For most people, coffee is a friendly acquaintance to be greeted each morning like the office receptionist. Hello, how are you, just a cup or two, and they’re ready to get on with their day. For me, coffee represents the longest intimate relationship of my life. I love the smell, I love the taste, and […]
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The Highway Side
What you missed: Private eye Nick Acropolis is sent to McKinley to investigate the case of a trucker charged with smuggling cocaine. A truck stop waitress then hires him to look for her missing son, Billy. Nick stumbles upon his original client’s truck. The police have emptied a secret compartment, but Nick finds four small […]
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True blue
Last week, in the hours leading up to a City Council meeting with no feature attraction on the agenda, a rumor percolated through the Springfield Police Department that Mayor Tim Davlin would announce his pick for police chief that night. This rumor was so persistent that then-Sergeant Don Kliment found himself feeling downright dejected. “The […]
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Eastside Story
Ron Fafoglia says he’s fairly conservative. He jokes that he falls just to the right of Genghis Khan. This would make him a perfect candidate for fighting terrorists or hosting his own talk show or finding a way for Republicans to take back the state, anything other than what he’s doing, which is placing low-income […]
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Confessions of a supernumerary— EXTRA!
Supernumerary (-noo’me rer’e, -nyoo’-) [adjective, noun, pl. -aries] adj.1. beyond the usual or necessary number; additional; extra. 2. beyond the number needed or desired; superfluous. noun 1. an extra person or thing; one beyond the usual, regular, or prescribed number. 2. a person who appears on the stage but usually has no lines to speak, […]
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Wait ’til 2007
When April 1 rolls around–the day of the city’s general elections–only a little more than half of Springfield voters will have a choice in who will represent them on the City Council. Out of ten wards, incumbents are running unopposed in four: Chuck Redpath (Ward 4), Irv Smith (Ward 8), Tom Selinger (Ward 9), and […]
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Aldermania
It isn’t just my imagination. Cindy Cody, the local expert on the City Council, officially confirmed that, yeah, come to think of it, it is kinda weird that three of the ten council members share the same name. Cody, deputy clerk for almost 17 years, says she can’t remember a time when even two council […]
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French for a Night
The Illinois Country was once part of a French colonial empire that formed a great crescent from Quebec to New Orleans. New France embraced the Great Lakes and followed the Mississippi to the sea. Three villes–Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Prairie du Rocher–drew voyageurs from Canada and migrants from the mother country. They farmed the rich American […]
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Back to the land
When Joseph Standing Bear Schranz discovered an arrowhead last October lying on a forest floor near Carlinville, he knew an eight-year-old dream was about to come true. How the White Earth Ojibwa ended up in this patch of prairie woodland is not only a remarkable story of his own determination–it’s a testament to a singular […]
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One for the union
The end is in sight for what is said to be the longest ever arbitration between the City of Springfield and the police union. Starting with a 1997 decision to cut back on the overtime pay that officers earn for showing up at traffic court, the negotiations have stalled and broken down so many times […]
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Defender of the faith
His Internet name was “poppa bear,” a chubby, sprawled-out-naked-on-the-couch elderly man attracted to slim, muscular males, ages 20 to 40. In the real world, his name was Father Francis Gera, a priest at Holy Dormition Byzantine Catholic Church in Ormond Beach, Florida. Gera was bold, or dumb–most likely both. The e-mail address he used at […]
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Absentee landlords
The new Springfield Medical District Board isn’t following the usual prescription for master planning. For starters, the swearing-in ceremony scheduled to take place at the board’s first meeting this coming Wednesday will not include the four board members appointed by Governor Rod Blagojevich–he hasn’t appointed them yet, and has no immediate plans to do so. […]
