November weather has been up and down

More than half of November is over and Ohio has yet to feel that winter chill. There hasn’t been any measurable snow yet either. Temperatures have averaged above normal for most of the month so far. November has brought five days in the 60’s and five days in the 50’s. The average high for the middle of November is around 48. On November 6, the high was only 39 and that was the coldest day of the month thus far.

Most areas have experienced a good frost which has slowed the growth of the grass and dropped most of the leaves off the trees. Temperatures have been swinging back and forth from time to time with highs in the 60’s one day and back into the 40’s the next.

Heading into the week of Thanksgiving, the weather looks to remain warm before colder air slides in to most areas on Thanksgiving Day. Temperatures are expected to be below average with snow for the end of the month and for the entire month of December.

What does turning 20 mean?

20 years old. What does it mean? I asked myself the same question when I woke up on the day of my 20th birthday. 20 is not really the most exciting age, but 20 marks the end of your teenage years. Now I am officially a tweenager. Wait, I don’t think tweenager is a word, but it sounded good. In a sense 20 is just another year before turning 21.

November 9th my birthday fell on a Tuesday this year. It started out just like a normal day, but it had that special feel to it. I spent the day doing some outside work which is something I enjoy doing. Later in the afternoon I had a chance to play some basketball with some friends. The games of basketball were very enjoyable and it was nice to spend some time with my friends. It figures I turn 20 years old and now I cannot beat the kids who are younger than me in basketball. Older age didn’t work in my favor in the game of basketball.

The day also consisted of going out to eat at Lembo’s Italian Restaurant with my parents. I had a great meal and it was nice to spend some time with my parents. I also got a chance to talk to all three of my uncles on the phone. Along with the calls I had close to 150 people on Facebook wish me a happy birthday. It really was a special day and I would like to thank everyone who made it special for me. Sure turning 20 may not be the most exciting thing in the world, but I sure enjoyed turning 20.

Another failed levy for Green

5,331 people made it clear that they don’t want higher property taxes by voting down the Green Local School Levy. The levy was defeated by a 53 to 46 percentage on Tuesday. The percentage may not sound that close, but the difference in votes was only 627. This failed levy marks the 12 year in a row that Green has failed to approve new funding. Now Green is forced to cut up to 75 teaching positions and enforce pay to play for sports.

So why can’t Green get a levy to pass? The answer to that is simple as the economy is horrible and property owners don’t want to have to pay higher property taxes. Everything is expensive right now and the last thing most people want is to have to pay more when it is time to pay their property taxes. Can you blame people for not wanting to pay higher property taxes? Not really, but schools are important places that we should stand behind and support. Consider the 5,331 people who voted the levy down were most likely property owners that don’t have any children in the schools. In my opinion everyone should always support the schools no matter what because schools put children on the right path for the future.

The future doesn’t look very bright for Green as more teachers will lose their jobs and fewer classes will be offered. It seems that Green Schools are slowly going to turn into other districts such as Akron who offer only basic classes and no real extras. Green will still remain to be a great district, but not as many elective classes will be offered at the middle and high school. I do give Green credit for being smart and putting pay to play right into place because sports deserves to be cut before teachers do. Having to let go of teachers is not going to be an easy task because Green has many great staff members.

Overall I am very disappointed with Green residents who voted this levy down. They failed to support a very important aspect of the community. Another failed levy means Green has to figure out a better way to get a levy to pass in the future.

Another terrific Halloween

Another Halloween season is over and I have to say it was a big success. Many hours of hard work went into putting together Eric’s Haunted Crib which had 36 guests in Akron this year. The crowd was just right and it was nice to have 13 people attend that had never seen the haunted house before. I really enjoyed spending the night with family and taking groups through the haunted basement. Guests were really pleased with how awesome and different the basement looked this year. Eric Lough and I worked hard to make some new rooms and displays to make the basement look different.

It was great to have my haunted house featured on three local radio stations and on AkronNewsNow. Ryan Haidet, who works for AkronNewsNow did a great job of conducting a video interview about my haunted crib. Little did I know that my small story on AkronNewsNow would explode into a front page story on Yahoo.

The story was a surprise as on Friday October 29 someone told me that my haunted crib was on Yahoo News. I thought to myself that there was no way my haunted crib was on the front of Yahoo as a featured story. I quickly went to Yahoo’s homepage and there was the Eric’s Haunted Crib sign staring back at me. I was shocked and couldn’t even believe that my little haunted house made a national news website. Ends up Yahoo reprinted the AkronNewsNow story on their website. Still I was really amazed that little old Eric Poston from Green, Ohio was on Yahoo. Being on Yahoo really made this Halloween a terrific one because so many people got a chance to see how much time and effort I put into Halloween each year.