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Archive for the 'economy' Category

A face-lift at age 20?

January 12th, 2009, 6:11 pm by davis

At age 20, you generally don’t expect to hear about face-lifts.

But for Seymour’s Taco Bell, there’s more than a face-lift on the way.

Walls at the store at 1529 E. Tipton St. are, to paraphrase a John Mellencamp son, gonna come tumbling down sometime next month to make way for a new building.

The restaurant, a popular eating place for area teens as well as adults, including late at night, will be closed about 90 days, the store manager tells Tribune reporter January Wetzel for a story that will appear in Tuesday’s edition as well as on TribTown.com.

Watch for the story. It’s one of several local stories we’re working on tonight.

Thanks for reading my blog, and thanks for logging on to TribTown.com.

Posted in: John Mellencamp • community • economy • food | Post a Comment »

Be your own economic stimulus: Become a Pantry Pal

January 12th, 2009, 12:00 pm by davis

Wanted: Caring people to adopt a cash-strapped, food-strapped pantry that provides much-needed food to a growing list of those in need as unemployment rises.

Deb Bedwell, director of Anchor House, Jackson County’s homeless shelter in Seymour, introduced me today to a new effort to draw donations of the center’s food pantry.

The Pantry Pal Program asks area residents, businesses and organizations — anyone, really — to “Adopt us or a food donation month.”

Adopting the pantry for a Food Month is simple.

You’re asked to donate specific items, although I’d guess they’d take anything or cash or check, as you can. Each month has a designated item.

January, for instance, is Mac & Cheese month. June? That’s Bean Month, both dried and canned. December? Anything will do. December, it seems, appears to be a tough month for area food pantries, officials at Anchor House, Community Provisions and Human Services Inc. have said in the past.

The pantry is also seeking volunteers to help operate it from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays.

If you have questions or want to learn more about how to help or volunteer, Bedwell is the contact person at Anchor House. You can reach her at 522-9308. The shelter and pantry are at 250 S. Vine St., Seymour.

FOOD MONTHS

January: Macaroni and cheese

February: Peanut butter and jelly

March: Canned meat, such as tuna and chicken

April: Canned or boxed potatoes

May: Canned vegetables

June: Beans, dried and canned

July: Fresh vegetables

August: Pasta and sauce

September: Donate a cow or pig

October: Canned fruit

November: Donate deer meat

December: Anything

Posted in: community • economy • food | Post a Comment »

Another gripe about gas prices

December 15th, 2008, 12:18 pm by davis

A friend called the house Saturday evening from the Indianapolis area with what he described as an urgent news tip.

“I have something you have to get on right away,” he said.

It was gasoline prices.

That happens often when the price of gas is higher here in Seymour than elsewhere, such as Columbus, Whiteland and Indianapolis.

When that occurs, The Tribune receives many calls and e-mails demanding to know why they’re paying more for gas in Seymour than probably anywhere else in America, they shout.

I’ve never received a call from an irate person upset when gas is cheaper in Seymour than in Columbus, Whiteland or Indianapolis.

Until Saturday’s call, that is.

“Why are the people of Indianapolis paying 20 cents more a gallon of gas than we are in Seymour?” this friend asked, facetiously. He, too, had noticed that folks get upset when our prices are higher here yet remain mum when they fall below prices elsewhere.

“I just paid $1.78 in Indianapolis and it was just $1.58 when we left Seymour,” he added.

I ran into the same problem last week when I played gas-price roulette on a trip to Columbus. By the time I arrived there, I was running on fumes.

Unfortunately, gas was $1.58 there while still just a $1.48 in Seymour.

Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

Posted in: community • economy • gas prices | Post a Comment »

Times changing at The Tribune

November 28th, 2008, 7:48 am by davis

The times, they are a-changing.

Change has long been constant, and it seems to be moving ever more swiftly these days.

The same is true in the newspaper business, in-cluding here at The Tribune.
Instead of delivering news only every 24 hours on our preset print cycle, we’re posting news online soon after it happens, any time of the day or night, thanks to our online component at TribTown.com. We’re also posting video online, not just still photos.

We’re about to enter another new phase in our business — printing the pages of the newspaper elsewhere and on a different schedule.

Effective Monday, The Tribune will be printed by HNE Printers, part of Home News Enterprises, publishers of The Republic in Columbus, The Johnson County Daily Journal in Franklin and other newspapers.

No, our ownership is not changing, despite rumors to the contrary. We’ll remain part of the community newspapers division of Freedom Communications Inc., a business with roots in Ohio now with headquarters in Orange County, Calif. Like HNE, Freedom is a family owned business.

Outsourcing the printing of The Tribune is an effort to reduce costs and divest ourselves of the iron — those big, heavy presses that are costly to update and that may well be headed toward the scrap heap as the newspaper and communications industry embraces and invests more heavily into the digital age and digital delivery of information.

We’re also trying to trim costs related to placing advertising inserts into the newspaper.

What does all this mean for our readers?

It means that single copy issues of your daily newspaper will be available by 7 a.m. at newsracks throughout Jackson County. That’s several hours ahead of current single copy availability.

Carriers delivering papers to our home subscribers will have until 1 p.m. Monday through Friday to make their delivery rounds.

We’ll also give carriers more time to make their Saturday deliveries as the deadline for weekend delivery will be 1 p.m., much as it was when we used to put the paper together every Saturday morning rather than late Friday night and early Saturday morning.

Those new deadlines should all be phased in by Jan. 1.

In short, these changes should have little or no effect on most of our subscribers or how they receive, read and enjoy their copy of The Tribune.

Let us know what you think.

Thanks for reading my blog, and thanks for logging on to TribTown.com.

Posted in: The Tribune • community • economy • media | Post a Comment »

How is downturn affecting you this shopping season?

November 24th, 2008, 11:17 am by davis

How will the economic downturn affect your holiday shopping plans?

Will you spend less? Will you give of yourself — such as your time or handmade items — in order to save money?

Reporter Jill Treadway’s story in Monday’s issue of The Tribune and online at TribTown.com reports several area retailers saying they expect to still have a strong shopping season, although some are concerned that sales may be down.

Some common themes, however, were expectations that shoppers are wanting their best deals ahead of Christmas Day and that many retailers plan to give them that Christmas wish.

Another common expectation is that we’ll shop closer to home because of gas prices, despite that the cost of a gallon of gas is actually the cheapest its been in many months, if not more than year, or two.

I’m a little dubious that we’ll continue to conserve energy now that it’s dropped in price, but I hope we do. Our pocketbooks would be better for it, as would efforts to reduce the dependency on foreign oil.

I also hope that staying closer to home to do our Christmas shopping will benefit our local Mom-and-Pop retailers. They’re an important part of our community.

Thanks for reading my blog, and thanks for logging on to TribTown.com.

Posted in: community • economy • family • Add new tag • economy | Post a Comment »

Archive for the 'economy' Category

A face-lift at age 20?

Be your own economic stimulus: Become a Pantry Pal

Another gripe about gas prices

Times changing at The Tribune

How is downturn affecting you this shopping season?

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