By Jay Kerner
Lots to tell you this issue: First, thank you for the responses to our “Joe Gives a Buck” promotion. We received nominations for five different charities since the announcement in the last Joe. As we work out the details, we have decided to extend accepting nominations for now, until we’re all nailed down. We want our proverbial ducks in a row, before actually accepting donations. The last thing we need is anybody questioning “Where did the money go?”. Our plan is to have our bank take care of that end.
I personally can’t be trusted with cash in any amount. The Queen signs my name to my paycheck, deposits it and hands me my $20 for the week. We’ve done this so long, I once wrote a check for cash right in front of the teller and she told me she couldn’t cash it because that wasn’t my signature.
Anyway, please keep sending nominations, we’re definitely doing this, and we’ll announce the details as we figure them out.
Next up, we are so excited to debut our new earth friendly feature; JOE GREEN on Page 10. Of all my columns so far, I still get the most comments about my littering piece from Issue 2. Then after the reader submission in the last issue; It’s Ok to Drive Your SUV to the Recycling Plant, we got even more responses. You don’t have to hit us over the head with a brick, we get it…you like Green…well, so do we. For this issue I asked my own personal favorite tree hugger, my small but spunky daughter Cassie, to grace us with a submission. I think you’ll enjoy her take.
Now we want your ideas. Tell us what needs to be done, but also what you yourself are doing to reduce your footprint on the planet. We especially want things that apply right here in town. As our new subhead reads: Think Globally, Act Joe-bally! (Like it? That’s one of mine!). So anyway, contribute…please!
I’d also like to thank all the nice folks who contacted us after my “Your Ad Here…Please” column from last issue. You’ll notice some new advertisers in this issue and we have a few more coming in the next issue. We also had a couple of inquiries from businesses that are competitors for some of our existing advertisers. We had the unenviable task of having to respectably refuse their business, at least for the time being. We made the decision to just have one of each major category. It may not be the smartest policy financially, but our advertisers will know where our loyalties lie, and an ad in The Regular Joe won’t be diluted by an ad from your competition close by. See the response to a Dear Joe letter for a better explanation (Page3.)
Finally, for those of you who are big fans of Olive Garden, you probably won’t be happy with Vennis A. Vennable’s piece this issue. While we certainly share his feelings about supporting locally owned and operated businesses, I admit we were a little worried about offending our new corporate neighbor. But then after we thought about it a while, we said, “hell with it, they’re probably not going to be advertising with us anyway.”
So, in conclusion, I hope you are reading this while waiting for a table at your favorite local establishment. I’ll be doing the same. (Even if I do secretly love Olive Garden’s breadsticks.)