The Way I See ItBy cj pollickChristmas And The Birth Of Jesus - Even though early followers of Jesus never celebrated Jesus' date of birth, later Christians began a tradition of celebrating Christ's birthday on December 25th. The date of December 25th, however, does not actually relate to Jesus' day of birth. Some churches, nevertheless, celebrate Christmas on January 6th, such as the Armenian Orthodox Church, and the Eastern Orthodox Churches on January 7th depending on whether the Gregorian Calendar is used instead of the Julian Calendar. Again, the actual date of Christmas celebration has become a tradition developed over time and not based on an actual date of birth. The word "Christmas" actually originated from combining the two words "Christ's mass" from Old Middle English and even older Old English "Cristes maesse" from 1038. The word Yule, which is often heard during the Christmas season, developed in Anglo-Saxon Britain from the 7th century where Christmas was called "geol" or Yule in Old English. Interestingly, from 100 AD until Charlemagne accepted the Christian religion in about 800 AD, followers of Christ did not celebrate Jesus' date of birth. Early Christian church fathers, such as Origen, thought such an act was unnecessary. During the Middle Ages the tradition of Christmas gained in popularity as many countries incorporated the Christian religion while retaining their regional celebrations of winter. Evergreens, holly, gift-giving, singing songs and a host of other Christmas traditions developed during that time period. Steve Cottrell And IRB - According to Steve Cottrell (former city manager at Indian Rocks Beach), the city commission wrongly interpreted his city contract. Of course, the city commission disagrees. The resignation of Cottrell caught many IRB commissioners by surprise since they were unaware of contract language issues and different interpretations of compensation issues. Regardless of how words might be interpreted, it is too bad that the two sides could not have worked through the issue instead of just "moving-on." You can read more of Cottrell's feelings in a letter to the editor in the Gazette. Morgan Stanley Added To Problem List - The fallout of prominent US financial institutions due to sub-prime mortgages continues to climb. The latest financial institution to succumb to financial problems due to sub-prime loans is Morgan Stanley. The financial giant announced it had posted a $9.4 billion write-down due to its sub-prime portfolio. This enormous write-down resulted in Morgan Stanley selling about 10 percent of the company to China Investment Corp. for a $5 billion investment. This is just another story of poor company management and more foreign investment in large US financial institutions by investors from China, Singapore and the Persian Gulf. More US companies to follow Morgan Stanley? Yes, the list will continue to grow until there are no foreign investors interested in US financial stocks. Not a good picture when you consider how much money the top CEO's of these troubled financial giants obtained in benefits the past several years (while the bad loans were being created.) Real Estate Market To Boom? - Most local realtors would say that 2007 was a year of many adjustments to the local real estate market. Prices that were unrealistically high began to lower and some of the properties were sold to buyers who were looking for the right deal. Yes, there were and are buyers still interested in buying property for the right price... and prices have lowered. Realtors say that when sellers lower asking prices to current market levels they have a good chance of selling. What makes some of this work? Lower value of the US dollar and foreign investment -- plus, more local properties at realistic prices. People would like to live in Florida, if possible. Local boom? If local property prices are realistic, there is a good chance they will be sold in 2008. What about property owners who bought at the wrong time and need a higher price? They may need to wait for a longer period of time to pass before selling. Selling in 2008 is for people who truly want to sell and move on to other deals. Again, there are buyers for sellers at realistic prices. Time the market? It would be nice to be able to predict when the real estate market might change into a boom market. Remember when beach renourishment was done on Sand Key and condominium prices went through the roof? It happened within a year of beach renourishment. Clearwater Beach is just beginning to reflect the development of two new hotels (one completed and open.) When development is completed on Clearwater Beach it will spur price increases. Many Thanks To Family Doctors - We're thankful to all doctors who help to make the US medical system the best in the world. However, we especially thank those doctors who become family doctors. The Way I See It, if you have a good family doctor you are a fortunate person. We need more family doctors in America and, of course, such a fact is noticeable throughout the state of Florida. Here's to the family doctors in Pinellas County. We especially appreciate our family doctor, Dr. Robert Kurtis. Too Many To Thank - As the year 2007 comes to a close, it is time to thank the many people that make the Clearwater Gazette the people's choice. Not much could happen at the Gazette without Mary and Sandy, they deserve much of the credit for making sure that the newspaper is published and printed on schedule each and every week. Interestingly, the newspaper has not missed a week of publication since November, 1950. All in all, not a bad precedent from the early days when known as Beach Views. Many thanks to all the Gazette staff and writers. There is a mountain of work every week in clearing articles and developing drafts for advertisers, kudos to the Gazette staff that makes each edition of the newspaper interesting and local. Of course, nothing works if our readers do not support the many local businesses that advertise in the Gazette. I encourage our readers to support our advertisers and spend money on this side of Tampa Bay (where the tax dollars could be better spent.) In fact, I challenge local businesses to compare our ad rates versus other newspapers when considering where to advertise for local business. Again, many thanks to our advertisers for their support throughout the year. We support small business. To our readers: thank you for your continued support. We work each week to present to you an interesting newspaper loaded with local news and local advertising. We wish everyone a safe and Merry Christmas. Drive carefully. Lastly, we wish to thank our military troops who are in harms way this holiday season while providing us a safe place to live and work. God bless America -- land of the free and home of the brave.
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