Our town

Has anybody else noticed that the cicadas seem to be even louder and more annoying than ever this summer? I hear them at home, at work, at my friend's house. Shut up! Can't the city invoke its noise ordinance? Maybe we can convince the DNR that they're Canadian insects that snuck over the border, bring some big guns out and wipe 'em out.

And if you can't eat the fish, I'd recommend not drinking the water, either:

The state's annual warnings against eating some fish caught in Indiana's waterways aren't reaching enough Hoosiers, leading some people to unknowingly eat catches tainted with industrial contaminants, public health advocates said Thursday.

If you've read the blog post of the visitor who wasn't much impressed with Fort Wayne, perhaps you'd like to hear from someone with something nicer to say:

I'm all for commerce, but don't we have enough places to shop in Fort Wayne, at least in that part of town?

RCI Development LLC plans to build a 100,000-square-foot shopping center just west of Glenbrook Commons and Glenbrook Square, according to a local developer's Web site.

I served on the Big Brothers Big Sisters board for six years, so I know what great work the local agency does. This is much deserved:

The staff, board, “Bigs” and “Littles” at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Indiana have cause for great celebration. In June at the organization's national convention, the local agency was named the 2006 Agency of the Year among 440 across the country and internationally. It serves more than 1,100 children in 12 counties.

The 10 most outrageous minor-league baseball promotions, with this winner:

1. The Bisbee- Douglas Copper Kings took advantage of baseball legend Ted Williams' body being cryogenically frozen in 2003 by giving out frozen popsicles to the first 500 fans.

The Wizards didn't make the list, but if they move downtown, perhaps someone can come up with a good stunt. Come to think of it, some people think such a move itself would be a good stunt.

I recently learned something many of you might not know yet. Neighborhood Code, historically understaffed, has been a "respond to complaints only" organization, which led to a certain amount of unfairness in enforcement. You could have had the worst-looking house in town and not get cited, but  somebody else with only minor problems could have been written up. It all depended on who got ratted out by neighbors, which tended to make Code Enforcement a potent weapon in long-running feuds.

I think it's my duty to peek in on The News-Seninel's Daily Rant occasionally, in case you missed it. Tuesday's was:

I can't believe how closed-minded people in this city are (Well, maybe I can). Rap and hip-hop music don't mean that someone will get shot or stabbed.

I certainly hope not. The only thing worse than being shot and stabbed would be for rap or hip-hop to be the last sound you heard on Earth.

As the owner of a laptop with an internal modem who likes to get online whenever and wherever possible, I appreciate the city making wifi hotspots available downtown. But let's not pretend this is cutting-edge. Free  wifi hotspots are sprouting up everywhere in the country, even at McDonald's. The speed is somewhere between dial-up and DSL, not quite broadband, and connectivity is likely to be iffy in spots. And, as usual, when government decides to invest in something, it's a little bit behind the curve.

I think this member of the Fort Wayne-Allen County Airport Authority should be gracious and leave the board so that someone with more time and/or interest can be appointed:

Sports agent Eugene Parker has attended less than a third of the meetings of the Fort Wayne-Allen County Airport Authority, on which he serves, in the last year. Even so, he continues to have the support of Mayor Graham Richard, who appointed the Roanoke-based lawyer to the board in July 2004.