The Observation Deck

The media is reporting like crazy on the big snow predicted for this afternoon. Please, please try to keep your sidewalks clear for school kids. Businesses; please don't plow your snow onto and blocking sidewalks.

Good Morning Ed and all,

Many of you are familiar with the song "One Shovel Wide" that my friends Rick and Cindy Benjamin and I performed about a heroic Lakewood mother who shoveled our street one shovel wide, just so the children could get to school. Here's that video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cwwxvk ... e=youtu.be

Perhaps less well known is the story about my dear late dad's part in all that:

Robert Rice was a Lakewood schools band, orchestra, and choral director from 1958-1983. After that, he enjoyed a long, happy, and active retirement here in Lakewood, writing band marches for Lakewood's schools, and writing choral music for area churches.

Together, Dad and I wrote "The American Veterans Last Salute March" that was showcased by the American Festival Pops Orchestra on the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. Dad even conducted the orchestra at that event.

Dad, a WWII veteran, always felt that his service had no expiration date. We volunteered for the Lakewood schools in their music program as long as we could do so. In his younger days, Dad would not only shovel our snow, but that of many neighbors, as well, which is why he directed my attention one day to the wonderful lady outside our window who was clearing a path up the street with her shovel. Dad and I have written many songs together, so we knew there was a song waiting to be written about her!

We finished writing it on the morning of the last day of Dad's life. After lunch, Dad went upstairs and died in his bedroom.

So when you clear your snow, and that of others, please remember a couple of things:

First, this snow won't last. It will be March in two weeks.
Secondly, think about those WWII vets who never let stuff like snow, ice, or anything else get to them. Theirs was a life of service, about making a better world to come, one shovel wide at a time.
Dad tried to keep making a better Lakewood, literally on his last day.
How can we do any less?

Back to the banjo,
Gary

There are a lot of able-bodied students in Lakewood.

Has it ever been considered, of forming a group of volunteer students to clear the walks of those homeowners, who are over 60 y.o. with a physical disability or a health disorder such as a heart condition, emphysema, asthma, etc.?

At the start of each school year, the students who are willing, would sign the volunteer sheet.
Meanwhile, homeowners, who qualify for free snow-removal assistance, would also sign up.

Maybe these students could get some sort of school credit, along with the opportunity of burning up energy in a constructive manner.

The homeowner gets the benefit of not only providing a safe sidewalk for others, but also of not keeling over from the exertion and possibly, ending up in an emergency room.

In the past, Lakewood Alive, Lakewood's Office on Aging, and Lakewood's Help to Others youth group have all been concerned with this issue. Not sure what's available nowadays, or being presently offered during these times, but I would certainly suggest that interested parties check with City Hall or even the Board of Education regarding current resources available for this important topic.

Back to the banjo.