Xenia-Jamestown Bike Trail

Here is my review of the new part of the Xenia-James town trail. From Xenia Station to Jasper Road. Pictures taken during a snowy December day. Click the above picture for more pictures of the new part of the trail, along with descriptions of the pictures.

The Xenia-Jamestown trail is now complete in Greene County other than the important fact that the tunnel still needs to be built under Bypass US-35. Below are two maps of the new parts showing the gap in the trail.


Xenia Station to US-35 (NEW)


US-35 to Jasper Road (New)


This is the road Detour I took. I've been told that there will be signed detour at some point.


Here is the whole trail from US-35 to the Greene/Fayette County Line

I will blog for free Christmas Cards from Shutterfly

Finally, it looks like my blog is going to pay off. I'm participating in Shutterfly's 50 Free Christmas Cards Promotion. If you have a blog you can too. Here is my shameless promotion for Shutterfly. Over the years Danielle has tastefully used our digital pictures to create photo books, greeting cards, and calendars. A few months ago I saw how special a personalized calendar was to Danielle's grandma. This summer our family was visiting "Great Grandma" from out of state. She was proudly displaying in her living room her calendar from 2008, the month was correct but year was a bit off. Great Grandma loves seeing bright and colorful pictures of her kids, grand kids, and great grand kids. Our family draws names for Christmas thus the two year gap in calendars, but this year we will make sure that she gets a new Shutterfly calendar from us.

Shutterfly also has some very neat products out this year just in time for Christmas. My favorites are:

• Professional Looking Christmas Cards,
• Beautifully simple desk calendars for work
• Stunning birthday cards

We look forward to sending our these photo cards to share a smile with our family around the country and around the world.

Thanksgiving 2010

This year we traveled to Grandma House in Three Rivers, Michigan and then to Niles to spend a few days with my parents. The kids loved being with the grandparents.

Fall 2010 Bike Hike 81 Miles

Brian and I did our longest ride ever. It was a very warm Novemeber day, with a high of 71F. The forecast was for the wind to be out of the south, but ended up being out of the South West, which made for a delightful ride out to London and a exhausting ride back home.

2010.10.16

Xenia, Greene County, Ohio November 2010 Ballot

Here is the copy of Xenia's November 2010 Ballot. Please be informed when you vote.

JD's Voter Guide Xenia, Ohio, Greene County, Ohio Nov 2010

Each election I feel like it is harder to come up with a voting guide. As I learn more about each issue, I realize how the decisions at the polls effect the people I know. I also feel the more I learn about each issue the more complex it becomes, sometimes there are no easy answers, or immediate solutions. This guide is just my opinion. I try hard not to hold to a single party, I'm backing people from the Republican, Libertarian, Constitution and Democratic Parties. I attempt to find the best person for the position, regardless of their chance of winning. I do not ascribe to the "the lesser of two evils" philosophy. In general I look for people who give us more liberties, fight corruption and push for transparency in government. I hope this guide provides useful information even if you don't agree with me.


JD’s Voters Guide November 2010 Xenia, Greene County, Ohio

Governor and Lieutenant Governor
- John Kasich & Mary Taylor (Republican) Not sure about his wall street background. Concerned about his lack of gun rights record.
* Ken Matesz & Margaret Ann Leech (Libertarian) End the Ohio income tax and school choice

- Dennis S. Spisak & Anita Rios (Green)

- Ted Strickland & Yvette McGee Brown (Democratic)

Attorney General

- Richard Cordray (Democratic)

- Mike DeWine (Republican) Moderate to Liberal Republican. Concerned about his lack of gun rights record.

- Marc Allan Feldman (Libertarian)

* Robert M. Owen (Constitution) Pro-life. Pro-gun rights, non-interventionist foreign policy.

For Auditor of State

*David Pepper (Democratic) Has a great record of cutting waste, taxes and spending. Will work to increase government transparency.

-Dave Yost (Republican)

-L. Michael Howard (Libertarian)

Secretary of State

* Jon Husted (Republican) Cut some red take to attract business to Ohio

- Maryellen O'Shaughnessy (Democratic)

- Charles R Earl (Libertarian) Could not find much info on his website.

Treasurer of State

-Matthew P. Cantrell (Libertarian)

*Josh Mandel (Republican)

-Kevin L. Boyce (Democratic)

US Senator

- Daniel H. LaBotz (Socialist)

* Rob Portman (Republican) We need Republicans in the Senate as a check and balance to the White house

- Micheal L. Pryce

- Eric W. Deaton (Constitution)

- Lee Fisher (Democratic)

US House of Representative (7th)

* John D. Anderson (Libertarian) He is for a return to Constitutional Limits. Read his issues page. Very well thought out.

- Steve Austria (Republican) Austria is one of the more liberal republicans

- Bill Conner (Democratic)

- David W. Easton (Constitution)

State Representative (70th)

* Jarrod B. Martin (Republican) Endorsed by a lot of conservative groups

- Michael Stewart Watters (Democratic)

County Commissioner

- Steve W. Key (Democratic)

- John P. Williamson (Libertarian)

- Alan G. Anderson (Republican)

Since on one here bothered to have a web page. I cannot provide a recommendation.

Chief Justice of the Supreme court

- Eric Brown

* Maureen O'Connor - conservative/republican choice see endorsements

Justice of the Supreme Court

* Judith Ann Lanzinger - conservative/republican choice see endorsements

- Mary Jane Trapp

Judge of the court of the Common pleas

*Mike Buckwalter - conservative/republican choice see endorsements

-Joe Graf

Issue #3 Xenia School Renewal Level 11.4 mils

For me this is $618/year tax

This is issue was the hardest one for me to decide on. I know the public schools kids will benefit from the money. I'll be happy with public school families if it passes. If any of the following were true I probably would vote yes on it, but that is not the case.

- School would be more forth coming about how the money is to be used or what exactly would be cut if it fails.

- The City of Xenia keeps trying to raise the income tax 28%, did you get a 28% raise?, I don't think the city should.

- County auditor is over appraising property values to keep taxes up.

- Some type of tax break for private school or homeschooling families.

Issue #4 Roads and Bridges .25 Mils Renewal

For me this is a $14/year tax. This is a good deal to maintain roads and bridges. This is a legitimate function of local government.

Issue #5 Greene County Combined Health (Replacement and Increase)

No -

For me this is a $44/Year Tax

Not much money at stake here. I'm not convinced that this is a legitimate function of local government.

Issue #9 Xenia Income tax .5% income tax INCREASE

No, No, and NO!

This would makes Xenia income tax one of the highest in the state. This would put Xenia at a competitive disadvantage. Anyone who sells goods or services knows they can't simply solve revenue problems by increasing the price, the same applies to Xenia as well. Higher income earners will avoid living in Xenia in favor of living in locations with no local income tax. In the end Xenia will have less tax revenue as people look for alternatives to Xenia. If Xenia wants to increase revenue it needs to make this city attractive to people by simplifying the zoning laws, regulations, and cutting taxes. The majority of this tax would go to re-hire police and firefighters. Perhaps the police and fire could raise money through donations? This works for our churches. Don't get me wrong, I very much appreciate very much our police and firefighters. Theses are hard economic times, hard decisions need to be made, we cannot tax our selfs into prosperity. For the record I did advocate a small property tax increase in 2009 which would have gone to police, fire and street maintenance.

Issue #10 Minimal Fire and Police staffing levels.

NO!

This is bad for Xenia is so many ways. Police and Fire consume about 75% of the cities expenditures. This could bankrupt the city. There is no provision to reduce staffing if the city population goes down.

Issue #11 Allow Xenia to utilize volunteers, temporary and/or part-time firefighters, police etc.

Sure. If have no problem with this. If both 10 and 11 pass they would contradict each other and I'm sure they law suits would fly.

Late Summer Bike Hike Verona - Dayton - Xenia 45 Miles

Zoo and 4th of July Weekend

Alicia Wedding May 2010

Give up your credit cards for one month challenge.

For years, I have respected Dave Ramsey and his get out of debt plan, except for that whole stop using credit card thing. I mean come on, I get 1% cash back, and 3% cash back if I use my credit card at a gas station. oh yeah! I pay my cards in full each month, so yeah I have the system beat. So like twice a year I could get a check for $10-$50, I'm well, on my way to becoming a millionaire. Well maybe not, but that was $50 I was getting for free, I was going to buy that stuff anyways, so I might has well be rewarded for spending.

Then I discovered River Valley Credit Union and their rewards checking account. They pay 4.5% if you make at least 12 debit card purchases a month. Then it occurred to me that I would make more money in interest than in cash back credit card rewards. So I switched to using a debit card. I discovered as a side effect that emotionally, I love having every item I buy be completely paid for. I really like not having a large credit card payment each month, budgeting becomes much simpler and I can look at my account and know exactly how well I'm doing at saving money. It's fun each month to earn more interest than the month before, you can see yourself winning. I'm not going back to credit cards, no way.

My challenge to you is the give up your credit card for one month and use strictly cash or your debit card. Let me know your experience and the freedom of one less bill.

JD's Voter Guide Xenia, Ohio, Greene County, Ohio May 4th Republican

Here is my recommendations for Xenia, Ohio, Greene County, Ohio May 4th Republican Primary Ballot. I'm only including the contested races. I was unable to find much information about the judges. Their websites did not have much substance and I am relying on solely the option of Virgil Vaduva. As always, I welcome anyones else's recommendations, there might be other considerations that I failed to see.

For Auditor of State

*Seth Morgan True conservative fights to lower taxes, listed out the issues he cares about on his website and I agree with his view on all of them.

David Yost

For Secretary of State

Jon Husted

* Sandra O'Brien More conservative of the two options, check out her issues page.

For Representative to Congress (7th District)

Steve Austria

* John Mitchel Opposes the Iraq and Afghanistan War. He is a champion of Liberty.

For Judge of the Court Appeals (2nd District)

Mike Hall

* George Reynolds Recommended by Virgil Vaduva

For Member of State Central Committee, Man (10th District)

Joseph Haines

David Kearney

(no recommendation)

For Member of State Central Committee, Woman (10th District)

Ashley Knowlton

Brenda K Lewis

*Cynthia J Bieghler - Tea Party Rep.

For State Representative

*Jarrod Martin Recommended by Virgil Vaduva, 2nd &10th amendment advocate.

Bill Miller

For Judge of the Court of Common Pleas

Raymond Dundes

David Mesaros

*Mike Buckwalter Recommended by Virgil Vaduva

For County Commissioner

Alan Anderson

*Virgil Vaduva Ron Paul supporter, believes in small limited government, and personal freedom. He strongly opposes Xenia Income tax. He will say no to a lot of the current nonsense in Greene county politics. Virgil is so well spoken, I'll just let you read for yourself why he is running. The following is copied from his election website:

Here is what I pledge to you, should you vote for me as county commissioner:

1. I will do my best to eliminate or lower tax rates in the county.
2. I will work to eliminate the bureaucracy which has been creeping in, making it a hassle for people to create businesses, build homes and work in our county.
3. I will find and promote ways to encourage people to reside in the county rather than seeking ways to leave the county due to high taxes and bureaucracy.
4. Improve communication with county residents by an improved website and electronic means, and by making the budget, finances and salaries of all county employees more easily accessible to all. Such information should be easily accessible via a well-designed website where residents should not have to ask for it or go to great lengths
   to obtain it.
5. Lastly, I will only accept a $1 a year salary; it is disgraceful for an elected official to accept $60,000 a year in taxpayers money for sitting in a few meetings each month and signing paperwork.

For County Auditor

*Dick Gould Not endorsed by Luwanna Delaney, our current oppressive auditor. He will demand FAIR and ACCURATE appraisals of your property.

David Graham

Ohio Issue #1 To Extend the Ohio third Frontier Program by Authorizing the Issuance of Additional General Obligations Bond to Promote Economic Growth

NO No way I'm voting for more debt in our state

Ohio Issue #2 To change the location of the Columbus Casino

No It was not a good idea to grant monopoly privileges to casinos. Even dumber idea to put the longitude and latitude in the Ohio Constitution of said casinos, so no, you are stuck with the dumb law and location.

Local Issue #7 Proposed Municipal Income Tax City of Xenia

NO I'm not against police and fire fighters, but as I understand it, the City of Xenia only needs to raise half a million to pay for the current police and fire coverage, not the 2.5 million that the tax will raise. I don't think the city has been wise with their money. They used tax payer money to fund advertisements for this levy, this is not at all fair. This tax would also put Xenia and one of highest taxed cities in the state. This would put the city of Xenia at a competitive disadvantage for attracting new families and businesses. Why is the city asking me and other families for more money, when city workers get a raise, and while many in the city are taking pay cuts or facing unemployment. I think we should fund the shortage with donations and not through force of taxation.

Republican Primary Ballot May 4, 2010 Greene County Ohio

To promote education in the election process here is a copy and the Republican Primary Ballot May 4, 2010 Greene County Ohio (Xenia) ballot.

Winter '09-'10

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