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Before electricity, doorbells rang via a complex rigging of mechanical pulleys. Visitors pulled a rope or turned a key-like affair — think Downton Abbey’s elaborate system to summon staff, but on a smaller scale for the masses.
The electric doorbell was invented in 1831, and by the early 1900s was all the rage. Chimes and bells could be heard from anywhere in the house; a tremendous convenience for homeowners and visitors alike.
Today, you can coordinate the look and sound of your doorbell to your home’s style. You also can embrace the internet age with video doorbells that can be answered from thousands of miles away.
If you’re renovating an older home, the retailer Rejuvenation has several retro-style doorbells. There’s a round oak bell, popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s, with a porcelain button. A midcentury starburst style comes in chrome or brass. And a couple of vintage-look ones are stamped with a “ring” or “please ring” note, in oil-rubbed bronze or burnished finishes. (www.rejuvenation.com)
Got a vacation home near the water? Consider a doorbell shaped like a turtle, crab, scallop or starfish. There are cast-metal ones shaped like hummingbirds, daisies and dragonflies. You could opt for a cabin-y look with a doorbell in the form of a pine forest or bear, or go full rustic with a truly Old School bell on a rope, in brass cast like a horse’s head. (www.wayfair.com)
Rhode Island artisan Michael Healy, who crafts outdoor art and hardware, has a doorbell in the form of a fox head in nickel silver, brass or oiled bronze. He’s got little alligators, frogs and palm trees, and a monarch butterfly hand-cast in bronze and brass, with its wings a rich green patina. (www.michaelhealy.com)
Ready to go high tech with your entryway?
Having a “smart” doorbell, with video, allows you to keep an eye on your front door area, not only for visitors but for packages. With many of these units, you can speak with the person ringing your bell, chatting directly with the FedEx or UPS driver, for instance, about where and when to leave a delivery.
According to Consumer Reports’ Eric Hager, the smart doorbell business has grown enormously in the last several years. He acknowledged concerns about tech systems’ vulnerability to hackers, but said homeowners seem willing to take on those risks for the convenience and other safety features of smart doorbells.
Adorne’s wireless video intercom kit includes an outside doorbell camera and an inside intercom. Homeowners can see who’s at the front door from different locations in the home. The unit can be powered by a long-life battery, or you can hook it up to existing doorbell wiring. (www.legrand.us)
NuTone’s Knock video doorbell has a motion sensor, night vision and optional alarm. It lets homeowners traveling anywhere in the world speak with visitors at their door. It’s also touted as rugged enough to withstand extreme weather. (www.nutone.com)
The Ring doorbell has HD video, infrared night vision, and two-way chat from your phone, tablet or PC. Added features: customizable faceplates, and an optional plan for video cloud storage, video sharing and cellular backup if your internet goes down. (www.ring.com)
You probably have a custom ringtone on your mobile phone, so why not have a custom sound on your doorbell? A digital doorbell from iChime lets you record your own greeting or choose from their sound library. (www.ichime.com)

BATON ROUGE (AP) — Seizing on a national spotlight about the drawing of political maps, Louisiana residents trying to rework the state’s system for divvying up electoral districts on Wednesday announced a January summit they hope will bring about changes.

“We have a problem with the current structure,” said Stephen Kearny, chairman of the event and co-founder of a grassroots, bipartisan group called Fair Districts Louisiana.

“No matter how virtuous our politicians are, the conflict of interest in being able to choose your own voters in itself provokes bad behavior.”
Fair Districts Louisiana is working with LSU’s Reilly Center for Media and Public Affairs on the daylong summit on Jan. 19. The event aims to start talks about revamping Louisiana’s current map-drawing method ahead of the next redistricting cycle tied to the 2020 Census.

Every decade after the release of the latest Census data, states redraw their political maps to address population shifts. In Louisiana, as in most other states, the legislature determines the electoral districts for congressional, state House and state Senate seats.

The maps have prompted lawsuits in several states, amid growing criticism that political parties are using legislative control to give themselves unfair electoral advantages. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case challenging the way Wisconsin Republicans drew districts that could lead to changes across the country.

Rep. Julie Stokes, who plans to attend the summit, said Louisiana districts have been drawn to be “ultraliberal or ultraconservative,” and don’t represent where many residents sit ideologically. She sees the January event as a way to learn about “best practices across the country.”

“I just think that there’s a whole lot of people that are underrepresented because districts are drawn in a way that are too ideological in one direction or the other,” said Stokes, a Kenner Republican. “I have people come up to me all the time and say that they feel like the outliers are making all the decisions.”

Participants in the summit said they don’t have a set proposal for how they’d like to make changes to Louisiana’s current system.

“It’s just about getting a dialogue going on this,” said Barry Erwin, president of the Council for A Better Louisiana. “The national situation, I think, has opened a lot of eyes.”

Proposals to change Louisiana’s redistricting method have gone nowhere in the past, with lawmakers refusing to relinquish their power to determine their district makeups. Some states use outside commissions to draw maps.

Kearny said he expects the summit to explore what other states are doing, to look at how independent commissions work and to consider ways in which the legislature could stay involved in the map design but with more guardrails aimed at preventing conflicts of interest.

His aim, Kearny said, is to raise public awareness about the manipulation of electoral districts and try to drum up public pressure for change.

Still, lawmakers have shown little interest in adjusting Louisiana’s redistricting system. Rep. Mike Danahay, the Sulphur Democrat who chairs the state House committee that oversees redistricting, said he doesn’t see that changing.

“The feeling in the past of lawmakers is: Who better knows their districts than those lawmakers?” Danahay said.

If the state switched to an outside commission, he said, “I don’t know how you take the politics out of it, because somebody’s got to make that appointment.”

Submitted Photo
St. Mary Chamber of Commerce and local officials held a ribbon-cutting recently for Matthew 25, The Mission Thrift Store. The store, a division of Matthew 25 International, 200 Stable Road, Suite 2, in Patterson, is open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Donations are accepted. Organizers say the proceeds help continue to serve and meet the needs of others, both locally and internationally. Pictured are Patrick Hebert, Ryan Aucoin, Jennifer Comeaux, Tammie Mayon, Rev. Randy Plessala, Mike Rebich, John M. Kimball, Amber Kimball, Lisa Phillips, Sarah Daigle, Michael Rebich III, Ari Rebich, Mayor Rodney Grogan, Jarrod Longman, Scott Anslum, Julie Gowan and the Rev. Mark Gowan. Not pictured is Tim Mayon.