Calling the cops
Springfield Mayor Mike Houston has asked Illinois State Police to figure out who has leaked police internal affairs files. “I would like to formally request that your agency conduct an investigation into the theft of internal affairs files from the Springfield Police Department,” Houston wrote in a July 26 letter to Hiram Grau, director of…
Why cities die, continued
If you enjoy the grisly autopsy scenes in your favorite cop drama, you might like to poke about a bitin the corpse of the City of Detroyt, as I did in Dancing around the issue from the Aug. 8, 2013 paper. Since that piece appeared, J. Eric Wise added to the discussion in this City…
Readings for extra credit
My piece about whether collegiate athletes ought to be paid (see ”Throwing in the towel,” Aug. 1, 2013 was merely a course-summary version of a complex argument. Readers interested in learning more about that argument might find these interesting: “The Shame of College Sports” by Taylor Branch. Atlantic Monthly, Oct. 2011 “College sports reform needed,…
An expensive gesture
Det. Paul Carpenter of the Springfield Police Department threatened a couple and unleashed a stream of profanities last year after the officer’s son told his father that someone had flipped him off. It was an expensive encounter for city taxpayers, who are paying $24,000 to the couple to settle a lawsuit. Originally suspended for five…
What some other folks do
What do other folks do? Those that don’t attend the Illinois State Fair or mill about the pool. Well, this poet goes out into the world and welcomes in happy little moments. Unafraid to find a sweet rendezvous in unexpected little places or pleasures, fearlessly finding connections, sometimes between the natural world and the world…
A View of the Fairgrounds (book excerpt)
Early in my Springfield-set novel Kennel Cough (Post-Traumatic Press, 1999), a fictional late-1980s rock band makes its first professional recording at a small studio located across the street from the Illinois State Fairgrounds in the dead of winter. In tribute to the opening weekend of the fair, below is an excerpt from that section of the…
Dancing around the issue
“It wasn’t the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast.” – King Kong The Motor City finally ran out of gas. The recent bankruptcy of Detroit’s municipal government has been explained and re-explained. It was a single-industry city, the equivalent of the mining camp, that failed to diversify its economy. It was badly run, meaning…
Ludicrous 2 Guns a fun exercise for its two stars
While taking in Baltasar Kormakur’s action epic, 2 Guns, I was waiting for a kitchen sink to be thrown in at some point during the bloody proceedings. After all, here’s a movie that makes sure to include every trope of the genre. Double-crosses, shootouts, explosions, dirty federal officers, a Mexican drug cartel, wisecracks and a…
It’s scold in here
Online dating isn’t going so well. I’m a 34-year-old professor seeking a relationship. I listed an age range of 18 to 35 on my profile, not because I particularly like 18-year-olds but simply to avoid limiting my options. I messaged a 24-year-old woman, noting that I loved that she “enjoys supporting people who have a…
vermont poem # 17
vermont poem # 17 evening still light, ashley, 6, stands onthe dock watching me swim she is in hershorty yellow summer pajamas a greenfrog splashed across her belly she statesto me gravely, “I am exploring the world.” 2013 Jacqueline Jackson
Extreme school makeover
What would cause parents to be excited about sending their children to a 102-year-old school building where 82 percent of the students come from low-income homes? The answer is an outpouring of generosity from a community intent on seeing the school succeed. Ever since the summer of 2011, Springfield’s Harvard Park Elementary School has seen…
Don’t tolerate public corruption in Springfield
Public corruption in Illinois and Chicago is well documented with its roots predating the infamous gangster, Al Capone. In 1911, political scientist and Chicago alderman Charles Merriam said, “Chicago is unique. It is the only completely corrupt city in America.” Thankfully, Springfield and Sangamon County rarely make national headlines for high-level public corruption or share…
Roll your own
In summer, my thoughts turn to summer rolls, especially on hot sultry days. Essentially unfried egg rolls, summer rolls are light and healthy. They are ideal for a participatory family meal or easy entertaining. In fact, making summer rolls is entertainment in itself. Made ahead and kept moist with a damp towel, they are also…
Phil Yates
Based out of Burlington, Vt., singer-songwriter-guitarist Phil Yates spent time in Los Angeles and Chicago, then Columbia, S. C. and once upon a time lived in a little burg called Springfield, Ill. After attending high school here, he split town and now teaches mathematics at a college in Vermont, while making music he describes as…
To Do a definite don’t
If Maggie Carey’s The To Do List proves anything, it’s that young women can be just as crude and insensitive where sex is concerned as young men. It also shows how difficult it is to make a clever comedy where this subject is concerned. So many of the “jokes” here are simplistic while the script…
The new border-industrial complex
“Good fences make good neighbors,” goes the old adage. But the neighborly adage definitely did not contemplate the 700-mile, 20-foot-high, drone-patrolled, electronically monitored fence of steel and razor wire that our government has erected across our nation’s border with Mexico, from the tip of Texas to California’s Pacific Coast. This thing is not a fence,…
Letters to the Editor 8/8/13
SAVE MONEY AND LIVES A more graphic, realistic and comprehensive portrayal of an Illinois drug court than your recent feature story (“Get out of jail clean,” Bruce Rushton, Aug. 1) is impossible. The benefits of a drug court – reduced recidivism, increased public safety and reduced costs to taxpayers – can be seen not only…
You Gotta Believe
If there’s one thing the cast and crew of the Muni’s latest production want you to know, it’s this: their Peter Pan is more than just a kids’ show. And while the husband-and-wife directing team of Gil and Ann Opferman have previously directed children’s classics in the White Rabbit series at the Springfield Theatre Centre,…
News Quirks 8/8/13
Curses, foiled again• Instead of pulling over when a police officer caught him running a stop sign in Palm Beach County, Fla., Alexander Webster, 29, led the officer on a high-speed chase. He lost control and crashed into a hedgerow, then fled on foot until the officer drew his pistol and ordered him to stop.…
GARDEN GREATS
It’s amazing what a few plants can do when they’re in the hands of a skilled gardener, and it’s even more amazing what a few gardeners can do when they work together. Every year, the Springfield Civic Garden Club cultivates a more beautiful Springfield with grants to local nonprofit organizations, funded by SCGC’s annual plant…
Massive amusements
The fair of all fairs in Illinois, the Illinois State Fair gears up for its 160th run under this year’s theme, “Where Illinois Comes Together.” Featuring a wide array of Illinois products and talents, music, competitions, food, carnival, parade and that famous butter cow display, the 2013 fair starts Thurs., Aug. 8, and runs through…
Wide open space in gov race for Raoul
Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, was apparently taken aback a few weeks ago when his standard public comments about not ruling out a race for governor were taken as a dramatic sign that he might very well run. The reaction should’ve been predictable. The most recent Capitol Fax/We Ask America poll, taken in mid-July, had Gov.…
Unfolding fun
Bestselling author Tom Angleberger from Christiansburg, Va., stops at Springfield’s Barnes and Noble, Aug. 8, during a 10-city tour promoting his newest book The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppett, the fourth book in his award-winning Origami Yoda series. A presentation, book signing and origami folding demonstration are on the agenda. Yes, these books feature…
Fair and un-fair
Here we go again as the Illinois State Fair encompasses Springfield in an annual entertainment entanglement of deep fried frenzy and pure played pleasure. Some folks revel in the excess and others leave town to avoid the mess, but regardless, the ISF consumes the capital city for the next 10 days. Of all the entertainment…
Because I said so!
UPDATED WITH RESULTS OF COUNCIL VOTE, SIMPSON INTERVIEW The proprietor of a Springfield restaurant who wants to serve alcohol to gay clientele is worried about the future of his business thanks to Ward 2 Ald. Gail Simpson, who has tried blocking an application for a liquor license. The city council on Tuesday voted to…
Bird in hand
Sangamon River Chapter of the Illinois Audubon Society, Illinois Audubon Society and Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site host their annual Hummingbird Festival on Sat., Aug. 10, at Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site. This is your chance to see these unique birds up close during a capture and banding as the birds are migrating south.…
Sisterly story
American life in the 19th century comes alive in Little Women, The Musical with beautiful musical numbers and a touching script presented by an amazing local cast, Aug. 9-11 and 15-17, at Kelso Hollow in Lincoln’s New Salem. Theatre in the Park presents the classic tale of the March family living in Concord, Mass., a…
Crying fowl
No one would argue that mechanically separated chicken qualifies as haute cuisine. Consider the official definition from the United States Department of Agriculture: “Mechanically separated poultry is a paste-like and batter-like poultry product produced by forcing bones, with attached edible tissue, through a sieve or similar device under high pressure to separate bone from the…
JUST IN TIME FOR THE FAIR
The Sangamon County sheriff’s office, which has seen numbers of drunken driving arrests plummet since eliminating the department’s only full-time DUI enforcement officer last year, warns that deputies will be on the lookout for drunken drivers from Aug. 16 through Sept. 2 as part of a state and federally funded enforcement campaign. The sheriff’s department…
City admits wrongdoing in FOIA case
The city of Springfield has conceded that the city violated the state Freedom of Information Act by shredding a police internal affairs file concerning deputy chief Cliff Buscher, who was suspended and demoted in 2008 for firing his duty weapon while drunk during a fishing trip to Missouri. The city in court papers filed today…
