The Ride is Over at Geauga Lake

Exclusive from Crain's Cleveland Business
By JOHN BOOTH

4:05 pm, September 21, 2007

Geauga Lake's amusement rides won't be back for 2008, parent company Cedar Fair announced Friday afternoon.

"The market demand simply isn't there to support the park in its current structure," Cedar Fair spokeswoman Stacy Frole said. She said Wildwater Kingdom, the $25 million water park Cedar Fair built on the south side of the lake, "has really been the most popular attraction at Geauga Lake. We believe that's where the property is going to succeed — as a water park."

Cedar Fair CEO Dick Kinzel said in a statement: "Geauga Lake's Wildwater Kingdom has been recognized as one of the finest water parks in the country. Since its opening in 2005, Wildwater Kingdom has been the park's highest-rated attribute."

The future of the rides on the 119-year-old amusement park's north side, including the classic Big Dipper wooden roller coaster, is uncertain.

"Our planning and design department is going through and analyzing what the best use for all of our assets are," Ms. Frole said. "Will some rides be located to other (Cedar Fair) parks? Yes." She would not specify which rides might be going to which other Cedar Fair properties. Cedar Fair also owns Cedar Point amusement park.

Mr. Kinzel and Cedar Fair chief operating officer Jack Falfas shared the news with employees at Geauga Lake in person. Park general manager Bill Spehn is expected to retain his position, according to Ms. Frole.

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Good Riddance, Linc Chaffee

 

From www.politics1.com

 

Former US Senator Lincoln Chafee -- who was defeated last year for re-election -- revealed Sunday to the Providence Journal that he had quietly "disaffiliated" in his voter registration from the Republican Party two months ago. Chafee said he hadn't mentioned it until now simply because nobody had asked before. The NRSC spent a significant amount of money on advertising that helped Chafee narrowly survive a conservative primary challenege. Chafee emphasized he still feels close to many in the Rhode Island Republican Party, but his objections were entirely focused upon the national party. "It's not my party any more," he explained. Chafee's criticism was mainly focused upon three areas: "abandoning fiscal conservatism" by passing tax cuts without spending cuts and thus creating a "permanent deficit"; the Iraq War; and the lack of GOP support for environmental protection. Chafee says he very much enjoys his current job as a distinguished visiting fellow at Brown University.

 

This brings to memory a meeting I had where several Ohio Republican Party staffers were in attendance, telling us how their campaign operation had helped carry Chaffee over the top in his nomination defense over his conservative challenger, MAYOR Steven Laffey.  (That's right an elected Mayor of a major Rhode Island City-- not an unelectible kook).  But all that mattered was that Chafee SAID he was a Republican, and was the incumbent.  Well, now he's admitted what anyone with any sense knew all along Linc Chafee IS NOT A REPUBLICAN.  Say hello to Jim Jeffords, and don't let the door hit you on the way out!

                                                                                 --Ron Lisy

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Armey leads effort against email tax

From the email box..... 

 

From the Leader's Desk: Armey's Plan to Beat the Email Tax Again

While taxes may be one of life's certainties, the internet has, so far, miraculously managed to escape the clutches of revenue-hungry government tax collectors. That may change if Congress doesn't get its act together – and fast.

Back in 1998, when I was the House Majority Leader in Congress, we passed the Internet Tax Freedom Act, imposing a three-year moratorium on state and local taxes on internet access. The moratorium came just as some local governments began to extend their very high telecommunications taxes to internet access.  State and local governments want to tax your cable modem or DSL bill, as well as internet services, and the internet backbone, but our bill stopped them cold.  Our goal was simple: encourage the spread of the internet by preventing government from strangling it in its crib with high taxes.

Since then Congress has passed multiple extensions of the internet tax moratorium, the latest of which expires this November. This time around, Congress should make the ban on internet taxes permanent. Two bills, S. 156 in the Senate and H.R. 743 in the House, would do just that, but movement thus far has been stagnant and the clock is ticking.

[Take Action]

State and local internet access taxes could add 20 percent to 25 percent to the average internet consumer's bill – a tax hike of about $150 per year. That may not sound like much in Washington, D.C., but it could strand millions of low-income Americans on the wrong side of the digital divide. And higher internet charges could hinder small business from gaining access to the technology they need to compete with larger companies. Schools, libraries, and other educational and research institutions with limited budgets would also take a hit.

Supporters of new internet taxes make the case that Congress' "Hands Off the Internet" strategy has served its purpose. The internet is no longer an infant technology, they say. After all, internet use in the United States has soared from about 36 percent of the population at the end of 1998 to over 70 percent today.

But in the warp-speed world of the internet, that's yesterday's news. America still lags far behind our economic competitors when it comes to wiring homes and businesses with high-speed internet access or broadband. Even though the internet was largely invented here (but not by Al Gore!),  America still ranks 16th in the world in terms of broadband deployment, behind countries like South Korea and Japan.

Widespread broadband deployment is the key to unleashing a new round of internet-driven gains in productivity and entrepreneurial activity. Respected economists estimate that 1.2 million new jobs would be generated by the broadband build-out, enough growth to generate more in taxes than states and localities hope to raise by taxing your internet access, e-mail, and other online services.

So why not just extend the moratorium for another two years or so? Because making broadband available on a near-universal basis will require billions in private investment by technology companies willing to build next generation networks like fiber-to-the-home. And companies are hesitant to put that capital at risk as long as the tax man keeps lurking right around the corner, always threatening to milk consumers and potentially destroy a good portion of the mass market for broadband.

Members of Congress have a choice to make. They can give the green light to state and local governments to saddle internet users with myriad new taxes and fees. Or they can lock the tax man away permanently and throw away the key. That should be a pretty easy call.

Contact your U.S. Representative and Senators and let them know how you feel about taxes on your email.  Thanks in advance for taking action!

Take Action!

Sincerely,

Dick Armey
Chairman
FreedomWorks.org

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Right Angle is reporting that U.S. Rep. Paul Gillmor has died...

Rep. Paul Gillmor (R-5) Has Died

Sep 5, 2007 at 11:57 am - Submitted By: Matthew 

I don't think it has been reported anywhere yet as of noon today.

Robert Bluey from the Heritage Foundation sent me this forwarded email:

Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 11:50 AM
Subject: Rep. Paul Gillmor - R-OH died last night

When he did not show up at the office today, staff went to his apartment and found that he had died. No cause of death but Boehner said it appears he may have died of a heart attack — though Cap Police is investigating.

My prayers are with his family.

 

Rep. Gillmor on Wikipedia-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Gillmor

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