Today's Feature

Services Committee Meets.

The City Council Public Services committee met at 5:30 Monday afternoon. There was no old or new business on the agenda but Parks Director Alan Bull gave an update on the storm debris removal from the City parks. Bull told the committee that the golf course cleaning required a 16’ flatbed truck which carried approximately 145 loads of debris, in addition to 20 loads removed by a pickup truck. Bull said that the down limbs in other parks have resulted in nearly 70 dumptruck loads and 26 pickup truck loads.

Committee Chair Claude Newport asked Bull if he knew roughly how many trees had been damaged to the point that they could not be salvaged. Bull said that the current count was around 12 trees, primarily Bradford Pear trees. He added that there were probably more that had not been noticed yet.

Bull also expressed concerns about continued falling limbs. He said that with the recent windy conditions some of the "hangers," or branches that had broken but not fallen, were beginning to fall. Bull advised that citizens should be cautious around trees with hanging limbs.

I hear folks talkin’ a lot these days ‘bout building’ relationships. We seem ta always want to put fancy words to simple ideas. Somehow the idea of havin’ a neighbor or a friend doesn’t seem like enough anymore. We gotta make it into somethin’ explainable.

Usually if ya think about it, friends just kinda show up. Sure ya gotta spend time with ‘em to consider ‘em a friend, but ya don’t have ta spend a lotta time figurin’ out how to build the "relationship."

I think the main reason the term has changed is people don’t get a chance to be a friend very often any more. Buildin’ a fence, gatherin in crops, lots a things used ta take a group effort that would bring people together. When ya work with folks, ya find out pretty quick who you can count on if ya need somethin’ important done.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Here's A Tip
By JoAnn Derson

• January Sales Items: Get great deals on leftover holiday decorations and cards, appliances and furniture, as well as linens, towels and other "white sale" items.

• Keep a few fabric-softener sheets in the linen closet. It will keep the towels smelling fresh. If you have lots of extra bedsheets, it keeps them fresh-smelling, too.

• "Whenever I have a casserole pan that has baked-on, hard-to-remove bits left behind, I fill it with water, add a little dish soap and stick it back in the warm oven. I let it sit for several hours -- even overnight -- and the gunk just slides off the next day. Elbow grease is getting harder and harder to come by these days, so I try not to waste it." -- I.S. in Pennsylvania

• "Have a budding artist? Mine has just gone through a crayon-on-the-wall period. I tried all kinds of things to get it off, and then a neighbor told me to use a damp rag dipped in baking soda. It’s great, and the crayon came right off." -- G.L. in Massachusetts

• Substitutions: 1 cup of sugar dissolved in 1/4 cup of hot water can stand in for 1 cup of corn syrup.

• "If you live alone, always take your cell phone with you when you go outside or in the garage; in case of an accident, you can contact someone." -- K.P., via e-mail