Mark’s Musings – Jan. 27, 2016

Mark Fortune

The people, businesses and organizations throughout Coshocton County can typically be counted on to deliver when it counts. Last week was no exception as The Coshocton Foundation board of trustees approved a $50,000 donation to the United Way of Coshocton County. This will go a long way towards helping offset the loss of WestRock giving, whose employees were the top giver for the past several years to the local campaign. As of this writing, the current campaign is several thousand dollars shy of the goal. You can still make a donation by contacting the local United Way office at 740-622-4567.

I just could not figure out who to root for in the New England versus Denver game. I am opting to root for Peyton Manning, not necessarily the guys in orange. During last night’s NFC game, I had to ask my wife, “Hey”, I said, “When was the last time the Browns were in the Super Bowl. Wish I hadn’t have asked. Golly gee says me. And this little quest led me, of course to Google and Wikipedia. There are actually 13 teams that have never won a modern Super Bowl. That is, one of the first 49 as this is number 50 (as I am sure most of you know). But the Browns do have one over on the Bengals – winning a playoff game in 1994 by beating the Patriots. Bengals fans know all about their particular malady in the playoffs.

So, the question is – Panthers or Broncos in Super Bowl 50? My prediction will come next week. It is probably wise to ensure that no one gets arrested or injured or something like that. My gut says go with experience (Manning) over enthusiasm (Newton) but . . .

Well, we escaped the onslaught of Winter Storm Jonas. But you can find out how your favorite superstar weathered the storm by just searching Google – that is, versus knowing how the hungry and homeless masses in Washington D.C., New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore suffered through it. I am sure that at least one of the stars managed to feed their Twitter with reports of shoveling in bon bons or honey buns (did you get that little pun?) during the storm.

On the local scene, the Chocolate Extravaganza is headed our way – as is the annual Open House at the Coshocton County Career Center. Make plans to attend one or both of these nice, fun, get to see your friends and neighbors events for our community. You’ll be glad you did.

Did you hear about the water problems in Flint, Michigan? That story probably got buried in the media blitz about Winter Storm Jonas. This column is not long enough to give adequate coverage to this issue – suffice it to say that you yourself might want to research this. A particularly informative article popped up from Yahoo at https://www.yahoo.com/katiecouric/the-flint-water-crisis-explained-031412993.html.

I told someone in our community that many of you would know if I mentioned the name – but won’t – that I have felt cold for the past 5 days. As in physically cold. He simply said, “Mark, its cold outside. You will warm up around July 4”. I guess I was looking for something a bit more profound.

Category: Mark's Musings, Opinion