As Lake High School head football coach Bob Abbey called in his team for a post-practice meeting recently, he had to strain his voice so all the players could hear his instructions over the sounds emanating from behind him.
“We’re all pretty used to that by now,” Abbey said. “It’s kind of like living by the railroad tracks. You hardly ever notice the train going by after a while.”
Abbey and the Flyer football team have had to practice in the shadow of the cleanup from a June 5 tornado that ripped through Lake Township, killing six and leaving homes and the high school severely damaged.
With cranes hovering in the distance and the constant sound of heavy machinery in the background, the Flyers are adjusting to life after the storm.
Senior quarterback Alan Martinez said he tries to focus on the task at hand.

The Lake football team has practiced with sounds of reconstruction around its field.

“I don’t pay attention to it,” he said. “There is the occasional cement truck that catches your eye, but I try and zero in on football.”
Starting from scratch
Abbey admits it hasn’t been easy getting things together for this football season. He and his staff have spent countless hours planning the logistics of how this season would work.
“All the equipment we had the day after the storm was the six footballs in the trunk of our quarterback’s car,” he said. “We had to order all new equipment for this season. It was a lot like starting a football program from scratch.”
The football stadium presented its own set of problems. The field sustained little damage in the storm upon first glance, but a closer look revealed shards of glass, metal and other debris embedded up to 8 inches into the ground.
“I thought we would just line up with some buckets and walk the field picking stuff up,” Abbey said. “It never dawned on me we would have stuff embedded that far into the field.”
The Lake Board of Education decided to replace the sod with artificial field turf, which will make the venue a multipurpose facility. Superintendent Jim Witt said the decision will benefit the school’s athletic teams in the long run.
“When we added in all the factors, the field turf was the way to go,” Witt said. “The cost was comparable to sod and the field turf will allow for quicker transition for usage by all of our teams, too.”
The stadium is scheduled to be completed in time for the team’s first home game Sept. 3. Abbey said the stadium’s completion will be a big relief to him and his team.
“At first I thought we were going to be playing 10 road games this season,” he said. “When the decision about the turf was announced, it was a weight lifted off my shoulders. It will be nice to play at home and give the team a sense of normalcy.”
There are still some issues to be resolved. Abbey said his team still has no locker rooms and might bring in modular classrooms to serve as a temporary solution.
There is also still a transportation issue as well, with the team still figuring out how to get the kids from the Owens Community College building on Tracy Road to the football field.
Abbey said that while some things are still up in the air, one thing he knows is his kids will go with the flow.
“They have been adapting all summer,” he said. “They have been through this every day since June 5, and I am proud of the way they handled it.”
High expectations
The Flyers are coming off a 7-3 mark last season and despite all that has happened in and around the Lake community, there has been no change in the team’s expectations for this season.
“We want to win the league and go to the state playoffs,” quarterback Martinez said with a smile.
Fellow teammate and senior Kurt McKee couldn’t agree more.
“We are going to go out there and play to the best of our abilities,” he said. “There is no one who has higher expectations than we have for ourselves.”
Abbey has a special bond with this year’s seniors. Now in his fourth season as head coach, this is Abbey’s first group of players that have been with him for all four years at Lake.
“I have seen these guys grow and develop a lot since they first came out as freshmen,” he said. “This is a real close-knit group of guys and I am pleased with how they have grown into young men.”
If the Flyers are going to win the Suburban Lakes League (SLL), they will have to go through the three-time defending champion Genoa as well as Eastwood, who qualified for the state playoffs last season.
Abbey said the SLL is tough from the top all the way down.

Head football coach Bob Abbey oversees a recent Lake Flyers practice.

“Genoa and Eastwood have been the top two in the league the last couple of years, and all the teams have improved coming into this season. It sounds cliché but we have to take it a week at a time and we have to be focused week in and week out on the task at hand.”
Abbey has a simple philosophy on how to top the competition this season.
“If you block and tackle well, you usually are going to win the football game,” he said. “We just need to keep improving and stay healthy.”
Community affair
Abbey always looks forward to Friday nights in the fall, but he especially does this season.
“I’ll be happy because it will bring back a sense of normalcy to all of this,” he said. “When the season starts, we are on a normal schedule, and all the things we have dealt with this past offseason will have been taken care of. Then, we can just focus on school and football.”
Lake High School has long served a dual role as school and community center for the surrounding area. With the building in a state of disrepair, the focus will shift to the gridiron and Witt said the school board knew how important football would be for the entire community this season.
“I think the football games will serve many functions this year,” he said. “It will be a gathering place for the kids and the community, but it will also serve a therapeutic role for the people as well. That’s why it was never a question to have athletics this year.”
McKee said that the fans’ support will help him and his teammates.
“We had a lot of fans come out before all of this happened,” he said. “I think there will be even more this year and we are excited for them to come out and watch us.”
Abbey knows the focus on his team will be more intense in light of what has happened.
“This was the hub for the community and our first home game is going to be big,” he said. “I am hopeful that the sense of community will come back.”
The head coach also sees another opportunity.
“We have been in the news for a lot of tragic things these past couple of months,” he said. “My hope for these kids and this community is that this season and this team can put a positive spin on all that has happened.”

While the quote, “The men certainly don’t have to work there; if they are dissatisfied, they can leave. That is every man’s right,” has been paraphrased by some in our area regarding the negotiations between the city of Toledo and Teamsters Local 20, it was first said in 1915. It was stated by J.P. Morgan when testifying before the Federal Relations Commission and reported by the Boston  Evening Transcript on Feb. 2, 1915. Almost 100 years later, though collective bargaining laws have changed a great deal since then, some of the attitudes have not.
I asked  Sherrie J. Passmore, executive director of the State Employment Relations Board (SERB), “What is fact-finding?”
Passmore said, “Fact-finding is a dispute settlement created under the Ohio Revised Code (ORC) Chapter 4117. It is designed to resolve contract negotiations utilizing a neutral third party, who conducts an informal hearing in which the parties present evidence and arguments to the neutral as to why the contract should be modified.”
The city of Toledo and Teamsters opted for an alternative dispute process, which means they did not use a fact-finder through SERB. It’s called a mutually agreed alternate dispute settlement (MADs).
While SERB is not actively involved in the current negotiations, Passmore said, “They can get back into the statutory process by filing a motion with SERB.”
According to the Ohio Administrative Code,  the joint motion “must contain a commitment by the parties to complete the statutory procedure without deviation and without re-institution of an alternate dispute settlement procedure.”
There are standardized fact-finding guidelines and SERB has requirements for those seeking to be listed on their “SERB Roster of Neutrals.” Paul Gerhart is not on its roster, but since the city and the Teamsters opted for a MADs, they were free to pick any fact-finder mutually agreed upon. Gerhart has been a fact-finder in Toledo union/management disputes in the past.
There are six criteria listed in the ORC to be considered when making a recommendation, three of which are:
1. Past collectively bargained agreements, if any, between the parties;
2. Comparison of the unresolved issues relative to the employees in the bargaining unit with those issues related to other public and private employees doing comparable work, giving consideration to factors peculiar to the area and classification involved;
3. The interests and welfare of the public, the ability of the public employer to finance and administer the issues proposed and the effect of the adjustments on the normal standard of public service.
The Ohio Civil Service Employees Association states in a 2009 AFSMCE Local 11 AFL-CIO publication, that “fact-finding is a poor substitute for direct negotiations because of the uncertainty of involving an outsider. There is no prioritizing. There is no grouping of issues. There is no give-and-take. The fact-finder can pick either management’s position, the union’s position, or a compromise in between.”
A fact-finder report automatically goes into effect if it is not rejected by a three-fifths majority vote of the  legislative body or the membership of the public employee organization.  As we saw in Toledo, all it takes is one side to reject, no matter the majority of the other party in support, the recommendations are still rejected.
Once it’s rejected, if it’s a union that is not allowed to strike, like public safety workers, a conciliator selection process would start.
In the case of Teamsters Local 20, they can return back to discussions,  jointly motion SERB with the City or they can issue a 10-day strike notice.
Fact-finding is just one part of the collective bargaining process, while it can create an agreement when there is no rejection, a rejection does not automatically mean a strike will take place. Sometimes it just means a return to the negotiating table, something else that has been happening time and time again in union/management relationships.

Toledo Free Press contributor Lisa Renee Ward operates the political blog GlassCityJungle.com.

I never thought I’d be one for a gated community. However, before our first child even celebrated his first birthday, my husband and I had no choice but to start putting gates up across the stairway, the kitchen, the bathroom and any other pathway leading to possible destruction and/or bodily harm. It wasn’t long after that initial safety sweep that our location was fully secured with militaristic intensity 24 hours a day.

Or so we thought.

The incessant running, climbing and unbridled curiosity soon began to completely take over our once-barrier-free abode, and our toddler security system was rapidly forced into even greater expansion. Our son’s table-scaling eventually resulted in us strapping all of the dining room chairs together with bungee cords to defend against unwanted free fall attempts. Although our efforts curbed the teetering dangerously three feet above hardwood floors, the fastening of our chairs to our table seemed to come as quite a surprise to guests.

Also surprising to visitors were our seemingly impenetrable hidden magnet cupboard locks. We often ended up snickering quietly to ourselves as we observed friends and family struggle to unlock the secrets of our magical cabinet doors, seemingly glued shut with no reasonable chance of dislodging them. The brief comic relief was not of much conciliation compared with the self-imposed imprisonment we began to face within the confines of our own home, however.

Yes, having to pry a stubborn little piece of opaque plastic from an electrical outlet, effectively mirroring bamboo fingernail torture, just to vacuum a room was a bit frustrating, I’ll be honest. I also did not take giving up the right to move dressers and cabinets on an interior design whim, because they are securely fastened to the nearest wall, lightly. No doubt bruised knees from constantly trying to hurdle bigger and better gates was also inconvenient, but it kept our little guy safe until he acquired the gross motor skills and the logical sense to roam freely.

Yet, at that point, we then decided to have another little one. And then another. And then we found out that, despite our veteran childproofing status, keeping a toddler safe with a 4-year-old and a 7-year-old in the house plops you right back to plotting from square one. The regular falling, burning, accidental poisoning and electrocution toddler pitfalls are enough to worry about without having to account for the magnitude of small, chokeable items possessed by older siblings. Coming up with a comprehensive defense strategy that works is especially grueling when child number three has taken on the phrase “bigger, faster, stronger” to define her place in the family. (OK, she’s actually smaller than the other two were, but the faster and stronger are fairly accurate.)

My understanding of the third child was that she would quietly do her own thing. I assumed quietly doing her own thing meant sitting in a corner and looking at a book. I never imagined it to mean stealthily practicing each and every physical maneuver modeled by her siblings, but completely dangerous and inappropriate for the likes of a one-year-old, day after day after day.

It’s exhausting trying to stay one step ahead of her dangerous feats. Just as we all become accustom to one system of barriers, a loud thud tells us that said barrier has been breached and that leaving it up has become more dangerous than removing it altogether. In fact, we have found that any kingdom of obstacles and barricades is ultimately no match for childhood precociousness.

Still, we keep trying. I am starting to realize that this cat and mouse game will continue on long after early childhood. We’ll keep attempting to set boundaries, and our children will continue to master them. I have to admit that, despite my outward exasperation, I always feel a twinge of pride when one of my children figures out how to disgrace a childproof lock by prying it open or thinks to move a stepstool across the room and place it up against the counter in order to snag that last sliver of chocolate. Each obstacle surmounted gives me confidence that they will have the perseverance, the ability and the courage to take on whatever it is this unpredictable life chooses to throw their way.

Shannon and her husband Michael are raising three children in Sylvania. E-mail her at letters@toledofreepress.com.

Local progressive columnist Don Burnard wrote a piece recently in which he decried the Republican Party as having “recently become the home of every outrageous, irrational and irresponsible thought process that can (im)possibly be thought of.”

I’ll begin by touching briefly on the author’s speculating pessimistically on former Alaska governor Sarah Palin’s chances of competing on “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” – then observing, “From basically 1933-1994, the Republican Party was more or less a permanent minority.” Mr. Burnard, Jeff Foxworthy is waiting for you to match your definition of “permanent” with what his young scholars know.

But enough of that. If he wants to talk outrageousness, irrationality and irresponsibility, let’s get it on. Try to match, by those criteria, these actual quotes (a feature usually missing from progressive commentary) from modern progressive Democrats with anything uttered by any contemporary Republican – or any Libertarian, for that matter.

“Sharron Angle . . . thinks anyone who doesn’t agree with her narrow view should be shot” – Don Burnard, ibid. Okay, I’ll stop picking on him and just let that utterly irrational assessment of Senator Harry Reid’s Republican opponent stand on its own.

“One could say that Osama bin Laden and these non-nation-state fighters with religious purpose are very similar to those kind of atypical revolutionaries that helped to cast off the British crown” – Misrepresentative Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), comparing Osama bin Hidin to the Green Mountain Boys after the 9/11 attack. Rich Iott, are you paying attention?

“It’s almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that” – Misrepresentative Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota), July 2007, also referring to 9/11. The Reichstag, the German parliament, was burned in 1933, evidently by Nazis wanting to legitimize Hitler’s seizure of power. Mr. Ellison also likened then-President Bush to Hitler and called then Vice-President Cheney “the very definition of totalitarianism, authoritarianism and dictatorship” for refusing to answer questions from Congress.

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy” – then Senator Joe Biden commenting in August 2008 on then-presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama. And Republicans are considered racist?

“You know, education, if you make the most of it and you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you — you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq” – Senator John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), sharing with a college audience in October 2006 his assessment of the intelligence of American servicepeople.

“The federal government can do most anything in this country” – Misrepresentative Fortney Pete Stark (D-California), town hall meeting, July 24, 2010. Constitution? What’s a Constitution?

“I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque is being funded.” House Speakerette Nancy Pelosi, calling for investigation of anyone who speaks out against the Ground Zero mosque.

“The fact of global warming is unequivocal. The certainty of the human role is now somewhere over 90 percent. Which is about as certain as scientists ever get . . . I would like to say we’re at a point where global warming is impossible to deny. Let’s just say that global warming deniers are now on a par with Holocaust deniers, though one denies the past and the other denies the present and future” – Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman, executing a magnificent Burnard Trifecta in February 2007.

“Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals . . . Civilization will have broken down. The few people left will be living in a failed state — like Somalia or Sudan — and living conditions will be intolerable” – Ted Turner, predicting in April 2008 the consequences of “global warming” in thirty to forty years. Remember, you’re a Holocaust denier if you disagree.

“We will keep . . . our boot on the throat of BP to ensure that they’re doing all that they — all that is necessary . . .” – White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, May 3, 2010. Another Burnard Trifecta in one fractured sentence, as the President’s spokesman chillingly employs the direct language and imagery of tyranny.

Okay, there’s your sampling of progressive outrageousness, irrationality and irresponsibility. Republicans, perhaps even Libertarians, can say some wild things as well. But if the advocacy of liberty is an outrage, then the one who is outraged is proven a friend of tyranny. Please – if you are inclined to embrace the modern progressive position, as stated by these people, think carefully of the implication of what your tacitly approve.

Thomas Berry, for the Children of Liberty.

Furor has grown almost exponentially in the weeks since it was announced that an Islamic group would like to build a thirteen story complex within blocks of where the World Trade Center once stood.  Regardless of whether the building is or would be perceived as a  Community Center or a mosque (its design includes a minaret that would issue calls to prayer five times a day) and whether the motives of those building it are as a bridge extended by moderate Muslims or an attempt to place a trophy near a perceived site of Islamic extremist victory, the construction of this building has become a lightning rod of controversy.

Simultaneous protests were held in New York City last weekend, as people on both sides of the argument there and from coast to coast made themselves heard.  This being an election year, politicians across the nation and at all levels of government are likewise taking a principled (or electable) position on the subject as well (in the President’s case, both).  Speaker Pelosi even called for investigations into the funding of groups protesting the structure (and almost reluctantly later called for a similar inquiry into funding for the building itself).

Arguments for the structure seem to center on the religious freedom issue, defending the group’s desire to build as one of Constitutional freedom based on the First Amendment.  Such a case cannot be made however since the Amendment cited in fact reads:  “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. Since neither Congress nor any state or local legislature is proposing such a law, making such an argument is baseless.

Arguments against this building seem based on offending the sensibilities of families and friends of the victims of the 9/11 attacks, as well as those of residents of  NYC and the rest of the nation.  Those opposed point out that the site of the World Trade Center is hallowed ground, stained with the blood of innocent victims of an attack made on this country; and as such should not have a symbol of the beliefs of those attackers desecrating it.  While such arguments may be both compelling and appealing emotionally, they in fact hold no basis in law.

Ultimately however, the issue to be decided in this case is one of local responsibility and must be decided by local officials on the basis local laws.  This is a private property issue after all, and unlike some, I cannot dispose of such concerns when they become inconvenient.  If this structure does not violate any of the city’s laws regarding such construction, there is nothing that can be done legally to prevent construction.

Just because the rest of the country will not be allowed to weigh in on the legality of erecting such a structure however, does not mean that their voices cannot ultimately be heard; and should this project  receive permission to go forward, I propose a way for that to happen that I call “The Arizona Solution”.

The Arizona Solution is modeled after protests, mounted predominantly by the left, that erupted in the wake of passage of immigration law in that state.  Those who disagreed with Arizona’s desire to assist federal law enforcement quickly marshaled their forces around the country and called for boycotts of the state to show their dissatisfaction financially; many of which were subsequently approved.  Some major league baseball players even weighed in, saying that they would refuse to play in the All-Star game to be held in Phoenix next year if such a law were in place.

While I have nothing against New Yorkers (in spite of the biased opinions of their press) I see no reason that such tactics cannot be used in this situation.  In fact I find a certain amusing irony in proposing that municipalities and states refuse to allow their representatives to attend events held in NYC if this project goes forward.  I likewise find the concept of non-violent challenge by any private citizen who refuses to travel to this city in protest both protected under the free speech section of the aforementioned First Amendment and of potentially considerable influence on a city greatly dependent on tourism.

While it is not my intention to inflict a hardship on the businesses and people in New York City, I suspect that the threat to do so might help define for Mayor Bloomberg and local leaders whether their principles or their political and financial futures are more important to them.  I also find that using a form of protest often applied by the left to a cause that many of its strongest proponents support an opportunity to good to pass up, and urge you to likewise consider  “The Arizona Solution.”
Tim Higgins blogs at http://justblowingsmoke.blogspot.com/

There’ll be a heat wave sweeping across the University of Toledo’s Centennial Mall when Martha Reeves and the Vandellas take the stage for Music Fest at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 2.

The Motown trio burned up the charts during the 1960s with hits that included “Dancing in the Street,” “Heat Wave,” “Jimmy Mack” and “Nowhere to Run.”

“Motown made 30 superstar acts,” Reeves said. “We were all taught to have proper attire, to present ourselves to kings and queens.”

Reeves and the Vandellas are regarded as music royalty. The ladies received the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation in 1993. Reeves and all singers in the Vandellas became the second all-female group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. And in 2003, they were inducted to the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.

“I was given a hint of how our music still has an effect,” Reeves said during a phone interview from her Detroit home. “A friend was in Paris and he was walking along and they had music over a loud speaker and all of a sudden there I was with ‘Dancing in the Street.’ And he said the people were swaying and dancing, it seemed everybody got a little happier and a little friendlier at that moment, and that’s what the Motown music does.”

Martha Reeves

Growing up in the Motor City, music was a religious experience for Reeves. As a child, she and her siblings won a church talent contest. Then she saw Della Reese sing.

“[Reese] stood up and did a cappella, she sang ‘Amazing Grace’ and she shook the rafters,” Reeves recalled. “This beautiful woman with this big, beautiful voice — it touched me and made me want to be a singer, powerful like her.”

After being invited to Motown Records for an audition that didn’t happen in 1962, Reeves began working at Hitsville, USA, in the artists and repertoire department. When she and her group The Del-Phis filled in for Mary Wells during a recording session, Motown founder Berry Gordy liked what he heard — but asked them to change their name.

“I came up with Van Dyke Street, which I lived near, and Della Reese who was my idol. It turned out Vandellas,” Reeves said. “And in a month, we had a recording, and then about nine months later, we all left for our first Motown Revue. It was eight acts and a 12-piece band on a broken-down Trailways [bus] with no toilet.”

The singer credited the “genius jazz cats” who played the music.

“They learned to play together so well until they were literally referred to as the Funk Brothers,” she said.

And she mentioned the songwriters.

“We were getting songs from Holland-Dozier-Holland, ‘Come and Get These Memories’ being the first song they wrote as a writing team,” she said. “We had ‘Love Makes You Do Foolish Things,’ we had ‘Quicksand,’ ‘Live Wire,’ ‘Spellbound.’ And The Supremes told Berry they wanted songs like Martha & the Vandellas.”

Of course, it was Gordy who made it all work.

“Most of the songs were initially judged by … Berry’s friends,” Reeves said. “He would ask them, ‘Would you choose this record or would you choose a hot dog?’ ”

While serving on Detroit City Council from 2005 to 2009, Reeves had West Grand Boulevard given a second name, Berry Gordy Jr. Boulevard, to honor the music mogul and the site of Hitsville.

When Reeves travels down I-75 for the Toledo show, she’ll be accompanied by her sisters, Lois and Delphine, as the Vandellas.

“Someone asked me when was I going to retire. I can’t imagine,” Reeves said and laughed. “I’m going to sing as long as I’m able; I’m gong to dance as long as I can. And age 69 feels real good.”

www.missmarthareeves.com

University of Toledo Music Fest

Sept. 2

Centennial Mall on Main Campus

Free

• 3 p.m. — MAS FiNA

• 4:30 p.m. — Universal Xpression

• 5:30 p.m. — Pep Rally for UT Football Team

• 6 p.m. — Alexander Zonjic with Thornetta Davis and the Motor City Horns

• 7:30 p.m. — Martha Reeves and the Vandellas

• 9 p.m. — We the Kings

• 10 p.m. — Fireworks

Roughly a year ago I penned an article titled “How Obama Saved the Economy.” That article garnered quite a bit of attention, including e-mails and comments from readers, many of them angry or hostile.

It seems this readership did not include many folks in Washington, including the current administration, which chose not to follow the simple path I laid out that could have turned our economy around in short order.

Instead, the White House, Federal Reserve, and Congress went the other way on nearly every issue that I discussed in the article.

The results tell the story:

• Americans are infuriated at continued job losses
• The housing market has largely stagnated, and is showing signs of a possible double dip
• Cheap money has continued to fuel a massive bubble in bonds
• Companies have started issuing 100-year bonds to lock in cheap interest rates while investors continue to pile into debt securities, which will certainly take a beating over the next 5 years (Norfolk Southern selling 100-year bonds, CNBC)
• Money supply (M3) year-over-year growth has recently turned up, but is still negative (NowAndFutures.com)

Maybe I’m out of touch, but these examples hardly sound to me a like a job well done.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m no cynic. Economist David Rosenberg of Gluskin Sheff recently announced that the United States is not exiting our recent recession, but has simply been in an upswing of what he thinks will prove to be a severe Depression.

I hate to tell Gluskin Sheff that they are paying a substantial salary to someone who is simply wrong. The United States is not in a depression, as Rosenberg would have us believe. True, the market has pulled back somewhat as the economy has stagnated (not double dipped), but at this point the market is right around the bottom of a trading range (10,000 to 10,500 on the Dow) where it has spent roughly 80% of the trading days over the past 12 months.

The real question to ask is where the Fed has been during all this.

Over the past two years the Fed has lacked both the direction and the decisiveness to help restore confidence in the US economy or make any meaningful headway on key indicators like employment, housing, or money supply.

History will show that typically the Fed supports the party in power in pursuing fiscal and monetary policy. The Fed can almost always be relied on to stimulate the market leading up to an election in order to bolster support for incumbents. This time has been markedly different.

Now it seems doubtful there is anything the Fed can do to save Democrats come November. At this point there is simply nothing Fed can do to help bolster the economy in any significant way that will be noticeable on Main Street (where the voters are) before the election.

Under Carter the Misery Index became a useful tool in measuring economic activity. Consisting of the inflation rate plus unemployment, this index contributed greatly to Ronald Reagan’s campaign, and no doubt helped him defeat Carter.

Generally speaking, it is nearly impossible for a party in power to remain in power with the Misery Index in the upper teens. Under Carter this number reached an all-time high at nearly 22 before dropping to just below 20 at the end of his term. During Reagan’s 8 years in office, this number fell by more than 10 points. Bush’s (H.W.) term in office saw the index peak around 12.5, and Clinton around 10.5.

At this point the Misery Index, using stated unemployment numbers, is roughly 11. Unfortunately, we all know how accurate stated unemployment numbers are. In fact, the index is actually much higher, taking into account true unemployment numbers. With this revision, the true value of the misery index is likely in the upper teens, about 6 points higher than it is currently.

Note: It is a little known fact that the stated unemployment rate has historically been measured by U5, which includes those worker whose hours have been cut, those who have quit looking for work, and several other categories that aren’t included in U3 (a much more narrow measure of unemployment). However, in 1994 the US Bureau of Labor Statistics changed its policy, making U3 the stated level of unemployment.

Recently CNBC anchor Mark Haines has taken up the argument that there exists no cause and effect link between fiscal and monetary policy, directed by Washington, and economic activity. He contends, instead, that any link between the two is simply coincidence. Unfortunately for Mark, I’d bet that he’s a whole lot better at reading a teleprompter than he is at forecasting, analyzing, or assessing the markets, much less economic policy.
Dock David Treece is a discretionary money manager with Treece Investment Advisory Corp. (www.TreeceInvestments.com) and a stockbroker licensed with FINRA. He works for Treece Financial Services Corp and also serves as editor of the financial news site Green Faucet (www.GreenFaucet.com). The above information is the express opinion of Dock David Treece and should not be construed as investment advice or used without outside verification.

The history of comedy has its share of tragedy mixed in. Names like Belushi and Farley spring to mind as talents who were taken too soon, victims of their own demons. And so it may have been for Bobby Lee.

The comedian had the biggest chance of his young career in 2001, when, at the age of 29, he garnered an audition for the Fox sketch comedy series “MADtv.”

“I never had any sketch experience. But my manager also managed one of the producers of the show,” Lee said in an interview. “So, the night before I went in, my manager called me and said, ‘Just create three characters and three impressions as fast as you can, before you show up tomorrow.’ And I said, ‘Well, I don’t know how to do any of that.’

“So, I just basically looked in the mirror and made up some things, and I went in. And they just kept calling me back. It was really weird. But by the tenth audition, I got the show.”

But Lee’s breakthrough onto network television was not an immediate success. He admits to being miserable his first few years working for “MAD.” “When I first got the show, they didn’t like me that much. So, it took me a couple years to even get anything on that show.”

Bobby Lee

When asked what finally turned his career around, he is blunt: “I went to drug rehab.”

“I had been in and out of sobriety since I was in high school,” Lee said. “And I just — my second year of ‘MAD,’ I just stopped showing up for things. Like, important things. And then they gave me an intervention, and they said, ‘You gotta get sober, or you’re fired,’ or whatever. But I didn’t get sober because I was gonna get fired. I got sober because I thought I was gonna die, you know?”

In the years following his rehab, Lee really began to blossom on “MAD.” He began to play more prominent roles, imitating everyone from Kim Jung-Il to John McCain. Lee would stay on the show until its end in May of 2009.

Now, Lee has returned to his original stomping ground: stand-up comedy. He will be performing at the Funny Bone in Perrysburg on August 26, 27 and 28. The comic admits he’s never been to the Toledo area before, though he has played in cities all over Ohio.

For Lee, being in front of a comedy club crowd is his natural habitat as a performer. “I started doing it in the early 90s, and I got some breaks, some movies…And obviously, I did that, because that’s more money than doing stand-up. But I always loved doing stand-up. It was always my first love.”

Lee cites Margaret Cho as a huge influence. “After watching her, I decided I wanted to try it, because of her. After time, I became friends with her, but I’ve always idolized her.”

Lee, in his own words, said that “I was just awful” in his first few years onstage, and like all comedians, he learned his craft the only way one can: Lots and lots of practice.

“It’s just stage time. Whenever I talk to someone younger doing it, I just say you gotta go up as much as you can. I mean, I go up nine times a week when I’m in LA. Because I just wanna get better. It’s so hard to get good at, you know?”

In comparing the world of sketch comedy and stand-up, Lee said he finds more creative rewards in having the stage in a club. “Stand-up is more freeing. When you do sketch, like, 95% of thing things you write will probably never get on, you know? With stand-up, everything I say is stuff that I wrote. I’m pretty much the show runner and the guy who composed all of it, which is freeing.”

And the comedian’s docket is certainly full in the months ahead. After his gig at the Funny Bone, Lee will be going to South Africa for a month to perform. “I can go around the world and do it, and it’s fun. You know, I’m single, I’m not married, so it’s an easy life.” He has also just recently finished filming a role in the third “Harold and Kumar” movie and “Paul” with Simon Pegg.

Lee said that he hopes to get more and more into movies in the future, but he doesn’t think of it as a grand career plan. “Whatever is in front of me, I do,” he said. “If something comes my way, I take a look at it, but I don’t stress out about things like that.”

E-mail Jeff at PopGoesJeff@gmail.com.

According to its website, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra is scheduled to play two shows at the Downtown Toledo Huntington Center on Nov. 11. On show is at 4 p.m., with a second show at 8 p.m. According to the website, tickets go on sale Sept. 18.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra has sold more than seven million copies of its first four rock operas. It has a $20 million-plus production that by 2008 played to more than 5 million people in 80-plus cities, selling more than $230 million worth of tickets.

The Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority has shown interest in acquiring the three city-owned parking garages and all city parking meters.

“The Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority has offered the concept of buying the city-owned parking garages as a method of providing income to the City of Toledo,” Port Authority President and CEO Paul Toth said in a statement. “We believe that it is important to keep local control of what we consider to be ‘public infrastructure’ critical to the redevelopment of downtown Toledo.”

The garages were funded by a $3 million Urban Development Action Grant (UDAG) and are currently operated by the privatized Downtown Toledo Parking Authority. The city designates a portion of the garages’ annual revenue for the Toledo-Lucas County Housing Trust Fund to reinvest the grant into the community. Mayor Mike Bell has promised $90,000 for the fund in 2010, with $50,000 annually through 2013.

Carla Firestone Nowak, communications director for the Port Authority, said the prospect of selling the garages first came about during the end of former Mayor Carty Finkbeiner’s final term in office.

“That’s when we became interested in the process,” she said. “With the Bell administration we’ve revisited that concept.”

Firestone Nowak said there have been no negotiations regarding price or other specifics with Bell and his administration.

“We don’t have a defined timeline at this point,” she said. “It’s really in a conceptual phase right now. We’re determining with them right now if there’s any viability behind the concept.”

But Housing Fund Board President Hugh Grefe said the Port Authority must know enough about the garages’ viability because it chose to pursue buying the garages from the city. He said the Port Authority said it had “completed [its] due diligence.” Grefe said such a statement indicates knowledge of the bonds required to purchase the garages as well as if the garages have sufficient cash flow to repay those bonds. He said the Port Authority might also be negotiating to operate city parking meters.

Firestone Nowak confirmed Grefe’s comments about the parking meters, saying, “It’s all one concept, so it would be all of the city-owned parking facilities.” She said that included all three garages and city-owned parking meters.

In 2009, the meters reportedly generated $412,000 in revenue.

“My impression is the city would like us to think this is just a casual conversation,” he said.

Grefe said a concern of his had been that the city might cut off payment to the Housing Fund if it no longer owned the garages. Grefe said the Superior Street, Vistula and Port Lawrence parking had been rumored to be worth a combined $15 million to $18 million. Superior Street garage is located between Madison and Adams streets. Vistula is at Summit and Cherry streets across from One SeaGate. Port Lawrence is at Jefferson and St. Clair streets attached to Huntington Center.

“It’s become clear that the Bell administration had become interested in whether they could find someone who would buy it,” he said. “It proves that there was value created as result of the UDAG because the city has an asset that’s its now going to sell.”

Grefe said he talked to Deputy Mayor of Operations Steve Herwat on Aug. 23. Grefe said Herwat agreed with the Housing Fund’s board of directors that the city would still owe the fund its annuity.

“We were very encouraged when Steve Herwat agreed with that,” he said.

Herwat confirmed the discussions and said the city and Port Authority “are talking.”

City Public Information Officer Jen Sorgenfrei also confirmed the Port Authority’s interest.

“I know that some very initial discussions have occurred,” she said. “There are no offers on the table, no price negotiations at this point.”

Grefe said the city would have to choose between paying annuities or a lump sum to the Housing Fund. He said selling the garages would not solve the city’s budget problems.

“If they don’t make permanent deep changes in the current cost of the city’s operations, then they’ll have the same problem next year,” he said. “There’s no sign that that’s going to change.”

“What you’re doing is your cannibalizing your asset base to carry on an unsupportable operating expense.”

Clayton Johnston, president of the Downtown Toledo Parking Authority, has not responded to a request for comment.