Dog rescued from icy water

Source: MSN Video

SOUTHGATE, Mich. – A Detroit-area restaurant owner believes he has broken the world record for “largest hamburger commercially available.”

After 12 hours of preparation and baking, the 134-pound burger emerged Saturday at Mallie’s Sports Bar and Grill.

The “Absolutely Ridiculous Burger,” made with beef, bacon and cheese, was delivered on a 50-pound bun, The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press reported. It sells for $350, and orders require 24 hours’ notice.

Flipping the burger required three men using two steel sheets.

Owner Steve Mallie told The News he wanted to show that he has the biggest and best burgers.

Authenticating Mallie’s claim could take a few weeks. His burger would outweigh the 123-pound burger made last year by Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub, of Clearfield, Pa.

Source: MSNBC

The council voted 8-1 to delay for two weeks a $3.5 million contract with Birmingham Education Initiative Inc. to manage the program after learning that an earlier computer charity managed by John Katopodis used money to pay personal bills, take elaborate trips and write checks to a star of gay-porn films.

City Council members said Tuesday they are concerned that the first nonprofit program, created by Langford in 2000, didn’t properly account for money the city gave it.

“What we need to do is clear up this person’s involvement with BEI,” said Roderick Royal, chairman of the council’s Education Committee. “We need to clear the air in light of the news reports. I do want our program to be clean.”

Royal, Valerie Abbott, Steven Hoyt and Council President Carole Smitherman said Katopodis should end his involvement in Langford’s program to provide laptop computers to students in the Birmingham school system.

“Not to cast aspersions, but it seems to me that in the best interest of what we’re trying to achieve with our children, Dr. Katopodis needs to step away, and he doesn’t need to have an association even remotely to this process,” Hoyt said.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Katopodis said his role in the laptop program, for which he was not paid, is completed.

He said the City Council wants to meet with the entire Birmingham Education Initiative committee to make sure “I won’t be involved in the project.”

“I can give them assurances,” Katopodis said.

The council’s decision to delay the contract came after The Birmingham News reported Tuesday about a lawsuit and a federal criminal investigation raising questions about the use of money by Langford’s first charity, which he billed more than seven years ago as an effort to give every Jefferson County student a computer.

Langford declined to comment on the allegations, but he said the city could find an alternative method to distribute the computers.

Katopodis, a longtime friend of Langford, organized the former Computer Help for Kids with HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy and Langford. The program was created to refurbish computers donated by companies and distribute them to needy children.

HealthSouth sued Katopodis months after he filed a lawsuit in 2005 claiming the company reneged on Scrushy’s promise to donate property on Birmingham’s Southside. HealthSouth questioned how Katopodis used contributions and donated computers, including giving Langford money, paying for casino trips and donating computers to friends and politicians.

addition, questions remain unanswered about the group’s use of $200,000 in city money in 2002.

Documents filed in the lawsuit against Katopodis show that nonprofit programs managing Langford’s first computer charity paid $30,000 to Marc Anthony Donais, also known as Ryan Idol, a star in gay adult films.

Katopodis has said he is not managing the new computer program. In an e-mail sent to city officials and Birmingham Education Initiative board members, he dismissed the allegations as unfair attacks that will be answered in court.

“I do, however, feel compelled to address the most salacious allegation involving the employment of a `pornographic’ star,” his e-mail said. “Although Mr. Donais did legitimate work for the charities, among other things maintaining our Web site, he was never paid with taxpayer funds.”

Councilwoman Carol Duncan cast the lone vote Tuesday against delaying the contract for the new laptop program. Duncan said Katopodis was not on the new foundation’s board and that she didn’t see a link between the old and new charities.

“He’s not involved. He’s not a member of any board. He has nothing to do with it,” Duncan said. “If it takes it, Katopodis should step away from the table, but Katopodis is not at the table.”

Smitherman, the council president, said she was unhappy that Langford did not tell council members about questions raised in the lawsuit.

“But the news article came out of the blue, and we should not have to find out relevant information from a news report,” Smitherman said.

Smitherman also called for Katopodis’ removal from the program and said the council needs to know all the details about the new foundation’s daily operations.

“If Mr. Katopodis is in fact a volunteer and has no connection for the computers, why was he the spokesperson? That’s what baffles me,” Smitherman said.

Katopodis said Tuesday that the distribution of the laptops has been delayed because of the controversy about the previous computer initiative. He said the first group of about 1,000 computers was to have been given to schools March 1, but that likely won’t happen until the end of March.

Katopodis said he doesn’t understand the link between Computer Help for Kids and the current computer program, especially since he hasn’t been paid for his involvement in the new project.

“I negotiated the deal and set up the structure, and that was the end of my involvement,” he said. “My role was to seal the deal, to get Birmingham designated as the first city in America to do this. This project should not be a controversial project, and it’s sad that it’s turned out this way.”

News staff writer Brett J. Blackledge contributed to this report. jbryant@bhamnews.com

Source: The Birmingham News

The girls did the same, but with a curtsy.

A language drill followed, with the boys struggling a bit to repeat the unfamiliar Latin words the teacher called out to them.

The girls fared a bit better in their French lesson, drawing praise: “Tres bien, tres bien.”

While their peers were enjoying a February break from school, more than a dozen local students found themselves behind a desk Wednesday learning what it was like to be a scholar at the Fairfield Academy in the 1800s.

Taking them through their lessons at the 200-year-old schoolhouse that sits on the Town Hall Green was Walter Matis, education coordinator at the Fairfield Museum and History Center.

“There were no snow days, no school delays because it’s too cold and the buses won’t start,” Matis told the children. “Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

Back in those days, he said, students always walked to school. During the winter months, they carried with them the wood for the two fireplaces that helped keep the classroom warm.

“If you didn’t bring your wood that day, guess where you sat?” Matis asked. “Far away [from one of the schoolhouse fireplaces], so you would remember the next time.”

School lessons then included nautical navigation for the boys and piano for the girls.

Some of the youngsters groaned a bit when Matis told them that the teacher usually lived with the family of one of the academy’s

Source: Connecticut Post

Unlike Beshear’s proposed constitutional amendment, the recommendation gives tracks no special standing when vying for casino licenses. The House panel’s proposal would also cap racetrack-operated casinos at five.

Beshear’s proposal called for as many as seven casinos for racetracks and five others that are free-standing.

After weeks of waiting for Beshear to release his proposal, which came Thursday, the casino debate quickened yesterday with the task force recommendation and a rotunda rally by Women Against Gambling Expansion attended by about 200. The protesters said expanded gambling would produce social costs for families that outweigh the tax benefit to state government.

“Today the mamas in this room are not happy with the proposal for expanded gambling in Kentucky,” said Joy Bolton, a speaker at the rally and executive director of the Kentucky Woman’s Missionary Union, an auxiliary of the Kentucky Baptist Convention.

The House constitutional amendments committee meets today and will consider the new proposal for up to nine casinos, said Rep. Darryl Owens, D-Louisville and chairman of the amendments committee. Owens is on the casino task force and supported the recommendation.

Rep. Joni Jenkins, the Shively Democrat who chairs the casino task force, said the panel’s proposed constitutional amendment was based on comments from legislators who wanted fewer casinos than Beshear proposed.

She also said that some of Kentucky’s racetracks probably didn’t have the financial ability to create the type of destination casino that legislators want as a tourist attraction.

“I think this was a way of paring it down, and if you’re paring down the number of casinos, you need to pare down the number of tracks too,” she said.

A Churchill Downs Inc. lobbyist said he would review the details of Jenkins’ amendment.

Kevin Flanery, the vice president for national public affairs, said it is “good that the dialogue is still ongoing and people are talking about how to assure that the horse industry is protected in this important endeavor.”

However, Marty Maline, the executive director of the Kentucky Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association that represents trainers and owners, said he believes his organization would want the amendment to make certain the tracks could get casinos.

Beshear spokesman Dick Brown said that the governor agrees with the spirit of Jenkins’ proposal but would prefer more specificity.

“Our No. 1 goal is to get this through the House, through the Senate and on the ballot in November,” he said. “The form that it’s in right now, as I said, is not as specific as we would like, but again, the amendment is not in its final form either.”

The task force’s amendment would require a referendum in the counties where nontrack casinos would be located and local legislative approval for a racetrack-operated casino.

Beshear’s plan required local legislative approval if a track wanted to locate a casino off-site in its county, but no local approval would be needed for an on-site track casino. Under Beshear’s proposal, a free-standing casino would need approval in a citywide or countywide referendum.

Beshear’s amendment would also put the tax rate — a maximum effective rate of 50.65 percent — in the constitution along with percentages for areas of state government where revenues would be spent. The House panel’s amendment contains no tax rate and outlines general categories where money would be spent without specific allocations.

The recommendation passed the task force with the minimum eight votes needed on the 15-person group. Four members voted no and three “passed,” which is similar to an abstention.

Many members said they liked the narrowed focus of the amendment along with the lower maximum for the number of casinos, but some expressed reservations nonetheless.

Rep. Arnold Simpson, D-Covington, said he was voting no because he wanted to hear from the Beshear administration on its reasoning for proposing up to 12 casinos.

“I’m still disturbed we’re only hearing one side of the story,” he said.

Brown, the Beshear spokesman, said no one from the administration was asked to testify before the task force.

Rep. Carl Rollins, the Midway Democrat whose district includes horse farms and the Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, said he’s concerned that the alternative offered yesterday doesn’t go far enough to protect the horse industry.

“With this language … that means to me that there could be nine free-standing casinos,” he said, with none at tracks.

Jenkins said the change is meant to avoid lawsuits if racetracks are guaranteed a chance at a casino.

Rep. Harry Moberly, D-Richmond, said that could be an issue to consider in companion legislation that would contain the details of a casino plan.

Reporter Gregory A. Hall can be reached at (502) 582-4087.

Source: The Courier Journal

BEREA — The city of Berea passed an ordinance Tuesday night imposing a curfew on citizens 17 and younger.

According to the new law, youths are prohibited from being in public from the hours of 1 to 6 a.m. Monday through Friday, and 1 to 6 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Exceptions to the rule include youths who are in the company of a parent, guardian, legally authorized adult, in public within one hour of leaving a school or church function or their workplace.

The ordinance goes into effect upon publication in a local newspaper.

The law requires police to employ a tiered approach to enforce the curfew. Upon the first violation, the youth will be sent or taken home by an officer, and the violator’s parent or legal guardian will be provided with a copy of the ordinance and a written warning.

If a second violation occurs, the parent or guardian of said youth will be fined $100. If a third violation occurs, the parent or guardian will be summoned to Madison County District Court and subject to a fine of up to $500 and/or jail time of up to six months.

Some council members expressed concern that imposing a curfew on local youths may be too strict.

Truman Fields objected to parts of the ordinance, noting that Berea College students younger than 18 might be inconvenienced if they were stopped and questioned by police, while Glenn Jennings urged the council to see if other measures might work before imposing a curfew.

“I don’t feel right about going all the way with a curfew right now without giving other things time to take effect,” Jennings said. “I don’t like what this says about Berea.”

Mayor Steve Connelly defended the ordinance, noting the city had taken several steps in the past several months to address juvenile delinquency in the city.

Last summer, several residents complained about juveniles in the Burchwood Subdivision, telling police youths were staying out at all hours of the night, disturbing the peace, committing vandalism and sometimes standing in the middle of the street blocking traffic. Some of the youths reportedly were exhibiting gang-like behaviors as well, including tagging local buildings with spray paint graffiti and wearing what some have described as gang colors.

The city responded by supporting a Neighborhood Watch group, conducting public forums about the problems, stepping up police patrols, appointing a liaison to the neighborhood to maintain communication between police and citizens, sending city representatives to a Juvenile Delinquency Council and researching ways to enhance the city’s recreational facilities to better appeal to youths, according to Connelly.

The curfew is another piece of the puzzle in the city’s effort to address juvenile delinquency, Connelly said.

“It’s always just been seen as one tool to allow the city to respond,” Connelly said.

In addition to giving local police probable cause to question youths who are out after curfew hours, others suggested that most parents may be glad to be informed when their children are out late.

“There are parents who are going to come to the defense of their kids, right or wrong,” said Virgil Burnside. “But I think a lot of parents will be grateful to be informed if they didn’t know their kids were out.”

Denise Hagan said the ordinance also serves to put a select few parents on notice that they can’t willfully neglect their children.

“The purpose of the curfew is to give police some enforcement powers,” Hagan said. “We know that 98-95 percent of the kids won’t be affected by this.”

When the vote was cast, Burnside, Chester Powell, Vi Farmer, Greg Lakes, Howard Baker and Hagan voted for the ordinance. Jennings and Fields voted against it.

In other business, the council:

· Passed an ordinance approving a zone change for property owned by Donna Goosey and Ben McKinney on 241-253 Chapel Road from R-1 residential to Agriculture. The 6-acre tract was zoned residential during the creation of the city’s Land Use Map. The owners want it changed back so they can put a trailer on the front of the property.

· Heard the first reading of an ordinance authorizing the transfer of a Berea police cruiser to the Madison County Sheriff’s Department.

· Adopted a resolution in support of a Bikeways grant that will fund the construction of a walkway through Berea City Park to Walnut Meadow Road.

· Accepted suggestions for revisions to the Berea Strategic Plan, which will be submitted for final review at the next council meeting.

· Adopted a resolution congratulating J.T. Gilbert as being the longest-serving city attorney in the history of Berea. Gilbert has served for 32 years as of this week.

· Accepted the appointment of Chasity Pearson as an assistant in the Codes Enforcement Department.

Source: The Richmond Register

Instead, Coulton would refer to escaping a life awash in Fritos and Mountain Dew, stuck at his desk writing computer code — “The Office,” set to music. It is, by his own admission, a fairly accurate description of his own former life as a software engineer.

“There’s very little Elvis in me,” Coulton says from his light-filled two-bedroom condo in Brooklyn. “Any rhythm that I have is here in my fingers. It’s nowhere else in my body.”

But those same rhythmic fingers, adept at multiple instruments — along with his gift for writing catchy, quirky songs anchored in sharp observation of the human condition — helped turn Coulton from just another “code monkey” to “The Godfather of Geek Rock.” And he owes much of his success to the Web.

How he did it
In the fall of 2005, Coulton told his wife he was quitting his software job to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a rock star. He could have barely picked a more inauspicious moment. At 36, he was bearing down on middle age — and his wife had just given birth to their first child, a daughter.

“I have known some bitter people in my life who never did what they wanted to do, and I didn’t wanna be that person,” says Coulton.

He also rationalized that letting go of something safe for something uncertain would be a more courageous example for his daughter of how to live.

When he was packing up his office cubicle to begin his new adventure, a colleague suggested that Coulton try to write one song every week for an entire year.

The idea both scared and intrigued him. Creativity on demand week after week was a daunting prospect, but it appealed to Coulton’s desire for at least some kind of structure in his path to making a living through playing music.

“I have known some bitter people in my life who never did what they wanted to do, and I didn’t wanna be that person.” — Jonathan Coulton

From a tiny, converted closet studio in his home he began musing about the world around him — writing songs, recording them, then posting them to his web site. He called the project ambiguously, “Thing a Week.” It was rarely an easy process.

“There were a lot of times when I would have an idea that I thought was really bad, or stupid, but sometimes that would be the only idea that I would have, and so I didn’t have any choice but to do it,” Coulton says. “That’s definitely how a lot of those songs ended up being about such weird things, or news items.”

He became a master of observation of the things that surrounded him. A Shopvac inspired a tune by the same name about a life of suburban angst and regret.

When he saw a photo online of a giant squid, he wrote a song called “I Crush Everything,” in which a lonely giant squid wants to play with the ships he sees sailing above, but fears he’ll destroy them with his innocent but deadly embrace.

Coulton also found a rich source of material from his former life. A song titled, “RE: Your Brains,” tells the story of an office worker being besieged by a co-worker-turned-zombie, who of course wants to eat his brains.

But Coulton is perhaps best known for the tune “Code Monkey,” about a software engineer who dreams of a better life. The song has become an anthem for downtrodden office workers and has helped propel his fame.

Coulton also broke through to fans on the Internet with a couple of unexpected cover songs. His rendition of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s hip-hop ode to the bountiful behind, “Baby Got Back,” was retooled as a softly crooned folk-love song. Listeners loved it.

But while Coulton’s online audience was growing — his bank account was not, mainly because he was offering his songs for free under a creative commons license and asking for “tips.”

When he gave his fans the options of buying the music outright for a set price, making a donation or downloading for free, so many began ponying up that he was soon making more money than he did as a software engineer.

It’s not surprising his fans are intensely loyal. Seeing Coulton as a kindred spirit, they don’t just buy his music, they build their lives around it, creating music videos, art books and even sending him stuffed animals based on characters in his songs.

“I like seeing somebody talented get out there and make the music that they want to create without really having to compromise at all,” says Coulton fan Brian Richardson. “As fans we try to reward Jonathan for that. There’s a reason … people go out and make music videos for his songs. It’s because they understand what he’s giving to them, and they really want to be able to return it in kind.”

Coulton nurtures this contact, now spending three or four hours a day interacting with his fans online, absolutely certain that this contact is critical to his success.

“My fans are geeks,” Coulton asserts. “People who like science fiction, playing video games, who enjoy zombies and robots.”

They also pay to see him in concert, which he organizes on the Web through a site called Eventful. When enough fans request he play a show in a certain city — Coulton says 100 is usually the tipping point — he will try to book a show there. It’s a nearly foolproof way to play a packed house.

Coultan knows that when he is standing in front of these Internet-built crowds, guitar in hand, singing about zombies and giant squids and nearly everything in between, he’s truly living the rock star dream — albeit without the sexy groupies and hangovers — but one which might inspire us all to live a little more fearlessly.

–

Credits:

-Producer: Robert Padavick
-Video Editor: Didrik Johnck
-”Code Monkey” illustration: Len Peralta
-”RE: Your Brains” video: Dragon*Con TV
-Special thanks to Brian Richardson and Chris Lloyd for the Atlanta concert footage

Source: Yahoo!

With every dollar they tucked away, the three young girls – along with their youngest sister, Dorothy Holloway – imagined themselves taking off on new adventures. Traveling distances they never thought possible.

Today, all four sisters are coworkers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Ayers reviews internal and external communications materials as part of the center’s strategic communications team. Andrews minds the books as an accountant. Harris is a custodian, keeping the center clean and safe. Holloway keeps package shipments and personnel travel running smoothly. And all their labors support travel to faraway destinations even more magical than those they dreamed of as little girls.

”We all do something different, but we contribute in our own way to Marshall’s successful missions,” Ayers said.

Those missions – and the range of opportunities at the Marshall Center for prospective employees of all skill sets – are wide-ranging, indeed. One of NASA’s largest field centers, with more than 100 specialized research and development facilities and an annual budget of some $2.6 billion, the Marshall Center employs approximately 7,600 scientists, engineers, technicians and support staff, including some 5,000 contract employees. It’s a technology and employment hub of the Tennessee Valley, helping to bring in thousands of private-sector tech companies, tens of thousands of high-paying jobs and enough talented and motivated people to fill them.

Marshall teams manage the space shuttle propulsion systems, develop the next-generation Ares launch vehicles that will take explorers back to the moon, and lead fundamental Earth science and space science research designed to expand our understanding of the universe and improve life on Earth in countless ways.

The sisters’ combined 65 years of service at Marshall began when Andrews – then a senior at East Limestone High School in Athens, Ala. – got a job as a student aide at Marshall in 1975. Her knack for numbers led her to major in accounting and business at Calhoun Community College in Huntsville, and she completed her degree in 1984 at Athens State College. She held finance and accounting posts with the U.S. Army Missile Command in Huntsville and Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta, Ga., and in 1991 earned a master’s degree in business administration from the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, before joining Marshall in 2001.

By then, Andrews’ positive experience as a student aide at the center already had influenced sisters Ayers and Holloway to apply for spots in Marshall’s co-op program. Ayers participated while attending Athens State; Holloway was a co-op while studying at Drake State Technical
College in Huntsville.

Ayers graduated with an accounting degree in 1988, and accepted a job in Marshall’s Chief Financial Office, where she worked for nearly two decades before turning her attention to strategic communications in 2006.

Holloway, who received her degree in office administration, joined Marshall’s Facilities Office in 1986 as a management support assistant. She served several different Marshall offices in that capacity until 2007, when she elected to take on a new challenge, as a transportation
specialist. Today she clears Marshall’s international shipments through U.S. customs and resolves travel issues for center personnel.

The Marshall team also is the driving force behind Harris’ long career at the center. She has provided cleaning services to numerous Marshall facilities over the years, from office cubicles to bustling laboratories and hardware development facilities.

Harris and Holloway, who work in the same building, see each other most often, but all four siblings try to get together often for lunch. They catch up on their combined 11 children, the kids’ grades and school events, what’s happening in their communities – sister talk.

But they also talk about their work, and the work of the Marshall Center, and the work now being done to further the nation’s mission in space.

”Because we come from a rural area, a lot of people in our communities aren’t fully aware of NASA’s missions and goals,” Ayers said. ”We are able to take NASA pamphlets, patches and posters home to our kids, and to their classmates and teachers, and to people throughout our community – materials they might not normally see.

”And we show them our pride in the jobs we do,” she added. ”We demonstrate that every job, every worker, is integral to keeping the Marshall Center operating efficiently, moving forward to execute NASA’s mission. We are in a unique position to excite our kids and their friends about Marshall Center careers. They see that NASA is thriving because of people they know. People just like them. There’s nothing more fulfilling than that.”

Except, perhaps, the satisfaction four sisters take in knowing they continue the tradition they began as children under the Alabama sun: working hard – together.

Source: The Birmingham Times

“They” have never been to Smyrna.

Bill Raynor often goes to Town Council meetings in search of information, and leaves frustrated.

“They sure as hell confuse me sitting there,” said Raynor, the town’s former police chief. “That’s the way it’s been for some time.”

Mayor Pat Stombaugh, who took office last May, said Smyrna is still reeling from the annexation of more than 1,000 acres between 2001 and 2007, when Mark Schaeffer was mayor.

During that period, the town’s population increased 60 percent, said David S. Hugg III, the town manager. Now, with the town’s population nearing 10,000 and thousands of homes either under construction or in the pipeline, the town has reached what council member Bernard R. Brown calls “a pivot point” in the way it delivers services and shares information.

It will also need to shed some of its recent image problems.

The Schaeffer years brought controversy over absentee ballots and a series of high-profile lawsuits involving the mayor and former councilman Pat Cahill that divided the council and tarnished the town’s image.

The lawsuits culminated in a landmark state Supreme Court ruling about Internet privacy that brought national attention to the formerly sleepy town.

In that case, derogatory remarks about Cahill and his wife Julia were found to have originated on a computer in the mayor’s house. The Schaeffers and Cahills were next-door neighbors.

But change, and the public scrutiny that comes from residents as towns grow, comes slowly.

For example, decisions made by council months ago still come as a surprise to many in town.

In December, council passed a $23.8 million budget and a 22 percent tax increase, both part of a revenue restructuring that also reduced electric rates.

Yet, last week, Main Street merchant Brian Brown said the tax increase was news to him.

“I take things as they come,” said Brown, owner of Smyrna Sporting Goods on Main Street. “That’s life in a small town.”

When teacher and Realtor Barbara Allsopp learned about the tax increase, she was stunned.

“I’m highly upset about it,” said Allsopp, a member of the council’s charter review committee. “The word around town is that nobody knew this was coming. I don’t think it’s fair that they just throw this on people.”

Councilman Gene Mullen, who heads the finance committee, said council has passed operating budgets every December for the past 30 years, maybe more.

Budget discussions had been going on since August, he said, and the council agenda was posted a week in advance, as required by state law.

“Council held a public hearing before the vote, even though it is not required,” Mullen said.

“I thought the room was going to be packed,” he said.

At 7:15 p.m., the public hearing was called to order.

“You could hear a pin drop,” Mullen said.

At 7:17 p.m, the hearing was adjourned.

At the Smyrna Diner, customers lingering over coffee and pie talk about the restaurant’s impending relocation and the price of gasoline, not tax hikes and budgets.

But that’s one of the things changing for Smyrna and many other towns, said George Wright, Smyrna’s mayor from 1976 to 1981. He now heads the Delaware League of Local Governments.

“I see it every day — not just in Delaware but all over,” Wright said. “It’s a culture change, where people think differently than they did 20 years ago.”

Small towns of today are vastly different from those of earlier generations, said Andrew Seth, membership director of the National Association of Small Towns and Townships.

“Technology and the Information Age are helping local governments move forward more quickly than they did before,” he said.

“Things have happened in town that were not very well-discussed or publicized,” said A. Douglas Chervenak, a local physician and member of Town Council, “but that is starting to improve.”

Chervenak and Stombaugh often spar over town issues during council meetings, but on this much they agree: If town residents feel they’re in the dark about municipal matters, that may be a reflection of their own apathy as much as anything else.

Hugg, the town manager, said he was “pleasantly surprised” when hundreds of people attended his public workshop last month to learn about the ongoing streetscape project.

But crowded public meetings are still a rarity.

“People wait until something happens. Then they show up and complain,” Stombaugh said. “I think people are starting to realize there could be problems if they don’t stay informed.”

Source: Delawareonline