Lincolnite

City Council member Adam Hornung wants to save two and a half police officer positions that would otherwise be cut by Mayor Beutler's proposed budget. That 2.5 officer equivalent would come from no longer having LPD write reports for non-injury accidents. Officers would still respond when necessary, but they wouldn't write the full reports that insurance companies use when determining fault, setting payout amounts, and deciding on rate increases. So far I haven't seen Hornung describe where he would get the money to pay for the officers. You can safely bet that he won't want to raise taxes, so that leaves salaries and City programs as the likely source of the money. He'll likely complain about any non-contractually-obligated raises, for example. I'm not sure if the full $150,000 (give or take) could be made up from those raises or not. I'm not sure what I think about the end of non-injury accident reports. I disagree with Mr. Hornung that the reports represent a mandatory component of public safety in Lincoln. Non-injury reports are merely "nice-to-haves", not "must-haves". Nobody's health is threatened by Beutler's proposal. There are, however, some financial implications to consider. Those involved in non-injury accidents are likely to face higher insurance costs than they otherwise would have seen; in fact, it's possible that all Lincoln drivers will face slightly higher premiums as a result of this policy change. I don't know that that will happen, merely that it could. I was involved in a non-injury accident back in high school. No report was written because it occurred on private property. Boy, a report sure would have been nice. It was the sort of accident in which fault wasn't immediately obvious based on the damage caused. Yet any witness could have told you that my vehicle wasn't even moving in the moments leading up to impact! Fortunately, my insurance company sided with me and I suffered no financial harm. Perhaps I got lucky. Perhaps my Hot Wheels recreation of the accident was just that convincing. All in all, although a report might have made the process a bit smoother, the absence of a report wasn't the end of the world. That's my lone anecdote for you. Are non-injury accident reports important enough to warrant saving at the cost of other budget items? If so, what should go?

The public is often asked to help the homeless with food, shelter, and clothing. Matt Talbot Kitchen & Outreach is asking for something a bit different: bug spray. Apparently they're seeing a lot of bug bite problems on area homeless folks these days. If you're so inclined, donations can be dropped off at 2121 N. 27th Street -- that's just south of the viaduct.

Nearly half of the Lower 48 is experiencing drought conditions of one form or another. Upon hearing that startling statistic I couldn't help but recall the news from a short two months ago that the City won't restrict water usage this summer. Hopefully that decision doesn't come back to bite us one day.

Mark it down, ladies and gentlemen. I'm quick to condemn others who shout "There oughtta be a law!" at the drop of a hat just because they don't like something. But today I'm going to be one of those people. So mark it on your calendars because this won't happen very often. What's got me so riled up? Sky lanterns. You may have seen them or even launched one within the past few days. A sky lantern is a sort of poor-man's hot air balloon. You ignite a flame underneath a flimsy canopy, and when the air inside the canopy heats up enough, the whole thing floats into the sky. En masse and in the appropriate setting I'm certain they're pretty cool. One at a time -- the way I saw them used yesterday -- they're pretty underwhelming. It shouldn't take long to figure out why they're so awful. Sky lanterns are basically floating fireballs carried aloft on the breeze. Their flames continue as long as they have fuel. And these aren't little tiny flames; these are big-enough-to-cause-some-damage flames. Some folks at our gathering launched a sky lantern in my parents' cul-de-sac. There was a gentle breeze from the south at the time. The lantern went up about 15 feet as it floated gently toward the south. At first it appeared it would continue gaining elevation. It didn't. It leveled out and continued out of the cul-de-sac toward a commons area. There it crashed firmly among the branches of a tree, some 15-20 feet up. Its fuel continued to burn. And burn. We watched it for a few moments. Thank goodness the tree was green. Had the lantern instead chosen to crash into the dying pine tree 50 feet to the east we would have had our hands full. Eventually we got a hose and I was able to spray out the flame. That lantern could have crashed into all kinds of flammable things: dry leaves, grass, trash, or a house or other structure. And it could have done so far enough away from its launch point that its launchers wouldn't be able to do anything about it -- or even know about it so they could warn someone. These aren't abstract, it-probably-wouldn't-really-happen fears. They're entirely predictable and likely consequences of a dangerous and irresponsible product. I hate to be "that guy", but... There oughtta be a law.

I'm no golfer, but it's unfortunate that after all the excitement over a new clubhouse at Holmes Lake, the project is delayed and features have been cut thanks to bids coming in about 35% higher than expected. I understand that pre-bid cost estimates are just that -- estimates. But whenever estimates are off by a whopping 35% I have to wonder just what the estimators were thinking. Did the cost of materials jump during the bidding period? Did local construction suddenly hit a boom cycle so companies could charge more? Was the estimation just some guy's wild guess? The clubhouse will be built eventually, hopefully without having to sacrifice too many features that make it worth building a new clubhouse in the first place. Perhaps one of these days I'll even visit it. Golf is one of those sports (games?) I've always thought would be fun to get into, but I just don't have the time. Some day, perhaps.

Maybe it's because Independence Day falls on a Wednesday this year. Or maybe it's because I spend a large part of my days working alone in the basement. But whatever the cause, I just can't get into the holiday spirit this year. And that's why my first reaction to seeing this article in this morning's dead tree edition of the Journal Star was: Uncle Sam Jam is today?! As a Lincoln-oriented guy I should be encouraging you to go check it out. Unfortunately, I've never actually been to the event so I can't really vouch for its awesomeness. The evening fireworks show is, of course, the capstone of the event. If nothing else, that part is worth heading to Oak Lake or the surrounding area. As for the rest, my only advice is to take lots and lots of water and sunscreen.

Last winter I decided I wanted to challenge myself physically, so I signed up for the Lincoln Half-Marathon. Thanks to an ill-timed soccer assignment the race itself didn't go exactly as planned, but race day wasn't necessarily the point. The training was more important than the race itself, and the training went great. After the race I took some time off. I think I assumed I would get back into the running mode and perhaps train for the Omaha Half-Marathon in the fall. It didn't really work out that way, primarily because I hate running in the heat and humidity. I'll do it, but ... bleh. Enter P90X. I'll spare you the bulk of the sales pitch because the Beachbody folks do that well enough on their own. I'll just say that I was looking for some sort of training regimen that could get me the sort of results I'm looking for in my home with minimal equipment. And what are the results I'm looking for? Improved core strength; lower body fat percentage; and increased stamina. And frankly it wouldn't hurt my feelings if I saw some improvement in my pathetically tiny biceps. The pre-test is done, the "before" photos are taken, the equipment is ready. Today is Day 1. I hear the program sucks for the first couple weeks, but that's OK. If all goes well, ninety days from now I'll be in significantly better shape. If you've ever thought about starting on P90X or a similar program, Lincolnite commenter Fletch can help you get started. He is registered as a "coach" and if you order through that link he gets a million bucks or something like that. He helped me figure out my wants and needs over lunch at China House. Oh, and before anybody asks: No, I won't be publishing the before and/or after photos. I know it's a popular thing for P90X participants to do, but it isn't going to happen in this case. Sorry Charlie. If it makes you feel better I'll admit to only (barely!) managing 3 pull-ups and I just eked past the minimum number of "ins and outs" (an ab exercise) during the pre-test. And those biceps I mentioned? Twelve inches of solid bone and skin, baby. Now then, I've got some work to do.