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Valentine for Our New City Manager
Hey sitty man’ger, pal o’ mine!Won’t you be my valentine?We never new which day was pickup.It was unpredicable as a hickcup.We never new, we never new, no way. But now it’s definit: pickup is no day.We...
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The 1937 Portsmouth Flood: A Narrative of Redemption or of Racism?
Photo by Lisa Pasquinelli Rickey of Mural by Robert DaffordIn the video River Voices (2002), senior Portsmouth residents who had lived through the 1937 Flood shared their recollections and reflections...
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The Hill View Flyer [reposted]
The budget-busting sentence from Sect. 87 of City Charter. The samelanguage is used in Sect. 89 covering the Fire Dept.The article below was originally posted on May 5, 2011. Because our new city...
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Flight 370
Imagine if you can, on this the sad firstAnniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing,That you were one of the passengers,Numbering 227 according to Malaysia Airlines,On the doomed Flight 370,Flying in...
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City Council Appointees: Portsmouth’s Perennial Problem
Mark Twain showed river towns have more than their share of vices. RIVER VICES shows Portsmouth, located at the confluence of the Ohio and Scioto Rivers, is no exception.Mike Mearan: the Most Notorious...
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John Haas: Portsmouth's Untenable City Solicitor
The central problem with city government in Portsmouth is not the form of government it has, namely the mayoral or city manager variety. The central problem is the kind of men who run for and get...
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Midsummer City Manager Moon Madness
"Kevin W. Johnson is up to his usual tricks and the moon is full."Having a city manager form of government in Portsmouth is the equivalent of a mid-summer full moon. The full moon brings out the...
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Haas Hassles Heather and the Kids
Do Some Porsche Owners Have a Screw Loose?What follows is a timeline of the divorce and subsequent hearings and the trial to settle custody and child support issues between John Haas, who is now...
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Front Street: One for the Road
Motorcyclists on Front Street before it was resurfacedIn April 2012, in River Vices, in the post “Front Street: Unsafe at Any Speed,” I warned about the hazardous situation on Front Street. I argued...
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Donuts, Obesity, and Diabetes
"The only healthy part of a donut is the hole." "To underscore the nutritionally immoral tinge of the donut run, there was a donut eating contest scheduled after the race.""The large majority of those...
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Hurrricane Klara: SSU's Perfect Storm
(This is a re-posting of piece that originally appeared in River Vices on Oct. 25, 2005. I am currently writing another piece on Kay Reynolds called “Slumlord Klara,” in the writing of which I was...
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Just Say Nay to Kay
1416 1/2 Park Ave.In 2011 the controversial Portsmouth businesswoman Kay (AKA Klara) Reynolds was reappointed by Governor Kasich to the Shawnee State University Board of Trustees, where she will serve...
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Snuffy Says Sitty Manager Virgin' on Nervus Brakedown
Zounds! It sez hear the sitty man’ger Allen aftur ownly six moons on the job writ a scaything five-page litter denuncing everbuddy. Allen sez, “The level of dysfunction is far greater than I could...
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The Deification of Derek Jeter
The amount of hype preceding every All-Star Game is heavy, but this year the hype was horrendous. It was horrendous because it was accompanied by the idolization of Derek Jeter, who is retiring at...
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Derek Allen's Cock-and-Bull Open Letter
Cock and Bull, Matt SesowWe have come full circle. As a result of the familiar fraud of musical chairs made possible by four-year terms, one of the most incompetent and dishonest mayors in Portsmouth...
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Snuffy's Take on Jim Kalb's Open Letter
Jim Kalb composing his open letter to Kevin W. JohnsonIffen you red Drek Aillen’s Cock-n-Bull Opin Litter, now reed Jim Kalb’s to the failed antic deeler Kevin W. Johnson. Summite suspeck Ol’ Jim...
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Miracle on 2nd Street
318 2nd St. before . . .and after . . .Before you read further, look at the webpage on Facebook for 318 2nd St. Street (click here). What has happened architecturally at 318 2nd St. is not just a...
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644 4th Street: The Turning Point?
The misinformed, misleading classified ad thatappeared in the Portsmouth Daily Times, 9/9/2014It is too early to say for sure, but something happened in the Municipal Building in connection with 644...
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The Multiple Chance Drug House
"Beware of snake-oil salesmen peddling miracle cures."In a flyer distributed for the 20th anniversary of the Marsh House, Counseling Center, Inc.'s, founder Ed Hughes wondered what the late Jim Marsh,...
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Snuffy Says, "Just Say No to Counseling Centers!"
"I tolled you drugs iz the ruination of this nation!"“Hey, Gramps, ‘gratulate me,” my gud fur nuthin’gransun sez to me who I aint sean in a munth of mondaze.“Gratulate you? Wat fur?” I sez.”“I’m a...
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