Common Ground

Did you know that City of Waukesha gas stations can't sell beer? I didn't. Since people are cutting back on their driving and buying less gasoline, the walk-in business for Slim Jims and Twinkies has dwindled. Now some are asking the city to reconsider the ordinance so they can buck up some of the shrinking profits.

This is a tough one for me as you probably know of my family's recent loss to a convicted drunk driver that should have been sitting in jail rather than behind the wheel of an Escalade. I believe that the intention of this ordinance was to reduce the possibility of popping one open after gassing up. One can argue that beer is available at many places. Grocery stores and the liquor stores for example. Although not quite as quick and easy as getting a 12 pack at the gas station, it is just as easy to pop one open driving home from there.

Personally, I'd rather it be easier to get some air for the tires than it is beer from today's serviceless stations, but that is change. So, it is fine by me with two conditions. First, we also require them to sell the cheap, disposable blood alcohol breath analyzers in a prominent location by the beer. It will at least serve as a "sobering reminder" of the consequences of driving under the influence of the stuff. Second, how about lifting the ban on sales of non-alcohol beer after 9PM? What part of non-alcohol do we not understand?

Which makes me wonder, why stop the sales of alcohol after 9pm when the taverns remain open, where people are getting schnockered and then driving rather than just transporting a six pack home?

I don't know about you, but I'd be willing for a tax raise to fund a "Department of Logical Analysis and Recommendations" for the city! I suspect it'd pay for itself and maybe reduce our taxes too!

Last heard from Mama Celeste, there is an abundance of things since the rain! Around the Bukosky home it is mosquitos and maple seedlings.

I've spend a few dollars in trying to have a nice lawn and pretty much got the weeds under control and the grass lush and dark green. The maple seeds, helicopters to some, were also in abundance and practically paved the driveway. I've been amazed how many maple tree saplings are growing and how easily they sprout and root. It seems that the seeds need only be about an inch from the soil and it sprouts and takes a root hold.

I'm sure everyone is busy swatting mosquitos too. My grass was two days late in getting it's twice weekly mowing and was a bit tall. As I navigated the back lawn with the mower, the critters flew up in small clouds! I soon went to the car and got my can of Deep Woods Off and sprayed on a film of protection.  I bought this can just last week while on the way to Minooka Park with Kanook. Walmart was on the way and as I passed a couple check-out isles, there was a large display of OFF prepared for people like me. It made for one of the quickest Walmart trips that I ever had.

We also finally have some of the warm and slightly humid weather of the summer. Guys in my business have bee anxously waiting for it. Many air conditioning technicians have not been getting a full week of work in until now. So, remember to keep those air filters clean and if you haven't had your air conditioner checked over for a while, call you local heating and air conditioning company and schedule a checkover.

 It was a time we all dread. The letter in the mail said that I not only had to pay for my driver's license renewal, but I had to visit in person to have my picture taken. Mistake number one was riding my motorcycle to the  DMV on West Avenue. Whether you wear a helmet or let your hair blow in the wind, your hair will be not be it's best afterward.

Things started out well. There were only a couple people to wait behind. Once called to the next available person, I was greeted by a cheery worker. The eye exam and paperwork went well. I was told to wait to be called at the sign for photos. An ominous sign of things to come was when I heard someone call Steve. No last name.  As I work with several Steves at work, I tell guys to call me by the nickname Grandfathers give all their grandsons, Butch. Thinking that someone that works there was calling to a coworker named Steve, I thought that my last name would be used or at least called out again. What if there were two Steve's waiting for a picture? I soon realized that we all were on a first name basis and my name must have been put to the bottom of the list for being slow to respond.

Certain to not miss my next call to glory, I trotted up to the desk when I heard Steve called again. I was ungraciously ordered to stand on the footprints and look at the stop sign. A nanosecond later the light flashed and the photographer decided that the picture met their standards. If I'm ever pulled over for drunk driving, I'll look exactly like my picture on the license. It will also may my airline travels more interesting when the TSA's do a doubletake while checking my ID..

It would seem that in this digital photograph age, a succession of pictures could be taken and the best selected by the taxpayer. Till that time, the DMV continues to deserve the barbs and jokes directed it's way.

I'm a motorcyclist and own two. Motorcycles get pretty good fuel economy, but many people are intimidated by them for one reason or another.  My biggest motorcycle is a Honda Goldwing which is a handful at times. It weighs, literally, half a ton and is the largest motorcycle out there and that includes the biggest Harleys. As some Goldwing riders age, the hugeness of the machine gets intimidating and they have looked at the Honda Helix scooter in the past, as a way to keep riding with the shiny side up and the greasy side down. A comfortable and adequately powered scooter, not to be confused with the tiny scooters that ride on the side of the road or hold up traffic.

This demand has made some motorcycle makers expand their line of scooters and Suzuki has the "Gold Wing" of scooters, the Burgman. I rode my 'Wing over to Waukesha's Action Power Sports on the south side of town and rode a used 2006 Suzuki Burgman. This is not your stereotypical scooter. It is easily mistaken for a regular motorcycle yet has a step-through frame to make getting on and off easier for us aging motorcyclists. The seat is huge and plenty cushy for rider and passenger. A feature of scooters is legroom.  Unlike motorcycle foot-pegs, you have large floor boards which allow your legs to keep from stiffening up in one position.

If you've never rode a motorcycle, I think you could jump on this and ride away because of one great feature. It has an automatic transmission. There are a number of very high tech features which make it a great machine. The engine is huge for a scooter. It is a 650cc twin that is fuel injected. Rare for a motorcycle and unheard of for a scooter. The fuel injection makes starting the engine as easy as a new car. Turn the key, push a button and the engine is running. The transmission is what is called a continuously variable transmission (CVT). That means no gears. Rather the transmission is like having dozens of  gears which allows the engine to operate at the most efficient rpm for any situation. To get going just twist the throttle grip and it smoothly takes off. This transmission type is starting to be used by some SUV's by Saturn and Ford. Subaru had the first production CVT years ago in it's Justy, but huge improvements have been made in recent years.

Acceleration is great. Faster than many cars, you will not have to worry about keeping up with the traffic. I got it up to well over 70mph and it still had plenty of acceleration power. Handling was very good too. The wheels are larger than smaller scooters which gives it motorcycle-like stability.

Brakes are like a bicycle in that they are hand grips.  The front is like any motorcycle, on the throttle side and the rear brake lever is where the clutch usually is. I quickly felt comfortable with the braking system and nothing for my feet to do other than steady the scooter when stopped. For added safety, there is a Suzuki Burgman model with ABS, anti-lock braking. A feature some motorcycles have. The gas tank is accessed by flipping open a very car-like cover for the gas cap.

The "dashboard" is a modern digital set of gages. It has an unusual feature in that you can mimic a six speed transmission with a push of a button. I don't know why one would use it other than if you get bored of the fine CVT. It also has a "power" button which apparently runs the engine more in the maximum torque rpm range upon acceleration. I didn't try it as the regular setting was plenty powerful. That being said by a guy who likes to rush through the gears and get ahead of the traffic.

Why consider a scooter? 65 miles per gallon is one reason. It has fair storage and claims to be able to hold two full face helmets under the seat. This used model even had a trailer hitch and wiring harness on it. I can see it capable of pulling a very small motorcycle trailer for additional storage space for the longer touring trips it is very capable of.

I'm giving serious consideration to adding one to my two wheeled fleet.

I've long been bothered by just who "they" are who put up the stumbling blocks to withdrawing the oil reserves that are rightfully that of the people. I also wonder about how "they" wield so much power. Congress operates in fear of them such that our so called representatives do not change the laws so that exploration and drilling can take place. It would eliminating much if not all of the need to be concerned about the politics of the middle east or Venezuela.

While enjoying a wonderful morning, weather wise, on the patio and reading the Sunday newspaper, Several articles, all in the first section, began to make me feel uncomfortably warm. The heat was turned up higher when I read about "they", a so called environmental group, going to court because the government has leased land to some oil companies for exploration. There are some polar bears in the region and what amounts to wording that the human beings making up the oil companies can protect themselves from the bears without fear of legal repercussions, seems to be the call to court for "they". In this case we know the "they" are an environmental group but just who are the individuals that make up the "they" and how do they get the money to cause the people of the country such trouble and who is it that provides the money?

The oil companies are not the villain in all of this. I'm happy that the gasoline is there when I need to fill my tank. In that they are doing a superb job. The real villains are the nut groups that have hijacked the name "environmentalist" and turned it into something for their own misguided purposes and the politicians that fail to work for the benefit of the constituency.

It's been established that wildlife and the environment in the northern regions continues to thrive with oil exploration and the shipping of it. We've proven it with the Trans-Alaskan pipeline.  We witness that adaptability of wildlife locally with the herons, crane, deer, turkey and even eagles which have had their habitat diminished.

Come on Washington! Stand up to them for US!

To some, being proactive about drunk driving is knowing that there are consequences if caught. The hot topic is toughening up those consequences.  While I am generally for that, I also like to see some assistance for people who do choose to drink, not become legally drunk if they intend to drive after doing so.

Pat and I had a rather lively discussion while having breakfast this morning at Christina's. We were talking about the Wednesday committee meeting in Madison regarding drunk driving proposals. There are a whole lot of ideas that are floating around both before and after the act of driving while intoxicated.  I'd like to start somewhere soon.

I've long thought that people really don't know how much they can drink and still be assured that they are within legal limits when driving after drinking. The simple solution is to not have any alcohol before driving.  That's a sure thing. But we know that people will often have one or two or more, thinking that they are fine. My point is how do they know when they cross the line into legal intoxication?

I've a whole bunch of ideas, but here is one that is simple, affordable and just might be subliminal in nature, planting a message into the mind for the future. Every drink that I've been served usually is either placed on a coaster or with a napkin.  Usually that item has some printing on it. Why not require each drink be served with a chart showing the maximum drinks a given weight of a person can consume before entering the gray zone before becoming legally drunk? That chart can be printed on the coaster, napkin or on a card that one could take along and put in their wallet or purse. A step further would be to require the same information printed on containers of alcoholic beverages. There are many more proactive steps that can be taken from there.

We need to act somehow in an effort to change our culture of drinking. Do you agree that this would be a reasonable initial step in that journey?

Next Wednesday will be a committee meeting in Madison regarding some proposed changes in the drunk driving laws.  To be discussed are proposals to require ignition interlock devices on all repeat offenders and on first time offenders with a blood alcohol content of 1.6 or higher. The Bukosky family and friends will be present to participate in the discussions.

In a related news item, Mark Benson, the person who crashed into and killed my daughter in law and two granddaughters is looking for a reduction of bail so he can be free after he serves the 72 days in jail that he was ordered to serve after his third drunk driving offense.  It is important to note that when he killed my family members, he had his license revoked and was ordered not to drive a motor vehicle. I can't imagine a judge letting him out and allowing him the opportunity to slide behind the wheel of another vehicle and thumb his nose at the law, again putting the people of Waukesha County in danger. His lawyer argues that he is innocent until proven guilty.

This man has repeatedly shown that he has no consideration for the law. Even though he has these violations and charges on his record, he still owns an apparently large collection of firearms. These were one of the few things that mattered to him when he made his phone call home from the police station right after the collision.

A man who has been repeatedly driving drunk and is apparently an abuser of drugs and driving cannot be let loose, able to access firearms and motor vehicles. Knowing that he is facing serious time in jail, who knows what he could do when free?

There is no shortage of articles about the flood. I didn't realize just how bad it was until I got out of the neighborhood, even though the intersection of Bel Ayr and Pine Street, just a few houses from me, had water that appeared as deep as four feed deep and many flooded basements in the vicinity. This is not the time to talk about it here. It'd get lost in the flow of things. Later.

Sunday I did decide to visit Mitchell Park and Minooka Park's Dog Parks. Kanook and I went to Mitchell first as I knew it would be flooded and that the flooding would be over the sod which would allow Kanook to splash around and not get muddy. It was more than I expected.

It is not unusual for River Road along side the railroad tracks to flood out just east of Mitchell Park Road. However, it was not only flooded between it and Barker road, Barker Road was also flooded with a good flow of water heading east into the park's marsh. A car could negotiate it so long as it wasn't going fifty miles per hour.

Once in the dog park, there were several dogs splashing and even swimming in the water. Kanook immediately joined them. While watching them splash in and out of the water, I noticed something splashing at various location near the new shore. Closer inspection showed them to be carp. The ones that broke water appeared to be ten to fifteen pounds to this seasoned fisherman. Once the waters recede, these fish will be trapped and die off leaving not only a smelly mess, but for whatever reason, many dogs love to roll in such stinking stuff. This is not the first time fish have wandered into the park.  Last spring someone was complaining about a dead carp near the end of the fence that their dog rolled in. Once again, I'd like to see them put up some snow fencing to block off the area.  Soon it will be a mud hole from the dogs running in and out.

Speaking of mud holes, out next visit was to Minooka. Two months of evaporation and seepage were erased and the "seasonal pond" was restored to near winter melt off conditions. Except there is a rim of mud surrounding it.  Even fewer visitors are seen at the large dog area because of it while the small dog area thrives and continues to have many users.

In closing, I do want to acknowledge the people of the city who suffered flooded basements.  I know what  it is like as I endured several floodings when In Milwaukee near the Lincoln Creek. So much destroyed and so much work to clean up. More about this when we've had time to finish the work, rest and think about what happened.

It's been a year now that I've been transfered from working in Pewaukee to West Allis. I'm in the middle of the action between State Fair Park and Miller Park. Last week it was interesting as I frequently heard the roar of the race cars qualifying for the big race. Not much different than the Harley's roaring up and down in front of my house.

I also suffer the effects of a clogged up freeway when the Brewers have a game where the traffic coincides with the evening rush hour. This is one of the concerns that I have about the proposal for Frame Park. The traffic patterns in the area are not designed well to handle traffic. I suspect that the roads are typical of older cities in that they started out as horse trails and didn't change much when Mr. Ford facilitated us from horse apples to carbon footprinting. 

It seems clear that most people don't think that it would be an attraction to Frame Park. Indeed it could spoil it. I do think that it would be good for the area. I might even consider attending a few games with family. But I don't want to get into a traffic snarl either. Nor do people living or passing through the area.  So it would seem to best be located close to the Hwy 59 bypass. Perhaps the old Nike missle site by 59 and Broadway. It's free from the Federal Government and is just sitting there gathering mulch. I think that there is plenty of room for both the stadium and parking. Has it been checked out and considered?

With the record snowfall this winter, the spring thaw made a huge pond of water on the south side of the Minooka dog park. At first it was clean water and it drew lots of people watching their dogs splash around.  The water was around two feet deep or more and covered better than an acre.  As the sod wore down and the water and shore became muddy, people began to avoid it and a steady decline in attendance of the large dog area was noticed.

While I could not interview those that were not there, those that continued to come did mention their disgust with it.  The fact that the small dog area was continuing to be used in good numbers showed that the large dog area had a problem. Another problem is that the large dog area is very hilly, with the flattest area at the entrance. Consequently it rapidly became muddy.  The county fenced off much of the area and laid down bark trails to either ends of the area. However, the flat area has long dried up. There is no sign of it having been reseeded so I don't understand why it isn't reopened.  I believe that many people prefer the flatter and level area to hiking up and down the hills.  Several users are disabled or have trouble walking distances. This is not good for them.

I will often drive directly to Brookfield's Mitchell Park dog park after our visit to Minooka and I find that it continues to be well used.  I see people that I've seen at Minooka and being that the marsh has dried up enough to not be much of an issue for attracting dogs, it reinforces my observation that Minooka needs to do something with what is called the Seasonal Pond, but has turned out to be a muddy nuisance. I suggested fencing it off, at least temporarily so dog owners don't have to fear a muddy mess to shampoo later on. I'd like to see some landscaping and drainage to contain the water to a smaller area. However, because it is stagnant and will dry up, I think a sewer should be installed and pumped out as needed to keep the area usable and attractive.

All is not bad though. There is some beauty to be found. That's for the next blog perhaps.  See you at the dog parks!

I've read heaps of news items and editorials about how drunken driving laws should be toughened.  Excuse me, but while that is needed, we need to also consider a proactive measure that closes the gate before the cows get out of the pasture, so to speak.

We have created the precedent for it, so nobody should be shocked when it is proposed. We have begun changing things in our culture. It is now time to make a bold step forward in continuing these changes.

Movies reflect culture. It is arguable that they may create it. Movies from earlier years glamorized smoking and drinking.  Offices had dry bars and an offer of a drink to a visitor was a polite and friendly gesture. Homes also promoted drinking.  Many new "executive" homes feature a full blown wet bar right in the living room.  Great for entertaining guests before they head home playing "Russian Roulette" with our lives. Once while having fixed a heating problem in a big house on the north shore area of Milwaukee county, the owner asked me "what do you drink?", assuming that I drank hard liquor. He generously wanted to give me a bottle from his vast selection of distilled beverages. When Pat and I got married, one of the things that showed we were now adults was assembling an assortment of liquor and the items for mixing various drinks.

When I grew up in Milwaukee, it seemed there was a tavern on every corner.  Perhaps a good thing. They were walking distance from home.  As I played with my friends on 44th street, a neighbor would walk by nearly every night babbling some kind of wisdom to us.  He walked the half a mile back and forth to the taverns around Hampton and Hopkins and never was a threat to anyone but himself.

We have banned smoking in many places. We've come close to banning it in all business and even in outdoor places. Usually the reason is the dangers of second hand smoke and other less lethal reasons. 

It is time to modify our culture of drinking alcohol. I'm no tea totaler.  I've home-brewed beer in the past and enjoy a beer or glass of wine with a meal. I think we all know the legal limits of evidence of intoxication is .08. But how many drinks is that?

A little bit of Google searching on the Internet show various devices for determining blood alcohol level. Disposable breath analyzers are available for around $3.00 per test.  Less than the price of a drink in most cases.

Issuance of a liquor license should be contingent on always having an adequate supply of these for use by customers.  Any store selling liquor should be required to market these too.  The time has come to stop guessing and not tolerate both the drunks and those that facilitate it. This would be one way of beginning the culture change.

The Oconomowoc High School marketing student's organization, "Grilling To Give" will be hosting a lunch grill out Friday from 10:45AM to 1:30PM to benefit the Jennifer Bukosky Memorial Fund which was established to educate teens about driving while impaired.

Jennifer and her daughters, Courtney and Sophia, were killed after being struck by a driver about to serve jail time for his third drunk driving conviction. They are survived by her husband Michael Bukosky his son Joshua and son Zachary Bella.

I graduated from Messmer High School in Milwaukee and even at a parochial school, the opportunities and peer pressure to drink and drive were there. It is the hopes that the resulting work from the fund will prevent tragic losses of life. 

Stop by and enjoy something from the grill!

Forgive my obsession. I love Waukesha County. But the past two weeks have had death and road rage, both centered around alcohol, as things that make me question if this is so great a place to live?

I pray that the ball keeps rolling to bring Wisconsin from the weakest drunk driving laws in the country to something that makes it safe for people to drive their kids to and from school and back and forth to work and shopping.  Enough has been way too much.

I share the hope of my daughter-in-laws father, Mike Farney, that given that the politicians and adults can't make the roads safe for people, maybe the kids with a lifetime ahead of them will pester and protest until our government does the right things to make us safe.

Zach Bella and his stepfather and stepbrother will be with us today for a cookout, trying to keep the family as intact as we can and make life go on. But it will never, ever be the same without Jenn, Courtney and Sophie.

Never forget!

The Bukosky and Bella families have had expressions of sympathy given via the forms of media and in person. As the head of the Bukosky family, I give my appreciation to all of you.

I'm sure all of you know the details of the tragedy. It still has not registered with me fully. There is still some disbelief present in my mind. I'm amazed by all of the coverage by the press, television and radio given this.  Even in blog-land I have found much discussion of it and picked up new bits of information and perspectives. I compliment the reporters for being sensitive yet thorough.

The mourning in the family continues, having gathered up the picture boards and flowers today. The many envelopes and cards have yet to be read. This will be done by my son in a condo empty of wife and daughters and with son and step-son at other parent's homes. The nursery recently assembled and many gifts from the baby shower less than two weeks ago are a heart wrenching reminder of what was to be but was taken from him, and us.

Major changes in life-style now have to be thought of, while the bills continue to come due.  It is a tragedy repeated many times a week to people who may not have their loss so well covered or may be from natural causes rather than something senseless. It is these times after the mourning that survivors need support, understanding and guidance.

I was told that Thursday, the day set aside for the high school and middle school to visit, there were over 3,000 visitors. I witnessed hundreds of them pay their respects. I believe that these students will be better for their mourning as they better understand that nobody is indestructible. Drug and alcohol abuse kills and destroys. Perhaps a rendezvous with fate for one of more of these young people may have been changed for the better. The Jennifer Bukosky Fund and MADD will see that the word continues to get out.

Bukosky Fund/Oconomowoc Public Education Foundation
P.O. Box 444
Oconomowoc, WI 53066

Mothers Against Drunk Driving
P.O. Box 51159
Milwaukee, WI 53203

Having donated toward the creation of the Minooka Dog Park, both the cities of Waukesha and New Berlin must insist that the county sees if there is any connection between the bacteria killing dogs at HAWS and the seasonal pond at the dog park that consists of melted snow and run off from the higher ground and has a trash receptacle immersed in the water.

Concerns from users of the area have been expressed to me and I in turn have asked the county to fence off the huge puddle to prevent dogs from splashing around in it and drinking the water. For the record, I have also asked Brookfield to put up snow fencing to block the seasonally flooded swamp area of their dog park. Kanook had been ill from what I believe was drinking the contaminated water there.

Were these cleaner water areas, it'd be great for the dogs.  Most love to splash around and retrieve sticks and such. Many are bred to do so. But puddles end up being muddy and bacteria ridden doing the dogs ill.

Jenn, you immediately became part of the family. Pat and I thank you for the joy that you gave to our son, Michael, and to his son, Joshua.

Courtney, I know it was rough becoming part of a new family. I thought that there would be time to gently bond and share the love of two families melding into one. I never expected your future and life to be ripped away and so soon.

Sophia, even though you were not ready for the world, your father at least got to see you as a person and say good-bye though we were never even able to celebrate a hello.

Zack, we hope that Joshua and you continue to be close step-brothers. You ARE family and family is there to help each other through difficult times. Things will get better though nobody will ever forget.

-------------------------------------------

Friday, Jenn was bringing the kids home from school when a person who had their driver's license revoked and was under the influence of some substance, slammed into the back of Jenn's car, killing the three of them, injuring Zack and critically injuring a fellow classmate whom due to privacy laws, we don't know. I'm sure that the child and their parents are suffering the horror of a child being injured.

The driver who caused all of this must have been suffering his own demons. I'm sure he has a family who is suffering too. I was once told that we don't live in a vacuum. What we do affects many. Never has that been so apparent as it has the last few days.

Anyone who flys the airlines from time to time is familiar with the two pieces of reading material in the pockets of the seat backs. One is a catalog with all sorts of unusual devices and the other is a magazine written for the particular airline.  Sunday I was enjoying my twice a year flight to Colorado on one of Midwest's newer Boing 717's.  One with the nice comfy brown leather seats. As my first appointment was Monday afternoon, I asked our travel department for a later PM flight. Mine departed at 7:35 AM.

There was a fair amount of ground fog in the area and from 36,000 feet it looked like regular low level clouds.  It was when we flew over the wind turbines near Dodgeville or wherever, that I noticed the turbines were chopping up the fog! A very unusual sight. I tried to fire up my cell phone camera to capture the sight but when you are moving around 500mph, things are quickly in the distance. Besides, the cell phone might disrupt the navionics and cause the jet to do snap-rolls. (a little pilot humor)

After I became boared with the distant scenery, I pulled the Midwest magazine from the pouch and came across an article discussing how airlines and hotels are becoming more dog friendly for travelers. Some dog friendly places at several cities were mentioned.  In the Milwaukee area they mentioned the Granville dog park, which was called Milwaukee's only dog park (it is not) and also mentioned Petlicious Dog Bakery, which is located in Waukesha over on Silvernail.

While I like traveling, I dislike the business trips where I am away from my wife and my dog for any length of time. The cell phone keeps Pat and me in touch each evening. I've tried talking to Kanook but the sounds coming from the phone must not be much different from a squeeker in a chew toy for him. In my free time, I did "sniff out" some area dog parks.  Golden has a dog park that is on land donated by a former Coors employee. It's a bit hidden behind the baseball diamonds but never the less a dog park. In Fort Collins, where I held another class, they have a smaller neighborhood dog park about the size of a city lot. The entire lot is covered with wood chips so mud is never a problem.  Waukesha Dog Parks Organization has supporters who would like to see such neighborhood dog parks built here. In time, after a full season of observation at Minooka Park, I think such neighborhood dog parks might be considered.  Time and money will tell.

It's been a heck of a week.  Each spring I have my training tour of our stores around the country and I'm about to embark to Colorado after doing some night classes in Illinois and Wisconsin.  Tax time was this week also, and like many Americans, if we owe money, we wait till the last minute.  The good news is that my rebate check or "stimulus check" will cover all but a few dollars of what I have to mail in with my return.  I did smile when I drove to downtown Milwaukee to drop off my tax mail.  The traffic cones were set up and one of the persons collecting the mail was dressed as an eagle. All were cheerful, helping making the best of a painful situation.

My big cheer-up came Friday night when I found the Minooka Dog Park opened.  The county has been busy doing some improvements by fencing off muddy areas and laying trails of wood chips which will help reduce wear on the turf.  The "seasonal pond" is about the size of a small lake and looks to be possibly a couple feet deep. Last weekend Kanook joined the retrievers at Mitchell Park splashing in the marsh and ended up getting a bath in the self-serve grooming salon at Petlicious which is located over on Silver Nail. I was able to keep Kanook from running into the water on this outing.

Tonight there weren't too many people there, but those that were made for an enjoyable outing.  One couple had their recently adopted greyhound that retired from the dog tracks.  She was a little timid but appeared to be socializing well along with having some open area to keep the legs stretched out. Also there was a dad, his two small daughters and their golden-doodle. Kids like Kanook and he got along good with the "doodle dog" who had a great personality too. Once again it was proven that dog parks are as much for people as they are for dogs.

A word of appreciation for County Parks manager Duane Grimm and his parks crew is in order too.  Things are progressing nicely.

From time to time there will be a topic brought up in the council that comes from committee. If the topic is controversial sometimes there will be comments from aldermen that they have not heard from people with one side or another on the matter. I suggest that perhaps we need a change.

In this presidential election year, the promise of change seems to be catching people like honey draws insects. What troubles me is that in most cases we do not know what the change is going to be. We need specifics. Here’s one.

When it comes to aldermen or county supervisors for that matter, reaching a decision when it comes time to discuss and vote for a topic, they seem to rely on citizens searching them out to air their views. Lets face it; people have opinions but are usually too busy or unwilling to communicate their views. This should not mean that their opinion on a topic doesn’t matter because they didn’t put forth an effort to express it! This is how special interest groups get their agenda through, often contrary to the popular wishes of the taxpayers.

So how can the views of an apathetic population of taxpayers be made known to our representatives?  Ask them!

It’s time that in this age of instant communication, we utilize it rather than continue to do things as we have since two centuries ago.

The city wants to join the county in the ability to have the state transfer tax refunds to the city from people who allegedly owe money to the city.  I say allegedly because such process denies the person in question due process. It's a legal way of the city to zip in between the citizen and the bank teller and taking the money off the counter.

This manner of bullying money from citizens should be challenged in court, where the validity of the debt should have been argued before a judge in the first place.  Tell your alderman to vote against tax refund intercepts! While you are at it, tell your county supervisor that you don't like the county doing it either.  Let the citizens have their day in court!