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Collector Car Hobby Loses One of the Best—Jim Roll
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Decisions Decisions: Credit Cards or Your Mortgage?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.
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Talk of the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend
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Track HR Research
Akron Gamer:
'Tecmo Bowl' recreation of Super Bowl XLIV
See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
By Bob Dyer
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 05:10 p.m. EDT, Jul 09, 2009
One reader is all fired up about Schocalog Road.
Or Shocalog.
Or Chocolog.
Bill Barnes points out that it has been spelled the first way in Akron, the second way in Copley and the third way in a widely respected Akron history book written by Samuel Lane.
Well, here's an idea. In view of the Cleveland Cavaliers' recent acquisition, I think we should just change it to Shaqalog.
What, no moat?
Bob: I stopped at the Summit County engineer's office on South Street in Akron to pick up a Summit County map. My, my. The place has been modified to resemble a fortress, with an outer room, a double-locked second door and a non-working intercom for the receptionist to try to use.
She had a ''deer in the headlights'' look on her face when I entered the ''holding'' area. She had to yell across the room and use primal gestures to indicate the maps were located on a table behind me.
What is the necessity for all the security? County offices are not open to the public?
LaVerne Ayers
Akron
LaVerne: They're still open to the public, but not for all purposes at all hours. The exceptions would include the homeless folks the engineer's janitorial staff sometimes found sleeping in closets.
You're certainly right about the modifications. When Alan Brubaker took over the elective post in January, he installed card-readers on the inside set of entry doors and ordered the back gate to the parking lot closed at night.
Spokeswoman Heidi Swindell says heavier security was needed to protect the employees and expensive equipment. In addition to the uninvited sleepers, the parking lot had ''become a short-cut for neighborhood kids and one or two menacing-looking characters,'' she says.
Anyone can still enter during business hours. The only difference is that instead of stating your purpose at the front desk, you have to do it by intercom — which allegedly is now working.
Gainfully employed
Speaking of county engineers, Brubaker's predecessor, Greg Bachman, has resurfaced as the city engineer for Pickerington, near Columbus.
Imagine that! An Ohio resident finding a job in the year 2009!
Vanishing act
Bob: Before it was repaved, the Wolf Ledges exit ramp off the eastbound Akron Expressway contained road markings and two signs indicating drivers in the right lane can not only turn right at the top but left toward the post office.
Since the resurfacing, the sign at the top of the ramp is gone, as well as the lane markings. The sign at the bottom is still there. The end result is drivers in the left lane are now frequently drifting out into the right lane as they turn, not realizing the other lane can turn left, too.
Can someone bring back the lane markings and the sign?
Paul Hirschfelt
Coventry Township
Paul: Yes, someone can. You can. And you did.
When your note was forwarded to Akron traffic engineer Dave Gasper, he quickly erected a new sign and vowed to restore the striping this weekend, weather permitting.
Good work, Paul!
Double meaning
Here's a fun license-plate story out of Colorado.
A woman who loves tofu, the mother of three vegetarians, wanted a vanity plate that read ILVTOFU. But somebody in the Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles read it differently. We won't get graphic in a family newspaper, but she interpreted the ''TO'' as part of a verb.
Plate denied.
Bob Dyer's Streets column appears each Friday. He can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com.
One reader is all fired up about Schocalog Road.
Or Shocalog.
Or Chocolog.
Bill Barnes points out that it has been spelled the first way in Akron, the second way in Copley and the third way in a widely respected Akron history book written by Samuel Lane.
Well, here's an idea. In view of the Cleveland Cavaliers' recent acquisition, I think we should just change it to Shaqalog.
What, no moat?
Bob: I stopped at the Summit County engineer's office on South Street in Akron to pick up a Summit County map. My, my. The place has been modified to resemble a fortress, with an outer room, a double-locked second door and a non-working intercom for the receptionist to try to use.
She had a ''deer in the headlights'' look on her face when I entered the ''holding'' area. She had to yell across the room and use primal gestures to indicate the maps were located on a table behind me.
What is the necessity for all the security? County offices are not open to the public?
LaVerne Ayers
Akron
LaVerne: They're still open to the public, but not for all purposes at all hours. The exceptions would include the homeless folks the engineer's janitorial staff sometimes found sleeping in closets.
You're certainly right about the modifications. When Alan Brubaker took over the elective post in January, he installed card-readers on the inside set of entry doors and ordered the back gate to the parking lot closed at night.
Spokeswoman Heidi Swindell says heavier security was needed to protect the employees and expensive equipment. In addition to the uninvited sleepers, the parking lot had ''become a short-cut for neighborhood kids and one or two menacing-looking characters,'' she says.
Anyone can still enter during business hours. The only difference is that instead of stating your purpose at the front desk, you have to do it by intercom — which allegedly is now working.
Gainfully employed
Speaking of county engineers, Brubaker's predecessor, Greg Bachman, has resurfaced as the city engineer for Pickerington, near Columbus.
Imagine that! An Ohio resident finding a job in the year 2009!
Vanishing act
Bob: Before it was repaved, the Wolf Ledges exit ramp off the eastbound Akron Expressway contained road markings and two signs indicating drivers in the right lane can not only turn right at the top but left toward the post office.
Since the resurfacing, the sign at the top of the ramp is gone, as well as the lane markings. The sign at the bottom is still there. The end result is drivers in the left lane are now frequently drifting out into the right lane as they turn, not realizing the other lane can turn left, too.
Can someone bring back the lane markings and the sign?
Paul Hirschfelt
Coventry Township
Paul: Yes, someone can. You can. And you did.
When your note was forwarded to Akron traffic engineer Dave Gasper, he quickly erected a new sign and vowed to restore the striping this weekend, weather permitting.
Good work, Paul!
Double meaning
Here's a fun license-plate story out of Colorado.
A woman who loves tofu, the mother of three vegetarians, wanted a vanity plate that read ILVTOFU. But somebody in the Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles read it differently. We won't get graphic in a family newspaper, but she interpreted the ''TO'' as part of a verb.
Plate denied.
Bob Dyer's Streets column appears each Friday. He can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Akron, OH
Posted 05:54 PM, 07/09/2009
Well, I think that we should NOT change the name to Shaqalog.
akron, oh
Posted 06:06 PM, 07/09/2009
thanks for that rm...
Akron, Oh
Posted 10:08 PM, 07/09/2009
why is it that every time someone renames a road, it is in the name of a black person?
akron , oh
Posted 07:04 AM, 07/10/2009
oh dear bd I got the last one. yikes...
congrats greg bachman,maybe those citizens will appreciate your talent and contributions unlike the cluess ones here in summit county.
Barberton, OH
Posted 07:52 AM, 07/10/2009
your tofu story is about a year old but I guess it's breaking news for you.
Akron, OH
Posted 11:43 AM, 07/10/2009
Much better Dyer. Some of us were gettin' tired of the ABJ reprintin' some of y'alls past articles.
Suffice it to say, for some, once is enough.
akron, oh
Posted 11:55 AM, 07/10/2009
WHAT ABOUT "BOB"
AKRON, OH
Posted 07:49 PM, 07/10/2009
NO Fred Johnson
Canton, OH
Posted 11:14 PM, 07/10/2009
Vanity Plates are cool. . . .
mayberry, oh
Posted 08:46 AM, 09/05/2009
ovr8d
