Green Monsters

Maybe some people do have a case for leaving those green eyesores on the curb each week, (Mary Cashon Jones) and for those who are infirmed or alone or a little too old to manage the monsters I say leave them there. However, when a household has a healthy teenage son or a stay at home dad or a live in boyfriend who just happens to work for the city, you’d think they could manage the two minutes it would take to pull that nasty thing back into the yard. If there are people out there who can not manage this task due to the above mentioned maladies, then their neighbors should step up or at the very least the city should take steps to help these citizens who can not help themselves.
The Family Y of Augusta is not only known for the work they do but for the unique fundraisers they come up with. For some years they were selling raffle tickets for $100 each and giving away a house. On one or two occasions they sold tickets to win a brand new car. I never heard who won any of the prizes but I often wondered if they screened the ticket buyers, maybe made little notations on the tickets to designate who would be suitable for a house in West Lake or could actually afford a new Mercedes. My cynical side rearing its ugly head again. However, this time the fund raiser is something that people can actually enjoy together and as far as I can tell is unique to Georgia or South Carolina. They are planning a “Dinner Train”. People, meaning those who may be able to afford it, will purchase tickets to board a train and be served an amazing meal paired with amazing wine prepared by a local chef while chugging along in a dining car. What a wonderful exclusive experience this could be. If any of you have ever visited the NAPA Valley and ridden the wine train it would be similar to that without, of course, the vineyards or the stops to sample the wine. The board member who came up with this one should be celebrated and I for one hope she pulls this off; it would be a ton of fun while supporting a good cause.
In so much as we have our own Family Y, it being unclear from the information I gleaned whether they are affiliated or not, I put in a call or two to get their take on this dinner train and to see if ours was involved in any way. Sadly I can tell you nothing. The young lady who answered the phone, although very nice, had no clue about any affiliation or any involvement but she did transfer me to a voice mail of someone named Brianna. I left my message, gave her both home and work number, but she did not return that call nor did she return the subsequent call therefore I can only assume that she too knows nothing or does not care enough to tell anyone.
By now you are all aware of where I work and will no doubt think this is another attempt to get free promotion for my place of employment but let me assure you it is not. It does involve where I work and it involves other historic buildings in our area but that is where the reason for the inclusion stops. Certain businesses across the CSRA use the likenesses of buildings on the Historic Register to make a profit. I suppose they think that since the buildings have been around forever they are public domain whether privately owned or not. There is a place across the river that sells pen and inks of some of these historic sites, without permission I might add, as well as other souvenirs depicting the same sites. There are places in town that have depictions of historic buildings in their ads or on their walls or hanging in their stores for sale for profit, again without permission. Unlike the Augusta National where it is expressly forbidden to use their logo or sell its likeness without permission, these businesses have taken it upon themselves to make a profit from something that does not belong to them. I am curious, do you think this is right?