Through An 'Old Timer's' Eyes
By Howard 'Mac' McDonald

How many New Year's resolutions did you make? In 2007, I made two and was only to keep one.

You know what it was? It was a resolution to not make any new resolutions.

The other one I made was to clean up my language. I am still working on that one and hope to get the job done his year. It is a matter of putting your brain in gear before you put your mouth in gear. This is a good rule to follow no matter what you are doing. Think first and then act.

I hope the New Year brings some closure to this moneyeating machine they call the War on Terror and that our troops get to come home.

Christmas was quiet for us. We drove to Donora and spent the holiday with Shirley's sister and her family. Donora is located on the Monongahela River, about 20 miles south of Pittsburgh. When you approach this town there is a billboard that says, "Welcome to Donora: Home of Champions."

At one time it was a vibrant community. It had a large steel mill, the largest nail mill in the world and a plant were zinc was processed.

It really was the "home of champions" because of the amount of super athletes that it turned out. Not long after the Little League World Series was created, the Donora team won it.

Stan (The Man) Musial came from this town. Deacon Dan Tyler was a football star for the Los Angeles Rams. Arnold Galiffa was the quarterback for West Point. Lee Sala boxed his way to fame and was a middleweight championship contender. Baseball's Ken Griffey also came from Donora.

A trip along Emporium's Fourth Street may be depressing when one realizes how many businesses have left, but if you were familiar with the Donora of yesteryear you would say that we are lucky.

The town has no grocery stores, no gas stations, no high school and no more big mills. Some small plants have sprung up where the steel mill and nail mill used to stand, but they have a very small work force.

Donora was a once a melting pot of different cultures from all over the world. Each group had a social club. The oldtimers are still hanging on, but for how long only time will tell.

Getting back to New Year's Day, I guess we are superstitious. At our house, we always eat sauerkraut and pork to bring us good luck for the coming year.

At the stroke of midnight, you are supposed to kiss your one and only, as this will insure your love for the New Year.

Also, you need to be on the lookout for the "firstfooter." That is the first person in your house on New Year's Day. Whoever that will supposedly have some bearing on your luck during the year.

I am so unlucky that if it were raining soup I would have a fork instead of a spoon, or if my brother died they would bury me.

New Year's Day also brings a whole day full of college football bowl games. The only one I really care about is soup bowl.

Penn State won its bowl game, which gave Joe Paterno a record for wins. A lot of people want him to quit because he is getting old. Getting old doesn't mean you're brain dead. I would laugh if he stayed there until he was 100.

To finish this column I will make a couple of predictions for the New Year.

The first one will be that we will still be bogged down in Iraq and we will spend another $200 billion dollars there spinning our wheels.

The second is that there will not be a female president.

The third and last is that whoever wins the White House will not last a four-year term, as he will get frustrated trying to straighten out the mess that President Bush has left him.

Happy New Year to all.