It's three weeks since my column suggesting that the Athens Farmers Market board say adios to The Market on State and move somewhere else, in reaction to the mall owners' new directive banning political advocacy at the twice-weekly open-air market.

Let's hope that the Ohio Department of Education examiner who heard the case against an Athens area high-school history teacher earlier this month will recommend dismissal of complaints against the teacher for improper "touching" in the classroom.

The other day, Brent Hayes and Tom Parfitt, owners of the old University Mall (now The Market on State) told the Athens Farmers Market that they don't want any more politicking or advocacy at the market, which for much of the year takes place twice a week in the mall's front parking lot.

Is it a sign of defective character to want to climb atop the tallest building and scream, "I told you so!!" when events and history confirms you were correct about an important matter?

The arson-caused house fire that ultimately led Athens and its police department to aggressively shut down Palmer Fest on April 28 of last year also may have lit a fuse on the end of violent and destructive block parties in Athens' student neighborhoods.

A running theme to criticism of Ohio University's management of the Ridges has been a lack of community involvement and openness to the public and news media. That's why it's so fit

While I've got mixed emotions about the Steubenville teen rape case, I don't harbor much sympathy for the two male teens convicted of sexually assaulting an intoxicated female peer during a series of drunken parties last August.

When I saw the headline on the news release, my jaw dropped, and in the next moment, I was calling my Canadian in-laws to ask if they had any extra room for my wife and me.

In the photo with this story, a contractor for Ohio University works at tearing down Building 26 at the Ridges. The decision to tear down the old "T.B. ward" has been the focus of ample controversy in Athens, but even so the university started the demolition work without making any public announcement, other than a general timetable of the next "couple weeks." This column was written before the work started earlier this week.

There seems to be ample confusion about the local Bill of Rights Committee's proposal to ban deep-shale drilling and related activities. The confusion, to a great extent, results from the wording of the proposed ordinance itself, but also from statements by its proponents.