Robinson can’t keep his mouth shut

    Following a close but unsuccessful bid to be the Republican candidate for Darke County Commissioner, former Advocate editor Bob Robinson has started a new blog, “That’s My Opinion.”
    “I can’t keep my mouth shut,” he said. “More than 2,000 voters – about 36 percent of the total vote - thought I had something to say on May 4.
    “It wasn’t good enough to take me to November, but it was a significant segment of our county. I plan to keep speaking for them.”
    In his blog he has been writing his popular "Opinion" and "Verities or Balderdash" columns, plus other reports and commentary of local interest.
    The address of “That’s My Opinion” is http://opinionsbybob.blogspot.com access it by clicking HERE
    Some of the recent blogs include “Angry Yet?”, “Thank you” to our veterans, an interview with Republican candidate for Commissioner Mike Stegall and a letter from Don Wright about the courthouse addition.
    Additional efforts are in the planning stages that Early Bird readers will enjoy. Watch for them in the fall.

Melody Line

    Melody Line, a local singing group that has been around for 30 years, recently performed for Greenville Kiwanis at its regular luncheon meeting Wednesday. The half hour presentation, under the direction of Marilyn Light, consisted of a variety of tunes, from spiritual and Disney to Broadway. Greenville Kiwanis meets every Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m. at the Chestnut Center, Brethren Retirement Community.

Delaplane to Talk to Youth Group

    Youth in Politics will meet Aug. 12, 6 p.m. in the Brick Room of Brethren Retirement Community. Public is invited.
    Darke County Commissioner Diane Delaplane will talk to the Youth in Politics group about the duties and responsibilities of the commissioner’s office at its Aug. 12 meeting. The group will be inviting candidates for commissioner over the coming months to find out how they plan to address the office if elected in November.
    “Candidates will be asking these young people for their support,” said Bob Robinson, group advisor. “Most of them can’t vote yet, but their parents can… and, if they want, they can get involved in the campaigns of the candidates of their choice. These kids have a strong interest in learning how the political process works.”
    Delaplane was elected Darke County Commissioner in 2008. She is not due to run again until 2012. She will be outlining the daily routine and responsibilities of the office, as well as field questions about what she considers to be strong qualifications for serving as a commissioner.
    In July, the group heard from Greenville High School senior Paul Reitz about his spring semester in Washington, D.C. Reitz served as a Page for the House of Representatives. He was appointed by U.S. Rep. John Boehner, 8th District.
    Reitz acknowledged being excited about the time he spent there and thought the “dynamics” of the Washington scene were interesting. He noted that Mark Twain’s “Guilded Age” seemed appropriate.
    Politicians who make it to Washington are typically “two-faced,” he said. They will rant and rave on the podium about another politician, then make plans to join him for dinner that evening.
    He found that the experience he had with 67 other kids, all fellow pages – most with widely different perspectives and backgrounds – made it possible for him to believe that government leaders can work together for the people.
    He used as an example a friendship he developed with a Page from Illinois, someone who had totally “opposite views” from his.
    Some of the highlights of his stay included witnessing the State of the Union address, meeting the president of Mexico and “holding in my hands” three bills having to do with counter-terrorism.
    “That four and a half months was the best experience of my life,” he said.
    Youth in Politics had its first meeting a little over a year ago and consisted mostly of Greenville area youth. A second group was recently formed by Mississiniwa Valley students. The two groups will meet jointly to discuss county, state and national issues, as well as individually to discuss specific local issues.
    The Aug. 12 meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in the Brick Room of Brethren Retirement Community. Membership in the group is open to any interested young person, and all meetings are open to parents, educators and other interested adults.
    Youth in Politics will be organizing as a student-led bi-partisan group once it begins its fall campaign to get interested young people throughout the county involved in the political process. In the meantime, anyone who would like more information can contact Robinson by clicking HERE.
    Reitz, in his July presentation, gave a challenge to group members that could be construed as a fundamental objective of Youth in Politics.
    “Immerse yourselves in the ideology of those who do not agree with your own,” he said, “then you will learn the validity of your own arguments.”

GHS Key Club Kicks off Summer with Annie Oakley

    Support GHS Key Club with its fundraiser car wash Friday from 11 to 3 at Dave Knapp Ford. A great car wash is free, donations gladly accepted.
    An aggressive summer activity program started with the Greenville High School Key Club’s first appearance in the annual Annie Oakley parade.
    A dozen teenagers braved the heat Saturday morning, nearly half of them walking the entire parade route. Three hundred brochures, plus several bags of candy, were handed out along the parade route and members were excited over the response.
    “We’ll need more brochures next year… we ran out. And nearly everyone started reading through them when we gave them to them.”
    Next on their list is a fundraiser car wash at Dave Knapp Ford on Friday. Also on their agenda are two cemetery cleanup days in August, followed by service with Greenville Kiwanis at Gate 5 during the Great Darke County Fair.
    In addition to the parade, four Key Club members helped clean Eagles Park at Shade Road following the joint DCCA-Eagles Ribs & Blues event earlier this month.
    This is the first year the Key Club has had such an aggressive summer event schedule.
    “This says a lot for our young people,” said Bob Robinson, Kiwanis Board Member and Key Club Advisor. “They are always busy, especially in the summer with sports, vacations, jobs and family obligations. They still have time to serve their community.”
    With the addition of several members in recent weeks, Key Club enrollment has passed the 50 mark. The recruiting campaign won’t go into full swing until the fall school semester starts.
    Key Club officers include Kent Holmes, President, Angela Borgerding, Vice President, Prital Mehta, Secretary, Claire Sherman, Treasurer, and Lacy Hoening, Reporter. GHS Junior Mariah Reitz, Division III Ohio District Lt. Governor, Key Club International, also participates in her local club’s activities and helps provide leadership to the group.
    Students participating in the Annie Oakley parade were Jenilee Braun, Tracy Bunger, Marlaina Harshbarger, Savannah Harshbarger, Holmes, Mehta, Nicole Noble, Courtney Overton, Reitz, Joshua Schoeff, Sherman and Natasha Swank.
    The Key Club expresses its appreciation to Al Greiner for providing his vintage ’56 Ford Pickup, and Tractor Supply Company for the bales of hay used in the parade.
    Any Greenville High School student interested in participating in Key Club can contact Holmes by clicking HERE  or Robinson by clicking HERE

Burns Speaks to Kiwanis

    “The things you taught us were exactly right… I was able to stand up to it.”
    “I should have listened to you… I lost my wife, my kids, my freedom, my cash… due to my heroin addiction.”
    Sgt. Mike Burns, Darke County Sheriff’s Office, said Sept. 11, 2001, was the primary cause for the DARE program being dropped by the county.
    “The program was proactive… our resources had to be shifted more to reactive.”
    Burns told Greenville Kiwanis at their Wednesday meeting that the program “limped” along for another six months after 9/11, then was gone.
    He started DARE for the county in 1993. The primary focus was fifth graders – the “core” for reaching kids early, although that has probably changed to earlier grades by now – but the national program is designed for K-12, even adults.
    In the beginning, the cost was about $10,000 a year. By the time it was expanded throughout the county and reached junior high and high school, it was about $30,000 a year.
    Burns said they did what they were supposed to do – they had stickers, pencils; they went to the fair and people always wanted “stuff” – that’s where the cost came in.
    In the end, however, DARE means a cop coming into the classroom and talking about drugs.
    “The uniform is everything,” Burns added. “When you go into a school, kids are attracted to it. It even helps with the teachers.”
    Burns said that being a DARE cop means being available 24 hours a day, and at its high point involved three full time officers.
    “It takes a special person to do this,” he said, “not because they don’t want to but because the demands on their time are so great.”
    Burns said he didn’t know where to start on the benefits that were lost…
    “I guess a box that kids can ask questions. After the usual ‘are you married’ and ‘do you have kids’ I’d see questions like ‘my older brother smokes marijuana, what will happen to him’ and then questions about Mom or Dad… then even abuse issues,” Burns said.
    “We were able to help these kids.”
    Officer Don Drew called me a while back, Burns said. He told me about two college girls who came up to him while he was in Walmart.
    “You know, I’m in college now, Ball State,” one of them said. “The things you taught us were exactly right. I was offered everything… I was able to stand up to it.”
    The other girl said she wasn’t quite as successful.
    “I tried it once,” she said. “Never again!”
    Then Burns talked about someone who didn’t get the message. He said the young man was on their “radar” – stealing to get drug dollars – and ended up in the county jail.
    He sent a note that he wanted to speak to someone from DARE. I talked to him.
    “I should have listened to you,” he said. “I lost my wife, my kids, my freedom, my cash… due to my heroin addiction.”
    He said the young man told him there was no place here that he could get help. The best that could be offered was methadone treatment and he didn’t want to trade one addiction for another.
    Burns said 95 percent of all crimes committed in Darke County are drug related, and that all the county could do is be reactive… not proactive.
    Darke County is still a popular area for meth labs (methamphetamine, not to be confused with methadone) and growing operations for marijuana, however Burns said meth use has dropped because ‘meth heads’ have found that cocaine and heroin are cheaper and have a harder impact.
    “The risks of making meth are greater… heroin and cocaine are taking over.” He added that it comes in from Indiana, Mexico and the Great Lakes area (Chicago).
    It’s too easy… too accessible. He added that it’s even easy to get it in jail.
    “They get it in the mail,” he said. “Envelopes might have been soaked in meth, coke or heroin, then ironed dry. They peel postcards apart, drop in the powder and seal them shut again.”
    He said ‘reactive’ is tough… it’s time consuming. They could spend hours on one buy and it has to be a team… working alone is too dangerous.
    “Our court system requires two ‘buys’ before an arrest can be made.”
    He said it has only been recently that drug teams are able to concentrate on dealing with the problem again, but that it’s still reactive. He didn’t know when or if a proactive program could be started again.
    “Can you help?” he said. “A volunteer program could probably have an impact. I don’t know.”
    He added that if someone… a group wanted to try, he’d help as much as he could.

~ Robinson Photo

I’ve Lived too Long

    As a young man, I watched with fascination as news clips were broadcast of the time that newsreels were shown in movie theaters.
“Wow. Talk about ancient,” I thought. By this time I was watching similar newsreels on the six o’clock news.
    A few years later, I was typing out press releases on a manual typewriter, using this new-fangled thing called a Xerox copier to send copies all over Texas and the country by snail mail.
    I scoffed when a Texas A&M researcher said that some day computers would consist of a television screen attached to a typewriter keyboard. He said we would be able to send written messages around the world by pushing a button.
    “Nope. No way,” I said.
    Eventually, I got my first Mac and an Apple printer. It was either that or lose my typesetting business to competitors who were keeping up with technology. About the same time, I was watching 24-hour news shows… first CNN, and later Fox.
    I’d heard of this Internet thing but I resisted it. Too complicated, too erratic.
    Eventually, I was dragged – yelling and screaming – into the 21st century. Remember AOL and dial-up? Had it for years. But it wasn’t until I was able to access cable, and then DSL, that the world really opened up.
    I started getting messages and photos from all over the country. My youngest son sent me video clips recently… first, my granddaughter’s birthday, then my grandson’s trophy-winning karate competition. They are two thousand miles away and I got to see all the action.
    I’ve watched all the new products come out, such as the iPad and Blackberry, with little interest. Not my thing. I’ll stick with my MacBook and cell phone.
    Then, an event that blew my mind away… Jordan Pridemore is on an adventure of her lifetime and I got a video “call” from her on Skype. She’d set it up for me before she left for Europe.
     It was surreal.
    Susan and I had a wonderful “live” conversation with a young woman on the other side of the ocean. Great Britain, to be exact.
    She was still going through jet lag and had much to say about her new surroundings… they were strange and she was homesick. But just for the moment. She said she was going shopping the next day, and then heading to Ireland for a few days.
    Adventure awaits her.
    She promised to keep us updated… and I’ll keep you updated. Soon, I hope to see another column that I can share with you about her trip. And another live “phone call” from the other side of the world.
    Yep. I’ve lived too long. But it’s a fantastic journey and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

    In future V&Bs (that’s Verities & Balderdashes for those of you who don’t like acronyms) I will be giving you my version of a verity (truth) and/or my version of balderdash (nonsense).
    Sunday is a special day. It is the one day out of the year when we honor our mothers. Like the days we choose to honor those who devote their lives for our country, we choose this day to honor those who give us life, and their life’s blood to prepare us for adulthood.
    In both cases, I believe that honoring these unique and wonderful individuals should be a year-round project.
    It is fitting that in my first newly revived V&B, I get to offer the verities of motherhood. I hope you enjoy. They are dedicated to my Mom, my sisters, my wife Susan, my late wife Jeanne and mother of my children… and all of the other caring mothers of the world. 
    You know you're a mother when...
    You count the sprinkles on each kid's cupcake to make sure they're equal.
    You have time to shave only one leg at a time.
    You hide in the bathroom to be alone.
    As you cling to the high moral ground on toy weapons; your child chews his toast into the shape of a gun.
    You hope ketchup is a vegetable, since it's the only one your child eats.
    You find yourself cutting your husband's sandwiches into cute shapes.
    You hear your mother's voice when you say, "NOT in your good clothes!"
    You stop criticizing the way your mother raised you.
    You donate to charities in the hope that your child won't get that disease.
    You hire a sitter because you haven't been out with your husband in ages, then spend half the night checking on the kids.
    You use your own saliva to clean your child's face.
    You say at least once a day, "I'm not cut out for this job," but you know you wouldn't trade it for anything."
    Do you often wonder what mothers might have said to their famous children? I do. Take Honest Abe’s mother, for instance: "Again with the stovepipe hat, Abe? Can't you just wear a baseball cap like the other kids?"
    Remember the nursery rhyme, Mary Had a Little Lamb? What might her mother have said about the situation?
    “I'm not upset the your lamb followed you to school, Mary, but I would like to know how he got a better grade than you!"
    

Here are a few more that you might find enjoyable…

    Goldilocks’ mother: "I've got a bill here for a busted chair from the bear family. You know anything about this Goldie?"
    Albert Einstein’s mother:"But, Albert, it's your senior picture. Can't you do something about your hair? Styling gel, mousse, something...?"
    George Washington’s mother: "The next time I catch you throwing money across the Potomac, you can kiss your allowance good-bye! Now. You’d better tell me about that cherry tree before your father comes home."
    Jonah’s mother: "That's a nice story, Jonah, but now tell me where you've really been for the past 3 days!"

And finally...

    Thomas Edison’s mother: "Of course I'm proud that you invented the electric light bulb, dear. Now turn off that light and get to bed!"
    On a final note, do any of these sound familiar? They do to me.
    Close that door! Were you raised in a barn?
    I said CLOSE the door, I did not say SLAM it.
    Call me when you get there, just so I know you're okay.
    Don't talk with your mouth full!
    A little soap & water never killed anybody.
    Are your hands broken? Pick it up yourself! I'm not your maid!
    Don't put that in your mouth, you don't know where it's been.
    Don't ask me WHY. The answer is NO.
    Go ask your father.
    Go to your room and think about what you did!
    If you don't stop crying, I am going to give you something to cry about!
    If you're too full to finish your dinner, you're too full for dessert.
    I'll treat you like an adult when you start acting like one.
    So what if Dave's mom let him do it? If Dave's mom let him jump off the Empire State Building, would you want me to let you do it too?
    You don't always get what you want. It's a hard lesson, but you might as well learn it now.
    You'll understand when you're older.
    And now, the one that rings most true…
    You're the oldest. You should know better.

The trials and tribulations of motherhood. Bless you, Mom, and Happy Mother’s Day. I’ve given you cause for grief many times over the years. I hope I’ve also occasionally given you reason to be proud.

 If you wish to receive Robinson's Verities & Balderdash comments by direct email, send your email address to Bob by clicking HERE: .  Want to comment? Click  HERE

by Elizabeth Horner