Perrysburg Blog

The weather was great. And we have been doing too much traveling this year (conferences and meetings – they are not fun). So it is great to stay home and enjoy the perfect weather we have been blessed with all Summer in Northwest Ohio.

But we got wanderlust on Saturday evening and headed down SR-199 and SR-18 to the little town of New Riegel for some of the secret recipe ribs and chicken of the unique New Riegel Inn.

No Man Knows . . . what the ingredients are. But they are good.

And as we headed back home on a golden evening with all of the windows open and the sunroof fully retracted I decided to take a detour to the heart of downtown Fostoria.

That is not a trip for the faint of heart.

For the political policies that have allowed our industrial base to shift overseas have impacted right here – Ground Zero. Fostoria. Fo-Town.

Oh my.

No offense – but what a sad sight. A neutron bomb might have done less damage.

Where are the leaders?

Where are the the men of vision and action in Fostoria?

Where are the people with courage to do something different?

The roads run around the city – the jobs have left – the real estate is in disrepair – the capital is in the process of leaving – and the despair is palpable.

The city stands as a warning to anyone with the courage to make the drive and look and learn: “This Can Happen To Your City!”

Not one word of what I write is written about the people of Fostoria – just about what they have done to their town. They are my neighbors. They have just been victimized by the economic and political policies of the Federal and State goverments of this land.

But . . . Fostoria, if you drive in its’ core downtown area, is a warning that no town or city is guaranteed a future.

No city is.

No state is.

We all have to make wise choices.