7/30/2019 'Santas Magic' is Saturday

1/1

An intriguing conversa-

tio n about the next s te p in

the f isca l d rama is tak ing

place among our elected

leaders.At this early point it

i s mostly a t an exploratory

level, but its no less real for

that.

A day after an elect ion in

which a changing electorate

essentially cemented the

status quo in place re-

electing the President and

keeping Congress split

between the two part ies the stock market swooned.

Its behavior was fueled by

doubt that Capitol Hill and

the White House would be

able to avoid the fiscal

cliff of rising taxes and

deep spending cuts slated

for the end of the year.

Really, though, it was more

than that: like the election

itself, it reflected deep

skepticism about our elect-

ed leaders ability to

address the difficult prob-

lems that confront our

nation.

The markets dive was

followed almost immediate-ly by an interesting dance

between the President and

Republican leaders in

Congress. Where House

Speaker John Boehner con-

ceded that Republicans

might accept increased tax

revenues, the President said

he would take a serious

look at reform of entitle-

ments. These are tantalizing

signs that last years rigid

part isan stances could soft-

en that flexibility, so

long elusive, might have a

chance of a comeback.

As they often do, the

elections created an open-

ing, a moment in political

life when fundamental ques-

t ions come to the fore. Thequestion most people in

Washington and many out-

s ide i t a re focused on i s as

basic as they get: Can gov-

ernment still work? Are

political leaders capable of

setting aside their differ-

ences and finding common

ground?

In Congress the answer, I

believe , will lie with its

members, and whether they

correctly read the electoral

tea leaves to conclude that

Americans want solutions,

not obstructionism. Their

mindset will be key. If the

majority on Capitol Hill

whatever their party

decide to be pragmatic and

cooperative, Congress may

pull itself out of the swamp

of disdain in which most

Americans hold it. If,

instead, they opt for ideolo-

gy and confrontation, the

dysfunction will continue.

Attitude is all-important.

When members see politics

as a steady quest for

improving our country and

our society, theres hope.

That is when theyre pre-

pared to ignore all the

forces competing for influ-

ence on Capitol Hill, and

search most diligently for

remedies to the scores of

truly difficult issues that we

need Washington to resolve.

And theres a politician

that has read and thought,

William ButlerYeats wrote.

We can only hope new and

returning members of

Congress will do the same

read, look clear ly at the

world around them, andthink for themselves. For

the plain t ruth is, there are

too many forces conspiring

to keep them from doing so:

their party leaders, lobby-

ists, the moneyed interests

that are already preparing

for the next election, opin-

ionated media personalities,

constituents pursuing their

own private interests, the

talking points prepared for

their caucuses, the frenetic

pace of life in Washington ,

the crisis of the moment.

Yet unless politicians can

find the t ime and, more

importantly, the inclination to char t their own cours e

through the thickets of poli-

cy that confront them every

day, they cannot collaborate

with one another to help

Congress do so, too. If

theyre locked in by the dic-

tates of partisan calculation,

the rigors of ideological

purit y, or the const ant need

to please funders, then

those are the interests they

will protect. Even if its at

the expense of making the

progress America ns so

badly want them to make,

and of the basic civility that

allows Congress and our

political system to rise

above the passions of the

moment.

Its anyones guess howCongress will deal with this

chance to start afresh.

Thats up to each of i ts

members. The pressures that

drove them toward hostili-

ties before the election

havent gone away. But the

signals being sent by politi-

cal leaders suggest they

understand that Americans

expect flexibility and prag-

matism. And the opening to

take individual responsibili-

ty for political progress and

set Congress on a more pro-

ductive course hasnt closed

yet . Its a gift of the elec-

tions. Lets hope they acceptit.

Lee Hamilton is Director

of the Center on Congress

at Indiana University. He

was a member of the U.S.

House of Representatives

for 34 years .

OPINIONCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of

speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

- The First Amendment to the United States Constitution

4 Thursday, November 29, 2012 Springboro Sun

1836 West Park Square, Xenia, OH 45385 - 937-294-7000

www.SpringboroSun.com.

.ng

To contact the Springboro Suncall the extensions or

numbers listed below.

LOUISE D. PHELPS

Acting Group Publisher, Ext. 101

publisher@xeniagazette.com

DOUG SKINNER - Editor, Ext. 155dskinner@tcnewsnet.com

MERRILEE EMBS

Managing Editor, Ext. 126membs@tcnewsnet.com

LINDA SKINNERBusiness Manager, Ext. 157

lskinner@tcnewsnet.com

ADVERTISING POLICYNo responsibility is assumed by the publisher for

omission or errors occurring in advertisements, but

correction will be made in the next issue following

when attention is directed to them.

RICH GUTHRIE

Advertising, Ext. 151

rguthrie@tcnewsnet.com

TAMMY TOOTLE

Classified Advertising Director866-212-7355 or 937-372-4444 press 2

ttootle@tcnewsnet.com

CIRCULATION CUSTOMER SERVICECirculation department hours 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday. Ciculation is

located at 1836 W. Park Sq. Xenia.

Call 937-294-7000.

Home deliveryYear - $40, 26 Weeks - $24

13 Weeks EZ Pay - $10

*EZ Pay is automatic withdraw from

credit or debit card. Minimum of 3 months.

Yearly mail out of county - $50Yearly online only - $20Monthly online - $3

Ohio Community Media, LLC

Copyright 2012, all rights reserved

Published every Thursday 50 weeks a year, except New

Years and Christmas days.

Periodicals postage paid at Dayton, Ohio. Postmaster:

Send address changes to Xenia Gazette, 1836 W. Park

Square, Xenia, Ohio 45385.

The publisher shall not be liable for damages out of

errors in advertisements beyond the amount paid for

space actually occupied by that portion of the advertise-

ment in which the error occurs, and there shall be no lia-

bility for non-insertion of any advertisement beyond the

amount paid in advance for such advertisement.

This newspaper is environmentally friendly. It

is printed in recycled fibers and soy-basedinks, with the exception of some supplements.

TheSpringboro Sun encourages read-

ers to write letters to the editor:

Letters should be typed, or printed

legibly, signed and include current

address and daytime phone number of

the author. We will publ ish only the

name of the author and city, or organiza-

t ion. Full addresses will not be pub-

lished. Form letters will notbe accepted.

Anonymous letters will not be printed.

Letters to the editor must be 350

words or less. Deadline for letters is 9

a.m. The Friday before publ icat ion.

Letter writers have a limit of one pub-

lished letter every 30 days.

Letters will be verified bythe news-

paper via telephone. The newspaper

reserves theright to edit for length, style

and grammar and to limit the number of

letters on a specific topic.

If content is libelous or misleading,

letters will notbe printed. For letters that

include claims that are not a matter of

public record, the burden of proof of the

claim(s) fall upon the letter writer.

Election letters will be published

prior to the election, but not the week

before the election, that issue is reserved

for the newspapers endorsements.

Opinions of letter writers or colum-

nists are those of the author only. They

do not represent the opinion of the staff

and management of the Times

Community Newspaper Group. Send

letters to 1836 West Park Square,Xenia,

OH 45385 or dskinner@tcnewsnet.com.

Letter to the Editor Policy

First of all, I love writing about people

in this community. We have such a wide

variety of amazing citizens that live here:

Tim Harrison, wild animal expert thats

known throughout the world, USAFflight

commanders, test pilots for the B1, F22

Fighter, Hollywood producer (yes, that

lives here) Nashville rising stars, UPSs

number one driver in his 50-year history

of the company with millions of accident

free miles, doctors, lawyers, small busi-

ness owners in many diversified fields

each with an amazing story and, of

course, many prolific writers.

Today, I introduce you to D.A. Quigley,

the author of Santas Magic. Its that

time of year to meet Mr. Quigley. I could-

nt write this at the pool in the summer. It

wouldnt vibe.

D.A. is actually Don, a former IBM

sales executive that traveled the country

for years in a profession he enjoyed. If

you have a fun, outgoing personality,

sales can be extremely rewarding. Could

playing Santa every year for 30 years as

an avocat ion in December, t raveling

across the Midwest be rewarding, too? Of

course, when you do something for three

full decades, theremust be joy, love and a

place in your heart or youd have given it

up years ago.

Don was introduced to Santa way back

when he was four years old, holding his

mothers hand in a death grip. Guy in red

suit, beard, boots, hat, the whole ensem-

ble is not normal and that happens today

with a few first-time visitors.

Dons Santa that developed over the

years is notcomparable to mall or depart-

ment store Santa Clauses. His wonderful

wife, Patti (Mrs. Claus), runs the North

Pole hot line, where calls come in for

Santa visitsand are scheduled throughout

the season in geographical areas in time

frames allowing for travel, meals, hotels,

flights, rental car pickups, etc. Santa

arrives with much knowledge of the child

or children hes visiting. Names, pets,

teachers, favorite things are all memo-

rized for each visit. Many times gifts are

positioned outside homes for Santa to

pick up and put in his bag for delivery at

the visit with an explanation that he has a

few others hell be bringing in his sleigh

on Christmas morning.

Did Santa ever forget part of his

wardrobe, miss a scheduled appointment

with a child, make a stop to visit a child

that was not on his li st, get delayed in a

snowstorm, meet with a non-Santa

believer, bring a moment of love andpeace to a family that words can not

describe? Yes to all of the aforemen-

tioned, but youll have to read the book.

Don will be autog raphing Santas

Magic this Saturday between 5-8 p.m. at

Ambiance Wine Bar & Caf at 345 S.

Main St. , in the Spr ingboro Historic

District.

This is a quaint li ttle caf featuring

wonderful art and photography for sale

on their walls with a very homey atmos-

phere, genuine people and some of the

most wonderful food youll ever eat.

Please t ry their BLT pizza. Lucy and I

love it! Dons book features a collection

of 12 stories and is a quick read that

youll truly enjoy. I read 100pages at first

read and polished off the remaining 48

the next afternoon when I returned to my

office. It wi ll bless you and give you a

wonderful feeling about Santas like Don.

So glad to have this Santa right here in

our back yard.

Springboros Jack Lovely celebrated

his 93rd birthday a week ago yesterday

with the Barn Gang and others for a total

of 50 celebrants, including the chief of

police, the Warren County sheriff, my

favorite country singer and former police

chi ef Evere tt Manning, Mayor John

Agenbroad, a host of others and yours

truly, to mention a few. The chefs showed

up at 6 a.m.to get the breakfastunderway

while guests started arriving at 7. Everett

got his guitar out and helped us all sere-

nade jack with the Happy Birthday

song. Representatives of the Clearcreek

Fire Department present would not allow

us to put all 93 candles on Jacks birthday

cake. Fire hazard, cant do it boys. So we

found a nine of hearts and a three of

hearts (we all folded) and Jack won the

day with several awesome gifts. Jacks a

World War II U.S. Army veteran and a

wonderful human being thats been a part

of this communityfor his wholelife. May

the good Lord bless you and keep you for

many years to come, Jack.

mergewright@yahoo.com

MERGE WRIGHT

B

y Do

n W

right

Times

Columnist

Santas Magic is SaturdaySome relief in our electionsmight be (oh oh) more votesNot many people can be found these days who say they love the

long elections (especially in presidential years), who were delighted

with the ads in this past campaign,welcomed the robocalls, and

believed everything all of that was

telling them. In fact, there are vari-

ous forms of rebellion afoot.

The most far-fetched rebel move

is the petition drive to secede from

the union. Its kind of fun for those

most unhappy with the presidential

outcome, but breaking up the union

isnt going to solve any problems

even if it were possible. (The one exception might be to let everyone

leave the District of Columbia with the trillions of debt and volumes

of regulations so that the rest of us could start over. Well, just kidding.)

What we might look at more seriously would be some controls on

political ads. One proposal some folks are playing with now would

require any broadcast ad pro or con for any statewide or federal office

candidate to be approved by a special commission. It would have to be

balanced politically (no easy task) and its responsibility would be tocheck accuracy. Every ad submitted would require a deposit of

$25,000, refundable on approval, but non-refundable on rejection.

Only then could TV and radio stations broadcast the ad. Broadcasting

any non-approved ad would incur a fine of $100,000 per occurrence.

You probably detect some First Amendment free speech obstacles

in this as well as a certain bias toward ads in print media. If you are

going to insist on truth and accuracy in political ads it would be a good

idea to cover all forms. The push of this is against the kind of person-

al attacks that got so tiresome this year. Such controls might also

induce candidates to hold more genuine news conferences so that vot-

ers could see real issues being discussed in venues other than the

debates and in contrast to those feel-good rallies full of slogans and

cheers. If a candidate wanted to slander an opponent it would all be

openly done rather than via a slick ad that folks might or might not

attribute to the candidate.

If you got something like this in place via a referendum, a second

one would require that advertising cease once early voting begins or

perhaps 45 days before an election. No robocalls either! (It strikes methat robocalls are counter-productive in any case. A live person at the

end of the line calling from a political shop would be able to remove

the called name from the list on request, perhaps ask if the household

has already voted, and if more calls would be helpful or not.)

A third referendum would seek assurance that voting is both a right

and privilege and would end the practice of signing up voters just any-

where. All voters would be required to register at the board of elections

in person and to show identification establishing residence. Photo ID

is a good idea (especially when it is provided free). Parties or other

organizations would be free to canvass neighborhoods in registration

drives but not to actually register. A person desiring to register who

is not able to do so at the board could ask that an officer of the board

of elections visit the registrant to complete the process. Every effort

would also be made to see that the disabled and infirm get a chance to

vote either as absentees or with help from volunteers available for just

that duty.

Our elections now are long and wasteful. The proponents of these

ideas for corrections may find both legal and political opposition, butat least we need to get the discussion going. We had some odd things

happening across the nation (not least of which was a Dayton precinct

voting 543-0). If the union is going to stay together in relative happi-

ness, we need to eliminate as many election problems as possible. Is

that pie in the sky? (I hope its not pie in the face.)

COMMENTARY

BY WILLIAM H.

WILD

Times

columnist

After elections, attitude will be key

Lee

Hamilton

Guest

Columnist

Once again the Christmas season is being highlighted by goofy

sales gimmicks and Black Friday tops the list. Cyber Monday

comes in a close second.

I have a suggestion.

How about some new names for Americas biggest shopping days?

Like maybe Broke Tuesday or Well Have To Take Out A Loan To

Pay For All This Stuff Thursday.

I still find it hard to believe

people gather outside department

stores all over America at some-

thing like 2 p.m. in the afternoon

with their pup tents and bedrolls

so they can spend the night in a

bitter-cold parking lot for a

chance at being among the first

customers into the store the next

day to get a jump on other shoppers who are looking for bargain prices

on everything from talking dolls to ice skates.

I even have a name for people who do that and that name is The

PWTMSTOTH Crowd or, translated, The People-With-Too-Much-

Spare-Time-On-Their-Hands-Crowd.

Think about it. Santa Claus and all of his elves and reindeer prob-

ably gets more sleep than those people do on the days and nights lead-

ing up to Christmas. What possibly can make an otherwise-sane man

or woman or both sleep out-of-doors or inside their cars all night in the

fierce November or December cold just to get good deals on gifts for

their children and grandchildren and aunts and uncles and gosh knows

who else?

Furthermore, Im pretty sure jolly old St. Nicholas gets a really bigkick out of all this pre-Christmas idiocy, too.

I see Santa sitting in his living room at his fashionable three-bed-

room home at the North Pole sipping a cold beer and chuckling about

the silliness going on at department stores all over America.

Ho, Ho, Ho, the Jolly Old Elf says, taking another sip of his beer

and propping his feet up on the ottoman thats in front of his favorite

overstuffed chair.

Santa pauses briefly to ask his favorite elf to toss a new log on the

fire, takes another sip of his beer, then turns to Dasher and Dancer and

Comet and says Hey, guys, look at all those idiots standing outdoors

in the bitter cold just so they can save a few bucks on their Christmas

gifts.

Then, after a lengthy pause, Santa flashes a big smile and adds

another booming Ho-Ho-Ho.

Contact Bob at bbatz@woh.rr.com

Why not Broke Tuesday?

Bob

Batz

Senior

Moments