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The stench of sweat and dingy tube socks always
permeates the air at the Nelson Center, but on Saturday a new scent could
waft into the arena — the sour smell of defeat. In the second round of the North American Hockey
League playoffs, the Springfield Jr. Blues are tied 1-1 in a five-game
series against the Alexandria Blizzard. The Jr. Blues will bring play back to Springfield
this weekend, battling their Northern foes in Game Three at 7:30 p.m.
Friday. If they win, they’ll fight for their first trip to the
Robertson Cup Championships since 2004, starting at 7 p.m. Saturday.
In a pig’s eye Looks like Bob and Sandy Young can’t go hog
wild just yet. The Rochester Buckhart Action Group announced its
plan last week to appeal the Illinois Appellate Court’s decision to
lift the temporary injunction that halted construction of the Youngs’
concentrated animal-feeding operation. The RBAG — a mix of concerned neighbors —
argues that the facility, set to house as many as 3,570 hogs, would
increase the amount of manure spread into adjacent farms, cause
environmental damage, and reduce property-tax income from nearby landowners
and residents. The Youngs and the RBAG have battled over the
proposed project since early last summer [see Dusty Rhodes, “Raising
a stink,” May 17].
Payday-advance bill advances
A proposal to close a loophole in the state’s
payday-loan laws passed unanimously out of the Illinois Senate last week.
Sponsored by Chicago Democrat Kimberly
Lightford, SB1993 deletes the provision
defining a payday loan as a loan of less than 120 days’ duration and
makes other modifications.
Although Steve Brubaker, executive director of the Illinois Small Loan
Association, admits that his members don’t care for Lightford’s
bill in its current form, they’re open to certain changes, as long
those changes are written into the law and not issued as a separate
administrative directive. “We have been fighting for 10 years and
we’re weary of constantly being before the General Assembly,
constantly bickering back and forth,” Brubaker says. “We’ll take a haircut. Our fees are
definitely going to be reduced by this. Protections for consumers are
definitely going to increase,” he adds. “That trade-off is OK
with us because we’re going to provide stability in the marketplace
and we can sign longer-term leases and provide health care to our employees
— all those things that are hard for us to do now because we
don’t know if we’re going to be in business after the next bill
passes.”
The legislation’s House sponsor is Evanston
Democratic State Rep. Julie Hamos.
GAMEOVER When Team HOLY Alpha left for the Ultimate Mercenary
Tournament in New York City last weekend, they were bound for glory. But when play jumped off the television screen and
turned into a real-life paintball war, the capital-city gamers were caught
unawares. Team member Chris Dickerson says they had no idea that paintball, or the hours spent
filming interviews for the tournament’s production company, was part
of the plans.
“Everything changed once we got there,”
he says. Team HOLY Alpha ended up losing their national
champion title to Six Feet Under, the No. 2-ranked team, and returned to
Springfield empty-handed. But all’s not lost — Dickerson says
they’re already planning to host a local tournament to regain their
title. Team HOLY Alpha won the all-expenses paid trip to the
Big Apple as part of an online gaming tournament last month [see Amanda
Robert, “Game boys,” April 10].
They make it reign
“Six years ago, Chantilly was the spot where
everybody was. Then it kind of fell off,” says Duane Patterson. “We’re
just trying to bring it back.” In what Patterson describes as a
rental arrangement, his company, Our World Entertainment, has assumed
management of Chantilly Lace, 2660 S. Fifth St., six nights per week (every
day except Wednesday). The popular club is owned by Kevin Davlin, a local attorney and
restaurateur, brother of Springfield mayor Tim
Davlin, and a friend of Patterson’s
uncle and business partner, Pryor Patterson. On select nights, Patterson says, the DJ will take
requests, so it’s conceivable that the new Weezy track will be
followed by an old-school cut by A Tribe Called Quest. Springfield MC Ozland, another Our World partner, spins nightly at the 3 a.m.
hotspot, which he and his partners are publicizing as the hottest hip-hop
club in town. Starting next month, Patterson says, the venue will be
available for booking for birthday parties, and the partners are looking at
the possibility of hosting comedy shows and open-mic nights.
Thirty-year-old Patterson admits that he is surprised at how much autonomy
he has been given: “They gave us free rein. They even let us pick out
all the liquor.”
This article appears in Apr 17-23, 2008.
