I'm sitting here watching the Red Wings take on the Sharks (Detroit 3-1 after 2 periods) and they have just announced that Ernie Harwell, the long time Hall of Fame broadcaster for the Detroit Tigers, has passed away after a long battle with cancer. He was 92 years old.

I will remember him, as a huge part of both my childhood and adult years, calling the Tigers games on the radio. He had a very distinctive voice and was well known by baseball fans all over the country.

Ernie was a fixture in Detroit sports and will be sorely missed.

 I am a Notary Public in Michigan. The notary laws vary wildly from state to state and anything that follows may not apply in other states.

My function as a notary is, for the most part, to certify 2 things:

1. That you are the person you say you are. If I haven't known you for most of my life, then I will have to see some ID. That means a valid Drivers License, state ID card or passport. If you come from a different state I may have to do some research to make sure your license is valid. I don't know what every states ID's look like. If I have any doubt, I will not notarize your document.

2.You signed the document in my presence,on the date we met and you are not drunk, high or appear not to understand what you are doing.

That said, don't ask me to:

1. Post date documents. If the documents are for a mortgage it is loan fraud. In any case this violates the law in Michigan. 

2. Notarize your wifes (or anyones) signature that is already there, even though you have a copy of their drivers license. (people ask me to do this all the time...see number 2 above.)

3. Notarize a document that has blank spaces or fields on it. Again this violates Michigan law.

I'm sorry but I will not jeapordize my notary commission for any one transaction.

The Detroit Red Wings have made the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the nineteenth straight year. That is the longest current streak in any of the 4 major sports.

After a rash of injuries the team has everyone healthy for a run at their 5th cup in the last 13 years. The main question everyone is asking right now centers around Jimmy Howard, their rookie goaltender. Can he overcome his lack of playoff experience and lead the Wings to the cup?

The first game will be Wednesday night against the Phoenix Coyotes. 

This game was Wednesday night and even though the scoreboard says Columbus 2, Detroit 1, the Wings came back and won 4-2.

It's going to cost 32 million dollars to find all the people in the Detroit area who haven't sent in the census form. 

I live in St Clair Shores, about 4 or 5 miles from the Detroit city limits. In our city, about 80% of the forms have been returned. In Detroit its 55%. Each person who fails to return the form will cost their city about $1400 in lost federal money.

The census will be hiring 3600 to 6000 temporary workers to knock on the doors of the homes that haven't returned the form.They will make $16 to $16.50 an hour and will make 6 attempts at each address before they give up.

It's a shame that the areas that need the money the most are the ones that have the lowest participation. With the thousands of foreclosures in the area, I'm afraid they are going to find many empty houses. Hopefully they will find enough people to make more money than 32 million dollars it will cost.

The Detroit Tigers begin the 2010 season next week.

As far back as I can remember the start of the baseball season meant one thing, summer is almost here. There always seemed to be a night game on TV after the last day of school, and I never missed it. Back then it was Al Kaline, Willie Horton, Bill Freehan and Mickey Lolich. Today it's Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera and Brandon Inge. The players change over the years but that burst of excitement when the season starts is always there. Gives you the chance to be a kid again for just a while, even if like me you are a 50+ kid.

There are high hopes for this season and we will be hoping to erase the sting of the loss in the one game playoff to the Twins last year.

I can't wait.....GO TIGERS!!

The last auto came of the line for Pontiac Motors on Wednesday. According to The Detroit News, it was a white G6 sedan that was finished at 12:45 PM.

I spent the first nine years of my life living in Pontiac a mile or so from the plants (there were several). My dad and 3 uncles worked there and my dad retired after 38 years.

I chose not to work there because prospects for long term employment were shaky by the time I was old enough. But a lot of my friends and neighbors did,

I did own many Pontiacs, my favorite being a silver 1975 Trans Am I bought in 1977.

The impact on the community will be felt, but the company has scaled back production and closed many of the plants already so it has been a slow decline.

I'm sure many people will miss them. I know I will.

I live in St Clair Shores Michigan, which has three separate school districts. I live in the Lakeview district.

Lakeview is a North Central Accredited district for the first time. According to the St Clair Shores Sentinel, the district is the only NCA accredited district in Macomb County.

This could help local students get into college. It could also provide a boost in property values at some point.

I know this isn't earth shattering news, but with the state of affairs in this area right now we can use a little positive news.

The Pontiac Silverdome has finally sold.

The stadium, the former home of my Detroit Lions, was built in 1975 at a cost of around 55.7 million dollars. It held more than 80,000 people for football games.

The Lions played there until 2002 when they moved to Ford Field in downtown Detroit. I have many fond memories of games there, mostly involving Barry Sanders in some way, as well as one of the worst, seeing the last minute Brett Favre to Sterling Sharp touchdown pass in the NFC playoffs that ended the Lions season. The Michigan Panthers of the USFL also played there, giving us many chances to see former Wolverine Anthony Carter play before he went to the Vikings and broke our hearts so many times. The Detroit Pistons actually played their games there for 10 years 1978-88. The Super Bowl Was played there in 1982 (Won by the 49ers over the Bengals).

I also saw many other great things there including a Led Zeppelin concert in 1977 and years later the Rolling Stones. I saw Trevor Francis of the long defunct Detroit Express score 5 goals against the New York Cosmos (five goals by a soccer player in one game, you have to be kidding). Michael Jackson appeared there and the Pope held mass in 1987

What did it sell for ......$583,000, less than 10 percent of the original cost to build it. We don't yet know who the purchaser is but will know in about 45 days when the deal is finalized.

Read the Detroit Free Press article.

15 states have enacted term limits for their state legislators, with Michigan being one of them.

Michigan approved its term limits in 1992. They went into effect in 1998 in the House and 2002 in the Senate.

The last few years have been a succession of partisan fights trying to balance the budget. Every year it seems we are faced with a shutdown of State government because our senate and house can’t get the budget balanced (this is mandated by law in Michigan)

Term limits were very popular with the people when enacted. But reality has now set in. Do we really want a collection of relative newcomers running a state with an approximate budget of 40 billion dollars?

Michigan used federal stimulus funds to help balance the budget this year. Next year they will have substantially less federal money and the following year none. And the legislators that are learning now will be gone and  a new crop will be in office who will have no experience with this type of problem.

Maybe it’s time to revisit this issue.

After a full 162 game season, the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins are tied.

Tuesday they will play one game to decide who gets to play the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. Rookie pitcher Rick Porcello will pitch for Detroit in this important game.

The Tigers had a 3 game lead with 4 games to play and nearly blew it, having to win today to finish tied with the Twins (they beat Chicago 5-3).

So cross your fingers Tiger fans and lets finish the season strong!!!!