Web plan a no-brainer .. but will Akron businesses benefit?

City council clicked "yes" on what should be a no-brainer for Akron ... a wireless Internet network for downtown and some select areas reaching into the neighborhoods.


Through a partnership with the U of A, the Knight Foundation, and a non-profit network, the free web access should be up and running soon. The city is hitting the "return" key on $800K of the $2.2 million needed for the project. Council hopes that the network will reach 62 square miles of Akron.

While the primary audience here is Cindy and Sandy Cyberbottom, I'll be interested to see if any small businesses dump their wireless providers in favor of the free web access. That could be a big savings for companies facing hard times.

Akron women swing hammers, tell of discrimination

I had a nice chat with some hard-working women on Noble Avenue today. They're part of an all-female volunteer group that is building a Habitat For Humanity House for a family in West Akron. We're featuring them tonight at 7 on Channel 3 News.

It's a neat idea ... as many women who've always wanted to take part had instead backed away rather than go saw-to-saw with their male counterparts.

Just a bit intimidating I guess. So some women instead focused on painting their nails instead of hammering ones.

I was shocked -- and maybe it's just showing my age -- by what one worker, Camille, told me. She said that when she went to Firestone High School in the 1960's, girls weren't even permitted to take shop. Boys went to shop; girls went to home economics to learn how to cook and clean.

What a crock!

Again, maybe I'm showing my youth, but coming from a man whose drill sergeant at Basic Training was a woman (SSG Amerol, she rode a Harley and would kick any man's butt! .. probably still could) and who has worked for women in broadcasting and in the Army his whole life, I just can't fathom that kind of open discrimination.

For what it's worth, I know a lot of men who could use some time in home ec .. especially when it comes to cooking and cleaning (and yeah, I can probably use a refresher myself), but shouldn't a teen girl in Akron have at least been given the opportunity to learn how to use a screwdriver?

Odds and Ends on a rainy Thursday

The continuing saga of the Karen immigrants takes stage tonight on Channel 3 News at 7. A grassroots group has formed to seek more help for these families. While the group, which has named itself the "Genesis Project," believes the International Institute isn't providing enough support for these refugees, the volunteers see the II as their first stop in helping the Karen get the food, jobs, trainings, and housing they need. Members of the group are set to meet with II leaders on Monday.

Sheriff Alexander's decision to return five suspended deputies to the payroll just stinks. Now, I don't mean that in a way that judges the deputies innocence or guilt .. and I don't mean that in a way that demeans the financial hardships each has endured since being suspended. It stinks in that this is a case that already has been criticized for special treatment. So to now use tax dollars to pay men who were indicted by the grand jury in the violent death of a handcuffed inmate invites the general public to cry "foul."

These same deputies were provided special treatment in how they were booked and arraigned. Most people indicted for murder must surrender to the county jail and typically spend at least one night in jail, in an orange jumpsuit, waiting for a hearing in which they'll post bail. The circumstances behind the crime don't usually matter. That's the way the procedure goes. But last fall, these deputies were permitted to go through a simple appearance process at the Medina County Jail and then were released to their attorneys who brought them back to Summit County for their court appearance. No orange jumpsuits and prison van for a ride like the rest of the public would get. Once they got to court, they were each released with a personal recognisance bond -- meaning they didn't have to pay a dime. Considering one of the inmates is charged with murder, and if convicted could be in jail for the rest of this life, how does any court justify no bond?

I hope that when this case is over that the deputies will be willing to share their stories .. and that as a community, we can talk openly about the issue of mentally ill patients in the county jail.

But for now, when perception is reality, many in the Akron community just see the system taking care of its own .. and it makes some of them that much more skeptical of their government.

No webchat tonight

As much as I'd love to chat about the Summit Deputies back on the payroll and the other talk-about news of the week, I won't be able to make it for webchat tonight ... sorry . Eric

"All The Way Home" has deep message

Having nearly finished reading David Giffels' All The Way Home - Building A Family In A Falling-Down House, I've come to one succinct conclusion:

David didn't write this book.

He didn't.

I know the book has his name on it and there's a picture of David smiling on the back cover, but after being sucked in to his 312 pages of prose, I'm convinced that this isn't his work.

Rather, it's the voice inside David's head that penned this gem.

We all have one. A voice that tells us wrong from right and goes along with us when we make questionable decisions. I have one. You have one. Heck, some folks who pass my building at Main and Market each day have several.

David's inner voice is the first one that's learned to type at a keyboard.

Leon Bibb once told me that the best way to write is to "slit your wrists and bleed on the keyboard." The idea is of course metaphorical (and in this case Leon -- a great writer himself --was quoting another famous writer) but the implication is that purposely choosing words isn't nearly as effective as letting the words flow from the brain to the fingers to the page.

David has done that with colorful heart and soul.

While the trials and tribulations that David, his wife Gina, and the rest of their immediate family must endure are great writing material, it climbs to the next level because it's written from David's point-of-view. This book wouldn't be nearly as good had it been written by a third-person observer.

You need this book

The book is a must for husbands/fathers and a gem for all others.

Part family drama, part housing adventure, part young father-husband finding himself, the book lets readers tag along as David and Gina embark on the challenge facing so many young couples -- looking for a bigger house once the first baby arrives.

For the Giffels, they didn't want to find just any house, they wanted to find the house. And for David especially, the house meant redefining "fixer-upper" while visualizing the restoration of a castle much like Kevin Costner did a baseball diamond in the cornfields of Iowa.

While there's a chronological flow to the book's structure, David often breaks out into moments of fantasy flashback .. similar to that scene at the beginning of Titanic when the camera is pushing in on the ballroom doors of the sunken ship and for a split second it transcends to light and music as a man opens the door to welcome you in circa 1912 ... then just as suddenly you're back to reality and it's decades later with the ship on the bottom of the ocean.

In this case, David plays James Cameron by flashing back several decades to when his sunken house was alive with other inhabitants providing the energy. David not only sees those glimpses, he's able to articulate them for others to enter his brain.

I love that David thinks and writes like a real man thinks. The mansion has a billiards room. He writes it over and over just as any man who bought a house would do. A billiards room? I have a billiards room? Why yes, I have a billiards room! He also lets women in on the treasured male past-time of how men quietly compare themselves to other men by the makeup of the other man's tools. I can't explain it, it's just how we men are.

Book of characters

The house itself becomes an ever-changing character. Transitioning from unattainable manor to welcoming homestead while unveiling its secrets along the way.

I can't believe how many times I found myself remarking aloud to the next revelation in this crazy challenge. At the beginning, I was rooting for David and Gina to run away from the monster, but by the end, I was cheering them on.

You won't believe the cast of characters that come and go during the home's transition. Even the most insignificant of construction workers is captured for his creative contributions.

Without giving anything away, the home's previous owners become recurring characters long after the house changes hands.

Even the colors of the walls come alive in this book.

What's wild is that I drive by his house each day coming to work, so it's as though the house has been whispering to me "hey Eric .. it's me! the house you've been reading about!"

I just recently noticed the fire hydrant on the devilstrip in front of the Giffels house. Now I wonder if the voice in David's head saw that hydrant and said "hey, how come there's a hydrant in front of my house? Does the fire department know something I don't know about my house catching fire? Is there an omen here that I should know about? Maybe they think I'm going to burn it down for the insurance money?"

Why David Giffels is special

I'd often felt that as much as readers enjoy David's columns in the Akron Beacon Journal, that there was still something missing. I realize now what it is. The space given to David's newspaper writing is too confining. Filling 35 inches of copy for a column doesn't allow David enough space to really delve into a topic with the creativity he brings to his writing.

The book has also tought me that David is part "Ally McBeal" with music playing in his head at all hours. Not necessarily full songs, but stanzas that capture the moments. I'd expect nothing less from a man who's the area's foremost Devo anthologist.

I do wish that Gina would have written a few more chapters. Her capture of Christmas Eve was not only precious, but it's so well written that the reader almost feels like their intruding on the intimacy that only a married couple can share. That of a wife taking care of her husband when he's pushed past his limits.

I also wish there were a few more pictures in the book, but more have since appeared on-line, so they're out there.

Final thoughts

For me, the book became both a challenge and a deterrent. At one moment, I'm intimidated thinking "heck if David can fix up an entire house like this, why can't I just finish painting the basement?" The next moment I'm thinking "If David can do it, so can I. Let's go find something old and fix it!"

Getting to know David has always made me feel a bit more normal. I've felt a bit odd by holding on to my Cleveland Force pennant, Akron "Blast" t-shirt, and a Prince concert jersey still wrapped in plastic from the 1984 Purple Rain concert at the Coliseum. I'm just an Akron guy at heart, and I hate throwing those things away.

I like being able to say "devilstrip," and I like that I know what a blimp sounds like without looking up. I like that I can tell what a Swenson's cheeseburger tastes like with my eyes closed.

And I like that someone like David Giffels makes me feel like I'm not crazy for feeling that way.

Still, the deepest message any of us can take away from reading All The Way Home is that for a man to succeed he needs two things. The vision and passion to set a goal beyond his means, and to have a wife that not only supports that vision but lets him know that she believes in him no matter what.

Free Gas on North Hill! 3-4 p.m. courtesy the Cleveland Cavs!

Got a call from some folks in North Akron that there are cars lined up around the block near the Circle K on East Tallmadge Avenue. Word on the street is that they're giving away free gas for one hour only .. from 3-4 p.m.

Now .. the following email just came across from the Cleveland Cavaliers .... (let's just hope this doesn't turn in to another Papa John's $.23 pizza night!)

SURPRISE GAS GIVEAWAY! Courtesy of the Cavaliers and Fueled by Kia Motors THIS AFTERNOON FROM 3:00 TO 4:00 PM (or the first 110 cars in line)

Cavalier Girls, Cavs Legends, Scream Team and Moondog
will pump FREE Gas at the Circle K Station in Akron

Beginning at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon the Cavalier Girls and Moondog will be standing by ready to pump free gas (up to $30) to the first 110 cars to arrive at the Circle K gas station located at 935 East Tallmadge in Akron. The surprise gas giveaway is courtesy of the Cavaliers and Kia Motors America.

-cavs.com-

Ashley Spencer lands "Sandy" after all

Big theater news hot off the presses from the Canton Repository:

Already on Broadway in a prominent role in "Hairspray," 2003 Jackson High School grad Ashley Spencer is about to be a bona fide star.

On July 22, she will take over the leading role of Sandy in the Broadway revival of "Grease" at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.

In 2006, Spencer placed second on "Grease: You're the One That I Want," an NBC-TV reality series designed to find a Danny and Sandy for "Grease." On Broadway, she is replacing the original Sandy (and series winner) Laura Osnes. Appearing opposite Spencer as Danny will be another NBC finalist, Derek Keeling.

Spencer will continue as Amber Von Tussle in "Hairspray" through July 13.