An outfit called the Character Council wants to make us better people. Every month, it's promoting traits like compassion, creativity, obedience and orderliness.

        Here's an idea. While the council works on our character, let's celebrate that other essential quality of the region: Its characters.

        You know the people I mean. They're one of a kind. They make us look twice, laugh, shake our heads. They march to a different beat, and we admire them for it.

        I'm now taking your nominations. Tell me who stands out in your community, and I'll feature the nominees in future columns.

        Newcomers sometimes say Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky are too bland. Homogeneous. Predictable. Heard often enough, their complaints sound like truth.

        But are they really?

        I think not.

Diverse crowd
        Consider Marge Schott, Charlie Winburn and that woman who runs the Elvis elevator at 18 W. Seventh St.

        We have Peaches, the drag queen, who claims to be “somewhere between 50 and death.” And Mary Marxen, a former nun whose Boone County home is decorated for Christmas year-round. During her favorite season, Ms. Marxen dresses like a Christmas tree/reindeer and performs a free vaudeville show for community groups.

        There's Peter Radin, founder of L.M. Castner Co. in Cincinnati. Ninety-two and blind, he still goes to work every day, sanding picture frames by touch.

        And what about Katie Laur, bluegrass musician and radio-show host? She once convinced a few listeners that Bellevue, Ky., would be hosting an invisible hot-air balloon show. Someone even wondered whether utility lines would have to be moved.

Our Inner Chinese
        One of my all-time favorite characters is Mike Wong, the outlandish owner of two Oriental Wok restaurants in Northern Kentucky.

        “He's like a big kid,” says his daughter, Suzanna, who helps run the restaurants with her parents and sister.

        For customers' birthdays, Mr. Wong strikes a gong. He used to serenade guests with a plastic toy guitar.

        Mr. Wong also stages customer appreciation nights. At one event, employees modeled Chinese costumes, and for the grand finale, Mr. Wong couldn't resist ripping off his shirt and twirling it overhead.

        “I just covered my eyes,” his daughter says cheerfully.

        Your nominees don't have to be as public as these. In fact, tell me about someone most of us don't know — the bus driver who does a sit-down comedy routine or the pizza guy who plays the kazoo.

        By one definition in my dictionary, character means moral strength, self-discipline, fortitude. Such traits are the focus of the Character Council of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, a non-profit group that formed last year.

        Here's another definition, courtesy of Roget's Thesaurus: “A person who is appealingly odd or curious.”

        Tell me about this kind of character, and I bet we find some of the first kind, too.

        Send me your name and contact information along with whatever you know about your nominee.

        E-mail: ksamples@enquirer.com. Fax: (859) 578-5565. Voice: (859) 578-5584. Mail: 226 Grandview, Fort Mitchell, Ky. 41017.

Family Services chief quits
Rival parks vying for most thrilling
Ohio a thrill-seekers' delight
Hospital may move to Warren County
Record to list abusive workers
Comair shows pilots offer
Freedom Center ups fund goal
Peebles Corner targeted in crackdown on drug deals
SAMPLES: Nominations
Surgeon to present findings on procedure to save knees
Boehner bounces back on Capitol Hill
Water tower bout goes to 2nd round
HOWARD: Neighborhoods
MCNUTT: City of Sculpture
Plea heard in sex case
Abortion foe to leave seat on fiscal court
AK Steel will pay to clean up Pa. creek
Burned man ID'd after four months
City tips cap to friends in D.C.
Defendant takes county to court with him
Dogs stolen for fights, some think
Eatery signs on for Port Bellevue
Ex-Gov. Rhodes hospitalized
Foundation gets money for grants in Appalachian region
Guard to face charge over fatal crash
Jail staff reviews security after escape of two inmates
Man awaits extradition to Ky. in missing-body case
More large dogs stolen
Portune: Drop home-loan rates in county
Survivor leaned on Bingham after fire accident
Townsfolk deplore media fuss
UK football probe finds violations
Va. attorney general to lead anti-drug force
Kentucky News Briefs
Tristate A.M. Report