Now, the next order of business is to give a shout out to Niagara Falls Barrel Rider, Euell Gibbons groupie, and potential Bulwer-Lytton nominee Peg Britton yonder in Kansas, who not only has a beautiful site called Kansas Prairie but also has a Kansas Prairie blog upon which she graciously said very, very nice things about stupid old Possumblog and added it to her very short blogroll along with Cut On The Bias, Daily Pundit, Instapundit, Little Green Footballs, and Rantburg. Quite frankly, I believe she has added Possumblog to act as an algebraic counterweight to the intellectual power of the other folks in the list. Notice that Possumblog has the inverse power, insight, skill, talent, and computer savvy of the other five blogs COMBINED! Thanks, Peg! posted by Terry Oglesby at 9:26:27 AM

Thanks are really in order to all of you who have been so faithful in reading the material that I have posted. When you stop to think about it, we must be a community of the most knowledgeable blog-speak people in the Universe. In June, hardly a soul walking down Douglas Avenue could have explained satisfactorily what a blog was and what it did. Today, I think we’d be hard pressed to find someone who didn’t know. Blogs are pretty amazing technological tools. I thought you might like to know about some of my favorite bloggers. Of course, you’d expect that I would have my own favorite blogs and bloggers, and we haven’t talked about that. Maybe you’d like to explore some of them, as they are great for staying in shape mentally. Informed, as it were. Most bloggers have a list of other bloggers on their blog site, so you can access hundreds of them if you choose to do so. Or you can simply google for blogs. You’ll have reading material to last you a lifetime. On my blog, down on the left navigation column, you can access newspapers that reach into all corners of the globe. And maybe you’ve noticed that some have web editors/bloggers too. You’ll find the Best of the Web by James Taranto in the Opinion Journal which is part of the Wall Street Journal online. The link for Opinion Journal is here. Instapundit, written by Glenn Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee, is a very popular blog and keeps up with current events, particularly national and international events. Glenn is a graduate of Harvard oops! YALE Law School and writes articles for Tech Central Station. One of my readers sent an article about my blog to Instapundit, but he didn’t reply. Or rather, he hasn’t yet, but then he’s a very busy guy. I got a copy of the letter they sent and I appreciate that. He’s one of the most famous and widely read bloggers, sometimes referred to as ‘the blogfather’ since so many people have emulated him in starting a blog. You can find Instapundit here. The Daily Pundit is written by sci-fi author and steadfast libertarian, Bill Quick. But be warned: Bill can get a little spicy with the language. He sometimes chides his more nuthatchery, left-leaning neighbors in San Francisco. Completely understandable. Bill has a sharp wit and a sharp tongue to go with it. Excellent. The link is here. If you want something that reveals bias in the media, check out Cut On The Bias by Susanna Cornett. Susanna lives in New Jersey, but grew up in Kentucky. She is working on her phD (in Criminal Justice, I think). A woman who speaks her mind and does it very well. The link is here. Some blogs feature a ‘comments’ section, so you can put in your $0.02’s worth. Little Green Footballs, written by Charles Johnson, (West Coast) has been featured in WSJ Opinion Journal (in their Best of the Web section). Charles is a web designer and all-around niceguy geek. Charles’ comments section has “whole tribes” of people camped out there giving their opinion. Some of the comments can get a little wild, but a lot of information is shared among the commentaries. One of the more attractive and stylish blogs out there with lots of commentary and world news facts. The link for LGF is here. Fred Pruitt, in Baltimore, runs Rantburg. Another well designed site, Fred likes to give commentary with his articles (it’s the highlighted text). Fred used to work in U.S. intelligence, so on his site he keeps up with which terrorists we’ve caught and what’s going on in central and Southeast Asia and the Middle East. He can give you the lowdown on ’spook speak’. Good stuff. The link for Rantburg is here. Just for fun and laughter, check out “the mess that is Possumblog” (I’m quoting), written by Terry Oglesby, a blogger out of Birmingham, Alabama. Skedaddle on down to the bunker and meet the ‘Axis of Weevil’, but don’t let ‘em keep you in the waiting room too long (there’s only one “old copy of an Argosy left over from when Todd, Jr. went to the barber shop and they were having a get-rid-of-stuff day”). Terry is an architect/engineer and likes to talk about his family (four little possums and Ms. Reba) as well as world events. Terry was featured in an article about blogging in the Tuscaloosa News. Funny and heartwarming. The link for Possumblog is here. You can check the nav bar on the left for new blogs I’ve found or just hop blog to blog following links. I’ll be adding new ones as I find them. Also, don’t forget you can check archives of each blogger. Usually there is a biographical sketch somewhere on the site to help you get to know the blogger a little better. That’s a pretty good mix for your easy reading in current events (with some laughter thrown in). Take a look, then we can all sit around the table with our morning coffee and talk about what the pundits are saying.

The Kansas Sampler Foundation has announced that Newton has been selected as the host for the 2004 and 2005 Kansas Sampler Festival. The purpose of this annual event is to provide the public a sample of what there is to see and do in Kansas. The Newton Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau led by Virgil Penner and Shelley Keith Black will be in charge of this statewide event. This celebration of Kansas is a project of the Kansas Sampler Foundation. The festival was held on the Penner Farm near Inman from 1990 to 1997. The foundation then decided to take the festival on the road and rotate it every two years. Pratt and Ottawa are previous hosts. Independence hosted the event in 2002 and will once again invite the public to Riverside Park on May 3 and 4, 2003. Over 150 communities, including Ellsworth, were represented at the festival in Independence to promote their attractions and explorer-type places to visit. The two-day event attracted 7,100 people, including Linda and me…weary travelers who had been exploring the night before in Bogue for the opening of Ernestine’s. Mark a circle around that weekend…the first weekend in May…and keep it open for a trip to Independence, if you can. The festival conflicts with our Ellsworth County Health Fair but maybe you can find a way to work in both worthwhile events. It’s a very beautiful drive to Independence with lots of great little explorer stops to make along the way. Jim Gray and Dennis Katzenmeier did the lion’s share of work in representing Ellsworth last May with our booth and we need more people to lend a hand . Foundation board president Gene Merry, Burlington, said, “This is the event where you find out about places like the Brown Grand Theatre in Concordia, Iris’s Country Kitchen in Ulysses, Big Brutus near West Mineral, antique shops in Paxico, and scenic drives in Pottawatomie County. There are also food booths, entertainment, and character portrayers that tell the Kansas story and a tent or two of Kansas products. It’s a unique event that gives Kansans pride in their state.” For more information go to kansassampler.org/festival.html , call Marci Penner at 620/585-2374 or contact the Newton Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau at 316/283-7555.

On September 17th (yesterday) there were two articles in area newspapers pertaining to Ellsworth. One was written by Tim Unruh of the Salina Journal and the other by Clara Kilbourn of the Hutch News. Both papers, as well as many others, can be easily accessed right here on my blog. Click on the links here in the blog entry or just let your eyes drift down and to the left. UPDATE: Link to September 7, 2002 Salina Journal story here. UPDATE: Click on Tim Unruh’s name to access the link to September 17, 2002 Salina Journal story or click here.

Three exciting musicians will be performing Saturday evening, October 5th, at the Abilene Country Club, where everyone is welcome to attend. Susan, Heather and Ruby will be playing their original music and singing. It promises to be a wonderful evening of excellent entertainment. Susan Crowe has emerged in recent years as one of Canada’s most respected singer-songwriters in the folk genre, a label that barely scratches the surface of her compelling, intensely personal approach to music. She possesses, in the words of Folk Roots magazine, “that rare ability of crafting a lyric that bears scrutiny on its own terms.” That rare ability has earned her a Juno nomination (Canadian Grammy equivalent), a West Coast Music Award nomination, repeat performances at all of Canada’s major folk festivals, and an invitation to the prestigious Kerrville Songwriter’s Festival in 2000 where she was chosen for inclusion on the Kerrville compilation disc. She has attracted an ever-growing legion of followers who appreciate an artist who steps well beyond folk cliche’s and predictable melodies. Faithful to her craft, she’s been a resource leader for the Songwriters Association of Canada’s Power Songshop, and the Georgia Strait guitar workshop. In addition to having work recorded by John Reischman (Tony Rice Unit, Good Old Persons) and the Jaybirds, and Cantus Vocum, from St. John’s, Newfoundland. In the summer of 2001, she toured the Czech Republic, and is invited to return in 2003. She’s recently been writing for Cindy Church’s upcoming album, in addition to Quartette’s 2002 Christmas album. Adds the Vancouver Sun: “With Susan and one of the most distinctive voices in Canada today, she is destined to become one of our lasting folk heroines.” Susan performed two concerts in Ellsworth at the PAC two years ago with John Reichman and Linda Kidder, which were hugely successful. Susan lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia and performs extensively in the Maritimes and throughout Canada and the United States. A first wave baby boomer woman, Heather Bishop was born in 1949 in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Her career as a performer now spans more than thirty years. She started, as a teenager, playing guitar in an all-girl dance band. Since then, Heather has toured throughout Canada, the United States, Scotland, Wales and Australia. She performs to both children and adults and has garnered numerous awards including JUNO nominations and Parent’s Choice Gold Awards. Last year she received the Order of Manitoba, which is the highest honor the province can bestow.She has recorded 12 albums, selling close to 200,000 copies world wide from her rural based company in southern Manitoba. Heather Bishop is a well known name at all the major Canadian Folk Festivals as well as all the Children’s Festivals in this country. She has performed with almost every major symphony orchestra in Canada as well as a few in the USA. Heather was a regular guest performer on the internationally acclaimed Fred Penner Show. Since their inception, she has been a regular performer at the two largest Women’s festivals in the USA. She has been awarded the prestigious YWCA Woman of the Year Distinction Award, the Spirit of Smith Street Award for outstanding community service. In her spare time Heather donates her energy to numerous worthy causes. She gave a month of her time driving her own support vehicle for Habitat for Humanity’s Bike Atlanta trip which raised over a quarter of a million dollars. She was a founding member of the Manitoba Audio Recording Industry Association and is currently the president of the board. In addition she sits on the board of Manitoba Film and Sound. For the past five years Heather has been studying American Sign Language and for the past two years has volunteered her time to Upward Bound teaching Math to Deaf adults once a week when she’s not on the road. Heather’s current adventure is in straw bale construction, an ecologically alternative building technique. She offers workshops to teach people how to build with this environmentally friendly, super efficient technology. Heather Bishop still lives happily on the land in southern Manitoba feeding her family and friends from her organic garden and waiting on her two dogs and three cats Ruby Tilton will perform the warm-up series for Susan and Heather. She is very well-known in the Salina-Abilene area with her many performances at the Smoky Hill River Festival,Smoky Hill Winery, Music ala Carte, Caper’s, Salina Country Club, Abilene Country Club and special performances in and around the area. Call the Abilene Country Club (785.263.3811) for tickets and dinner reservations, if a Mexican buffet is on your list. Tickets in Ellsworth can be obtained from Bev Connally, Karen Britton and Peg Britton and cost $15.00. The buffet will start about 5:30 and is $8.50, I think. Ask for sure when you call for reservations. The concert will begin about 7:00. There will be seating for only about 140, so call early for tickets and reservations.

Enterprise Facilitation is a method of community development that facilitates new businesses or expansions that creates wealth and new jobs in a community. An Enterprise Facilitator will be hired and trained in this process. The role of the Enterprise Facilitator is to connect people with resources through community networking that supports new business development. This confidential service is free of charge to the client. Using a community partnership model, Enterprise Facilitation works through the creation of a Local Board of Management comprised of local citizens and officials who are trained to provide or direct resources to the Facilitator. It is a local initiative designed to stimulate economic development from the bottom up. Community development is accomplished by responsively facilitating the transformation of good business ideas into viable enterprise through sound management, advice and coaching. Funding of this program was announced by Lt. Governor Gary Sherrer and Ned Webb, Executive Director of the Kansas Department of Commerce and Housing. It encompasses an Enterprise Facilitation Demonstration project for Ellsworth, Barton, Edwards, Rice and Russell counties. For further information on this exciting opportunity for Ellsworth County, please read the article in this week’s Ellsworth County Independent/Reporter and refer to this website: sirolli.com

August 6, 2002 Peg Britton Ellsworth County Taxpayer PO Box 367 Ellsworth, KS 67439 Peg Britton, In regards to your letter on August 5, 2002, the $1.00 transaction on August 31, 2001 was a trade of property between Louise F. Gerbitz (Seller) and Ellsworth County Economic Development Corp. (Buyer). To my knowledge Jerry L. Aday had no part of this transaction as buyer or seller. The above transaction was not deemed to be a valid arms-length transaction for an open market sale. Thank you, Carl Miller Ellsworth County Appraiser 210 N. Kansas Ellsworth, KS 67439 SALE NOT A LEGITIMATE REAL ESTATE TRANSACTION The sale of the house at 101 Cedar Crest that Jerry Aday purchased from ECED for $37,000 was not considered a legitimate real estate transaction, according to the Ellsworth County Appraiser, Carl Miller. It was not an “arm’s length” real estate transaction, he said. In addition, no copy of the real estate transaction on this property was furnished to Frank Princ for his appraisal of the property.

Many people ask, as do I, how and why it is that Mary Hoisington who lives in Great Bend, is serving on the Ellsworth County Economic Development board? I understand why she once did when she lived here, but she moved away months ago. If, for no other reason than that, she can’t represent us in the way we should be represented.

Click here for documents–>>SEQUENCE OF EVENTS UPDATE: LETTER TO THE EDITOR, JULY 26, 2001 FROM DOUG EVANS. This is a copy of a Letter-to-the-Editor which appeared in the Ellsworth County Independent July 26, 2001, page A 4. It is contained in a binder and because of its position on the page, can’t be photocopied. If there is any question as to its accuracy or my typing, please visit the Independent office and ask to see the Archives Record Book July-December 2001. BUSINESS OWNER UNHAPPY WITH ECED EXPERIENCE Dear Editor, Over 12 months ago, my wife, Ellie, and I made an important decision. After careful thought and consideration, we decided to leave our home in South Carolina and move to Ellsworth to open our business, The Tack Room. We talked to numerous individuals here about our prospective move and consulted members of the Chamber of Commerce, local businessmen and women and Mr. Jerry Aday, director of Ellsworth County Economic Development, Inc. Mr. Aday contacted me about what he referred to as, a “low-interest ECED loan” for the purpose of encouraging new businesses to locate here. He made everything sound very attractive. A small business loan such as we were considering could be handled in a matter of a few days. I was particularly interested in what constituted a “low-interest” loan as that familiar to me ranged from zero percent interest to 3.5 percent interest. His replies were always very vague and indirect. He would allude to percentages but would never answer my questions specifically. He would end up saying, “Well, you pay back the money and we will determine what the interest will be.” He led both my wife and me to believe that if we paid back the money in full and on time, the interest rate would be minimal. That seemed reasonable and acceptable to us. It was about July 10 when Ellie and I applied for our “low-interest” ECED loan at the First Bank, with Curt Glazer (sic) handling the loan. We were told again it would be a matter of a few days before our loan would be processed, and the money would be deposited into our account. During this interim period of processing the loan, Mr. Glazer (sic) said the bank would cover my checks and there would be no overdraft charges, as the money would be deposited in my account in only a matter of days. After repeated calls about the status of my loan, Mr. Glazer called me on July 24 to say he had been very busy but that the paper work on our loan was completed and ready to be signed. Meantime, the bank had covered my checks, but charged me overdraft fees despite their offer not to. Once again, he said that since the process was taking so long, as he had been very busy, that the bank wouldn’t charge for overdrafts and would honor my checks. I asked him what the interest rate was going to be and he said 9.5 percent. That was the first time anything other than what Mr. Aday had suggested to me was ever mentioned. There seemed to be little communication between Mr. Glazer (sic), Mr. Aday and ECED board regarding my low-interest economic development loan. After questioning Mr. Aday and Mr. Glaser, and conveying my displeasure at the rate, Curt phoned other board members for approval of a lower rate. They agreed to reduce my interest rate to 7.5 percent, although loans remained at 9.5 percent for other borrowers. It seems a very high rate of interest to us, under the circumstances of this type of loan. For the past 5 months, I have repeatedly requested information on why the interest is so high for tax-payer funded ECED loans, as well as what the scope of their mission includes. Mr. Aday has been advised by Kent Colwell of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide me with this information, but has failed to do so. The USDA is the government agency providing the $50,000 grant to ECED board of directors for disbursement. As of today, I have not received this information. I do not think we are alone in our quest for information regarding the approach in attracting new business to Ellsworth. On October 24, after I placed calls to Salina First Bank management, Mr. Aday finally delivered to me from First Bank, the amortization schedule that had been requested weeks before. While in my place of business, I asked him once again why he had the authority to lower my interest rate by two percent, while the rate of other deserving individuals was “not negotiable”. His answer to me, in front of my customer, was that I had “bullied” my way down to 7.5 percent. He added that it wasn’t any business of any citizen to know about the workings of the ECED board. We don’t have to answer to the citizens for anything we do as a private corporation. That’s why it says Ellsworth County Economic Development INCORPORATED on my business card! He made other demeaning remarks to me in front of my customer, who by this time felt very uncomfortable by the direction Mr. Aday has taken this confrontation. I was appalled at his behavior and found him very unprofessional. My wife and I love it here and have made many friends. She plans to move here from our South Carolina home once her work there has been completed. We are working very hard to see that The Tack Room succeeds and have every hope that it will. I think citizens of the county should look more closely at the leadership of this important economic development process (signed) Doug Evans Editor’s note. After almost a year in Ellsworth, Evans said he plans to relocate his store in the early fall to a more populated area. His business here has not been enough to support the retail side of his shop.

Could you please tell me if Jerry L. Aday, currently of Ellsworth Kansas, is now or has ever been enrolled in any graduate program at your institution? —–Original Message—– From: Sue Zschoche Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2002 5:27 PM To: Peg Britton Subject: Re: Jerry L. Aday Let me verify one thing: it’s your impression that Mr. Aday was claiming to be a doctoral student…..? We should be able to tell from our archived files if that’s so. I can’t find any record of Jerry ADAY (that’s the correct spelling, isn’t it?). Ms. Sue Zschoche Associate Professor and Interim Chair Department of History Kansas State University Manhattan Kansas —–Original Message—– From: Evelyn A. Larson Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2002 11:09 AM To: prairie@informatics.net Subject: Jerry Aday Peg Britton A recent e-mail requesting verification of attendance for a Jerry L. Aday was forwarded to my desk. In the midst of all the forwarding, I am not at all sure if you were the actual person who was requesting the information. Hopefully you were, if not please let me know. We have checked our records here and can find no record of attendance at Kansas State University for Jerry L. Aday. Perhaps he attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Please let me know if you have further questions. Evelyn A. Larson Public Service Administrator Kansas State University Registrar’s Office 118 Anderson Hall Manhattan, KS 66506-0114

Jerry Aday: ” I have several college degrees and multi-college degrees and I spent ten years on college campuses as a student and as a professor so I do have a great deal of feeling for the university…. ” I worked a job and went through my first masters and my second masters….. ” One I didn’t have a B average in high school but I got 300 college hours with several degrees . . . .” QUOTE FROM THE 2002 DEBATE BETWEEN JOSH SVATY AND JERRY ADAY “…..having spent 7 years on a college campus…………”. FROM MATCH.COM MEET YOUR MATCH: “Education: Graduate Degree” First posted at 10:10 AM on Wednesday, June 5, 2002: ADAY RESIGNS COUNTY POSITION By SHARON MONTAGUE The Salina Journal ELLSWORTH — ” …………..Aday said he also hopes to return to school at Kansas State University. ” I almost finished my doctorate several years ago. I’d kind of like to go back and finish that,” he said. * Reporter Sharon Montague can be reached at 823-6464, Ext. 129, or by e-mail at sjsmontague @saljournal.com. [emphasis mine]

The commissioners and County Attorney Joe Shepack went into executive session for about 45 mintues after which Ona Borgstadter of the County Clerk’s office was instructed to withhold a check made payable to ECED for $17,860.00 until further notice.

Would you like to try a new browser? I’ve added Mozilla to my stable of browsers (along with Netscape, IE and Opera) and you might want to give it a try. Netscape Communicaions has launched Netscape 7.0, the latest version of Netscape’s browser software, which is based on Mozilla 1.01. Mozilla is W3C compliant (World Wide Web Consortium) which, in redundant parlance means it complies with W3C. W3C is the organization that recommends the standards for the World Wide Web. W3C develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. W3C is a forum for information, commerce, communication, and collective understanding. Mozilla displays valid HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Stylesheet)..and some other things. Mozilla has a slightly different approach to security and is slightly more secure than some other browsers. It’s easy to download, easy to install and easy to use. Mozilla was just launched the end of May after six years of research and planning and the Mozilla developers are looking for alpha and beta testers. I might take a look at that when my plate empies a bit. You can read about it at Mozilla.org. They had world-wide launch parties with the release of 1.0. It’s all pretty neat. Plus, you get a southwesterly style icon of a darling little dragon spewing fire. He’s pretty cute. (Mozilla:Godzilla…get it?) Check it out at: mozilla.org