December 7th, 2010

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Yesterday was December 7th.  As always there were rememberances of Pearl Harbor, though it seems that these are less every year.  I even heard a disturbing historical report about how we knew about the proposed attack ahead of time, but through a series of bureaucratic mistakes, the warning got there late. (Wikipedia version)

Philip Frederick Rising

The rememberance was a little more poignant for me due to attending a memorial service for a retired naval officer last week.  My mother-in-law (Sara) married Philip Frederick Rising last January.  I honestly did not know him well as they lived in Texas.  (His obituary and additional pictures can be found here.)  Becky and I attended the memorial service to support her mother.

Towards the end of the service, three naval officers displayed a U.S. Flag, ceremonially unfolding and folding it.  Taps was played.  The flag was presented to Sara by a naval officer in a formal dress white uniform.  After presenting the flag, he removed his glove and quietly gave his condolences while holding her hand.  I don’t know that anyone can observe the reverence with which this ceremony is performed without feeling the weight of the generations that have served and often died in the task of defending our Country.  After completing their duty, they slipped quietly from the Church.  I specifically went looking for them to thank them, but they had already left before the family was out of the Sanctuary.

I did not know Phil well, but he will be missed.  Hearing his family and friends share remembrances reinforced my impression that he was a good man.  But as with all things in life, there are constant new beginnings to counter the endings.  I have a new great nephew, Charles Eli Marquis, who was born yesterday weighing in at 9lb, 11oz!  Life goes on with all its highs and lows.

Marshall County Innkeeper’s Tax

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The Marshall County Council chose to increase the Innkeeper’s Tax from 3 to 5 percent.  [Pilot News Article]  I’ve had a disagreement with this tax since it first went into effect over a decade ago. 

My first issue is the same as Dr. Watson’s.  (See his letter to the editor here.)  It is taxation without representation.  It was originally passed “because we could” rather than because there was a need.  Now it appears that it has been raised using the same rational.  From the Pilot News Article:  “Woolfington [Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director] pointed out that Marshall County was one of just a handful of counties in the state of Indiana that has held the tax at 3 percent. Adjacent counties have raised their tax to the 5 percent level and St. Joseph County is at 6 percent.”  Mr. Woolfington then goes on to talk about our loss of a major hotel chain.  Somehow I doubt that this was because they suffered a decline in business because they weren’t charging enough!  How is raising our tax rate to match surrounding counties going to attract people to stay here?

My second issue with this has always been the Marshall County Visitor’s Guide.  Despite the Innkeeper’s Tax, the first thing the newly formed Visitor’s and Convention Bureau did was to start shaking down local businesses and Chambers of Commerce for ads in their new visitor’s guide.  Currently more than that 10% of the Culver Chamber of Commerce’s annual budget goes toward an ad in this guide.  I was on the Culver Chamber Board when this went into effect and I voted against that budget item and the passing of the budget including that item until I left the board and I continued to vote against it as a Chamber member for several years after.  (I now generally skip that meeting as my meal doesn’t sit well after that vote…)  I considered it then and now a phenomenal waste of precious dollars…dollars requested by a tax funded entity of a volunteer organization.  Dollars which wouldn’t need them if MCCVB was effective in it’s mission!

The Parrot

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A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary.

Every word out of the bird’s mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity.  John tried and tried to change the bird’s attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to ‘clean up’ the bird’s vocabulary.
 
Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The  parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even more rude. John, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet.  Not a peep was heard for over a minute.
 
Fearing that he’d hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer.  The parrot calmly stepped out onto John’s outstretched arms and said “I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions.  I’m sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior.”
 
John was stunned at the change in the bird’s attitude.
 
As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird spoke-up, very softly, “May I ask what the turkey did?”
 
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

LaPaz Garden Court Inc. Open House

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LaPaz Garden Court Inc. Open House announcement from the Pilot News November 6, 2010

Friday was the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the LaPaz Garden Court.  It’s always a great thing to go back and see how the facilities have been decorated, see the residents that have taken rooms and hear from all of those involved.  Dr. Ronald Liechty served as Master of Ceremony and as always, made everyone feel good about the work that it took to bring the project to completion.

We completed work on LaPaz Garden Court in mid-October and it is already 2/3rds full.  There was actually another resident signing up while the open house was in progress!

We were pleased that the H.U.D. representative for this job attended the ceremony.  This is the first time this has happened.  We were all pleased that she also had the opportunity to see the good that Garden Court has been able to do.  This would not be possible with out the grants from H.U.D.

LaPaz Garden Court is the 6th Garden Court project that Easterday Construction Co., Inc. has partnered with Garden Court, Inc. to complete.  While we have also worked on several of their other projects, we have completed six projects from start to finish in Argos, Bourbon, Knox, Plymouth, Mentone and now LaPaz.  We hope to be starting out 7th project with them, Culver Garden Court, within the next few weeks.

All of us at Easterday Construction are proud of our association with Garden Court, Inc. and we hope to continue our partnership into the future.