Well all right, already. Go ahead and save those metal pop tabs from soda and beer cans. Somebody, somewhere, wants them, even if the Kidney Foundation of Greater Cincinnati doesn't.
That from Ronald McDonald house. And Shriners Burns Institute. And a hospital in Atlanta.
Word lately has been that the Kidney Foundation recycles pop tabs and uses the money to help pay for dialysis.
Nope, says Debbie Jarosi, speaking for the Kidney Foundation.
But, says Bob Wallace, resident manager at Ronald McDonald House, ''We collect the tabs and use the money to help families staying here while their children are hospitalized.
''The tabs are pure aluminum and easier to work with than whole cans,'' Wallace says, ''because you don't have to worry about cleaning them up. They're also easier to store.''
Call Wallace at 221-7777.
Then again, you could call Evelyn Jordan at Shriners Burns Institute. Jordan, a volunteer and member of the Ladies Oriental Shrine, Bona Court No. 8, collects them by the canful.
Then, says Louise Hoelker at Shriners, she cashes them in and puts the money in a special account. ''When I need something for a patient,'' Hoelker says, ''anything from a barrette to Easter candy to a new coat to wear home, I call her and she buys it.
Or, you could track down Cincinnatian Roy Brooks and give them to him. Brooks, it develops, saves them for his father in Columbus, Ga., who in turn gives them to a women's group, which in turn gives them to Egleston Childrens Hospital in Atlanta, which does use the money to provide dialysis for children.
Got it? That's three choices, none of them the Kidney Foundation. OK?
MAROONED:
Well, this is just great: There's a circus in town with no place to play, what with the riverfront under water and all. That means a trainful of people - 200 of them - all dressed up with nowhere to go. The circus train usually parks near the Amtrak Station on River Road, but the flood forced it to higher ground near Lunken Airport. Problem is, most circus folk live and travel on the train so they have no cars and no way to get away.
What to do? Go hang out at Wings, the restaurant and bar in Lunken's terminal. ''They're here all the time,'' says owner Dick Duval. ''Clowns, high-wire acts, all of them. They come early and stay late because it's walking distance.''
Some performers, says publicist Meg Zink, took time Wednesday and Thursday to visit shelters, too.
The circus heads for Baltimore any minute now. (Refund information, Talk, E2.).
CLAP OUT:
So then, how about a round of applause this morning? Clap it, if you will, for Matt Williams.
Remember him? He's executive chef for Kroger's Chef's Choice Catering and a world-class ice carver who just had quite the month. Still having one, in fact.
In early February, Williams placed fourth at the World Ice Carving Championship in Asahikwa, Japan. That's up from last year's 24th-place finish.
Williams had 48 hours to carve his winner, a little number called A Child's Imagination. ''It was a 12-foot high dragon peering over a little boy's shoulder as he's reading.''
After Japan, it was Medina, Ohio, for a competition where he finished No. 2. He next took first in the Midwest Regionals in Youngstown, then placed third in the U.S. Nationals. He carved Captain Hook in the jaws of the crocodile for that one.
Next up, Fairbanks, Alaska, and the World Ice Art Championships. Even as we speak, Williams and teammate Jeff Bleier of Rochester, N.Y., are there competing against 63 other teams for a trip to the Olympics. He'll know how he did come Monday. But first, one of these: ClapClapClap.
Psst! appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Have an item to report? Call Jim Knippenberg at 768-8513; fax: 768-8330. And listen to his Weekend Report with Jerry Thomas at 8:30 a.m. Fridays on WCKY (550 kHz).