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Over the years, Al's Morning Meeting has come back to this topic a few times, but the issue just keeps growing. Relatives and loved ones of people killed in traffic crashes insist on building roadside memorials. Some states are reluctant to discourage them, while others are much more aggressive about clearing right-of-ways of clutter and distractions. In the last five years, The New York Times said, the number of states regulating roadside shrines has doubled -- and now nearly half of all states have roadside memorial laws on the books.

The New York Times reported:

Some, like Montana and California, allow the memorials, but only if alcohol was a factor in the crash.

 

Others, like Wisconsin and New Jersey, limit how long the memorials can remain in place. Now, in a move that is being watched by other states, Delaware is taking a different approach, establishing a memorial park near a highway exit in hopes of discouraging the roadside shrines.

 

The park will include a reflection pool and a mosaic of red bricks -- provided free to the loved ones of highway accident victims -- with inscriptions honoring the dead.

 

Just 20 years ago, such intervention by states was unheard of, said Arthur Jipson, who has studied laws governing the memorials and is director of the criminal justice studies program at the University of Dayton in Ohio. Now, Jipson said, 22 states have such legislation, and the number has more than doubled in the past five years.

 

The efforts, however, have forced local officials into a delicate balancing act. "Governments are reluctant to tell people what to feel or how to mourn," Jipson said. "At the same time, it's their job to keep these spaces public."

 

The popularity of the memorials has spawned a cottage industry on the Internet with Web sites like roadsidememorials.com, selling mail-order crosses to families that do not want to construct their own. Roadside Memorials warns customers that it "will not be responsible for any accidents or injuries due to the placement of your cross."  

For some, the markers are poignant reminders to drive slowly and a small price to pay to help ease the anguish of loss. But to others, they are macabre eyesores and dangerous distractions that invite rubbernecking and visitors to already hazardous roads.

 

Highway officials also say that the memorials frequently get in the way of road crews cutting grass or clearing snow. Other critics challenge their legality.

 

"For us, the memorials raise serious church-state constitutional concerns because they usually feature religious symbols and are placed on state property," said Robert Tiernan, a lawyer with the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Madison, Wisconsin, who successfully defended a Denver man who was arrested in 2001 after removing a religious roadside memorial.

 

Housing Market Cools-Here Comes the Free Stuff

USA Today says one sign that the housing sales market is cooling is that sellers are pitching in all sorts of free stuff to attract buyers.

In December, 40 percent of home builders said they were offering some type of non-price incentive, up sharply from 28 percent in November 2004, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

 

"Within the last six months, they have really increased, along with the creative use of them," says Steve Melman of the NAHB. He says the average market value of these non-financial goodies is equal to about 2.4 percent of the home price.

 

Though some of the incentives were driven by year-end sales, intended to get unsold properties off the books, the real estate market has cooled in many parts of the country, and builders have become competitive.

• In Virginia, buyers can get a free flat-screen TV at one of Bozzuto Group's condo projects, or a media room in a Stanley Martin home.
• In Michigan, Winnick Homes offers a $5,000 upgrade allowance.
• In Kansas, Rodrock Development tempted buyers with $2,000 worth of backyard trees.

Firefighters Learn CPR for Animals

KARE11-TV's (Minneapolis) great storyteller Ken Speake has an interesting story about how local firefighters are learning "basic animal rescue training," including CPR and mouth-to-muzzle resuscitation.

How often do your local firefighters encounter animals in trouble?

States Make Millions on Seized TSA Stuff

I thought the market would cool after the Transportation Security Administration loosened its rules about small knives and scissors late last year -- but apparently it has not. USA Today reports:

Some of it is hazardous waste, like Chemical Mace, and is disposed of accordingly. A small portion is pure junk and gets discarded. But scissors, cigarette lighters and pocketknives have value. And, this being the U.S., a lucrative market has sprung up around the buying and selling of surrendered items.

 

Nobody has totaled it up, but the business of disposing of or reselling items banned by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration appears to be valued in the millions of dollars a year. After a traveler leaves behind a banned item -- a hunting knife, say -- it can follow a strange and convoluted journey to a new owner. That journey often involves a pass through state or local government ownership, and a posting on eBay.

 

State surplus property offices get first crack at the items, but if they're not equipped to handle them or decide to take a pass, giant contractor Science Application International collects and discards them under a five-year, $17 million government contract.

 

Some states, including Pennsylvania and Kentucky, wouldn't think of taking the items to a landfill, though, because they are reselling them and making tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. Even little Boulder City, Nev., cashes in.

 

"Everything sells," says Kenneth Hess, director of Pennsylvania's Bureau of Supplies and Surplus Operations. In December the agency sold more than $17,000 worth of items it received from the TSA and ships about 5,000 pounds of such items to eBay buyers each month.

Americans Love Sleeping Pills

The New York Times says Americans are using sleeping pills like never before. One indication of the interest in such things is that drugmakers spent more than $300 million on sleep-drug advertising last year -- four times what they spent in 2004.

About 42 million sleeping pill prescriptions were filled last year, according to the research company IMS Health, up nearly 60 percent since 2000.

But some experts worry that the drugs are being oversubscribed without enough regard to known, if rare, side effects or the implications of long-term use. And they fear doctors may be ignoring other conditions, like depression, that might be the cause of sleeplessness.

Although the newer drugs are not believed to carry the same risk of dependence as older ones like barbiturates, some researchers have reported what is called the "next day" effect, a continued sleepiness hours after awakening from a drug-induced slumber.

 

Ten percent of Americans report that they regularly struggle to fall asleep or to stay asleep throughout the night. And more and more are turning to a new generation of sleep aids like Ambien, the best seller, and its competitor, Lunesta. Experts acknowledge that insomnia has become a cultural benchmark -- a side effect of an overworked, overwrought society.

City Government Credit Card Abuse

Here is example of a small community newspaper that spent some time digging around and found city officials using city credit cards to buy perfume, tires, expensive hotel rooms and satellite TV.

It is a reminder of how much gold there can be in shoe-leather reporting.