Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. A story on our campaign ran in the Logan Daily News today. It noted we believed in “common sense.” A couple examples the story noted: “How to balance the Federal Budget? Have someone in D.C. with a calculator — that works.” Also: “Ten fingers, ten toes, a heartbeat in the womb. Ten fingers, ten toes, a heartbeat outside the womb. Stop abortion.”
Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. Talked to a Sunday School class (7th and 8th graders) at St. Thomas Moore Church in Bowling Green, Ohio today about the famine and violence affecting youth their age in the Sudan currently. I asked them to consider a fundraising project (with a graphic display, etc.) to help generate funds for their “brothers and sisters” over there. A 7th grader volunteered to head the project and suggested maybe they could get a friendly fundraising competition going with a parish across town as well. I then went to Hicksville, Ohio where I talked to a Third Order Franciscan group there. Wonderful people. I told them of a model I researched at St. Blaze Parish in Bellingham, Massachussetts. (The parish there averages tithing a phenomenal 17% per parishioner.) They donate to an impoverished Native American Indian Reservation in New Mexico and a mission in a Third World country. Each month a woman at St. Blaze writes a story about how the tithing has helped, say, a little Indian girl get her first dress, or a family in the Third World who was able to buy a farm animal, or… One parishioner at St. Blaze said since the stories started appearing, giving tithing is no longer like impersonally: “just paying another bill.” I suggested maybe some area parishes could adopt the model and help in the Sudan at a grassroots level — because it seems our government (and majority American populace sentiment) is being slow to act amidst the absolutely horrific genocide there. I added if there was ever a “Pro-Life” issue, this would be one of them.
Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. A front page article in The Jeffersonian out of Cambridge, Ohio this week noted I said in this fast paced society of ours, youth are often being shorted emotionally, with both parents off working and otherwise just rushing about. Youth, in turn, are being ‘parented,’ if you will, by television, computers, and so on. Being a former counselor, I know when youth get shorted emotionally, they grow up angry (and turn to violence). They grow up empty (and turn to drugs, sex, compulsive work habits). Just look around society… In an attempt to spend some quality time with my children today back in Bluffton, I took them to the Senior Center annual Spelling Bee Contest, where they had a wonderful time — and I developed some empathy for former Vice-President Dan Quayle. (Remember when he mispelled: “potato”?) Well, sitting on the sidelines — without the aid of a ‘spell check’ — I mispelled, oh, more than a few words. You’d think, in fashion or out, I could at least spell: “corduroy”. Boy!
Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. Was in Jackson, Ohio this morning. Cook Gina Pittman, 35, at the Main Street Diner here is a single parent of three children, ages 15, 13 and 8. She walks with a noticeable limp (and a lot of pain). She said she was born with a seperated disc that has progressively gotten worse and she would soon be going for an MRI to assess a situation which her doctor says almost for sure will require surgery in the near future. (MRI cost: $3,000. Ms. Pittman told me she makes: $156 a week.) She has no health insurance and said she knows between the MRI and surgery “…my credit will be ruined.” In an interview shortly after talking to Ms. Pittman, I told a reporter from the Jackson newspaper that one of the things we would push for is a National Health Care System, like there is in Canada, so people like Ms. Pittman had a safety net. (We had recently interviewed Randy Mueller M.D. in Jamestown, New York who has written the book: As Sick As It Gets about our current health care system, and how it needs to be majorly reformed — so everyone can get adequate help. It’s only right, we also believe. That simple.) Note: One of the waitresses at the restaurant in Jackson had a t-shirt on that said: “Special of the Day: Road Kill… order at your own risk!” Yet another “average Joe” five star restaurant stop.
Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. Stumped at M.R. Mack’s restaurant in downtown Logan, Ohio early this morning and talked with Logan Daily News columnist Edgar “Bud” Simpson. He said growing up in northern Maine he watched as clear cutting and pollution from the paper mills all but destroyed the Penobscot River. (He and his brother, as youth, used to fish in the small Mattawassuk cove there, which he said, seemed the only spot that wasn’t totally polluted. Sad story.) I told the Logan newspaper later that bad forestry management practices need to be reversed and commended the Chief Logan High School Forestry Management Team for their recent state championship… Staying with the environmental theme, I then traveled to Nelsonville, Ohio where I interviewed a Hocking College student who is majoring in eco-tourism. Mark Sdrang told me the thrust of eco-tourism is to take people to places like rain forests in Third World countries to educate. What’s more, some of the tourist dollars are then funneled into raising the standard (better water treatment, more food, etc.) of living in nearby rural villages, and so on… From Nelsonville I went to Athens, Ohio where I stumped downtown, and, at one point, was surrounded by two reporters from area papers, a photographer and a television camera man. I mean, it was almost a: “media event.” When asked what I had to say to the people of Athens, I told the news people that, although we don’t pander to anyone, the people of Athens (home of Ohio University) need to know the first thing I’d do when I get to D.C. is change the national symbol from the Eagle to: the Bob Cat (OU mascott). (I’ve got to stop doing that!) On a more serious note, the reporter from the Athens Times Messenger asked me about the economy. I said families should consider house sharing. This would halve expenses, which would allow for, say, more job sharing (20 hour work weeks). In turn, there’d be much more time for faith, family and community, I said… I then went to McArthur, Ohio, where I interviewed Penny Alzayer who spent 13 years living in Saudi Arabia. She said culture and religion are interwoven there and she was extremely impressed with the depth of spirituality in a majority of the people there when it came to helping others. For instance, she said if you get a flat tire there “100 cars won’t whiz by before someone stops to help.” She adde she’s concerned about the perception Americans are getting about the Arab world because of how it is being portrayed in a lot of the media with the recent conflicts. While in McArthur, I was also interviewed by the county newspaper. Afterward, I interviewed Tabatha Sexton there, who is a senior at Vinton County High School and involved with a “Marketing Class.” This class allows for students to work part-time, and the rest of the curriculum is geared to teach about the fundamentals of running a business, etc., for students who may not go on to college. This seemed to make sense, common sense. I then stopped at the Vinton County Chamber of Commerce where I interviewed Brandi Boggs who is heading up an eco-tourism project for the county. Ms. Boggs the project involves fixing up a series of covered bridges in the area (with area volunteers) to increase tourism to Vinton County, which is in the heart of Appalachia and one of the poorest counties in Ohio (17% unemployment rate currently.)… From McArthur I traveled to Wellston where I talked with Michael Morrow who regulary keeps up with politics, he said. Morrow said the country wasn’t founded on a party system, which he says he believes effectively “locks everyone else out.” I closed out the day, stopping in tiny Hamden, Ohio where I put up a flyer at the small grocery store there (my continued answer to the million dollar advertising).
Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. I stumped with the regulars in the Blue Bell Diner (’50s motif and “…the best coffee in town”) in McConnelsville, Ohio this morning. (In a front page feature piece on Election 2004, USA Today had come to McConnelsville to get a pulse on the rural Ohio vote.) The “pulse” I got was from McConnelsville’s Dave Ruckman who said the whole presidential election process was getting “so far from (average Joe) reality.” He said, basically, that it was his assessment the two current candidates came through the “perfect channels,” and as a result, were out of touch with the common man. This ‘common man’ then went to the Morgan County Herald where I was allowed to type my own press release, on one of their computers no less. (Being a former journalist, I felt right at home.) Afterward, a secretary there asked me for my autograph on a newspaper article, and a button. She has a collection of political things dating back to the late 1800s and regularly displays parts of the collection at area schools, libraries, and such. When they are not on display, they are tucked in a dresser and she aptly calls the display: “Politics Behind Closed Drawers…” From here, I did a brief stop in New Lexington… Then it was on to Lancaster, Ohio.
Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. I headed into Marietta, Ohio late this afternoon where I stumped on the street in front of the Court House, then interviewed Stephen Moore. Moore is here from California helping staff a Small Business Association emergency loan operation in the aftermath of a major flood here. (Hirricane Ivan had elevated water in the Ohio River almost four feet above flood stage in these parts.) More said while many downtown businesses and residences were damaged, he was amazed at how people have pulled together to help each other. I later sent a news release to the Marietta Times applauding the people here for their efforts, while also noting other Americans — like many in the inner city — are ‘flooded’ with crime, hunger, drugs… And as people pull together in a flood (or other natural disaster), we should pull together to help these others as well.
Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. Was interviewed by Wheeling, West Virginia’s newspaper per: a whistle-stop in Martin’s Ferry, Ohio today. I said a “common sense” answer to our country’s energy situation is for some to: house share. Not only would two families share, say, the energy needed to heat a place; but conversely, they would cut their energy expense in half. I then told a reporter from the Times Leader that in tandem with this strategy, our administration would focus on developing better clean, renewable energy alternatives (wind, solar, hydro-electric…). It’s just good “environmental stewardship,” I said. I then headed west to Cambridge, Ohio where I was interviewed by The Jeffersonian newspaper there. On my way in, I contacted the editor who said: “Oh yeah, I know you. You’re, like, ‘nobody’s Joe.'” (No, that’s ‘everybody’s Joe,’ I smiled to myself). After the interview, reporter Dan Davis offered quite an idea. He said the eastern part of the country, with the recent flooding and all, has more than enough water. Why not build a transcontinental pipe line and send water out west where there is currently a drought? Good thought. [While stumping in Martin’s Ferry last night, Roger Kinney came up and said he was quite supportive of what I was doing. “I have the choice of 31 flavors of ice cream at Baskin Robins, but I only really have the choice of two presidential candiates,” he scoffed. Actually, if our campaign was likened to a flavor, I’d have to go with: Rocky Road — because, at times, it has been one.] Note: For those of you reading these entries, and are behind the campaign, we need supporting “letters to the editor” of Ohio newspapers. Thanks.
Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. Stumped in Colleen’s Place Restaurant in Lisbon, Ohio this morning. Local contractor Bill Martin told me with a lot of lumber going to Iraq for reconstruction, it has hurt him because lumber prices here have gone up considerably as a result. I then headed to East Palestine, Ohio where Larry Walton told me he gets frustrated that a candidate’s first obligation is often to the party, even if this means passing on a good idea from somebody of the other party. Walton was Chairman of the Young Republicans in Columbiana County, Ohio when Barry Goldwater ran for president in 1964. Walton also volunteers his time to tutor youth in reading, and I told the local newspaper in East Palestine it is people like Mr. Walton who we consider “extra-mile Americans.” I then headed south to Stuebenville, Ohio and Franciscan University. There I was met by editor Dennis Sadowsky of the Catholic Universe Bulletin of the Cleveland Diocese. (He had driven down for the day.) After an initial interview, Mr. Sadowsky shadowed me for a time. I stumped in Stuebenville’s downtown. Saline Township Clerk Connie McCourt, who was on the street this day, told me she was concerned about Governor Bob Taft’s statewide budget cuts. Candice Hill, who worked for the county Mental Retardation Services here, told me she was involved in programs for helping the mentally retarded find work. “I’d much rather work with the mentally retarded than many others,” she said. “They don’t back stab, they work hard, are generous, caring…” I then met with Josh Miller, who runs People Management, in Stuebenville. His firm helps people match their talents with a profession through a series of rather extensive discernment processes. [Even though we spend a tremendous amount of time working, many people take little time in discerning where their talent could be best used. They often just follow, say, a money path, I would later tell Stuebenville’s The Herald Star.] I then headed further south to Martin’s Ferry where I stumped downtown there passing out literature and talking to people on the street.
Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. Spent the day with Tim and Ann Miller in Lisbon, Ohio. They have a small family farm they are raising their seven children on. And they practice “apostolic farming.” They look at farming as a “lay apostolate.” They raise everything organically, use small techology and look at farming as, in a real sense, a prayer to God. Tim said he believes raising children on a farm develops a strong work ethic and intimately connects them with the cycles of nature.