Terry Lynch

I'm sitting here watching the Red Wings take on the Sharks (Detroit 3-1 after 2 periods) and they have just announced that Ernie Harwell, the long time Hall of Fame broadcaster for the Detroit Tigers, has passed away after a long battle with cancer. He was 92 years old.

I will remember him, as a huge part of both my childhood and adult years, calling the Tigers games on the radio. He had a very distinctive voice and was well known by baseball fans all over the country.

Ernie was a fixture in Detroit sports and will be sorely missed.

I am a Notary Public in Michigan. The notary laws vary wildly from state to state and anything that follows may not apply in other states.

My function as a notary is, for the most part, to certify 2 things:

1. That you are the person you say you are. If I haven't known you for most of my life, then I will have to see some ID. That means a valid Drivers License, state ID card or passport. If you come from a different state I may have to do some research to make sure your license is valid. I don't know what every states ID's look like. If I have any doubt, I will not notarize your document.

2.You signed the document in my presence,on the date we met and you are not drunk, high or appear not to understand what you are doing.

That said, don't ask me to:

1. Post date documents. If the documents are for a mortgage it is loan fraud. In any case this violates the law in Michigan.

2. Notarize your wifes (or anyones) signature that is already there, even though you have a copy of their drivers license. (people ask me to do this all the time...see number 2 above.)

3. Notarize a document that has blank spaces or fields on it. Again this violates Michigan law.

I'm sorry but I will not jeapordize my notary commission for any one transaction.

The Detroit Red Wings have made the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the nineteenth straight year. That is the longest current streak in any of the 4 major sports.

After a rash of injuries the team has everyone healthy for a run at their 5th cup in the last 13 years. The main question everyone is asking right now centers around Jimmy Howard, their rookie goaltender. Can he overcome his lack of playoff experience and lead the Wings to the cup?

The first game will be Wednesday night against the Phoenix Coyotes.

This game was Wednesday night and even though the scoreboard says Columbus 2, Detroit 1, the Wings came back and won 4-2.

It's going to cost 32 million dollars to find all the people in the Detroit area who haven't sent in the census form.

I live in St Clair Shores, about 4 or 5 miles from the Detroit city limits. In our city, about 80% of the forms have been returned. In Detroit its 55%. Each person who fails to return the form will cost their city about $1400 in lost federal money.

The census will be hiring 3600 to 6000 temporary workers to knock on the doors of the homes that haven't returned the form.They will make $16 to $16.50 an hour and will make 6 attempts at each address before they give up.

It's a shame that the areas that need the money the most are the ones that have the lowest participation. With the thousands of foreclosures in the area, I'm afraid they are going to find many empty houses. Hopefully they will find enough people to make more money than 32 million dollars it will cost.

The Detroit Tigers begin the 2010 season next week.

As far back as I can remember the start of the baseball season meant one thing, summer is almost here. There always seemed to be a night game on TV after the last day of school, and I never missed it. Back then it was Al Kaline, Willie Horton, Bill Freehan and Mickey Lolich. Today it's Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera and Brandon Inge. The players change over the years but that burst of excitement when the season starts is always there. Gives you the chance to be a kid again for just a while, even if like me you are a 50+ kid.

There are high hopes for this season and we will be hoping to erase the sting of the loss in the one game playoff to the Twins last year.

I can't wait.....GO TIGERS!!