CITY BEAT: HOT TAMALES ALWAYS REMIND ME OF ‘THE TAMALE MAN’

 

     • IF THIS week’s “Scrapbook” article about Carl Watson, “The Tamale Man”, on pages 4 and 5 of the print and online editions, looks familiar, every three or four years, by popular request (including my own), I dig out the copy and photos and publish it all over again!
     Just like “The Three Little Maids” story in last week’s edition, “The Tamale Man” Scrapbook feature is a favorite of mine (and many of our readers) because, for me, it connects the present all the way back to my childhood when my dad would stop the family car and pick up tamales from Carl at the five points intersection on Decatur’s near east side.
     Actually, what really stimulated this week’s look at “The Tamale Man” was his granddaughter, and former neighbor, Carla, fixed a batch of tamales from the secret family recipe and brought some of them to me.
     She doesn’t make them very often and I was honored that she thought of me because she knew I always liked her family’s tamales.
     Even though it has been over 60 years since Carl sold tamales on the street that his wife had made in their basement at home, a lot of our readers have fond memories of eating those tamales when they were kids — including this kid.
     There has never been a tamale, or tomala, made to match the taste of those we enjoyed so long ago — at least in my opinion.

     • YIKES! According to recent information released by “The Center Square” Illinois’ corporate income tax rate is 9.5%. Indiana’s corporate income tax rate is 4.9%, Iowa’s is from 5.5% to 7.1%, and Kentucky has a 5% corporate income tax rate.
“A study released earlier this year ranked Illinois as the worst state to start a new business. Simplify LLC scored Illinois low because of the state’s maximum corporate tax of 9.5% and the exodus of what the company called ‘educated adults’ from the state in 2023.”
     That hurts. Taxes are out of control in Illinois.

     • THE CHAMP! I don’t think there will be an award presentation but a big gray pick-up truck, driven by a someone who changed lanes eight times be-tween the the Korean War Veterans Bridge over Lake Decatur and the stoplight at South Franklin and Decatur streets, should probably get the award for number of lane changes involving the shortest distance!
I probably could have handed the driver his award when I pulled up next to him at the Decatur Street stoplight — and I didn’t change lanes even once during the time he was weaving in and out of traffic and changing lanes eight times!
     We are living in a society where most drivers on the road are not content to follow another car in front of them that is doing the speed limit!
     With all of the lane changing, weaving and speeding, I’m surprised there aren’t more wrecks being reported!

     • NOT GOOD!! I usually drive to the newspaper office pretty early in the morning and I’m greeted with a steady flow of traffic on Route 51 between Grove Road, across the bridge over Lake Decatur and on to the downtown area.
I see a lot of the same pick-up trucks whose drivers are headed for work most mornings.
     I assume those trucks, with company names on them, are being driven to work by employees that live south of Decatur.
I always try to drive the speed limit and those trucks blow by me like I’m sitting still!
     I’m not sure the owners of the companies which have their company name painted on their doors, would appreciate the bad advertising that their trucks present to the motorists they are passing!
     Maybe the workers are just anxious to get to work!
     Yeah…sure….that’s probably the reason for speeding…

     • IGNORANCE? I was informed via email that “Your SiriusXM trial period Has Ended!” because there was a “failure attempt” in my payment.
     As is about always the case, I never subscribed to or paid any amount for this service.
     It was another scam, of course.
     I mentioned last week that the wording is often a dead giveaway that it is a scam (besides the fact that I never subscribed to the service in the first place.)
     “We tried to renew your subscription at the end of each billing cycle, but your monthly payment has failed. We therefore had to cancel your subscription. Obviously, we would love to see you again. If you wish to renew your subscription click on the link below. Update my payment details”
     Here’s my favorite line on this scam “request”: “In Case Of Ignorance, Your Services Will Be Completely Suspended Within 24 Hours According To The Terms Defined In Our Contracts.
     “Thank you for trusting us,
          best regards”
     Have you ever heard of someone being cancelled because of a “case of ignorance”?
     I think the scammer meant “in case the notice was ignored”.
     I also like the line “Thank you for trusting us.”
     That’s a nice line — considering they are trying to scam some money out of me by posing as a reputible service — and cannot be trusted.

     BAD NEWS — As most of you know by now, April 7th was the last day Road House Grill at 2805 North Main Street in Decatur was open.
     It seems like it wasn’t that long ago, the Chamber of Commerce was cutting a ribbon to welcome the business opening.
I’ve heard a lot of good comments about the service and the food from those who were customers.
Apparently, there weren’t enough customers.
     According to the Road House Facebook page: “Unfortunately the decision was made due to insufficient volume of business.
“With not having enough business, high food cost, sales tax, payroll tax, Decatur tax, credit card tax and many more are drowning the business and we believe every business these days.
     “We would like to thank the entire Decatur community for their support, our employees and we thank all of our regular customers who loved our food.
     We are sorry it had to end this way. We tried our best. Thank you.”
     Sorry that the business had to close down. It is tough out there these days for businesses, especially the restaurant business, to operate.
     Getting help is a problem that I hear over and over. Customers often show up at some restaurants and find them closed during hours they are normally open (except for the drive-through) because they can’t get people to work.
Sometimes, I am told, people who are hired, can’t be depended on to show up for work.

     • I JOIN Brian Byers on WSOY’s Byers & Co. at 7:00 every Thursday morning for the “City Hall Insider”. I always enjoy our discussions.
     

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