I had an experience last weekend that has seemed to be repeating itself more and more. I shared my story with a few others and I have found that I am not alone in my distress. 
My distress? When did going to the bathroom become such a difficult thing? I don’t mean “going” to the bathroom in the more personal sense of the word but perhaps “using” the bathroom would be the more correct way to say it.
Let me recount by experience.
I was traveling in a different part of Ohio and using a bathroom that was unfamiliar to me. I approached the sink, put my hands underneath the automatic soap dispenser successfully getting the perfect “dime-size” drop of soap. I rubbed my hands together, then proceeded to place my hands under the handle-less water faucet. I pondered: is this the “wave”-type of faucet? The touch type? The one where you use a foot touch? So, I waved my hands over and under, tapped and gave voice commands — all to no avail as the soap became a gooey dried combobulation on my hands.   
There I stood, holding my soapy hands out in front of me, cursing technology. Was anyone watching me, laughing at me, using me as a guinea pig for some wicked type of water faucet experiment?  
I then decided to try those tactics on the adjacent faucet, thinking maybe the first one perhaps had a “technical glitch.” Finally, the perfectly-passed wave did the job and I shouted for joy as the water washed away the sticky mess from my hands.
I truthfully am getting a complex about going into restrooms in places I have never visited. When I enter, I scope the scene watching others as they wash and dry their hands, trying to get a clue as to what awaits. Do they have those hand-blowers you just walk by and they go off unexpectedly, sounding like a 747 scaring the #?#?# out of you? Do they have the type you dip your hands in and out of or the kind you push to start? Or do they have the dispensers that wildly shoot streams of paper out at you?
All of this and I have not yet even mentioned the toilets. To put it delicately — they scare me sometimes. I wonder if someone is watching me and knows just the precise “moment” to SWISH! Occasionally, the timing of the “swish” can be a bit off and once again you are left in a not-so-pleasant predicament of figuring it all out in a place you don’t really want to spend a lot of time.
I’m all for making life easier through modern inventions but I am not yet totally convinced the bathroom needs to be improved. All I need are the basics — a clean bathroom with running water and some paper to wipe my hands. Makes you kind of wonder, though, what might be the next step they would surprise us with in the world of restroom technology. On the other hand, I just don’t think I want to know.

DEAR EDITOR:
On behalf of the members of the Delphos community involved with efforts to keep the Delphos Municipal Swimming Pool in operation, I would like to take this time to personally say thank you to the Dienstberger Foundation. This month, the city received a generous donation from the Dienstberger Foundation that will be specifically used to help assist to keep the pool open.
This selfless act of kindness is appreciated and admired by all those who enjoy their summer with friends and family at the pool.
Bob Thitoff

DEAR EDITOR,
We will all have to wait at some point this holiday season. We might wait in line to purchase the perfect gift, wait with anticipation for Santa’s arrival on Christmas morning, wait excitedly for our favorite cookies to come out of the oven or anxiously await the chance to see family and friends.
When you find yourself waiting, I ask you to consider those who are waiting for something that may never come. Think about the 112,000 Americans who wait for the “Gift of Life” through an organ transplant. Most will wait months or years and  every  day 18  men,  women  and  children  will die waiting.
They wait for a donor’s generosity to let life go on.
You don’t have to wait to make a difference. All you have to do is register as an organ and tissue donor. It won’t cost you money, but it will give hope to those waiting for a second chance at life.
Don’t wait. Sign up as an organ and tissue donor today at www.lifelineofohio.org, at your local BMV or by calling 800-525-5667.
Kent Holloway,
CEO, Lifeline of Ohio

DEAR EDITOR,

It was so uplifting to me to see the giant American Flag at half staff at Wells Fargo Bank on Wednesday, Dec. 7. Just as most of us remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when we first heard/saw the events of 9/11, so it is for some of us concerning the shooting of President John F. Kennedy, and so it is for a few of us who are old enough that we do not need a history book for us to remember Sunday, December 7, 1941. Seventy years ago on that day far more people were killed by the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor than on 9/11.

It  was  early  Sunday  morning  (mid-afternoon  here) when Sgt. Joseph Lockhard in Hawaii, saw signals on his radar panel  that  indicated  a  large  fleet  of  aircraft  approaching and  reported  to  his  superiors.  They  ignored  his  report  and said  it  could  not  be  correct.  Later,  when  a  civilian  foreman at  Kaneohe  Airport  telephoned  the  Air  Force  that  Japanese  planes  were  coming  in to attack, he was told, “You must be seeing things, go to bed and sleep it off.”

Within a few hours the US fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor had been all but wiped out. Now fast forward, it is now the 25th Anniversary Reunion of the Pearl Harbor Attack. Survivors and their families are returning for the celebration from all over the United States. But there is one man returning from Japan. Who is he? Captain Mitsuo Fuchida. And who was he? The lead plane commander of the attack on Pearl Harbor. And why was he returning? To lay a wreath at the Memorial at Pearl Harbor! You see, Captain Fuchida had a “heart operation” — that is, he had a new heart. He had become a Christian. So stay tuned, same time, same station for the “rest of the story.”

Warren L. Reed,

Convoy

As I rode into work on Friday evening, I was looking at the Christmas lights and listening to Andy Williams’ version of “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear.”

There was snow here and there and a crispness to the air. One you really can’t appreciate until you have to walk a dog or stay outdoors for an extended period of time. I know; it gets way colder than this.