A little bit about a lot of things:

• Time to start poking around in the closet, and checking the garage for unwanted items....the city of Newman will host its annual fall cleanup next week.

I tend to be one of those folks who keeps things around “just in case.”

Well, “just in case” usually doesn’t materialize, so there are probably plenty of items laying around the house that I can do just fine without, and that are really doing little more than taking up space which could be put to much better use.

It is a great time to rid yourself of things which serve no useful purpose (no, they will not take your free-loading uncle or refrigerator-raiding cousin, but almost anything else is fair game).

Not everything has to go to the landfill, though.

We’ve tried to become more conscious about recycling (okay, I still have my moments of carelessness), and so will be looking for opportunities to reuse and recycle. That means used but still perfectly acceptable coats and attire can go to a clothing bank for others to use, for one thing.

And we’ll also be looking for pet-related items to drop off at Newman veterinary clinics participating next week in a county-wide program to collect pet supplies for reuse.

We would encourage others to look for ways to recycle and reuse before simply pitching everything away.

While we’re in that mode, we may even check the cupboards to see if there are some items that we can donate to the Agape Food Pantry which serves our area. That’s a need which never seems to quite get filled.

Those are opportunities to make a positive difference......and if the garage and closets happen to get a little cleaner in the process, so much the better!

• Officials at Newman City Hall fear that a tax-sharing deal between the city of Modesto and an oil firm with a plant in Newman will siphon some sales tax dollars out of the local tank, a money grab that doesn’t exactly fuel good will between local municipalities.

The basics of the deal appear to be this: Three oil distributors, including one which operates a plant in Newman, have reached a deal with Modesto under which the firms will report their sales tax on commercial contracts where they are negotiated (at centralized Modesto headquarters), rather than at the point of delivery.

The agreement pumps new sales tax dollars Modesto’s way, and that city in return will rebate a portion to the companies after certain thresholds are met.

W.H. Breshears is one of the oil firms striking a deal with Modesto. The company operates a plant and card fueling station in Newman.

City officials believe that gas sales at the local pumps will continue to produce sales tax revenue for Newman, but also expect to lose credit for an unknown amount of sales tax dollars generated by contract sales.

We were looking for some additional information from W.H. Breshears on exactly how the whole deal works, but an executive indicated that the company normally does not make statements to the media.

Hopefully any impacts on local tax revenues are minimal, although as City Manager Michael Holland pointed out there is no such thing as an “insignificant” loss of tax dollars in today’s tight times.

And, as he also correctly noted, the million dollars a year in new tax money the deals could reportedly produce annually for the city of Modesto has to come from somewhere, doesn’t it?

Holland concedes that the deals make good business sense for the oil companies......but contends that it is not so good for the city of Newman and its residents, or for the spirit of regional cooperation between cities that everybody likes to talk about.

Can’t argue that point.

• Homecoming ‘08: Clean sweep by the varsity and junior varsity football teams at Orestimba and Gustine, with shutout victories across the board.

Can’t exactly recall the last time that happened, but it makes for a fun Friday night.

Doesn’t get much better than that for local football fans....