The Good News and the Bad News, Magic's in the Air and Town Hall Meeting

This week—about 150 years ago—a southern boy named John Pemberton mixed syrup, soda water and a sprinkle of his “secret ingredient” to make the very first batch of the early version of Coca-Cola. Pemberton made an even earlier form of the drink that makes you say, “aaahhh,” which was alcoholic and invented as a cure to the morphine addiction Pemberton picked up after fighting in the Battle of Columbus, Georgia.

*As a side note, I was tempted to write about Lady Gaga’s March 28 birthday for today’s intro but decided to spare you. 

Put on your poker face for this week's 5 Things...

1. If you’ve been following Hercules Patch, you know something’s up with the city’s finances. At this point, we realize it’s not a question of “if, what then?” but “how seriously in trouble are we?” Find out the details along with everyone else —city staff, council, residents and me(dia)—at Tuesday’s meeting, when the auditing firm hired to dig into the status of the city’s financials gives a public presentation on its findings.  The meeting will be held at the Council Chambers and is scheduled to run from 6 to 9 p.m.

2. By the end of the week, you might want a little pick-me-up. The good news is, the jazz fest starts up at again at from 2-7 p.m. The jazz appreciation celebration, which runs through the end of the month, is put on by the City of Hercules and Muzkick Communication Arts Media Organization. It includes a jazz-inclined DJ spinning tunes all afternoon. So if you decide to go, consider bringing picnic supplies because cheese and crackers go so well with jazz. (Sorry, folks, alcohol isn’t allowed at Refugio Valley Park. Otherwise I’d suggest bringing a bottle of any kind of red.) 

3. If you plan your day around battling the after-school traffic rush, you should know that Monday is a minimum day for the . This might also be good to remember if you’re planning on picking up a youngster. It’s never fun being the last kid left on campus after school…especially when it’s raining. (It's not really supposed to rain tomorrow. I just wanted to add a bit of drama to this item.)

4. As usual, the has some fun in store for us this week. However, unusually, the library will host renowned illusionist at 7 p.m. on Monday. So hang onto your top hats, bunny rabbits and upper halves, because magic's in the air.

5. Now for some sad news and a request. First, the sad news (which I always thought was the news you should hear first): Hercules Patch veteran columnist Jeffrey Wisniewski decided to retire his pen for the time being and will no longer put out his weekly opinion piece, "." We wish Jeff the best; we'll miss his work; and we appreciate all of the time and energy he has put into helping make Hercules Patch what it is today.

Now, for those of you Herculeans who fancy yourselves writers or even just someone with a lot to say about local issues, now's your time to shine. Send in a or pitch me your column idea. Hercules Patch is looking for residents in the know to share their perspective with the rest of us.