letters 2-24-05
Letters policy We welcome letters, but please include your full name, address and a daytime telephone number. We edit all letters for libel, length and clarity. Send letters to: Letters, Illinois Times. P.O. Box 5256. Springfield, Illinois 62705. Fax: (217) 753-3958. E-mail: editor@illinoistimes.com THE BIGGEST SHAME OF ALL Dusty Rhodes’ recent article “Baby Trade” [Feb.…
Police leaks
Springfield Police Chief Don Kliment has quietly beefed up drug enforcement both inside and outside the department. Not only has he doubled the manpower of SPD’s narcotics unit, he has also instituted a random drug testing procedure for current officers, causing cops to be subjected for the first time ever to the surprise call to…
Remembrance of things past
The Springfield Art Association shows off part of its outstanding collection of early-20th-century paintings at a special exhibit that continues through March 19. The show includes the first painting purchased by SAA, “Sardine Boats, Brittany.” The work by C. Arnold Slade, an internationally known artist at the time, was among several paintings displayed in the…
Jacqueline Jackson 2-24-05
sciencepoem #2 bleeding, I lie here in a crevice it is snowing 5500 years from now there will be a thaw someone will find me experts will keep me frozen in a laboratory they’ll catalogue my clothing study my weapons learn from the grass in my shoes the season I lined them they’ll examine the…
earth talk 2-24-05
Dear “Earth Talk”: What is “sprawl,” and how do we keep it in check for the sake of the environment? — G. Korchowsky, Yardley, Pa. Sprawl is the tendency of cities to expand into outlying agricultural and rural lands, resulting in the development of suburbs where there was once open space. The negative effects of…
Mercury falling
For more than a year, Springfield radiologist David Ayoub has immersed himself in the noisy politics of a silent disease. He’s familiar with the characteristic blank stares of autistic toddlers and the quiet panic of parents wandering uncharted medical, financial, and emotional territory. He’s equally familiar with the quiet panic of pharmaceutical giants who can…
Man with a plan
A prominent Springfield developer has plans to level the Esquire Theatre and build an upscale outdoor shopping center that would include a café and small grocery on three acres along MacArthur Boulevard near South Grand Avenue. Though the plan is still in the preliminary stages, Garrison Group Inc. has signed an offer-to-purchase contract with Kerasotes…
Credibility question
Two Springfield Police Department detectives who tried to solve a decade-old homicide now stand accused of perjury, concealing reports, and witness intimidation. The allegations involve the detectives’ investigation into the murder of 19-year-old Tonia Smith, killed on New Year’s Day 1994. The murder was shelved as a “cold case” until about 1999, when it was…
Pay-to-play government
One of the problems with applying “appearance of impropriety” rules to Illinois and Chicago politics is that most of the players are swimming in a small political pond. We’re constantly treated to stories about how this or that political insider connected with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is representing a company that just landed a sweet…
flicks 2-24-05
Period epics were all the rage in the 1950s and early ’60s, but after the Kennedy assassination and the Vietnam War, Hollywood went on a reality kick. For three decades, nobody was making noteworthy films about Roman legions, Greek warriors, or medieval knights. Then came Gladiator in 2000, and swords and sandals were back. None…
VA under fire
More than any other war in U.S. history, the conflict in Iraq has provoked a surge of concern for soldiers returning home bearing the psychological burdens of battle. From the war’s first days, veterans’ groups, mental-health organizations, and some members of Congress have claimed that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is unprepared to treat…
Cooking with class
On a recent Wednesday night I sit down to enjoy mousseline of broccoli with mushroom sauce, salmon baked in heart-shaped parchment paper, and a lemon tart with fresh raspberries, all of which I’ve prepared myself — well, sort of. As one of a group of 10 attending a cooking class at the home of caterer…
common sense 2-24-05
Well, it’s finally come to this: The Bush administration has now been caught in so many covert campaigns to propagandize the public, using tax dollars for the brainwashing, that Congress has to pass a law to stop them. The revelations just keep coming. There are the fake “video news releases” from various government agencies to…
sound patrol 2-24-05
Super Furry AnimalsSongbook: The Singles, Vol. 1 (XL) Let’s give it up for Wales. As if Dylan Thomas, Bertrand Russell, and John Cale weren’t enough, the vowel-challenged British principality has seen fit to favor us with the Super Furry Animals, a maverick rock quintet that’s been making brilliantly silly, unexpectedly moving records since 1995. Although…
On abortion, the new search for common ground
Thanks to Sen. Hillary Clinton for her recent attempt to reopen and reframe the abortion discussion. As a strong pro-choice advocate, she is looking for common ground with those who campaign against abortion rights. Both sides, she said, want to reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies, promote adoption, and, in general, to reduce the number…
now playing 2-24-05
Imagine, if you will, a cozy coffeehouse atmosphere: wooden tables and chairs, New Age knickknacks all around. Breathe in the lingering fragrance of incense mixed with the aroma of pastries and coffee. On a corner stage, tucked between a window and a wall, a singer strums a guitar and passionately pours out the accumulated thoughts…
music notes 2-24-05
Mark Hummel and the Blues Survivors are back in town at the Illinois Central Blues Club Blue Monday Jam at the Alamo (115 N. 5th St., 523-1455). The San Francisco area band is a knockout and Hummel is one of the best harmonica players you’ll ever hear live. Why not bite the bullet and pay…
Getting organized
Leaders of area small towns are bracing for a flurry of union activity because of a new law that makes it easier for government workers to organize. Signed last month by Gov. Rod Blagojevich and effective on June 1, the new law allows government units or departments with five or more workers to seek union…
movie blurbs
In theaters this week . . . Because of Winn-Dixie [PG] A 10-year-old girl, abandoned by her mother when she was a toddler, moves to a small town in Florida with her father, a preacher. She adopts a stray dog, meets townsfolk, and rekindles a relationship with her dad. ShowPlace West, ShowPlace East Boogeyman [PG-13]…
history talk 2-25-05
Among the many collections that make up the Audio-Visual Department of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, the Guy Mathis photographic collection stands out for its unparalleled documentation of turn-of-the-century Springfield, particularly the downtown area. The approximately 1,700 images are a fascinating visual chronicle of a fairly narrow window of time — roughly 1899-1905. Mathis, who…
people’s poetry
1/2/98 on the west end of the state where everything’s crumbling and the sun on a clear cool day cuts into a man’s mind like a single edged razor I fell one afternoon into the most hopeless of traps, the unflinching stare of a well put together young woman — Mike Bolser Mike Bolser…
The price of our addiction
Republicans who saw the November elections as a mandate for easing environmental laws are once again attempting to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. This time, with no meaningful political opposition, it’s quite likely that they will finally succeed. Americans interested in the kind of world their children will inherit should pay…
