Odds and Ends on a Friday ..

Scribbles in my notebook .. and stuff on my brain on this wet Friday afternoon.

I'm looking forward to seeing tonight's NewsNight Akron since I wasn't on the show today. Ed Esposito was nice enough to host in my place so that I wouldn't be in a conflict of interest in the discussion about candidates for Akron School Board. (My wife, Lisa, is one of nine who will be on the ballot for four seats). I'll probably step aside at least once more before the November election for the same reason.

I saw Bruce Kilby a few weeks back at the Board of Elections. He was dressed in a camouflage pants, boots, and a black-and-gold shirt as I recall. He looked like was ready for war going door-to-door to campaign. It illustrates to me of how much is at stake in the Sept. 8 council races. I'm also hearing that Anthony Dilauro might be a real surprise in Ward 5. He's spent a lot of money on signs in a race of four for the Democratic nod with the winner facing Republican write-in candidate Dwight Pulos in November.

$195,604.18 for the Recall that ended with a status quo? Wow! As a taxpayer I'm speechless.

I'd expect more layoffs from City Hall to be announced sooner than later. The 120+ employees taking the buyout incentives will help but are still pretty short of the mandated goal of a balanced budget.

Sandra Kurt's bold move in Ward 8 to secure the Summit County Democratic Party's nomination will limit her competitors use of any DP tools. Apparently the rules state that if enough of the Precinct Captains support one candidate -- in this case Kurt -- the others are prohibited from even using the party's fax machine. A written rule or not, some are crying foul .. that so much is at stake with these council elections that voters need to get the most they can from each candidate. Thoughts?

An Akron Police officer told me that he met a man and his sons from Ashtabula who were downtown looking for the Aeros game. He said he had good seats and wanted directions to Jerry Uht stadium. The officer told him that he had never heard of that stadium, and that the Aeros play at Canal Park. Long story short, the tickets were indeed to see the Aeros play .. but the game was in Erie.

And finally .. a U of A professor recently rode the "Roo Express" along with the students during a jaunt across campus. She tells me that the song playing on the speaker system was Adina Howard's "T-shirt and panties" which is one of the filthiest sets of lyrics you'll ever hear. She said some of the students seemed to be singing along, but thought the U of A should show better judgement in what's appropriate to play on campus transportation.