Trying to accommodate smokers:
A number of local eateries and bars have built patios, or added onto old ones, because of the smoking ordinance. The 412 Club is the only one The News-Sentinel could find that actually marked a line for smokers and nonsmokers.
The Fort Wayne Burmese community gets cover-story treatment in The Irrawaddy, a Burmese news publication based in Thailand.
Democratic mayoral candidate Tom Henry's campaign manager has been let go, and I'm not sure what his transgression was:
Knuth said Ascher lacked strengths the campaign needed, such as working with the media, and had a style that clashed with other campaign members. Still, Knuth said he would recommend Ascher to another campaign.
I "ran away from home" a time or two when I was a kid. It was part of the ritual of growing up, to show your parents how mean they were and how sad they would be when they realized what they had driven you to. (Shades of "A Christmas Story," in the fantasy sequence where Ralphie imagines his parents' agony when they realize that washing his mouth out with soap had turned him blind.)
There are zombies in the streets of Fort Wayne! Quick, run to the Allen County Public Library so a friendly librarian can send the zombies off in the wrong direction and direct you to a copy of "The "Zombie Survival Guide." That's the premise of a two-minute video (watch here)submitted on hehalf of ACPL in the "I Love My Library" video contest on YouTube.
I feel like Fort Wayne Observed today. I have a story of a heinous crime, direct from a news release to you. It features a kidnapping, a fugitive who flees to another state and an intrepid small-town reporter who won't give up on a good story. Here's the whole thing, direct from Peggy Bender, humane educaion specialist for Animal Care & Control (where the photo also comes from):
The toughest smoking ban in the state starts here tomorrow, and the only question remaining is whether it will hurt the businesses of bars and restaurants. I wonder if we have enough information to predict that. Some say "studies have shown" that there is no negative impact from bans elsewhere. Others contend that, while the number of customers might increase (there being more non-smokers than smokers), those customers will spend less, because they won't linger as long.
When red-light cameras were being considered here, officials insisted the reason was safety and safety only. But some (including me) had doubts, considering the jurisdictions that had found them to be big revenue generators. Now comes Buffalo, being glaringly and stupidly honest:
The Indiana blogosphere has a lot to say on the matter of Matt Kelty's campaign-finance-disclosure problem. Some, such as Fort Wayne Libertarian Mike Sylvester, think the Kelty for Mayor campaign just made a mistake in reporting, and it's too bad the filing laws are so complex that a lawyer is needed to understand them.
After the primary, I wrote an editorial saying, among other things, that Republicans wouldn't stay divided this year the way they did in 1999, that they would unite behind Matt Kelty in a way they didn't for Linda Buskirk. Here, in a Kevin Leininger column, is a hint that I might need to rethink the issue:
