Author Description

The signs on the roads at the edge of town say "WELCOME TO PLEASANTON--If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home Now." Located in the morning shadow of the Appalachians, Pleasanton is a quiet little place. Ohio poet Helen Steiner Rice might even aptly describe it as "a bend in the road."Not too big, not too small, Pleasanton is the kind of town where the residents proudly repeat that tired old mantra, "It's a good place to live and a great place to raise children." Everybody knows each other, usually a good thing, but everybody also passes on some gossip from time to time. Harmless for the most part.Downtown Pleasanton is about six blocks long; storekeepers work hard to keep it looking good. Situated within Pleasanton's pastoral borders, there are several churches, a lovely city park, and three major employers-Trippet Electrical Instrument Company, Ralston Tool and Die, and Safeway Packaging. Between the three, they employ about 400 people. Folks who enjoy an adult beverage hang out at either the Rack 'n Ruin or the Third Base Tavern (the last stop before home.)Pleasantonians turn out en masse on Friday nights in the fall to support their high school football team, the Screaming Eagles, and, in the winter, fans need an advance ticket to get in to see the Eagles' basketball games. Basketball is almost a religion in Pleasanton.The town is laid out in a perfect grid where the streets, lined with towering maple trees, run either north and south or east and west. No thoroughfares run diagonally, a tribute to the early Buckeyes who laid out the town in 1812.July Pleasant Days, a homecoming event, always draws thousands of people, who enjoy a wide array of cuisine delights, lighthearted conversation, and good fellowship. It's a fine place to renew old acquaintances or to make new ones. Calling Pleasanton idyllic wouldn't be far off the mark.The town harbors a colorful variety of residents who might be classified as romantic, colorful, evil, playful, energetic, caring, scholarly, da