City Beat: Happy, Healthy And Prosperous New Year To You
Editor Paul Osborne
On behalf of the Decatur Tribune staff, including this editor, I want to wish all of you a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year of 2023! I also hope the Christmas holiday season will be easier to celebrate next year without the dominance of COVID-19, or the Flu, or incredibly bad winter weather (or all three together) which have kept a lot of people and families from being together for the past three Christmas holidays. The photo on the front page of this week’s Decatur Tribune of downtown Decatur’s Main Street during a 1910 snowstorm looks very familiar to last weekend’s storm — except for the horses and buggy, instead of automobiles. The past few years have not been easy ones for most Americans but I am optimistic that 2023 will bring better days for our community and nation.
• GOOD NEWS — Nicole Bateman, President of the EDC of Decatur and Macon County had some positive news in the organization’s December Newsletter about project announcement in 2022: “You’ll see in the list below a wide range of projects and the common thread is innovation. Whether that be in the classroom, in the lab, on the production floor, or on the shipping dock heading to customers, Decatur’s shining talent and confidence of the investors has made 2022 an exciting year for project announcements.”
• Wolf Carbon Solutions, ADM Partnership
•ADM Aquaculture Innovation Lab
• DPS Foundation FFA Ag Education Center
• ADM Significant Capacity Expansion, New Innovation Center
• LG Chem, ADM Joint Venture for Production of Lactic Acid, Polylactic Acid Productions
• FedEx Ground Distribution Center
• T/CCI Manufacturing EV Innovation Hub
• AgReliant Genetics Decatur Foundation Seed Facility
The list is strong testimony about the “good news” that’s happening in the Decatur and Macon County area. Nicole does an amazing job as president of the EDC.
• QUESTION: “Old’ Russ Stuart sent me an interesting email this morning. He wrote: “This morning on the local news I heard a report that by 2026 the USPS was going to be using 100% electric delivery vehicles. Well that’s nice. BUT, how are we going to know when the mail has arrived? That little truck with a bad muffler is an institution! Maybe they will honk their horn?”
• I READ in the Wiley Report, that, if people would put the lid down on the toilet seat after doing their “business”, when the toilet is flushed it would reduce the dangerous emissions by 80%. Good idea, but that would be impossible to do in many public restrooms in restaurants and office buildings because there is no “lid” that covers the stool. With information like this, we may see a return to outhouses. There was no flushing in them, plus most had old Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalogs for the occupant’s reading pleasure — or for other emergency uses.
• EIGHT CANDIDATES are running for the three seats up for election on the Decatur School Board. They are Bill Clevenger, Will Wetzel, Jacob Jenkins, Mark Reynolds, Misty Fronk, Hannah Wolfe, Jalynn Walker and Datrice Weathers. A lottery was held December 20, in the Macon County Clerk’s Office, because two or more petitions (four) were received simultaneously of the opening hour (8:00 a.m.), of the filing period on December 12, 2022, to determine the order those four candidates will appear on the ballot. The results for the Decatur School Board candidates on the ballot were: 1. Jacob Jenkins, 2. Mark Reynolds, 3. Bill Clevenger and 4. Will Wetzel The other four candidates will be listed on the ballot in the order that they filed their nominating petitions with the county clerk. Elsewhere in this edition are the lottery results for school board races in nearby districts.
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!
