America has become more homogenized over the years.
Thanks to things like the Internet, television, cell phones and other technology, the miles between Americans have shrunk.
Sometimes that's a good thing. Sometimes not.
You will notice more and more, wherever you go in the U.S., you will find the same chain department stores, the same chain restaurants. Regional flavors, to some degree, have disappeared.
There are fewer local alternatives to the big box stores. Remember when everyone went to Anderson's Appliances, down the road from the Saybrook Plaza, to buy televisions or stereos?
If you wanted to buy anything from furniture to appliances to toys or clothes and have lunch to boot, you visited Carlisle's.
Conneaut had its own department store, Pelton’s, on two vast floors. The third floor was a stage and skating rink!
Slowly, the local choices have started to slip away. We lost Hamiltons Furniture and Appliance in Jefferson not long ago.
The big turndown in the economy a year ago only aggravated the situation.
People lost their jobs, lost income. They wanted deals more than ever. The big chain store could buy widgets at a much smaller price than local dealers and undercut the price.
Which, of course, brings me to Saturday's Boo-Wow Walk at Maple Ridge Golf Course on Route 45 in Austinburg at 1 p.m.
This is a wonderful way for you to spend time with your pet and have a lot of fun. If you haven't been to one, it is trick-or-treat for dogs as part of a one-mile walk. You and your pet stop at different stations along the way and collect doggie treats, a license plate bracket, a dog-training DVD, pet toys and more.
Profits from the event benefit the Ashtabula County Animal Protective League, which is always in dire circumstances, but even more so this year.
The economic downturn and two bouts of parvo, which shuts down the APL for weeks and costs big bucks for cleaning materials, have really aggravated the situation.
Now to participate in the walk, all you need is $18 and if you are one of the first 400 to sign up, you get a T-shirt, too. That's a really, really good bargain for all you get. But the APL hopes not only will you come out with your pet, but you will get sponsors, lots of sponsors, to participate.
The grand-prize winner gets a beautiful, 42-inch, LCD LG Electronics high-definition television. Now there are two kinds of HD TVs. One kind is 720P. The other is 1080P. As you can guess, the 1080P is better and that's what this TV is.
Also being given away are a photo picture frame and a GPS, that can give directions in the car or take it on a hike with your dog and don't get lost.
There will be plenty of other prizes, which means getting sponsors is important.
The foundation of this whole event is built on corporate sponsors, to donate anything from bottled water to prizes for the different stations to, well, cash. Otherwise, to make this a success, the APL must dip into funds to pay for some of these things in order to make it a success. You know, you gotta spend money to make money.
It's always nice to spend other people's money if possible. But remember when I mentioned the loss of local merchants to the big box stores?
Some of those merchants who helped underwrite the walk a year ago aren't even open anymore or are struggling so they can't do as much. Local merchants do try to help, because they live in the community and they want to see the quality of life high for themselves and their families.
We are left with more of the big box stores and many simply don't give to local endeavors. Some simply say no. Believe it or not, that's better than the firms that ask for tax-exempt statements, financial statements and THEN say no.
I don't want to say what stores give a blanket no. They provide employment and places where we can shop locally. You know, where America shops. I certainly would not target any store where people get their best buys. Nor would I give the blue light to anyone who does.
That's not to say all big box stores don't help. Wal-Mart has been very generous. Giant Eagle and the folks at Home Depot are doing their part, too.
What it comes down to is the APL needs more participants and more sponsors to make up for the initial shortfall from businesses.
With less than a week away, please sign up to participate or at least sponsor someone. Signup sheets are published in the Star Beacon almost daily.
I'll be there with my dog, Casey, a 1994 APL graduate. At 15, her back legs won't allow her to walk that distance, but we will make sure she is there and participating. Casey may be a senior dog, but her winning personality helps get me more sponsors than I could get on my own.
If you see us there, please stop and say hello.
And by the way, here is a list of sponsors, people who care about the community and all of its citizens, because the way a community treats its animals is reflective of the community as a whole:
Great Danes, Ashtabula Star Beacon, Dad's Dog Food, Dr. Nancy Rung, Maple Ridge Golf Course, Nassief Ford Mercury Toyota Hyundai, Sportsterz Bar & Grill, The Rillahan Family, Wal-Mart, WKKY radio, Beagles, Ashtabula County Medical Center, AFLAC - Mark Wheeler, Andover Bank, All Creatures Animal Hospital, Bob and Sue Pasqualone, Country Doctor Veterinary Clinic, Domino Pizza, Edgewood Veterinary Hospital, Giant Eagle, Hassett Roofing, Huffmann Mayer Wealth Management Group, Iarocci Law Firm, Kelly's Garden, Kent State University — Ashtabula Campus, NEO Industries Inc., Sports & Sports, The Chalk Box, Chihuahua, Ashtabula Red Lobster, Austinburg Mill, Bob and Donna Wilhelm, Conneaut Lighthouse Cruisers, Dr. Irene Fiala, Fred Mott Racing, GreenLite Motors, Kiraly's Orchard, Nordic Air, Northeast Xerox, Paw-riffick K-9 Kampus, People from Lowe's, Radio Active Electronics, ReMax, Carole Stormer-Vaux, Saybrook Feed, Short Run Machine Products Inc., Valley Feed Mill Inc.
