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.