This is a good idea. Anything that makes the transition from middle school to high school easier is a good thing.

The most common prank seniors would play on freshmen at my school would be to tell lost ninth-graders to “take the stairs” to a certain classroom.

There were no stairs in the school.

That’s the best advice I have for CHS freshmen. If an older student tells you to take the stairs, find someone nicer to help you.

A few things that need cleared up:

• The person on the gallows is Caucasian

• The building in the photo is not the Alatex building.

For those who questioned publication of the story, I think we all had the same initial reaction. The difference is this: I read the story and thought, ‘Wow, I can’t believe things used to be this way. People need to learn about our history.’ Others have told me they thought, ‘Wow, I can’t believe things used to be this way. This doesn’t need to go in the paper.’

Same reaction. Just a different conclusion.

For the record, I oppose the death penalty. Not on moral grounds, but because I don’t have faith in our juries to render the correct verdict 100 percent of the time.

I think the article is appropriately informative, regardless of your take on the death penalty or public executions. To look forward, you have to know where you’ve been.

What are your thoughts? Should we do away with the death penalty altogether? Do we need to bring back public executions? Did the story belong in the paper? Post your thoughts below and vote in our online poll.

I pass through that intersection every day on the way to work. The light might add a minute to my “commute” but I’m told it is a very good thing for those who must turn east or west onto U.S. 90 from the north and south roads.

Here are a few other spots where I wish something would be done to make travel safer.

* State Road 85 and P.J. Adams Parkway: The intersection itself is fine. The entrance to a gas station a few feet onto P.J. Adams is a huge problem. I slow to a crawl as I approach or turn off of 85, fully expecting someone to try to dart through traffic to get in or out of the service station. Someone must have recognized the problem, because there is a median preventing such dangerous turns at the new service station on the other end of P.J. Adams/Antioch.

* State Road 85/Airport Road/Industrial Drive: Another case of drivers coming off of the highway and immediately being forced to watch out for people coming off of a road that is simply too close. (Or vice-versa, depending on which road you use more frequently).

* State Road 85 and Stillwell Blvd.: Some kind of sign is needed to let people going across 85 from Stillwell know they have the right-of-way when their light goes green. Many times I’ve sat behind a non-local driver trying to turn left onto 85 who sits through an entire green light, not realizing they are able to make the turn at that time. Just add a green arrow to the existing light!

Where else could the area’s roads use some help? Post your thoughts here.

The paper examined the seven “natural” wonders in the city and the seven “modern” wonders.

I love nothing better than to steal a good idea, so here’s a question for News Bulletin readers: What are the seven wonders of Crestview and North Okaloosa County?

Some random suggestions:

* The Blackwater River and State Forest

* The Crestview Christmas parade

* The Alatex building (sorry; couldn’t resist)

In all seriousness, post your ideas here. If we get enough suggestions, we might do a story on Crestview’s wonders in the future.

We weren’t trying to beat the traffic. We were trying to preserve little Kyson’s hearing. (OK, and we were trying to beat the traffic).

We started at the News Bulletin office. No luck. A well-placed tree behind the gas station acorss the street blocked the view.

We headed to my wife’s place of employment in the Azteca plaza. More trees in the way.

We bounced in and out of every public lot along Ferdon Boulevard, only to be foiled by Mother Nature at every turn.

We finally wound up a block away from the park — and still with a tree in the way!

We’ll be watching the show in the park next year!

Have you had it with the high prices yet? I’m sure you’re ticked, but have you actually done something about it?

I wish I could say I’ve done something brilliant to save on fuel costs, but I haven’t. I’m lucky everywhere I need to go on a daily basis is no more than 10 miles from home.

Tell us some of your creative fuel-saving tips by posting a message. And don’t forget to vote on the topic in our crestviewbulletin.com poll.

Citing double-digit increases in the cost of living, I am asking you to accept a decrease in my bill payments to cover a shortfall in 2008 revenues.

If the request is approved, you will see a decrease of 11.3 percent, lowering the cost of my bills from an average of $100 to $89.70.

I make no profit on the lower cost of my bills. I am asking only to make up the difference in the cost of living.

The increase in the cost of living that we are experiencing is unprecedented. I don’t like decreasing my payments, especially at this difficult time. But just like the rising cost of gasoline, the cost of living continues to climb.

If the request is approved, I will continue to have one of the highest percentages of on-time bill payments in the state.

— Kyle Wright

No, I’m not really sending that letter out. In fact, it’s not even my letter. It’s a slightly rephrased version of the press release a local power company recently released announcing it will ask the state to allow a rate increase.

I don’t mean to pick on this company.

In fact, give them credit for being forthcoming about their intentions. Who knows how many companies recently have raised prices to gain extra profits without any public notice.

I also heard a recent speech by an informed person who has no connection to the power companies who said power companies could start going out of business soon if current regulations do not change. Given the choice between paying a higher bill or having no power at all, I’ll gladly choose the latter.

The real point: Businesses can raise prices and justify the action by saying they need to maintain revenues.

Why can’t consumers do the reverse? What can we do to protect ourselves? Tell me your thoughts by positing a comment here.

I quoted Brown as saying, “It reconfirms my opinion our governor is a classic demagogue,” with ‘it’ being Crist’s recent reversal of his stand against drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

The exact quote was this: “It reconfirms my opinion our governor is a classic demagogue.” Brown then said, “I see you typing and the cameras recording, so let me say it again: It reconfirms my opinion our governor is a classic demagogue.”

So, Rep. Brown, what do you really think?

I wish we had room to print the full article (we cut out Brown’s informative comments on topics like gas prices and the recent legislative session) and I wish we had room to print all of my notes (I typed up three full pages during the meeting). It was one of the most informative yet entertaining hours of my time at the News Bulletin.

Brown summed up his status as a lame-duck legislator thusly: He’s like the elderly fisherman who declines to give a bullfrog a kiss that will transform it into a beautiful princess. Reason? He says he’s at the point in his legislative life where he’d rather have a talking bullfrog.

I don’t think we’ll hear anything like that from John McCain or Barack Obama anytime soon.

What is your opinion of our soon-to-be-former state representative? Seems to me that if he has a flaw, it was that he was too honest to be a politician.

Post a comment and let me know what you think.

The story idea was sparked by the interest in a recent letter to the editor submitted by a woman who called 911 when she was cornered by a snake in her backyard and initially was told to call back on a non-emergency line.

Crestview Fire Department Capt. Eric Garcia, the supervisor for Crestview’s 911 dispatch system, said the call has been a frequent topic of conversation in his department.

Garcia said he reviewed the call. He said if he had taken the call, his first reaction also would have been to tell the caller to call back on the non-emergency line. He said the caller sounded calm, and that it was not clear the situation was an emergency. He said 911 dispatchers are trained to ask callers to call back if, for example, they are in their kitchen and they see a snake in the yard.

Garcia said the situation changed when the caller added that she was “cornered” by the snake.

The key word was “cornered”; not necessarily “snake”

“At that point, it became an emergency situation,” Garcia told me. At that point, the call became a 911 situation.

The moral of the story: If you are in the safety of your home and see a large snake in the yard, call the non-emergency number.

If you are cornered, then by all means call 911.

The experts I talked to chalked the numbers up to happenstance.

It turns out, those numbers probably went against science.

Our talented intern, Chayne Sparagowski, brought in an article that said in fact most rainfall occurs during the middle of the week. Reason: Factories and the like are open during the week, and the particulates they spit out make conditions more conducive to the formation of precipitation. These places not open on the weekend; therefore, less chance for rain to form.

Do you think it seems like all of the rains falls on a certain day of the week? Post your thoughts here.