Miss a week, miss a lot – or not
Lead Summary
By
Rory Ryan-hcpress@cinci.rr.com
After returning from Gulf Shores, Ala. one year ago this week, I reported on a story from the Prattville Progress and headlined: “Alabama town endures NYC ‘poop train.’”
As it happened, “A stinking trainload of human waste was stranded in this southern Alabama town, spreading a stench like a giant backed-up toilet – and the ‘poop train’ was just the latest example of the South being used as a dumping ground for other states’ waste,” wrote Jeff Martin and Jay Reeves.
“In Parrish, Ala. (pop. 982, Salute!), the sludge-hauling train cars sat idle near the Little League baseball fields for more than two months,” the newspaper reported.
It’s my sincere hope that the good people of Parrish have resolved last year’s poo-hoo-ha. I don’t know.
But I do know that Prattville remains a very nice place to stop on one’s path from southern Ohio to southern Alabama. We’ve stopped in Prattville each of the last three years, sometimes overnight, always for a meal and rest from the road. It’s a great town with some very nice people.
Please don’t tell anyone, but Gulf Shores is pretty nice as well. Five of us enjoyed another wonderful week at Gulf Shores, where everyone seems to be in a perpetual good mood. Thanks again, KLG.
* * *
After returning from last year’s vacation, I opened my email to find 200-300 messages, a great number of which were related to politics in general and the May 8, 2018 primary election in particular.
I wrote in April 2018: One individual sent a copy of the Ohio Secretary of State’s website on campaign financial statements. The reference was to the Ohio House 90th District primary and included a snapshot of my $200 donation to former Adams County commissioner and (current State Rep.) Brian Baldridge.
Unlike those $10,000 (or more) donations, $200 doesn’t get any political favors. And I would not accept one, anyway, from anyone at anytime. I had disclosed my check to Brian in a column well before the financial disclosure deadline. And as a registered Libertarian, I didn’t vote for Brian in the 2018 primary. I did vote for him in the general election and endorsed in this column last fall.
But in looking back at my reference to those $10,000 political donations, I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least question the real impetus behind a new bill introduced by Ohio Republican Reps. Shane Wilkin and Jamie Callender.
Their bill – which has a strong likelihood of passage – is dubbed the Ohio Clean Air Program (OCAP) and purportedly “designed to provide incentives to build and maintain zero- and reduced-carbon emissions generation facilities in the state while lowering customers’ electric utility bills.”
At least one Ohio Republican lawmaker, former House Speaker Ryan Smith, has criticized the Wilkin/Callender bill. Someone should.
“Ohio has its own version of the Green New Deal (House Bill 6), but this one is offered by Republicans,” Smith said. “This not only abdicates our authority but taxes ratepayers.”
As reported by Todd DeFeo at https://www.watchdog.org/, “House Bill 6 would create the Ohio Clean Air Program to incentivize energy producers of clean energy, including wind, solar and hydroelectric power. The average residential customer will pay $2.50 per month, a reduction from the $4.39 per month residential customers currently pay on average for mandates. Commercial customers will pay $20 per month, while industrial customers will pay $250 per month and ‘very large users’ consuming 45 million Kwh a year will pay $2,500 per month.
“The proposal comes as FirstEnergy Solutions, which filed for bankruptcy in March 2018, plans to close Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Oak Harbor near Toledo in 2020 and Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Perry in 2021. The plants could receive $170 million in incentives.”
Therein lies the rub.
This bill seems more about a political payback to FirstEnergy than anything else. Of course, when a politician accepts $10,000 from such a donor – and even more from his supposed mentor through the same donor – he must dance to the donor's tune.
So far, the Ohio GOP lawmakers' three most prominent bills since the Nov. 2018 election: personal pay raises, higher gas taxes and higher utility rates. What's next, the Wayne Boich Jr. bill? Hello, Mike DeWine?
More often than not, it is reasonable to believe that when a small-town politician receives $23,000 from three power-players on the same day – March 2, 2018 – that politician will follow his marching orders. As such, some Ohio Republicans appear ready to reconsider left-wing Congresswoman AOC’s Green New Deal. Get on board, already, C-Bus.
As always, follow the money: https://www6.sos.state.oh.us/ords/f?p=CFDISCLOSURE:45:203331229730678::NO::P45_ENTITY_ID:14861.
For more, go to https://www.cleveland.com/open/2018/04/firstenergy_pac_writes_big_che.html https://www.daytondailynews.com/business/new-clean-air-bill-would-benefit-firstenergy-nuclear-plants/OoN51ceD4WmzVA8AfF8QfI/.
* * *
After more than two years, it looks like Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are left sharing a giant curd sandwich over the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
Congressman Brad Wenstrup, who represents Highland County in Ohio’s Second District, said: “With the release of this report, it would appear that we have yet another confirmation that Special Counsel Mueller’s findings are consistent with the findings of the House Intelligence Committee from last year: No collusion or conspiracy was committed by President Trump or members of the Trump campaign. All Americans should be grateful for this news. With the release of this report, it would be nice to come together as a nation to fight for truth, justice and the security of our ‘American way.’”
Yes, congressman, it would be nice. But we both know it won’t happen. It has been a long time since we came together as a nation to fight for truth, justice and the security of our American way. There are no kumbaya moments in this. Our national political divide will continue, and we both know it. The radical liberals will not have it any other way. The only thing to the left of them is a deep, deep crevice – from which they will not return.
* * *
This being Good Friday and Easter weekend, a very happy Easter to everyone. It is indeed a special holy day.
I’d like to share this from the “New Saint Joseph People's Prayer Book:”
Lord, the resurrection of Your Son has given us new life and renewed hope. Help us to live as new people in pursuit of the Christian ideal. Grant us wisdom to know what we must do, the will to want to do it, the courage to undertake it, the perseverance to continue to do it and the strength to complete it.
Happy Easter Sunday, everyone.
Rory Ryan is publisher and owner of The Highland County Press.
As it happened, “A stinking trainload of human waste was stranded in this southern Alabama town, spreading a stench like a giant backed-up toilet – and the ‘poop train’ was just the latest example of the South being used as a dumping ground for other states’ waste,” wrote Jeff Martin and Jay Reeves.
“In Parrish, Ala. (pop. 982, Salute!), the sludge-hauling train cars sat idle near the Little League baseball fields for more than two months,” the newspaper reported.
It’s my sincere hope that the good people of Parrish have resolved last year’s poo-hoo-ha. I don’t know.
But I do know that Prattville remains a very nice place to stop on one’s path from southern Ohio to southern Alabama. We’ve stopped in Prattville each of the last three years, sometimes overnight, always for a meal and rest from the road. It’s a great town with some very nice people.
Please don’t tell anyone, but Gulf Shores is pretty nice as well. Five of us enjoyed another wonderful week at Gulf Shores, where everyone seems to be in a perpetual good mood. Thanks again, KLG.
* * *
After returning from last year’s vacation, I opened my email to find 200-300 messages, a great number of which were related to politics in general and the May 8, 2018 primary election in particular.
I wrote in April 2018: One individual sent a copy of the Ohio Secretary of State’s website on campaign financial statements. The reference was to the Ohio House 90th District primary and included a snapshot of my $200 donation to former Adams County commissioner and (current State Rep.) Brian Baldridge.
Unlike those $10,000 (or more) donations, $200 doesn’t get any political favors. And I would not accept one, anyway, from anyone at anytime. I had disclosed my check to Brian in a column well before the financial disclosure deadline. And as a registered Libertarian, I didn’t vote for Brian in the 2018 primary. I did vote for him in the general election and endorsed in this column last fall.
But in looking back at my reference to those $10,000 political donations, I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least question the real impetus behind a new bill introduced by Ohio Republican Reps. Shane Wilkin and Jamie Callender.
Their bill – which has a strong likelihood of passage – is dubbed the Ohio Clean Air Program (OCAP) and purportedly “designed to provide incentives to build and maintain zero- and reduced-carbon emissions generation facilities in the state while lowering customers’ electric utility bills.”
At least one Ohio Republican lawmaker, former House Speaker Ryan Smith, has criticized the Wilkin/Callender bill. Someone should.
“Ohio has its own version of the Green New Deal (House Bill 6), but this one is offered by Republicans,” Smith said. “This not only abdicates our authority but taxes ratepayers.”
As reported by Todd DeFeo at https://www.watchdog.org/, “House Bill 6 would create the Ohio Clean Air Program to incentivize energy producers of clean energy, including wind, solar and hydroelectric power. The average residential customer will pay $2.50 per month, a reduction from the $4.39 per month residential customers currently pay on average for mandates. Commercial customers will pay $20 per month, while industrial customers will pay $250 per month and ‘very large users’ consuming 45 million Kwh a year will pay $2,500 per month.
“The proposal comes as FirstEnergy Solutions, which filed for bankruptcy in March 2018, plans to close Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Oak Harbor near Toledo in 2020 and Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Perry in 2021. The plants could receive $170 million in incentives.”
Therein lies the rub.
This bill seems more about a political payback to FirstEnergy than anything else. Of course, when a politician accepts $10,000 from such a donor – and even more from his supposed mentor through the same donor – he must dance to the donor's tune.
So far, the Ohio GOP lawmakers' three most prominent bills since the Nov. 2018 election: personal pay raises, higher gas taxes and higher utility rates. What's next, the Wayne Boich Jr. bill? Hello, Mike DeWine?
More often than not, it is reasonable to believe that when a small-town politician receives $23,000 from three power-players on the same day – March 2, 2018 – that politician will follow his marching orders. As such, some Ohio Republicans appear ready to reconsider left-wing Congresswoman AOC’s Green New Deal. Get on board, already, C-Bus.
As always, follow the money: https://www6.sos.state.oh.us/ords/f?p=CFDISCLOSURE:45:203331229730678::NO::P45_ENTITY_ID:14861.
For more, go to https://www.cleveland.com/open/2018/04/firstenergy_pac_writes_big_che.html https://www.daytondailynews.com/business/new-clean-air-bill-would-benefit-firstenergy-nuclear-plants/OoN51ceD4WmzVA8AfF8QfI/.
* * *
After more than two years, it looks like Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are left sharing a giant curd sandwich over the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
Congressman Brad Wenstrup, who represents Highland County in Ohio’s Second District, said: “With the release of this report, it would appear that we have yet another confirmation that Special Counsel Mueller’s findings are consistent with the findings of the House Intelligence Committee from last year: No collusion or conspiracy was committed by President Trump or members of the Trump campaign. All Americans should be grateful for this news. With the release of this report, it would be nice to come together as a nation to fight for truth, justice and the security of our ‘American way.’”
Yes, congressman, it would be nice. But we both know it won’t happen. It has been a long time since we came together as a nation to fight for truth, justice and the security of our American way. There are no kumbaya moments in this. Our national political divide will continue, and we both know it. The radical liberals will not have it any other way. The only thing to the left of them is a deep, deep crevice – from which they will not return.
* * *
This being Good Friday and Easter weekend, a very happy Easter to everyone. It is indeed a special holy day.
I’d like to share this from the “New Saint Joseph People's Prayer Book:”
Lord, the resurrection of Your Son has given us new life and renewed hope. Help us to live as new people in pursuit of the Christian ideal. Grant us wisdom to know what we must do, the will to want to do it, the courage to undertake it, the perseverance to continue to do it and the strength to complete it.
Happy Easter Sunday, everyone.
Rory Ryan is publisher and owner of The Highland County Press.