Mark’s Musings – March 1, 2017

Mark Fortune

It seems there are mishaps just about everywhere one turns. The new administration is learning that while the folks in Hollywood just learned that too. I’m sure that everyone has heard about the biggest error in Oscar’s history by now. You can’t blame it on Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway – the story is that they were handed the wrong envelope. The one that declared Emma Stone as best actress. A quick Google search will end up with thousands of sites – I went to Time.com to find out the real scoop so to speak. I figured they were as reliable as anyone else on the subject.

Beatty and Dunaway, knowing that they were at the Best Picture category-simply read the card they were handed-too quickly perhaps. It seems that accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers does all of the vote tallying and prepares two sets of envelopes for the event. Probably not anymore. Sure, the event is live so there is not a lot of room for error but you would think that is this has come close to happening before or there is some failsafe mechanism in place to make sure that it does not happen. You know it will be the source of cartoons and late night television jokes until the next debacle happens.

Last year’s World Series teams – The Indians and the Chicago Cubs – the winners in a nail biting seventh game-played to a 1-1 tie in the Cactus League over the weekend. Perhaps more drama is in store for 2017? Let’s hope so.

The Coshocton County Farm Bureau held a nice event on Sunday at the Coshocton Christian Tabernacle with games, food and speakers on various topics. Good job Farm Bureau!

How in the world did the Buckeyes beat the Wisconsin Badgers last week? Incredible and it just confirms that this is a roller coaster of a ride season for the men’s program. The women, on the other hand, just knocked off number two Maryland in a blazing shootout and captured a share of the Big Ten title with a weekend win over Rutgers. And it is interesting that they are doing this without injured star Stephanie Mavunga who is not expected to return until NCAA tournament time.

What is the Trump administration going to do about the Russian spy ship that is off our eastern coastline? The 310 foot long Viktor Leonov is outside United States territorial waters-which are established at 12 nautical miles from a nation’s known coastline. According to several sources, the ship has been patrolling off the Connecticut coast, which is where our nation’s largest east coast sub base is and Norfolk, Va., the largest navy base in the world. Is this provocation or something that happens more frequently than we realize? The Pentagon has said that they are not too worried.

If you receive The Beacon in your mailbox we are pleased to present our 2017 Portrait Magazine as part of this week’s package. A tremendous amount of time and energy is devoted by our staff to ensure that this annual magazine is accurate and contains information that you will find useful. We are grateful to the advertisers that make this publication possible and to everyone that provided information when contacted. We are grateful that you take the time to help us with this publication for the community. You can find Portrait online at www.portraitofcoshocton.com or pick up a copy at The Beacon office.

Category: Mark's Musings, Opinion