Please do not use power poles to advertise your yard sale

The weather right now just seems to be teasing us. 

 We get a nice, pleasant weekend only to be followed by a cold week again. I suppose it will warm up sometime. I, and probably the farmers, would like the weather to do so sooner rather than later.  

 When our oldest grandson had his birthday, we had told him we would take him someplace of his choice as his present. So, this last Saturday, we went to the Discovery Center in Boise.  

 It just so happened to be the first day of a traveling Star Wars exhibit that was showing at the Center. So, we spent most of our time looking at movie props, costumes, and figurines of the different Star Wars characters. Of course, there were other displays like hands-on science of whirlpools, heat transfer tables, and magnet races, to name a few, but we kept going back to Star Wars. 

 I don’t know how much actual science was learned by seeing the Star Wars exhibit, but I do know that it sparked a lot of imagination. And I think that is almost, if not more, important than the science we learned.  

 In city news this week, Lonnie Chambers from the Waste Water Department will be visiting all of the businesses in town sometime within the next six months. He will be going around to inspect things like grease traps and interceptors. The purpose of the visits is to educate and then work with business owners on ways they can reduce their costs by reducing the amount of harmful materials that go down their drain.  

 The Wastewater Department is taking a soft approach with these inspections to work with businesses in order to comply with Idaho State Statute. The city recently passed an ordinance on compliance to align with the state to be proactive in preventing harm to the wastewater system.  

 After the first round of inspections, Lonnie will be coming around annually to make sure that the preventative measures are working and to answer questions. Hopefully, these measures will lead to less maintenance and longer life for our wastewater infrastructure.

 Also, Mike Campbell, your public works director and Wayne Wallace, your electric department director, reminded me that it is yard sale season. Why, you might ask, would this concern these two gentlemen?  Well, the answer has to do with power poles.  

 They would like to let you know that stapling or nailing “Yard Sale” signs to power poles can significantly decrease the life of power poles. You see, the reason the poles have that dark coloring is that they are treated to keep bugs from penetrating the wood. That small hole made from a staple or nail while putting up a sign is just big enough to allow a little critter to get in and feast on the pole. And, of course, one small critter leads to lots of small critters.

 The electric department inspects the poles often to determine if they need to be replaced for any reason. However, it is not always possible to tell exactly what is going on inside of the entire pole when it is bug infested. You can imagine what could happen if a pole came down unexpectedly. 

 So, please, use another means to advertise your yard sale rather than using the power poles.

 Well, that’s it for this week. Weiser really is a great place to live, work, and play. Have a good week!