The Dow drops hundreds of points, which is to say, it's another typical Wall Street day. What can we do to make ourselves feel better about these bad loans, lost investments and greedy CEO's? Should we festoon ourselves in official Royal Blue finery like Derek Tidd, the Town Crier for the City of Niagara Falls, Ontario? Not necessary. Derek (at right) will do it for us. He'll be at Beach Fest on Saturday, just about 5:45pm, when the Westlane High School Band plays the beach behind the Thunderbird. Derek's uniform, by the way, is trimmed in gold (Wall Street, take note) which, according to the Niagara Falls website, "represents the priceless (italics ours) beauty of the Niagara Parkway." Hmmm ...of course it does. Whatever. There will be no town crying about the economy, however.

A free one-day "staycation" at the beach
We be rockin' the beach Saturday, October 11th with five bands at Beach Fest, beginning with The Swingin' Mooks at 2:45. Michael Southern and the Smoking Guns follow with roots rock and folk, then blues and reggae with Elevated. Tom Gribbin and the Saltwater Cowboys bring beach country to the big stage at 8pm and classic rockers Big Brother headline at 9:15pm. There's all kinds of food, plenty to guzzle, stuff for the kids, shopping and a silent auction fundraiser benefitting the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and the Family Network on Disabilities. Park on the beach all day at 112th Avenue for just $10. VIP space under the shady tent only $25. Look for the big stage at 104th Avenue and Gulf Boulevard in Treasure Island.

The bad bucks stopped here
A traffic stop last week by TIPD Sgt. Jared Swetnich led to the break-up and arrest of suspects in a Treasure Island counterfeiting ring. Arrested were 38 year-old Samuel Hubert of Seminole, 18 year-old Brittany Tobey of Largo and 18 year-old Erica Bueno of Seminole. Subsequent to the arrests, officers seized counterfeit money and counterfeiting equipment at a local motel. Seven incidents of counterfeit money have been investigated by TIPD - these arrests appear to be connected to six of the cases.