The Orange Team had the privilege of meeting with the Honorable Mayor Bunten this morning before we set out on our 3 a.m. til 9 a.m. red eye running shift.

We found him to be very personable and was impressed that he knew our names before we introduced ourselves. He knew about the BPR and was very interested in the mission.

Being originally from North Carolina, I had to ask how the Jayhawks were faring without Coach Roy Williams who went back to the Tarheels and eventually won a national bball title with them. The mayor was very hospitable in his remarks and even shared that he and Dean Smith played bball together at Topeka High and were roommates at Kansas.

One thing I learned about the Topeka Mayor is his keen interest not only in the safe drinking water issues but also in his own city problem of absentee landlords leaving behind rental property where litter abounds, lawns go unmowed, and gangs move in to take advantage of an area where they believe people don't have pride in where they live, are on drugs, etc.

He is right on! It is the "broken window" theory, e.i. where one window is broken in an abandoned building another gets broken, on and on, then gangs move in, drugs and violence increase, trash mounts and there goes the neighborhood.

I served as Keep America Beautiful Director back in Kershaw County, South Carolina for many years and we experienced these same problems. It took the neighborhood residents with assistance from many agencies in the county to turn things around. It also took getting hold of these out-of-town and even some in-town landlords and holding them accountable for footing the bill to clean up the mess as well and at times ridding the neighborhood of some of these owners. In terms of taking care of our water, a lot of the litter from these vacant houses gets blown or thrown into nearby streams and/or storm drains get clogged from the mess.

It all goes back to "beauty has nothing to do with what is in your pocketbook". We all actually do own the key to our public lands. Our taxes pay for them and we each have a responsibility to keep them litter free.

I applaud the Mayor and the City of Topeka in drawing a line to battle crime in areas with rental properties. We found the area of Topeka we ran through to be clean, quiet streets, lawns mowed, and generally a very warm place to be in. Like every city, there are areas in need and it has to be the citizens who live in that area to come together, identify the problems, come up with solutions and go to the local agencies for assistance. It works!

Thanks Mayor for making us feel welcome and we wish you and the citizens the very best!

Oh, sorry about Roy returning to the Tarheels.

Here's to a clean community!

Peace and blessings to you and yours and a pause to remember those in need, who have lost a loved one, who do not have access to safe drinking water, who are serving in the military overseas, on and on. I know even more so now how precious a day is.

Lansing

"Water is Life, Pass It On"