CITY BEAT: MEMORIES OF FANS FIELD, POLITICAL RACES AND MORE

 

   The Decatur Bean Ballers playing at Workman Family Baseball Field next to Millikin University has created a lot of baseball excitement in our city and Central Illinois this summer and that continues with great games.
The Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp play the Bean Ballers at Workman Field this Friday, July 17, beginning at 6:30 p.m. — part of a full schedule of home and away games.
     As a lot of enthusiasm is apparent for supporting the Bean Ballers, for many of us the team has also prompted memories of Fans Field and the games and activities we enjoyed there watching the Decatur Commodores play ball.
     This week, in our “Scrapbook” feature on pages 4 and 5 of the print and online editions, we look back at the Fans Field of another era.

     It seems like only yesterday that Fans Field stood tall and proud on our city’s near northside.
     I also remember that I attended some July 4th fireworks display that were presented at Fans Field.
     I also remember the attempts to save Fans Field with special promotions designed to generate larger crowds.
     I went out to old Fans Field one last time before it was demolished and shot some photos for this newspaper.
     Certainly, as I stood alone and looked around the old ballpark, there was a sadness in my heart because I knew it would be the last time I would see the Fans Field that I had known so well.
     Even today, decades after the old Fans Field grandstand disappeared, whenever I drive by that area, I feel that something important in our city is missing — at least missing to me and many others who remember that ballpark and what happened there that attracted so many people.
     Hopefully, the Decatur Bean Ballers can bring some of that baseball excitement back to our area.

     • THE VOTING to elect the next mayor and three city councilpersons doesn’t happen until April of 2027, but the mayoral race is already underway — even though we don’t know for sure how many candidates will be running for that office.
     Present mayor, Julie Moore Wolfe has announced that she is running for re-election and City Councilman David Horn has also declared his candidacy to challenge Moore Wolfe for the position,
     Although the election is many months away, Horn is already hosting three “Conversations with the Candidate” at different locations this week as mentioned in a news item in this newspaper last week.
     Horn has served on the Decatur City Council since May 2017 and invited everyone to stop by for informal discussions about the city and his candidacy for mayor.
     The race for the mayor’s position is one of the most important, and impactful, that we’ve seen in awhile.
     The three winning candidates for the city council positions that will be up for election in April will also have major impact on the council and community — and we don’t even know the total number of candidates (including incumbents) for those positions at this time.

     • MORE PAY. Attorney and former Decatur City Councilman Bill Faber has an interesting column on page 7 of this week’s print and online editions about better pay ahead for Macon County jurors.
     Bill’s column appears twice each month and it has appeared in this newspaper for many years.

     • RACE TO WATCH! Both candidates to replace Josh Tanner as Macon County Clerk are getting the word out about their campaigns — and have been for awhile.
     Democrat Bryan Smith and Republican Marsha Webb have been active in parades and community meetings. It is like campaigning for public office used to be when candidates at all levels of government personally met residents to let them know what their candidacy was about.
     Undoubtedly both candidates will hit the final stretch in September and October for the November election.
     This is an especially significant county office to watch, not only because no incumbent is involved, but because both candidates bring a lot of effort and experience to their respective campaigns.

     • KUDOS to Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski for always being available to meet with the media and her constituents.
She has come to my newspaper office a few times to sit down and discuss the issues and the work being done for her district — and answer any question I might have —and has also been available to talk when she is in Decatur, which is often.
     Although we are living in an age where many politicians are content to inform their constituents about what they are doing in office through social media, Congresswoman Budzinski makes herself available to the media to answer whatever questions they may have for her — and that’s refreshing considering the state of national politics these days.

     • OPPORTUNITY — While I am on the subject of candidates and officeholders personally touching base with those they want to serve, or are representing, The Macon County Committee to Elect Jennifer Todd is inviting the public to “meet and greet” the Democratic Candidate for Congress this Saturday, July 18th at the Madden Auditorium at the Decatur Public Library. (See details in ad on page 17 of this week’s print and online editions.)
     Edwardsville nurse Jennifer Todd faces some big odds this fall as she campaigns to win Illinois’ 15th Congressional District as a Democrat.
     Todd won a four-way primary, earning 45.8% of the vote.
     Her opponent is incumbent Republican Congresswoman Mary Miller, a strong ally of President Donald Trump.

     • POLLING Place Change —Carol Stacey, who is Supervisor of Elections in the Macon County Clerks office sent out the following information: “Due to changes with certain polling locations, the County Clerk’s Office has begun mailing new voter ID cards to those affected. The new ID cards reflect the change in polling locations. Voters are asked to carefully review their voter ID card prior to the election to verify their polling location.
     “Voters who cannot locate their voter ID card may verify their polling place by visiting: https://ova.elections.il.gov/PollingPlaceLookup.aspx
     “Election information and updates can be found at maconcounty.illinois.gov. If voters have questions, they can call the Macon County Clerk’s Office at 217-424-1309 or email [email protected]. ”

     • I JOIN Brian Byers on WSOY’s Byers & Co. most Thursday mornings at 7:00 for the “City Hall Insider” — something we’ve done for nearly a quarter century.

 FOR MORE stories and more “City Beat” and editorial comments, SUBSCRIBE to the print or online editions of the Decatur Tribune by using the “Subscribe” prompt at the top of this page.  You will find many stories and columns about Decatur and Central Illinois each week. The print edition is $50 for 52 issues (one year) and the online edition is $30 for one year.  The combo rate (both print and online editions) is $65 per year.  You can also subscribe to the print edition via USPS by sending $50 to: Decatur Tribune, P. O. Box 1490, Decatur, Illinois 62525-1490.