Tea time
“There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.” –Henry James One thing Josephine Datz misses about her native South Africa is a good cup of tea. “In the afternoon around 4 p.m., it’s tea time in my mind,” she says. “It’s the thing to…
Aldermania
Forty minutes is an eternity in Springfield City Council time. That’s how long aldermen spent Tuesday night quarreling over the first item on the evening’s debate agenda, which involved awarding a contract for residential sidewalk construction. Some aldermen wanted the contract to go to the lowest bidder (John Chernis Concrete Contractors at $126,255.25) while others…
The Highway Side
What you missed: Private eye Nick Acropolis is sent to McKinley by attorney Shelly Michalowski to investigate the case of a trucker charged with smuggling cocaine. A truck stop waitress hires Nick to look for her missing son. Nick then stumbles upon the trucker’s semi trailer. The police have emptied a secret compartment, but Nick…
Chemical detectives
Water Well Road is a gravelly, bumpy lane 20 miles east of Springfield. It descends from the main road connecting I-72 to Mt. Auburn, then curves behind heavy woods. Small huts mark the numerous wells that line the lane and provide the area with drinking water. Residents keep a close eye on the road because…
Your Turn . . . 7-3-03
Acting locally To the editor: Peter Sherman’s recent article [“PR to the rescue,” June 26] revealed several reasons why District 186 has credibility issues beyond selling referendums to its constituents. First, the district hired an out-of-market PR firm without sending out a Request for Proposals to local PR companies with employees that pay taxes to…
Bards of the Sangamo 7-3-03
A War Bulletin. The ruins–I walk around them 100 years before. Civilization’s tall buildings–crumbling ruins yet to rise. Vachel calls to me, “Don’t give up on my Golden City. The Golden City will rise from the ashes. It is you who holds the flame to Paradise.” I stagger around the city in the magic duskdawn…
Now Playing 7-3-03
Hop aboard, fellow Americans. Get on your red, white, and blue, and let’s take a patriotic trip on a musical merry-go-round this Fourth of July weekend. Friday is the Fourth, and if you’re off work that gives Thursday night a built-in excuse for going out. Just for you, old buddies, Black Magic Johnson has graciously…
Knoepfle 7-3-03
oh say can you . . . ring the liberty bell the country’s doing so well forget old tom paine and remember the maine and anything else you can sell ©John Knoepfle 2003
Movie Reviews
Terminator 3:Rise of the Machines Yes, Ah-nold is back as the Terminator. This third time around, Schwarzenegger is a bit more willing to make fun of his character, which has become an indisputable icon of our pop culture. The irony is aided by director Jonathan Mostow’s breezy pacing, which plays up the laughs. In Terminator…
Little press on the prairie
Etched into endless fields of corn and beans, Illinois 41 runs south from Galesburg to U.S. 136, where it ends just east of Macomb. Two-thirds of the way down its 45-mile length, 41 veers west for a mile or so, forming the main street of Prairie City, one of the hamlets that characterize western Illinois.…
Dream team
Don Jones had dreams of playing in the major leagues. He was a young pitcher with a good arm, and he was beginning to attract the attention of big-time scouts. But the Army had other plans, and Jones ended up in Korea. Now Jones’s 19-year-old grandson, Kyle, has similar dreams. The 19 year-old pitcher for…
Right time for the wrong man
Eric Zorn, the Chicago Tribune columnist who made his reputation writing about wrongly convicted prisoners, also made a hobby of coming up with different phrases to describe Debra Rienbolt. When he first wrote about her in 1998, Zorn called Rienbolt “about as useless as a witness can get, no matter what you want to prove.”…
