Hebron Crossroads 6-15-03
By Jeff Gill

Time for our biannual traffic report at the Hebron Crossroads: traffic will be heavy all this weekend across US 40, with tie-ups and back-ups right through Rt. 37 to the east and Kirkersville to the west, centering on National Trail Raceway for the Pontiac Nationals.

The staff at Lancer’s Inn has refilled all the napkin holders and salt shakers, the stores have filled their shelves, especially with potable beverages, and volunteers all across the Lakewood area are getting out their earplugs and sunblock (35, natch).

It isn’t often that ESPN and over 100,000 friends drop by in the Hebron area, and everyone from churches to package stores have signs up to say "Welcome Race Fans!"

NHRA and Jim Layton have much to roar about as this world-class event comes to town, and so many sports teams, band boosters, and civic organizations benefit from helping out with concessions, parking, and tickets. If you’re lucky enough to be attending, keep a friendly eye open for someone you know behind the counter or at the turnstile. . .we’re everywhere!


And at the same time, many from the Lakewood area will be up at Camp Falling Rock through this weekend with Cub Day Camp. Around 250 Cubs, along with unit leaders and parents will be served by a staff of dozens of whom many are from the Lakewood area, with Hebron’s Sharon Scheidegger as one of the co-directors. We pray for good weather for both events, that are each high octane in their own way. . .

Speaking of Lakewood pride, last weekend’s commencement exercises at the high school were moving and exciting in a number of ways. Molly Morgan, the valedictorian, snuck in two addresses, and we’re all glad she did.

After a more traditional speech, followed by salutatorian Rene’ White and a senior choir ensemble, Molly slung a six-string over her mortar board and robe to sing a song she wrote for the occasion. It was ready for heavy rotation on the top 40 playlist in this hearer’s opinion, and if she’s copyrighted the words maybe she’ll send them to disciple@voyager.net so I can publish them here for you, but trust me: it was a very, very good song.

And she sang it well, too. I hope Kathy & Jim’s video came out well with good sound quality, because I’ll guess there was a little vision blurring during that performance.


Anyhow, with graduation trails leading on down the road to the future, and National Trail roaring over the fields this weekend, it’s also time to look forward to looking back.

By which cryptic statement I mean the "Path To Statehood" wagon train, passing through Licking County from east to west June 30 to July 3.
Lakewood High School will be the stop for dozens of mule-drawn wagons and hundreds of participants (both re-enactors and paying "guests") the evening of July 1. A local contingent of area churches will feed the wagoneers dinner and breakfast the next morning,, and from 6:30 to 8:30 pm there across from the Buckeye Scenic Railway station on the National Road, you can come visit the wagons, pet the mules, and watch or join in with square dancers from the Buckeye Lake Historical Society or Indian dancers from the Boy Scouts Order of the Arrow dance team.

The next morning, the "Path to Statehood" will pause at the Hebron Mill, where Brezina Construction and Design will host a stop at 10 am. After some brief ceremonies there at the mill, the wagon train will head off to a lunch stop at Pigeon Roost Farm, where the Jutte’s have a full agenda of activities for all ages planned (and then they get to feed ‘em!).

That night the caravan will overnight at Watkins Memorial will support from the Kirkersville and Pataskala area.

As you can see, there are many different days and times you can catch a glimpse or get involved with this unique tribute to Ohio’s bicentennial. Make sure to mark some or all of this on your calendar now!

And many thanks to Kim Halter and Jody Schoop of Hebron, Charla Devine for the Hebron Historical Society and Donna Braig for the Greater Buckeye Lake Historical Society, and to Hebron Christian Church, Jacksontown United Methodist Church, and the United Methodist Church of Hebron for their involvement and support in feeding these historic multitudes.

They’ll be rolling through the Hebron Crossroads very soon. . .


Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a local historian and archaeologist; if you have news to help make history come alive today or information of general interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

Hebron Crossroads 6-09-03
by Jeff Gill

Pomp, circumstance, honors and congratulations to the Lakewood High School Class of 2003!

At commencement this Sunday, valedictorian Molly Morgan and salutatorian Rene' White will lead their fellow graduates across the platform to receive their diplomas and head out into the world with the love and and thumbprints of their entire family on them.

This is the first major goal achieved in the adult lives of these young folks, and while they have many more ahead of them, give them your heartiest congratulations on reaching it.

With plenty of speeches on the agenda, I know the '03 gang doesn't need more exhortations to "walk boldly on into the future," but a little advice does seem in order (even if it's not absolutely necessary).

First, avoid debt like the plague. Not the coughing, sneezy plague, but the gross, horrible, "makes everyone avoid you like the plague" plague.
The average college grad right now is starting their job search with over $18,000 in student loan debt and $2,000 in credit card debt. The subtle burden (you know the obvious burden here, right?) is that with a $350 or more monthly obligation at the top of your budget, you start looking for the right salary more than the right job, and can begin painting yourself into a box from day one.

There are precious few things that if you don't buy them in your early 20's you'll regret all your life. Save, give, and spend, in that order.

Second, right on the heels of "what not to buy", take advantage of the opportunities you have now, whether to travel, learn a skill, take another class, listen to a concert or speaker out of the ordinary. Because the same idea applies: you will not in future years ever wonder why you didn't go to one more party, or see more movies when you were just out of high school. You will, on the other hand, have occasion to wish you'd picked up one more skill, tried one more possibility, or polished one more talent when time and family and other obligations rested more lightly on your head.
And thirdly, never forget that it's never too late. For a fresh start, for a new beginning, for renewed relationships, for deciding on a better direction. And there are more people than you know ready to help you along the way, if you let them.

Godspeed!

For a younger age group (although many of our grads are helping out as teachers and aides) we have quite a few local Vacation Bible School programs. From the first week out of school to the end of summer, area churches offer weeks and weekends of special activities and programs. We'll print further info as it comes in, but here's what we know right now around the Hebron Crossroads:

Heath Church of Christ; June 9 to 13; 6:00 to 8:30 pm;
"Treasures of the Nile"; age 2 to 6th grade.

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel; June 16 to 20; 9 am to Noon & Friday closing program at Noon; "Seaside With The Savior"; age 4 to 6th grade.

Licking Baptist Church; June 16 to 20; 6:30 to 9:00 pm; nursery to adult.

Jacksontown UMC; June 23 to 27; 6:00 to 8:30 pm; "SCUBA!" age 3 to 8th grade.

Hebron Community VBS at Hebron Christian w/ Hebron UMC;
Story & Song Camp July 21 to 24; 6:30 to 8 pm; pre-K to 5th grade, leading into "Marketplace 29 AD" July 25, 6:30 to 8 pm; July 26, 9 am to 4 pm.

Hebron Church of the Nazarene; July 28 to Aug. 1; times and ages TBA.

And don't forget that the Hebron Library has started their Summer Reading Program, with special programs planned all through the summer. Stop by for more info, and we'll share particular events here as they come up. It's going to be a great summer around the Hebron Crossroads!

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a summer camp creature; if you have VBS, camp, or even just picnic news to share, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

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Hebron Crossroads 6-01
By Jeff Gill

Memorial Day may be behind us, but the work of remembering and appreciating is always ahead. If forgetting is an everyday affair (and trust me, it is), then we have to put the mental brand of elbow grease into the effort required to remember and preserve what we treasure.

I’m telling you this to explain why I want to tell you all about Max Hoffner. He died just before the “holiday weekend” at age 85, and since he and his wife had been very quiet, intensely private people over the 40 plus years of their marriage, their family asked if I would do the funeral. They had lived in Millersport and Baltimore, and now Mary Hoffner is in a rehab center and not able to get around, even for the funeral.

Outside of working hard for many years, the one thing the family knew was that he had fought in World War II. Max was involved in the Baltimore VFW, but even among those friends, no one had much idea of what he had done or where during the war.

His brother-in-law, Lawrence Coyle, and Vivian Dernberger at Henderson-VanAtta-Johnson in Kirkersville, both went the extra mile as we followed what little clues there were, and it was literally less than an hour before the memorial service was to start when the crucial fax hummed into the funeral home office.

Reading it, we saw that Max Hoffner had enlisted in early 1943, and served until he was discharged in 1945 after a hospital stay with a serious illness caught from the grim field conditions he experienced in New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and in the liberation of the Philippines.

But what really caught our eyes was the entry for decorations: in the South Pacific, he received three Bronze Stars, and in the Philippines, one more.

Four Bronze Stars.

Many of you will not be surprised at all when I tell you that no one there, including his VFW buddies, had any idea Max had four Bronze Stars. One said, “hey, I’ve got three, and he coulda said he had one more than me plenty of times.” But as the man in charge of the honor guard detail said, to nodding heads all around, “those that saw combat, don’t talk about it; those that talk about it a lot, probably didn’t see as much as they think they did.”

Right now, around 1,500 vets of World War II are dying every day; that same day, we laid to rest Lucille Montague of the Northbank next to her beloved husband Eddie (and 20 feet away from Max), who died 12 years ago and was a vet himself. So let’s also assume about 1,500 WWII widows each day, as well.

If we heard that in some foreign land, a mysterious force or a heartless mob was destroying 1,500 or 3,000 irreplaceable books in a dwindling library each day, how would we respond? We’d probably say that if the destruction couldn’t be stopped, we should at least see to it that the contents, the stories in those volumes, were preserved. Even if the culture or the context were unfamiliar to us, the idea that a story would be lost forever would move us.

There are stories that we can listen to right now, and they may live right down the block; our hearing, our willingness to listen, may be all that keeps that episode, that particular tale alive.

We can’t stop the march toward the final muster that generations before us are making, but we can make sure that their report is passed back “up the line” and becomes a part of the record of our times. Don’t pry: but make it clear that you’re interested, you’re willing to hear what a veteran or a veteran’s spouse has to say, and I guarantee that someday you’ll hear a story that you’ll never forget.
And then, perhaps, you’ll have a chance to tell it around the Hebron Crossroads.

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a storyteller outside of Sundays as well; if you have a tale, tell it by e-mail to disciple@voyager.net or call 928-4066.

Notes From My Knapsack – June 2003 "The Church Window"

Reaching into my shirt pocket, there were no cards. The business-style cards that Frank DeVaul prints up for me, with the church name, contact info, and the Disciples chalice in red making a Lakewood contrast with the blue print, were not to be found.

No problem, I thought: time to dip back into the box on my desk where they go, a few hundred at a time from the package Frank brings me. But when I went back to the box, it was empty as well.

Turns out it is time again to order new cards, a benchmark more noticeable than an anniversary or other arbitrary event. It seems I’ve handed out over 1000 cards saying "Hebron Christian Church" with our phone and e-mail and web site URL. That’s about one a day since I started as your pastor.

Granted, some have gone into doorframes or under windshields and likely went unread. No doubt many were received with a smile and tucked in a pocket to merrily go their way into the laundry. Some may have been tucked into address books or daily calendars, or even tacked to the corner of a home computer terminal.

Whether finding their fate as bookmarks or grocery lists on their blank backs, that information and the symbol of our common commitment to the centrality of the Lord’s Supper has traveled all around this area. . .and beyond.

So every time I go to reprint them, I wonder: what changes should I make? How can this simple tool be sharpened? Am I making the best possible use of this opportunity to point people to our community of faith?

No doubt, these are little things, these "business" cards. But every little thing goes towards a greater thing, which is our opportunity to share the Good News entrusted to us, in our time and place, to share with others. How many "little things" bring each new believer, any new member, into the life of faith?

And how would our message be magnified if all of us, in whatever we do as part of this church, tended carefully to the little things in our care?

In Grace and Peace, Pastor Jeff

* * * * * * *

Local VBS programs:
Heath Church of Christ; June 9 to 13; 6:00 to 8:30 pm;
"Treasures of the Nile"; age 2 to 6th grade
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel; June 16 to 20; 9 am to Noon & Friday closing pgm. at Noon;
"Seaside With The Savior"; age 4 to 6th grade.
Licking Baptist Church; June 16 to 20; 6:30 to 9:00 pm; nursery to adult.
Jacksontown UMC; June 23 to 27; 6:00 to 8:30 pm; "SCUBA!" age 3 to 8th grade
Hebron Community VBS at Hebron Christian w/ Hebron UMC;
Music Camp July 21 to 24; 6:30 to 8 pm; pre-K to 5th grade
Marketplace 29 AD July 25, 6:30 to 8 pm; July 26, 9 am to 4 pm
Hebron Church of the Nazarene; July 28 to Aug. 1; times and ages TBA

* * * * * * *

Land of Legend Barbershop Chorus in worship, June 29

* * * * * * *

June 9 is Commencement for Lakewood High School; also on that day, we’ll have off to sunny Camp Christian for Hocking Chi Rho these five:
Alan Cook, Susan Jones, Chris Jones, Josh Walters, and Tracy Wildermuth.

Mail should be sent to them by June 11 at the latest (June 8 isn’t a bad idea) to:
Camper Name
Camp Christian
Magnetic Springs OH 43036.

Same address for Phyo CYF Conference, June 29, with:
Brittany Bradford, Crystal Damron, Josh Halter, Shawn Jones, and Whitney Mason.

Hebron Crossroads 5-25-03
By Jeff Gill

Memorial Day is this Monday, and Hebron always turns out in good order, solemn high spirits, and with strong numbers. Around 10 am folks start walking from the American Legion Hall down to our village cemetery to honor our dead and commit ourselves to the values they defended.
From the Civil War that began the Memorial Day custom to the overseas conflicts our sons and daughters have fought in, we find representatives of each era out there on the east edge of town, marked in bronze and granite so the ages will firmly note and long remember what led them to stand on the "thin red line" in our behalf.
Bands, a veterans’ honor guard, a guest speaker, and the Gold Star Mothers all make up part of the parade, simple and straightforward, that marches east toward the last rise before the South Fork makes its eastern loop around the village.
Thanks to the village for this year’s improvements to the Hebron Cemetery, with newly planted trees and some landscaping flanking the main entrance on US 40. As we enter and as we leave, this place of rest and renewal reminds us of the values of the past that have brought about our present.
Going back into town along the old National Road, we’re following the route of westward expansion, and a wagon train in honor of Ohio’s bicentennial will roll that same direction through the Hebron crossroads July 1 and 2. You’ll hear much, much more about this in coming weeks, but 10 am July 2 the "path to statehood" wagons and riders will pull up to the beautifully restored Hebron Mill (after overnighting at Lakewood High School), where after a brief ceremony they’ll ride on through town and up and over Sunset Hill to pass Devine Farms.
Mark your social calendar now for those two days! Also, please contact me ASAP with dates for Vacation Bible Schools, which our area has many of; some will begin just as soon as the schools let out, and others wait ‘til after baseball has ended in July.
Heading out of town to the west you pass the Municipal Complex, and the Hebron Library behind, where your correspondent will share a program on Saturday, May 31, at 10 am on "The Great Hopewell Road." I’ll be largely using the work and images from the research of Ohio Historical Society archaeologist and local resident Dr. Brad Lepper, whom I’ve been proud to work with over the years.
The track of this now largely invisible road runs just west of the library doors, and this is a great way to look at the 2000 year old history of Ohio, as well as the 200 years in this bicentennial series.
And then as you pass through Luray and travel west of Rt. 37, the valley of the South Fork spreads out before you. . .again!. . .and depending on the time of year, an array of tents and trailers swarm at the base of the grandstands of National Trail Raceway.
You can read track director Jim Layton’s commentary elsewhere in these pages, but Hebron’s biggest attraction continues to grow and develop, both with the major events like the Pontiac Excitement Nationals, Night of Thunder, and Mopar Nationals, and also with smaller programs like the Wednesday grudge matches open to the general public.
The road through the cemetery, down the National Road, the "path to statehood" wagon train, and National Trail Raceway; sounds like a theme week for the Hebron Crossroads! Don’t just roll on through, stop and look around, listen and reflect. . .and thank a veteran for the freedom of the open road this Memorial Day.

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and the village’s second newest bike rider; if you have tales of the high road or the low road, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

Hebron Crossroads 5-18
By Jeff Gill

Capt. Rich Vance of the Hebron/Union Twp. Fire Department insists that I have nothing to worry about, even though it took them and four or five units from around the county three tries to burn down a house.
Wouldn’t you think a team of firefighters could get the job done the first time? But Rich says their real skills are in putting fires out, and that their training that day was more based on interior fire fighting and rescue, external suppression (good news for the Nazarene Church, what with their worship center being ten feet away on Cumberland St. and all), and logistics.
I’m sure he’s right, but somehow you’d think a bunch of fire guys could burn something down just like. . .
Then I realized I may be remembering the plot of Ray Bradbury’s "Fahrenheit 451" whose 50th anniversary is coming up. If you didn’t read it in high school, you either missed a week somewhere or are (obviously) over 65. Ray himself is 82 and still writing up a storm, which makes me feel good even if his writing rarely does: his books make you think, and then some.
But in that book, named after the temperature of combustion for paper, firemen start fires, and librarians burn books. It was an entry into the genre known as "dystopian", the opposite of "utopia" since the worlds they described were where things didn’t turn out well at all. You know, "Brave New World", "1984", "A Canticle for Leibowitz", "On the Beach."
Oddly, Bradbury made his case best in reverse for the value and beauty of literature, of writing, by showing its absence, and forcing you to reflect on what the world would be like without them.
So I’m glad to live in a world between utopia and dystopia, where the librarians welcome people and even new books into their buildings, and where the firefighters are much, much better at putting out fires than starting them. Things may not be perfect in Hebron, but as Capt. Vance says, "everything gets better with training."
And thanks again to the Hebron Church of the Nazarene for donating the building, which they needed down for parking anyhow, and for accepting the risk to let our area firefighters get a little bit closer to perfect in their long day’s training exercise.
It was also neat for this scouter to hear a former Licking Twp. Firefighter talk about going from an Explorer post (now known as Venturing) and Junior firefighter to a Township position to now working for the Columbus Fire Department. There was some direct and indirect recruiting for the profession going on with the crowds of families and children watching the men and women honing their skills on the blazing building.
Licking Twp. is the first of a number of fire departments in the area to have the new, retooled Venturing Crew connection to Scouting for their junior fire teams, and more are coming, thanks in part to the involvement of Jeff Walker, the county emergency services director who is encouraging units to start juniors around Licking County.

This is an interesting year for 50th anniversaries: "Fahrenheit 451", the movie "Shane" which marked a turning point in Westerns for Hollywood; the ascent of Mt. Everest by Edmund Hillary, a New Zealand beekeeper, and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa tribesman and skilled mountaineer in his own right; the discovery of the double helix in DNA’s structure by James Watson and Francis Crick, opening up the field of biotechnology; and of course Sherman and Evelyn Clay’s 50th wedding anniversary. See, you knew there had to be a Hebron 50th in there somewhere, right?

Coming up on 150 years ago, Anthony Trollope wrote "The Warden," and that’s the text for the last Books & Coffee group (for a while) on May 24, next Saturday, at 10 am in the Hebron Christian Church education building at 612 W. Main St. The story is a simple one, about an English cathedral town named Barchester, a cleric named Septimus Harding who runs the Victorian equivalent of a very well endowed nursing home for men, and various archdeacons, bishops, reporters, politicians, and other worthies of the community who each have their own idea about how Hiram’s Hospital ought to be run. Not that anything is wrong, mind you, they just have ideas about how it would go better.
And of course there are young daughters, suitors, and complications (it is a Victorian novel) to keep things moving along.
What I find so interesting about Trollope’s novels, which you may have seen on PBS’s "Masterpiece Theatre" even if you’ve never touched one of his books, is that everyone is shown as having perfectly good reasons for doing or at least wanting what they make happen. There are conflicts and disagreements and arguments (very polite arguments, but vehement ones just the same), but everyone is given credit for wanting the best. . .as they see it.
No utopias here, and certainly no dystopia; just a lens for looking forward at our own times and motivations. And especially at how we see the motivations of others, even here at the Hebron Crossroads!

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a utopian on some days; if you have good news or bad for the Hebron area, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple @voyager.net.

Hebron Crossroads 5-11
By Jeff Gill

Five Years to Re-focus

There was a moment last Tuesday evening, at the Lakewood levy offices on Main Street, when it was impossible to believe that the energy and organization and spirit behind passing the five year increase in funds for our schools wouldn’t pass.

Then many of us went down to Newark and downstairs in the county building to the grey, windowless room where so much disappointment has washed over our enthusiasm for "the most improved school district in Ohio." Could it happen this time? If it didn’t the last time, times, six times, why now? Since 1993 we haven’t gotten a consensus around full funding of our schools, and what’s different about 2003?

Well, as the wait drug out on what should have been a fast count (Etna Township is a bit further out, after all), spirits actually rose with our impatience. What’s different? From turnout at public meetings to rousing pancake breakfasts to stalwart volunteers calling through their voter lists, quite a bit was different this time.
And the smiles toward the Lakewood crowd from officials who shall remain nameless that had snuck back through the count room while the heavily loaded turtles strolled up from Reynoldsburg were a fairly good hint.

Lakewood staff started imagining the wording of how they were going to post kindergarten teacher openings, coaches and directors started dreaming of new seasons and productions, and. . .well, this correspondent started thinking about what could yet be achieved in our school district with all the time, money, and energy that doesn’t have to go into running levy campaigns for the next five years.

So I’m glad Christine and Jim Dobos can really work on soccer, with those kid’s leagues out at Evans Park playing their hearts out on Wednesdays and Saturdays without any tax money behind them. I’m very happy for Beth and Scott Walters who can now call family members without their asking "what do we have to do this weekend?" And I’m sure J-me and Emil Bogden have ways to use their organizing skills other than collating databases Rick Anthony has complied for them. And that’s just naming a very, very few.
For dozens of hard working people (parents, staff, folks who just plain care), all of this has been a great community building experience, but now we can turn this kind of effort towards building up anew, instead of re-building the foundation out from under an already fully used structure.

We’ve already demonstrated the effect of our continuous improvement plan with the achievement standards, and sadly, for two years worth of children who went back to half-day kindergarten, we’ve proved the necessity of fully funding our district in order to give every child a fair shot at reading confidently and fluently.

What can we prove over the next five years without the distraction of bond issues for new buildings or levy campaigns to keep the basic bills paid for our economical and economically sound school district?

One thing we need to prove to our schoolchildren and to children not yet born, let alone in the classrooms, is that Ohio can come up with a fair and equitable funding system for free public education. Something didn’t change with the win for the levy Tuesday night, and that’s the need to start the next campaign as soon as the last one is over: but this campaign isn’t to pass a new levy (though 2008 will get here soon enough, and my little guy a fourth grader then), but to start talking to our elected officials about a new funding system. Somewhere between property taxes (a necessary stable base of income), income taxes (a handy way to keep the load off of seniors with retirement income exemptions), and sales taxes (seen as fair, but unduly heavy on low-income folks as a percentage of income), there’s got to be an answer that doesn’t entail superintendents and principals and teachers having to be skilled politicos and part-time campaigners every three to five years.

Perhaps a public forum for parents and taxpayers in the Lakewood auditorium with David Evans, Jay Hottinger, Larry Householder, and a few other well-placed players. I’ve got a few questions about the proficiency test system, too. . .

All righty, then: next week, back to general, cheery, even gossipy notes of general interest! For that matter, on Saturday May 10, if you see some odd plumes of smoke down on Cumberland by the Nazarene Church, it isn’t the girls softball team making their bats burn with RBIs. The Hebron Fire Department is burning down a house (cue the Talking Heads music); actually, burning it down repeatedly (until they get it right?) as a training exercise. Shows at 8, 10, Noon and 2, please keep your distance!

And a very happy Mother’s Day to all; I look forward to smelling grills all over Hebron Sunday afternoon.

Closing note to anonymous angry phone callers all working off of the same script: "separation of church and state" appears as a phrase in a letter by Thomas Jefferson; the Constitutional provision you’re thinking of is the First Amendment, starting with "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech. . ." Your suggestion that as a pastor I should "keep my mouth shut" on public issues is in fact the one real unconstitutional idea in this discussion. But hey, mean-spirited nameless notes and messages are also covered by the same provision, so keep it up if you wish: isn’t this a great country?

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and happy to upset all the right people; if you have news of local interest of want to help organize a public forum on school funding (which will still probably not please some people), call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

Notes From My Knapsack

Somewhere in the next few weeks, time will run out.

It will be all over for an unwitting holder of a $9 million dollar lottery ticket that was sold just southeast of here in Perry County, in Hunter's Run as a matter of fact. The ticket was a winner, but no one came forward to claim the prize in February or April, and in May the time limit will run out. . .and the proceeds will go to the general fund of the state of Ohio.

One more time: the ticket was purchased, the buyer made a number of decisions about it (which catergory to purchase, number selections, annuity payout), and the ticket won. But if the holder doesn't claim the winnings, which are quite real, they'll go into a black hole (see: state general fund).

With Easter just past, it seems unavoidable to point out a parallel here. All of us -- that's right, all of us, all of creation -- has been forgiven our sins on the Cross and offered a share of eternal life at the Empty Tomb. The "work" is done. The only thing asked of us is that we. . .accept the Gift.

Of course, accepting the Gift means admitting we need it, trusting that it is real, not being distracted by less important things (see: state general fund, etc.). But the only work to do is to say "Yes." To redeem the prize which we've already won.

What distracted the lottery winner? The need to get the pants into the laundry? A new hunting season? Bad news? Good news, even? Or did this lottery winner (they don't know that yet, but we do) start to think that the whole point of playing was the act of buying and choosing, and that the end result didn't matter?

Probably the latter, which is why I don't buy lottery tickets. I don't buy half a book, I hate missing the end of TV shows, and something about the Easter story reminds me why I don't even like to "get out of the stadium ahead of the crowd." Endings are important, especially because they so often turn into new beginnings if you're paying attention.

By the way, if I just reminded you to check your pockets and. . .the church gets 10%, right?

In Grace & Peace,
Pastor Jeff

May Bible Study Series
Wednesdays at 10 am
Readings in I John
"Set Your Heart At Rest"
through May 28

Memorial Day Parade
Monday, May 26
10:30 am, starts from
American Legion Hall
Hebron Christian Church
Wreath-laying immediately after
Public Program at the Veterans Memorial

Daybreak Service!
8:30 am early worship
(with communion)
begins again Sun., May 25
through the summer

Ohio Bicentennial Programs at Hebron Library
Led by Pastor Jeff:

Sat., May 3, 10 am
"The Stone With An Edge: Flint!"

Sat., May 31, 10 am
"The Great Hopewell Road"

Hebron Crossroads 5-04
By Jeff Gill

A Time To Plant, A Time To Pluck Up What Is Planted

To a good orthodox Druid (or even a reformed tree-worshipper like myself), the sights along Rt. 79 from Hebron to Heath are grim indeed. Any of us with an appreciation for trees, whether evergreen or deciduous, full grown and mature or shrubby and stubby, feels a pang of regret at the ugly but necessary work that’s preceeded the widening project.

And it’s not just along 79: US 40 to the west, spots near I-70 to the east, and even at Dawes Arboretum, where a blight on red oaks has forced the cutting of 250 some trees, most planted in the 1920’s by Beman and Bertie Dawes themselves.

Our area sunrise service Easter morning was at Dawes and very well attended, but we weren’t sorry we had abandoned the Japanese Gardens (you can only fit less than 100 down there), since the main cutting has been along that road. On the bright side, the view across the South Fork valley to Heath and Granville is quite dramatic now!

Once the stumps are tended to, no doubt the arboretum staff will plant a new cohort of trees to replace the red oaks, but it will be 75 and more years before they become as majestic a grove as we’ve just lost. Certainly ODOT has plans to set new rows of saplings to soften the borders of the new, improved Rt. 79, but the shade and shelter of what will grow there is far in the future. . .perhaps our future, certainly someone’s future.

This time of year is wonderful for flowering trees of all sorts, as we crest May Day and coast towards the local frost-free day of May 15 (hold those tomatoes a few days yet!). White billows of pear blossoms and crab-apple clusters, punctured by pinks and lavenders of redbud and lilac; snowball clumps of dogwood mix with hillsides of apple trees and the occasional grass-strewn puddle of magnolia petals, now gone with the cherry blossoms.

Most folks know that fruit trees have to be planted long before they are fruitful; there are many stories told along the lines of a young person planting tender shoots alongside an elderly forester, and learning with amazement that the first crop from these trees won’t appear until well after their mentor’s passing.

However your version of the story goes, the common ending is of the youth asking “why are you doing this,” and the answer returning, “because someone planted fruit trees for me.”

That’s the story of Tuesday, May 6 as well. We have an election for the Lakewood School District levy that is about planting or uprooting, preparing for the future or chopping down good, sound trees for an evening’s bonfire.

From 6:30 am to 7:30 pm, at each polling place in Hebron and Buckeye Lake, in Union and Licking and Franklin Townships, in a few other areas around the far-flung fringes of our school district that truly encompasses everything from the Lake to Dawes’ Woods, we have a chance to plant a seedling that will bear good fruit.

The people at the Lakewood levy headquarters on Main St. well into the night, the pancake flippers and sign planters, the parents and grandparents and friends and neighbors all are interested in this planting season because someone planted the seed, someone paid the bills for them. Our schools are the most critical infrastructure we have in common around the Hebron Crossroads, right up there with bridges and drainage and power lines.

Think a bit about how it would be if suddenly, overnight, every bridge in the Lakewood district disappeared. Take ‘em all away, just let them vanish from your mind, and leave the gaping interval from road to road on either side of each river and stream and gully.

Would absolutely everything come to a crashing halt around the area? Not quite. Do the materials and the knowledge to build bridges exist outside of public officials and government employees? Yep. Could we build structures to cover the gap? Sure we could.

So do we need bridges as part of our civic infrastructure? Of course we do, comes the chorus of voices from the people. But I think the first reaction would be: Who let this happen? What made this seem like a good idea? Do we want an assortment of bridges built by a variety of well-intended amateurs inspected by no one? Is this really best for our local economy and quality of life?

The right answer to the “mystery of the missing bridges” is obvious. And to lose all extracurriculars in our school system is, to my mind, not much of a stretch from that scenario. As Paul Thayer from Harbor Hills has pointed out, the problem is in Columbus and with a funding system that allows this to even be a possibility, but voting “no” is adding irresponsibility locally to the legislature’s indifference. We need to vote “yes” and then get our act together as school districts to tell the Statehouse what we really want for a state public education system, and that will happen starting as soon as we’re not spending every spare minute from soccer leagues and 4-H clubs and church meetings trying to get a levy passed so we don’t have to do another fifteen fundraisers a year.

For what it’s worth, this correspondent is also impressed with the proposal Hebron Village has put forward to shift the tax burden from property tax to income tax to help improve the school district’s position. . .and my wife and I are part of that only 5% of Hebron residents who will pay that increase, so I’ll pay more in sum, but the folks who need municipal services the most will be paying their fair share, so I’m for it.

One last time: on Tuesday, get up early and vote; if you don’t get up early enough, put a sticky note on your dashboard and vote on the way home; if you get home and forgot, put your shoes back on and go vote. It’s THAT important, because we’re planting some fruit trees we’re all going to need for shade and food from some fine day down the road.

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and happy to offer wake-up calls as needed Tues., May 6; if you want a reminder, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

Hebron Crossroads 4-27
By Jeff Gill

“Carousel” by Rodgers & Hammerstein is the spring musical at Lakewood High School, with a Saturday showing at 7:30 pm and a Sunday performance at 3 pm.
That opens a very lively week, or two weeks really, in the Lakewood area. The Lakewood levy campaign headquarters in downtown Hebron, next to PAL Printing in the former library building, is open every evening and most afternoons through the May 6 election. You need to apply right now to get an absentee ballot (see www.lcounty.com/boe), or go to the County Administration building on the southeast corner of Courthouse Square in Newark and vote right there through Monday the 5th.
The levy headquarters can get you yardsigns, fliers, or answers to any questions about the schools and how they spend the money we entrust to them.
During weekdays, of course, you can just go straight to the Lakewood offices and get your questions answered right through the year like always!
Friday May 2 is the annual “Full Pool Breakfast” sponsored by the Greater Buckeye Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, and after a great meal for your $10 at 7 am, Jim Wilcox of Countrytyme will speak at the Buckeye Lake Yacht Club. I know I’m poaching on columnist Jimmy’s turf here, but Hebron is always strongly represented by village staff, officials, and community folk such as myself. George Pugh has a number of distractions to work through this year, but has still done his usual great effort in ensuring that this signature event for the Lakewood area comes off. . .thanks, George!
At the Hebron Library, a number of public programs are offered on Saturdays through the year, and on the first and last Saturdays of May, at 10 am, your correspondent will talk about two subjects related to the Ohio bicentennial that’s celebrated all this 2003.
May 3 is “The Stone With an Edge,” on our Ohio state gemstone, flint. From prehistory into the present, our local axis that the Ohio story revolves around is a very special kind of rock found in a unique form just east of here along US 40. How flint is created geologically and how it’s been used by humans for millennia around Licking County is the program of the day.
Later in the month, May 31, I’ll borrow a few pages from my friend Brad Lepper, curator of archaeology for the Ohio Historical Society, and talk about his work on locating “the Great Hopewell Road,” whose likely route just passes the doors of the Hebron Library. I’ll tell y’all more later. . .
But turning from prehistory to history, the Hebron Historical Society is hosting Mary Beth Sills on Monday, May 5 at 7:30 pm for a program on Women’s Dress and Undress in the Civil War era. Mary Beth is part of the Licking Park District staff, and has a number of programs she’ll offer around the area for the state bicentennial, but this one is right here in town thanks to our local society. They’ll be at Hebron United Methodist that night.
And the next day, May 6, is Election Day, when you can come down to the American Legion Hall at 6:30 am and see the crowds turn out to support the Lakewood school levy!
After the production of “Carousel” at the high school this weekend, the middle schoolers’ award-winning “Future City” display at the municipal complex these last few weeks, the baseball and softball teams hard at work on some chilly diamonds under the big red “L” fronting their caps, National Honor Society inductions and prom preparations, how can anyone in the district not see how vital these extracurricular activities are?
Or some tell me, perhaps we should call them “supracurricular,” or “transcurricular.” Whatever you call them, we didn’t see them as “extras” in the ‘60’s or ‘70’s, and they are even less so today in 2003.
If you’re out of town on May 6, go absentee vote now; if you don’t have the date on your daily calendar now, write it in immediately. Our biggest obstacle to passing this basic, vital levy is the registered voter who doesn’t get up early or remember to vote on the way home from work, and once home doesn’t think to go back out. We’ve all got from 6:30 am to 7:30 pm to do our work as citizens, and if our troops can get the job done on MRE’s and in sandstorms, we can remember to wake up 30 minutes ahead of usual or drive past a polling place before hitting the driveway, and fulfill our duty as residents and citizens of this great school district.

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and happy to drive anyone to a polling place on May 6, even if they’re voting “no”! If you have a transportation request or local news to share, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

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Local Author Writes For Young Readers
By Jeff Gill

When Patty Huston was at Lakewood High School, her counselor was Bill Mann (who has himself gone on to some other adventures at the JVS and now Newark High School).
She told him “someday I’m going to write a book.”
Bill encouraged her, and also said that it would be wise “to build a base for that,” in a field like journalism. What he probably knew, but didn’t want to burden her with while supporting that dream, is that even published authors often don’t make enough to live on.
But they do often find something to build a life on, and Patty Huston-Holm has done just that.
Her mother, Jean Huston, is still a Hebron resident, and she’s very proud of all the work her daughter has done: as a writer, a communications director, and as a public relations official with the state department of education. What they are both proud of is the vocation Patty is fulfilling to write for young adults, a readership that in her work at a vocational school she saw “start to tune out from books and reading.”
“They weren’t seeing anything on the shelves that spoke to them,” is how Patty viewed the withdrawal from reading among her students.
That concern stuck with her until the day came when she was downsized out of a job years later, and wondered whether this was a good or a bad time to take a risk and write that book she’d known was in her since high school at Lakewood.
It was in turning back to Lakewood that she found the inspiration to make that step. Her mom had a good friend from her high school days, a cheerleader then and a woman full of cheer now, Marian Davis, whose niece was a cheerleader at Lakewood who had just been in an accident that left her paralyzed.
Through Jean and Marian, Patty was introduced to Holly Slack, and her story became the book “Shattered,” but only after a long, three year journey, a journey which brought many changes for Patty as an author and for Holly and her mother Janet as they adjusted to life in a wheelchair for an active young woman.
Early in their conversations, Holly told Patty, referring to other books and videos on paraplegics, “they’re not telling the whole story.” Holly and Janet wanted to be “brutally honest,” and Patty shared their desire to tell the whole story and a true story.
The peaks and valleys of the experience of adjusting to paralysis, the loose endings that were irresolvable and the anticlimactic closings of some chapters of her life, all were factors that made “Shattered” a hard sell to editors, and a temptation to movie makers to “improve the ending.”
In the end, the movie option didn’t sell, and wider publication deals aren’t in the works, but both author and subject are happier with a book that is true and an ending that points simply to “life goes on,” which is Holly’s story (who recently graduated with honors from Wright State in Dayton), and the storyline for most adolescent lives as well.
Patty’s latest book is aimed at that same young adult market, by being about a young man who overcomes obstacles and reaches some unexpected achievements. “Kid In the House” is the story of Derrick Seaver, another Ohio teenager who became not only the youngest person ever elected to the state House of Representatives, but the youngest, at age 18, elected to any state legislature in the nation.
After his election and appearance on Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show,” Patty met Derrick at a legislative breakfast in Columbus, and 18 months later the result was “Kid In the House.” He and his mother read “Shattered,” and agreed that Patty was the one to tell his story, but for a change of pace, this book is an “as told to” work.
Derrick was ready to tell his story, but many people pitched in to share details that Patty wanted to make the story “speak,” but that he didn’t even believe people would want to know: the music in the car, the coffee cup he drank from, the tie he wore. Here, his fiancé Leslie and his mother were very helpful.
Once again, Patty hoped to write a book that would encourage reading among young people like Derrick and Holly by telling their stories honestly. Both her subjects were very supportive of that kind of candor, even when it didn’t put them in the best possible light.
Pat Walters, supervisor of the Hebron branch of the Newark Public Library, gladly accepted a free copy of “Kid In the House” at Patty’s recent program on “Writing and Ghostwriting” at the Hebron Library on W. Main St. “Shattered” is already on their shelves, and is regularly signed out. Crossroads Florist Shop on E. Main also has copies available for sale, and they can be purchased at amazon.com or iUniverse.com.
Patty says “I have another project in mind, but I don’t want to jinx it.” She hopes someday to not spend more preparing and researching a book than she makes on it, but as long as young readers are using her work as a gateway into the world of reading, “it’s worth it.”

Hebron Crossroads 4-20
by Jeff Gill

Two boys pedaling their bicycles in a wobbly formation down the shoulder
of a gravel road, baseball mitts looped over the handlebars and one
awkwardly one-handing the steering while balancing a bat over his
shoulder.

Is there any clearer sign that summer is getting very, very close?
And Easter for me is always the marker between spring and summer. .
.which can be delusional, I know, when the date falls in March.
A number of folks around town and by e-mail have asked me: how does
Easter's date get set? The answer is both simple and odd. Simply put, the
Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox is
Easter, which means the day can be any date from March 22 to April 25.
Calendar issues have to do with the tie between the Jewish Passover and
the events Christians call Holy Week, since the Hebrew calendar follows a
thirteen month lunar calendar (we're in the month of Nisan of the year
5764, by the way). The odd part is why we still date Easter this way,
which has to do with centuries of fascinating ecclesiastical history, but
if we'd listened to those Celtic monks a millenium and a half ago, this
wouldn't be so complicated. Not the first time the Irish were right and
weren't listened to. . .

Blessedly, this year Easter morn does not fall on either a snowy mid-
March or the even grimmer "time change" Sunday, as the great tradition of
Sunrise Services will be getting many of us up to greet the dawn.

The Lakewood Area Churches Sunrise Service will be at 6:30 am by the
upper picnic shelter at Dawes Arboretum. Bob Beyer's singing, Wes Baker's
praying, and my message will all share in the celebration, so come join
us, and then drop by Hebron United Methodist for breakfast. Wes will pour
me the ceremonial first cup of coffee as Lent officially ends, so please
join us.

Hebron UMC will have their Easter service at 10 am; Jacksontown UMC
worships at one service for Easter (not counting sunrise!) with a cantata
at 9:15 am.

Licking Baptist will have a sunrise service at their new building (1380
Beaver Run Rd.) at 7:00 am, with a breakfast after at the old church
(1609 Beaver Run) and worship with cantata at 10:45 am back in the main
sanctuary.

First Community in Buckeye Lake also has a sunrise service at their
building at 7:00 am, with a breakfast after, Sunday school program at
9:15, and their Easter cantata worship is 10:30 am.

Hebron Christian will open the Celebration of the Resurrection service
with baptisms at 10:30 am, and the senior choir will share the message
with a mix of anthems and poems starting with the old favorite "The Holy
City."

Last weekend we saw the full flower of soccer, baseball, and the Lakewood
levy committee in blossom. Major Kudos to Beth and Scott Walters for all
their work, along with dozens of helpers and Vicki Marshall flipping
hundreds of pancakes in the Creative Catering kitchen.

Almost 500 people came through the doors and the rest of the planned
budget for the Levy Campaign was raised, but what was really raised was
the spirit and mood of the community. "We really can do it" was a common
sentiment expressed, although you had to listen close to hear what was
said as the Lakewood Pep Band played from the dance floor in the center.
Many also noted that, with the kids playing away in our midst, and the
girls softball team waiting tables, that we had a clear picture of what
we'd lose if the levy doesn't pass. That, too, was a clear message of the
morning. Plenty of folks had to eat fast and run to go coach or ref or
drive in other activities that aren't supported by our schools budget,
but they were there because they know how much we need a full range of
activities to train and motivate and mentor youth today.

A final thanks to the gang at PAL Printing, who have loaned the old
Hebron Library building they bought to the Lakewood Levy committee. For
the duration, that space will be staffed evenings for you to pick up
flyers and yard signs, ask questions, or offer to help. Just stop by some
night and say "Hi!"

Kathryn Lockwood has her famous Easter egg trees up in the window of her
house at North and Seventh; the kindergardeners have passed in review,
and they'll be up a while longer. Yes, you're not only invited, you're
encouraged to go up on the porch to see them clearly: how else to catch
the fine detail of the "SpongeBob" egg? She will only admit to something
over 400 of 'em; the exact total you have to guess!

Next Saturday is "Desire of the Everlasting Hills" by Thomas Cahill for
the Books & Coffee discussion, an Easter-friendly book that's suitable
for any faith perspective you care to bring. Cahill looks at the impact
of the person Jesus of Nazareth on history as he already has for the
Irish and the Jews. 10 am, April 26, and the coffee will flow freely once
again! May's book is "The Warden" by Anthony Trollope, and both are
available at Waldenbooks in Heath at the mall, or just come to 612 W.
Main and join the discussion. . .we'll fill you in if you haven't
finished (started) the book.

Remember May 6, a day of decision for the Lakewood School District. You
need to be there. . .but first, see you at Easter services!

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a skilled hider of
Easter eggs. So good, we'll be finding them in the yard for months. If
you have post-Easter tales to tell or news of local interest, call 928-
4066 or e-mail him at disciple@voyager.net.

Notes From My Knapsack (April 2003 "The Church Window" Hebron Christian Church)

After the forsythia blooms, is it two or three snows? Either way you know the old saw, we’re one down.

Daffodils look none the worse for wear after their long months deep underground, waiting for the lengthening of days and the growth of warmth, and I’m counting on the trillium out at Dawes to start to blossom very soon.

Perennials follow the signs of the seasons, and can’t be denied their nature, even though the occasional late snow might set them back. Easter, however, is different; the Resurrection is a flower of a different color.

The first robin, no matter how welcome, only proclaims the spring. Christ’s death and resurrection literally began the eternal Springtime for God’s people; Jesus doesn’t announce new life, he IS New Life, being born in us every day.

"God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself," not to reconcile God to us, but to "re-concile" – to "again-unite-hearts" as the word means at its roots – us to God. When we stand and face the cross, and face that God’s love is that deep, and that real, and that willing to overcome every barrier including death itself, then our "hearts again unite" with a God who truly loves us that much, and we are reconciled.

The forsythia blossoms will fade and drop, and we may dig up some old bulbs and plant new ones. Robins may even decide to pass on through and head for Ontario for the summer. But the Spring that Easter proclaims is with us always.

In Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jeff

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Lakewood Levy Fundraising
Pancake Breakfast

Sat., Apr. 12
Creative Catering
8 am to 11 am
$5 all you can eat;
$3 for 12 and under

* * * * * * *

Interfaith Legal Clinic

Wed., Apr. 16
At Hebron Christian
(last time this year,
held every month around Licking Co.)
Open to Low-income and elderly folks
Needing advice on legal concerns

Doors open at 5:30 pm,
Clinic from 6 to 8 pm

Number of clients seen depends on the
Number of lawyers available, all of whom
Are donating their time as part of their own faith.


* * * * * * *

Other items: Time change this Sat. the 5th; Eagle Court of Honor Sun. 6th David Scheiddegger T-27 chartered to Hebron American Legion; also wedding(s) Sat. Apr. 26, 1:30 pm and 5:30 pm.

Other info:
Last Mark Bible Study meeting 16 April 10 am
Maundy Thurs – 6:30 potluck, 7:30 worship
Prayer Vigil
Good Friday service – 7:30 pm
Easter Egg Hunt Sat. (not sure of time, will ask Connie this Sunday)
Lakewood Area Churches Sunrise Service at Dawes (7 churches partic.)
6:30 am, Jeff Gill preaching, Hebron Chr. Handbells ringing
after, breakfast at Hebron UMC, Nelson Workheimer Memorial Breakfast
Celebration of the Resurrection 10:30 am, beginning with baptisms


* * * * * * *

Pastor's "Frequently Asked Questions" Top Ten List Rev. Jeff Gill, pastor

1. How do I know I’m forgiven/accepted by God?

Jesus died on the cross to reconcile us to God, not God to us. God loves us, and sent Jesus to show that love, which overcomes suffering and even death. When we accept that love as real, when we have our own relationship through Jesus Christ to God’s love, we are reconciled/reunited, overcoming our own fears. God does the forgiving, seen in Jesus’ sacrifice and self-giving love on the cross; we simply do the accepting.

2. Do you have to be baptized to be forgiven?

Not quite! Baptism is Christ’s gift to the church that shows us how our sins are forgiven, and gives us the experience that leads to a knowledge of that forgiveness. If we aren’t baptized, we won’t truly know ourselves as a forgiven people, and won’t experience the empowerment of that grace/gift. So the church is given the responsibility of showing people how to reach "abundant life" on earth as well as eternal life in heaven, and that is through baptism. We take that responsibility very seriously.

3. How do I pray?

Talk to God. Really! With our youth group, I’m always saying a prayer only needs "Dear God: Thank you. Amen." Now, those three parts can use some developing (invocation or "addressing" God, thanks and hopes, and a closing). A regular prayer life should follow a regular pattern and rhythm (again, for our needs, not for God to listen!), and Bible reading can be a tool for this: to point you on the way, to give you models for prayer, to get you in the mood. Devotional books are available for every kind of person nowadays, but don’t let them get in the way of offering your very own hopes, fears, dreams, and intentions. The Psalms are a good starting point for anyone.

4. What translation of the Bible should I use?

For many of us, the best one is the one we’re used to: I grew up with the Good News/TEV and the Revised Standard Version (RSV). At camp and in college I found many friends used the New International Version (NIV) which is a very good translation. Both RSV and NIV have "newer" editions out as well. The Living Bible is a paraphrase, and hard to use for study but is helpful for simply reading long passages of the Bible, but the New Living Bible is the best reading and study Bible I’ve seen since the TEV. You can find the TEV for daily reading at http://www.dailybible.com/tev/, or the NRSV texts we use for Sunday worship at http://divinity.library.vanderbilt.edu/lectionary/ or http://www.disciples.org/internal/resources/lectio2003.htm

5. Does our church give to missionary work?

Ten percent of our church income is used for supporting mission and ministry outside the congregational walls; over half that goes to the Disciples Mission Fund which funds both the general church (global and national) and the Christian Church in Ohio, our region. The rest is for our work and witness with people in need here in the Lakewood area and Licking County. There are also special giving opportunities to support outreach that you care about, such as through the CROP Walk, CCH Walk, or Week of Compassion.

6. Can I take communion?

If you believe that God through Jesus Christ is calling you to join us at the communion table, yes. Obviously, that means different things to different people, but our tradition is very firmly rooted in simply offering the invitation in Christ’s name. It’s between you and God as to whether you are "ready," and we don’t think it is anyone else’s responsibility to approve or disapprove of that decision. Some families allow children to receive, and some don’t, which is a matter of conscience for each parent, but it has never been the tradition of the Restoration Movement to require baptism as a condition for taking communion.



(over)

7. Can I give to the church? (Yes, people frequently ask this!)

Stewardship is what we can our responsibility as Christians to be "accountable" for how we use our time, talents, and money that God has given us. Giving to the church or other ministries is a good way to put thankfulness and service before our own desires, which is what folks mean by "giving off the top." We teach stewardship through proportional giving, or "tithing," where we commit to a) prayerfully plan our own use of resources each year, and b) make giving a part of that plan as a spiritual discipline. But you do not give as "dues" or even really to "support the church," and definitely not to be forgiven! We give as a way to keep our perspective on where what we have comes from, and where everything goes back to. And we have envelopes to help you remember. . .

8. Do we own our own property as a church and/or hire and fire our own clergy?

Yes, this is what is known as a "congregationally governed" fellowship, where we are in covenant with other churches (such as our region, the Christian Church in Ohio) to have staff and own a camp and things we need to work together to do. But the regional staff can only ask, not tell our board or officers what to do. In fact, our tradition honors local leadership under a Biblical principle called "the priesthood of all believers," where our elders preside at the communion table. As pastor, I am a trained evangelist called to serve here as the "preaching and teaching" elder in Paul’s words to Timothy, which he calls an office worthy of paid salary. . .but not a higher office! We can have communion when the pastor’s not present, and even members of the diaconate may baptize, if appropriate.

9. Is our budget and financial information public knowledge?

Our church budget and all expenditures are public knowledge, including staff salaries and benefits. What individuals and families give is known only by the financial secretary and treasurer (and perhaps an assistant); not even the pastor or elders know what anyone gives; unless, of course, you tell them. Some need a letter from the church for tax purposes, which the financial secretary sends.

10. What do the Disciples of Christ believe about. . . . .

Depending on how you end that question, it might actually rank higher than number 10, but in general, the answer is "They don’t." At least, in the sense that a group or body has published an official point of view which all members of our fellowship agree to, that’s not "the Disciple way." Our General Assembly, every other year, or a Regional Assembly in the years between, may pass a resolution on various subjects, or the General Minister and President or Regional Pastor may offer a letter for reflection and spiritual discernment, but nothing binding on all Disciples of Christ congregations exists.

An open communion table celebrated weekly, an emphasis on believer’s baptism by immersion, and a commitment to Christian unity through individual conscience in reading the Bible are the "essentials" of our fellowship, reflected by this guiding principle used by Alexander Campbell in the early 1800’s, itself taken from an earlier era:

In essentials, unity
In non-essentials, liberty
In all things, charity

As we take seriously our responsibility to wrestle with what the words of the Bible and the Living Word of Christ in our midst are telling us, those phrases still guide us!

Hebron Crossroads 4-13-03
By Jeff Gill

Happy Thomas Jefferson’s birthday today; Virginia used to celebrate it, but probably doesn’t anymore (federal holidays and contracts and such).
You could celebrate by having peas with dinner, those being his favorite food, or just read his best known work. . .it’s quite short, with the title "The Declaration of Independence." Good reading for these times.
Tom never personally walked through the Hebron Crossroads, but just north of them, exactly one year to the day before he and John Adams both died on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration, an event took place which literally made this crossing.
July 4, 1825, a party of dignitaries joined in breaking ground at what was thought to be the "highest" spot surveyed on the Ohio and Erie Canal. A marker stands just into Heath on the east side of Route 79, with half a lock (better than none?) making the stone wall that overlooks the road.
Shortly after the canal was begun, a project dreamed of by George Washington and politically championed by Jefferson’s Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin, was surveyed through Ohio with much less fanfare: The National Road, now marked as it should be as the "Historic National Road."
Jefferson and many of the founders knew that a connection between the Chesapeake watershed and the Ohio River valley would be vital for the new nation’s economy. In fact, Washington harbored a hope that a canal could be cut to connect the two, which lay the foundations for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.
It didn’t go that far, since technology of the time couldn’t set the locks and holding ponds up on steep hillsides. The irony was that this beginning of a canal became the route for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, the ol’ B&O, which crossed to Wheeling in the 1850’s and then shot across the hills and plains of Ohio, killing the recently completed canal.
Our stretch of the canal, in turn, became the bones of Ohio Route 79. That skeleton has been visible for years snaking from side to side of the road, but much of it is passing from few after a brief exposure under the saws and graders of ODOT.
You can see the canal itself along Canal Road south of Hebron, and you can easily trace the line through Canal Park, among the Ours Garage buildings, between the angled buildings south of Main, and then across the National Road just west of the Hebron Mill.
That’s Basin Street, and a turning basin and lock stood there where the Fire Department and American Legion hall stand. Northerly, you can look back south from the drive-up window at McDonalds and see the double line of trees marking the "prism", which is the architectural term for the space in the earth where the canal was.
Now get on 79 (if you dare, but you’ll have plenty of time to rubberneck). West of the road the canal is still water-filled past THK, and then the channel leaps east of the road, where it also will begin to disappear over the next few weeks.
I’ll be curious to hear if any of the old aqueducts across Beaver Run or creeks north of there are re-found, and a Hopewell period mound, much eroded in a field north of Geiger Pond may reveal some subsurface structure as the new lanes are cut and built up.
Two other turning basins can be seen west of the road, but most of one and part of the other are marked for destruction; by Jimmy’s Truck and Van and on north just opposite Batteries Unlimited. As you come up to the light for Kaiser, the prism is clear and obvious on the east, but may already be gone by the time you read this.
Right past the Ohio Canal monument in Heath, a spur launched off to the west which was the Granville feeder, wandering behind Heath Church of Christ and now invisible until you come upon it between Cherry Valley Road and the former Showman farm. The aqueduct, allowing the canal to cross Raccoon Creek, is incorporated into the old "Showman Bridge" underneath the modern roadbed.
But the main line of the canal runs beneath modern 79 all the way to the Union St. exit, where the prism itself is long gone, but the path is still visible in the oddly angled fronts of the warehouses east of you.
Cutting sharply to the east at Famous Supply, the route can still be traced at intervals through the neighborhoods south of Main in Newark, and most clearly along. . .Canal St., which sounds like where we began in Hebron.
If you don’t or can’t take alternate routes to 79 during the horrendous days of construction ahead, at least you or your passengers can play a little "spot the canal" along the way. . .while you still can.

Next week: Easter services around the area and Easter Egg Hunts are everywhere for Saturday the 19th. Our local Lakewood Area Churches Sunrise Service is at Dawes Arboretum by the Picnic Shelter at 6:30 am on the 20th. Bob Beyer of Jacksontown United Methodist is leading the singing, Wes Baker of Hebron Methodist is offering prayers, and my wife’s husband is representing Hebron Christian with the daybreak message. Hope to see you there as the sun rises on Easter Day!

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a local historian and archaeologist; from excavating old canal locks in the past, he knows that they smell pretty interesting 175 years later after the mule-drawn boats dumped their chamber pots out while waiting for the lock to fill! If you have aromatic insights into history or current local events, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

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Hebron Crossroads 4-6-03
By Jeff Gill

Yellow!
Green is considered the official color of Spring ™, which is probably the idea of the lawn care companies. For me, the splashes and cascades of yellow mark the start of the season: forsythia in bloom (so is it two or three snows yet?), willow wands bright against the grey of most tree bark soon to be hidden, and the best exemplar of yellow in springtime. . .Peeps.
That’s right, the yellow hue not found in nature, but proclaiming nature’s glory; a solid mouthful of sugar temporarily masquerading as a baby chick. They probably have the "other" seal of approval from the dental associations.
Stale is my preference, so they have a bit more body to them. Perhaps I should say "well aged" as a connoisseur of the seasonal sugar bombs. Do you have serving suggestions for Peeps at Eastertide? Send ‘em in to disciple@voyager.net or call 928-4066, where some of you got your voter registrations.
Speaking of the Lakewood levy campaign (you didn’t think I’d not get around to that, did you?), therre’s the yellow of a square pat of butter atop a stack o’ flapjacks. The levy committee is having a Pancake Breakfast on Saturday, April 12, from 8 to 11 am in the Creative Catering facility on W. Main St.
$5 for all you can eat, with kids under 12 $3, and these funds defray the cost of the election to fund our schools on May 6, as well as giving the community a chance to turn out and get motivated. Nothing motivates quite like maple syrup and good fellowship, so come and eat, since there’s no easier way to help the cause of our Lakewood School District.
Don’t forget this is time change weekend; you know, "spring *forward*, fall back," so prepare to lose an hour of sleep this weekend. I remember that rhyme, but not the difference between Daylight Savings and Standard. Which are we leaving and which are we entering? No one ever had to care until we needed to answer that question while setting up our computer or VCR.
All I know for sure is that Indiana, my home state, disliked FDR so much (who started it, although England had it long before) that they wouldn’t adopt it, and still haven’t. . .which is a long time to hold a grudge, even in politics. They say it was the dairy farmers, but if that were true, Wisconsin would be the state out of step.
While you’re adjusting your clocks, let’s adjust something else. If you didn’t know already (unlikely), Route 79 north to Heath, Newark, and Nellie is, shall we say, "having some work done," which is like Joan Rivers saying. . .well, same point.
The tie-ups have already been monumental, and ODOT has helpfully said in print the moral equivalent of "you’re on your own: good luck!"
So, while this "alternate routes" business is obvious to some, there are many new folks to the area (or even those who just don’t get off main roads much) who need a reminder.
Beginning to the west and going east: you can go north on Rt. 37, on Canyon Road, and on the already crowded Thornwood Drive. All will get you to Cherry Valley Road, W. Main beyond the hospital, or up to Rt. 16 to go back over to Newark.
Lake Drive and Licking Trails get you north between 79 and Rt. 13, which will itself be narrowed or closed for work this summer (at the same time as 79? Does that sound odd to you? Yep.), but you may be able to use them to get around particular tie-ups through the next few months and (sigh) years.
Rt. 13 takes you right into downtown Newark, or you can cut west at Hopewell which is, blessedly, completed. Thee you have the Linnville Road option, which gets you around to the intersection of 13 and Hopewell from the east.
When I have to start going down to Brownsville to head north past Flint Ridge or take Brushy Fork Road to get to 16, we’ll know its getting bad.
Seriously, stepping west to Luray and going up 37 is a smart move for almost anywhere you’re going north of Rockwell, especially after dark or in bad weather. We all need to think and drive alternate routes, because this work is going to be big, long-lasting, and utterly unpredictable.
If you have word about any church’s Easter Sunrise services or special children’s events on Saturday, please let me know THIS WEEK! Thank you.
And aren’t you at least thankful that we got our Kroger before this project began? Take the good news where you can find it.
More on the area we’re all going to be stopped in the middle of in this column next week, unless you take those alternate routes to the Hebron Crossroads.

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and an egg roller from way back; if you have an Easter Egg Hunt to publicize or other news of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

Hebron Crossroads 3-30-03
By Jeff Gill

First, a bit of Lakewood levy news you can use. . .and eat!
Saturday, April 12 (that’s six days after the deadline for registering to vote in the May 6 election, by the way), the fundraising committee of the Lakewood levy campaign will hold a pancake breakfast. Details later, but mark the date. You like pancakes, don’t you? Mmmm, pancakes.

Back to news of the war in Iraq; yes, even the Crossroads is taken up in the vortex of round the clock coverage. This writer is embedded with my living room sofa, heading towards Baghdad in a virtual reality of green night vision pictures.
The reports are compelling in ways that are good and bad. Good in the way any reporter would want us to be invested in the development of an unfolding tale. Bad in that we start getting hooked on the story arc, the pattern and rhythm of narrative that "The Three Bears" and "60 Minutes" have gotten us used to.
But military small unit operations in real time follow a logic all their own, and this is a drumbeat that is long, slow, and droningly repetitive, except when it’s frantic and irregular. So the "embeds" and the distant anchors try to impose a pattern on the story that fits what we’re used to hearing, with beginnings, middles, and well-resolved ends.
The daily "crisis" of dust in the mechanism or supply shortages. . .how do you punctuate the deadly reality of a column on the move? Our usual conversational semi-colons and and exclamation points of everyday life have few parallels in everyday life to a military day, and for that we should be truly thankful.

We also can all be thankful for the amazing precision of the air campaign, which has minimized the effects of that necessary but also two-faced term "collateral damage." I do think that, whether you support the administration’s approach to Iraq or not, we can all be glad that civilian impacts, let alone casualties, are being kept to a marginal amount. (Let’s not get into a debate here about what the accounts prove of the Iraqi leadership placing weapon systems by mosques and hospitals, or Republican Guards herding women and children into the streets during air assaults).
Did you know that one of the main "sources" of precision for American weapon systems is right up the road at the Boeing plant? The now privatized former Newark Air Force Base is still a secure facility where guidance systems are calibrated and maintained. I’ve had many conversations over the years with Hebron and area folks, hedged about with "well, that I can’t talk about" pauses, of cruise missiles, Patriot defensive systems, and GPS guidance of missiles over unfamiliar terrain.
And many know that the M1A1 Abrams tank is made and overhauled (in turn) up in Lima, Ohio. When you see Ted Koppel or David Blume jouncing over the desert in their reports, they’re often sitting atop a bit of Ohio in Iraq.

But if all this martial talk gets you down, remember also that most of our local men and women called up to our latest "over there" are going to provide humanitarian relief.
You know, the impulse to list names and such is strong, but many who are already off and away said over their shoulders "let’s not advertise too heavily that I’m not in the house anymore, OK?" That concern seems legitimate, so we’ll discreetly and carefully refer, mainly when they return home, to names and towns and such.
What I did want to say about the circle of folks I know over there is that, for the one guy who is flying A-10 Warthogs, I know four more who are almost entirely set-up in their unit for organizing the logistics of food, water, and medical relief to Iraq.
Nobody, at least that I’ve heard yet on TV, asked to be embedded with a support and logistics unit, but that’s who a large percentage of our local reserve and guard call up are. They train and prepare and are willingly leaving home to feed, shelter, and care for a people whose leaders stopped doing almost any of those things years, even decades ago.
I am truly thankful for anyone ready to leave hearth and home to do that for people they don’t know, and may barely get a chance to meet even as they serve them.
We’ll be looking forward to hearing those stories of precision guided MRE’s and targeted water purification assaults when those folks get back to the Hebron Crossroads.

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a local historian and archaeologist; if you have local news of interest (but note that he’s being careful not to mention names of those called up and sent overseas unless their own family is OK with that), call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

Hebron Crossroads 3-23
By Jeff Gill

Superior! That describes our Lakewood Symphonic Band, and the score they received at the last district band competition in Newark.
In fact, Lakewood’s band has received a Superior rating for 21 years in a row. David Wolford, the outgoing director, tells me that’s actually 27 out of 28 (the Disco era threw everyone off).
Still, 21 consecutive years of excellence. . .sounds like a program worth holding onto, don’t you think?
Did I mention that to vote in the May 6 schools levy election, you have to be registered by April 6, which is just around the corner? If you aren’t registered to vote, you should be (call or e-mail me for a registration form and one will be delivered); if you are registered, check your friends and neighbors. Maybe even your spouse needs reminding. . .

The Spring Fling craft show was a fulfilled prophecy last weekend at Hebron Elementary, with beautiful weather and bright colors on all the craft project indoors as well. Kim Gowdy and Lyn Lockwood not only put on a great program, but they had a voter registration table set up. (You can register in Newark at the County building by Wendy’s, at the same place where you can absentee vote, by the way).

This Saturday, Mar. 22, is the next Books & Coffee, and this is the month for "Under the Tuscan Sun" by Frances Mayes. We’ve been needing an evocation of warmth and light, which this book brings by the jug (of olive oil).
We’ll be at 612 W. Main in Hebron with the coffee pot on! And I’ll have some voter registration forms there, too.
Next month’s third Saturday is "Desire of the Everlasting Hills" by Thomas Cahill (the "Jesus" book in his Hinge of History series starting with "How the Irish Saved Civilisation"). Closing out for the summer in May we go with a nod to a long-read but short reading classic, Anthony Trollope's "The Warden."

Spring Break is already here, and a number of families will be taking vacations that the snow helped prevent. By the way, did I mention you might want to register to vote before you go on vacation? I mean, just so you don’t forget when you return, sinnce they’re due in by Apr. 6 for the May 6 election. Oh, I did mention that, didn’t I.

With Spring, remember to be wary of the helpful fellows with the pickups who drive up and tell you what a great deal they have on sealer for your asphalt. Or the guy at your door who "just happened" to be driving by and saw some loose shingles, or a bad mortar join on your chimney, and "just happens" to have some leftover supplies from another job he just finished.
If a contractor or home improvement specialist shows up at your doorstep unexpectedly and unasked for, be alert. If they have a deal too good to be true, it is. And if they say their name is John Sherlock, you’ve got a real scam-meister on your hands. (Google that name if you don’t believe me!)
And if somebody, man or woman, is on your porch and won’t go away when you ask because "they just want to help you out so much," the Hebron Police Department is happy to take your call and come explain trespassing to your unwanted guest.
Spring is "scam season" according to the state Attorney General’s office, and we all can help look out for each other this time of year. Home repair scams are one of the biggest fraud crimes around, and we help them continue with our greed.
Call a local contractor or builder, and if you don’t like something they do, you can talk to them about it while you stand in line to vote May 6, instead of having to figure out where the nice man with the bucket of black goo went when he left your house in a truck with North Carolina license plates.

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and a local historian and archaeologist; if you have local news of interest, or need a voter registration form, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.

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"Historic National Road"

Just under the familiar white and black US Route shield signs along Rt. 40, a new red, white, and blue emblem now marks the Licking County stretch of "the Main Street of America."
With recognition as a "National Scenic & Historic Byway" by the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service, US Route 40 through Ohio now carries an insignia declaring that you are on the "Historic National Road."
Under those words on the new signs is a distinctive new logo. Framed by the shield outline used for US routes, the blue top portion carries six white stars; one for each state the original National Road project passed through in the early 1800’s.
From Cumberland, Maryland where the road began, following the Braddock’s Road path of 1754 (cut through the wilderness by troops under the command of a 22 year old George Washington), the route went through Pennsylvania, western Virginia (now WV), across Ohio, then Indiana, and originally was to end at the capital of Illinois, Vandalia.
By the time the National Road was completed, the Illinois capital had moved to Springfield, and the sights of the new nation had looked up to cross the Mississippi.
For Ohio, an outline of our state is superimposed on the red stripes below the blue, with the path of Route 40 a "blue highway" marked across the state.
Long before the interstate highway system, before the better-known Route 66, or even before "the Lincoln Highway" of Rt. 30 (the first cross-country paved road), the National Road was living up to the "Main Street" designation for the nation, just as it is Main Street where it passes through Hebron, Ohio, and many other midwestern towns.
One of the marks of the history built into the streetscape of the National Road can be seen in Hebron as you walk along the sidewalks. The original structures built along the road are set far back, with only newer buildings hugging the shoulders. The specifications for the National Road called for it to be wide enough "to turn around an ox-cart," and that width still defines the setback along Hebron’s West Main.
Old stagecoach inns, original gas stations, roadhouses and classic motels all line the route, and are visible to the casual observer. More cautious examination of many structures along 40 can reveal even more historic detail to the pedestrian or to drivers out of their cars.
To encourage such roadside exploration, tourism development, and local pride, these signs remind longtime residents and new arrivals that this isn’t just any old road, but it is the "Historic National Road."

Hebron Crossroads 3-16-03
By Jeff Gill

Youth leaders are blossoming all over the Lakewood district these days.
Speaking up like Molly Morgan and other high schoolers did at the public forum with the school board, or earning their Eagle Scout award like David Scheidegger of Troop 27 has, they’re all around if you look, along with the daffodil shoots around the houses in Hebron. You just have to be paying attention. . .
A few weeks ago, Cub Scout Pack 33, chartered to The Dawes Arboretum, had their Blue & Gold banquet at the American Legion hall, and Cubmaster Ed Fuentes and his wife Rexanna did a great job of decorating the place and arranging the meal and program with the den leaders.
Three young men earned their "Arrow of Light" award, which is the highest and last advancement honor in Cub Scouting before crossing over from Webelos to Boy Scouts. Congratulations to Seth Bowman, Kyle Cooperider, and Zack Cooperider, who were met on the other side of the Webelos crossover bridge by representatives of Troop 33 and Troop 4 where they’ll join next.
Not long after that, Prime Producers 4-H club had their election of officers for their new program year through the Hartford Fair in August. Over 30 young people and dozens of parents and family members were in attendance as Drew Cable, the outgoing club president, directed the meeting.
New officers are Joey Cormican, president; Aaron Dunkle, vice-president; Lexie Messenger, secretary; David Cable, treasurer; Kelsey Lane, news reporter ( a very important position, in this correspondent’s opinion); Jared Halter, health officer; Taylor Besch, safety officer; and Jacob Cormican, recreation leader.
The club, which meets again March 23 at 6 pm in the basement of Hebron Christian Church, also voted to have a booth at the Fair this year, and to have their club project that everyone does be "Rocketry." Mr. Bindle, a Lakewood shop teacher, will advise them on technique and safety.
In fact, there is a presentation at every 4-H meeting, usually done by a youth member, which explains the lambs baaing away in the ladies room when this writer arrived!
Kudos to Drew for a great year behind them, and best wishes to Joey for the year to come; it’s not too late to join, but project selections are going on now. Martha and Dave Cable are the club advisors.
Hebron Elementary PTO is hosting a "Spring Fling" craft fair this Saturday, March 15, from 10 am to 2 pm with babysitting and refreshments available at the school on Deacon Street at Eighth. Come support the parents who are working in and around the school to help the teachers and staff with extras that no one pays taxes for. All you have to do is buy a brownie and some lawn art to help out! Lyn Lockwood is looking for you, so plan to attend.
See, I didn’t mention the levy-taxes-school stuff ‘til a ways down this week; although I was thinking that I’d better mention that the board has made a tough decision with some public airing of disagreement (good), and a vote that wasn’t 5 to 0 (actually, good), followed by a spoken commitment to support each other and the levy committee now that the vote is done (very good).
While the minority opinion is that the danger of spending down our reserves to zero is very real next year, the consideration for the juniors this year who might lose their senior year with no way to adapt is also real. Their vote was to make every conceivable cut short of extracurriculars, with the proviso that those, plus academic cuts, will inevitably come next year if we don’t increase revenue to the school system significantly in the next six months or so.
And as Dave Dernberger pointed out as regards his child, we are in fact already making academic cuts when reading teachers are shifted away from reading to cover general classroom assignments.
As a fallen away reading tutor myself, I can tell you that volunteer reading help is vitally needed, but you can’t build a consistent program around the dozen or so of us who do it. Pam DeVaul of the board and other public spirited community members give their best, but we aren’t there every day, and many of our kids need that guiding, helping, *teaching* influence daily to grow in learning.
In regards to folks who asked why teachers don’t take a 20 percent pay cut like someone in the aircraft industry did during the recent downturn, I have good news. They’ve already done it. Committing to stay in the Lakewood Schools means you’re willing to make about that much less than you could in many districts an easy drive from Hebron.
Don’t say the teachers aren’t doing their part; and come Saturday to buy a door wreath that gives ‘em a few dollars to buy classroom supplies with. On what they make, buying their own bulletin board materials and pictures of George Washington and Harriet Tubman for the classroom is asking a bit much. . .but they do it anyhow. Stop by the building and see sometime, they’ll be glad to have you.
Of course, they may ask to sign you up as a reading tutor!
Wednesday, Mar. 19, starting around 5 pm, the Interfaith Legal Clinic that is offered every third Wednesday in Licking County is coming to the south for March and April. Hebron Christian is hosting again, and anyone who needs a free hour of advice from a lawyer is invited to come between 5 and 7 pm. Due to demand, only the first 50 applicants will be taken.
This is a volunteer program of lawyers who are moved by their faith commitment to give back to the community in this way. They do not provide legal representation, just that hour of counsel, but as many of you know that can make all the difference as you figure out what to do next.
Check-in will be at the east door off of Church Street, and you may have to wait, but the lawyers present Mar. 19 and April 16 will get to all of the first 50 present.
So look out, we’ve got a herd of lawyers coming through the Hebron Crossroads! And we appreciate their coming down this way to give us all a hand.

Hebron Crossroads 3-9-03
By Jeff Gill

Our area has much to be proud of, and the tone of last Monday’s public meeting before the Lakewood School Board goes on that list.
With tough choices and painful decisions in front of everyone, the discussions were, as the diplomats say, "a full and frank exchange of views."
Except when a State Department spokesman says that, he means the ambassadors threw plates and chairs at each other. In virtually every case, the statements were heartfelt and fair, passionate and respectful. Mike Call did well to commend early on in the evening all of the "No" voters, who at least showed up to vote, and even more so to the "No’s" who came to the meeting and shared their views in person.
I’d guess about 550 or a bit more were present, and 50 were clearly opposed to any new taxes for any reason. . .and 500 some were willing to do whatever it takes to keep extracurriculars, band, and athletics. As someone said after the evening was over, "without new revenue, we’re not looking at cuts or even amputations; we’re being asked do we remove the heart or the brain of the patient."
And since that’s true, that even with these heart-rending cuts proposed now we’ll be making academic cuts in a year or two with no other change in income (calculus, languages, classroom music), some answers to the reasons to vote "no" seem very much in order.
After the case was clearly made by Superintendent Phil Herman that our taxes are effectively as low as they can be, the lowest in all Licking County and the surrounding Buckeye Lake region, and that passing this levy will move us from dead last to (drum roll) next-to-last, someone stood to claim that he moved here from California five years ago and his taxes are twice what they were.
A little research quickly shows that yes, California drastically lowered property taxes a few decades ago; and after spending a decade with the lowest education spending in the nation and seeing the effect on their economy and quality of life, they started increasing the sales tax, to where you can now pay up to 8.25%. I’d ask that family which is more regressive, more difficult for the poor, the elderly, and the fixed-income: property taxes, or sales taxes on your everyday purchases?
Another case was made by a parent of a student that extracurriculars don’t end at the school door, such as 4-H or FFA, and no one helps pay for those. Quite true, and may I note that Prime Producers 4-H, 30 young leaders-in-the-making from around Hebron, is having their meeting this Sunday night at 6 pm in Hebron Christian Church to elect officers for the coming year! And for what it’s worth, your correspondent is also a district official with the Boy Scouts in Licking County.
Neither 4-H, Scouting for boys or girls, nor a number of other very worthwhile groups get any "money" from the school district. But I can assure you that, without access to buildings that may be necessarily locked up at the end of the school day, without the teachers and school staff who are often the advisors and committee members of our organizations, we would find it very difficult to go on as we do now.
I would personally add that, sadly, we have trouble serving all the youth we would like right now due to a chronic shortage of adult volunteers available nights and weekends when youth activities are scheduled. Shift work, rotating schedules, working in Franklin and Delaware Counties, all limit our adults’ abilities to help us reach all the youth who might participate.
Let me say unequivocally that, with the elimination of school based activities, our other groups will not be able to fill the gap. And what do you think will fill the void in kids’ schedules?

There’s more to be said, but I do want to get back to news and views next week with our Ohio bicentennial activities past and upcoming. Just let me close with two more answers to questions thrown around.
The $15 million dollar budget for Lakewood is $3 million lower than comparable schools. That says something about our administrative efficiency, right? But some ask, "why close to $2 million in cash reserves?" OK, again a fair question, but make sure to hear the answer Phil and board president Larry Harmon are offering. They employ about 300 people, and carrying two month operating expenses is what my church, the Scouting organization that I also serve, and my own household tries to have "accessible" in the bank. That’s not slush, that’s pure prudence. We can spend it down, and then when we have a roof blown off and a boiler blow and the state gets jiggy all in the same month, won’t you ask why we we’re ready to deal with that?
And finally on the ol’ "we didn’t used to spend that much to educate kids" point, our $6683 per pupil number, lower than both the state average and similar districts, is low. Low, low, low. AND they are currently providing a quality education for that, for which everyone involved can be proud. They need a bit more to keep doing that job, which after 10 years at that rate seems perfectly reasonable.
So for the "used to spend" debate, if you use an inflation calculator, our per pupil costs equal $514 in 1930’s dollars. What did we spend per pupil back then at Hebron or Jacksontown High? That, and our usual load o’ history and fascinating trivia, will be back at the Hebron Crossroads next week!

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church, and gave up coffee for Lent; if you want to carefully approach him with news of the Hebron area, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.