Salem News: Mall Casinos

Originally published in the SALEM NEWS; 01/25/2013: In order to try and boost the local economy, a proposal was made to open a 24-hour slots casino in the city of Danvers-inside Liberty Tree SHOPPING MALL! While I believe that regulated casino gambling would be a good idea here in Massachusetts-we're losing plenty of money to out of state casinos already- An area like a shopping mall is NOT a good place to put it!

Salem News: Airing Your Grievances

Originally published in the 01/09/2013 SALEM NEWS: The hotly-debated Winter Island Wind Turbine Project takes its next step:

CBG: R.I.P

Forgive me, everybody for going on a maldin note, but an event just happened that affects me both personally and professionally. THE COMICS BUYERS GUIDE, the long-running publication of comic book news and reviews- and of which I've been submitting material for since 1989- is ceasing publication with issue #1699 (so much for an even 1700!) I first started reading CBG during the mid-eighties during my art school years, finding it highly quirky and enjoyable, mainly through the efforts of its peerless publishers, Don and Maggie Thompson, and finally decided to start submitting cartoon material in 1989. Amazingly, they took it. The first cartoons were editorial -style, but I soon decided to combine that with an artist character I had tried to syndicate, and MY feature FOR ART'S SAKE debuted.. I can't say that the strip was exactly popular, But Maggie and co. liked it enough to keep it around, and I was part of a publication that shared pages with talents like Batton Lash, John Lustig, Mark Evanier, Tony Isabella, Mark Martin, and Peter David (hope you are doing well, Mr. David) Maggie, Brent, (and especially Don) I want to thank you for all your support these past two decades, despite the bad jokes and the occasional misspellings. All will be missed. As for the strip..maybe I'll find a way to use the cast OUTSIDE of a comics-themed context..After all, the internet has VAST possibilities..I'd also like to thank my long-time readers as well..It's been a blast! As a special tribute, these are the final strips I drew. The last was meant for #1700.

Had To Start The New Year Off SOMEHOW..