It is time once again to help spruce up Plain City after the ravages of snow, rain, and overgrown weeds have left their mark on the streets and sidewalks. UPCO (Uptown Plain City Organization) is partnering with the United Way of Union County for Community Care Day 2012 on Tuesday, May 22, to not only clean up Plain City, but to also allow volunteers to help with other activities benefitting seniors, libraries, parks, and other community landmarks.

For 2012, Community Care Day is following in the footsteps of Princeton, Kentucky, a town that is pushing a “Let’s Paint the Town!” volunteer movement. Other towns are jumping on the paint bandwagon and finding volunteers to paint their towns. You can read a nice article about this idea HERE. For this Community Care Day, let’s Paint Plain City (as well, as helping with other much needed projects!).

UPCO is looking for people to coordinate events in the Plain City area. If you are interested in participating, please visit the UPCO web page HERE to find out more.

For a list of community projects you can help with or to request assistance with a specific project, visit the United Way of Union County’s web site HERE.

On Saturday, May 19, UPCO (Uptown Plain City Organization) and the Plain City Heritage Group (PCHG) are partnering to present Plain City Heritage Days. The event, which will run from 9 am to 4 pm at 445 South Jefferson Avenue (next to Der Dutchman Restaurant), will feature displays and products commonly seen in our area in the past. An emphasis will be on the Amish culture in Plain City with demonstrations on basket weaving, wood working/shed building, blacksmithing, and more. There will also be several cooking and food contests, as well as plenty of food and activities for children.

For a full list of events, please visit the UPCO web site HERE or the Plain City Heritage Group Event page HERE.

We just want to take the time to wish all the Mothers we know a truly blessed and Happy Mother’s Day. May you be pampered and loved on your special day!

Parker Scott Headings was born on September 24, 2001, a bit ahead of schedule. At just about 6 months or twenty-five weeks into the pregnancy, his mother, Beverly, delivered the little boy, who weighed only two pounds. He was not expected to live through the next few days, but Parker surprised everyone and did just that.

Parker suffered brain hemorrhages when he was only forty-eight hours old, which caused hardening of the ventricles that disperse spinal fluid throughout the brain. At a month, he had to have surgery on his brain to release the built up pressure from the accumulated spinal fluid, which could not flow normally. At fifteen months, Parker was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. His mother was told that he would be a quadric spastic–meaning he would never walk, but would need a wheelchair the rest of his life.

Through the next few years, Parker survived infections and numerous surgeries on the shunt that relieves pressure in his brain. Each time a surgery was done to correct the shunt, Parker’s head had to be opened, requiring very invasive and dangerous procedures. Additionally, he has been in a body cast after surgery to put his hip back in its socket. Only just ten years old, Parker and his family have continued to fight to give him every chance in the world.

Now Parker’s family would like to take him to the Ability Camp in Canada which provides conductive education and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The treatment is a five week program that would help Parker retrain his muscles to have better control and hopefully allow him to walk for the first time in his short life. Additionally, the hyperbaric oxygen chamber would help heal the parts of his brain that have been damaged. These two therapies are not covered by insurance and the total cost is $10,000 (not counting the expenses of traveling to the facility and other costs incurred with the trip).

To read Parker’s full story, please go the web site for The Parker Headings Foundation HERE.

To help raise money for Parker’s medical expenses, the Annual Joe “Hug” James Memorial Poker Run will be held on Saturday, May 12. To make the flyer in the right corner larger, click on it. You can then print it out.

The Poker Run will begin with registration at A. D. Farrow Harley Davidson in Sunbury, Ohio at 9 am. Registration is $20 per person and includes the ride, hog roast, and admission to hear all five bands play at Lee’s Sports and Spirits in Plain City. The first bikes will head to Final Score in Delaware at 10 am. The final bikes will leave at noon. There are six stops on the run, which will end at Lee’s. If you are not taking part in the poker run, the cost is $10 per person or $15 per couple for food and to hear the bands. There will also be a benefit auction, raffles, and a corn hole tournament.

The five bands playing will include Iron Horse, Karma 10, The Charlie Tatman Band, Planet 9, and Tritster Renegade Band. There will also be a special pre-poker run party on Friday, May 11 at Lee’s featuring Iron Horse and The Charlie Tatman Band.

If you can’t take part in the Poker Run, you can also donate online by clicking on the “How you can help” link on the right side of The Parker Headings Foundation web site. The Vineyard Church of Plain City is accepting donations for Parker through their Daily Needs Assistance (DNA) program. All donations are tax deductible as the Vineyard is a non-profit organization. Check or money order donations can be made out to DNA Community Medical Assistance Fund (put Parker Headings in the memo line) and send to: Daily Needs Assistance, 224 Gay Street, Plain City, Ohio 43064.

Please help the Headings family and Parker by attending the Poker Run or by sending a donation. A special little boy is counting on YOU!

Our good friend (who is also an adopter, volunteer, and fundraiser for Black and Orange Cat Foundation), Olivia Brininger, will be at Eldchrist Winery in Plain City on Thursday, May 10, for Ladies Night featuring Lia Sophia jewelry. In the past, Olivia has done several Lia Sophia fundraisers to help the B and O kitties, so we would like to send everyone out to this event to support her.

This should be a fun evening to bring your girlfriends, sisters, and female relatives to. There will also be products available from Scentsy and Sweet Mamas Cake Pops. Sweet Mamas Cake Pops are made by two local, sweet mamas, Tracy and Kirsten.

Local author Sherri Hayes will also be there to sign and sell her romance and suspense novels. I first told you about Sherri’s book, Hidden Threat, in a blog posting last April. Since then, Sherri has published two new books, Behind Closed Doors and Slave. Her latest book, Need, a sequel to Slave, will be available in July. You can read the original blog posting about Hidden Threat HERE.

The winery event runs from 6-9 pm. Please come and have a good time, while supporting our friend, Olivia!

On Thursday, May 10, Chris Spielman, Stefanie’s husband and former Ohio State/NFL football player, will be speaking at 7:45 pm at Der Dutchman as a fundraiser for the Stefanie Spielman Breast Cancer Foundation. Stefanie, sadly, lost her battle with breast cancer in 2009, but Chris continues the fight in her memory.

A family style dinner will be served at 6:30 pm (doors open at 6 pm). Tickets are $30 per person for the event and reservations are required.

For more information about the evening and to order tickets online, go HERE.

In addition, Chris will be signing copies of the book, That’s Why I’m Here: The Chris and Stefanie Spielman Story, from 4-7 pm.

Der Dutchman will also donate 50% of ALL dining room sales to the Stefanie Spielman Foundation from 4-8 pm on May 10 (excluding bakery purchases). Additionally, 20% of all gift sales at Carlisle Gifts will also be donated to the Foundation from 4-8 pm.

There is a nice book review by Doug Bean of That’s Why I’m Here in the May edition of the Catholic Times. Click HERE  to download the May edition and then scroll down until you reach almost the bottom. The review begins on page 22 and continues on page 24.

And you can read Maddie Spielman’s blog posting about her mom HERE. Maddie is the Speilman’s oldest daughter.

Dr. Alicia Fenn is getting ready to open Plain City Pediatrics within the next few weeks. We are so happy to have her in Suite 400, right next door to the pharmacy and beside Dr. Adams.

Dr. Fenn and her husband, Justin, have been working with us for several months to get the new office ready for patients. We’ve walked through the space and it is definitely “kid friendly” with brightly colored walls and separate sick and well waiting areas.

Dr. Fenn is a Plain City native who grew up in the village. She received her medical degree from Wright State University and did her residency at Children’s Medical Center in Dayton, where she served as the Chief Resident. Dr. Fenn, a Board Certified Pediatrician, is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a member of the Ohio State Medical Association.

Plain City Pediatrics will have walk-in appointments available Monday through Friday, 8 am to 9 am, and Monday through Thursday, 5 pm to 6:30 pm. Normal scheduled hours will be Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm.

To find out more about our new neighbor, please visit the Plain City Pediatrics web site HERE.

As soon as we know the exact opening date for Plain City Pediatrics and when Dr. Fenn will be celebrating her Grand Opening, we will let everyone know. Joe and I are so excited to have Dr. Fenn working beside the pharmacy. We hope everyone will make her feel very welcome.

Everybody loves a circus, right? A harmless afternoon or evening of fun?

Wrong. I don’t enjoy the circus and I really don’t think the animals that are forced to perform do either. And that is why Joe and I will not be attending the circus that will be in town in May.

The Culpepper & Merriweather Circus is coming to Plain City on May 11 for two show times. The way this circus works is that they tend to pick smaller villages or towns to visit and get chambers of commerce or local schools (schools mean field trips and lots of children) and organizations to sponsor them. Then those groups sell the tickets for the circus in advance and receive a portion of the ticket sales. It is billed as a fundraiser. The circus moves from one small town to the next. On May 13, they will be in Johnstown.

With them will be several animals who did not decide, of their own free will, to “run away and join the circus.”

Many, many circuses are moving away from animal acts because the animals are made to perform using deprivation or punishment to enforce behavior. From the Culpepper and Merriweather web site, this circus uses a dog and pony show, trained birds, and camels. They do not mention having big cats, but on several other sites, I found evidence that they have performing tigers and lions. They no longer use elephants, as elephants are often the animals that lead to the most citations of cruelty for circuses and can produce the most risks if they escape–which two elephants did from this circus in 2008. Another elephant escaped in 2009 and was involved in a collision with an SUV.

Going back to 1991, Culpepper and Merriweather has been in trouble with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on numerous occasions for failing to meet the standards set forth in the Animal Welfare Act. You can read a fact sheet on these citations HERE.

Read another opinion about this circus HERE.

Tons of groups that promote animal welfare, including the ASPCA, ask that people not support an industry that harms animals. They ask those who care to NOT attend circuses that still use animal acts. Read the facts about animals in circuses HERE and HERE and HERE.

I realize that many people reading this may not have known that circuses are cruel. This blog was meant to educate and make the readers think. Children love animals and circuses are billed as fun places where kids can view exotic species they don’t see in their own back yards. But circuses promote lives of misery. Here is a quick list of things to think about:

1. If you’ve ever taken dancing lessons or tried to balance on one leg for a long period of time, you know how hard those things can be. Now imagine you are a wild animal that never, ever would do those things in real life. How difficult do you think it is for an elephant or a lion to attempt those feats? The only way to get them to do it is with punishment. Would you really want to do something just because you were afraid–terrified someone would beat you or hurt you?

2. How would you like to be crammed in a tiny space for hours upon hours in a day, traveling from one town to another every week of the year? You’d get tired and so do the animals. When the animals finally are let out, it is to do embarrassing tricks that they don’t want to do.

3. What if you were deathly afraid of another type of animal (I don’t like snakes and there is no way I would work with a venomous snake each day of my life)? But, too bad. Every day, you are FORCED–yes, forced (no one gives these animals a choice), to work with another animal that could eat you. Often horses are trained to have lions ride on their backs. Horses are prey animals. Big cats are predators. It is against their natures to be together. You can imagine how terrified the horse is every time it is forced to allow that lion to get on its back–a position that would normally lead to the lion killing it.

4. These animals are majestic, awe inspiring creatures. They deserve our respect and our compassion.

There are a number of circuses, including Cirque du Soleil (which I have attended), that do not use animals to entertain–only humans who chose that life. To see a list, go HERE.

Please think about these things before you attend a circus with animals.

The National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day will take place on Saturday, April 28 from 10 am to 2 pm. During this yearly event, you can turn in old or no longer used medicines for proper disposal. We know that many of you may have medications that have expired or that you don’t take any more and this is a perfect way to make sure they are destroyed so that no one gets hurt.

To find out more about the Take-Back Day, visit the web site HERE.

To find a disposal location near you, go HERE and put in your zip code or county and city.

“Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them.” Bill Vaughn, quoted in Jon Winokur, The Portable Curmudgeon, 1987

I had a professor in a geology class in college who said the very same thing, citing, as proof, housing developments named Maple Acres or Cherry Hill that lacked either of those types of trees.

We have similar areas in Plain City–Willow Creek (are there any willows there now?), Oak Ridge (off of Hickory Ridge–there may be a few oaks and hickories left), or even the old Fox Hollow trailer park on Jackson Street. Is that bit of land really a haven for foxes? I doubt it. Perhaps, at one time willows, oaks, and foxes did flourish in those areas, but progress has pushed them out. This Earth Day, we need to remind ourselves that without the trees and the animals, it will just be us, living in sterile environments of steel and glass, surrounded by miles and miles of asphalt–as Joni Mitchell lamented, “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”

The very first Earth Day was celebrated forty-two years ago in 1970. Since that time, our Earth has grown ever more damaged and fragile.

When I was little, one of my favorite pastimes was taking a walk, looking at the flowers and bugs and listening to the birds hailing each other above me. Everything was beautiful and exciting to me at that age. Even now, however, when I go out to fill the bird feeders on mornings awash in the pinks and silvers of daybreak, I am filled with awe and amazement at the beauty surrounding me in my own back yard. The maple tree feels like an old friend, sparrows and blue jays hanging from the branches. The pine trees form a living fence that smells delicious, the Christmasy scent intermixed with the moist fragrance of dew and grass. I cannot imagine these simple treasures disappearing.

We must protect our backyards, our villages, our countries, our Earth. We have never been so connected–the internet causing miles to disappear at the touch of a keyboard. We are all united in these connections. As Marshall McLuhan said in 1964, “There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew.”

Find out more about Earth Day and events you can participate in by going HERE. Below are a few that are taking place in Columbus and surrounding counties.

The Ohio Chapter of the Sierra Club will be celebrating Earth Day with an Earth Day River Clean Up at the Ohio State Wetlands Research Park on Saturday, April 21 from 10 am to noon. Volunteers will pick up trash and debris and plant native vegetation. Ohio State professor and wetland scientist, Dr. Bill Mitsch, will lead a bird tour at 9 am. For more information on this way to honor the Earth, go HERE.

Green Columbus will celebrate their 6th Earth Day at a Columbus citywide event on Saturday, April 21, as well. Find out more about the celebration HERE.

Several of the area Metro Parks will also be honoring Earth Day with programs throughout the Central Ohio area. To find a program you would enjoy, go HERE.