CITY BEAT: IT WAS THE DAWN OF ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL DAY OF GIVING IN DECATUR

     I’ve always been an early riser so being on the air during the first hour of the WSOY Community Food Drive (as mayor and now former mayor) has always been great and last Friday was even better.
     Not only had the food drive returned after a few years of absence, but there was an extra special excitement in the air as the 12-hour event got underway at 6:00 a.m.
     Maybe that’s why, as I looked east from the stage in Kroger’s parking lot on our city’s east side, and saw the first rays of sunshine starting to emerge from the darkness, I knew that it was going to be an extra special day (despite a little rain later in the morning).
     When the day ended, thanks to Brian Byers, Kevin Breheny, a multitude of special guests, businesses, schools, volunteers and huge community involvement, organizers announced our area residents had united to raise more than $809,633, providing Macon County’s 19 pantries with the food they need for all of 2025.
     No doubt about it, the sun rose and set in Decatur on Friday and it was a beautiful day filled with a special kind of sunshine — the light of a community giving to those in need.
     Thanks so much to all involved in spreading that special kind of sunshine to the hearts (and needs) of others.

     • CRAZY driving continues — I was driving south towards downtown after a trip to the Mound Road Post Office one morning last week when I had to stop my car at the intersection of MLK and Garfield because of the traffic signal being red.
     As the traffic signal facing me turned green, I started through the intersection as did the driver in the lane next to me. Suddenly, racing through the intersection heading east on Garfield was a black pick-up truck going at a high rate of speed through a red light and almost crashing into my car and the one next to me!
     I have been driving since I got my license as a teenager (yes, they had cars back then) and I have never seen so much reckless driving on city streets and the roads coming in and out of Decatur as I witness every day!
     A very high number of drivers are running through intersections when the traffic signal is red and totally disregarding any traffic and safety control signs.
     I know I write something about the reckless driving on our streets and highways about every week, but I do so to remind you and myself, to use special defensive driving skills to stay alive while driving these days!
When you are out driving, expect most of the drivers on the road to disobey any kind of traffic signs or signals to keep motorists safe — because, day in and day out, reckless driving is more of a norm than an oddity.
     In fact, I receive more comments from readers on that subject than anything else they write or talk to me about.
     If driving on the city’s streets and highways gets any more dangerous, my infamous possessed car “Christine” may refuse to start her engine so I can drive.
     You know driving is dangerous when a “possessed” car is afraid to be driven on a road with “possessed” drivers!

     • THE CABIN — Decatur City Councilman, and former Decatur Tribune Reporter, Patrick McDaniel sent me an interesting observation following my recent “Scrapbook” article on Riverside Park.
     Pat wrote: “Read your article on the old Riverside Park with interest. Are you aware that the old Lincoln Log Courthouse, that was sold to a Macon County farmer who used it for years as a corncrib, was brought back to Decatur and was first located in Riverside Park?

     “From there it was later moved to Fairview Park where it was located in three different locations in the park until it was moved to the Macon County Historical Museum.”
     As I told Pat, I was aware that the courthouse was used by a farmer and I have a photo somewhere that shows it during that time. (I will probably find that photo when I’m looking for something else.) I wasn’t aware that it was located in Riverside Park before being located in Fairview Park until Pat’s email.
Robert Allen was the farmer who moved the courthouse to his farm on the east side of Decatur. He used it as a home and corncrib.
     It was moved from that hill in Fairview Park to another location in the park (the one I remember) and remained there until being moved to the Macon County History Museum where it remains today.

     • IT WAS nice to chat with Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe at last Friday’s WSOY Community Food Drive at the East Kroger parking lot.
     Brian Byers has always asked that I be there during the first hour of the Food Drive, first as mayor and now, former mayor.
     As the present mayor, Julie is also there to help kick it off.

     Julie and I have been friends for many years and she was very supportive of me during the years I served as mayor and, when we see each other, it is like a mayoral reunion of sorts.
     The field of former Decatur mayors has a very limited number for those of us who are still among the living so, it is special to meet up with someone presently holding the office and anyone else who served there.
     I think that’s because only someone who has served as mayor can fully understand what any current mayor is dealing with in that position.
     So, after my appearance at the Food Drive, and during a break in the program, the present mayor and I had a chance to chat for a short time away from the microphone.
     What did we talk about?
     It was all about serving the people as mayor and working to make our community a better place for everyone.
     I’ve always appreciated Julie and her commitment to this community.

     • MEMORIES — Last week’s edition carried the obituary of Evangelist Bill Lowery of Oviedo, FL, who passed away on Sept. 14 at the age of 81.
     I first met Bill, whose roots are in the Decatur area, when he brought the Christ Is The Answer ministries to Decatur back in the 1970s and I was a young editor covering it all — including the arrest of several young members who attempted to preach the gospel at K-mart (and some other places). Some of the members also protested in front of a massage parlor and adult book store.
     I remember the big crusade tent in a vacant lot on East Pershing Road and another time the crusade had a huge tent on the east side of Decatur near Route 36 and Airport Road.

     That was when, to some, the “Jesus People” were not welcome here.
     I interviewed County Music Star Skeeter Davis when she came to Decatur in support of the Jesus People.
We did the interview in her limousine and I was later mentioned in a book she wrote which included the experience in Decatur. I found her to be a genuine, caring person with a strong faith.
     For many years following that interview Davis sent me a Christmas card with a personal message.
     Did the “Jesus People” have any lasting impact on Decatur?
     Over the years I talked with more than a few Christians who said they accepted Christ at one of Bill Lowery’s Christ Is The Answer tent meetings in Decatur — and had not wavered from that commitment over the decades since that happened, continuing to attend church in Decatur.
     Bill and I didn’t communicate much over the decades but he did call a few years ago about a project that he was working on and we talked for quite-a-while.
     Bill was buried at the Weldon Cemetery with Military Honors.
     Skeeter Davis died in Nashville, TN in 2004 and I’ve had her 1962 popular song “It’s The End Of The World” running through my mind since I started writing this part of today’s column.
     I’ll have to put together a “Scrapbook” feature with all of the photos I have from that very interesting, and controversial, time in Decatur.

     • I will join Kevin Breheny (who is filling in for a vacationing Brian Byers) on WSOY’s Byers & Co. this Thursday morning (Oct. 10) at 7:00.

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