Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been under pressure to defund the Chicago Police Department ever since the death of George Floyd triggered civil unrest and a racial reckoning that swept the nation.

In her second budget address, Lightfoot threw several political bones to those activists, even as she declared police officers are not the enemy and ignored broader calls to dramatically reduce CPDs $1.6 billion budget.

The first and most tangible concession is the mayors decision to eliminate 618 police vacancies, nearly all of them sworn officers, at a time when the pace of retirements has escalated and disgruntled police officers are walking off the job, fearing the mayor doesnt have their backs.

The second was her promise to test what she called a co-responder model that begins the painstaking process of building the infrastructure for an alternative means of response instead of requiring police to be the first and only responders on every call for help.

Lightfoot warned such a system must be tested on the streets and built over time. There are no magic wands to wave, no snapping of fingers or catchy slogans to get it done. It must address Chicagos urban realities and not those of some other city that does not reflect our diversity.

The third and more symbolic concession was Lightfoots decision to openly acknowledge what she called the complicit role police departments have historically played in brutally enforcing racist, Jim Crow laws, depriving Black and Brown people of their full rights as citizens.

She added: These are not just ancient times, but recent history, right here in Chicago. And so, in breaking down these barriers, we must also continue to closely scrutinize all policing practices and policies to eliminate any and all bias, she said.

But the mayor argued vociferously that having fidelity to this essential work of bias-free policing does not require dismantling our police department.

In this moment in Chicago, we cannot responsibly enact any policies that make communities less safe, she said, without mentioning the 50% spike in homicides and shootings that has Chicago on pace to top 750 murders in 2020.

While we will slow the rate of growth, with a resulting $80 million in corporate fund savings, on my watch we will never make cuts or policy changes that inhibit the core mission of the police department, which is to serve and protect.

During an hour-long budget address 20% of it devoted to police issues Lightfoot argued that literal defunding means cutting officer positions and making CPD less diverse.

Pointing to seniority requirements in police contracts, she said cutting current jobs means we would be compelled to cut the youngest, most diverse and well-trained officers in the department. That is not in anyones interest.

Lightfoot is a former Police Board president who co-chaired the Task Force on Police Accountability appointed by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the furor that followed the court-ordered release of the Laquan McDonald shooting video.

The task forces scathing indictment of the Chicago Police Department prompted the U.S. Justice Department to do the same, setting the stage for federal court oversight over CPD and the consent decree that, as she put it, requires continued funding of training and accountability initiatives.

On Wednesday, the mayor tried to straddle the political fence, delivering an emotional defense of Chicago Police officers, who have endured two rounds of looting that ravaged giants swath of downtown, River North and Lincoln Park along with commercial corridors on the South and West Sides.

The mayor noted Chicago Police officers have been shot at 67 times this year, and 10 of them were struck by bullets. She said that remarkable statistic does not include times theyve been stabbed, fired upon with injury-causing fireworks or suffered broken limbs and other injuries after being attacked by crowds that came to our city armed for a fight.

To underscore the point, Lightfoot recounted the harrowing heroics of four Chicago Police officers in recent incidents.

Her voice broke as she recalled how Officer Kristian Walker tried and failed to save a 7-year-old girl with a bullet hole in her forehead and an exit wound in the back of her skull.

Our police officers are not our enemies. They are someones sons or daughter, husband or wife, brother or sister. They are as complicated and imperfect as all of us. They are our neighbors and an important part of who we are as Chicagoans, Lightfoot said.

Well aware the police budget will become a focal point for contentious hearings on her 2021 budget, Lightfoot told aldermen: As you ... appropriately scrutinize how dollars are allocated toward public safety, I urge you to look beyond the hashtags and think about the men and women who courageously report for duty every day on our behalf to keep us safe.

Go here to see the original:
Lightfoot wont defund CPD; defends department and efforts to reform it - Chicago Sun-Times

Above this article, you can see one of my all-time favourite Georgia Straight covers.

It's a Rod Filbrandt illustration showing the two sides of a former premier, Gordon Campbell.

The green-minded Gordo was in favour of carbon-neutral government, sharp reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions, and green power projects.

The industrial-minded Gordo favoured coal exports, a massive road-building plan called the Gateway Project, and logging in community watersheds.

I recently thought about that illustration in connection with what must be going on inside the minds of some long-time NDP supporters.

That led me to imagine an internal conversation that might be taking place in the mind of one of them as we approach this Saturday's provincial election.

Inner voice 1: I'm voting NDP. We can't go back to those awful B.C. Liberals. I'm really happy that Horgan jacked up spending on arts and culture. Plus, Horgan is going to freeze my rent.

Inner voice 2: Are you insane? He's going to spend $12 billion and counting on the Site C dam. All to provide power for an LNG industry that will go bankrupt.Why don't they just call it the Labour Party? Because that's what it is. They blew up the treasury.

Inner voice 1: You've got a point there. But I can't stomach the thought of Andrew Wilkinson allowing private insurance companies to sell basic auto insurance. That's a friggin' nightmare.

Inner voice 2: Too true. But I can't get this quote out of my mind from Stuart Parker, who's gone back and forth between the NDP and Greens a zillion times: "Remember on Saturday: no matter how much the B.C. Liberals want to accelerate the extinction event, the B.C. NDP are simply better at managing planetary mass murder. When it comes to fracking, fossil fuel subsidies, ride hailing and increased mining and logging, they are the real deal."

Inner voice 1: Now, I'm really depressed. But I like a lot of NDP candidates. I feel that they share my values.

Inner voice 2: They may share your values, but they also prize their jobs. And as long as they stick with Premier Meggs, oops, Premier Horgan, they have to support fracking. They're careerists.

Inner voice 1: I'll be honest with you. Fracking doesn't affect me directly right now. But the pandemic does. And I trust Adrian Dix far more than I would trust any B.C. Liberal health minister on this issue.

Inner voice 2: Yeah, but I trust a former B.C. Liberal health minister, Terry Lake, far more than I would trust Adrian Dix in handling the opioid crisis, which has killed far more people in our community than COVID.

Inner voice 1: But Lake isn't leading the B.C. Liberals. The leader is that corporate dick Andrew Wilkinson. He couldn't even find a single woman to run on his slate in Vancouver. There's only one woman running for the Liberals in Surrey.

Inner voice 2: When you say that, I feel like you're trying to checkmate me. Let me ask you this: do you seriously believe it was a good idea for Horgan to abandon bridge tolls as soon as he became premier?

Inner voice 1: Uh, no. I actually agreed with Andrew Weaver when he said that this move was fiscally reckless. It's already cost the treasury many hundreds of millions of dollarsand that was clearly more important to Horgan than $10 a day childcare. But let's go back to ICBC. The Liberals' nearly destroyed one of Dave Barrett's greatest legacies.

Inner voice 2: Most of your arguments centre around the NDP being not quite as horrible as the B.C. Liberals. I think the B.C. NDP is a small "l" liberal outfit, slightly to the right of Justin Trudeau but still to the left of Michael Ignatieff.

Inner voice 1:Oh come on. Horgan was raised in poverty. Justin had a silver spoon. You can't compare the two. Plus, most of Horgan's moves seen designed to make life more affordable for people who have lower incomes. What's wrong with that?

Inner voice 2: Sure, he represents a constituency with more than its share of lower-income voters. And I agree that it's nice to see a government that actually develops a poverty-reduction plan and buys hotels to house the homeless. But is that really a sufficient offset for blowing up a climate plan with an asinine LNG project that will mostly create short-term jobs? When LNG prices in Asia are never going to reach the prices needed to justify this nonsense? Who's going to bail this thing out when it crashes?

Inner voice 1:Horgan created a new tax bracket for people earning more than $220,000 per year. That's who will pay. And he cancelled MSP premiums.

Inner voice 2:My response? His record on education has been pretty shitty. Just read those Patti Bacchus columns in the Georgia Straight. Some parents aren't even being told if there's COVID in their kid's school.

Inner voice 1:Condo prices seem to be finally come down. And rents are also decreasing in some areas.Horgan has delivered on housing.

Inner voice 2: That's because there are no tourists. All the Airbnb units are being put back on the market.

Inner voice 1: The speculation tax helped. I've heard it led to 11,000 more housing units.

Inner voice 2:Don't get me started on that. Wilkinson says he'll actually tax speculators. This is just a vacancy tax.

Inner voice 1:You're splitting hairs again. I'm really happy that the NDP brought back the human rights commission. Some of the NDP politicians seem antiracist to me.

Inner voice 2:Yeah, but this is the same party that has helped whip up racism against Chinese people with that bullshit money-laundering inquiry.

Inner voice 1: What do you mean?

Inner voice 2: Come on. The NDP was focusing on casinos and luxury cars, which are popular with Chinese people. But they hardly ever talk about money laundering in the cannabis industry, the over the counter bulletin board, and bitcoin, which are more popular with white people. They talk about China and fentanyl but they don't talk nearly as much about the role of U.S. pharmaceutical giants in thousands of deaths. There's a double standard here.

Inner voice 1: At least the NDP runs candidates of colour in winnable constituencies. The B.C. Liberals hardly ever do that.

Inner voice 2:You got me there but Horgan was a bit weak when it came to awarding them with seats at the cabinet table. And the B.C. Greens also have a diverse slate. Then the NDP trolls try to pretend that this isn't the case on their Twitter accounts. They're lying.

Inner voice 1: The NDP brought in historic legislation recognizing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. No other government in Canada did that before them.

Inner voice 2: And Mike Farnworth gave the B.C. RCMP the green light to use massive force against peaceful Wet'suwet'en people who didn't want a pipeline on their territory.

Inner voice 1: I don't care what you're saying. I'm voting NDP. Horgan is still far better than Wilkinson.

Inner voice 2: I'm voting Green this time. I'm so fed up with the bullshit.

See the article here:
B.C. election 2020: Inside the mind of an on-the-fence NDP sympathizer - The Georgia Straight

We have neighbors across the way who let us know when their grass has been cut. They signal this by setting off a massive smoke bomb afterward that, when the wind is wrong, smells up the entire valley.

I have often thought about stepping over for a visit to kindly offer advice about composting rather than burning freshly cut grass. We live in the country, where it is generally acceptable practice to burn brush or even refuse.

But green grass? I dont know how this particular property owner even begins to ignite such moist organic material. As far as I can tell from the street, it mostly just smolders for hours, sometimes days. What a stinker.

I would go over and say something, but I already have the reputation of being a busybody on the family compound. And I came to that conclusion all by myself.

There are four households on the place including mine. I was remarking to Sharon, my wife, the other day on how well we all get along.

Among all of my siblings, I said, there is not a single one who inspires any sense of dread when you look out the window to see them approaching.

Sharon looked over at me, and I said what she was thinking.

Yeah. I guess thatd be me.

I have to vote myself the sibling most likely to voice an opinion about how certain things ought to be around the compound. One of my more recent opinions has to do with our own brush-burning habits on the farm.

There is a spring-fed pond that was all but ruined 40 years ago when a man who kept horses on the place came in with a backhoe to enlarge the watering hole. Except for the tiny limestone spring area, the pond has not held water since.

For decades, it has been a convenient site for burning brush and debris. I recently proposed that we clean out the pit, pack it with clay and restore it to the pristine aquatic ecosystem that it once was.

Since my suggestion, more brush and debris has been tossed into the pond for burning, including by me. But after some tree trimming a few weeks ago, I heaped the excess logs and limbs to make a new burn site a few yards away.

Eager to establish the site as the new family burn pile, I went ahead and torched my trimmings after the leaves had turned sufficiently brown.

It blazed along just fine at first, but the wood apparently was too green to catch up. I was doing some work inside the barn when my mother called and asked me to put out the smoke. I said I would check on it.

Minutes later, I noticed that the houses across the way had disappeared inside the smelly cloud I was creating.

A mound of composting grass under the limbs that had failed to catch fire was well into a long and heavy smolder. The ensuing smoke bomb was worse than any set off by my grass-burning neighbors all summer.

Its good that the garden hose was nearby and ready to douse the embers. Its good, also, that I had never offered that overheated advice to those neighbors.

Continue reading here:
The grass is not more flammable, on my side of the fence - Greenville Daily Reflector

Residents are up in arms over a decision by the Mountain View Whisman School District to install fences around all of its campuses, criticizing a plan that they believe will block access to open space while doing little to improve campus safety.

The plans have been in the works since last year, and propose installing 6-foot chain-link fences that encircle both classroom facilities and adjacent park space at schools across the city. District officials say the fences are necessary and borne out of a need for better school security -- campuses with porous borders are difficult to monitor and impractical in era of school shootings.

The idea of school fences came up in the wake of a 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Fla., when the district held a town hall meeting on proactive safety measures to prevent or deter a school shooting in Mountain View. A district-run survey later found that parents and students supported fences at schools, which was later baked into the district's Measure T bond that passed in March.

The coronavirus pandemic and the need for strict visitor protocols has since accelerated the timeline to build the fences, said Rebecca Westover, the district's chief business officer, though she did not provide a firm date for when construction will begin. An early draft of the Measure T spending plan shows that fences and other perimeter controls are expected to cost just shy of $7.4 million, which includes the cost of gates, access controls and some higher-cost ornamental fences made out of iron.

Though the plan for fences quietly won the board's approval, and Measure T passed with a comfortable margin at the ballot box, it has since boiled over as a citywide controversy. Residents from several neighborhoods -- particularly those near Monta Loma and Landels elementary schools -- have come out in strong opposition to the plan, arguing it is tantamount to taking away what little park space they have. While the public will still have access to the fields outside of school hours and on the weekends, critics say chain-link fences will still create an unwelcoming environment while doing little to actually protect students.

Monta Loma resident and parent Jill Rakestraw said people in her neighborhood are "extremely upset" about the proposal, which would place fencing along most of the perimeter of the school -- leaving only small sliver of space for a pedestrian walkway. An alternative uses less fencing, but cuts off even more of the campus.

During a Zoom forum last month between Monta Loma residents and district officials, Rakestraw said it was clear that people did not want the district to move forward with the plans.

"The anger and sadness from the community speakers was palpable," she said. "They really don't want to lose their neighborhood park."

Part of the issue is that a significant portion of the city's fields and open space is owned by the school district, despite being widely considered to be public parks. Excluding the North Bayshore area, an estimated 44% of the city's open space is owned by Mountain View Whisman, all of which is technically off-limits during school hours from 7:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Superintendent Ayinde Rudolph said on-campus intrusions have been a recurring problem for years, and that school principals have consistently raised concerns about safety and security. Residents, knowingly or unknowingly, are constantly ignoring the rules and entering campus during the day, sometimes to walk their dog or use the restroom. He said he has personally seen people using the track at Crittenden Middle School in the morning, that and it leads to uncomfortable situations where teachers and students have to chase them off.

"I don't think we should be placing any teacher in the position of asking a community member to move off the field," Rudolph said.

And while residents largely see Mountain View as a safe community, Rudolph said the district must take seriously the threat of a school shooting. Potentially because of the "time warp" that is COVID-19, he said residents are quick to forget the shootings at the Gilroy Garlic Festival and the Six Flags in Concord -- both of which occurred just last year in the Bay Area.

"Maybe the community is right that nothing is going to happen, but we all would agree that if it does happen it's going to be a catastrophe," Rudolph said. "Us putting up perimeter fencing is an insurance policy to help buy time for our students to find a place to be safe."

Frustrations mount

Residents upset by the plans for fences got a chance to speak their mind at the city's Parks and Recreation Commission meeting last week, many of whom said they felt blindsided by the decision. Many said they had no idea that voting for Measure T would lead to their local park being barricaded by chain-link fences, and believed that the district-run outreach to date -- surveys and information meetings over Zoom -- were tailored for district parents rather than the public at large.

Resident Paul Donahue, who lives near Bubb Elementary, said he wasn't confident that the gates will be unlocked outside of school hours, and that worried the fences would be unsightly and give off the impression that the public no longer has access. He also argued that the district's justification for the fences relies too heavily on anecdotal problems -- complaints of school-site intrusions and dog bites -- rather than something more concrete.

"I think that they're using public funds based on anecdotal data that isn't really backed up by meaningful, real data," Donahue said.

Monta Loma resident Tiffany Dale said she doesn't think a fence would have stopped the Parkland shooting, but that encircling schools with chain-link barrier would certainly change the feel of the community. Kids live in a lot of fear already, she said, and there's no reason to add to that by putting them behind fences. Andre Valente, also from Monta Loma, called the justifications for perimeter fencing "absolutely flimsy" and that it would destroy the character of the neighborhood.

Though the Parks and Recreation Commission has no oversight of the district's plans, commission members nevertheless urged the school district to find common ground with the community, revise its plans and work on its communication with the greater public -- not just school parents. Commissioner Joe Mitchner, previously a trustee with the Mountain View-Los Altos High School District, said he had not been aware of the proposal until that evening.

"I'm pretty in the loop on school issues, I've served on a school board and I also live within a third of a mile to two Mountain View Whisman schools. This is the first time that I've seen these design plans," he said.

Commissioner and former councilwoman Ronit Bryant, who lives near Landels, said she believes the temporary security problems caused by COVID-19 are being conflated with the longer-term threat of an active shooter, both of which should be handled separately. While Bryant said she does not want to "live in fear all the time," she said she would much prefer shorter, four-foot fences with a decorative design.

"A 6-foot chain link looks like a prison. It doesn't say 'safety' to me, it says 'prison' -- you communities stay out, you children stay in," Bryant said. "It's not a look I would like for my community."

Bryant also criticized the district's approach to date, and said residents should have been involved early on in the planning and design of perimeter security. Instead, she believes the plan was mostly decided ahead of time, and is now being justified to the community after the fact.

"To say we're all in this together, but we get to make the decision and you guys will have to eat it, is an unattractive look," she said.

In the lead-up to the Parks and Recreation meeting, Monta Loma resident Jim Zaorski said he believes a compromise can still be reached between residents and the district, but that he has been disheartened by the lack of engagement and "seeming lack of desire" to work with the neighboring communities. Each school site is different and requires a unique approach to campus security, he said, yet the district has picked a one-size-fits-all approach that threatens to broadly cut off public access to parks.

When district officials met with Monta Loma residents, Zaorski said it felt as though the district was willing to make small accommodations -- such as new fence styles and colors -- but wouldn't consider the larger question of whether the fences were needed at all.

"I think that this is a position that will inevitably result in the isolation of the district, both by physically separating its sites from the neighborhoods, and by politically driving a wedge between it and the community," Zaorski said.

Rudolph said it's an unusual situation to have so much of the city's open space tied up in school district property, underscored by the fact that Mountain View has grown significantly over the years without adding much in the way of new green space. While the district has been open to blurring the lines between city parks and school campuses, he said the fences simply enforce rules that have already been on the books for years.

Because residents see schools as a recreational asset, Rudolph said there is double standard in which tech employees in Mountain View are protected by security personnel and key cards required to get around, and even City Hall is mostly cordoned off from public access, yet teachers and students are expected to spend the day in a free-access environment.

"You can't walk onto a university anymore and walk in and out of the classrooms without a swipe card," Rudolph said. "We expect a modicum of safety for all of these other employees, but we are completely disregarding the concerns of our teachers, our principals, our students and our parents."

"Unfortunately the glory days of the 1980s and 1990s -- anything that was pre-Columbine -- has changed. That is just not the case anymore," Rudolph said.

Though initial plans by the district show 8-foot fences on some school sites, Rudolph said they have since reduced heights to 6 feet unless there is already an 8-foot fence in place. School board members are expected to review the plan on Nov. 5 and, absent any major revisions, will vote to approve it on Nov. 19. The City Council is also expected to hear a presentation on the school fences at its Oct. 27 meeting.

Go here to read the rest:
Proposal to fence off Mountain View Whisman schools sparks outcry over park access - Mountain View Voice

The Army has significantly improved its electronic surveillance along the Line of Control (LoC) to check infiltration, and work on converting the existing border fence into a smart fence integrated with several sensors is under way, several officers have said.

However, there is a rethink on converting the entire fence over a 700 km stretch into a smart one due to the high cost. A hybrid model is now being adopted.

The new hybrid model of the smart fence being tested will cost around 10 lakh per km and 60 km is being attempted this year, a senior officer on the ground said. This has some rudimentary smartisation. The earlier proposal for a hi-tech fence was to cost around 10 crore for 2.4 km. A 10 crore type trial was done in the Armys 19 Division last year, but it was too expensive so no more contracting was done, the officer said.

The fence will be integrated with LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensors, infrared sensors and cameras among others.

In recent months, the Army has beefed up troops close to the LoC to plug gaps and it has resulted in a drop in infiltration this year. Lt. Gen. B.S. Raju, General Officer Commanding, 15 Corps, said that while the multi-tier anti-infiltration grid remains in place, the first tier has been strengthened. Troops have also been given drones, both big and small, to monitor the ground.

The existing fence called the Anti-Infiltration Obstacle System (AIOS) is located about 700 m from the LoC. The double row fence consisting of concertina wire was constructed between 2003 and 2005. With its high rate of degradation every year due to snow, the Army came up with a proposal to install a smart fence with various sensors integrated into it and a pilot project was subsequently taken up.

For instance, Tangdhar sector gets 10-15 feet snowfall in peak winters, which means in some places the entire fence gets buried. Due to snow, the iron fence becomes brittle and consequently 60-70% of the fence has to be repaired every year, a second officer on the ground said. Every year, there is a major exercise over four months from March to June to bring that fence up, he said.

The fence is present along most of the around 740 km long LoC. While the damage to the fence is less south of Pirpanjal due to less snow, heavy snowfall in North Kashmir causes big damage, officials said. In addition to the fence, the Army has deployed long range surveillance systems to detect people and small vehicles, both during day and night. The fence too has been integrated with various sensors.

Originally posted here:
Hybrid model of smart fence being tested along the LoC - The Hindu

Rep. Wakemans plan sparks the end of security system overregulation

State Rep. Rodney Wakemans plan bringing clarity and uniformity to the construction industry regarding the installation and maintenance of low-voltage electric fences was recently signed into Michigan law by the governor.

The Saginaw Township lawmakers measure will close a loophole that has allowed some local units of government to misconstrue the law and further regulate low-voltage electric fences, a maneuver the Michigan Legislature was trying to prevent in 2018 when it passed a previous law to clarify standards. Wakeman said due to the misinterpretation, municipalities were adopting stringent regulations that effectively rendered low-voltage security systems unusable.

The whole point of a job provider investing in the installation of a security perimeter around their business is to protect valuable assets from theft and vandalism, Wakeman said. However, here in Michigan, weve witnessed excessive local regulations be implemented out of the misreading of the previous law, which resulted in drastically reducing the effectiveness of low-voltage electric fences even after companies invested a lot of money into installing them. This completely negates the purposes of these security systems. I am pleased to have had the opportunity to hear directly from businesses owners and security companies to help them find a solution to ensure businesses are able to better protect their assets.

Wakemans plan, House Bill 5602, is now Public Act 223 of 2020.

See the original post here:
Rep. Wakeman's plan sparks the end of security system overregulation - gophouse.org

Some ideas to decorate the fences in your garden or property. Thats coming up on This Land of Ours.

There are a lot of ways to make a fence decorative. The most common way to do this is to decorate a traditional fence. Add an old window, door, or a framed mirror to create a focal point along the fence. Glinting glass is a simple technique that adds instant interest and dimensionality to ordinary fences. Its kind of like using wine bottles in cob houses to create colorful light displays. Artwork can also make your fence more interesting.

Be sure to use materials durable for the outdoors. A vertical gardening fence made of vining plants is another idea and will make your fence feel like part of the landscape rather than an obstacle or eyesore.

If you really want to create one of a kind fencing, though, you can move beyond traditional fencing materials into using decorative of free form materials. Old bed frames, antique exterior shutters, mattress springs, screen doors, and more can all be employed to create non-traditional, but very beautiful upcycled decorative fences.

Listen to Cathy Isoms This Land of Ours program here.

Related

Go here to see the original:
Ideas to Decorate the Fences in Your Garden or Property - - Southeast AgNet

Theres a young cat that has likes the lavender plants that I grow Image Credit: AFP

I could never sit on the fence. Yes, I am opinionated and Im lucky enough to have an audience for those views, but I could never sit on the fence. Its wobbly, rotten in places and needs to be replaced come the spring.

Ive talked to my neighbour, Postman Pat as I call him he does work in the Post Office and he just shrugged when I broached the subject with him. Social distancing? Thats fine to a point, but its more a case of antisocial distancing. Its not like Im knocking on his door every half-hour wanting to borrow a cup of sugar or a used tea bag. Not at all. Fences do make for good neighbours, after all. But come the spring, well have to do something.

The hardware superstore had an offer on last week for two big buckets of fence stain for the price of one. Given Postmans Pats reaction to doing the work now, I cant see the fence stain being used anytime soon. Maybe hell warm up by then.

Theres ayoung cat that has discovered the lavender plants I set by the side of the fence. As bold as you like, it comes by each day yes, over the rickety fence from Postman Pats yard and checks out the bushes and plants. It has taken to the lavender, lying in it, rolling around, covering itself and Ive even seen it nibble it. It just ignores me when I stand at the patio doors, wave like a madman and chap my hands and yell at it. I guess Postman Pat must think his new neighbour is nuts and shouts at cats. Yes I do, but no, Im not nuts.

Theres also a cheeky little robin that lives in a big holly bush at the corner of the garden. It skidaddles when the feline with the lavender fetish comes rolling and sniffing. I guess it doesnt want to see if the cat has a thing for him and his feather friends either.

An occasional visit from starlings

ordered a new bird feeder online and as soon as it came I put it up and filled it with winter seed suitable for small birds. The robin has been brave enough to try it a couple of times. Mostly, the bird feeder attracts sparrows and an occasional swoping visit from some starlings. They remind me of gangsters, a small mafia, lots of jostling between the silver-dotted black-suited gang members trying to figure out who can muscle in on the action. They all skiddadle when the cat with the lavender fetish comes by for its fix.

Postman Pat isnt too happy. Ever since I put the bird feeder up, some of the sparrows waiting for the swallows to go hang out on his washing line. Thats fine. Except they do it when Postman Pat has hung out his uniform shirts. Birds and clean washing dont make for a good mix. I want to suggest that he gets a cat the lavender-loving one belongs to another neighbour. But that might not be a good idea because that one might take to living in my lavender patch if its so inclined. Then hed think I really am nuts waving at another lavender-loving cat.

The big holly bush at the corner of the garden needs to be pruned back its all going into Postman Pats backyard too. I dont want to do it because its the robins perch. The trouble is if Postman Pat cuts the branches back that are growing through the rickety fence into his backyard, itll make the whole thing look lopsided and could kill off the holly bush itself. Then where would we be. Maybe its better to just fix the fence instead but Im undecided on that now.

Mick OReilly is the Gulf News Foreign Correspondent based in Europe

Here is the original post:
Why I can't sit on the fence - Gulf News

Westend has decades-old private fences that deviate from plot boundaries and impair visibility at intersections.

Espoo There are intersections in Westend where visibility is virtually non-existent.

Visibility is hampered by old fences that extend in some places beyond the plot boundaries.

Its really dangerous when you dont see anything at the stop sign. That is, even if the car is stopped at a stop sign, you will then have to drain the car ahead before you can properly see the intersection. You can only hope that you will not drive on anyone, says the resident Henri Turunen.

Its stressful that every time you leave home by car, you have to drive at intersections where visibility is really poor.

You do not see the intersection area properly at the stop sign. The picture is taken by the reader.Picture: Henri Turunen / Readers picture

Hurdles delimiting private plots, but they are partly on city lands. From the plot map you can see that at many intersections the official boundaries of the plots run obliquely. For some reason, however, the fences were once built at right angles.

If the fences followed the plot boundaries, Turunen would not have a problem.

For newer houses, the fences are made correctly and have good visibility. The problem concerns old fences, which are nearly two meters high solid fences. You cant see anything through them.

Some of the fences are constructed to comply with the official boundaries of the site. When the fence is built obliquely within the boundaries of the plot, the visibility at the intersection is also better. The picture is taken by the reader.Picture: Henri Turunen / Readers picture

Turunen has been in contact with the city of Espoo for the first time about a year ago. A letter has been sent from the city to the owners of the plots urging them to check that the fences remain within the boundaries of their own plot.

These fences are very old. They must have been there for 40 to 50 years. Some of the plots have old permit papers, so this investigation takes time, says the road master Ari Aho From the city of Espoo.

If the private land has shrubs or tree branches that hinder traffic, the city usually gives the landowner two weeks to clear the roadside. If nothing happens during that time, visit the city to remove the tree branches and shrubs that are obstructing traffic.

The city suddenly does not set out to remove such fences, especially when there is no more detailed information about their history. The matter is under investigation, says Aho.

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HS Espoo | Drivers drag their cars centimeter towards the intersections in Westend, as there are so strong fences in the area that you can't see...

Denny Hamlins confidence in competing for the NASCAR Cup Series championship remains high despite giving up a chance to compete for the win at Kansas Speedway.

On lap 180 of the Hollywood Casino 400, Hamlin was forced to pit under the green flag after hitting the wall off Turn 4. The damage was severe enough to require right-side tires and his Joe Gibbs Racing team to give care to the right-rear fender. But in doing so, it knocked Hamlin off the lead lap and back into the 28th position.

Fortunately, Hamlin and crew chief Chris Gabehart were correct thinking that the race would see more cautions before the checkered flag. After missing out on the free pass to teammate Erik Jones, Hamlin took the wave around under the lap 199 caution, and the final caution on lap 222 allowed him to further make headway through the field. He finished 15th.

Obviously, we damaged the car, and at these tracks, you cant have any damage on the car, Hamlin said. I was fortunate to get a couple cautions there to get us back on the lead lap. That was as far as I could go with the damage that I had; it just hurt the FedEx Camry so bad.

To finish 15th with that damage, that was the best we could probably hope for. Still, definitely had a race-winning car today. Just threw it in the fence.

Hamlin, who had a two-race winning streak going at Kansas, won the second stage Sunday afternoon and led 58 laps. It was the second-most laps led behind Kevin Harvicks 85.

With two races left in the Round of 8, Hamlin is 20 points above the cutline.

We can win every week, he said of his outlook. Every week, were up front. I think we can win next week. We can win the week after that, and we can win the week after that. Not too worried about having to go out there and win because I know we can do it.

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Hamlin 'just threw it in the fence' in tough outing at Kansas - RACER