Positive thoughts on a dreary February

In gratitude for the passage last Wednesday of what was for the most part a dreary, cold, and rather joyless February 2001, we offer the following items which helped make the aforesaid month a little brighter - and, we hope, get March off to a cheery start.

Hearing Rudy Masarik, Andrew Fitzgibbon, and Jesse McKeachie address the St. Johns City Commission at its meeting last Monday night was a definite ray of sunshine - particularly given some pretty intense public meetings that have become the norm around this community.

How could anyone not smile and feel hopeful listening to these young men politely ask their elected officials for some guidance on how to go about getting a skate park up and running "for kids to have something to do after school and on weekends."

It may not have the long-term ramifications of other weighty issues that folks around here are currently wrestling with, but it certainly was refreshing to see and hear young people who quite obviously believe elected officials can be helpful and do have the power to make positive decisions.

Granted, the reality of their request may be a pipe dream - or half-pike dream, as the case may be - but it still made sitting through one more meeting in a month filled with them a little more bearable.

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At the risk of seeming to play favorites with the city fathers - and mother - it would be remiss of me not to mention their presentation at an earlier commission meeting in February to a very, very worthy recipient, Betty Moore.

Betty was honored for her years of service on the St. Johns Planning Commission, and while she certainly is deserving of praise for her role in that capacity, other 'good deeds' also abound.

Betty was a founding member of the Clinton County Historical Society and, as a member of the staff that produced the 1980 History of Clinton County, she wrote many of the articles on businesses, schools, townships, and other sections of the book - and edited it all.

She was a friend to many during her years of serving as an alternative education teacher when it was housed at Theresa Merrill, and in subsequent stints teaching in the Fowlerville and Fowler school systems.

I owe a personal debt to Betty for her assistance several years ago during a research project for Citizens Bank - then City Bank - when it moved from its long-time location on Clinton Avenue to the Egan Building on Higham Street. My intention was to stop by Betty's house for 'just a few minutes' and check out an old map of downtown St. Johns that she owned.

Those minutes quickly turned into hours as Betty filled me in on the who, what, when, and where of the downtown business district - and plenty of other places, too.

It was a truly wonderful afternoon spent with a truly exceptional lady.

Thanks, Betty - and congratulations on the city's recognition.

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Finally, thanks to Joseph Caudy for providing concrete evidence that spring is truly just around the corner. He called early last week to inform us that a congregation of 25 to 30 robins had been spotted south of St. Johns near the corner of BR-27 and Taft Road.