Street talk: The median is the message By Tom Murphy News-Chronicle The Allouez Beautification Committee, the relatively small group which has taken on the relatively big task of planting medians on South Webster Avenue and a portion of Riverside Drive, recently distributed bouquets. Named winners of residential awards for outstanding gardens were Jim and Wendy Dockendorf, Mark and Keita Denessen, William and Sally Bourbonnais, Tom Skogg, Gerald and Rita Fictum and John and Mary Moore. Commericial sites honored included Tru Colors Salon, Old Orchard Apartments and Marriott Residence Inn. The ABC efforts spawned the start of similar civic improvements on East Mason Street by residents of the Edison Middle School neighborhood. Des Peres Garden Club backs similar efforts on medians on its share of Webster Avenue. ABC officers are Barbara Bushman, president; Mark Goldstein, vice president; Bette Kriwanek, secretary, and Sandy Larsen, treasurer. PITY PETA We know we play right into their publicity-seeking hands (and egos) with the very mention of their name. But sometimes PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) are so far out that even they need resuscitation. This time the bemused band of do-gooders is piling on a group of Girl Scouts in Anchorage, Alaska. The Scouts, at the request of Alaska's Department of Fish and Game, last spring trapped and killed two (yes, 2) beavers whose dam building activities created a neighborhood flooding problem. The trapping and subsequent pelting, said People Eating Tasty Animals, teaches the Scouts that killing animals is the only way to stop any problems they may cause. Countered Donna Boylan, the leder of Anchorage's Troop 34, "Trapping may not be pretty, but the girls understand the seriousness and huge responsibility of taking a life. "They understand that when humans impact (animals') environment, they become ultimately responsible for maintaining a healthy population of the animals when they have to co-exist in these urban centers." Ms. Boylan, it seems, has taught her charges more about life than PETA will ever learn. Pity PETA. You better do it. We can't. THE ANSWER Before the tundra froze this year we asked the rhetorical question about the final resting place for all the leaves that fell in the 20th century. The impetus for the query was yet another unfunded mandate from the State Department of Natural Resources. The edict requires municipalities to build ponds that will collect leaves, grass, twigs and other assorted debris that find its way into the region's storm sewer system. The ponds will collect waters and filter the above debris (and cans and bottles and plastic bags and foam soda and coffee cups and napkins and other items generated by today's economy and tastes and discarded by those who don't care). The remaining waters will, we assume, be decanted cleaner and better and brighter, into the streams and creeks and rivers and bays and lakes. All of this, of course, will cost us all - in the form of fees or taxes or both. Cash, it's called. Back to the premise: The rhetorical inquiry about leaves prompted this response from faithful reader John Growt of De Pere: "As a member of the Green Bay Diocesan maintenance crew, I can tell you this: Most of (the leaves) fell in the Allouez Catholic Cemetery...in addition to that, we have a record start on the 21st century." Growt, of course, had his tongue firmly in his cheek. He and his co-workers annually do a wonderful job of leaf blowing, raking and otherwise collecting. Just check the grounds - while the tundra is frozen and before the snow flies. Curbside: Street Talk hears that St. Brendan's, the Irish B&B under construction in the 300 block of South Washington Street, plans to open on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14. Rick O'Dwany, who also operates County Clare on Milwaukee's upper east side, the "real thing" in central Ireland and a place in Plymouth, certainly will have all the bugs out by March 17! That area in the central city rivals all the recent diversified construction on De Pere's Ried Street...Rick Kummers has changed the name of his company from Vern Kummers Plumbing Service to Benjamin Franklin The Punctual Plumber. He recently purchased the business from his parents, Marlene and Vern, and is located at 753 Potts Ave. Rick said he took the name because he has adopted Franklin's phrase: "Well done is better than well said," as his business motto. To that end, and in keeping with the punctuality theme, Kummers said he'll give a $100 bill to customers should his service crews not show up at the appointed time.