About seven hundred years ago, in the Middle Ages, there was once a powerful group called the Knights Templar. That organization was responsible to no one except the Pope. The Templars, in a great many ways, were very much a law unto themselves. At the same time, they were an order of warriors, and an order of religious men bound by a solemn rule--and to the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience...

In the first column that I wrote for this paper, back in May of 2006, I told about part of my traumatic experience moving from our Pennsylvania home to Lakewood back in 1958. As an only-child country boy, that was a difficult transition, to be sure... but there was even more to that story than made it into print. I guess with any story, there always is...

When I was a Political Science major in college, there were frequent discussions about the world of politics generally, and running for office, particularly. I seem to recall that there were at least two topics virtually guaranteed to be off-limits (if handled in a negative way) for anyone wanting to get elected to any kind of office. One was cats, and the other was dogs...

Dr. Richard Dutro's life is one that has been filled with the rich experiences of helping other people, particularly in Lakewood's educational community.

Dr. Dutro served the Lakewood Public Schools as an elementary teacher, a remedial reading specialist, and a principal of two elementary buildings at the same time! He was also Lakewood City School District's first Coordinator of Language Arts. Dr. Dutro completed his professional administrative career as Lakewood's Director of Elementary Education before retiring in 1991. Additionally, he has served as President of the Ohio Reading Teachers' Association and has worked at Baldwin Wallace College to help train future teachers...

Although this column was written prior to the tragic events of June 11th, I'd like to dedicate this work to those who recently lost their lives in the tragedy at Little Sioux, as well as to their leaders and the other Scout survivors. Heroes all...

I would suspect there are few Lakewood businesses with the longevity, not to mention the utterly fascinating heritage, of Fridrich Moving and Storage.

The Fridrich family has been well-known in Cleveland business circles for well over a hundred years. According to Mike Fridrich, president of Fridrich Moving and Storage, one branch of the family (George) started the Fridrich bicycle business over on Lorain Avenue, while another (William) went into the moving and storage business...

When we were children, dreams flooded our imaginations as to whether one day we might become famous, successful, and/or perhaps hugely contribute to the betterment of the human race. As young people, we looked around and dreamed of doing things and going places that our elders (we thought) had never dreamed of. Of course, with the passage of time, and as our dreams became new realities, we hopefully did achieve some of our goals, while others were left at the gate of life...

OK, so the house gas bills were high. Everything's going up, right? That's just the way it is...or so I thought. Little did I know that Dad and I could have died just a couple of weeks ago...

From the time I was a little one, I've had a fascination with rocks of all kinds. I suppose that fascination could have carried forward to my involvement in the world of rock and roll, but that might be making a real stretch...

To me, these words, opening the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, sum up much of the 1960's. Of course, I was less of a Bible student than a musician, so the Byrds' cover of Pete Seeger's song, "Turn, Turn, Turn," gave me that most poignant vision of Biblical expressions concerning those times.

For those of us who lived through the turbulent days of 1968 in Lakewood, it was a time for coming of age...

I'll be the first one to admit it. I'm no gardener. Too many allergies interfered with those "magic outdoor moments" that everyone else seemed to have during their childhood years.

I did take Horticulture in high school. I even tried to raise orchids for awhile. Having no sense of smell, I could not, for the life of me, figure out why the family had trouble with the fish emulsion fertilizer that I used to grow them with. In addition, at night my orchids needed to be in a completely dark environment. The least little streams of light and no blooms would come forth! Before long, those orchids went the way of so many other diversions of the past, as did my interest in cultivating green things...

With apologies to Charles Dickens, this story could also carry the title of his story about two cities, because our story today does, in fact, involve the two cities of Lakewood and Cleveland...

Did you ever stop and think about all the people who've inspired you over the years? These people plant little seeds of encouragement in your soul, and before you know it, those little seeds start to develop into fresh ideas of their own...

Okay, so we're not Miami Beach, and yes, I'm (hopefully) not in denial, and yes, I do "get it." Still, I will make an unabashed claim that Lakewood's weather is one of the best "weathers" around, at least here in Cuyahoga County...

When I was a teenager, a friend of mine pulled up into our driveway with a very unusual car. It was called a King Midget, and had been made right here in Ohio! King Midgets were made continually from 1946 to 1970, and they were certainly head-turners wherever they went...

Well, it came down. What's that they say? Out with the old, and in with...what, exactly?...

The cold clammy plastic oxygen tent covering my frail undersized body distorted my view of the quiet, antiseptic hospital room. The soft plastic see-through walls of the tent made the outside world appear like a funhouse to my scared little eyes. Close by, my mother, father, and a clergyman conferred in subdued tones. I'd just experienced a surgery on my throat...

This column is derived from a guitar article I wrote for a music-related publication a few years ago. As I happened across the original writing, it occurred to me that there was a message within that could be applied to the Lakewood world, as we consider the dialectic between old and new, tradition and technology, and passing the torch of change in our beautiful city...

Well, it's that time again...the second half of November. Like a perennial tidal wave, this time keeps coming back, nearly drowning me in a wave of sorrow.

On the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the First World War officially came to a close. Fortunately for America, our participation in that world-wide conflict spanned a relatively short period of time. Still, it was enough to tip the balance of power in favor of victory for the Allies.

The Pulse of the City:Green Thoughts and Brown Fields

Those of you who've been reading my columns for any length of time are certainly aware of my thoughts concerning a great many things. Like everyone else in this world, I'm a big mixed-up hodgepodge of opinions. At times, I've probably leaned a little to the left, and at others, a little to the right. Like many if not most Americans, my opinions may seem, at times, to be inconsistent and devoid of conclusions.

These days, it seems people love to confess. A day seldom passes without one person or another "telling it all" on some talk show.

One of the best memories I have of my 1960's Lakewood High School experience is that of participating in the drumline for the Lakewood High School Ranger Marching Band. Lakewood Schools have an excellent tradition of inculcating outstanding musical talent, and that was nowhere more evident than in that drumline.

I was crawling around, and over, musical instruments practically from the moment of my birth. Dad was a professional musician, and a band and orchestra director. In addition, he was a piano technician, and bought and sold instruments back in our hometown in Pennsylvania. I'd often tag along while Dad and Mom went to some church or other to work on the church's instruments.