Evansville Courier

It's true: There was no need for umbrellas on Saturday. Yet the 2009 Street Strut isn't about convention.

In fact, if there are any rules to the 19th annual Mardi Gras style celebration of wackiness, it's that there are no rules.

Too chicken to mutton?

Janice and Tom Blackburn weren't on Saturday, when they brought out their lawn chairs and set up their version of fun right under the trees in Central Park.

The upcoming extension of the River Walk along Merritt Drive will use that street's right of way in order to avoid construction delays and additional expense, according to Assistant City Manager William "Buzzy" Newman.

Routing the walk closer to the Ohio River "would extend the project out a year and add anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million," he said, because of the need to get appraisals of the property and pay landowners a fair price.

How much useless information can our brains hold?

I think mine has reached capacity, and I blame: Passwords.

The password explosion is way out of hand. I need a password to get into the office, a password to get into the computer, a password to go here or there inside the computer, a password to place a long-distance call.

"If (city residents) put an elephant out with their trash, it gets picked up." -- City Commissioner Jim White, last September in a city-county Solid Waste Committee meeting discussing a rejected proposal by county officials to privatize the city's solid waste collection.

The W.C. Handy Blues & Barbecue Festival is in full swing for the 19th year, and this next week is packed with live music.

Monday and Tuesday are devoted to Handy Lunch Breaks at local restaurants, and the main stage in Audubon Mill Park opens Wednesday night and continues through Saturday with a stellar music line-up.

Nine-year-old Douglas Powers is an avid Webkinz collector with more than 100.

Recently he was spending the night with his grandparents, Glen and Judy Stone, and while his Aunt Kim Mays was over visiting he decided to have a Webkinz Dog Show.

Judge-executive Sandy Watkins -- who has won past awards for promoting recycling and cleaning up illegal dumps -- was cited this week by the state Division of Air Quality for illegal burning.

"I didn't illegally burn," Watkins said. "I just had some material in there that didn't belong."