Mark’s Musings – July 3, 2019

Mark Fortune

Mark’s Musings

Here’s hoping for a great evening for the fireworks festivities at the Coshocton County Fairgrounds this week. The Freedom Celebration will be on Wednesday, July 3 at the fairgrounds with activities beginning later in the afternoon and the fireworks slated to begin at approximately 10 p.m. That time is approximate. You can find out more about the specific activities in this week’s issue of The Beacon.

If last year’s show is any indication of how great of a show Coshocton County can put on – this year will be fantastic! Thanks to all those that make this possible and especially to all the folks of the Coshocton County Agricultural Society – that’s the fair board – for their effort and time to make this happen!

Thanks to our first responders who have faced several challenges in the past few weeks. We do appreciate what you do, how you perform your duties, and your service to our community. Thank you.

Have you formed an opinion on the idea of cancelling all student loan debt proposed by Democratic frontrunner candidate Bernie Sanders? I have not formed an opinion on this yet. But I do know that part of the tax reform should have included lifting the current $2500 threshold on deducting student loan interest on your taxes. Oh wait . . . you didn’t know that existed right? It does and it’s a stupid rule. Get rid of it Congress. Do your job.

Here’s more – quit calling me with surveys that are meaningless. I realize that the border issue is important to many. But to me there are more important priorities – health care for one. It needs fixed and that includes health care insurance on the small business owner side of things. Costs are out of control on both the health insurance side and the cost of health care.

Cleveland is not out of this thing yet – everyone seems to think that Bauer could be dealt for either cash or a trade at the All Star break. With the boys near the lake showing signs of resurgence, management could be pondering their next move carefully. Let’s hope so. The Tribe tends to come alive in the second half over the past few years but you can’t dig the hole too deep to begin with. Even the Pirates are showing signs of life. Not quite so sure about the Reds.

My Uncle Walter Doughty passed away last week. Many of you in the community knew him as a hard working dairy farmer who was very involved with 4-H and the county fair from a young age. It is difficult to sum up someone’s life in a few sentences but I will try. Uncle Walter was a strong family man, blessed to love and marry two great ladies during his life. Aunt Lois and Uncle Walter always treated me like a member of their family and I spent a lot of time at their farm as a youngster. Ah, sweet memories of the candy closet are coming back to me.

Uncle Walter was very proud of – and loved – his entire family and enjoyed telling people about what they were doing in life. He maintained his faith and a spirit of persistence throughout life despite setbacks and tragedies. That told me a lot about the man that I knew and loved as Uncle Walter. I enjoyed it when he would pop in at The Beacon office to chat about this or that. He loved playing his drum in the Walhonding Rube Band and you could count on him and Anne to make as many performances per year as possible. He was a faithful servant of Gideons International for over 20 years.

He will be sadly missed by Robert, Karen, grandchildren and the entire family. Thanks for the many great memories Uncle Walter but a special thanks for your love, encouragement and support over the years.

Category: Mark's Musings, Opinion