Westside Messenger - September 8th, 2019

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PAGE 4 - WESTSIDE MESSENGER - September 8, 2019 Opinion Page www.columbusmessenger.com Taking stock of life for a milestone birthday Well, I put up a good fight and put it off for as long as I could. But alas, when I awoke today, it was point, game, set, match to Father Time, as I found myself to be 70 and wondering where the years had gone. I’m now officially an old fuddy-duddy. Seems like only yesterday I was a young lad dodging honking cars and playing touch football out on the city streets. My mind went into overdrive with random thoughts on achieving, make that succumbing to, my new milestone. Things have changed, some haven’t, some things I’ve learned to understand, some I still haven’t and probably never will. I’ve seen the buying power of a dime go from being a kid’s fortune at the corner candy shop to being as worthless as the interest the banks continue to pay on our savings while they make their fortunes off our hard earned dollars. I’ve confirmed time stands still for no one, unless you’re traveling on White Road and stopped at the red light at Hoover. It’s like a time tunnel. You can get lost in thought and revisit your entire life as you wait and wait. You can pull up to it as a young man and qualify for Social Security and Medicare before it turns green for the few seconds of mad dash time it then allows you. That saying, “you can never go home again” takes on new meaning these days. You might be able to, but you’ll never know as you can’t remember where it is/was. A bowl of Frosted Flakes, i.e. 99 percent sugar, tastes just as good today as it was when you were a boy sitting there eating it in front of the Saturday morning cartoons, only now you’re watching the modern day cartoons, the feeble attempts at unbiased news. And all the foods I hated then, the ones that were supposedly good for me and I SUPPORT your Community Paper Through advertising, community newspapers like the Messenger have always been FREE papers. In these tough economic times we are asking you the reader to help offset the current decline in advertising revenue by participating in a VOLUNTARY payment program*. To those who have already participated - We Thank You. For those who would like to, below is a form you can mail with your DONATION. *This is not a subscription. .Name: Address: City/State/Zip 3500 Sullivant Ave., Columbus, OH 43204 1 year ($9) 2 year ($18) Eastside Westside Southwest Southeast refused to eat? They’re just as yucky today and I still won’t eat them. I made it to 70 enjoying what I eat. I don’t rush things as much these days. I take my time, think things out, read directions first, plot strategies and foresee potential obstacles, then plod ahead. In the end, I still mess up everything, only now I do it so much more confidently. I also drive the speed limit these days and wonder why I was always in such a hurry before. After seeing how fast my 70th came, speed in anything I do is just no longer a priority. My new goal is to slow things down and I seem to have finally found something I excel at. You go through life thinking how easy it will be once you can…. But then you reach the point where you can’t and know you probably never will and can’t even remember why you wanted to and even what was it. Your mind just reprioritizes the difficulty of each new challenge. The problems remain what you think are insurmountable. Life never gets easier, challenges just adjust, and you convince yourself things only get harder. After I walk by teenagers, I find myself wondering what they’re giggling about as they walk away looking back over their shoulders. I find myself smiling and thinking of my younger days and start humming that Neil Young song, “Old Man.” It starts out, “Old man look at my life, I’m a lot like you were.” And a later line, “I’ve been first and last, look at how the time goes past.” They’re as oblivious as I was, but time will get them too. I learned many years ago dogs, with their unrelenting loyalty, companionship and never-questioning devotion, are one of our greatest gifts. If only we could enjoy our bonds longer and benefit from what they can teach us, this world would be a much better place from what it’s fast becoming. There’s always been a rivalry between our military service branches. The annual Army-Navy football game is a proud, heated slugfest rivalry. The difference between the military and today’s politicians in our capital is the military knows when the game is over and it’s time to unite as one and focus to get things done and win battles for the country. Help us from robo calls We have a scourge of robo calls. Last week, I kept track of all these calls. Here is how it went - 18 on Monday, five on Tuesday and Wednesday, and four the remaining days of the week. With all the advances in technology, you would Guest Column Dave Burton We still pursue our quest to find if there’s intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, yet we never seem to start at home and first discover if there’s any in Washington, D.C.? I now know at 70 that everything shall pass, except maybe the annoying daily telemarketer and robocalls. Then there’s the traditional decades of forehead wrinkle causing mental pain and anguish we must endure each Browns and Indians season bring us. At 70, I find it’s easier to laugh at yourself. I’ve bumped into mannequins at the clothes store in my younger days and caught myself saying, “excuse me” to them, then quickly looked about to make sure I wasn’t spotted. The other day I bumped into one and went on to carry on a long one-sided conversation with it before finally realizing why I wasn’t getting any responses. I didn’t even look around. I didn’t care because at 70, people expect it. You just get looks of sympathy, even from the mannequin. The new approved public relations buzzword everyone wants to use is eco-friendly. It’s easy to throw the term loosely about when it’s convenient. It’s harder to make the tough decisions to prove it when it’s not as easy. Spraying herbicides everywhere, including along stream banks ensuring toxic runoffs and leave ugly dead growth behind, cutting cattails and disrupting wildlife habitat thinking it makes things “look pristine” isn’t being ecofriendly. Global warming is real. Yet, I recently read a book about the evolution of the horse starting 55 million years ago. It almost became extinct numerous times. It evolved and adapted from continental upheavals, devastating flooding, freezing, ice, fire, warmth, etc. The destructive influence of humans was not present. Climate changes, it is now and always will be. Temporary taxes never go away. We just replace or increase them, ensuring uninterrupted government waste. Politicians have a sad disease with no known cure called BV (Buying Votes). They’re like we were as kids in that candy store years ago. They just can’t help themselves. These days, the only things that seem to move predictably in my body are the annoying detached vitreous humor floaters in my eyes. I must now think before I move to ensure the brain signals reach their proper destination, even if usually on a delayed and garbled basis and with frustrating results. Most of the mail I get is still bills, but most other mail now is for annuities, reverse mortgages, hearing aids, health and funeral plans. Knowing I throw that mail into the trash without reading it, they bombard the TV airwaves with similar ads ensuring the brainwashing process is complete. It’s comforting to have so many businesses finally caring so much about my welfare. So happy 70th to me. I don’t feel a day over 80. I’ve decided to hold off on any celebration until my 100th. However, you teenagers, if you pass by as I slowly hoof it along the streets, feel free to blow your horn, open your window and yell out like I used to, “get a horse, old man.” Fair is fair, it’s payback time, I can handle it. Dave Burton is guest columnist for the Columbus Messenger Newspapers. He lives in Grove City. letter to the editor think there would be a way to stop these calls. There is talk about it but no action. Scamming people is one of the reasons for these calls. Best not to answer these calls. I receive hundreds of calls from Galloway and there is not that many people living in Galloway. Help! Dale E. Lauffer, Columbus
www.columbusmessenger.com September 8, 2019 - WESTSIDE MESSENGER - PAGE 5 Properties and trees discussed in Franklin Township By Amanda Ensinger Staff Writer Local leaders continue to look for ways to raise revenue in the community. At a recent Franklin Township meeting, the board approved the sale of four properties. The properties that were sold were located on Marsdale Avenue, Little Avenue and Hart Road in Franklin Township. All of the properties were empty parcels of land that the township hopes to see developed. To date, the township has sold 10 properties and received over $112,000 for those properties. “This has been a great partnership with COCIC (Central Ohio Community Improvement Corporation) to eliminate blighted properties and bring some additional revenue to the township,” said John Fleshman, township trustee. “We are then Produce giveaway at YMCA The Hilltop YMCA hosts a fresh produce giveaway the third Wednesday of each month from 4 to 6 p.m. at 2879 Valleyview Drive in Columbus. For more information, call the YMCA at 614-276-8224. going to use the money from these sales to further enhance the community.” According to Fleshman, the money raised from the sale of the properties will go into a capital improvement fund. The improvements could include building a new community meeting place, a separate building for the police department or expanding parking at the Township Hall. In other news, the trustees discussed continued issues with trees on West Broad Street. William Huffman, of Friends of the Hilltop, asked the township to remove 11 dead trees, as well as feed approximately 90 trees that line the street. “As you recall, last year we fed these trees and it helped them tremendously,” Huffman said. “We now need to feed them again, as well as remove the dead trees. These trees have a big impact on the appearance of the township and community and need to be properly cared for.” Huffman said the feeding of the trees is necessary to bring them back to their full potential instead of looking like twigs on the side of the road. “The ground these trees were planted in is not good, so providing them with a feeding is necessary,” Huffman said. “Also, removing the dead trees is even more important and is what seriously concerns me right now.” Huffman said the cost to remove the trees is $25 a tree. He also said that 13 trees need trimmed, which cost $30 a tree and approximately 90 trees need feeding, which is $35 a tree. The cost for all the work would be approximately $3,800. “This would not include the cost to replace the dead trees we removed,” Huffman said. “The cost for those trees would depend on the caliber of trees the township wants to purchase.” Franklin Township leadership community events Free produce at Central Baptist Free fresh fruit and vegetables will be distributed on Sept. 14 to qualified, lowincome Franklin County residents. The fresh produce will be available at Central Baptist Church, 1955 Frank Road, beginning at 10:30 a.m. To assist in registration, bring a photo ID and your current address in Franklin County. You are asked to also bring heavy-duty bags, boxes or carts to carry the bulk produce home. For more information, contact the church at 614-279- 3115 or www.centralbaptistcolumbus.org. expressed concerns about pursuing this when they do not have a maintenance agreement with the Ohio Department of Transportation to maintain this property. “Those are ODOT’s trees until we have an agreement in place and we can’t just remove them,” said Jim Stevens, road superintendent for Franklin Township. “We don’t own those trees, so we do not have any authority to remove them.” Huffman voiced his frustration saying this has been an ongoing issue for years about who should maintain the property. “What do we need to do to get this done,” Huffman asked. “We know the Westland Mall is going to be developed at some point and this looks horrible right now. We need ODOT and the township to step up.” The Franklin Township trustees agreed to look into this issue and discuss next steps with ODOT. Free meal at Hoge Memorial There will be a free hot meal served at Hoge Memorial Presbyterian Church, 2930 W. Broad St., from 5 to 6 p.m. every Saturday. For more information, call 276- 5433 or visit www.hogepresby.org. Westland Family Care •Care of Chronic and Acute Illness •Women’s Health Care •Routine Care, Physicals & More! •Same day appointment’s •All Insurances accepted WELCOME OUR NEW DOCTOR Dr. Beena Ijaz, MD Board-Certified Internal Medicine Comprehensive Compassionate Complete Care ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS 100 North Murray Hill Rd, Columbus, OH 43228 Phone: (614) 878-6400 | Fax: (614) 918-3421 | www.narvelmd.com OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK “LET OUR FAMILY TAKE CARE OF YOURS”
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Westside Messenger - September 8th, 2019

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