Give It A Rest

I picked up my mail at city hall this morning and I received a letter from I. M. Kuncerned, a citizen who wants to hide behind anonymity and doesn't truly understand the changes that are in place regarding our police department.

Regardless of what you think, we have a police administration open to suggestion and proactive in affecting change. Behavioral change is not radical and takes place over time.

Give it a rest and wait six months and see how this year compares with previous years. I am confident you will see differences.

As for DUI check points, they are mostly a display of police presence and their locations are publicized by law. I have no problem with DUI check points and I wish they didn't have to publicize locations. I want every DUI driver off the road and would never give them three opportunities to kill someone before they are arrested and sent to jail for a longer time than 24 hours. There are no or very few DUI incidents in Japan and Norway because the penalties are severe. We should follow their example.

Back To School

This week our local schools started back for the 2010-2011 school year. I recall this Monday morning as I left our neighborhood about the time the school buses were due to arrive. Each street corner was crowded with children with new back packs and clothing. You could just tell there was excitment within each group of school children.

And I was excited too, as I started a training program as an oil and gas title abstractor. The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity and opportunity. Renee's son Logan left for school last Wednesday morning and I was offered a position on the same day. I can sympathize with children entering a new school for the first time. They are anxious about all the unknowns and I was as well. The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know. My training moves to New Martinsville next week and I will be out of town most weeks thereafter.

I shared my new career path with members of council after last Thursday's meeting and I explained that I would work my schedule around regular council meetings. Sadly the upcoming special CVB council meeting is scheduled for the first night I will be out of town. I will share, via my blog, my views of the two proposals presented to council last meeting by both CVB's. I am not sure if council will vote on CVB funding at the next meeting or just have a special meeting so that all the CVB issues can be discussed thoroughly. My guess and hope is the latter.

Surprise From Charleston

I spoke with my friend, JB Kimble Saturday morning and he gave me an update of Friday night's SCOTT Firefighter Combat Challenge results. JB, along with Dion Wamsley, Joey Baxa, and Ben Tacy competed in the individual events. Ben and Joey placed in the upper third of contestants and JB and Dion were happy to finish the course. JB indicated it was the hardest he had ever worked himself. Bear in mind that our fire fighters have been training regularly for almost six months. It turns out the top contestants train every day all year round.

I received a call Saturday evening from fire chief Mitch Tacy who was in Charleston to cheer on the team and his son Ben. Mitch said that our five man team, which now includes fire fighter Brian 'Boomerang' Carr, did well enough to be invited to the National SCOTT Combat Challenge in Myrtle Beach this November.

What a great achievement for our first time team competing against teams with many years of competitive experience. Congratulations!!!!!!!!! Check out some photos at the following link http://www.firefighter-challenge.com/

Taking Pride

This morning I went down to the fire station for a cup of coffee and to return the walker I borrowed from one of the fire fighters. One of the members present pointed out a man walking down south Floria Street with a plastic bag in his hand and said, "Watch him. He goes down South Florida Street and around Jawbone Park picking up trash. He does that every morning and I think he lives on the Island."

What a great example of taking pride in our city. It is so easy to say "Why doesn't the city clean up the trash?" It takes someone really committed to making our city great, to pick up trash on their own. Thank you!!!!!!

By example, just think of the impact on our city if every citizen picked up just one item of trash each time they were out and about. There are trash receptacles along Main Street and in all the city parks. Pay it forward, lead by example and take pride in our city.

Empty Nest

I spent the last two days of hip surgery recuperation helping Logan get ready to move to Troy, Ohio where he will be attending the Hobart Welding Institute. The washer and dryer have literally not stopped and I am amazed at how many T-shirts, jeans, shorts, socks etc he has accumulated. Literally a three and a half week supply before any laundry is necessary and that includes multiple changes each day. Like I said, it was a mountain of laundry and my hips is sore. I haven't had any pain meds in several days but today may be the exception.

Lots of parents will be faced with the empty nest syndrome in the very next few days. Some will throw parties, and some will curl up in a pile of folded clothes and just cry. I will miss Renee's son Logan. He is an excellent helper and has a great sense of humor.

As Logan departs for Ohio, Renee and I can only hope he will make good choices, take his hat off in restaurants and say please and thank you. Hope and prayer will get us through. Our prayers are with him, all those who are departing from home and for the parents left behind.

No End In Sight

It was with great sadness that I read Friday's Record Delta article about the continuing saga of the CVB. Mr. Bailey, the attorney for the CVB, makes grand statements about not backing down, will not pay a dime required by Judge Henning, and will likely sue the city. While Mr. Bailey's rantings remind me of a bandy rooster strutting around the chicken coup, he is not acting without direction from the current CVB.

The current CVB has lost sight of the fact that their mission is to act as stewards of public funds for the benefit of the public. I believe it is time for the current CVB leadership to do everything in their power to put an end to the legal bickering. Now is the time to move forward. Anything less will only result in more clucking, cock-a-doddle-do'ng and chicken s*%t.

Emergency Access

During my recovery I've enjoyed extra time to read. One of the books I enjoyed was The Last Man Down, a fire fighter's story of survival and escape from the World Trade Center. An interesting fact I learned from reading the book was the practice within the FDNY for a common key for emergency access. A barrel shaped '1620' key is issued to firefighters and that opens every elevator in NYC and every fire house in NYC. A great way to reduce confusion and increase efficiency in access.

Our local fire department has been encouraging local businesses to adopt a similar emergency access program using Knox Boxes. The Knox Box is similar to the key lock boxes used by realtor's. Access keys or swipe cards are stored inside the Knox Box and access to the Knox Box is limited to emergency responders and the business owners. I would support a proposal for the city adopt or modify our building codes to make Knox Boxes mandatory for all new commercial construction. The cost of a Knox Box is about $100. Seems to me a very small investment for a huge potential in savings.

Getting Back In The Saddle

I have been blogless for almost a week. I missed the routine of regular writing and several of my blog followers wanted to know if I fell off the planet. I thought I would have the mental energy to resume my blog immediately after surgery but that didn't pan out. I've been home since last Saturday and it has taken since then to find a recovery normal routine.

My routine is a challenge because I'm supposed to remain active but not over do it. When I had my first hip replacement, I was doing laundry, cooking, running the vacuum, changing the sheets etc almost immediately after surgery. This time I have promised Renee to follow my doctor's orders and not over do. I walk around the house several times a day, do physical therapy 2x a day and if I have been a good patient, Renee allows me to attend outside low activity functions. I attended the special city council meeting on Tuesday night.

I reported earlier that the culprit for the latest round of surgery was a loose implant in my femur. I didn't realize how much pain I had been living with until the doctor said it was so loose you could spin the implant 360 degrees in the bone. The implant is akin to a Reese trailer hitch ball on an eight inch shaft. I am looking forward to a full recovery and to regular blogging.

Surgery plus 36 Hours

Wednesday was a day of following hospital protocol and making lemonade out of lemons. We arrived for check in at 7:30am even though my surgery wasn't scheduled until 1:00pm. For three hours we waited in waiting room style chairs. Not good for a chronically sore right hip. We were finally escorted to the pre-op suite about 10:30 am. After connecting the various tubes and wires we patiently waited for another two hours before being taken to the OR suite.

I am a spiritual man and took a few minutes to offer whisper prayers for all the technicians and doctors in the room. After that, I don't remember anything until waking up in the recovery room at 4:30pm, feeling rested and still without pain. Due to a communications error, my post surgery pain meds took more time than necessary to hook up. Sometimes I'm patient with unforeseen delays and yesterday I was. It made the whole process bearable.

The great news is the doctors quickly identified the problem with my right hip. The original ball and shaft that was placed in the center of my femur had come loose. Loose as a goose according to Dr. Hamlin. The shaft could rotate 360 degrees!!!!!! I know now why I had so much pain. My doctor is confident that I will have significant improvement. I am thankful for God's presence in the OR and the fact that I didn't let small things cloud my day.

I am writing this blog Thursday afternoon. My epidural has been removed and the lack of pain I enjoyed up to about two hours ago has been replaced with pain of 8+ on a 10 scale. Thank goodness for chemistry.

Making The Right Decision

This past weekend, Renee's son Logan had an opportunity to stop by a party to see some friends. The party was held at a campsite not far off Route 33. Attended by some of Logan's friends, the group was a mix of gender and ages. Logan shared that he stayed about 10 minutes, long enough to check things out, then decided to leave.

As Logan was about to turn onto Route 33, the all too familiar blue lights came on out of nowhere. The trooper asked Logan if he had been drinking? Logan replied no, do you want to smell my breath? Logan said it was okay to breathalyze him, but that did not occur. After looking around Logan's truck, with Logan's permission, the trooper asked what was going on back there - meaning the party? Logan didn't want to lie, so he truthfully said there's a bunch of drinking and smoking going on. Logan recounted the whole story with flourish when he got home just before midnight. He said his heart was pounding all the while he was stopped.

This is just a small example of one young man making the right decision at the right time. As a parent and step parent one can only hope that their children make wise and correct decisions. Peer pressure is no higher than it is today for our teens and young adults. I was told that in certain settings, teens in high school, especially boys, purposely under perform so they are not singled out as a smarty or a geek. How sad it is that peer pressure has come to doing poorly in school.

Hats off the all the young men and women who have made the right decision at the right time. If you are a parent reading this blog and have a teen or young adult who recently made a good decision, celebrate it with your child and make a big deal of it. Reinforce the benefits of making hard and correct decisions. The rewards will benefit all.

Revision Day

Today I will be having revision surgery on my right hip at Ruby. Basically a redo. I am required to be at the hospital about 2 hours before surgery. Since I am writing this on Sunday, I don't know my exact times but I'm led to believe I have to be at Ruby by 11:00am. The surgery is scheduled to take between 2-3 hours.

My surgeon actually called me Sunday for two reasons: he wanted me to hear from him that he is leaving Ruby in September and wanted to answer any surgery questions I might have. Dr. Hamlin is the area's leading specialist in revision surgery and so as long as he will do the actual surgery, I am comfortable with not having him available for followups. I can actually travel to Pittsburgh if I feel the need to continue with Dr. Hamlin. I am grateful that he called because his assurances made me feel a bit better about the surgery prognosis.

I have been living with leg pain for four years. My previous experience with hip and knee replacement is at best mixed. Neither my previous hip nor knee replacements have relieved the chronic pain in my right leg. One of promises to myself is to do everything my physician requires for post op recovery. I am very active and tend to push myself. My first hip surgery I pushed to be out of the hospital in 52 hours, was in the bucket of the ladder truck three days later photographing the new football field and was the hardest working patient at physical therapy.

I will follow my physicians instructions to the letter and not push it. I will however try to defend my title of hardest working PT patient. I would covet your thoughts and prayers while I recover and plan to keep up the blog through my recovery. Renee probably needs prayer as well as I'm told I am not a marshmallow patient!!

Corridor H

The greater Buckhannon-Upshur is positioned for growth. The land adjacent to Wal-Mart and Lowe's is no longer on the market according to UCDA director Steve Foster and expansion along Corridor is the next step. Traffic on Corridor H is over the growth threshold point of 12-14,000 vehicles per day.

During last Thursday's joint city/county meeting, the idea of planning the development of Corridor H in Upshur Countywas discussed at length with emphasis on signage, access roads and master planning.

Some of the discussion suggested that uniform signage is more pleasing than a smorgasbord of sign types and sizes. Eye appeal is important when attracting permanent businesses and tourists to our area. I think it is a good idea to consider what our area could look like with and without a development master plan.

The idea of planning access roads is also important. Easy access is important for development. An example of poor planning is Emily Drive in Bridgeport as access to East Pointe Plaza is either congested or inconvenient. Properly planned access is critical for EMS, fire and police responses.

The 'A' word, annexation, and the 'Z' word, zoning, were briefly discussed as options but the outcome of the discussion was the directive by commission president Tenney to have a separate meeting to discuss these issues. This is planning 101 and can only lead to adding value to our area. If we don't plan, we wind up with a hodge podge of development.

At a minimum, I would guess and hope that representatives from the city, county, state and the development authority would be part of the planning process and discussions of the first meetings. The state DOH has existing signage and access road regulations.

Hang On To Your Remote

Last week I had the opportunity to sit in on a meeting of the TV/Cable Board. Several board members, concerned citizens and representatives from Suddenlink were in attendance. The entire exchange was informative and positive.

The meeting started with a review of the responses to the TV/Cable survey that was posted on the city's website. While the survey was unscientific in design, the results were none the less helpful in determining the community view of Suddenlink's services. Based on the analysis of all the responses, and if you were grading on a traditional letter grade scale, Suddenlink received a solid B and in some cases a B+. Mike Kelemen and Peter Brown from Suddenlink said that while a B grade sounds good, they wanted to be at an A grade. Basically I believe the survey results indicate a general satisfaction with the channel selection and technical support Suddenlink offers.

For information, the city has the right to grant franchises local for cable service. Based on Federal deregulation, the city does not have a strong position to dictate policy or programing of the franchisee, in this case Suddenlink. At best we can influence and suggest. I liken it to a lion without claws. To date the relationship between Suddenlink and the city has been positive. The latest 5 year franchise agreement with Suddenlink was renewed in January of this year.

During our meeting the subject of the removal of channel 26 and Pittsburgh channel 4 was discussed at length. Channel 26 will not be reinstalled on the expanded tier and because of very complicated contract language which deals with network priority, the ABC Pittsburgh channel 4 will not be back.

Suddenlink continues to expand technology and services although not necessarily in the obvious area of new channels. A big push is expanding the availability of broad band Internet services throughout our area. This is a key driver for many communities and our ability to attract new development is linked to availability of broad band services. Our franchise agreement requires the addition of 3-4 new services by the end of 2010. While not specifically identified, Suddenlink confirmed new services will be added by years end.

The business of telecommunication is incredible complex. Technology advances at an exponential rate, government regulations are printed in volumes and the contract negotiations between a multitude of parties further complicate the industry. Given all that, I still enjoy holding my remote.