Sheila Walk was puzzled when she showed up for the Heartland Peace Center’s annual meeting in January. It was supposed to be held at the Space on Super Bowl Sunday. For years, the Heartland Peace Center’s annual meeting has always been on Super Bowl Sunday. This year was supposed to be no different; Walk, a […]
News
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Full Disclosure
My nine-year-old came home from school last Friday with a carton of $1 candy bars and a head full of pep talk on door-to-door sales. He was fired up and eager to walk the neighborhood, peddling chocolate to raise money for a copy machine for the school office. I wouldn’t let him and couldn’t tell […]
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Houses divided
In 1838 Maria Goudy married George Chapman. Over the next 13 years they had five children. When Maria discovered George was unfaithful, she sued for divorce. George hired a lawyer and denied his wife’s charges. But the court found him guilty, granting Maria the divorce and custody of their children. The judge ordered George to […]
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Fellow traveler
Miss Vernon rents her guest-room by the night To tourists passing through. Imagine that! Complete strangers, maybe a squalling brat, Sharing your bath. Somehow that don’t seem right. There’s mighty few in town that I’d invite To stay–much less offer the welcome mat. But yesterday when I stopped by to chat And heard how much […]
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Good-bye, One-Eye
The official word on last week’s firing of longtime talk-radio ringmaster Don “One-Eyed Jack” Jackson is that Capitol Radio Group had decided WTAX-AM needed a new format. Something more informative and less offensive. Something better able to deliver breaking stories. Something the new general manager, Leanne Arndt, calls “a structured news wheel.” Insiders, however, call […]
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Still the Space
If struggle is a great teacher, Marc Sanson has already learned its lessons well. Every month when the rent comes due on the tiny white house at 830 S. College dubbed “the Space,” Sanson seems to be counting his pennies. Yet just when he considers declaring a public state of emergency, the money miraculously comes […]
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More med district maneuvers
Duane Schlueter wanted to make some money from Springfield hospitals, family members say, but his refusal to visit one put an end to his plan. Schlueter, who died on Saturday, January 18, at the age of 62, owned a couple of lots in Enos Park near the southwest corner of Third and Carpenter. “He was […]
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Georgeart
George Colin doesn’t exhibit at the Old Capitol Art Fair. He doesn’t need to. The 74-year-old Colin has become a folk-art phenomenon since he retired in 1977 from Pillsbury Mills, where he sacked flour for 30 years. Actually Colin did show some paintings at the very first Old Capitol Art Fair in 1962, but one […]
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Perfect Match
Patty Hoffman, a trim, 57-year-old redhead with sensible Aunt Bea shoes, a ready smile, and an encylopedic knowledge of the city’s streets, has been driving a bus for the Springfield Mass Transit District since October 1, 1977. Over the years, she has safely delivered thousands of riders to their destinations with nary a mishap or […]
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Dr. Elamin Elamin
Dr. Elamin Elamin came to Illinois from Egypt 16 years ago. He is now director of the Critical Care Division of Pulmonary Medicine at Southern Illinois University’s School of Medicine. In 1999 he joined millions of Muslims on the spiritual pilgrimage known as the Hajj. The pilgrimage is one of five Pillars of Islam, and […]
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“I Saw You”
Fairy tales usually have happy endings, especially the ones involving love at first sight. Cinderella and Snow White both snared their princes with just one look. It would seem only fitting if the following story ends as happily. To protect this subject’s privacy, we’ll call our prince “Lance.” Readers might know him better as the […]
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Not in my public housing complex
Times are not good for the Springfield Housing Authority. About 25 percent of all SHA units are empty and federal funding has plummeted over the past five years, according to SHA director Willis Logan. The feds briefly took over the SHA in 1996, as the agency struggled with financial woes and high vacancy rates. The […]
