Congratulations, Caniacs

I turned on the TV at the office Monday night as the finals of the Stanley Cup were being played. Honestly, I peeked in a few times when the roar got loud. As I had finished most of my other newspaper tasks, I settled in to watch the final few minutes. I don’t think I watched any other match they played all season, so I am definitely not a Caniac.
David Williams, on the other hand, was rising and falling with the fortunes of the ‘Canes as he was fixed in front of his set (he had gotten his work done, pretty much, on the paper earlier in the day, so he could enjoy the match). David has been regularly watching and proudly displaying his Hurricanes flag from his vehicle.
As excited as David is about the ‘Canes, I don’t think he’s the hockey fan that the late Greg Tobolski was. Greg attended a number of Hurricanes matches, dating from when they played in Greensboro. I should say that Greg attended a number of Philadelphia Flyers games that were played locally, and he may have seen a few other teams, but he primarily went to see Philly and to proudly wear his Flyers jacket.
Greg even got me to a Hurricanes match a few years ago. I have to admit that I enjoyed the match. I don’t remember whether Carolina won or not, but it was a good day.
I am reminded of my years in Cincinnati, going back close to 30 years ago now. I had pulled for the Cincinnati Reds before moving there, and they had had a couple of World Series winning teams in the 1970’s, with Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, and George Foster, managed by Sparky Anderson. Some say they were among the best teams ever (I would make that argument).
I remember commemorative coffee cups and glasses in abundance celebrating the Reds’ World Series wins. There probably were bumper stickers around. We moved there as the fortunes of the team began to slip some, but there were still plenty of us who went to several games during the year, and who regularly listened to the games on the radio.
For good or bad, there is a certain element of civic pride that rides with the team. I think it’s often overstated, but there is also the economic impact of a winning franchise. There are people who attend a match who drive or fly in, and maybe stay overnight, and eat and drink before and after. They also help pay for the facility by buying a ticket, parking, and buying concessions once inside.
In this age of free agency in sports, there is an element of buying the best players around so that you can put on a winning team (or hockey club, as they say). In hockey, that is even more of an undertaking, as I think most of the NHL teams are losing money. I don’t think Carolina has made a profit since moving here, though they keep talking about moving in the right direction and the expectation of making a profit in the next year or two. I don’t think one owns a hockey franchise in order to make money.
While there are some baseball and football franchises which make money, again, a product of this time of free agency is many do not. I’m not against the players making money, and competitive owners, wanting to win, bid up the price of good players. Still, you have to wonder how long this can last.
It will last for a while, for our economy is an engine that builds massive fortunes. Paying the bills for a hockey franchise is a way that one can put back into the community, and in this case, take pride in putting a winner on the ice.
It’s much the same as when an alumnus puts into the athletic facilities of his alma mater to help them recruit better players so they might have a better team the next season.
It seems to be a lot of effort and money so some of us can stand up and scream “We are the Champions!” On Monday, a lot of people around here were screaming.

Speaking of civic pride, I haven’t been out to the new park in Princeton, but I plan to go out Saturday for the celebration. I hope we have a good weather and a good turnout.
I believe we have a facility that we can be proud of. A lot of people deserve credit for this, starting with the Floors Family, who gave the land. Without their vision, I suspect a lot of people would still be talking about a park, rather than using one this Saturday.
Many on the town staff were a part of this effort, as grants from a variety of sources were applied for and some were awarded, and as with most grants, there had to be some money raised locally. Many contributed to that effort. I appreciate those who helped make this a reality.
There is more to be done, and taxpayers won’t be asked to pay the majority of the bill. The county is helping, and we can say that tax money is contributing, but many good people will help, as they should.
Saturday is a time to step back and celebrate how far we have come. It has been a major step for Princeton, and many should be congratulated.


I did get over to the Pikeville Veteran’s Memorial celebration. I was bowled over with how well everything was organized and how well the ceremonies went. Dennis Lewis and his team are to be congratulated.
For many years the old school was the hub of the community, and it seems that time is coming back, as when there are events that bring us together as community , they will happen at the school.
It gets frustrating at times that we can’t get some things done sooner, but that is part of having to work with the limited budgets that towns have. With patience and over time, great things and major projects can be accomplished, as Pikeville has done.
The community has a lot to be proud of, there.

Put some sides on my plate

There's a calendar that Marilyn put up in the bathroom with inspirational sayings on it. The May calendar has been preaching to me, "Our life is frittered away by detail...simplify, simplify." That's attributed to Henry David Thoreau.
I don't know if Marilyn picked out that calendar with that particular message in mind, but it sure sounds like her. She preaches to me frequently about how I have too many things on my plate. I can't do all I have in front of me and do it well. I need to start saying "no."
That's not particularly my nature, hence the need to hear that. I am too quick to say yes to things, and I'm not a great delegator. A lot of things end up as seeming my responsibility, and sometimes I don't put the effort in them they deserve.
I have several other things I am currently involved in, beyond our newspapers. I work with United Methodist Men in eastern North Carolina, I help with the church's newspaper for that area, and I work with the local library board. I can't say that any of the three require twenty hours a week, but they do add up.
We've got a big United Methodist Men weekend coming up, and there is a lot that needs to be done. I had several other things that were also pressing me.
I sometimes sense God's hand in all of this, sometimes hearing my prayers, sometimes hearing the prayers I should have said.
Well, as I was heading off to Raleigh to a meeting I really didn't need to go to, but felt like I should, I called the fellow who was in charge. We were planning an event for August, and really should have been a month further along on it. Given several questions that had arisen, I had asked him to survey the others involved to see if they felt we should move forward or not. He had not gotten back to me, and I assumed no news was good news, let's go forward. But I felt this nudge to just check with him.
Well, it turned out that there had been some others that felt it would be best to wait. So I pulled off the side of the road, tied up the loose ends of the conversation, and headed back home as I needed to.
The next day I was preparing to go to Raleigh to work on the church newspaper. The fellow that I work with on it, who works in Raleigh, suggested that he come to my office to go over the paper. That also was an answer to prayer.
There was a newspaper work thing recently, some things I had been doing. We decided to re-assign some of that to one of our other staffers. That wasn't a conscious decision I had been working on, just something that sort of happened. It made a lot of sense, though.
The difficulty with having a lot of things on your plate is making sure you give the things that are really important the attention they deserve, and you don't get bogged down with things that are really not that important.
I clearly have trouble making that distinction, but I don't want to shy away from something I really should be doing by saying I don't have time. I am willing to maybe not do some things I should as well as I should (is that selfish pride?) rather than not do them. I am going to try to do everything well, but sometimes I won't get there.
As I am finding out, I can delegate some things to get them done. That is hard for me, and I have a hard time accepting that some of those delegated to will do it differently that I would do it. That's exactly what I need to accept, though. Often, it will get done better than I could do it, because they will put more time in it than I could have.

We have been sliding into a web page for the newspaper over recent months. That has been a major undertaking for us, and my wife, Marilyn, has been the guiding force for that. I appreciate her dedication in learning all that it requires to get this done, and her dedication to get it updated on a timely basis.
My younger daughter, Kelly, has been helping us out in the office and she has been helping out on the web page. She's offered several ideas which we believe will improve it over the next few weeks.