Surbaugh in the News
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18th November 2011 by
Letter to the Editor: THOUGHTS ON BAG BAN
I am writing in regard to the proposed plastic bag ban in the city of Austin. On the surface, I really could care less either way, but I do have some thoughts and concerns. So today, without further ado, I am writing this short editorial about my thoughts on the proposed plastic bag ban.
My wife and I do use cloth bags, but we do like to get a few plastic bags. At home we can use these bags in the small trash cans in the bathroom and bedrooms.
The mayor’s proposed banning of them will not eliminate plastic bags. Sure maybe it might eliminate plastic grocery bags, but not plastic bags. Such a ban (or a charge for use of such bags) would only force my wife and I to buy plastic trash sacks that we can’t afford - something we don’t have to do now because we can get them free when we shop. Thus because we would now be forced to buy trash bags, all the city has done is to trade one plastic bag for another and put a tighter strain on my family’s already strained bud- get, which means they have defeated their whole purpose in the first place. Way to go, mayor, for not thinking this thing through.
2nd December 2010 by
Holiday cedar trees line Loop 360
The cedar trees off Loop 360 are doing more than causing allergies this holiday season. Every morning since Thanksgiving more and more keep turning up decorated. It has become a quirky annual tradition in Austin over the last decade and very much a mystery of who is doing it and why.
It starts out as just as sparkle in the sunlight, but as drivers keep heading down Loop 360 near Spicewood Springs that sparkle soon gives way to this more than 100 cedar trees all gusted up and decorated like Christmas trees.
"It's really nice to see when you are driving by during the day," passerby Larry Payne said.
"I think it's pretty. No other city does it," driver Nicole McDaniel said.
"I didn't expect to see so many," Kevin Surbaugh said. "I just thought it would be one."
It does not matter how small or large; any type of cedar seems to work. Some are decorated in a traditional Christmas style, while others have a more of an Austin flare with flamingos, bees, and of course advertisements.
The decorators are not taking this lightly. Many of them use real Christmas ornaments like tensile balls and even true candy canes.
Most of the trimming happens under the cover of darkness, so the mystery of who is decorating, and why, remains.
Some of those questions were close to being answered by the McDaniel family. They came out to decorate a large cedar in the back of the pack. Nicole started doing it 15 years ago.
"I did it back then and moved back a year ago, and I wanted my son to start doing it," Nicole said.
She does not know who started it or why either, but believes it is now mostly done at night by families like hers who just want to help Austin get into the Christmas spirit.
One captivated driver, though, had different idea. "I think we got elves. That is what I think,” he said.
With more and more "night elves" decorating trees even further south along Loop 360, the residents hope the holiday cedars will one day light up the entire highway.
The cedar tree decorations disappear at the end of the holiday season just as quietly as they appear. Right after New Years the secret elves always seem to take it all down.
23rd June 2009 by
Wackiest Ways to Destroy Your Credit Card
Kevin Surbaugh, who runs a personal finance blog that he started when he first began to dig himself out of debt, said of credit cards, "They are a trap. They charge high interest rates." So one day he and his friend, Sean Thornton, took out a gas-powered lawnmower and showed their credit cards who's boss. At one point, he had about $20,000 in credit card and automobile debt. Today, it is roughly $4,000, which Surbaugh plans to pay off by October. On his plans for the extra cash when his debt disappears, he said, "Build my savings base. I've learned." And thanks to his video of the lawnmower incident, others might also be learning. As for Surbaugh, he has one credit card, which is nearly impossible to use: He keeps it in his banks safe-deposit box. 23rd April 2007 by
Boyda Bolsters Foster Parents
Kevin Surbaugh has spent the past 17 years working to get Clifford and Phyllis Oshel and others like them recognized.
Years ago, the Oshels became foster parents. Surbaugh was one of the kids they cared for.
"The Oshels provided me a loving home," he said during a news conference Sunday.
For the Oshels, being foster parents was a good challenge.
"I'm thankful to God that we were called to be foster parents," Phyllis Oshel said.
Surbaugh, the Oshels and Don Jordan, secretary of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, joined Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan., at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, 1515 S.W. 10th, to announce her National Foster Parents Day Resolution, which will be voted on in Congress today.
22nd April 2007 by
Pushing For A National Foster Parents Day
27th February 2005 by
Where They Stand -- City Council
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26th February 2005 by
Letters: Elect Surbaugh
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25th February 2005 by
Hopefuls unveil platforms
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21st February 2005 by
Five vie to help improve district
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4th January 2005 by
First candidate files for city council primary
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17th December 2004 by
Resident enters city council race