This one isn’t from the Observer. It’s a copy of a photo that Judy Ebersole of Delta mailed. Many of you don’t know that Hotel Saulsbury stood on the southwest corner of Main and North where the Deli is now located.

There was a restaurant, barber shop and pool room. I remember delivering a couple newspapers to rooms upstairs when I had paper route.

Someone is going to look at this picture and know the year it was taken just by looking at the vehicles. That someone isn’t me. And better yet, maybe someone will identify the two people walking across the street.

The Xeros process uses 3mm-long nylon beads that can get into all the crevices and folds of clothing and can also be re-used hundreds of times. The beads flood the machine’s drum once the clothes are wet and the humidity is at the right level. After the washing cycle is complete, the beads drain away in the same way as water in a conventional machine.

ROAMING BISON: Should bison be allowed to roam free over thousands of public and private land, like a herd of deer or elk? That’s a plan being considered in an effort to restore bison herds to the U.S.:

“The greatest challenge is to overcome the common perception that the bison, which has had a profound influence on the human history of North America, socially, culturally and ecologically, no longer belongs on the landscape,” the study says.

Tens of millions of bison once grazed the rolling hills and prairies of North America, from Alaska to northern Mexico. But by the beginning of the 20th century, the great herds had almost completely wiped out by hunters trying to satisfy the European fur trade.

The farm manager shows us millions of tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables being grown in 500m rows in computer controlled conditions. Spanish engineers are building the steel structure, Dutch technology minimises water use from two bore-holes and 1,000 women pick and pack 50 tonnes of food a day. Within 24 hours, it has been driven 200 miles to Addis Ababa and flown 1,000 miles to the shops and restaurants of Dubai, Jeddah and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Ethiopia is one of the hungriest countries in the world with more than 13 million people needing food aid, but paradoxically the government is offering at least 3m hectares of its most fertile land to rich countries and some of the world’s most wealthy individuals to export food for their own populations.

Now let the debate begin. The comments following the article are interesting. Is this Africa’s opportunity to climb out of poverty or is it a new colonialism?

A Yellowed Pages bonus today. Here’s a photo of the Noblemen performing at the Teen Inn, above the former fire hall.

From the left is Bob Caster, Mike Rothlisberger, Nick Shoemaker and Gary Johnson. I know Gary lives near Angola and Nick is in the Adrian area. I never knew Mike, but Bob was in my class and I’ve wondered what became of the guy. I don’t think I’ve heard anything about him since high school.

The Observer story says that about 40 teenagers have attended the Teen Inn dances over the summer.

Below are the top seven (investment in billions). More info here.

from Miami Herald video

My son sent a link to a story in the Miami Herald about freestyle alligattor wrestling competition. A local wrestler wants to promote the pastime and gave a demonstration in a hotel pool:

Minutes later, Holt dove head first into the pool, still wearing his green cargo shorts and yellow button-down shirt.

The alligator, lying at the bottom of the pool, hardly budged.

Holt, 31, waded slowly toward the gator, explaining that he always approaches one face first. Then he jabbed at the water, and grabbed the reptile by a flap of skin under its jaw. The gator splashed around, rolled free of Holt’s grip and sidled away to a corner of the pool.

Holt then approached the gator from behind, grabbing it by the tail. The gator didn’t react as Holt pulled it toward him and slowly slid his hand under its jaw, where he once again grabbed the flap of skin, then the top of the gator’s mouth, and pried it open.

Holt poked his head into the gator’s mouth, and then pulled out.

I read an article about a man sailing for a thousand days that mentioned the time he was hit by a rogue wave. At least that’s the only explanation he had for what hit him. He was inside cooking when he was suddenly thrown against the wall as his boat capsized.

Wired provides an explanation of rogue waves here.

PERMAFROST: While the deniers and doubters continue to argue about the e-mail and mistakes of the climate change scientists, the glaciers continue to melt and the permafrost continues to thaw.

Here’s an article about methane from thawing permafrost. Some scientists suspect it will become a bigger problem than carbon:

Remember that methane is at least 25 times more potent than CO2 in terms of its warming potential–if just 10% of the methane stored in Arctic permafrost were released into the atmosphere it could lead to a further 0.7°C warming all on its own, equivalent to all the warming the world has seen since the industrial revolution.

Ronald, Barb and Ken Bernath show off their steers during the Morenci Area Jaycees annual Steer Tour. Twenty-five steers were to be shown later in the month at the Jaycee Fair. Maybe 1967? I’m still transferring some old photos over and I’m not sure when I scanned this in.

It looks like Alan Gould at the rear left and maybe one those Gould girls two people down to the right.

Since Clinton joined the Tri-County Conference athletic league, I’ve had to write about encounters with the Redskins much more than in the past. I always cringe when I use the word “Redskins,” but it makes for a better sports story rather than writing Clinton over and over.

I cringe because to me it’s not much different than calling a team the Little Yellow Men or the Colored Boys.

I’m pleased to report that I found a solution to the dilemma for this winter season. Whenever I write Redskins, I think of the potato.

So it’s all right with me if the Redskins remain the Redskins, as long as that big painting of a Native American man comes down from the gymnasium wall and instead there’s an image of a steaming bowl of redskin potatoes.

That’s a mascot I’ll devour anytime.