Scott:

     The street affair was a good day for us at G.P.S., we had a lot of walk in traffic, and got to talk to a lot of village residents. The surprise was how many locals who are not riders of any kind came looking for us to say hello and talk about the issues that have been covered in the blog and the local papers. We heard a few things overwhelmingly repeated. One was the simple agreement that the village should have trimmed trees for visibility, and they should be more supportive of local merchants. Another thing we kept hearing was that how glad they were that someone was willing to speak their mind to town council, and not just bite their tongue. ...

     Don't ever say people can't reform themselves and "do right"!   If you have been reading this blog, you have seen me in the past couple of years since the passage of the Ohio Concealed Carry Law GO BEZERK at several area businesses who quickly posted "NO GUNS ALLOWED" on their front windows.  And as I reported, they lost some big money in the process and earned themselves a spot on the "boycott list" that is published nationally...  Not good...

     The businesses who initially posted "NO GUNS ALLOWED" signs in the area were Giant Eagle, Shetler ...

Burton Hot Shots:

 
Strange Times Indeed:   What a week in Burton... First, one of the councilmen during the Monday meeting told one of the Main Street merchants they should go "out to the strip mall" and then proceeded to lecture them about their "business plan" and advertising portfolio. I'd like to see this guy's past record as a successful businessman before I would have digested that one... Oh boy... Again, this is how Burton gets labeled as "Hicksville"... Remember back a couple of years ago how some of the "local Einsteins"/council people were telling us Main Street merchants ...

Scott, 
     A few Thanksgivings ago my two boys and my wife and I went to the "West Woods Mall" just to check it out.   My kids were thoroughly bored by the sterility they've created (we own a cabin on the Allegheny backed by thousands of ANF acres).  There was a group of city dwellers "hiking" in front of us and an adjacent landowner was sighting in his slug gun (probably Kevin Reed).  Every time he'd fire, the "hiking" city dwellers would hoot and scream "hikers back here", "hold your fire"....as if slugs were landing at their feet.  My kids got the biggest kick out of it.

Chris ...

Scott:

     Hang in there Kevin.  It will not be long when the people coming out to hike on on parks will do as they please.  A couple of years ago the state of Oregon passed a law that the land owner has no right in keeping people off of their land.  If people want to shut down your farming operation because the fences restrict their hiking then the farmer/landowner must remove that fence. 

     As the cities grow we become more and more like Europe.  It will not be long that the government will own all the land and you will have no say in what happens to it.  They are going to kill the electoral ...

Scott,

      I can say for a fact the the GPD wastes our money every day.  The West Woods is a nice facility that has taken a lot of our tax dollars to build.  Our property borders the West Woods and ALL of that wildlife is now in my backyard.  The deer are running rampant right now.  I'm not complaining, they are quite beautiful animals.  The Black Bear is another story.  She was not cub sized but it's certainly a concern for my pets and my neighbors' kids. The bear running scared makes me want to stay out of my woods just so it can have some peace. 

     Multiple times I have had people ...

Scott:

     Bravo to your readers!   We can't educate our children, but we have covered bridges on a little used bike path.  ??    

      Keep up the good work!

-  William

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William:  Those park covered bridges cost PLENTY of dough!  The priorities are all out of whack here in Geauga County.  I wonder why we pour so much money into parks when the county is so rural that you can go to ANY farm and see wild deer, turkeys and all manner of wildlife!  In this county we are "parked" ...

Scott:

     You state that, in your opinion, 'the majority of the people who use the parks are not from Geauga County, they are from Cuyahoga or Lake Counties' . 

     Whether that is true or not, IF it is true, won't these many visitors shop somewhere in Geauga County, buy an ice cream cone or a lunch or dinners, or even be stupid enough to buy a gun?   Why shut off a resource that DRAWS people to our County? They will probably keep coming back.   Shut down the parks and shut off the visiting dollars.

--  Bill Kennedy

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Bill:  ...

Hey Scott, 

     Perhaps the village would like to provide in ground signage for all the businesses.   You know, fancy, Chagrin Falls style, that would be seen from below the trees.

CB

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CB:  Roger that!   Yes, that's a possibility (see above photo).  Might be expensive, but if the Village of Burton can afford to pay a guy a bunch of money per hour/equipment costs to water plants for several hours a day, then they should be able to afford it.  Good luck getting this past old grouches like Rouge...