Athens, our home from 1967 to 1994, is a neat place located in the hills about 75 miles southeast of Columbus and about 40 miles west of Parkersburg, WV. No one seems to know for sure just what the population is. This is due to the fact that the census is supposed to count most of the Ohio University students as residents. The census number is about 21,500 residents. Yet, the number of students enrolled at the Athens campus is roughly, 20,000. And, we "know" that there are substantially more natives than the differential suggests.

The town was settled right around 1800 by members of the Ohio Company-a group led by General Rufus Putnam and comprised largely of veterans of the Revolutionary War. Within the mission of the Ohio Company was the establishment of a university, and substantial land was set aside for this purpose (to the continuing frustration of many of the current natives). Accordingly, Ohio University was founded in 1804 (with a couple of students); the first university in the Northwest Territory.

Today, the University, according to several magazines that rate such things, is one of the best higher-education bargains in the nation. Several good colleges (medical, engineering, business, communications, arts and sciences, etc.), devoted instructors who know how to balance teaching and research and substantial private endowments are the reasons. Adding to the mix is one of the most picturesque campuses you can find anywhere and a student body that knows how to study as well as party.

Athens is blessed with considerable affluence attributable to faculty salaries and a large professional contingent. However, it is surrounded by poor Appalachia. A shrinking number of people derive their income from coal mining A few years ago, a large coal mine which underlies the better part of two of the counties adjacent to Athens County provided fuel for a very large electrical power plant (Gavin - 2,500 MW) located nearby on the Ohio River. The mine is now exhausted to the extent that it can only supply small consumers, not the power plant. There is very little manufacturing within the community. On the other hand, there are two or three small, high-tech, development firms producing products and several start-up technical ventures, with considerable biotech, developing under the wing of the University's Small-Business Incubator.  As with many university towns, there are quite a few small enterprises that cater to student interests, organic foods, etc. - not to mention a plethora of lawyers.

Our Athens home in Beechwood Estates (right at the end of West Beechwood Drive), a subdivision of about 35 homes, located about five miles west of Athens. We are blessed with great neighbors living on either side of us, woods, birds and other critters and some stimulating hills (not to mention the one supporting our driveway - we have lost a couple of cars down that one!).

Back in Athens, Dee still checks in at the Pi Phi House.  If they need a cook fired, she usually draws the short straw. After seventeen years as Field Service Director for the Black Diamond Council, she can't keep from checking in on the Girl Scout operations from time to time. Roy finally sold the airplane.  The savings translate into more money for green fees.  As far as he is concerned, maintaining the Athens home was becoming questionable until Ohio University opened its refurbished, 9-hole golf course.  It is now a very nice layout, and challenging enough for this hacker.  Another summer highlight is playing tennis with several old buddies.  Both the golf and the tennis may be questionable in the future due to a recent lumbar-fusion operation.  The surgeon will speak to this within a matter of days.

One of the nice things about going back to Athens is to find out what the current bone of contention is. One year it was the "high" salary being paid to the President of the University. The next year it was whether a WalMart should be allowed to come to town (a "Peace Garden" was being cultivated in the proposed building site as a protest by the local dissidents). WalMart is now here, and thriving (but, K-Mart and Ames have bit the dust). Most recently, it was whether the University should be allowed to develop a couple of apartment complexes (they did).  The most recent issue is whether the "resistance movement" can harass the situation sufficiently to prevent building of a retirement center for which the University has leased the land.  We can hardly wait to see what it is this year because, surely, something new will be at issue!

Unfortunately, a lot of the good stuff associated with the University doesn't happen during the summer. However, the Athens Summer Theater, a mix of university and local-resident talent, is great fun, as is the "Under the Elms" band concerts held weekly. We do hang around long enough in the Fall to watch the Bobcats play a couple of football games and experience the great fall colors.