LICKING COUNTY GRAND JURY

Several months ago, Judge Jon Spahr asked me if I would be interested in being the Grand Jury Foreman. I enjoyed watching Judge Spahr during a trial last December while serving on the jury and thought I should not refuse. He explained to me I would find it very interesting of which I did. Every Thursday for three months placed a time crunch on my business schedule and made my Fridays and Saturdays a mess of appointments.

On jury days, I was coming into the office at 4:30am to finish some things up and visiting the coffee shop downtown during lunch break for their laptop wireless connection.

During the last three months, every Thursday 13 Jurors and I met for Grand Jury, not allowing to give their names or talk about the indictments we handed over, I was allowed to take this photo with permission of Licking County Prosecutor Ken Oswalt. The neat thing about serving on Grand Jury was that you become buddies with everyone on the jury and I will miss them this coming Thursday. My duties as Foreman was to swear in the police officers and all witnesses (also make a donut schedule) and sign off on the indictments hoping the bad guys do not see my name. I have wondered about this several times.

I collected a sample of the crimes presented to the Grand Jury for consideration:
Unlawful restraint, falsification, theft of dangerous drugs, OVI, DUS, speeding, receiving stolen property, selling stolen property, possession of stolen property, aggravated murder, mishandling a corpse, robbery, aggravated robbery, forfeiture specifications, manufacturing controlled substances, firearm specifications, domestic violence, safe cracking, unlawful use of a firearm, resisting arrest, complicity to murder, felonious assault, failure to comply, possession of counterfeit control substances, possession of narcotics, possession of drug paraphernalia, aggravated trafficking, possession of marijuana, psilocybin, meth, crack cocaine, cocaine, heroin, mushrooms, bylocin, bylocybin, MDMA and more.

The jury learned many different things during the course of the three months: you are always being filmed where ever you shop, jeweler’s bags are not made to hold jewelry, a “buck” is a $100 piece of crack cocaine, heroin is sold in small balloons (makes it easier to hide in places you do not want to know about), Domestic Violence includes women beating on men, a woman can be charged with a sex offence, people will steal anything that is not bolted down including spa tubs, you may think you have a good employee but you really do not, police dogs are very smart, CI’s play a very important part in our lives and we have an excellent Licking County Prosecutor’s office, Sherriffs Department and all the police departments of Licking County, the drug task force made up of officers from many different police departments are great. Chore boy is not really for cleaning classic car wheels, all the weird items for sale at a convenience store are not for fun, but for drug use. You can try to hide drugs anywhere in your car or home but they will be found.

I hope to do this again someday, but after I am retired and thinner, because after Grand Jury days you just wanted to go home and hide under your bed from the world.

DOWNTOWN NEWARK, OHIO

Downtown Newark, Ohio was the place to be last night, celebrating the third Final Fridays around the Court House Square. Last nights theme was "Downtown Dogs". Many of the merchants and offices were open for the evening marked with a floating helium balloon in the shape of a dog flying out front of their business.

The every Friday Farmer's Market opened at 4:00pm, the Mayor's Concert Series was playing in the Gazebo, the local art competition had twenty local entries. The Midland Theatre hosted the Colgate T-100 Country Showdown finals.

One of the many unique vendors offering products around the "square" last night was Kimmberly Esque-Marino of Potty Pocket "a dog walker's necessity". Check out Potty Pocket here.

The next Final Friday: July 31 with a Ice Cream Social theme.

ITALIAN QUOTE of the DAY

La prima e matrimonio, la seconda compania, la terza un'eresia.

translation

"The first woman you marry is your wife, the second a companion, the third is nonsense."

Sent to me by Sister Robin.

FUNERAL

This video does not do justice to the fine service for Firefighter Tim Curry of the Newark, Ohio Fire Department.

The reason for the high quality ceremony was the planning that begun on Sunday morning at 7:30am. Hanging around several of the Newark's stations since Sunday, I can honestly say all Officers and every Firefighter held a part of the planning. "Gilbert's" death made me sad, but I found myself smiling because I was so proud on how my Firefighters handled themselves during a challenging time and participated in the service.

RIP TIM CURRY

Bad news struck the Newark Fire Department this morning due to the the death of Firefighter Tim Curry. The photo above was taken at a recent fire on South 6th Street in Newark, Ohio.

Firefighter Curry died unexpectedly at his home and will be missed by many including all his fire department brothers.

No matter which election was coming, Tim would ask me the question of who I thought would be the next mayor etc. and he was always wearing his signature towel around his neck.

THE THREE MUSKETEERS

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Newark, Ohio Fire & Med Flight

Father's Day and Chocolate Wars

Robin Pierce of Cornell's Clothing highlighted the no child support paying local motorized bar stool owner on a t-shirt after making national news, has done it again.

Recently brought to the national news's attention was our local "Chocolate War".

If you can not buy your father chocolate for Father's Day, maybe a t-shirt referencing our local "Chocolate War" will be the perfect gift.

Contact Cornell's at 740-345-8410, Robin will ship any where in the USA.

ALL REAL ESTATE IS LOCAL....RIGHT?

Another great post by Sean Carpenter, comical about how real estate is local economic issue.

Click here for his newest post and a video clip.

Thank you, Sean.

NO WRITTEN DIRECTIONS

My sister Robin gave me Col. Littleton's Front Pocket Wallet for my birthday. One of the highlights of this gift was a video link on how to use the wallet. This is a great idea since I am the typical man who will not read instructions, but will watch the video.

Click here to view the demonstration by Col. Littleton himself on how to use my new wallet.

Click here to view his catalog of neat things.

OSU FOOTBALL

Must be June, we just ordered our OSU Football post cards to be mail out in August.

58 YEARS AGO TODAY

Joe Louis' last winning knock-out fight.

Giant Eagle Helicopter

Some Afghan is probably freaking out right about now.

This very special Mi-24 helicopter is presently flying in Afghanistan,

where it is no doubt causing quite a stir.

Thank you Mary Kay Booher for passing this along.

I THINK IT CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

This past week prior to a meeting, the discussion came up about a local high school's graduation ceremony and how the graduates were dressed. I guess there were some parents who were prime example of the children's thoughts on dress for such an important ceremony. Granted it was 85 degrees and held out of doors.

Sister Robertine and I became very good friends while I was in high school, not because we shared many similar interest. We saw each other often and always met in her office, since I did not have one.

Guys had to wear ties, ladies wore dresses (dresses had to touch the floor if kneeling) was the mandatory dress for graduation. Graduation day was my last test on Sister Robertine's four year rule. I decided not to wear socks, but packed a pair in my light blue, double breasted blazer pocket just in case.

As Sister Robertine marched down the hallway to inspect the troops with her cheeks puffed out due to a tight habit, hard sole Nun shoes tapping the floor and her mile long Rosary jingling from her waste stopped and stared into my face. I held the socks out, slipped them on and she smiled. Sister never even looked down, she just knew.

Today's dress standards are not a surprise to me, most people go to work in vacation and cruise wear. Maybe our country would not be in it's current condition if employers had a little more of a dress code.

GOOD IDEA

SORRY ABOUT THE LOUSY PHOTO, BUT THIS IS A GOOD IDEA

Is it OK to steal hotel amenities?

Several years ago I attended a conference at The Greenbrier located in West Virginia. It was a beautiful setting for a conference and the hotel service, amenities and dining were almost perfect.

Everything had a "G" printed or monogrammed on it, the room robes, golf balls etc. The writing tablets in each room and provided at every one's seat during the conference were printed with the Greenbrier's logo.

Reading the article "Is it OK to steal hotel amenities?" I do not feel bad that laying on my home office desk is a writing tablet with the Greenbrier "G" logo scripted in the center of the paper. After all, I kind of figure they stole the "G" from me.

After reading the article, I feel below normal, because I have never taken a towel, tea set, shampoo etc. On my next trip I will take the small bottle of shampoo, with my head of hair, the small bottle will last me for almost a year.

BRATISLAVA HOT SERENADERS

Here is Bratislava Hot Serenaders again bringing recreation of a very nice example of Dance Music from late 20ies! Originally recorded by "The Best Dressed Band on Broadway" - Ben Bernie and Hotel Roosevelt Orch. in LA, May 15, 1930. BHS recorded this tune about 1998 with Henry de Winter aus Berlin.

DANCE COMPETITION, NEWARK, OHIO

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

GRADUATION GIFTS

During the past several weeks I have been invited to several high school graduation parties.

I always wonder if I should be purchasing a gift instead offering the normal check. Checks are a good gift and if you want to make it better, give $2 more if you are too lazy to buy a card.

Many years ago upon graduating from high school, Roger Woeste and his wife gave me a Dopp Kit. I still have this gift and use it when I travel. As of today, this is the only high school graduation gift I can remember, so it means something to me.

What is a Dopp Kit? Reminiscent of the toiletry bags carried by American GIs. First produced by Charles Doppelt in the early 1900s, the Dopp kit was a popular alternative for packing such men's grooming essentials as deodorant, a razor, a comb, and cologne when traveling. The popularity and practicality of the Dopp kits resulted in their issuance to millions of new U.S. Army recruits during World War II.

If you are interested in purchasing the Dopp Kit shown, click here.

Thank you Charles Doppelt for designing the best graduation gift.