We always appreciate effervescent, fluid prose so our hats are off to Kevin Murphy of the Winona (Wisconsin) Daily News for this splashy headline:
Dirty water politics side note: Kevin also reports that “The higher rates may also determine if the city’s only laundromat stays in business.”
We’ve all been embarrassed by a careless typo now and then, but rarely is the goof the talk of the town. As one commenter on this story noted, this job obviously went to the low bidder!
A painter for the Illinois-based Neumann Company Contractors forgot the second T in Stoughton on the city’s new east side water tower.
A company spokesman says almost everybody in the profession makes a similar error at some point, but not all of them do it with a 6-foot tall letter on a 190 foot tower.
The spokesman says the painter had the correct spelling, but forgot the T when he blocked out the letters. He works right to left, so he starts at the end of the word and works backwards. After he painted in the N and the O he realized he was missing the T.
Neighbor Richard Budden says even little kids know how to spell Stoughton. “(He) told me that they spelled Stoughton wrong. I went out and looked. By God, you’re right. He’s only in third grade. If he can figure it out then the painter should be able to figure it out.”
Neumann Company Contractors says they will have to let the paint dry and then repaint the last three letters. It will not cost the city any extra money.
The spokesman says the painter is actually from Wisconsin and the Illinois company man joked that’s what he gets for hiring a cheesehead.
Following is a straight re-post from Earth Day, 2009. Why? Because it is well into the afternoon and I still haven’t seen THE symbol. How can we save the earth if we can’t even resurrect a little symbol? Happy Earth Day, and I send a big 
from me to you!
–reposted from April 23, 2009–
The University of Wisconsin Green Bay has a neat photo gallery of “Earth Day Memories” which includes campus images from the first Earth Day events in 1970. One thing that immediately grabbed my eye was that logo/symbol graphic… that vaguely e-looking symbol which I remember, but suddenly realize I’ve haven’t seen in a very long time. Apparently, it’s enjoying a quiet retirement with Smiley Face.
You can see it on some of the signs in the crowd:
And here, on the stage backdrop:
And check out this cover from the 1971 commencement program:
The website www.art-for-a-change.com declares that it’s time to breathe new life into this iconic ecology symbol, and the site also clears up the mystery behind the icon’s history:
The Ecology symbol was created by artist Ron Cobb, and the icon gained in popularity before the founding of Earth Day. Cobb’s symbol, first published in 1969, combined the letter “E” (for earth and environment), with the letter “O” (representing wholeness and unity). The symbol became wildly popular and found its way onto flyers, posters, buttons, banners, patches and bumperstickers. Flags of the World, the organization dedicated to the scholarly study of flags, credits Ron Cobb for the Ecology Flag, a green version of the U.S. flag that features Cobb’s famous symbol as its emblem.
Ron Cobb’s official website includes a vintage 1969 visual look into the creative thinking behind the visual. Don’t miss the shocking (in 1969, anyway…) sexual revolution references!
So it’s up to us. Do we want thousands more little green sprouts and hands-cradling-earth images, or do we want a symbol that we can put on a placard and march to? In 2010, it’s e for me.