently yields 4.10%.
Apollo Investment Corp. (NASDAQ: AINV) August 6, 2009 a business development company, posted a higher first-quarter profit, helped by increased investment income and lower expenses, and said it increased its quarterly dividend, sending its shares up 8 percent in after-market trade.
The New York-based company, which increased its dividend by 2 cents to 28 cents a share, said net operating expenses fell about 26 percent to $33.2 million.
For the quarter ended June 30, the company earned 59 cents a share, compared with 55 cents a share in the year-ago quarter.
Aqua America (NYSE: WTR) August 4, 2009 announced a 7.4% dividend increase of $0.01 per share from $0.135 per share to $0.145 per share for the December 1, 2009 quarterly dividend, to all shareholders of record on November 16, 2009. This increase is equivalent to $0.04 above its current annualized dividend rate of $0.54 to $0.58.
The Board also declared the regular $0.135 per share quarterly common stock cash dividend to be paid on September 1, 2009 to shareholders of record on August 17, 2009. Aqua has paid a consecutive quarterly dividend for more than 60 years. [SM]
Atrion Corporation (NASDAQ: ATRI) August 3, 2009 announced an increase in its quarterly cash dividend from 30 cents per share to 36 cents per share. Specifically, the Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of 36 cents per share on its outstanding shares of Common Stock. This dividend will be payable on September 30, 2009 to stockholders of record at the close of business on September 15, 2009.
Atrion Corporation develops and manufactures products primarily for medical applications. The Company's website is www.atrioncorp.com.
Auburn National Bancorporation (NASDAQ: AUBN) August 14, 2009 said that it will pay a third-quarter dividend of 19 cents per share. The dividend will be paid September 25 to shareholders of record September 10. It is a 3 percent increase over the dividend paid during the third quarter of 2008.
The company said it has paid a dividend in 13 of the last 14 years.
Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE: BMI) August 13, 2009 increased its dividend 9.1% to 12 cents per share from 11 cents per
share.
The increased dividend is payable September 15, 2009, to shareholders of record September 1, 2009. The new annual dividend rate for the common stock is 48 cents per share.
The ex-dividend date is August 28. The Dividend yield is 1.26%.
CEO Richard A. Meeusen notes, "This is our seventeenth consecutive year of increased dividend
payments. The increase reflects our ongoing commitment to our shareholders and our continued confidence in the future of Badger Meter."
BCE Inc. (NYSE: BCE) August 6, 2009, Canada's largest communications company, today reported BCE and Bell results for the second quarter of 2009 and announced a 5% increase in its annual common share dividend and improved financial guidance for 2009.
Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc. (NYSE: BR) August 11, 2009 reported fourth quarter net income of $116.9 million or $0.83 per share, compared to $97.8 million or $0.69 per share last year.
Broadridge Financial Solutions, a leading global provider of technology-based solutions to the financial services industry, reported financial results for fiscal year 2009 with earnings per share slightly above the mid-point of its previously-announced guidance range. In addition, the Board of Directors increased the annual dividend amount for fiscal year 2010 from $0.28 per share to $0.56 per share, and authorized the repurchase of up to 10 million shares of its outstanding common stock.
Chemed Corp. (NYSE: CHE) August 7, 2009, the parent of Vitas Healthcare and Roto-Rooter plumbing, doubled its quarterly dividend to 12 cents.
The dividend is payable Sept. 4 to shareholders of record Aug. 17.
Chemed said it raised its dividend because of increased profits and cash flow, and said it still has funds available for its stock buyback plan. The company also said it is still looking for potential acquisitions.
Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) August 4, 2009 declared a 4.60 % increase to its quarterly dividend to 68 cents per share. The company operates as an integrated energy company worldwide. Chevron Corporation has increased its quarterly dividend in each of the past twenty-two years. The stock currently yields 4.00%. Check my analysis of Chevron.
Church & Dwight Co Inc. (NYSE: CHD) August 3, 2009 posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit, raised its 2009 outlook for the second time this year, and increased its quarterly dividend.
The company's shares were up 3 percent, or $1.63, at $60.65 early Tuesday morning on the New York Stock Exchange.
"We are encouraged by the continued strong fundamentals at this company, though the stock reaction could be muted by high expectations," Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients.
Cincinnati Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: CINF) August 17, 2009 hiked its dividend Tuesday, marking the 49th consecutive year it has boosted its dividend payment to shareholders.
The Fairfield-based insurer said it will lift its quarterly cash dividend from 39 cents to 39.5 cents per share. The next dividend will be payable Oct. 15 to shareholders of record as of Sept. 18.
There had been some question about whether Cincinnati Financial would hike its dividend this year. It typically raises the dividend early in the year, but that didn’t happen this year. The weak economy and plummeting stock market took its toll on Cincinnati Financial’s earnings.
CEO Ken Stecher had said in a conference call last month to discuss second-quarter earnings that the board could decide to boost the dividend this year, but that it wouldn’t be sustainable to keep doing that without some improvement in earnings.
“The company has consistently increased dividends for 48 years, and the board of directors chose to continue that record for the benefit of our shareholders,” Stecher said in a news release announcing the increase. “This action demonstrates their confidence in our strong capital, liquidity and financial flexibility and in our initiatives to improve earnings performance.
Coca Cola Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: CCE) August 24, 2009 has been a steady player in the choppy economy of the last year, beating estimates in each of the last four quarters by an average of 11 cents, or 115%.
The company also announced a dividend increase of 4 cents, with CEO John Brock saying the decision was a reflection of the company’s stronger balance sheet.
Connecticut Water Service, Inc. (Nasdaq:CTWS) August 12, 2009 announced that the Company's Board of Directors today approved an annualized dividend increase of two cents per common share, or 2.2%, above the current cash dividend. The quarterly cash dividend on common shares was increased to $0.2275 per quarter from $0.2225. The increased dividend will be effective with the dividend declared by the Board on common shares payable on September 15, 2009, for shareholders of record as of September 1, 2009. The Company's annual dividend yield is about 4.1%.
Eric W. Thornburg, Connecticut Water's President and CEO, stated, "Connecticut Water's Board of Directors decided that a two cent increase in the annual dividend rate was appropriate because the Company's fundamentals remain strong despite the challenging economic environment and unusually wet and cool weather in late spring and summer. We remain focused on our long-term strategy of delivering solid performance for our shareholders and world class service to our customers." Mr. Thornburg notes that Connecticut Water has paid dividends on common stock each quarter since its founding in 1956 without interruption or reduction and has increased dividend payments for each of the last 40 years.
Consolidated Water Co. (NASDAQ: CWCO) August 17, 2009 said its board has raised it regular quarterly dividend 15 percent to 7.5 cents from 6.5 cents.
The company, which operates water desalination plants, said last week that the dividend is payable Oct. 31 to shareholders of record on Oct. 1.
Consolidated Water develops and operates seawater desalination plants and water distribution systems in the Cayman Islands, Belize, the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas and Bermuda.
Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR) increased its quarterly dividend by 9.10% to 36 cents per share. The company engages in the ownership, acquisition, development, redevelopment, and management of technology-related real estate. This is the fifth consecutive annual dividend increase for this REIT since it went public in 2004. The stock currently yields 3.60%.
Dover Corporation (NYSE: DOV) August 6, 2009 The Board of Directors of Dover Corporation today increased its quarterly cash dividend to $0.26 (twenty-six cents) per share, from the previous $0.25 (twenty-five cents) per share, an increase of 4%. This is the 54th consecutive year in which Dover has paid an increased cash dividend, giving it the fourth longest record of consecutive annual dividend increases of all listed companies, as reported by Mergent's Dividend Achievers.
This increased dividend will be paid on September 15, 2009 to shareholders of record as of August 31, 2009.
Dover Corporation, is a global portfolio of manufacturing companies providing innovative components and equipment, specialty systems and support services for a variety of applications in the industrial products, engineered systems, fluid management and electronic technologies markets.
El Paso Pipeline Partners LP (NYSE: EPB) August 6, 2009 approved a 1% increase over the last quarterly distribution to 33 cents per unit, announced its intentions to further raise its quarterly distributions to 35 cents/unit in the fourth quarter.
This represents a 6% increase over last quarter’s distribution and a 16.70% increase over its distribution announced this time last year. This master limited partnership engages in the ownership and operation of natural gas transportation pipelines and storage assets. Once the board of the general partner approves the new rate, this will be the 7th consecutive distribution increase for El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. since it went public in 2007. The units currently yield 6.70%.
Energy Transfer Equity, L.P. (NYSE: ETE) announced an increase to its quarterly distributions to 53.50 cents per unit. This represents an approximate 2% increase over the previously declared quarterly distribution of 52.50 cents per unit and an approximate 11.40% increase over the distribution for the same quarter of the prior year. Energy Transfer Equity, L.P. is a publicly traded partnership, which owns the general partner of Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. and approximately 62.5 million ETP limited partner units. The units representing the General Partner interests in this MLP currently yield 7.30%.
Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) August 11, 2009 announced that its Board of Directors increased the quarterly common stock dividend from $0.25 to $0.30 per share. The dividend will be paid on October 9, 2009 to shareholders of record on September 25, 2009.
ESSA Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: ESSA) August 26, 2009 announced an increase to its quarterly cash dividend from $0.04 per share to $0.05 per share of the Company’s common stock. The dividend will be payable to stockholders of record as of September 16, 2009, and will be paid on September 30, 2009.
“ESSA’s approach to banking has allowed us to continue to produce solid results, even during these most difficult of economic times,” said Gary S. Olson, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company. “We are very pleased to share our success with our investors through this increased dividend.”
ESSA Bancorp, Inc. is the holding company for ESSA Bank & Trust, which has total assets of over $1.0 billion and is the leading service-oriented financial institution head-quartered in the greater Pocono, Pennsylvania region. The Bank maintains its corporate headquarters in downtown Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania and has 13 community offices throughout the Pocono area. In addition to being one of the region’s largest mortgage lenders, ESSA Bank & Trust offers a full range of retail and commercial financial services. ESSA Bancorp, Inc. stock trades on the NASDAQ Global MarketSM under the symbol “ESSA.”
Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE: FRT) today reported operating results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2009.
Federal Realty also announced today that its Board of Trustees increased the dividend rate on its common shares, declaring a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.66 per share, resulting in an indicated annual rate of $2.64 per share, an increase of $0.04 annually or 1.5%. The regular common dividend will be payable on October 15, 2009, to common shareholders of record as of September 23, 2009. This increase represents the 42nd consecutive year that Federal Realty has increased its common dividend, the longest record of consecutive annual dividend increases in the REIT sector.
"We believe that a cash dividend is essential to most REIT investors and we are proud to not only continue to pay a quarterly dividend in cash, but to increase that dividend for the 42(nd) consecutive year," said Donald C. Wood, president and chief executive officer of the Trust. "We would not be able to continue this record without a consistent earnings stream which comes from owning the highest quality properties with a steady focus on core operations. In addition, we have demonstrated significant access to capital which has strengthened our balance sheet and provides us the ability to pursue future growth opportunities."
G & K Services Inc. (NASDAQ: GKSR) August 24, 2009 announced that it will increase its quarterly dividend 7 percent, despite a 73 percent income decline in its fourth quarter.
G&K, a uniform rental company based in Minnetonka, declared a quarterly dividend of 7.5 cents per share, up from its previous dividend of 7 cents per share. The dividend will be payable on Sept. 24 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Sept. 17.
G&K announced at the beginning of August that its fourth quarter revenues had been cut by job losses among its customers and the impact of the reduced value of the Canadian dollar. Yet G&K continued its four-year run of increased quarterly dividends.
“We’re pleased to increase the quarterly dividend, which demonstrates our confidence in continuing to generate strong cash flow and our commitment to increase shareholder returns,” said Jeffrey Wright, the company’s chief financial officer, in a statement.
Getty Realty Trust (NYSE: GTY) August 20, 2009 Real estate investment trust Getty Realty Corp. said Thursday its board raised its quarterly dividend to 47.5 cents per share.
The payout is up from its previous dividend of 47 cents per share.
The company dividend is payable on Oct. 8 to shareholders of record on Sept. 24.
Shares rose 66 cents, or 3 percent, to $22.54 in afternoon trading. They've traded between $13.25 and $23.12 in the past year.
Guess? Inc. (NYS: GES) August 26. 2009 Apparel retailer Guess? weighed in with strong results for the second quarter on Wednesday, reporting 14% earnings growth and boosted its dividend 25% to 12.5 cents per share.
The company's profit rose 11% to $59.6 million or 64 cents per share on revenue that increased 1.4% to $522.4 million. That compares to net earnings of $53.8 million or 56 cents per share on total net revenue of $515.2 million, reported during the same quarter last year. The retailer easily beat analyst estimate, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters, who were expecting Guess to post profit of 44 cents per share on revenue of $485 million.
The company said revenue growth in Europe was crucial to its strong performance. European sales increase 21% in the quarter.
The international retail chain issued guidance for the third quarter and Guess expects to see earnings to range between 46 and 49 cents per share in the third quarter of 2009, with revenue between $465 and $485 million during the quarter.
Operating income in the quarter rose 7% to $91 million, compared to operating income of $85 million, one year ago.
Operating margins grew to 17.4%, compared to margins of 16.5% one year ago.
Shares of Guess surged 76 cents or 2.36% in after the market closed.
Harleysville Group’s ( NASDAQ: HGIC) August 4, 2009 board of directors declared an 8 % increase to its quarterly dividend to 32.50 cents per share. The company engages in the property and casualty insurance business primarily in the eastern and Midwestern United States. Harleysville Group Inc.is a dividend achiever, which has increased its quarterly dividend in each of the past twenty-two years. The stock currently yields 4.00%.
Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRSE) August 28, 2009 Board of Directors of Harris Corporation an international communications and information technology company, has increased the quarterly cash dividend to 22 cents per share, compared to the previous quarterly dividend of 20 cents per share. This dividend is payable September 18, 2009, to shareholders of record September 9, 2009. The annual dividend rate will increase from 80 cents per share to 88 cents per share.
"We are very pleased to announce this increase in our quarterly dividend," said Howard L. Lance, chairman, president, and CEO.
"Harris achieved excellent financial performance in fiscal 2009, with strong revenue, earnings, and cash flow. As we reported
August 12, 2009, new contract wins, improving order rates, and a solid pipeline of additional opportunities provide us with increased confidence in our outlook for fiscal 2010. This dividend increase further demonstrates the company's ongoing commitment to increasing shareholder value."
Harris is an international communications and information technology company serving government and commercial markets in more than 150 countries. Headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, the company has approximately $5 billion of annual revenue and more than 15,000 employees -- including nearly 7,000 engineers and scientists. Harris is dedicated to developing best-in-class assured communications® products, systems, and services.
H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE: HNZ) August 12. 2009 shareholders were told by Chairman William R. Johnson said, “the Company delivered record sales and profit and a sizeable increase in the dividend for Fiscal 2009 despite a difficult global economic environment.”
In Fiscal 2009, “Heinz delivered exceptionally strong Operating Free Cash Flow of $880 million, making it possible to raise your dividend for the sixth consecutive year at a time when many other public companies have suspended or reduced dividends to conserve cash in this tough economy,” Mr. Johnson said.
Noting that Heinz has increased its annualized dividend almost 56%, from $1.08 in Fiscal 2004 to $1.68 in Fiscal 2010, Mr. Johnson added: “As Heinz moves forward, I assure you that growing your dividend remains a top priority as we are committed to returning a high percentage of earnings to our shareholders.”
HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HCC) August 21, 2009 today announced its 54th consecutive quarterly cash dividend.
HCC's Board of Directors has declared a regular cash dividend of $0.135 per share on the Company's shares of $1.00 par value common stock. The dividend is payable to stockholders of record on October 1, 2009, and will be paid on or about October 14, 2009.
"In recognition of our continuing solid performance and strong financial position, the Board has voted to increase the dividend for the 13th consecutive year, emphasizing HCC's commitment to deliver increased value to our shareholders," HCC President and Chief Executive Officer John N. Molbeck, Jr. said.
Headquartered in Houston, Texas, HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc. (HCC) is a leading international specialty insurance group with offices across the United States and in Bermuda, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom. HCC has assets of $8.9 billion, shareholders' equity of $2.8 billion and is rated AA (Very Strong) by Standard & Poor's and AA (Very Strong) by Fitch Ratings. In addition, HCC's major domestic insurance companies are rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best Company.
Inergy, L.P.’s (NASDAQ: NRGY) August 9, 2009 general partner announced an increase to its quarterly distributions to 66.50 cents per unit. This represents the 31st consecutive quarterly increase and an approximate 6.4% increase over the distribution for the same quarter of the prior year. This master limited partnership’s operations include the retail marketing, sale, and distribution of propane to residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural customers. The units representing limited partnership interests in this MLP currently yield 9.00%.
Inergy Holdings GP, LLC ( NASDAQ: NRGP) July 27, 2009 announced an increase to its quarterly distributions to 78 cents per unit. This represents an approximate 4% increase over the previously declared quarterly distribution of $0.75 per limited partner unit and an approximate 28% increase over the distribution for the same quarter of the prior year. Inergy Holdings, L.P.’s assets consist of its ownership interests in Inergy, L.P., including limited partnership interests, ownership of the general partners, and the incentive distribution rights. Inergy Holdings GP has increased its quarterly distributions for fifteen consecutive quarters. The units representing the General Partner interests in this MLP currently yield 7.30%.
Investors Real Estate Trust (NASDAQ: IRET) August 26, 2009 said that its board of trustees increased the company's regular quarterly distribution by 0.3 percent.
The distribution of 17.10 cents per unit is payable on Oct. 1 to holders at Sept. 15. The previous regular quarterly distribution of 17.05 per unit was paid on July 1.
Minot, N.D.-based Investors Real Estate owns and operates income-producing residential and commercial properties, primarily in the upper Midwest.
The company's stock added 3 cents to close at $9.56 in Wednesday trading.
Lawson Products, Inc., (NASDAQ: LAWS) August 27, 2009 declared a dividend of $.06 per share on common shares, an increase of $.03 from the previous quarterly dividend. The dividend is payable October 13, 2009 to stockholders of record September 29, 2009.
Lawson Products, Inc. distributes and markets systems, services, and products to the industrial, commercial, institutional, and governmental maintenance repair and operations marketplace in the United States and Canada. [SM]
Lazard Ltd (NYSE: LAZ) August 3, 2009 announced that its board of directors has declared a 25 % increase to its quarterly dividend to 12.50 cents per share. The company operates as a financial advisory and asset management firm worldwide. This is the third dividend increase for the company since going public in 2005. The stock currently yields 1.30%.
Leggett & Platt (NYSE: LEG) August 6, 2009 Platt's Board of Directors announced today they are raising the company's dividend by one cent per share, or 4%, to $.26 per share for the third quarter. The dividend will be paid on October 15, 2009 to shareholders of record on September 15, 2009.
Leggett knows of no other S&P 500 company that has achieved as long a string of consecutive annual dividend increases at a 14% compound annual growth rate.
Leggett & Platt is a diversified manufacturer that conceives, designs and produces a broad variety of engineered components and products that can be found in most homes, offices, and automobiles. The company serves a broad suite of customers that comprise a "Who's Who" of U.S. manufacturers and retailers. The 126-year-old firm's continuing operations are composed of 19 business units, 19,000 employee-partners, and approximately 160 manufacturing facilities located in 18 countries.
Leggett & Platt is North America's leading independent manufacturer of: a) components for residential furniture and bedding; b) components for office furniture; c) drawn steel wire; d) automotive seat support and lumbar systems; e) carpet underlay; f) adjustable beds; and g) bedding industry machinery.
Lorillard Inc. (NYSE: LO) August 17, 2009 said its board approved an 8.7% increase in its quarterly dividend, to $1 from 92 cents a share. The dividend is payable on Sept. 11 to shareholders of record as of Sept. 1, the cigarette maker said.
MGE Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: MGEE) August 21, 2009 increased the regular quarterly dividend for the company’s common stock, making it one of only 58 U.S. companies that have paid annual dividends for more than 100 years, according to MGE Energy chairman Gary Wolter.
The Madison-based utility increased its quarterly dividend to $0.3684 per share on its common stock, payable Sept. 15 to shareholders of record on Sept. 1. With the increase, the new dividend is equivalent to an annual rate of $1.4736 per share, MGE Energy said in a news release.
The company has increased its dividends annually for the past 34 years. MGE Energy is listed as a "Dividend Achiever" by Mergent Inc., a financial information publisher. Just 10 percent of all dividend-paying companies meet the Mergent test of increasing dividends annually for at least 10 years, according to MGE Energy.
MGE Energy is a public utility holding company. Its principal subsidiary, Madison Gas and Electric, generates and distributes electricity to 137,000 customers in Dane County, and purchases and distributes natural gas to 141,000 customers in seven south-central and western Wisconsin counties.
Nordson Corp. (NASDAQ:NDSN) August 18, 2009 said Tuesday its board of directors approved a 4.1 percent increase of its quarterly dividend to 19 cents per share.
The company, which makes equipment that applies adhesives, sealants and coatings, formerly paid a dividend of 18.25 cents.
The dividend is payable Sept. 15 to shareholders of record on Sept. 1.
Shares rose $1.11, or 2.4 percent, to $47.09 in afternoon trading.
Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc. (NYSE: RBA) August 7, 2009 , industrial auctioneer reported a decline in earnings for the second quarter, despite higher revenues, due to the absence of a gain, recorded in the prior year quarter, related to asset sale.
Net earnings for the quarter declined to US$38.8 million or US$0.37 per share from US$45.9 million or US$0.43 per share in the corresponding period last year. Ritchie said net earnings for the second quarter of 2008 included total gains of US$7.3 million, after tax, recorded on the sale of excess property.
Auction revenues increased 4% to US$120.5 million from US$115.8 million in the second quarter of 2008 and came in above the US$114.54 million projected by ten Street analysts. Auction revenue rate was 10.86%, up from 9.95% in the year-ago quarter mainly due to the superior performance of the company's underwritten business. Gross auction proceeds were US$1.11 billion, down 5% from the same period last year.
The company conducted 92 industrial auctions in 10 countries throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East and Australia during the first half of 2009. Gross auction proceeds were US$1.91 billion, down 2% from the first half of 2008. Auction revenues were US$204.1 million, up 4% compared to the year-ago period.
Ritchie sold almost US$425 million of trucks, equipment, and other assets to online bidders during the first half of 2009, representing a 15% increase over approximately US$370 million in the same period last year. More than 115 thousands customers from almost 190 countries have now registered and received approval to bid online. Internet bidders represented about 30% of the total registered bidders at Ritchie Bros. industrial auctions for the six month period ended June 30, 2009
The company's Board declared a quarterly cash dividend of US$0.10 per common share payable on September 11, to shareholders of record on August 21, representing an 11% increase over the company's previous quarterly dividend.
Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) August 4, 2009increased its dividend for the second half of the year by 5% to 84 cents per share. The company engages in the exploration, production, and trading of various energy resources worldwide. Royal Dutch Shell is an international dividend achiever, which has increased its quarterly dividend in each of the past sixteen years. The stock currently yields 6.40%.
Utah Medical Products, Inc. (NASDAQ: UTMD) August 4, announces that its Board of Directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of twenty-three cents ($.23) per share of common stock payable on October 5, 2009 to shareholders of record at the close of business on September 16, 2009. This is a two percent (2%) increase over the dividend declared in the same quarter of the prior year, and the same as the preceding quarterly dividend.
Looking ahead, UTMD expects to pay the following quarterly dividend on December 30, 2009 instead of January 5, 2010, anticipating that 2009 dividends may be taxed at a lower rate than in 2010. The Board of Directors made this exception at the end of 2008, as well.
Utah Medical Products, Inc., with particular interest in health care for women and their babies, develops, manufactures, assembles and markets a broad range of disposable and reusable specialty medical devices.
Westlake Chemical Corp. (NYSE: WLK) August 24, 2009 said its board of directors declared a dividend of 5.75 cents per share, payable on September 17, 2009, to stockholders of record on September 2, 2009, which represents an increase of 1/2 cent per share, or 9.5%, over the 5.25 cents per share that the company has previously paid.
The company said it is the 20th successive quarterly dividend that it has declared since completing its initial public offering in August 2004.
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Sunday, August 30, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
John Matuszak: Bexley wants grant for College Ave. repairs.
The city of Bexley wants to go back to College - with "tuition" at $2.5 million.
On Aug. 25, Service Director Bill Harvey held a meeting to discuss a grant proposal for replacing water lines and pavement along College Avenue. The funding request to the Ohio Public Works Committee would include a $1.1 million grant and a $1.1 million zero-interest loan. The city expects to contribute $300,000 of its own money. The city's portion and the loan would be repaid through water service fees to residents.
Harvey said Capital University is being asked to fund part of the project, as well.
There have been numerous water line breaks in the area in the last couple of years, according to engineer David Koch, and he anticipates more frequent problems as the pipes continue to age. Those breaks can cost up to $10,000 to repair, and the engineer expects those costs to rise. Eventually the pipes will be too damaged to fix. The age of the pipes is also affecting water quality in the area.
The planners want to replace the six-inch lines with 12-inch pipes that will pump up the flow for fire hydrants and accommodate future growth at Capital.
The pavement on College is too thin to handle the 10,000 vehicles a day that travel the road, Koch added. The avenue has been repaved about every six years since 1993, and was last resurfaced in 2006. Koch said this resurfacing should last for 20 to 25 years.
The plans also call for replacing hydrants and street light poless, installing new curb ramps and improving pedestrian crossings.
If the funding is obtained, construction could begin by August, 2010, and would take a minimum of four months to complete. Work would proceed block by block, and traffic would be diverted to neighboring streets.
The larger lines would increase water flow, but would not create addd pressure that could put stress on the lines going to residences, Koch said. He likened the larger-diameter lines to adding lanes to a highway.
To improve the chances of being awarded the funding, the city is asking residents on College Avenue to submit letters of support for the project. Form letters are available, or residents can write their own. The deadline for submitting a letter is Sept. 2. Bexley is competing with other communities in the district for an $8 million pool of funds, and Harvey said public support will have an impact on the final decision.
The OPWC is the main funding source for the work now under way on Sheridan and Francis avenues.
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
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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.
On Aug. 25, Service Director Bill Harvey held a meeting to discuss a grant proposal for replacing water lines and pavement along College Avenue. The funding request to the Ohio Public Works Committee would include a $1.1 million grant and a $1.1 million zero-interest loan. The city expects to contribute $300,000 of its own money. The city's portion and the loan would be repaid through water service fees to residents.
Harvey said Capital University is being asked to fund part of the project, as well.
There have been numerous water line breaks in the area in the last couple of years, according to engineer David Koch, and he anticipates more frequent problems as the pipes continue to age. Those breaks can cost up to $10,000 to repair, and the engineer expects those costs to rise. Eventually the pipes will be too damaged to fix. The age of the pipes is also affecting water quality in the area.
The planners want to replace the six-inch lines with 12-inch pipes that will pump up the flow for fire hydrants and accommodate future growth at Capital.
The pavement on College is too thin to handle the 10,000 vehicles a day that travel the road, Koch added. The avenue has been repaved about every six years since 1993, and was last resurfaced in 2006. Koch said this resurfacing should last for 20 to 25 years.
The plans also call for replacing hydrants and street light poless, installing new curb ramps and improving pedestrian crossings.
If the funding is obtained, construction could begin by August, 2010, and would take a minimum of four months to complete. Work would proceed block by block, and traffic would be diverted to neighboring streets.
The larger lines would increase water flow, but would not create addd pressure that could put stress on the lines going to residences, Koch said. He likened the larger-diameter lines to adding lanes to a highway.
To improve the chances of being awarded the funding, the city is asking residents on College Avenue to submit letters of support for the project. Form letters are available, or residents can write their own. The deadline for submitting a letter is Sept. 2. Bexley is competing with other communities in the district for an $8 million pool of funds, and Harvey said public support will have an impact on the final decision.
The OPWC is the main funding source for the work now under way on Sheridan and Francis avenues.
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.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Aisha Mohammed: Community Newspapers Find their Voice on the Radio
.
When people say journalism is in crisis, they are primarily referring to the fact that the financial model of newspapers, advertising revenue, is failing. The challenge facing newspapers as the Pew Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) reports is finding new ways to fund online news production, while using declining revenues to finance the print-to-digital transition.
Discussions on saving journalism have focused primarily on newspapers, and of these the two most popular are micro-payments and nonprofit ownership of media. According to PEJ, both are untenable. Whatever the solution, PEJ concludes that several new revenue streams need to be cultivated.
To cut costs, media organizations have started collaborating within platforms, but collaborations across platforms are rarer. Collaboration between radio and newspapers is an avenue worth exploring, not only for financial reasons but also for ensuring and improving local reporting.
What strengths can radio bring to the partnership? Radio remains more attractive to audiences and therefore advertisers in part because it lends itself easily to multi-tasking. For commuters, radio may be the primary source of news. It is also more appealing to youth, who may tune in for programming other than news and then stay tuned in as other shows comes on the air. Finally, as PEJ points out, radio content is easier to move online.
Below, I take a closer look at some current collaborations in terms of the benefits they bring to both partners. Partnerships range from the informal to the formal and stations and publications are coming together for a number of different reasons.
Reporting news that no one else will.
In the 2008 election, Radio Free Nashville was one of the few media outlets that covered civil rights abuses and pre-emptive arrests of journalists and citizens during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. In spite of the fact that law enforcement officials engaged in blatantly illegal behavior, the incidents didn’t make front-page news. To highlight stories ignored by corporate media, RFN began sharing content with The Nashville Free Press, a community newspaper.
While RFN is an important forum for voices that are missing, misrepresented or marginalized in corporate media, it is an LPFM station with limited signal strength and therefore a limited reach. Putting content on The Nashville Free Press website allows RFN “to extend the reach of reporting” said Ginny Welsch, the executive director of RFN.
Welsch also contributes a column, “Eye on the Media,” to the paper, along with other RFN programmers. “We have similar goals and sharing content allows us to feed each other’s news stories,” she said.
Through its affiliation with the newspaper, RFN also aligns with other groups working for social justice like Project Censored. Each month, the free press features a story from Project Censored, an organization which conducts research on news stories of national importance which are underreported in corporate media.
Attracting audiences, online traffic and dollars.
For newspapers, investing in a radio station can lead to dividends in terms of reaching out to new audiences and driving online traffic to websites. The Southwest News Herald, a Chicago community newspaper launched a morning show on WJJG 1530 AM with a popular political columnist as host. The Herald initially paid for the time slot, but quickly was able to support it through advertising because the show provided a compelling host at a peak listening time, 8 to 9:30 a.m.
Host Ray Hanania summed up the benefits to the Herald, when he told Radio World, “By putting ourselves into their cars as they drive to work, we make ourselves a part of their daily lives. This motivates them to read our newspaper and come to our website and that helps our advertising sales.”
The show also helped Hanania gain access to high-profile newsmakers. “If I called a senator on behalf of my newspaper, they put me over to the PR guy. But if I'm calling for the WJJG morning show heard in Chicago, the senator himself wants to talk to me,” he told Radio World.
News Production.
Drops in local ad spending have led to declines in news production at radio stations across the country. Compared to a few decades ago, radio offers a fraction of the news it did, but locally-owned stations seem to do a better job.
For Rick Stone, acting news director of the WRLN/Miami Herald News, collaboration translates into a “stunning benefit for the quality of news.” Stone was previously involved in a partnership between South Florida’s Sun Sentinel and Palm Beach County’s public radio station, WXEL for five years. The relationship was mutually beneficial.
Sun Sentinel paid WXEL for news products, and WXEL got a news department by proxy because radio journalists had full access to Sun’s news gathering resources, such as reporter’s notes and sources. Often, the Sun Sentinel would print a story in the morning newspaper, and reporters would serve as experts on WXEL shows that same day. For the Sun, the partnership not only yielded more news coverage, but also “helped extend the brand to new audiences and put the paper in the company of NPR,” said Stone.
Stone’s current project, the WRLN/Miami Herald partnership was launched in 2003. The Herald employs five full-time radio journalists to produce news and information to air on WRLN, a public radio station licensed to the school board of Miami-Dade County. Herald staff writers who are trained to do radio also contribute to broadcasts and the collaboration has led to special public affairs programming and live special reports on developing stories. The paper and the station also cross-promote.
Beyond newspaper and radio.
For Ellen Stein, development director of KDUR-FM, Durango Community Radio at Fort Lewis College, the collaboration was not so much a survival mechanism, but a way to provide as much local content as possible to listeners and the community in a variety of formats. Currently KDUR shares content with Durango Herald, a daily newspaper. KDUR airs Cycle Squawk, a show dedicated to bikes, and community members who miss the live version can access the online archive through the Multi-Media section of the Durango Herald’s website.
Collaboration with a newspaper is just the beginning for KDUR. Fort Lewis College is currently planning the development of a media center at the school which will house the radio station along with The Independent, a student-run newspaper; Durango Community Access Television; Images, a literary magazine, and a video conferencing facility for Rocky Mountain PBS.
Being in the same location will not only foster content-based collaboration, but also bring in new revenue streams. Businesses often advertise on one platform but not the other because of limited advertising budgets. “There are lots of businesses that underwrite KDUR but who won’t advertise with Durango Herald, because it is expensive.” To lower costs for businesses and bring in funds for various platforms, Stein envisions offering businesses an advertising package that would include underwriting KDUR, and advertising on Durango Herald online, and in the student newspaper, etc. “In this way, for a little bit more money they can get more diversified media exposure,” said Stein.
For Stein, the collaborations achieve multiple short and long objectives at once. Using Cycle Squawk as an example, she said the collaboration “gets the show out there, expands the listening audience and could result in additional business sponsorships and membership dollars down the road.”
As the popularity of print media declines, multi-faceted collaborations like Stein’s open up a new channel for newspapers and radio stations to maintain relevance in a digital world and deliver the news that matters.
When people say journalism is in crisis, they are primarily referring to the fact that the financial model of newspapers, advertising revenue, is failing. The challenge facing newspapers as the Pew Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) reports is finding new ways to fund online news production, while using declining revenues to finance the print-to-digital transition.
Discussions on saving journalism have focused primarily on newspapers, and of these the two most popular are micro-payments and nonprofit ownership of media. According to PEJ, both are untenable. Whatever the solution, PEJ concludes that several new revenue streams need to be cultivated.
To cut costs, media organizations have started collaborating within platforms, but collaborations across platforms are rarer. Collaboration between radio and newspapers is an avenue worth exploring, not only for financial reasons but also for ensuring and improving local reporting.
What strengths can radio bring to the partnership? Radio remains more attractive to audiences and therefore advertisers in part because it lends itself easily to multi-tasking. For commuters, radio may be the primary source of news. It is also more appealing to youth, who may tune in for programming other than news and then stay tuned in as other shows comes on the air. Finally, as PEJ points out, radio content is easier to move online.
Below, I take a closer look at some current collaborations in terms of the benefits they bring to both partners. Partnerships range from the informal to the formal and stations and publications are coming together for a number of different reasons.
Reporting news that no one else will.
In the 2008 election, Radio Free Nashville was one of the few media outlets that covered civil rights abuses and pre-emptive arrests of journalists and citizens during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. In spite of the fact that law enforcement officials engaged in blatantly illegal behavior, the incidents didn’t make front-page news. To highlight stories ignored by corporate media, RFN began sharing content with The Nashville Free Press, a community newspaper.
While RFN is an important forum for voices that are missing, misrepresented or marginalized in corporate media, it is an LPFM station with limited signal strength and therefore a limited reach. Putting content on The Nashville Free Press website allows RFN “to extend the reach of reporting” said Ginny Welsch, the executive director of RFN.
Welsch also contributes a column, “Eye on the Media,” to the paper, along with other RFN programmers. “We have similar goals and sharing content allows us to feed each other’s news stories,” she said.
Through its affiliation with the newspaper, RFN also aligns with other groups working for social justice like Project Censored. Each month, the free press features a story from Project Censored, an organization which conducts research on news stories of national importance which are underreported in corporate media.
Attracting audiences, online traffic and dollars.
For newspapers, investing in a radio station can lead to dividends in terms of reaching out to new audiences and driving online traffic to websites. The Southwest News Herald, a Chicago community newspaper launched a morning show on WJJG 1530 AM with a popular political columnist as host. The Herald initially paid for the time slot, but quickly was able to support it through advertising because the show provided a compelling host at a peak listening time, 8 to 9:30 a.m.
Host Ray Hanania summed up the benefits to the Herald, when he told Radio World, “By putting ourselves into their cars as they drive to work, we make ourselves a part of their daily lives. This motivates them to read our newspaper and come to our website and that helps our advertising sales.”
The show also helped Hanania gain access to high-profile newsmakers. “If I called a senator on behalf of my newspaper, they put me over to the PR guy. But if I'm calling for the WJJG morning show heard in Chicago, the senator himself wants to talk to me,” he told Radio World.
News Production.
Drops in local ad spending have led to declines in news production at radio stations across the country. Compared to a few decades ago, radio offers a fraction of the news it did, but locally-owned stations seem to do a better job.
For Rick Stone, acting news director of the WRLN/Miami Herald News, collaboration translates into a “stunning benefit for the quality of news.” Stone was previously involved in a partnership between South Florida’s Sun Sentinel and Palm Beach County’s public radio station, WXEL for five years. The relationship was mutually beneficial.
Sun Sentinel paid WXEL for news products, and WXEL got a news department by proxy because radio journalists had full access to Sun’s news gathering resources, such as reporter’s notes and sources. Often, the Sun Sentinel would print a story in the morning newspaper, and reporters would serve as experts on WXEL shows that same day. For the Sun, the partnership not only yielded more news coverage, but also “helped extend the brand to new audiences and put the paper in the company of NPR,” said Stone.
Stone’s current project, the WRLN/Miami Herald partnership was launched in 2003. The Herald employs five full-time radio journalists to produce news and information to air on WRLN, a public radio station licensed to the school board of Miami-Dade County. Herald staff writers who are trained to do radio also contribute to broadcasts and the collaboration has led to special public affairs programming and live special reports on developing stories. The paper and the station also cross-promote.
Beyond newspaper and radio.
For Ellen Stein, development director of KDUR-FM, Durango Community Radio at Fort Lewis College, the collaboration was not so much a survival mechanism, but a way to provide as much local content as possible to listeners and the community in a variety of formats. Currently KDUR shares content with Durango Herald, a daily newspaper. KDUR airs Cycle Squawk, a show dedicated to bikes, and community members who miss the live version can access the online archive through the Multi-Media section of the Durango Herald’s website.
Collaboration with a newspaper is just the beginning for KDUR. Fort Lewis College is currently planning the development of a media center at the school which will house the radio station along with The Independent, a student-run newspaper; Durango Community Access Television; Images, a literary magazine, and a video conferencing facility for Rocky Mountain PBS.
Being in the same location will not only foster content-based collaboration, but also bring in new revenue streams. Businesses often advertise on one platform but not the other because of limited advertising budgets. “There are lots of businesses that underwrite KDUR but who won’t advertise with Durango Herald, because it is expensive.” To lower costs for businesses and bring in funds for various platforms, Stein envisions offering businesses an advertising package that would include underwriting KDUR, and advertising on Durango Herald online, and in the student newspaper, etc. “In this way, for a little bit more money they can get more diversified media exposure,” said Stein.
For Stein, the collaborations achieve multiple short and long objectives at once. Using Cycle Squawk as an example, she said the collaboration “gets the show out there, expands the listening audience and could result in additional business sponsorships and membership dollars down the road.”
As the popularity of print media declines, multi-faceted collaborations like Stein’s open up a new channel for newspapers and radio stations to maintain relevance in a digital world and deliver the news that matters.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Bexley Public Radio visits the 2009 Hartford Fair
The Drive to Croton and Hartford Fair.
We leave Bexley with the Mark and Judy Scurci at a little before five. A hot humid late afternoon.
Destination is the 2009 Hartford Fair, one of the three independent fairs in Ohio. We head for Gahanna on the route to Croton.
Gahanna
US 62 is not busy but passing through Gahanna, there is noticeable pedestrian traffic for the Creekside restaurants and Gahanna Gallery Walk. A music concert by the JuJu Bees is scheduled for later this evening at the Creekside Plaza.
New Albany
US 62 passes through New Albany. The city looks beautiful in the late summer heat. There is no traffic at all on the highway. No golfers, no joggers, no walkers. Most retail shops are closed at five o’clock so there is no commercial traffic. Some of the residents are probably on vacation in Michigan or weekending on Lake Erie. Any who remain behind are escaping the heat and humidity by staying inside with the air conditioning.
Johnstown.
After New Albany, US 62 follows an agricultural stretch. More corn than soybeans this year. The corn stalks are tall, green and lush. If this crop holds up, there will be a bountiful yield. The agricultural press is talking about a near record harvest and the US Department of Agriculture is estimating a 12.8 billion bushel harvest, second only to the 2007 corn crop of 13.0 billion bushels. The radio reports corn cash prices of $2.82 per bushel and $3.27 a bushel for December delivery. Farmers say that the ethanol market and the animal markets are maintaining steady demand for corn and keeping prices firm.
As we arrive at Johnstown, traffic picks up. An existing shopping center with a Kroger’s grocery is the reason for the traffic. Next year, it will probably be even more busy because a second shopping center is being constructed nearby along US 62.
We turn left at the downtown traffic light onto SR 37. For many years, this short stretch of road has been a First Amendment forum used by Johnstown residents.
For most years of the 1980s qnd 1990s, protest signs were planted in the front yards of the houses along SR 37. The signs protested the stench of the giant egg “factories” of Buckeye Eggs that are located on Croton Road. The owner of Buckeye Eggs was a German named Anton Pohlmann who was eventually protested, regulated and litigated to oblivion by local residents, environmental groups, the Ohio Department of Agriculture and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
Pohlmann threw in the towel in 2003 and sold the egg operations to a company named Ohio Fresh Eggs.
Protests continue here. This year the signs on this stretch of road protest the Obama administration’s efforts to reform health insurance and healthcare in Ohio. About two dozen signs read “Stop Obamacare” “Read the Bill” “Stop Socialism Now” and “Say No To Socialized Healthcare.”
The charm of Ohio and America is that people aren’t afraid to express their opinions.
At the western edge of Johnstown, we turn right onto Croton Road. The six mile stretch of this road to Croton village and the fairgrounds is dominated by corm fields as lush as the ones we passed earlier on US 62.
As we pass the giant buildings of Ohio Fresh Eggs, there is little activity and some of the buildings look as if they are being disassembled and the machinery being removed.
Something is going on at the egg farms that isn’t getting press attention. (Note: when I return home a google search reports as the only recent activity a court ordered US EPA fine against Ohio Fresh Eggs for illegal discharge of egg wash water.)
As we get close to the fairgrounds, Republican Congressman Pat Tiberi yard signs fill the edge of the road. We wonder why the congressman has his signs out in full blossom? This is not a congressional election year and Tiberi has not announced for a local office?
Entering the Hartford Fair at Gate D
As usual, we take the northern-most entrance “Gate D” and that is where the first changes from last year are noticed.
There are no ticket takers at Gate D and the number of cars, trucks, utility trainers and animal trailers are significantly reduced. My first thought is that the economic turmoil has taken its toll on fair attendance.
Later I notice enough changes so that I speculate that the reconfiguration of the fair grounds has shifted the farm traffic to the southern-most Gate A.
We park the car. The air is still, hot and humid. The parking lot is dusty.
The ticket gate is near the animal auction barn. The ticket price is five dollars. No charge for parking.
The ticket taker is sullen and sounds like WC Fields when he asks how many tickets. He doesn’t tell us that he’d “rather be in Philadelphia” but his sullen attitude informs us that he’d rather be elsewhere. Probably somewhere taking a nap.
Not a positive start to the Hartford Fair adventure.
The concessions near the entrance include the Licking County Beef Cattlemen’s food stand, the Licking County Dairy Director’s ice cream and milk stand.
Sheep are being auctioned nearby in the Grubb Arena. The entrance is crowded with animal trucks, one from Watts Farm. The other trucks are unmarked.
By chance we arrive as the lamb on the block gets the highest hammer price of the day. The lamb is from Reindeer Acres farm and initially, the price is hammered at $600. Then it turns out the auctioneer mistook the final bid and had to reopen the bidding which went to $625 for bidder number 105, identified by the auctioneer as Three Hill Estate.
Introduction To This Year’s Fair Food
We leave the auction barn area and stop for a taste of fair food. We sample deep-fried mushrooms and also “Blooming Tasty Taters” with cheese sauce, vinegar, seasoning and salt.
The deep-fried mushrooms are much too hot to eat, let alone pick up. We walk to one of the merchant buildings while letting the mushrooms cool down.
During this walk I start to notice tattoos in the crowd. There are enough tattoos about to recognize an awful lot of bad drawing skills on most of the tattoos.
The people with tattoos are in the late twenties to forties age cohorts. Not too many teens and early twenties.
Is this an indication that the fashion of tattoos is wearing itself out.
I also wonder if tattoos a form of self-expression? I think of the protest signs at Johnstown and wonder if I’ll see any tattoos that protest the federal healthcare proposals.
Merchant Building
The merchant building is populated mostly with the same merchants and merchandise as prior years.
Sharon’s Quilts is offering Husqvarna Viking sewing machines.
The Gideon Bible Society offers Gospels. Last year, the leatherette covers were orange, this year choices of orange or sky blue are offered. The volunteers have easy smiles. Most of the other merchants seem listless and tired.
Other offerings in the merchant building are jewelry, cosmetics, Carrier furnaces and air conditioners.
The “Shirt-Corral,” a tee-shirt merchant, offers a green tee-shirt with a legend in yellow ink “Will Trade Sister For Tractor.” The price for the tee-shirt is $7.00.
Another tee-shirt merchant also offers Stars and Bars flags; these Confederate battle flags are the only flags offered for sale at this fair. Interesting.
A populist organization has a booth with a cheery woman and two friendly men. The name is We the People Forum with a website www.wethepeopleforum. They are generous with their literature and without asking, I am plied with “We have become constitutionally out-of-control,” “HR3200 America’s Affordable Health Choices Act-Not Affordable-Not Real Choice,” “Don’t Trade Your Doctor For A Bureaucrat,” “What Nationalized Health Care Will Mean for You,” “Repeal the Fed,” and “Ohio Free State.” All this without asking.
I wonder why the Move On. Org people don’t have a presence at the Hartford Fair.
As we approach the midway, we pass the Centerburg Athletic Boosters dining shelter, hamburgers for three dollars. The midway food venders are everything you expect: elephant ears, cheese steak sandwiches, Chinese food, apple dumplings, ice cream, corn dogs, french fries, fresh lemonade, pizza, deep-fried cheese cake, turkey leg and Kolikohns State Fair Taffy.
Other memorable offerings are fried Lake Erie perch and deep-fried Oreos. At least two different vendor offer fried baloney sandwiches.
A new offering is cinnamon coated nuts: pecans, cashews and walnuts.
The Midway
On the midway, there are the usual political stands. The Republican stand is at least twice the size of the Democrat stand. The Republicans have a staff of five people. They offer the usual pads of notepaper printed in red ink “elect Michael Smith auditor.”
The Democrat stand has no one present. Perhaps we walk by the Democrat booth at mandatory break time. The only give-away that catches my eye is a small computer disk called “consumer credit briefcase.” Its purpose, meaning or use is not obvious.
The Ohio Department of Transportation stand has an Ohio road map and other handouts including children games for travel.
The Licking County Master Gardeners offer a handout recipe for deer repellant. Milk, oil, dishwashing detergent, chili power, garlic powder and egg. Dilute, shake and spray. Kristin Price is the source.
Dinner On The Midway
We choose the dining stand of the Licking Valley Athletic Boosters for our meal. For $5.00 we get a chicken noodle bowl with choice of side (cole slaw, baked beans, potato salad) and hot dogs are $1.50. Other dinner menu items: shredded chicken, brats, Ham and cheese, two coney dogs and chicken breast (BBQ or Italian) all with a side and a drink for $5.00.
The dining stand is well staffed by the Licking Valley Athletic Boosters. There are nine, maybe ten people serving orders. In the kitchen two maybe three cooks.
At 6:30 p.m. the line is fast and the staff is friendly. There are about sixty patrons. The line moves quickly. Impressive for the crowd.
Competitive Agriculture, Domestic Arts and Crafts
Dinner done, we go to the Arts, Crafts and Floral Building to see the youth competition in drawing, flowers, fruits and vegetable growing, baking, collecting and photography.
Invariably, this building houses the agricultural highlights of the Hartford Fair.
Near one of the building entrances is the Drawing and Painting competition. The Best of Show is awarded to an oil portrait of a horse head and neck painted by Catherine Jula. Good representational painting. Media looks like oil pastels rather than oil or acrylic. Catherine is from Blacklick, Ohio.
Another Drawing and Painting Blue Ribbon for the 18 and under category of entrants goes to Julius Skestos of Granville for his space travel painting. It appears to be oil on paper and represents planets, other celestial bodies and, of course space ships.
The Flower and Flower Arrangement competition Blue Ribbon is awarded to Paula McDonald for a three feet tall cactus plant. Paula McDonald is also awarded a second Blue Ribbon for her entry in the Most Unusual Potted Plant. No identification for her unusual potted plant is offered. To my eye nothing looks unusal about the plant other than the size of its leaves.
The hot weather has dried out all of the flower arrangements so the display offers a sense of dying and death and reminds me that this is the end of summer and we are on the way to Autumn.
Fruits and Vegetables competition was the most impressive portion of these features. The Blue Ribbon winning white onions of Steve Ide were beautiful. Large, regular in shape and even in color. The appearance of Steve’s entry is picture perfect. Steve Ide is from Lewis Center.
Also appealing were the first and second place horseradish entries of Hazel Bias of Centerburg and Betty Johnson of Galena. Hazel’s Blue Ribbon entry was large at the top, continuing in a long regular root. Also in the horseradish competition were Mary Jane Fisher of Galena and Eloise Collier also of Galena. Fisher and Collier’s entries were less regular in shape than the wining entries.
Is Galena becoming a horseradish growing center? Three of four of the entries in this category were from Galena.
The tomatoes, potatoes, squashes, eggplants and cucumbers entered in the competition are abundant.
The winner of the Freak of Nature category was Michael Laughlin of Johnstown whose first-place entry is a misshapen zucchini. Dan Hamilton of Croton entered a cucumber shaped like a flattened fish. Betty Johnson of Galena entered a misshapen tomato.
The photography competition was once again too massive to have detailed comment. Mark Scurci and I estimate about 1,100 entries. The computer and digital cameras have made photography accessible and easy. In the category ages six through twelve, Mackenzie Lange of Commercial Point received the Best of Show ribbon for her picture of a sea turtle.
In the canned goods competition, Jody Chobuka of Alexandria received a Blue Ribbon for her canned pickled hot peppers and also a Blue Ribbon for her crabapple jelly. The presentation and appearance of her hot peppers and the crabapple jelly are excellent. The jelly in particular is remarkable with its vivid green color.
Gloria Runyon of Johnstown received two Blue Ribbons for her canned green beans and canned red beets. The green beans in particular are very attractively presented.
In the Baked Goods contest, the standout winner is Brittany Poff of Newark for her Ugliest Cake entry. Her entry is a very square block. Hard edges and swirled icing. The icing is acid green, black and white, and brown to reddish orange. Altogether the icing is a very unattractive mix.
The appearance of the icing is unappetizing by itself but the addition of lengths of blond hair into the icing makes it a disturbing spectacle.
Art critics would call Poff’s entry as a post-modern pastry. But the piece has closer associations with the floor of a hair salon and the freezees in an urban convenience store.
Other entries in this competition include worms and fake eyeballs. Poff’s entry is far and away the deserving entry because it captures an esthetic out of the ethers and is disturbing.
Poff takes the cake. But not too soon for us to have enjoyed the unsettling merit of her work.
Other competitions include a collection of rolling pins assembled by Victoria Barkman of Newark. One of the rolling pins was inherited by her from her great grandmother Ella Ashcroft (1883-1977).
The collection is the kind that is unsettling for any husband who has once been threatened by his wife’s rolling pin.
Horse Pull Competition
It is a quarter after 7:00 p.m. and time to watch the horse pull competition. We abandoned a survey of the amusement rides and carnival joints.
This year we stay only for the light weight horses. These are Belgians, muscular beasts who in teams of two can break eight-thousand pounds of deadweight and pull the heavy sled about fifteen feet.
Unlike horse racing and harness racing where the horses are named and identified, in horse pulls the competition teams are identified by their owners: John Roberts of Johnstown, Greg Mulberry of Florenze Kentucky, Lynn and Randy Arnold of Tippeecanoe, Ohio Tom Ferguson of Riggs Farms in Cameron, West Virginia.
The competition begins with 4,500 lbs of concrete blocks in a steel framed sled. The concrete blocks are loaded from a truck operated by Oberfields concrete building supplies of central Ohio.
As each leg of the competition is completed an additional 1,000 lbs of concrete blocks are added to the sled: 4,500 lbs becomes 5,500, then 6,500 and 7,500. Then the incredment is reduced to 500 lbs.
From the beginning the shirts of the teamsters were wet with their sweat on this hot and humid evening. In contrast, only after reaching 6,500 lbs did the horses lather up and show their sweat.
Sitting on the infield side, there is a man in a dark blue tee-shirt with white letters PETA emblazoned across the chest. There is additional text on the tee-shirt but at the distance, the additional text is too small to be legible. My curiosity is aroused: PETA at a horse pull? I think not.
I ask permission from my wife to walk to the infield to investigate further to read the small print. When I get to the infield, close enough to read the small print, I quickly conclude that it is worth the trip.
The back side of the tee-shirt has the text: “I think there is room for all of God’s creatures… right next to my mashed potatoes.” There is also a logo on the rear for “cultured rednecks” and a website for other products.
The text on the front is “PETA: People for the Eating of Tasty Animals.”
I return to the grandstand and the horse pull competition.
Randy Arnold’s team prances sideways and threatens the safety of the teamster. The horses twist the sled about 45 degrees.
Anna Wilson sitting nearby in the grandstands offers technical assistance to me on details of the competition. She lives in Gahanna. She doesn’t own horses but has come to the horse pull at the Hartford Fair for about twelve years with her father.
Her parents don’t own horses either but enjoy watch the animals compete. She says that her father explained to her that the family had to choose between having horses or having children. He and his wife chose the more expensive option.
The horses finally wear out at 8,500 lbs.
The first place winner is Jerry Riggs of Cameron, West Virginia whose team pulled the 8,500 lbs the full fifteen feet. The second place winner is John Stover of Marengo, Ohio whose final attempt pulled the sled of dead weight only 3 feet four inches.
The Mud Run
Mark and I abandon our wives when the heavy-weight Belgium competition begins. We want to watch from the infield but on the walk to the infield we hear the roar of gas engines and follow the sound to discover the Mud Run Contest. The location is a new venue near one of the large parking fields filled with cars, trucks and trailers.
The popularity of the Mud Run venue is the explanation of why Gate D was so empty when we arrived. The parking lot is closer to all of the events than Gate D.
The air is heavy with the smell of hot oil.
There is so much oil and gasoline fumes in the air that there is no doubt that if just one of the pick-ups breaks down, the fair grounds will be entitled to one year worth of carbon credits in any cap and trade law enacted by Congress.
Modified pick-ups and jeeps are run through a trough of mud.
A man standing nearby complains that the mud is too shallow and the trough should be watered to restore the mud to a proper depth.
He tells us a few technical details about the sport.
He says a good vehicle and good driver is called “three three three” but he doesn’t know why.
The man also says he doesn’t want to be identified in my notes.
The mud appears to be about two or three feet deep and challenges the vehicles. One of the jeeps almost overturns into the mud. The appeal of the sport is suddenly apparent.
The only flags decorating the competing vehicles are Stars and Bars. Is there a pattern developing?
Mark observes that the uniform of the drivers is “a safety helmet but no shirt.”
One of the drivers, Vic, has a cheering squad. “Go Vic, Go Vic.” Vic’s pick-up truck is decorated with the Stars and Bars. The pattern continues.
This is a new event at the Hartford Fair and the event is illuminated by the emergency lights of fire department pumper. The light is provided by the volunteer firemen of the Porter Kingston Fire District in Delaware County.
The crowd is younger here than at the horse pull.
When the Mud Run contest is finished, we return to the grand stand and look for our wives. When Mark’s cell phone rings, I see Egle and Judy in the infield. The cell phone is a call from Judy calling to learn where we can meet and return home.
We return to the Grubb Arena area. I ask at the Licking County Dairy Directors ice cream stand for some milk. They give me four half-pints of 2 percent milk. Free. The milk is fresh, cold and satisfying on a hot summer night.
The drive back to Bexley is uneventful.
Background
The Hartford Fair is located in Licking County where it shares boundaries with Knox and Delaware counties.
The first Hartford Fair was held in 1858 for residents living in Hartford and Monroe townships in Licking county and Hilliard township in Knox county and Trenton township in Delaware county.
By 1871 there were ten townships represented, with the annexation of Milford township in Knox county; Harlem & Berkshire township in Delaware county; and Liberty, Bennington and Burlington townships in Licking county.
St. Albans and Jersey townships were added from Licking county in 1908 as well as Miller township in Knox county and Porter townships from Delaware county.
Directions from Bexley
From Bexley, northeast on Johnstown Road, US 62 to Johnstown. At the intersection of US 62 and SR 37, left to Croton Road on the edge of Johnstown. Turn right on Croton Road, drive six miles to the village of Croton (also known as Hartford Village). Continue on Croton road for a half mile more to the fair grounds.
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We leave Bexley with the Mark and Judy Scurci at a little before five. A hot humid late afternoon.
Destination is the 2009 Hartford Fair, one of the three independent fairs in Ohio. We head for Gahanna on the route to Croton.
Gahanna
US 62 is not busy but passing through Gahanna, there is noticeable pedestrian traffic for the Creekside restaurants and Gahanna Gallery Walk. A music concert by the JuJu Bees is scheduled for later this evening at the Creekside Plaza.
New Albany
US 62 passes through New Albany. The city looks beautiful in the late summer heat. There is no traffic at all on the highway. No golfers, no joggers, no walkers. Most retail shops are closed at five o’clock so there is no commercial traffic. Some of the residents are probably on vacation in Michigan or weekending on Lake Erie. Any who remain behind are escaping the heat and humidity by staying inside with the air conditioning.
Johnstown.
After New Albany, US 62 follows an agricultural stretch. More corn than soybeans this year. The corn stalks are tall, green and lush. If this crop holds up, there will be a bountiful yield. The agricultural press is talking about a near record harvest and the US Department of Agriculture is estimating a 12.8 billion bushel harvest, second only to the 2007 corn crop of 13.0 billion bushels. The radio reports corn cash prices of $2.82 per bushel and $3.27 a bushel for December delivery. Farmers say that the ethanol market and the animal markets are maintaining steady demand for corn and keeping prices firm.
As we arrive at Johnstown, traffic picks up. An existing shopping center with a Kroger’s grocery is the reason for the traffic. Next year, it will probably be even more busy because a second shopping center is being constructed nearby along US 62.
We turn left at the downtown traffic light onto SR 37. For many years, this short stretch of road has been a First Amendment forum used by Johnstown residents.
For most years of the 1980s qnd 1990s, protest signs were planted in the front yards of the houses along SR 37. The signs protested the stench of the giant egg “factories” of Buckeye Eggs that are located on Croton Road. The owner of Buckeye Eggs was a German named Anton Pohlmann who was eventually protested, regulated and litigated to oblivion by local residents, environmental groups, the Ohio Department of Agriculture and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
Pohlmann threw in the towel in 2003 and sold the egg operations to a company named Ohio Fresh Eggs.
Protests continue here. This year the signs on this stretch of road protest the Obama administration’s efforts to reform health insurance and healthcare in Ohio. About two dozen signs read “Stop Obamacare” “Read the Bill” “Stop Socialism Now” and “Say No To Socialized Healthcare.”
The charm of Ohio and America is that people aren’t afraid to express their opinions.
At the western edge of Johnstown, we turn right onto Croton Road. The six mile stretch of this road to Croton village and the fairgrounds is dominated by corm fields as lush as the ones we passed earlier on US 62.
As we pass the giant buildings of Ohio Fresh Eggs, there is little activity and some of the buildings look as if they are being disassembled and the machinery being removed.
Something is going on at the egg farms that isn’t getting press attention. (Note: when I return home a google search reports as the only recent activity a court ordered US EPA fine against Ohio Fresh Eggs for illegal discharge of egg wash water.)
As we get close to the fairgrounds, Republican Congressman Pat Tiberi yard signs fill the edge of the road. We wonder why the congressman has his signs out in full blossom? This is not a congressional election year and Tiberi has not announced for a local office?
Entering the Hartford Fair at Gate D
As usual, we take the northern-most entrance “Gate D” and that is where the first changes from last year are noticed.
There are no ticket takers at Gate D and the number of cars, trucks, utility trainers and animal trailers are significantly reduced. My first thought is that the economic turmoil has taken its toll on fair attendance.
Later I notice enough changes so that I speculate that the reconfiguration of the fair grounds has shifted the farm traffic to the southern-most Gate A.
We park the car. The air is still, hot and humid. The parking lot is dusty.
The ticket gate is near the animal auction barn. The ticket price is five dollars. No charge for parking.
The ticket taker is sullen and sounds like WC Fields when he asks how many tickets. He doesn’t tell us that he’d “rather be in Philadelphia” but his sullen attitude informs us that he’d rather be elsewhere. Probably somewhere taking a nap.
Not a positive start to the Hartford Fair adventure.
The concessions near the entrance include the Licking County Beef Cattlemen’s food stand, the Licking County Dairy Director’s ice cream and milk stand.
Sheep are being auctioned nearby in the Grubb Arena. The entrance is crowded with animal trucks, one from Watts Farm. The other trucks are unmarked.
By chance we arrive as the lamb on the block gets the highest hammer price of the day. The lamb is from Reindeer Acres farm and initially, the price is hammered at $600. Then it turns out the auctioneer mistook the final bid and had to reopen the bidding which went to $625 for bidder number 105, identified by the auctioneer as Three Hill Estate.
Introduction To This Year’s Fair Food
We leave the auction barn area and stop for a taste of fair food. We sample deep-fried mushrooms and also “Blooming Tasty Taters” with cheese sauce, vinegar, seasoning and salt.
The deep-fried mushrooms are much too hot to eat, let alone pick up. We walk to one of the merchant buildings while letting the mushrooms cool down.
During this walk I start to notice tattoos in the crowd. There are enough tattoos about to recognize an awful lot of bad drawing skills on most of the tattoos.
The people with tattoos are in the late twenties to forties age cohorts. Not too many teens and early twenties.
Is this an indication that the fashion of tattoos is wearing itself out.
I also wonder if tattoos a form of self-expression? I think of the protest signs at Johnstown and wonder if I’ll see any tattoos that protest the federal healthcare proposals.
Merchant Building
The merchant building is populated mostly with the same merchants and merchandise as prior years.
Sharon’s Quilts is offering Husqvarna Viking sewing machines.
The Gideon Bible Society offers Gospels. Last year, the leatherette covers were orange, this year choices of orange or sky blue are offered. The volunteers have easy smiles. Most of the other merchants seem listless and tired.
Other offerings in the merchant building are jewelry, cosmetics, Carrier furnaces and air conditioners.
The “Shirt-Corral,” a tee-shirt merchant, offers a green tee-shirt with a legend in yellow ink “Will Trade Sister For Tractor.” The price for the tee-shirt is $7.00.
Another tee-shirt merchant also offers Stars and Bars flags; these Confederate battle flags are the only flags offered for sale at this fair. Interesting.
A populist organization has a booth with a cheery woman and two friendly men. The name is We the People Forum with a website www.wethepeopleforum. They are generous with their literature and without asking, I am plied with “We have become constitutionally out-of-control,” “HR3200 America’s Affordable Health Choices Act-Not Affordable-Not Real Choice,” “Don’t Trade Your Doctor For A Bureaucrat,” “What Nationalized Health Care Will Mean for You,” “Repeal the Fed,” and “Ohio Free State.” All this without asking.
I wonder why the Move On. Org people don’t have a presence at the Hartford Fair.
As we approach the midway, we pass the Centerburg Athletic Boosters dining shelter, hamburgers for three dollars. The midway food venders are everything you expect: elephant ears, cheese steak sandwiches, Chinese food, apple dumplings, ice cream, corn dogs, french fries, fresh lemonade, pizza, deep-fried cheese cake, turkey leg and Kolikohns State Fair Taffy.
Other memorable offerings are fried Lake Erie perch and deep-fried Oreos. At least two different vendor offer fried baloney sandwiches.
A new offering is cinnamon coated nuts: pecans, cashews and walnuts.
The Midway
On the midway, there are the usual political stands. The Republican stand is at least twice the size of the Democrat stand. The Republicans have a staff of five people. They offer the usual pads of notepaper printed in red ink “elect Michael Smith auditor.”
The Democrat stand has no one present. Perhaps we walk by the Democrat booth at mandatory break time. The only give-away that catches my eye is a small computer disk called “consumer credit briefcase.” Its purpose, meaning or use is not obvious.
The Ohio Department of Transportation stand has an Ohio road map and other handouts including children games for travel.
The Licking County Master Gardeners offer a handout recipe for deer repellant. Milk, oil, dishwashing detergent, chili power, garlic powder and egg. Dilute, shake and spray. Kristin Price is the source.
Dinner On The Midway
We choose the dining stand of the Licking Valley Athletic Boosters for our meal. For $5.00 we get a chicken noodle bowl with choice of side (cole slaw, baked beans, potato salad) and hot dogs are $1.50. Other dinner menu items: shredded chicken, brats, Ham and cheese, two coney dogs and chicken breast (BBQ or Italian) all with a side and a drink for $5.00.
The dining stand is well staffed by the Licking Valley Athletic Boosters. There are nine, maybe ten people serving orders. In the kitchen two maybe three cooks.
At 6:30 p.m. the line is fast and the staff is friendly. There are about sixty patrons. The line moves quickly. Impressive for the crowd.
Competitive Agriculture, Domestic Arts and Crafts
Dinner done, we go to the Arts, Crafts and Floral Building to see the youth competition in drawing, flowers, fruits and vegetable growing, baking, collecting and photography.
Invariably, this building houses the agricultural highlights of the Hartford Fair.
Near one of the building entrances is the Drawing and Painting competition. The Best of Show is awarded to an oil portrait of a horse head and neck painted by Catherine Jula. Good representational painting. Media looks like oil pastels rather than oil or acrylic. Catherine is from Blacklick, Ohio.
Another Drawing and Painting Blue Ribbon for the 18 and under category of entrants goes to Julius Skestos of Granville for his space travel painting. It appears to be oil on paper and represents planets, other celestial bodies and, of course space ships.
The Flower and Flower Arrangement competition Blue Ribbon is awarded to Paula McDonald for a three feet tall cactus plant. Paula McDonald is also awarded a second Blue Ribbon for her entry in the Most Unusual Potted Plant. No identification for her unusual potted plant is offered. To my eye nothing looks unusal about the plant other than the size of its leaves.
The hot weather has dried out all of the flower arrangements so the display offers a sense of dying and death and reminds me that this is the end of summer and we are on the way to Autumn.
Fruits and Vegetables competition was the most impressive portion of these features. The Blue Ribbon winning white onions of Steve Ide were beautiful. Large, regular in shape and even in color. The appearance of Steve’s entry is picture perfect. Steve Ide is from Lewis Center.
Also appealing were the first and second place horseradish entries of Hazel Bias of Centerburg and Betty Johnson of Galena. Hazel’s Blue Ribbon entry was large at the top, continuing in a long regular root. Also in the horseradish competition were Mary Jane Fisher of Galena and Eloise Collier also of Galena. Fisher and Collier’s entries were less regular in shape than the wining entries.
Is Galena becoming a horseradish growing center? Three of four of the entries in this category were from Galena.
The tomatoes, potatoes, squashes, eggplants and cucumbers entered in the competition are abundant.
The winner of the Freak of Nature category was Michael Laughlin of Johnstown whose first-place entry is a misshapen zucchini. Dan Hamilton of Croton entered a cucumber shaped like a flattened fish. Betty Johnson of Galena entered a misshapen tomato.
The photography competition was once again too massive to have detailed comment. Mark Scurci and I estimate about 1,100 entries. The computer and digital cameras have made photography accessible and easy. In the category ages six through twelve, Mackenzie Lange of Commercial Point received the Best of Show ribbon for her picture of a sea turtle.
In the canned goods competition, Jody Chobuka of Alexandria received a Blue Ribbon for her canned pickled hot peppers and also a Blue Ribbon for her crabapple jelly. The presentation and appearance of her hot peppers and the crabapple jelly are excellent. The jelly in particular is remarkable with its vivid green color.
Gloria Runyon of Johnstown received two Blue Ribbons for her canned green beans and canned red beets. The green beans in particular are very attractively presented.
In the Baked Goods contest, the standout winner is Brittany Poff of Newark for her Ugliest Cake entry. Her entry is a very square block. Hard edges and swirled icing. The icing is acid green, black and white, and brown to reddish orange. Altogether the icing is a very unattractive mix.
The appearance of the icing is unappetizing by itself but the addition of lengths of blond hair into the icing makes it a disturbing spectacle.
Art critics would call Poff’s entry as a post-modern pastry. But the piece has closer associations with the floor of a hair salon and the freezees in an urban convenience store.
Other entries in this competition include worms and fake eyeballs. Poff’s entry is far and away the deserving entry because it captures an esthetic out of the ethers and is disturbing.
Poff takes the cake. But not too soon for us to have enjoyed the unsettling merit of her work.
Other competitions include a collection of rolling pins assembled by Victoria Barkman of Newark. One of the rolling pins was inherited by her from her great grandmother Ella Ashcroft (1883-1977).
The collection is the kind that is unsettling for any husband who has once been threatened by his wife’s rolling pin.
Horse Pull Competition
It is a quarter after 7:00 p.m. and time to watch the horse pull competition. We abandoned a survey of the amusement rides and carnival joints.
This year we stay only for the light weight horses. These are Belgians, muscular beasts who in teams of two can break eight-thousand pounds of deadweight and pull the heavy sled about fifteen feet.
Unlike horse racing and harness racing where the horses are named and identified, in horse pulls the competition teams are identified by their owners: John Roberts of Johnstown, Greg Mulberry of Florenze Kentucky, Lynn and Randy Arnold of Tippeecanoe, Ohio Tom Ferguson of Riggs Farms in Cameron, West Virginia.
The competition begins with 4,500 lbs of concrete blocks in a steel framed sled. The concrete blocks are loaded from a truck operated by Oberfields concrete building supplies of central Ohio.
As each leg of the competition is completed an additional 1,000 lbs of concrete blocks are added to the sled: 4,500 lbs becomes 5,500, then 6,500 and 7,500. Then the incredment is reduced to 500 lbs.
From the beginning the shirts of the teamsters were wet with their sweat on this hot and humid evening. In contrast, only after reaching 6,500 lbs did the horses lather up and show their sweat.
Sitting on the infield side, there is a man in a dark blue tee-shirt with white letters PETA emblazoned across the chest. There is additional text on the tee-shirt but at the distance, the additional text is too small to be legible. My curiosity is aroused: PETA at a horse pull? I think not.
I ask permission from my wife to walk to the infield to investigate further to read the small print. When I get to the infield, close enough to read the small print, I quickly conclude that it is worth the trip.
The back side of the tee-shirt has the text: “I think there is room for all of God’s creatures… right next to my mashed potatoes.” There is also a logo on the rear for “cultured rednecks” and a website for other products.
The text on the front is “PETA: People for the Eating of Tasty Animals.”
I return to the grandstand and the horse pull competition.
Randy Arnold’s team prances sideways and threatens the safety of the teamster. The horses twist the sled about 45 degrees.
Anna Wilson sitting nearby in the grandstands offers technical assistance to me on details of the competition. She lives in Gahanna. She doesn’t own horses but has come to the horse pull at the Hartford Fair for about twelve years with her father.
Her parents don’t own horses either but enjoy watch the animals compete. She says that her father explained to her that the family had to choose between having horses or having children. He and his wife chose the more expensive option.
The horses finally wear out at 8,500 lbs.
The first place winner is Jerry Riggs of Cameron, West Virginia whose team pulled the 8,500 lbs the full fifteen feet. The second place winner is John Stover of Marengo, Ohio whose final attempt pulled the sled of dead weight only 3 feet four inches.
The Mud Run
Mark and I abandon our wives when the heavy-weight Belgium competition begins. We want to watch from the infield but on the walk to the infield we hear the roar of gas engines and follow the sound to discover the Mud Run Contest. The location is a new venue near one of the large parking fields filled with cars, trucks and trailers.
The popularity of the Mud Run venue is the explanation of why Gate D was so empty when we arrived. The parking lot is closer to all of the events than Gate D.
The air is heavy with the smell of hot oil.
There is so much oil and gasoline fumes in the air that there is no doubt that if just one of the pick-ups breaks down, the fair grounds will be entitled to one year worth of carbon credits in any cap and trade law enacted by Congress.
Modified pick-ups and jeeps are run through a trough of mud.
A man standing nearby complains that the mud is too shallow and the trough should be watered to restore the mud to a proper depth.
He tells us a few technical details about the sport.
He says a good vehicle and good driver is called “three three three” but he doesn’t know why.
The man also says he doesn’t want to be identified in my notes.
The mud appears to be about two or three feet deep and challenges the vehicles. One of the jeeps almost overturns into the mud. The appeal of the sport is suddenly apparent.
The only flags decorating the competing vehicles are Stars and Bars. Is there a pattern developing?
Mark observes that the uniform of the drivers is “a safety helmet but no shirt.”
One of the drivers, Vic, has a cheering squad. “Go Vic, Go Vic.” Vic’s pick-up truck is decorated with the Stars and Bars. The pattern continues.
This is a new event at the Hartford Fair and the event is illuminated by the emergency lights of fire department pumper. The light is provided by the volunteer firemen of the Porter Kingston Fire District in Delaware County.
The crowd is younger here than at the horse pull.
When the Mud Run contest is finished, we return to the grand stand and look for our wives. When Mark’s cell phone rings, I see Egle and Judy in the infield. The cell phone is a call from Judy calling to learn where we can meet and return home.
We return to the Grubb Arena area. I ask at the Licking County Dairy Directors ice cream stand for some milk. They give me four half-pints of 2 percent milk. Free. The milk is fresh, cold and satisfying on a hot summer night.
The drive back to Bexley is uneventful.
Background
The Hartford Fair is located in Licking County where it shares boundaries with Knox and Delaware counties.
The first Hartford Fair was held in 1858 for residents living in Hartford and Monroe townships in Licking county and Hilliard township in Knox county and Trenton township in Delaware county.
By 1871 there were ten townships represented, with the annexation of Milford township in Knox county; Harlem & Berkshire township in Delaware county; and Liberty, Bennington and Burlington townships in Licking county.
St. Albans and Jersey townships were added from Licking county in 1908 as well as Miller township in Knox county and Porter townships from Delaware county.
Directions from Bexley
From Bexley, northeast on Johnstown Road, US 62 to Johnstown. At the intersection of US 62 and SR 37, left to Croton Road on the edge of Johnstown. Turn right on Croton Road, drive six miles to the village of Croton (also known as Hartford Village). Continue on Croton road for a half mile more to the fair grounds.
HELP BEXLEY PUBLIC RADIO UPGRADE ITS ANTENNA. SEND YOUR MONEY PROMPTLY. BE GENEROUS.
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
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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. WCRX-LP Editorial Cooperative.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Jamie M. Fox interviewed Wednesday August 19 at 11:00 a.m. on Bexley Public Radio.
Bexley native and New York actress-comedian Jamie M. Fox will be interviewed by John Matuszak and Dianne Garrett on Eastside News Roundup Wednesday, Aug. 19, at 11 a.m.
Fox will talk about her career and her upcoming one-woman show, "MavelTov Cocktail," which will be staged at the Jewish Community Center Aug. 24 before making its Off-Broadway debut this fall.
The performance by Fox, who made her stage debut at the JCC at age 9, will benefit teen programs at the center.
Fox will talk about her career and her upcoming one-woman show, "MavelTov Cocktail," which will be staged at the Jewish Community Center Aug. 24 before making its Off-Broadway debut this fall.
The performance by Fox, who made her stage debut at the JCC at age 9, will benefit teen programs at the center.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Battling screenwriter who penned "On the Waterfront dies," by John Matuszak.
"I coulda been a contender!"
Movie buffs will recognize this line from "On the Waterfront," uttered by Marlon Brando as a prizefighter who let his big chance go by when he took a dive for the mob. Even those not familiar with the film probably know the line that has entered our culture as a catch-phrase for all of our thwarted ambitions.
Few remember that one of the most famous lines in the movies was written by a man named Budd Schulberg, who died Aug. 5 at 95.
Such is the fate of the writer. Somehow we assume that the golden words magically arrive in the mouth of the actor, without the endless research and re-writes that are the daily work of the author.
Actors such as Brando are idolized, and directors, such as Elia Kazan, who helmed "On the Waterfront," are hailed as visionary auteurs, while the writers toil in relative obscurity. Most of them probably prefer it that way, solitude being more conducive to creativity. But it all begins with the written word, so attention must be paid.
Schulberg spent four years researching and writing about the lives of the longshoremen depicted in the film, seeing first-hand how the corruption of the mob-controlled docks and unions robbed them and their families of a decent existence.
He was inspired by another crusading writer, Malcolm Johnson, whose series of articles for the New York Sun in 1948 and '49 first exposed the violence and greed on the waterfront and brought to light for the public the international crime syndicate that wielded the real power.
Johnson witnessed the "shape-up," where hundreds of longshoremen waited anxiously to be picked randomly for a day's work, their selection by the hiring boss usually dependent on their willingness to kick back part of their pay to the gangsters. This practice, unique to the New York docks at the time, had been outlawed in England in the 19th century.
He also found evidence of extortion and murder throughout the waterfront that was described as "a lawless frontier."
Under threats to himself and his family, and false accusations that he was a communist, Johnson showed that the corruption went to the highest levels, from the heads of large unions to the halls of Congress and the military brass.
He also discovered heroes such as Father John Corridan, the waterfront priest who "knew the score" and educated the beleagered longshoremen on ways to take their unions back from the mob. Corridan became the model for the priest played by Karl Malden in the film version.
Johnson won a Pulitzer Prize for his efforts. Schulberg received an Academy Award for his screenplay. More importantly, the articles and the film spurred changes to the crooked hiring practices and other abuses along the waterfront.
It is a coincidence that, at the time of Schulberg's death, I had been reading a collection of the original articles by Johnson and Schulberg about waterfront crime. What emerges is a portrait of courage and perseverance behind one of the greatest movies of all time.
Following Johnson's lead, Schulberg's screenplay spins out like a documentary, and almost all of the incidents came from real life, down to the father's "Christ on the Waterfront" sermon. But what occurs in a few weeks in the film took months and years of effort on the part of Johnson and the people he chronicled.
By personalizing the struggle of concience in the person of Brando's character, Terry Malloy, Schulberg also created a work of art with deep human emotions. He knew that, in order to teach, you first have to entertain.
Schulberg had a track record of fighting the powers that be. The son of a Hollywood studio head, he earned the scorn of the movie colony when he wrote "What Makes Sammy Run?", a portrait of unbridled ambition in Tinseltown. He also wrote the novel in defiance of the Communist Party, which he had joined as a young man.
Schulberg later testified before HUAC, naming names, as did Kazan, believing the communists were a threat to free speech.
Schulberg and Kazan teamed up again three years later to film Schulberg's expose of the corrosive power of television, "A Face in the Crowd."
A neglected masterpiece, the film stars Andy Griffith as a hillbilly singer who discovers the persuasive influence of the new medium and becomes a power-mad demagogue. The film is almost prescient in its insights into the growing threat of television to shape our opinions and actions, coming several years before the watershed Kennedy-Nixon televised debates and 20 years before Paddy Chayefsky's "Network."
The film stands as the high-water mark of Schulberg's screenwriting career, but he did continue to write and to try to make a difference in the world by establishing writing workshops in Watts and Harlem. Last year he was working with Spike Lee on a screenplay about Joe Louis.
The next time you visit your local movie theater, or are enjoying a classic film on television, pay attention to that name that comes after "screenplay by..." and appreciate the effort that goes into creating a memorable story or an indelible line of dialogue.
Movie buffs will recognize this line from "On the Waterfront," uttered by Marlon Brando as a prizefighter who let his big chance go by when he took a dive for the mob. Even those not familiar with the film probably know the line that has entered our culture as a catch-phrase for all of our thwarted ambitions.
Few remember that one of the most famous lines in the movies was written by a man named Budd Schulberg, who died Aug. 5 at 95.
Such is the fate of the writer. Somehow we assume that the golden words magically arrive in the mouth of the actor, without the endless research and re-writes that are the daily work of the author.
Actors such as Brando are idolized, and directors, such as Elia Kazan, who helmed "On the Waterfront," are hailed as visionary auteurs, while the writers toil in relative obscurity. Most of them probably prefer it that way, solitude being more conducive to creativity. But it all begins with the written word, so attention must be paid.
Schulberg spent four years researching and writing about the lives of the longshoremen depicted in the film, seeing first-hand how the corruption of the mob-controlled docks and unions robbed them and their families of a decent existence.
He was inspired by another crusading writer, Malcolm Johnson, whose series of articles for the New York Sun in 1948 and '49 first exposed the violence and greed on the waterfront and brought to light for the public the international crime syndicate that wielded the real power.
Johnson witnessed the "shape-up," where hundreds of longshoremen waited anxiously to be picked randomly for a day's work, their selection by the hiring boss usually dependent on their willingness to kick back part of their pay to the gangsters. This practice, unique to the New York docks at the time, had been outlawed in England in the 19th century.
He also found evidence of extortion and murder throughout the waterfront that was described as "a lawless frontier."
Under threats to himself and his family, and false accusations that he was a communist, Johnson showed that the corruption went to the highest levels, from the heads of large unions to the halls of Congress and the military brass.
He also discovered heroes such as Father John Corridan, the waterfront priest who "knew the score" and educated the beleagered longshoremen on ways to take their unions back from the mob. Corridan became the model for the priest played by Karl Malden in the film version.
Johnson won a Pulitzer Prize for his efforts. Schulberg received an Academy Award for his screenplay. More importantly, the articles and the film spurred changes to the crooked hiring practices and other abuses along the waterfront.
It is a coincidence that, at the time of Schulberg's death, I had been reading a collection of the original articles by Johnson and Schulberg about waterfront crime. What emerges is a portrait of courage and perseverance behind one of the greatest movies of all time.
Following Johnson's lead, Schulberg's screenplay spins out like a documentary, and almost all of the incidents came from real life, down to the father's "Christ on the Waterfront" sermon. But what occurs in a few weeks in the film took months and years of effort on the part of Johnson and the people he chronicled.
By personalizing the struggle of concience in the person of Brando's character, Terry Malloy, Schulberg also created a work of art with deep human emotions. He knew that, in order to teach, you first have to entertain.
Schulberg had a track record of fighting the powers that be. The son of a Hollywood studio head, he earned the scorn of the movie colony when he wrote "What Makes Sammy Run?", a portrait of unbridled ambition in Tinseltown. He also wrote the novel in defiance of the Communist Party, which he had joined as a young man.
Schulberg later testified before HUAC, naming names, as did Kazan, believing the communists were a threat to free speech.
Schulberg and Kazan teamed up again three years later to film Schulberg's expose of the corrosive power of television, "A Face in the Crowd."
A neglected masterpiece, the film stars Andy Griffith as a hillbilly singer who discovers the persuasive influence of the new medium and becomes a power-mad demagogue. The film is almost prescient in its insights into the growing threat of television to shape our opinions and actions, coming several years before the watershed Kennedy-Nixon televised debates and 20 years before Paddy Chayefsky's "Network."
The film stands as the high-water mark of Schulberg's screenwriting career, but he did continue to write and to try to make a difference in the world by establishing writing workshops in Watts and Harlem. Last year he was working with Spike Lee on a screenplay about Joe Louis.
The next time you visit your local movie theater, or are enjoying a classic film on television, pay attention to that name that comes after "screenplay by..." and appreciate the effort that goes into creating a memorable story or an indelible line of dialogue.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Community Programming Advisory Committee: Management report on nominees and applicants.
PUBLIC NOTICE
A meeting of the Bexley Public Radio community programming advisory committee is scheduled for 4:30 p.m., Monday September 7, 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 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 September committee meeting is $10.00.
A meeting of the Bexley Public Radio community programming advisory committee is scheduled for 4:30 p.m., Monday September 7, 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 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 September committee meeting is $10.00.
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