So local authorities are issuing their warnings to fishermen. Now, I’ve never been an ice fisherman, but I know people who are, and I know that you have to be real good at gauging ice and knowing whether or not it’s safe. Simply put, you have to be smart about it.

What gets me is the rules of thumb that you hear from authorities. They go way overboard with their suggestions, so much so that it causes people to just not pay attention.

In a recent interview, Lt. Nick Craig with the Green Bay Police Department suggested, “There’s no such thing as safe ice.”  In another interview, Chris Kratcha, Wisconsin DNR conservation warden, suggested, “assume that there is no safe ice.”

Why do these authorities feel a need to make such ridiculous statements? Can’t they just provide some appropriate tips to help fishermen determine how safe the ice is? What do they expect? That no one will go out on the ice at all?

As a hunter, we have a rule of thumb that says, “treat every gun as if it were loaded.” This is great advice. To be clear, we don’t treat every gun as if it’s not safe, we treat it as if it’s loaded. This rule then leads to some practical tips like where you place your trigger finger, what direction you point the muzzle, etc. This is useful stuff.

So, let’s just be realistic. If these experts want people to listen, they need to provide realistic tips that make practical sense. Making statements like they have does not help keep ice fishermen safe.

Green Bay, our neighbor to the north, has such an ordinance. And the Green Bay City Council has changed it and refined it and modified it so much, that there are now very small portions of the city remaining where registered sex offenders can live. So communities all around De Pere have such ordinances, which presents an interesting situation for us. There is concern, raised mostly by Alderperson Carl Castelic, that when the state is trying to find homes for sex offenders, they’ll just look to De Pere first, since we don’t have an ordinance and therefore it’s easier. And in doing so, De Pere becomes somewhat of a dumping ground for registered sex offenders.

Castelic’s concern is justified. But while we expend all this energy and discuss possible rules at length, we’re overlooking one major issue. And that is the simple question, “why?”

Why do we need a sex offender residence ordinance in the first place? What is the purpose? What exactly are we trying to accomplish?

The concern of most residents is simple, we don’t want our children in danger, and we don’t want these criminals to repeat their offenses in our community. So, how should we best handle this concern? Certainly not by asking the Green Bay City Council what to do. Why not ask someone who knows what they’re talking about?

The local expert, who appears at many city council meetings in this area, is Tom Smith, the Sex Offender Registry Specialist with the Wisconsin Dept of Corrections. I’ve been to a community notification meeting where he spoke and explained how the registry works. It’s very interesting to hear his perspective on how things work, who these offenders are, and what we can do to protect our communities.

Smith also spoke at tonight’s meeting, saying point blank that residency ordinances don’t work. The main thing we can do to help these offenders and prevent them from repeating, is to keep track of them, know where they are, and make sure they get the help they need. And not only does a residency ordinance not work, it makes the problem worse, it has the opposite effect. Since it makes it more difficult for offenders to find a home, it causes them to lie about where they are. This results in us losing touch with them and they don’t get the help they need.

Did you get that? A sex offender residency ordinance increases the chances of recidivism. So, why then? Why did Green Bay and other communities enact an ordinance? I don’t know. I do know that historically, the Green Bay City Council deems themselves experts on many issues; they do things without supporting research and facts.

Smith told us that he recently examined his records and found that there were 42 registered sex offenders in De Pere. Further review of each case revealed that 5 of those actually did not live here. They live somewhere else and simply provided a De Pere address to satisfy the registry requirements. This is the perfect example of 5 individuals who have gone “underground” so to speak. So we actually have 37 living here.

Tom Smith also spoke at the Green Bay Sex Offender Residence Board meeting on April 1, 2009. Here is an excerpt of the minutes of that meeting:

“…for those offenders under supervision, the recidivism rate is 1%.  The Department of Corrections study found that with regard to the recidivism rate for a sex offender convicted of an initial sexual assault and then convicted again of a sexual assault is:  for those offenders who have been off supervision for 3 years the rate is 3.8%; for those offenders who have been off supervision for 5 years the rate is 8.4%; for those offenders who have been off supervision for 11 years the rate is 11%. Tom Smith indicated that is actually very low compared to other states.  Tom also indicated a Department of Justice study indicated that in 93% of cases, the victim knew the sex offender.  Out of that 93%, in 34.8% of the cases, the perpetrator was a family member, the other 58% are acquaintances, i.e. friends, people they knew, people they trusted, coaches, clergy, etc.  To prevent that, education of the public is the key.”

“Tom reiterated that the studies have been done and the fact is that these types of ordinances do not work.  If there is data in existence that proves these types of ordinances work, Tom would strongly support them, but there is no such data.”

So, all I ask is why. To date, we don’t have such an ordinance in De Pere. I hope the residents of Green Bay are asking their expert city council members how effective their ordinance has been. Is it accomplishing what they set out to accomplish?

And here in De Pere, if an alderperson wants such an ordinance, all I ask is why. Like Alderperson Dan Robinson, I’ll be against it, but if you want it, just explain exactly what you expect to accomplish. You owe us at least that. Explain in detail the research and data that you’re using to form your opinion. Provide some measurable statistics. Then in a year or two we can look back and see if it worked.

I’ve been a knight for six years. I remember back when a friend of mine recruited me to become a member of this group. Though he explained quite well all the good that these Catholic men were doing, my initial feeling was simple, no time. I’ve always been involved in many activities, and I just couldn’t see squeezing in one more. But my friend explained that this is a large council with many active men. There are a lot of activities, and all I have to do is pick the ones that interest me and that I have time for.

So, I’ve now been a 3rd Degree Knight since my birthday in 2004 and I’m so proud to be a member of this council. My involvement is small. I’ll participate in a few fundraisers from time to time, maybe hand out Tootsie Rolls at the local grocery store. Since I’m a professional web site developer, I developed a web-based program that allows a couple of guys to maintain our membership database. In short, I’ve simply given what I can, as I can. Ten years from now, who knows? But for now, this is what I do.

And this brings me to today. The January newsletter I’m reading includes this list of donations that our council approved at our December meeting:

Just look at those numbers! Individually, my brother Knights and I could not do this. But together, we are greater than the sum of our parts. Together, we can touch the lives of people we couldn’t otherwise reach. I can’t attend regular meetings, but I’ve been to a few where these donation decisions are made. No red tape. Just honest discussion among guys with big hearts. And just like that, a few thousand more dollars are put into the pockets of folks who need it.

If you’re not from the De Pere area, perhaps you’re not familiar with some of the organizations listed above. These groups help the most vulnerable in our society. These groups help young adults finding their way, homeless folks, pregnant teens, unemployed parents, and even individuals who have given their lives to religious vocations. These are groups for which there is little support in municipal budgets.

Look around you. Times are tough. It’s hard to make ends meet at home, much less help out others these days. But if you feel a need to be there for your community, find your local Knights of Columbus council or any group like us, and ask them what they’re doing. You don’t have to contribute big, but you can indeed be a small part of something big.

The Packers have the lowest ticket price in the NFC North (yes, cheaper than the Lions). They haven’t raised ticket prices since 2007, which has helped me greatly through tough times. So I can’t complain much about the actual price. I want low ticket prices as much as the next guy, but I understand how things work.

What bothers me more than the actual ticket price are these three things:

First, the invoice came much sooner this year, and the payment for the entire season is due on March 31, six weeks earlier than normal. This came as a surprise. Looking back at the Packers official press release today, I see that this change was indeed mentioned. But I missed it. I don’t check the Packers web site regularly for press releases, so I missed it. And I don’t recall hearing about it from the TV and newspaper outlets who covered the increase when it was announced. Therefore I’m a bit unprepared this year. My fault.

Second, the letter from president Mark Murphy that accompanied the invoice makes no mention of the earlier due date. Murphy explained that the price increase was needed to remain competitive, etc. Fine. I want the Packers to be competitive. But there was no explanation for the earlier due date.

Third, according to an article in today’s Green Bay Press Gazette, ticket director Mark Wagner commented on the earlier due date, saying, “We had to do it. We had 192 names come off the waiting list last year and we ran really late (processing those changes). We knew we’d be raising the ticket prices, the economy’s not humming yet and we thought we might be getting more cancellations and we better be ready.”

I don’t know about that last one. I don’t work in a ticket office. All Packer games are sold out so I know the Packers ticket office probably doesn’t operate exactly like most other major sports team ticket offices. But with a stadium that seats 72,000, it’s hard to believe that they’d have trouble processing less than 200 season ticket ownership changes in a timely manner.

So I’m not happy about it. But here’s the real question. Am I buying it? Heck yeah. I’m still buying the tickets. I’ll buy my Packers season tickets every year, no matter what they cost. There, I said it. My cards are on the table. The Packers can increase the ticket prices as much as they want, as often as they want, and I’ll keep buying. Sound dumb? Well, it makes total sense to a guy who bleeds green and gold. You can’t price the Packers out of my life.

While most other season ticket holders probably won’t state their feelings this way, tens of thousands are acting this way. It’s just the way things work.

Only problem now is that it’s 7 months until kickoff. I can’t wait. Go Pack!

First and foremost, let’s agree that Favre had a good year. Put all the crap aside for a minute and just look what he did for the Vikings. Head Coach Brad Childress saw an opportunity last summer. He called Favre and the two agreed that he’d play in Minnesota this year. And I suppose you could say it was a good decision. As a Packer fan, it’s hard to admit, but come on. The Vikings made it to the NFC Championship game. Fine. Favre thought he could still play, and Childress agreed. Good for them.

But I do want to make three points.

First, I still have a beef with Brett Favre, a beef that goes back to the summer of 2008 and the interview he gave with Greta Van Susteren. He specifically spelled out three reasons why he doesn’t trust Packers GM Ted Thompson. I won’t rehash those reasons here, you can read my blog post from August 3, 2008. But he spoke with such arrogance. He spoke like, “I’m Brett Favre and the GM should do as I say.” Since the GM didn’t agree with him on three issues, he didn’t trust him. Seriously? Who really gives a crap that a QB doesn’t trust the GM? After all that has happened with Favre and the Jets and the Vikings, this interview stands out as Favre being an idiot.

Second, we’re now two years removed from Favre’s first retirement and Ted Thompson’s decision to go with Aaron Rodgers. That was a pretty simple situation. Favre retired, Thompson and Head Coach Mike McCarthy named Rodgers the starting QB, Favre changed his mind, Thompson said “sorry, we already have a QB”. This was the issue that divided Packer nation for a long time. For some reason, we all split. Either you were a Packer fan or a Favre fan. Either you thought that no one player is bigger than the Packers, or you felt that Favre is god and what he says goes.

The difference now is that we have two seasons to look back on to see if Thompson made a good decision. In Rodgers first two seasons as the Packers’ starting quarterback, he passed for over 4,000 yards. Each! That’s never been done before in the history of the NFL. Rodgers is the first. We could look at many other numbers and stats, but if you ask any NFL expert, they’ll agree with me, that it was a good decision.

The only question that remains unanswered is,  what ever happened to the Green Bay Favre fans who vowed to camp out every night at Lambeau Field until the Packers took Favre back?

Third, and this is probably the most important issue for me as a Packers stockholder, season ticket holder and lifelong fan. Brett Favre will be inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. The Green Bay Packers will retire Favre’s #4 jersey. Brett Favre will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, as a Packer. These are all facts. They will happen. And I can’t wait. There will indeed come a time when Brett Favre will walk on the hallowed ground of Lambeau Field as an NFL alumnus, and we fans will go nuts. We’ll stand up and cheer for him like we’ve never done before. And I’ll be the loudest one.

I still don’t like what he said about Ted Thompson, but he can redeem himself, and if he does, I’ll feel differently about Brett Favre, the man. In the mean time, Brett Favre the player is the best thing to happen to the Packers in a generation. We had zero quarterback controversy for 16 seasons. How many quarterbacks did your team have between 1992 and 2007?

Brett Favre was exciting to watch, and I can’t wait for the day when I’m once again proud to wear my Packers #4 jersey, to honor the greatest NFL quarterback that I’ve ever seen at Lambeau Field.

The event began with the national anthem. The announcer had intended to play it over the P.A. system, but had some kind of problem. So he simply said, “why don’t we all sing the national anthem?” So we did.

Now, first, I don’t understand why this was so much of a shock. Everyone in attendance should have expected to sing the national anthem anyway. So the announcer got us started, and the crowd continued singing. What happened next was absolutely disgraceful.

Dancers all over the arena started singing in goofy voices, laughing and giggling throughout the entire song. The dancers sitting right behind us even sang the wrong words! Really. It was like it was one big joke. There was one dance team, wearing red and black pom uniforms with a diagonal white stripe across the front, who were the most disrespectful. They all sat together as a team, across the arena from us, and they were having fun, jumping around, laughing and singing in a mocking manner. I don’t know what school they were from, but they don’t deserve their freedom to dance. (I’ll be at more competitions this year, and when I see that uniform, I’ll know who they were and I’ll add a comment to this post.)

Everyone heard it. Everyone saw it. It was horrible. What’s worse is that not many other people there seemed to be as surprised or disgusted as I was. I tweeted about it, and another dad there did the same. But the event went on as if nothing happened.

I fully expect that the officials of this dance competition will be in contact with the dance team coaches about the incident. Someone needs to teach these young women a small lesson about respect and sacrifice. And if the officials of the Green Bay Holiday Dance Classic don’t care, then they should be ashamed of themselves.

Here is a quote from the Wisconsin No Call List web site: Consumers can sign up 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. There is no deadline.

The only caveat is that the actual list is updated 4 times per year, on the first of January, April, July and October, and you have to sign up at least a month ahead of time. But the media is not making any decent attempt to clarify this. They’re simply saying “today’s the last day.”

So, if you didn’t sign up before some fictitious deadline, don’t worry, sign up right now, and your number will be added to the list at the next 3-month interval. Don’t forget to also sign up for the National Do Not Call Registry (something the media is not telling you about).

Note: the Wisconsin list is valid for 2 years, the national list is permanent.

buy a product online at Lowe’s site, you can return it to your local store; not so at @HomeDepot

A few family members and co-workers who I see on a regular basis have had the benefit of an explanation. But I’ve had a couple of other inquiries, one of which wondering why I slammed Home Depot on Twitter. Then CNBC aired a TV show tonight about The Home Depot and its history, so it’s fresh on my mind.

My beef is simple. If you buy a product on the Home Depot web site, you cannot return it to your local store.

So, what happened? Well, Tricia and I had been shopping for outdoor lights for our house for a few months. We prefer to buy home improvement products at local stores, and The Home Depot is always our favorite. But we had a tough time finding lights that we liked. I even drove 22 miles south to check Lowe’s in Appleton. We finally decided to order from www.homedepot.com since they had lights that looked great, and we’d still be doing business with a local store.

I bought 5 lights (driveway, front and back porches, lamp post, etc). Installation went well but one of the lights had a bad mount unit and broke. So I didn’t think twice. I got the receipt and drove to Home Depot, only to be surprised at their customer service desk. I was really baffled. I had never heard of a company that would sell you a product on their web site and then not take the return at their local store. So I had to go home, get out the shipping tape, put the label on there, take the box to UPS, etc. Just a bunch of inconvenient crap.

I then decided to check other retailers to see if I was wrong to assume that I could return the product to the local store. I found twelve other very popular retailers, all of whom allow you to return products purchased online to their local store. So my assumption was certainly not out-of-place. So I tweeted about it.

But the bottom line is, yes, I incorrectly made the assumption. But to me, it’s like assuming that when I buy a cup of coffee at McDonald’s they’ll give me the cream at no extra charge. So I was pissed.

I had been shopping at Home Depot since we lived in California. We had just put new floors in half of our house, a significant project all supplied by The Home Depot. I buy tools there. I go there for expert advice. But that day, they pissed me off. So I tweeted just to make sure all my followers know that when you buy from Home Depot’s web site, you can’t return your product to the local store. I never slammed them; I simply tweeted their own policy, a policy unheard of in the online purchasing industry.

To their credit, Stephanie, one of the people working Home Depot’s twitter account tried to help. But after exchanging a few direct messages, she concluded, “the team working to make ths possible says the systems are not in place yet but will be soon. sorry couldnt mk it work”.

So that’s it. Not really a big deal actually. But yeah, I’m still not happy about it all. But at some point, after things cool down, I’ll probably find myself back in The Home Depot. As for their web site, no way. With an unheard of policy like that, I’ll never shop at www.homedepot.com again.

Most Catholic priests will never be famous. Most won’t make much of an impact in the greater world. But these priests are important figures in small communities everywhere. While diocesan priests are typically assigned to lead one or more small parishes, their effect is felt way beyond the borders of the Catholic parish. They lead people to lives that are full, caring and respectful; and the goodness that flows from the lives lead by these followers permeates a community.

Priests also serve roles in education, missions, counseling, administration and so many other ministries in the world, each one making a difference in their own small way.

I’ve been fortunate to know a number of Catholic priests in my life. I wrote about several in this blog on Priesthood Sunday two years ago, in an entry titled “Thank You Father.” I hope you’ve been as blessed as me.

• Waiting For Our Time (Cyclorama, 2003) - MP3
• Fields of the Brave (Cyclorama, 2003) - MP3
• These Are The Times (Cyclorama, 2003) - MP3
• One With Everything (Cyclorama, 2003) - MP3
• Just Be (One With Everything, 2006) - MP3
• Everything All The Time (One With Everything, 2006) - MP3
• Can’t Stop Rockin’ (single with REO Speedwagon, 2009) - MP3

Note: I am not hosting these files on my site. The above links go directly to the MP3 files on the Styx web site.