Opinion

Each year, weeks before Thanksgiving, the large department stores in cities and suburbs put up their Christmas decorations. Then, slowly, but surely, Christmas decorations begin to appear in neighborhoods.

This year, when the decorations began lighting up our street at night, I asked a few friends about some of their family Christmas traditions and customs. In response to a question about hanging up Christmas stockings, I was told this was sometimes done only on Christmas Eve.

We don't normally use this space to recommend movies, but we've found a film every consumer should see. It's a 20-minute production starring Annie Leonard and some cartoon images.

Leonard, coordinator of the Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption, shows us in "The Story of Stuff" how the production-consumption-disposal system that is so much a part of each of our lives works, and how it hurts us.

How it works:

I'm not one to be labeled an activist for animals. I'm less apt to marvel at the beauty of a wild deer than wonder if it's been grazing in my soybean field. And a baby white-faced calf frolicking in a green pasture brings to mind future steaks or a paycheck for my farmer brothers rather than the wonder of new life.

No, I'll never forgo steak or leather but I don't want to see any animal suffer, whether being cared for as a pet or raised for market and the dinner table.

While New Year's is still a month away, we at The News are already working on plans for a memorable 2008. And what a year it should be, with Tell City's sesquicentennial celebration in August and various community projects getting under way or wrapping up.

I do my very best to avoid department stores at Christmas time, and since Christmas shopping now begins even before Thanksgiving, I have been sticking to the grocery-store aisles for weeks.

I would rather be just about anyplace than standing in line Friday morning, waiting to run through a store just to grab a few bargains. Some stores opened as early as 4 a.m. Friday and while I'm up that early at least six of seven days each week, I refuse to join the race, no matter how big the bargains.

The disappearance of Ricky Thomas in the late fall 1997 was one of the first big stories I covered after coming to The News that summer. Ten years later, the mystery surrounding the Bristow teen's disappearance remains. What happened to the 13-year-old boy last seen about 1 p.m. Nov. 6 on Oak Ridge Road? If alive, Thomas would be 23 years old today.

The definition of armistice is the cessation of hostilities. The most significant armistice to all Americans was signed at 5 a.m. Nov. 11, 1918, ending World War I after four years of conflict.

This armistice was an order for all firing to cease and the laying down of all arms. All over the world there were many demonstrations, blowing of whistles and impromptu parades. Many businesses closed their doors as the world rejoiced for the ending of "the war to end all wars."

The Indiana General Assembly will soon begin debating Gov. Mitch Daniels' plan to reduce property taxes.

We like some parts of the plan, including raising the state's sales tax one percentage point to help lower property taxes. We editorialized in favor of that move Sept. 17.

We also like that his plan includes a cap on property taxes, limiting them to 1 percent of the assessed value for homes, 2 percent for rental property and 3 percent for business property.

With Election Day just hours away, I've been trying to catch up on odds and ends after a very busy time. So, for this week, let's keep this column upbeat and positive by applauding some of the people who've made news recently - and some whose deeds may have gone unnoticed.

First, hats-off to our local candidates running for office tomorrow. Thanks for putting your names on the line and agreeing to undergo what is, without a doubt, a grueling and sometimes painful process.