Reputation Matters, Forbes, February 28, 2012

I grew up only miles from Chardon, Ohio. In those days, the only thing the town was known for was maple syrup. Early every spring, just about this time of the year, my parents and I would go down to Chardon’s Maple Syrup Festival, where you could eat all the pancakes you wanted, blanketed with freshly tapped maple syrup. In between rounds you would eat pickles to clear your palate (pickles? Yes, sounds bad, but they were oddly effective.)

Today, Chardon is known for death. Needless death. And just as the maple syrup used to run freely, so now do our tears for such a monumental waste. […read more]