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     Years ago, when I was a much younger editor of this newspaper, people who disagreed with some of my editorials would often advise me to “Go fly a kite”.
     It was a statement meant to demean me, but what they didn’t know is that, when I was a kid, I loved to fly kites.
     That was back in the day when Hi-Flier kites were not only in my possession but owned by many of my childhood friends.
     That’s why this week’s “Scrapbook” feature on pages 4 and 5 of the print and online Tribune about Hi-Flier kites is of special interest to me.
     There were times when I would have a kite up so high, using a huge amount of string, that it would stay up for two or three days!
     Since we lived in the small community of Hammond at the time, there was plenty of farmland where the kite could land when changing weather conditions brought it down — before I had a chance to bring it down by rolling in the string.
     Although there was never any incident with airplanes because the kite was high (but not THAT high) I have thought (since I’m now older and allegedly wiser) that leaving a kite up all night was probably not a smart thing to do.
     That’s because it could have crashed into a home (due to changing weather conditions), a vehicle, a person out walking or some other place that could cause a problem.
     Fortunately, none of that happened and all of the kites which I didn’t have an opportunity to reel in on my own, landed in a field. (I think they all came down.)
     If you are in Hammond and look up in the sky and see a kite in the distance it is not from my childhood — or is it?

     • THIS IS the final week for Decatur Celebration Founder and Producer Fred Puglia’s column on what went on behind the scenes during the quarter century that he was in charge. (Page 6 of the print and online editions).
     Fred has shared some memories with us for 10 weeks and what he wrote brought back a lot of fond memories for me and I’m sure many of you.
     The Decatur Celebration created some special times for many of us that will always be with us.
     Some of those Celebration weekends were so hot!!!!
     I would take 4 or 5 changes of clothes to the office with me on those really hot days because, when I was walking on the streets of the Celebration, the temperature coming off of the pavement had to be 110 degrees a few of those years and I know      I never sweat so much in my life!
     I drank a lot of lemonade shake-ups during those hot, hot days — and probably many of you reading this column also drank a lot of liquids to stay hydrated if you shared those downtown experiences!
     I think what amazed me the most about the Celebration weekend was how downtown was transformed in a short time from lots of traffic on Franklin and Water streets to being able to walk down those streets without any vehicle traffic.
     Then, how all of the Celebration activity suddenly disappeared by early Monday morning when vehicle traffic once again flowed through on Franklin and Water streets as if nothing had happened downtown over the weekend.
Usually, the only signs that the Decatur Celebration had occupied those streets over the weekend, were a few grease spots left by a few food concessions.
     Thanks to Fred Puglia for sharing some of his memories of what went on behind the scenes of the Decatur Celebration.
It was nice to touch base with Fred after not having any contact for several years.

     • AS DECATUR’S  mayor, I always enjoyed being in the Decatur Celebration’s Razzle Dazzle Good Times Parade each year. The only bad experience I had came during one parade when a very aggressive woman came out of the crowd and was so angry about something the city was going to do that I thought she was going to climb in the car and punch me out!      Fortunately, the parade moved on and the woman backed off. Maybe, because of the heat, she was having a “bad hair day”! Sorry, there aren’t any photos of the incident — which some people at the parade may have thought was part of Fred Puglia’s parade action creation.

     • NEXT Tuesday (March 17) is Primary Election Day and there’s not a lot of choices that you have to make, whether you are voting a Republican or Democrat ballot. (Copies of both specimen ballots are on pages 26 and 27 of today’s print and onine editions.)
     There are a lot of candidates on either ballot, but most races listed are either uncontested or have no candidate at all.
Locally, with Macon County Clerk Josh Tanner deciding not to run for another term, who is going to replace him is generating the most attention. Democrat Bryan Smith is unopposed in moving on to the General Election, but the Republican ballot has the choice between Marsha Webb and Kurt Younghouse. The winner will face Smith in the General Election in November.
     Webb has been doing a lot of advertising and promotion of her campaign, plus getting some first-hand learning experience about the duties and responsibilities of the county clerk. Younghouse is also campaigning hard and is well-known by a lot of Macon County voters.
     The winner on the Republican ballot for county clerk will have to face a strong, well-known Democrat candidate in November in Bryan Smith.

     • THE OTHER county-wide office, on the Republican ballot, that has drawn some attention is Shane Beck’s campaign to become Macon County’s next sheriff by unseating present sheriff Jim Root.
     Beating an incumbent in any office is not an easy task unless the incumbent has messed up big time. The overall public view I’ve heard about Root is that he’s doing a good job.
     Beck’s challenge of Root is more difficult because his name will not appear on the ballot, due to a technical glitch in filing his petitions.
     So, Beck is a write-in candidate.
     Usually, write-in candidates fail to make much impact in a race at this level and beyond, but Beck has been working hard to get his name out there through advertising in this newspaper, billboards and door-to-door campaigning.
     How much impact all of Beck’s campaigning and advertising will have on this race will not be known until the votes are counted next week.
     The winner of the Republican Primary for Macon County Sheriff will most likely be the next sheriff, since there is not a candidate for sheriff on the Democrat Primary Ballot.
     (WSOY’s Brian Byers interviewed the candidates in both the county clerk and sheriff’s races and those podcasts can be found on WSOY’s website nowdecatur.com)

     • I JOIN Brian Byers on WSOY’s Byers & Co. every Thursday morning at 7:00 to discuss the news of the day on the City Hall Insider — something we’ve done for nearly a quarter century!

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