Thursday, October 28, 1999
9,200 golf balls and counting
BY KAREN SAMPLES
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Carl Runion is one of those guys who collects and alphabetizes golf balls. In 7-foot shelves. All 9,200 of them.
That's right. The man has 9,200 golf balls with which he has never played golf.
His passion consumes 60 feet of shelves in his Erlanger home. The balls he collects are stamped with logos commemorating a particular event, company or course.
He has one from Hong Kong that he found in a used bin someplace. He has a pair celebrating SuperbowlXXVIII and Superbowl XXIX. He has autographed balls. Friends bring him new finds when they play in exotic locales.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Mr. Runion, 67, says of his hobby. “I've only been in this eight years.”
EAR-RESPONSIBLE: Some people wear their hearts on their sleeves. Blanche Wendling wears her sleeves on her ears.
Mrs. Wendling, of Latonia, rarely leaves the house without earrings that exactly match her clothes.
She makes them by cutting fabric from inconspicuous places in her shirts. Then she stretches the swatch over a button frame. Her husband provides tiny metal pieces with which to clip the buttons on her ears.
Mrs. Wendling, 74, has hundreds of pairs in everything from wool to gingham, and nearly as many stories. There was the time she had major surgery, and her daughters hit on the perfect distraction:
“They made me earrings to match one of those goofy (hospital) gowns, and there I was dying!” she says.
The memory makes her laugh. So does her struggle to be on time for church when wearing a new outfit.
“Honey, that church bell's been ringing, and I've been in here making earrings,” she says.
FREE THE TIRES!: What's with the wheels?
Boone County advertises a tire amnesty program, and you'd think every vehicle in Northern Kentucky were up on blocks. For five days, people unloaded their old tires for free. The county expected 6,000. It got 34,000.
Some people had old dumps on their property, says Matt Burris, who coordinated the effort. Others, mostly farmers, get sentimentally attached to their treads. They never know when they might need a tire — until they have 100 of them piled in the barn.
Trucking and construction companies also took advantage. Ordinarily, they'd pay $2 or $3 to get rid of each tire. During amnesty week, one company brought in 16 earth-moving giants, the equivalent of 1,600 regular- sized tires.
This week, the tire amnesty moved to Kenton County, and next week it will be in Campbell County.
Mr. Burris is now very tired of tires. He's even tired of puns about being tired of tires.
Perhaps we should let him retire.
Karen Samples is Kentucky columnist for the Enquirer. Her column appears Thursdays and Sundays. She can be reached at 578-5584, or by e-mail at ksamples@enquirer.com.
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