Hebron Crossroads
by Jeff Gill

This is time change weekend, and firefighters everywhere would like to
encourage families to use the occasion to save lives.

When we use Saturday evening to meander around the house tracking down
every coffee pot, CD player, bedside clock/radio, and automatic cat
food dispenser that has a time readout on it, along with setting them
all one hour forward, we can make sure that the smoke detector on each
floor has a fresh battery. How often does the news story of a family
losing their home to a fire include the words "the smoke detectors in
the house did not function due to dead batteries." Or worse, the
batteries were taken out.

Your carbon monoxide detectors may be wall plug devices, or they may
also need new batteries with time-change-time. No CO detector in your
house, you say? That's a very worthwhile addition to your household
health and safety equipment as well. Just like a first aid kid and an
evacuation plan for where to go if a fire breaks out in your home, a
CO detector can save lives, or at the very least brain cells! A number
of families in just the last couple years have had close calls in the
Hebron area, and we don't need any more newspaper stories like that .
. . at least I don't want to write them.

Tornado season is starting up in the Midwest this month, with cold air
masses still sliding down from the north and hitting the warmer,
moister air billowing up out of the south. A battery powered radio
would be very helpful in that household preparedness pile. Do not,
repeat do not count on the Booster for tornado warnings: this is a
great publication, but we cover the aftermath of severe weather a
whole lot better than we predict it! What we can do is help you get
prepared adequately for the storms and situations we know will come,
even if we can't tell you when.

And finally, my neighbor Mike Halter of Action Pest Control reminds me
that it is "swarm season," and that termites devastate more houses
than tornados do each year. So check your home this "time change"
weekend, and let it be a bi-annual reminder to change batteries, stock
up supplies, go over plans, and be ready for the unpredictable.
Oh, and set your clocks forward an hour, too.

Last weekend after the Easter Sunrise service at Dawes, my family
enjoyed the Nelson Workhaven Memorial Breakfast at Hebron United
Methodist. There was locally made maple syrup, bacon from Hebron area
hogs, and the corn meal mush was local if you count our old friend Bob
Evans from Rio Grande, Ohio. I know the Cable Farms offerings of
chickens, turkeys, and sausage are catching on as people as seeing the
advantage to eating locally grown, raised, and processed foods (give
'em a call!), and my grandmother always spoke highly of the importance
of eating honey that was locally produced because of the benefits of
getting the pollen and plant content of honey from your own area. She
claimed it helped keep allergies and other breathing problems to a
minimum, and who am I to doubt my grandma? Perhaps some local
"apiculturists" could drop me a line about their work and where their
honey is available. There are plenty of their white, boxy hives
visible along field edges around Licking County.

Local talent is certainly worth supporting down at Lakewood High
School. You'll hear more about this next week, but don't forget that
you need to go see "The Music Man" April 19, 20, and 21. Talented
youth of all ages are involved in this show, from Jackson and Hebron
Elementaries right up through the high school. For $6 you can see a
show that would cost you $60 in NYC, and that from the third balcony.
If you think I'm exaggerating a bit, I can honestly say that last
year, "Guys and Dolls" was every bit as enjoyable as when I saw the
same show with Nathan Lane and Faith Prince on Broadway, and this
year's production will be no less delightful. See you at the show . .

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a fan of preparedness
since his Boy Scout days; if you have a safety tip or news to share, call
928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.