The Herald Bulletin, Anderson, Indiana

More than three years after moving to Anderson I only recently discovered the beautiful trail system at Falls Park in Pendleton. I knew the park was there but was unaware of the extensive trail system connecting the baseball fields to the park and the north entrance. On Wednesday, while walking under one of the massive concrete railway bridges with my wife, we discovered a rather festive piece of graffity: an eight-foot jack-o-lantern. And while I don't support or condone vandalism, I have been moved by illegal street art and acknowledge it can have value.

A resident of the 1400 block of Fletcher Street said Anderson has eliminated street parking to accommodate large trucks making deliveries to Carpet One-Indiana Flooring. The resident said the city had to replace sidewalks in the area, thanks to the frequent truck traffic. Now those trucks have cost people living in nearby apartments the convenience of their parking spaces.

A lie consists of speaking a falsehood with the intention of deceiving. The Lord denounces lying as the work of the devil. You are of your father the devil,there is no truth in him. When he lies,he speaks according to his own nature,for he is a liar and the father of lies.

On Thursday, I received an anonymous letter in the mail. It was written in a slightly shaky cursive, unsigned and contained no return address information. I couldn't ever read the postmark. I have no idea what else to do with it, so I'll let the letter speak for itself. Here is the text, as far as I can make it out. I have corrected some spelling and added some punctuation, but I don't believe it alters the spirit of the letter. A few awkward, but important, passages have been untouched and are noted with [sic]. Here goes:

Matt Farmer performed a solo on Saturday during the Anderson Young Ballet Theatre (AYBT) fall gal. Farmer recently joined the dance faculty at Anderson University. In case you haven't heard, AU awarded its first minors in dance last May and will now offer dance majors. The program is the brain child of professor Doug King, who you may have seen perform with Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre in Indianapolis.

To most the date September 7 doesn't mean much. But it was one year ago today that the mixed martial arts world lost one of its best characters and people in Evan Tanner.

Tanner passed away due to exposure in the deserts of California. He was an adventurer in the classic sense.

There's a line in the Jimmy Buffet song "A Pirate looks at 40" that goes:

"Yes I am a Pirate
200 years too late"

That line epitomized Evan Tanner.

Just got back from a late afternoon lunch at Garfield's and I am extremely disappointed in the service I received. First I didn't receive my appetizers, the waitress was too busy chatting it up with another table. Someone else brought us our food...and when she finally decided to come over and check on us she remembered the appetizer and told us not to worry, it wasn't on our bill. She didn't ask if we still wanted it either, and that was part of my meal. When she finally brought us our check, she had overcharged us for our food.

I have noticed lately all the traffic and people parking along Madison Ave aound Sunny Rays. Satuday night/Sunday morning There were 100's of people gathering along this strech of road. People were in the street, parked along the side of the road drinking and obstructiong the flow of traffic. I did see a police helicopter above the area in question. WHen I was younger we use to park at k-mart north or crusie broadway..the police didnt have a problem with putting a stop to this...why does this still continue on Madison Ave.

Well Affliction MMA announced earlier that they were cancelling their Aug. 1 card because they couldn't properly promote a replacement main event after Josh Barnett tested positive for steroids.

Late Friday, the word is that Affliction is done in the MMA promotion business and that they'll go back to just making t-shirts.

There's also word from Yahoo sports that they'll be a sponsor in the UFC again.

Last year Seth Petruzelli was given the dubious honor of the man responsible for sinking Elite XC.

I guess that makes Barnett the man that sunk Affliction.

The August 1 pay per view Affliction Trilogy is not happening.

By way of a TKO via a positive steroid test from heavyweight Josh Barnett.

Affliction boss Tom Atencio confirmed today that the show will not go on in a conference call with MMA media.

The show is off, not because they couldn't find a replacement for Barnett in the main event. It's off because even if they had found a replacement, they didn't feel they had enough time to "promote the fight up to our standards."

What this means for Affliction as a promotion is unknown.