Star Wars in Concert - Cincinnati

Last night 60 members of Cincinnati's May Festival Chorus provided the vocals for the local appearance of the touring company of "Star Wars in Concert" at the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati.  It was a lot of fun.


(Apologies in advance for the quality of the photos.  All I had with me was my iPhone.)

Backstage, Anthony Daniels, the actor who portrayed C3PO in all six Star Wars movies (and who narrated the performance with great charm), came backstage to meet us.  One of our singers was using the downtime to write Christmas cards, and she was addressing one to a friend of hers who is a real Star Wars fan.  She wrote something on the card that told him where she was, and that would try to get Daniels to sign it.  She lost her nerve and didn't ask, but the woman next to her did..  Here are the photos of him reading and signing the card.
    





After we finished singing, we were given tickets to go out into the arena to hear the second half.  It was amazing. 

Here are some shots of the crowd, many of whom were in full Star Wars costume.  Light sabres were being brandished all over the hall.

    

Here are some shots of the concert in progress.  Incredible light show...


    
Finally, some kind soul in the audience took a video, which I found on YouTube this morning.  He or she happened to capture our second number, "Battle of the Heroes." so you can hear our tiny contribution.  Make sure you watch until the end.  The pyrotechnics were pretty cool. 


Actually, they weren't cool at all.  We could feel the heat all the way behind the orchestra.

Family documents lead to architectural exploration

The book research sends me on so many interesting paths. I had one very fascinating discovery yesterday. I was wandering through some old family documents, and found the building specifications for the house my great grandparents built outside of Meridian in 1875. I was looking it over as background material for the book, as illustrative of the economic boom in the area after the Civil War, when the north was feeding the south.

The specs were pretty fancy. The house cost $2,500, a lot of money for a farmouse in those days, and they had an architect draw up custom plans. I've seen the document many times before, but this time the architect's name jumped out at me: "A. Russell." I knew the name from a couple of books I'd read ("Architecture Worth Saving in Onondaga County," and "Archimedes Russell, Upstate Architect") and he was a pretty amazing guy. They had Archimedes Russell, the celebrated upstate architect, design their house! Great Grandpa Applegate must have been doing VERY well.

Mr. Russell built some great buildings, in a number of styles from classic Victorian whimsy to "moderne, " including banks, courthouses, hotels, churches, schools, warehouses, private homes, and buildings on the Cornell and Syracuse campuses The house in question (long gone) wasn't fancy, just an Italianate bracketed-roof frame house typical of the period, but Russell built whatever his customers wanted.

My great-grandparents' house resembled these photos that I found on the Internet:

Here are some of his fancier buildings.

    

    

  

Here is a collection of photos of Crouse College at Syracuse, the home of the first degree-granting Fine Arts program in the US.  It now houses the music school and the School of Visual and Performing Arts.  It's my favorite Russell building.

Billboards and the Flushing Remonstrance

The recent brouhaha in Cincinnati concerning the billboard on Reading Road has inspired me to go back to some family history, hoping to remind Cincinnatians (and others) about what the American tradition really is.

The controversy began when a local chapter of the United Coalition of Reason spent $3,875 to erect one billboard in Cincinnati:

The owner of the building upon which the billboard hung received multiple threats, and the billboard company relocated the message to another part of town.

Discussion boards on the local TV and newspaper websites were filled with messages from Christians who were outraged that someone who didn't believe in a god had the nerve to spread their beliefs. Many of the messages were openly hostile to non-believers, spouting messages similar to “this country was founded on Christianity,” etc., etc., as though that “fact” entitled them to spout hate speech against those who weren't Christians. Of course, many of these same people weren't rising up against local billboards posted by other local religious organizations, such as the Catholic Church (asking for money to support elderly nuns or promoting parochial schools) or Mormons (promoting their faith).  Only the non-believers were worthy of their wrath.  One must wonder what they are afraid of.

Yes, many of the earliest settlers on this continent were Christians. They weren't often very tolerant of other Christians, however. John Winthrop's Massachusetts Bay Colony, his “city on a hill,” permitted, by force of law, no worship other than that of his Puritan followers. Those who didn't follow every single detail of the faith as interpreted by the local church were persecuted, punished, or exiled. If you were a “papist,” a Jew, Quaker, Lutheran, or anything else, you were in violation of law.

I don't think that such connection of religion with law is a good “principle” to associate with the US Constitution. You could say that our country was founded by people who did their best to escape religious persecution in their own country and who then came here and established a new religious persecution of their own.

One group of people attempted to break this pattern in 1657, and their efforts led to a nation that permits (or should permit) people to make their own decisions of faith. That nation, if its constitution is to be followed, must keep religion entirely separate from government. Mottoes such as “In God We Trust,” the posting of the Ten Commandments on government property, the use of “under god” as part of the Pledge of Allegiance – these have no place in a secular government. A secular government is necessary in order that we all can practice our beliefs, whether they are Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Humanist, Buddhist, Hindu, or non-beliefs.  Once one set of practices becomes endorsed by a government, then the rest are threatened.

Let me tell you the story.

In the 1650's, a group of English settlers were living in Flushing, in Long Island. Although English, these people were subject to the rule of the governor of New Netherland, Pieter Stuyvesant. The local laws decreed that the only permitted public worship was that conducted in the Dutch Reformed Church. The laws also espoused the principle of “freedom of conscience,” but such freedom was to be practiced only privately.

Since the English settlers were primarily puritans who had emigrated from New England, they shared the beliefs of the Dutch Reformed Church and they were happy to accede to the local religious practices.

Stuyvesant was quick to punish anyone who strayed from the straight and narrow path. For example, in 1656, a Baptist minister who had arrived from Rhode Island, William Wickenden, was arrested, jailed, fined and kicked out of New Netherland because he had baptized Christians in Flushing. Others with non-standard thoughts or those who committed non-standard acts were treated similarly.

In 1657, a group of Quakers arrived in the colony. The practice of this new faith, which had been declared illegal in England and its colonies, caused an uproar.  A Lutheran minister managed to settle and remained hidden for two years before he was discovered in his attempt to establish a Lutheran congregation. He was thrown out of New Netherland, as had been the Baptist. Jews had arrived in 1654, but constant harassment caused most of them to leave.

The Dutch wouldn't have minded if the Quakers had kept to themselves, but some of the English appear to have been interested in what the Quakers had to say, inviting them into their homes. This was just too much for Stuyvesant, and his persecution spread from the newcomers to their hosts, people who were already citizens of New Netherland.

A group of the English settlers, including several of my ancestors, (I'm proud to say), were incensed by this repression, and they drafted a document that gave the Dutch governor what for.

This document, known as “The Flushing Remonstrance.” was the first document in North America that demanded freedom of religion, and is looked at as the foundation for the United States Constitution's provision of freedom of religion.

In the Remonstrance, the English indicated that civil authorities were not the ultimate judge of right or wrong in matters of faith, and that “love, peace and liberty” should preclude “hatred, war and bondage.” They indicated that this “love, peace and liberty” should extend to non-Christians, as well (“Jews, Turks and Egyptians”). They stated that “Wee [sic]desire therefore in this case not to judge least we be judged, neither to condemn least we be condemned.”

The English very clearly set out the principle of the separation of church and state in their document: “Magistrate hath his sword in his hand and the Minister hath the sword in his hand, as witnesse [sic] those two great examples [Moses and Jesus], which all Magistrates and Ministers are to follow.” They continue on, saying that God will judge who is right and who is wrong:

...our desire is not to offend one of his little ones, in whatsoever form, name or title hee [sic] appears in, whether Presbyterian, Independent, Baptist or Quaker, but shall be glad to see anything of God in any of them, desiring to doe unto all men as we desire all men should doe [sic] unto us, which is the true law both of Church and State; for our Saviour sayeth this is the law and the prophets.

While the document is couched in Christian terms, the document certainly indicates that freedom of conscience is what matters, and that civil authorities cannot be the judge of which beliefs are correct.

I think that, in this document, the English signers acted in way that is dictated by the principle of the Golden Rule – treat others the way you want to be treated. Live and let live. It is not your place to judge others. They are saying that personal views in the matter of faith are yours and yours alone, and that no one should tell you what to believe.

Several of the signers of the Remonstrance were arrested and religious persecution continued. One of my ancestors, John Bowne, allowed Quakers to meet in his house. He was arrested and exiled to Holland. Since was an Englishman who spoke no Dutch, this was real punishment. He pleaded with the Dutch West India Company, who supported him and sent him home to Flushing. Their letter to Stuyvesant, which Bowne brought back with him in 1663, ended religious tolerance in the colony of New Netherland.

Below is the complete text of the Flushing Remonstrance.

Right Honorable

You have been pleased to send unto us a certain prohibition or command that we should not receive or entertain any of those people called Quakers because they are supposed to be, by some, seducers of the people. For our part we cannot condemn them in this case, neither can we stretch out our hands against them, for out of Christ God is a consuming fire, and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.


Wee desire therefore in this case not to judge least we be judged, neither to condemn least we be condemned, but rather let every man stand or fall to his own Master. Wee are bounde by the law to do good unto all men, especially to those of the household of faith. And though for the present we seem to be unsensible for the law and the Law giver, yet when death and the Law assault us, if wee have our advocate to seeke, who shall plead for us in this case of conscience betwixt God and our own souls; the powers of this world can neither attach us, neither excuse us, for if God justifye who can condemn and if God condemn there is none can justifye.


And for those jealousies and suspicions which some have of them, that they are destructive unto Magistracy and Ministerye, that cannot bee, for the Magistrate hath his sword in his hand and the Minister hath the sword in his hand, as witnesse those two great examples, which all Magistrates and Ministers are to follow, Moses and Christ, whom God raised up maintained and defended against all enemies both of flesh and spirit; and therefore that of God will stand, and that which is of man will come to nothing. And as the Lord hath taught Moses or the civil power to give an outward liberty in the state, by the law written in his heart designed for the good of all, and can truly judge who is good, who is evil, who is true and who is false, and can pass definitive sentence of life or death against that man which arises up against the fundamental law of the States General; soe he hath made his ministers a savor of life unto life and a savor of death unto death.


The law of love, peace and liberty in the states extending to Jews, Turks and Egyptians, as they are considered sons of Adam, which is the glory of the outward state of Holland, soe love, peace and liberty, extending to all in Christ Jesus, condemns hatred, war and bondage. And because our Saviour sayeth it is impossible but that offences will come, but woe unto him by whom they cometh, our desire is not to offend one of his little ones, in whatsoever form, name or title hee appears in, whether Presbyterian, Independent, Baptist or Quaker, but shall be glad to see anything of God in any of them, desiring to doe unto all men as we desire all men should doe unto us, which is the true law both of Church and State; for our Saviour sayeth this is the law and the prophets.


Therefore if any of these said persons come in love unto us, we cannot in conscience lay violent hands upon them, but give them free egresse and regresse unto our Town, and houses, as God shall persuade our consciences, for we are bounde by the law of God and man to doe good unto all men and evil to noe man. And this is according to the patent and charter of our Towne, given unto us in the name of the States General, which we are not willing to infringe, and violate, but shall houlde to our patent and shall remaine, your humble subjects, the inhabitants of Vlishing.

Written this 27th of December in the year 1657, by mee.


Edward Hart, Clericus

Additional Signers


Tobias Feake
Nathaniell Tue
The marke of William Noble
Nicholas Blackford
William Thorne, Seignior
The marke of Micah Tue
The marke of William Thorne, Jr.
The marke of Philip Ud
Edward Tarne
Robert Field, senior
John Store
Robert Field, junior
Nathaniel Hefferd
NichColas Parsell
Benjamin Hubbard
Michael Milner
The marke of William Pidgion
Henry Townsend
The marke of George Clere
George Wright
Elias Doughtie
John Foard
Antonie Feild
Henry Semtell
Richard Stocton
Edward Hart
Edward Griffine
John Mastine
John Townesend
Edward Farrington

Chapter 3 – Europeans Arrive: The Dutch and the French

Europeans first arrived in New York State as early as 1524, when Verrazano sailed into New York Harbor, and on that occasion the Native Americans of that area saw European ships for the first time. There appears to have been no actual contact then, however. Later, in 1609, Henry Hudson’s expedition sailed up the river that would later bear his name, and residents of the Hudson Valley met and interacted with the crew.

In 1614, the Dutch government granted a trading patent to the New Netherland Company giving them exclusive rights to trade between the 40th and 45th parallels. Meridian’s location, just north of the 43rd parallel, was within that area of the trading patent. A settlement, Fort Nassau, was established on an island in the Hudson, near present-day Albany, as a trading outpost.

The trade in which the Dutch were interested was the fur trade, and the Iroquois of Central New York became active participants in that trade, trapping animals (especially beaver), preparing fur pelts and delivering them to trading posts along the Mohawk and Hudson rivers.

By 1624, New Netherland became a province of the Dutch Republic, but the northern border of Dutch territory moved south to the 42nd parallel (the east-west line that today defines the border of upstate New York and Pennsylvania). Meridian’s location therefore technically became British territory, and would remain so for the next 159 years.

It is doubtful that many Europeans, if any at all, actually visited this area, however, until the 1650’s. In 1653, the Iroquois sent representatives to the French at Montreal, asking for peace to end hostilities with the French allies, the Hurons. The French sent missionaries to the Iroquois in response. Father Simon LeMoyne arrived in Iroquois territory in 1654, spending nine weeks among the Onondagas. There he was visited by delegates from the other nations of the Iroquois Confederacy.

In 1655, Jesuit priests, Father Joseph Chaumonot and Father Claude Dablon also paid a visit to the Onondagas, and were met by a delegation of Cayugas soon after their arrival. The natives were eager to learn about Christianity, and that set the stage for the missions that were to follow.

A large expedition left Quebec in 1656, heading for the Onondagas. The party consisted of 4 priests, 2 brothers, 10 soldiers and a number of French colonists, along with a company of Hurons, Senecas and Onondagas. They had a hard journey, running out of food by the time they reached present-day Port Ontario (called by them “Famine Bay”), but they persevered, eventually reaching Onondaga Lake via the Oswego River. The purpose of this expedition, according to their journals, was not to trade, but rather to convert the natives to Christianity.

After their arrival, an elderly delegate from the Cayugas asked that a priest come to their territory to teach them about the faith of the French. Accordingly, Father René Menard, Father Joseph Chaumonot and two other Frenchmen traveled westward to become the guests of Chief Saonchiogwa at the Cayugas’ principal village, Gol-O-Gouen, located about three miles south of present-day Union Springs.

This, the Mission of St. Joseph, was the first of three Jesuit missions to the Cayugas. Eventually the Mission of St. Stephen, at Tichero (at the North end of Cayuga Lake) and the mission of St. Rene, at Onnontaré (at Fox Ridge, near Port Byron) were established. The missions to the Cayugas lasted four years, ending in 1660 as war between the French and the Iroquois began. The war was to last for eight years.

At war’s end, the Iroquois asked that the missions be re-established, and the Jesuits returned to their labors among the Cayugas. During their tenure, they converted and baptized many members of the Cayuga nation. These French missions continued despite the fact that the Colony of New York had been officially established as a British Colony in 1664. In 1683, however, New York Governor Thomas Dongan began efforts to expel French missionaries from his Colony, and the missions closed in 1684, although the French clergy continued to travel among the Iroquois.

Chapter 2 - The foundation is laid

As the glaciers retreated, the landscape around Meridian was similar to the Alaskan tundra landscape of today. The only trees were small willows and birches, and the predominant plant life consisted of grasses. As the climate warmed, conifer forestation began and these trees were dominant for about 2,000 years.

Slowly, deciduous trees began to proliferate, and by about 9,000 years ago the area resembled the woodlands we see today, with forests of such trees as maples, pines and oaks covering the hillsides.

As this change in plant life was taking place, the animal life of the region was changing as well. Previously, extremely large mammals had lived in Central New York. By 10,000 to 11,000 years ago, they were all extinct, both in New York State and in the rest of North America. This group of large mammals included a ground sloth that weighed nearly a ton, two varieties of mammoths, a species of mastodon, some zebra-like horses, and giant beavers that could weigh anywhere from 200 to 500 pounds. The descendants of those beavers are all that remain, and they would later play a significant role in the later history of what is now New York State.

So, as the ice age ended, the flora and fauna of Central New York were beginning to be more like what we see today. The stage was set for the first arrival of human beings to our area.

The time of arrival of the first people in North America has been calculated at anywhere between 15,000 and 50,000 years ago, depending on who you ask. There may have been multiple migrations. Some may have come over a land bridge over what is now the Bering Strait between Alaska and Siberia, or other immigrants were seafarers from the Pacific who migrated to South America. Regardless of which theory represents the truth, there were people living in North America for thousands of years before anyone came to what is now Central New York.

It appears that people wandered in and out of New York State as early as 9,000 years ago, but it was another 3,000 to 4,000 years before there were groups of people who stayed in the area.

These earliest human inhabitants of upstate New York, nomadic hunter-gatherers, have been called the Lamoka people. They appear in the archaeological record about 4,500 to 5,000 years ago. They built few dwellings, since they were constantly on the move, and did no farming. They left behind primitive tools, including fish hooks, mortars and pestles, projectile points (although they didn’t have bows and arrows), and sinkers for fishing nets. They buried their dead. These Lamoka people may have been the forbears of the people who lived in Central New York by the 15th century. However, some historians believe that the local native Americans were later immigrants from the Mississippi Valley, and still others believe that they came from the St. Lawrence valley.

Wherever they came from, the people later called the Iroquois were the people who lived in Central New York when Europeans first arrived.

These people were divided into five groups. Today they are known as the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida and Mohawk tribes, or nations. The name “Iroquois” was given them by the Mohicans and the French. The “ois” ending is French and has a mellifluous sound. The first part, “Iroqu” was less kind. The Mohicans regarded the Iroquois as “rattlesnakes.”

The Iroquois call themselves the Haudenosaunee, “people of the longhouse.” The names of the individual tribes were, from west to east, Seneca – Onondowahgah, “people of the great hill” or “people of the western door;” Cayuga – Guyohkohnyoh, “people of the great swamp;” Onondaga -- Onöñda'gega', “people of the hills;” Oneida – Onayotekaono, “people of the standing stone;” and Mohawk -- Kanien'kehá:ka, “people of the great flint.”

Agriculture had began in the area 1,000 years ago. The Iroquois planted corn around their villages, and as the corn sprouted, they planted pumpkins, beans and squash in between the corn plants. They also hunted for game and gathered wild plants, including berries, nuts and fruit, to supplement their diet. Three times a year, they celebrated thanksgiving festivals: a maple festival in the spring, a strawberry festival in the summer, and a green corn festival later in the year.

The previous inhabitants of the Meridian area lived in small villages with a central longhouse (used for councils and ceremonial gatherings) surrounded by individual huts for each family. Corn was planted at the edge of the villages, which were surrounded by forests. Often villages were surrounded by log palisades. The buildings and land in each village were owned communally.

As members of a matrilineal society, Iroquois children took their mother’s name at birth and could inherit property only from their mother. Women nominated the tribal rulers (except for warrior chiefs, who were elected by the warriors who served under them), and women and their wisdom were respected and followed. Women planted and harvested the crops, made most of the decisions, and raised the children. Men hunted and went to war. The value of the life of a woman was twice that of a man in this society.

It’s interesting that it took the Europeans who settled in the same region much longer to establish the rights of women. It seems somehow fitting that the women’s rights movement had its beginning in Central New York in nearby Seneca Falls, on the very land where women had once had such an important role in their society.

Clans were made up of multiple families, and a number of clans made up each of the tribes, or nations. Marriage was always outside of the clan, and women remained with their own clan after marriage, where they were joined by their husbands.

Sometime between 1450 and 1570, it is told that an Onondaga from near Pompey called Ayonhwatha (also known as “Hiawatha”) worked to organize the five tribes of the Haudenosaunee into what is often known as the Iroquois Confederacy, or the Five Nations. There are echoes today of the structure of this confederacy in the United States government. Each tribe managed its own affairs, but each tribe worked together for the good of all the tribes, with each having a proportional number of votes. Each promised not to war against the others, and they joined together in defense of one another when wars arose. Later on, in the early 1700s, the Tuscaroras, from the Carolinas, joined the confederacy as a non-voting member tribe.

The area of Meridian is on the eastern edge of the lands settled by the Cayugas, but not all that far from the Onondagas. The New York State Historical society placed a marker on the edge of the Short Cut Road overlooking Otter Lake that reads:

CEREMONIAL FIRE

SITE OF PERMANENT VILLAGE

AND PERPETUAL COUNCIL FIRE

OF CAYUGA BRANCH OF THE

IROQUOIS. LAMOKAS, SENECAS

TRAIL TO ONONDAGA FOR SALT

Since it appears that many of the early roads in New York State follow the paths long ago established by its original inhabitants, it is probably a reasonable assumption that Route 370 through Meridian, with its easternmost point at Onondaga Lake, was a well-traveled path for the Cayugas and Senecas to the salt deposits there.

A Tribute to Erich Kunzel

Last night’s memorial concert for Erich Kunzel was both a sad, moving experience and an exuberant celebration of Erich’s own exuberance. All 3500 seats of Cincinnati's Music Hall were full, and another 1300 were in adjacent ballroom watching on jumbo screens. Another crowd watched from Fountain Square downtown.


It opened with Bach’s Air from Suite No. 3, played beautifully by the orchestra on a darkened stage while a spotlight shone on the empty podium.

A video capturing Erich’s life and career followed a brief introduction by Trey Devey, President of the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestras.

There were reminiscences by a longtime friend of Erich’s and another by a nephew, which brought both smiles and tears to the evening. Henry Coe, who had been friends with Erich for 50 years, had contacted me prior to the concert and used something that I had written as part of his tribute.

Keith Lockhart of the Boston Pops, who worked here with us in the early nineties before he went to Boston, conducted two numbers – the Carmen Dragon arrangement of America the Beautiful (which we recorded on the Pops’ American Jubilee album) with the May Festival Chorus, and a fun rendition of the theme music from The Magnificent Seven, preceded by various western sound effects that bounced around the hall (think horses’ hooves, mooing, neighing – very Erich).

Bob Porco, in a red Pops jacket for the first time, conducted the chorus and Kathleen Brett (a favorite soloist of Erich’s, filling in as a last-minute substitution for Frederica von Stade, who was ill) in You’ll Never Walk Alone.

Paavo Jarvi led Elgar’s “Nimrod” from The Enigma Variations, followed by Strauss’ Blue Danube waltzes, the sounds of which whirled with alternating delicacy and excitement from the stage.

Vince Lee, the CSO and Pops Assistant Conductor, led the orchestra and Miss Brett in a moving Climb Every Mountain.

The final segment of the concert was led by Steve Reineke, of the New York Pops and the Cincinnati Pops, another protégé of Erich’s. He came out in the Pops red jacket, as had both Porco and Lockhart, but he was also wearing the white trousers that were Erich’s trademark. (His conducting is very much like Erich's as well.)


Erich’s ebullience was evident in Reineke. He shared some Erich stories, including the first and last things Erich had said to him. Steve had been engaged to help with some arrangements for an upcoming CD, and when they met, Erich remarked, “So, kid, are you any good?” Kunzel’s last words to Steve were, “Make me proud.”

Reineke united the old era with the new, as he conducted Erich’s musicians in his own arrangement of “America” from Bernstein’s West Side Story. Reineke then led the assembled crowd, which now included the chorale from Erich’s beloved School for the Creative and Performing Arts, in a rousing sing-along of “Sing a Song” and “I Believe in Music,” after telling how much of a Sesame Street fan Erich had been.

Finally, a soul-stirring Stars and Stripes Forever brought the crowd to its feet, clapping throughout and cheering the woodwinds. It ended with the chorus joining in with the final refrain, “Hooray for the flag of the free, may it wave as our standard forever.” Confetti fell from the ceiling, from confetti cannons (so Erich), and a flag filled the space behind the musicians as the evening drew to a close.

History of Meridian, Part 1 -- In the Beginning

In the beginning…


That’s the usual place to start a history of just about anything, so it seems appropriate to begin this one the same way.

Meridian’s beginnings, like any place on Earth, started with the condensation of a ring of dust and debris around the sun. That ring of dust and debris became the series of planets that make up our solar system. However, that beginning is covered in a lot of other books, so we’ll skip much of the first 4 billion years and start with the most recent Ice Age, which lasted over 100,000 years, ending between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago.

If you look around, you’ll notice the fairly uncommon landscape that surrounds Meridian. The village sits in the middle of a large field (sometimes called a “swarm”) of glacially-formed hills called “drumlins.” There are about 10,000 drumlins in upstate New York, following the southern shore of Lake Ontario. There are drumlins on the floor of Lake Ontario itself and another 7,000 drumlins exist across the Lake on its northern shore in Canada. Other drumlin fields on Earth are much, much smaller

Drumlins follow the direction of the glaciers, ice thousands of feet thick, that formed them. As these massive rivers of ice moved southward, they sculpted the landscape. Drumlins are very visible evidence of the glaciers’ movement. Those around Meridian are aligned askew from north-south, inclined slightly to the northwest. The shape of drumlins has been compared to that of whales, long and narrow. Traveling from east to west or vice versa in the Meridian area can sometimes feel similar to riding a roller coaster.

The eastern entrance to the village on Route 370 cuts through a classic drumlin. The northern half of it used to be called “Butter Factory Hill.”

That same Ice Age, as its glaciers moved southward, gouging out the landscape, was responsible for the creation of the Finger Lakes as well as the drumlin field. The two lakes south of the village, Otter and Cross Lakes, may not be as long or as deep as Cayuga or Seneca or the other, more “official” Finger Lakes, but they were created in the same way and are equally important evidence of the huge effect of glaciers on the New York State landscape.

Lakes such as Cross and Otter Lakes aren’t as deep as some of the other Finger Lakes, and there are still shallower depressions that resulted from the glaciers. Today we see lowlands and marshes in these shallow depressions that aren’t deep enough to be lakes. The “Sunnyside” area, east of the village, is a classic example, as is the swampy area to the northwest of Cato Meridian School. The Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge at the north end of Cayuga Lake, is an extreme example.

Those swampy areas had in important role in later New York State History, creating difficulties for early settlers because they were perfect breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Many of the workers who built the Erie Canal, the main means of transportation to Meridian’s region, died of malaria.

The glaciers also deposited soil. That soil was later the basis for the agriculture that made upstate New York an excellent place for the human beings, both Native American and European, that eventually settled here.

Know Theatre's production of Peter Sinn Nachtrieb's Boom opens Saturday at the theatre's Mainstage on Saturday, October 10.

Boom is a comedic tale of the apocalypse, and continues in the Know's tradition of slightly off-center theatre.  The production is directed by Drew Fracher and features Joshua Murphy, Alison Vodnoy, and Liz Vosmeier.

I'll be there.  Will you?

Visit Boom online for more information.

Cincinnati City Council is recognized for the ineffectual non-entity it is

Today's Cincinnati Enquirer had two very interesting things in it today - a letter to the people of Cincinnati from a local restaurateur, Jeff Ruby, and an editorial that says a lot that has needed to be said.  Here are both of them, for your edification:

_______________________________________

To the Great People of Cincinnati,

Our elected “leaders,” Harris, Thomas, Cole, Crowley and Qualls recently decided it was more important to spend $5 million to replace the windows at City Hall, than to keep the people safe who voted them into those offices and whose tax dollars are paying for those windows.

Shortly after learning that Over-the-Rhine was the most violent neighborhood in America, these city officials chose to lay off 138 police officers unless every officer accepted a pay cut. Unapologetically, these same five council members voted against taking pay cuts themselves. Councilman Thomas happens to be a former policeman – what a trooper. So, instead of providing funding for public safety, he and his colleagues chose to hire a tree trimmer and a climate control coordinator, and to spend $3 million on recycling containers and $1.5 million on sidewalks. Sidewalks? Who needs sidewalks when it’s too dangerous to go out for a walk?

After all of the positive action Mayor Mallory has taken to bring millions of dollars of assets to our city, isn’t it counterproductive not to also protect those assets?

The irresponsible spending of the “Furlough Five” has jeopardized the safety of the very people they promised to protect by providing safer neighborhoods. We as a city might be better served to abide by the tenants [sic] of many well managed companies whose foremost responsibility is “safety first.” At reelection time, remember that these “public servants,” who were elected to serve the public’s best interests, have a different priority: “WINDOWS FIRST”!

Wishing you a happy and safe 2009 holiday season,

Jeff Ruby

______________________

City Council math: 9 - 4 = Dysfunction


Editorial: Your chance to change the equation starts Tuesday with early voting

Cincinnati voters may assume that city policy is crafted by the mayor and the nine members of City Council they elect.

Unfortunately, they're only a little more than half-right. During 2009, Cincinnati in effect has had a five -member council on decisions that really matter.

• Tough calls await city - after election

The council majority, controlled by Mayor Mark Mallory, makes the key calls among themselves, often in a round-robin of private meetings that circumvent at least the spirit of laws intended to keep government decision-making open and public.

They cut off debate, twist council's own rules, hold items off the agenda then rush them to a vote without discussion. And if anyone steps out of line, the Democratic party and unions are there to bring down the hammer, as they did recently by un-endorsing Councilmember Jeff Berding.

The Favored Five includes Democrats Laketa Cole, David Crowley, Cecil Thomas and Greg Harris, along with nominal Charterite Roxanne Qualls.

The Forlorn Four - a multi-party mix of Republicans Leslie Ghiz and Chris Monzel, Charterite Chris Bortz and recently excommunicated Democrat Berding - can't get so much as a sniff at having a proposal considered or a discussion held.

"There's a fundamental difference between the two sides," Ghiz says, "and I don't know if it can be married up again."

Council's outward appearance as an efficient, smoothly running body under Mallory's watch contrasts favorably with the chaotic councils of past decades.

But the reality behind the scenes points more to dysfunctional control-freakery.

The Aug. 6 hearing on proposed police layoffs in which majority council members' questions - and reactions - were scripted in advance has come to symbolize this council.

"Everything is tightly scripted, designed to stop dissent," Berding says. "They use the rules to avoid discussion and controversies. It's almost pathological. But government is supposed to be about having disagreements, working through controversies openly and finding answers openly."

The current scheme is hardly representative democracy at its best. And it's up to city voters to correct that in this fall's election, which starts Tuesday when Ohio's early-voting season opens. With term-limited Crowley leaving council, there's an opportunity for the dynamics on council to improve.

"All I can hope for is the public gets smart and gives us a fifth vote," Ghiz says.

Or how about nine with the freedom to vote their consciences in the community's best interests? Nine independent-minded officials with the courage to stand up to the party bosses, unions and other interest groups?

Calling the question

To be fair, most of the routine matters council decides are handled through consensus. About 80 percent of council's roll-call votes this year have been unanimous or with token dissent. Nearly all council members support Mallory in his signature issue, the downtown streetcar proposal. "People are working together," Berding says.

And yet, the big items in 2009, generally those on budget-related matters, show a consistent 5-4 split, with the majority five controlling the agenda and stifling debate.

A pivotal moment came in December 2008 when Cole switched her expected vote on the city budget plan at the last minute, and the majority presented a different plan. "Then we had to vote on an alternate $1 billion budget without discussion - two minutes and it's 'call the question,'" Ghiz says. "Ridiculous."

The sense now is that Mallory has his loyal team and is ignoring the rest. The mayor has been heard making statements such as, "I have five votes; I can do whatever I want. I don't need the rest of you," according to members of the Flung-away Four.

"That's certainly not how he campaigned to be mayor," Berding says. Recently, the majority's treatment toward the dissenters has taken a more negative turn.

A letter from Crowley on behalf of Mallory and the five-member majority started the process that got Berding, a lifelong Democrat, kicked off the party's fall ticket after a Sept. 12 vote by the Cincinnati Democratic Committee for a "lack of party loyalty and integrity."

Berding says the charges that he was "giving aid and comfort to the enemy" were way out of line. "I've never called the mayor out on anything. In those situations, I've always just said I respectfully disagree with the majority," he says. "There's only nine of us. I'm not going to demonize Leslie (Ghiz) and Chris (Monzel) and oppose them at all costs just because of party labels."

No chaos, no dissent

Mallory came into office four years ago promising to "end the chaos" at City Hall and craft a more positive image for the city. To his credit, he has done much of that. The widely praised style he brought from the Ohio Statehouse relied on conciliatory, deal-making skills behind closed doors. But ultimately, it's translated poorly to governing in Cincinnati's awkward "stronger mayor" and council system - a system Mallory can't be blamed for.

"The mayor doesn't have true accountability," Bortz says. "He can say 'It's not my job, it's someone else's fault.' He has no real executive authority. He's like a super council member."

Somehow, it has morphed into a council-majority system that avoids controversy and squelches dissent.

What has changed? Key factors:

The economic downturn, and the budget crisis it brought to the city. Real problems started appearing in early summer, when the city's unrealistic tax revenue projections fell way short. Council was caught off guard. It shouldn't have been. Its reflex action has been to hunker down in an election year, underplay the problems, and delay and defer solutions. That requires tight control of the agenda.

"We've never been in a financial position like this, so council never got to this point before," Ghiz says.

Meanwhile, all the council members are in an unenviable spot, being whipsawed and pressured by outside groups - notably the Democratic party and the unions - that seek to control the outcomes, especially regarding city jobs and cutbacks.

"Council must have the spine to stand up against entrenched power," Harris says.

Earlier, council dynamics changed when Harris came on board in January, replacing Democrat John Cranley, who went into the private sector.

Cranley, a veteran council member, was a more independent swing vote with a strong base of support. He could afford to vote against the mayor's coalition on key issues. But Harris, a sincere, thoughtful neophyte, is vulnerable, with no real constituency. After a dressing-down by Mallory in front of other council members in May for teaming up with Ghiz to suggest using stimulus funds for blight abatement, Harris has pretty much stuck with Team Mallory.

Yet even Harris, like Berding, was whacked - with the blessing of Mallory and the Fab Five - for straying from the One True Path. His sin? Proposing that the city consider separating ambulance service from the fire department, an idea he says could "improve safety and save money" but could result in job reductions. His punishment? He lost the fire union's endorsement this month, and an e-mail blast against Harris went out to 3,000 people.

Council is reaping what it has sown over the past decade or more - overspending during the boom '90s, expanding and adding programs while underfunding the city's pension system. Now it faces a projected $40 million deficit for 2010, and will have nowhere to hide when budget time comes in December - conveniently, after the election. "It's the result of 10 years of bad decision-making," Bortz says. "If we had a structurally balanced budget, we wouldn't be looking at this kind of problem."

A matter of philosophy

The nature of what Ghiz calls the "fundamental difference" between the Frustrated Four and the High-Flying Five has been portrayed in various ways:

Bortz would say it's the difference between being willing to make tough decisions and just putting them off or papering them over. "We have serious budget issues, yet we continue to sweep it under the rug," he says.

Others would say it's the gap between fiscal conservatives, who believe the city should focus on essentials such as public safety, and liberals who believe the city must offer a wider range of services to its citizens.

But the most intriguing notion comes from Ghiz herself, who notes the four in the minority all have jobs in the private sector. "We know what it's like in the real world these days," she says. "We see what's happening. They have no clue."

However it breaks down, the bottom line is that Cincinnatians are getting only 5/9ths of the council they're voting - and paying - for.

Even worse, the taxpaying public, along with the Unfortunate Four, are being cut out of the discussion on crucial city policy.

"This is completely contrary to transparency in government and people should be outraged by it," Ghiz says.

She's right. Cincinnatians should ask tough questions. And they should vote accordingly this fall - for a NINE-member City Council.

Some people dance in the rain

The MidPoint Music Festival (a midwestern version of the South by Southwest festival with 200+ bands performing all over town) kicked off Thursday night in pouring rain on Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati.

The unfortunately rather sparse crowd was surprised when about 200 people connected with Cincinnati's arts organization, including Alex, erupted into what's being called a "splash dance."

I had wanted to do this, but when I looked at the rehearsal videos, I was a little worried about my knees, so bowed out.  As it turned out, I had a symphony dress rehearsal that night, so was unavailable.



Here's what the Fine Arts Fund had to say about it:

Cincinnati, which embraces the arts like no place we know, erupted in a mass flash dance celebration on Thursday evening.

It had been raining, but stopped just long enough for the first ever splash dance surprise. Dancers amazed the onlookers at the music festival kickoff event when they suddenly started to dance after the first band finished.

Hundreds of people from all parts of the metro area and all walks of life volunteered their time and resources to plan the surprise over the past eight weeks.

It started with just a few people from theater, dance, music, museums, and the Fine Arts Fund staff, and grew to include hundreds of Cincinnati residents.

Even though the initial invitation didn’t say what the participants would be doing, hundreds of people signed on to show their enthusiasm for the arts. We successfully kept the secret for weeks because we all shared the goal of touching others in our community with the unexpectedness of the event.

It is amazing how the arts reach everybody in every part of our city. We started with a small group, and before you knew it, we were dancing with people who live from Mason to Covington, and all over the region. The volunteer dancers included everyone from soap executives to young children.

Great big thanks to Scott and Riann and everyone at Lightborne, which produced the video, and contributed in so many ways to making this a fun event that lives on in this video so many others can share with friends and family!

The Creative Team -- volunteers from large and small arts organizations across the region who helped the Fine Arts Fund organize the dance -- spent one afternoon listening to local musicians and choosing the music together. More thanks go to these local bands for contributing the music.

Getting Started

It's beginning. I started out by wandering through my library, developing a bibliography. I found so much --

• 3 Histories of New York State and one of Central New York
• An 1836 New York State Gazetteer
• The Encyclopedia of New York State
• Three (count 'em, three) books about place names (two specific to New York, one to the whole country)
• A regimental history of three New York Civil War regiments (including the one my great-grandfather fought in), written in 1899
• A modern history of another local Civil War regiment
• A previous, badly written history of the village
• Histories of three other local villages
• My great-grandmother's scrap book started in 1895
• The same great-grandmother's diary from 1898
• My great-grandmother's collection of assorted papers -- deeds, building specs, coal bills, you name it -- all windows into daily 19th century farm life
• A crate full of my mother's diaries from the 1930s through the 1980s
• Mom's collection of newspaper clippings (she didn't get so far as to paste them into a scrapbook)
• And a lot of other stuff I haven't pulled together yet.

Yesterday, I wandered through some patent searches. Theodore Timby, who invented the revolving turret used on the USS Monitor during the Civil War, lived in the village for a while, and while there patented three improvements for water wheels (he had lots of patents, from his teen age years through until his eighties).

I found four other locals with patents, as well. The man who drove my school bus patented a device that keeps seaweed from getting entangled in outboard motor propellers, and two village engineers had many patents between them, all assigned to their employers in Syracuse (General Electric and Carrier Corporation). My nephew, Eliot, also has several patents, all but one assigned to Carrier. The one that's all his is for some software controls for traffic signals.

Today was the beginning of Civil War research. There were four (actually three: one shifted from infantry to artillery and started over) regiments that recruited locals. One, the 111th NY Volunteers, was a storied group that started out badly. They were at Harper's Ferry almost as soon as they were recruited, and as yet had no training. They were cowards and ran. But by the time of Gettysburg, they turned the tide of the battle as heroes, losing a large proportion of their membership. There
is a wonderful monument to them at Gettysburg.

I’ve been going through muster rolls, and it’s hard to keep the tears away when reading things like these:

• age, 21. Enlisted 8 Aug 1862 at Cato. Wounded in action 2 Apr 1865 at Petersburg, VA
• age, 20. Enlisted 31 Jul 1862 at Sterling. Wounded 5 May 1864 at Wilderness,VA.
• age, 23. Enlisted 8 Aug 1862 at Ira. Wounded in action 2 or 3 Jul 1863 at Gettysburg, PA.
• age, 18. Enlisted 4 Aug 1862 at Sterling to. Missing in action, 6 May 1864, at The Wilderness, VA.; no further record.
• age, 33. Enlisted 30 Aug 1764 at Sterling. Captured while on picket 30 Oct 1864 at Petersburg, Va. Died of dysentery 10 Dec 1864 at Salisbury, NC. [as prisoner of war]
• age, 23. Enlisted 8 Aug 1862 at Ira. Deserted 19 Sep 1862 at New Market, MD.
• age, 18. Enlisted 30 Jul 1862 at Ira. Killed in action 2 Jul 1863 at Gettysburg, PA.
• age, 18. Enlisted 7 Aug 1862 a Ira. Captured while on picket 1 Dec 1863 at mine Run, VA.; died of starvation 3 Jun 1864, while a prisoner of war.
• age, 21. Enlisted 7 Aug 1862 at Ira. Killed in action 18 May 1864, at Spotsylvania, VA.
• age, 33. Enlisted 5 Aug 1862 at Victory. Captured in action, 2 Oct 1863 at Lewinsville, VA.; died 28 Jan 1864, at Richmond, VA.
• age, 23. Enlisted at Cato,. Died of disease, 27 Jan 1865, in hospital at Annapolis, MD.
• age, 24. Enlisted 30 Aug 1864 at Sterling. Died of chronic diarrhea, 6 Dec 1864, in First Division Hospital;

And the list goes on and on. There are hundreds more on the list – there are just some of the local boys from the village and farms around it. Of course, many of them came home. One, Newman Eldred, lived in the village, and as an old man wrote his chronicle of experiences. His story of Gettysburg gives me chills even thinking about it. Hell has nothing on the sort of thing he went through there.

I'm beginning to think about how I'll structure this whole thing. I think I'll have a graphic timeline that gives significant dates, but that the rest of the book will be vignettes devoted to a series of topics -- such as the Native Americans who preceded us, the treaties that secured the land to become military land grants for Revolutionary War veterans, local inventors, businesses, local celebrities, village traditions, churches, the local geography, farming, local institutions, wars, etc.

If I’m not careful, it’ll be a large tome – there is so much material.

Sharpening My Pencil

I am embarking on a new project.

Last night I got an e-mail from an old friend from back home with an interesting request.

Sue and I had reconnected recently on Facebook and spent some time together at the class reunion (her husband was in my class, although she's a couple of years older) and alumni banquet last month. Growing up together in the same village, we share a lot of memories of that little village (population about 350) and of all the people who lived there while we were children.

The local Baptist Church will be 200 years old next year (the other church, Presbyterian, burned down in the mid-nineties).

Sue was aware of my collection of old postcards of the village in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and read the account of the 3rd of July celebrations there that I posted on my blog earlier in the summer. She mentioned it at church, with the result that the anniversary committee requested that I write an illustrated village history as part of their commemoration!

It is an interesting request of someone who hasn't lived in the village since she went away to college 45 years ago.So, I've got nearly a year to do it (the celebration begins this October and ends with the anniversary itself next October). Time to dig out the diaries, regimental histories and family memoirs and get organized.

Here goes. Maybe now I can determine if the old story about the itinerant carpenter who supposedly worked on the steeple of that church is really true. His name was Brigham Young.

Letter to City Council

To Mayor Mallory, City Manager Dohoney, and Council members Cole, Harris, Crowley, Thomas, and Qualls:

Today I am ashamed of my City Council for doing today something that they could have done weeks ago. When the unions were first asked to take furloughs to save jobs, they might have responded positively had they been told exactly what those furloughs would have bought. Did it not occur to you that asking someone to pay that you had to offer something specific in return for the sacrifice you were asking the unions to make? Doing it today, after many employees have already turned in their equipment, is too little, too late.

However, the real issues have still not been addressed. The profligate spending over the years of this and past City Councils is the root cause of the mess we’re all in. Your inability to face the real problem, that there are too many non-necessities in the budget, is shameful. Your inaction has let this drag on for way too long, and now the citizens are paying the price.

The first duty of government is to provide for the safety of its citizens.

Its duty is not to provide take home cars, bloated administrative staff for Council, duplicate dispatch systems for the Police and Fire Departments, free weekly recycling and trash pickup, separate payroll systems for the City and the Police Department. Its duty is not to be paid salaries for part-time work that most citizens would be thrilled to receive for full-time work. In times of crisis, drastic measures are needed in order that a government can continue to provide basic services – the necessities.

It is important to remember that WANTS do not equal NEEDS.

I am proud of my adopted City of Cincinnati. I am ashamed of its government.

To Council members Berding, Monzel, Bortz and Ghiz:

Thank you for your efforts. I am sorry that your sensible efforts were unsuccessful.

Sincerely,

Our Very Own "Music Man"

Having sung with him in many Pops concerts since I joined the May Festival Chorus in 1981, I can now only sing his praises. While sometimes his concerts were a bit kitschy, and sometimes over the top, they were always energizing and fun.

I will never forget the concert that celebrated his 40th anniversary with the Symphony. He chose the works of his favorite composer, Brahms, and a small group of us sang the lovely Liebeslieder Waltzes as we gathered around him in front of the orchestra. It was one of the high points in my May Festival Chorus career.

I will also never forget a time when I auditioned for him, over 25 years ago. I was terribly nervous and told him so. He reached across the music stand and held my hand while I sang. I didn’t get the gig, but his generosity and kindness to a terrified singer meant more to me than anything else at that moment.

Here’s to a future “Erich Kunzel School for the Creative and Performing Arts!”

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112443937

This NPR link will let you read about Erich Kunzel and hear some of his music.

The Antioch Struggle Vindicated

Today's press release from the American Association of University Professors:

The Near-Death Experience of Antioch College: A Cautionary Tale

for Release: September 1, 2009.

Contact: Anita Levy.

Washington, D.C. — What happens when a university’s corporate management betrays the institution’s core educational mission; when it abandons its key constituencies; when it hides its intentions and plans; and when it manipulates or withholds essential financial information? AAUP’s investigative report on Antioch University provides disturbing and disheartening answers to these questions.

Antioch College, founded in 1852 in Yellow Springs, Ohio, has had a long history as a pioneer in liberal arts education. Significant innovations, subsequently adopted by many other institutions, have included cooperative education, experiential learning, community governance, recruitment of African-American students before and after Brown vs. Board of Education, and the first study abroad program. Through good times and bad, Antioch has produced distinguished graduates such as Coretta Scott King, Stephen Jay Gould, and Eleanor Holmes Norton. It has received top rankings among colleges whose graduates go on to complete the PhD as well as continuing recognition among small liberal arts colleges in the areas of academic challenge, enriching educational experience, active and collaborative learning, and student-faculty interaction.

The Antioch University administration and board of trustees, in suspending the operations of Antioch College and then proceeding to close the institution on June 30, 2008, appears to have decided that the college’s rich history of progressive education and its residential liberal arts setting were luxuries that its 21st century management philosophy could not afford and did not need. Antioch’s closure is thus of concern both to the Antioch community and to everyone interested in high quality liberal arts higher education.

The report of AAUP’s investigative committee analyzes the protracted dissolution of Antioch College in the light of the Association's recommended standards for faculty participation in program development, curricular control, budgetary allocation, declaration of financial exigency, and treatment of faculty under such exigency. The report details the gradual deterioration of faculty governance at Antioch through a series of administrative actions over several decades that led ultimately to the closure of the college. Key managerial decisions made by the administration repeatedly disregarded longstanding principles of faculty consultation and shared governance.

Specifically the report reveals that the Antioch University administration:

• usurped the faculty’s responsibilities by mandating a new curriculum that the faculty neither initiated nor approved;

• failed to consult with the faculty regarding the college’s financial condition prior to the declaration of financial exigency and the process by which university administrators and board members had reached that decision;

• violated essential standards for continuing faculty appointments by issuing a declaration of financial exigency without having considered feasible alternatives;

• failed to provide faculty members the right to examine or challenge the decisions both to declare financial exigency and to close the college;

• failed to provide means for the exchange of information between the Antioch College faculty and the Antioch University administration and trustees;

• systematically reduced the flow of budgetary information to the Antioch College faculty and its governance bodies;

• failed to protect the autonomy of Antioch College and, in fact, significantly undermined it by approving a shift of administrative functions from Antioch College to the university administration without ensuring means for communication or sharing of governance;

During its 156-year history, the college had struggled through many hard times but had been sustained by the strong tradition of its faculty's engagement with enlightened boards, distinguished administrators, eminent alumni, and talented students working together to serve the common good. Fortunately, those devoted to the Antioch tradition have once again taken critical steps toward reopening Antioch College. As announced on June 30, 2009, the governing boards of Antioch University and the college’s alumni have reached agreement on opening a new Antioch College, independent of the university. Reopening is anticipated for fall 2011. Antioch College, it seems, will rise again phoenix-like and survive to continue its tradition of progressive education. But its near demise provides clear and eloquent testimony to the havoc wrought by a board and administration that abandoned their commitment to liberal arts education and to the fundamental principles of shared governance.

AAUP’s report “College and University Government: Antioch University and the Closing of Antioch College” is available on AAUP’s Web site at http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/protect/academicfreedom/investrep/2009/Antioch.htm.

The politicking continues

Pink slips go out today, with some part-time jobs being eliminated immediately, and other layoffs beginning on September 6.

Meanwhile two unions (the Fraternal Order of Police and CODE - Cincinnati Organized and Dedicated Employees) are suing the City for more information.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer:

Union officials say the city's deficit isn't nearly as high as Dohoney claims and that employees shouldn't be laid off. CODE lawyer Bill Gustavson says the $12.6 million listed on an August city financial report as "unappropriated surplus" should be spent before anyone is laid off. But city officials say that money isn't real, it's a projection only on paper.

The unions asked in court this week that the city turn over a lot of financial documents so they can study them before an Aug. 31 hearing. City Solicitor John Curp said the documents are nothing more than "public records that are available to anyone. They'll have access to anything and everything that's available in the finance department."

A private auditor from Burke & Schindler, a Cincinnati accounting firm, has begun looking at the city's books also.

That's at the request of four members of Cincinnati City Council - Leslie Ghiz, Jeff Berding, Chris Monzel and Chris Bortz. They're the four in the minority on council and therefore do not have control of any council votes related to cutting the city's formerly $371 million budget. They sought the private audit to try to better understand the city's finances, in particular the projections on which the budget office sets expectations, Berding said.

And Laketa Cole is taking the same tack as Greg Harris did to me in a twitter earlier this week. Basically, they've said that if you don't have the facts, then you should shut up. Unfortunately, the facts aren't easily available to the every day citizen. I'm still waiting for Mr. Harris to send me a copy of the budget plan.

Here's more from the Enquirer:

She chastised fellow Democratic council candidate Tony Fischer on Wednesday after he held a press conference to unveil his budget-cutting plan he says would save the jobs of the 138 police officers scheduled to be laid off. He said he had to estimate some of his numbers since he's not a council member and doesn't have access to all the figures. Cole said there were flat-out errors, including that cutting pools wouldn't save money this year because they're already almost closed for the season.

"I wish he would get his facts straight," she said. "But his plan is better than what other council members are offering. You have the other members of council still pointing the finger. I have no idea what planet they're living on."

Laketa, maybe if you stop chewing gum, your brain might engage.

More City Council Stuff

Concilwoman Laketa Cole (she of the bovine-like gum-chewing at the council meeting last week) has spoken in today's Enquirer.

What she has to say is pretty much the same thing she said in the letter I included in an earlier post.

She accuses the council minority of "playing politics" but that she and the rest of council majority "took action" and "passed $16.6 million in savings to provide critical services."

Yup -- savings that puts out-of-touch office-job cops back on the streets and eliminates the jobs of the most recently trained and most fit on-the-street officers and savings that shuts down fire stations, making it likely that responses to fire alarms will be longer.

Don't get me started on the police changes. In 2001, it became apparent that Cincinnati Police had made many, many mistakes in dealing with minorities. Since then, there has been a huge overhaul of the way policing works in this city. The Police Academy graduating classes since then have been well-trained, and community-police relations have improved significantly.

If many of these officers lose their jobs, the old guard will be back on the street, and I have little confidence that community-police relations will remain at the current level. I don't want the old Cincinnati Police force out there on the street. The officers returning to street patrol will be people who haven't been patrol officers in a long time -- will there be money in budget to get them back in physical shape and train them on what's been going on out there since they last rode in a patrol car?

The most ridiculous statement in her article, which she also articulated in her letter to me is that by not taking a pay increase for several years, City Council members have taken a pay cut. Of course, such faulty logic shows how frantically she has been searching for ammunition to use to attack her fellow council members.

The Enquirer, in yesterday's edition, stated:

"Being a council member is considered a part-time job. Some members have other jobs: Bortz works for his family business, Towne Properties; Leslie Ghiz is a lawyer; Berding works for the Cincinnati Bengals; Monzel is an engineer at GE Aircraft Engines; and Vice Mayor David Crowley's family owns Crowley's bar in Mount Adams. Cecil Thomas is a retired police officer. Laketa Cole recently finished a master's degree."

I think she doth protest too much, since it appears she's the only one on Council without another job or income. By the way, the salary for City Council members is $60,646 per year.

Some councilmembers are attempting to skirt the state law against pay cuts for such positions by giving money back. Admittedly, it makes no difference to the budget, but it's a nice gesture. I am wondering why all except one of them (who had already tried to find a way to return some of his pay) had to be goaded by public comment into taking such actions. Citizens had to scream for "leadership by example" to get them moving.

I am waiting to receive a copy of the budget plan from Councilman Harris, at which time I'll likely have much more to say.

The debate moves to Twitter

As of this morning, the debate has moved to Twitter. Below are tweets between me and two members of council, Leslie Ghiz and Greg Harris.

I have rearranged the order of the tweets to show them in logical, rather than chronological order, so that comments and responses are together.


Leslie_GhizThanks for the wonderful letter. I posted it on my twitter. Leslie.

Leslie_GhizWoke up to my op ed piece in the Enquirer. Thanks to Enquirer for giving me a voice. The majority of council doesn't want it heard.


[Here's the Op-Ed Piece: Police, firefighters are core of city's basic services]

CouncilHarrisGhiz column in Enquirer misleading. Says citizen's input at Council special session stifled, yet everyone who wanted to speak was allowed.

alto606@councilharris: Only the cards in Mallory's hand were allowed to speak. There were other cards that didn't make it up front. Ghiz is right.

CouncilHarrisConspiratorial thinking really unproductive. This is the system we have for all council sessions. People fill out comment cards.

CouncilHarrisIf FOP gives up raise, no layoffs. 4 on Council say gut all other programs and services to let powerful union remain immune from economy.

alto606@councilharris: I think they may have accepted furloughs if they had been given more info re: how many jobs would be saved.

CouncilHarristhey still can

alto606@councilharris: However the real issue is all the unnecessary expenses. In a crisis, you cut the luxuries: take home cars cell phones horses

CouncilHarrisYes, exactly. These unessential expenses will get cut. We are facing a $28 mill budget gap this year, $40 mill next.

alto606@councilharris: if luxuries they will be cut, why wait until AFTER layoffs were announced? No way to tell what real deficit is, otherwise.

CouncilHarrisI have many friends who lost their jobs. All would have given up pay raise to keep job. And most of them don't earn $65k.

alto606@councilharris: argument that it's the cops' turn for layoffs is specious. It isn't a matter of taking turns.It's a matter of public safety.

CouncilHarrisBut that's not the argument. The argument is they should give up raises for first time in five years to avoid layoffs.

alto606@councilharris: Dohoney should have made all possible other budget cuts first before thinking about laying off anyone.

alto606@councilharris: BTW - I'm not a city employee.Just a concerned citizen who thinks this has been a very sloppy effort by cty mgr, council

CouncilHarrisGiven the confidence in the assumptions you convey, can I assume you actually reviewed where the $28 mill in cuts are coming from?

alto606@councilharris: As Will Rogers said. "All I know is what I read in the newspapers." Budget details are talked about in generalities there.

alto606@councilharris: If the entire proposed budget is available for perusal online, please let me know -- or should I join the lawsuit?