It's funny how an afternoon at the hospital emergency room can put things into their proper perspective.

Hillsboro is most fortunate that one of its own chooses to give back to her community, and offer a bit of historical and cultural enlightenment along the way. If you have the opportunity to attend their production of "The Hillsboro Story," a seqel to "No Strangers Here Today," I encourage you to do so. Susan and David are wonderful people and I'm happy to know them, courtesy of Mary Brown Turner.

A friend and father of young children asked me, as a father of three, a tough question today: At what point did you realize your children know things that you didn't think they should know? There's no easy answer, of course. As a father, and as I look back on my many mistakes in the bringing up of my children, my best advice is this: Never let them learn to read.

It's been eight years since the Ohio Coalition for Open Government published its investigative results on government offices' compliance with public records request. While the coalition's work was more in-depth than a similar effort by Ohio Auditor Dave Yost, the results were sadly similar.

With a secure, good-faith bank loan of $5 in hand, my NCAA college basketball tournament bracket is now complete. I have the cats winning it all. Maybe it's the Wildcats, maybe it's the Bearcats, maybe it's the Bobcats (good luck, OU) or maybe it's the Tigers.

Let me begin this week's tome by saying several of my past and present friends and favorite people – guys like Dave Covert, for instance – work for or have worked for the Ohio Department of Transportation. They are all No. 1 in my book.

Ahh, politics.

For those of you who do want to send more of your income to any government agency, remember that you can always do that. For any tax levy you support, should it fail, simply calculate your monthly tax burden had it passed, and send the check to the appropriate agency. There's nothing stopping you, after all. But leave your taxpaying neighbors alone.

Lord Acton warned us more than a century ago: Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. He wasn't talking about electric power in the late 1800s, but his words are as applicable today as they were then.

Not wanting to be the one who puts a damper on Mother Nature's good graces in this Winter of our Content, I nonetheless risk incurring her wrath in late February or beyond. Let's face it, Highland County has not, to this point, had a typical winter. Snowfall has been minimal. Sub-zero temperatures nonexistent. Perhaps we've used an ice scraper on our windshield four or five times since December 1. Simply put, the area highways and byways have been ASG (All Systems Go.)

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse bring Conquest (Pestilence), War, Famine and Death. The Four Horsemen of the 2012 Republican presidential campaign bring Gingrich, Paul, Romney and Santorum. Seriously, it's come down to THESE guys for the once Grand Old Party?

Our first order of business this week is to wish a very happy anniversary to Ernie B. and Rita K. Blankenship. What an amazing milestone: Fifty years of marriage! From their East North Street home to the palatial estate on the ridge overlooking the city, Ernie and Rita have always been humble, caring and community minded citizens.

Bill Horne warned us. He really did. ...PUCO’s response – half-hearted as it is – is on our website.

One year ago this month, in a Feb. 28, 2011 news release by American Electric Power, the electric utility company filed a request for an increase in its distribution rates. By its own admission, AEP said the increase in a customer’s total monthly bill would be approximately $4.38 or 4.05 percent in 2012. Imagine our surprise – and others' – when our residential bill increased by 60 percent last month. The distribution fee was higher than the electricity cost.

Frankly, there's not much from all of my past experiences that I can draw from to rationalize this type of behavior from a public official. He seemed to be angry at this newspaper and, at the same time, angry at one of his primary campaign opponents who was attending the public meeting. (For the record, I have never written about the mayor's hair or sleeping habits. I don't care about either. Nor does anyone else. Get over yourself.)