A reluctant fight
Capt. Deon Oliver, commanding officer of the Salvation Army of Springfield, and Oak Ridge Neighborhood Association president Phil Douglas agree on one thing: They wish that they didn’t have to battle each other over a proposed Salvation Army community center and homeless shelter. But that’s just what’s happening. Douglas says that the location the Salvation…
Is this war really necessary?
As I read 1776, the best-selling introduction to the Revolutionary War by historian David McCullough, I kept hoping the American colonists and their British cousins would find a better way to settle their differences. When King George III made his case for war before Parliament, arguing that “the spirit of the British nation” is too high…
Letters to the editor
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 CUTTING-EDGE IN OUR BACK YARD Thank you for Jane Adrian’s enlightening article on SIU School…
A better business model
What if businesspeople started saying no to the prevailing corporate ethic that your business must always be getting bigger to be a “winner”? Well, it’s happening. It gets little coverage by a media constantly fawning over the barons who run the slam-bam expansionist operations such as Amazon and Starbucks, but a quiet rebellion is spreading…
Under review
A chance discovery by an employee of the Sangamon County Child Advocacy Center has sparked an investigation into possible misappropriation of funds at the agency charged with helping sexually abused minors. The Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department seized the agency’s financial records last month, and Jonna Cooley, executive director, was placed on paid leave Oct. 3.…
Jacqueline Jackson
bedroompoem #1 sing a song of dust mites three million plus their poop living in your pillows and feeding off your goop* vacuuming and laundering will cut the numbers down but what’s a million more or less in mattress bedmite town they’re ugly little beasties when magnified to sight but there’s nothing you can do…
Gold badges
Springfield Police Department added three officers to the detective bureau this week. Jim Stapleton, Mark Pointer, and Brian Johnston received new badges and personal congratulations from Chief Don Kliment during Monday morning roll call. “It’s not considered a promotion, it’s a job assignment,” says Deputy Chief Bill Rouse, who heads SPD’s investigations unit. “But it…
Flood of controversy
To the bewilderment of some Illinois Democrats, Sam Flood started a new job this week as assistant director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, a position that had been vacant for two years. Flood, former St. Clair County official-turned-governmental relations director for Gov. Rod Blagojevich, will earn $96,100 a year in his new job,…
Tardy control
Just before the first-period warning bell rings, the main-floor hallway of Springfield High churns like a salmon-filled stream as students make their way past soda machines and red lockers with combination-lock bellybuttons. Tod Davis watches closely, high-fiving young passersby, a few of whom greet him with “Good morning, Coach.” Davis turns in the direction of…
Casting a wide net
Something a bit out of the ordinary happened earlier this month. On a Saturday, the Chicago Tribune published a story about a relatively minor allegation of corruption at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. The next day, the Sun-Times ran a similar story. According to the newspaper, a longtime pal of the governor’s…
Katrina’s waves
The Lord works in mysterious ways, and so does the state of Illinois. Floyd Schleyhahn, a network administrator for the state Department of Central Management Services, found that out firsthand in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. “My wife and I were watching television,” Schleyhahn recalls. “We thought, ‘Gosh, here we are in the cover of…
“Final” plan
The Springfield Medical District has a master plan, although, according to Mike Boer, president of the medical-district commission, the plan will not be “final, final, final” until three bodies have approved it. An advisory council comprising neighborhood residents will convene to approve the plan at a Nov. 1 meeting. The commission must also sign off…
