CITY BEAT: THE TIMES ‘THEY ARE A CHANGIN’ IN DECATUR AREA’S ELECTED LEADERS

     The past week has been one filled with news of departures from office involving those who represent us in public office in Decatur.
     City Councilman Chuck Kuhle attended his final meeting of the council after serving for eight years and was honored for his service.
Chuck decided that two four-year terms were enough and did not run for re-election this time.
     Chuck, who was endorsed by this newspaper in his two campaigns for the city council, did a solid job as a councilman and I appreciate his commitment to vote on what he felt was best for the citizens of our community.
     That’s not always an easy path to chart but Chuck stayed focused on what he believed was the right path.
     Best wishes to Chuck, and thanks for the positive relationship he kept with this newspaper over the years.
     Chuck’s successor, Consuelo Cruz, who won his seat on council in the recent election, will be sworn in at the May 5th meeting.
     Present councilmen David Horn and Ed Culp, who were re-elected to their positions, will also be sworn in at that meeting.

     • MACON County Clerk Josh Tanner came to see me last Wednesday to bring an announcement that he would not be seeking a third term in the 2026 General Primary.

     “It has been an honor and a privilege to serve Macon County as the County Clerk” said Josh.
     Tanner began with Macon County in 2008 as a GIS Specialist and served in that position until being appointed the Supervisor of Assessments in 2013. He was first elected as Macon County Clerk in 2018 and then re-elected in 2022.
     It doesn’t seem possible that he is already heading towards the final year of his eight years in office.
Josh has been, and continues to be, an exceptional public officeholder. I don’t have to tell you how he has upgraded the office and it is a model of efficiency. I’ve voted in a lot of elections but I now early vote and it is so easy in each election.
     Josh and I have always had a great relationship and he has been so easy to work with as county clerk.
The fact that he wanted to sit down and talk with me before officially releasing his plans not to run for re-election, was appreciated.
     Josh will still be county clerk until the next one is elected, but his early announcement gives others some time to make plans to run for the office.
     Brian Byers and I talked about the job Josh has done on WSOY’s Byers & Co. last week and were in total agreement about Josh Tanner’s effectiveness in the county clerk’s office.
     Regardless of who is elected as the next Macon County Clerk, Josh will be a tough act to follow.

     • LAST WEEK, longtime Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the U.S. Senate, announced he will retire after his term ends in January 2027.

     Durbin’s retirement will end a 44-year congressional career. He was first elected to the U.S. House in 1982 and the U. S. Senate in 1996.
     I first heard from Dick Dur-bin when he was a candidate running against longtime Repub-lican Congress-man Paul Findley in 1982.
     I didn’t care much for some of the radio commercials that the Durbin campaign was running against Findley (although mild from the commercials seen in most campaigns in recent years).
     I wrote an editorial about how I felt the commercials against Findley were not in good taste and Durbin called me at the newspaper to disagree with what I had written.
     Many years later, when I was serving as mayor of Decatur, I was involved in some of the events in our city which also involved Sen. Durbin.
     As I mentioned on the Byers & Co. show last week, during one event when Sen. Durbin was acknowledging people in the room, he looked at me and said he was happy that I (as a newspaper editor) “finally got an honest job” as mayor. (He meant going from being a journalist to a politician.)
     I thought his comment was funny and so did everyone else in the room —and I am sure that was the way he intended for it to be taken.
     Of course, as most of you know, I was still editor of this newspaper during the years I served as mayor.
     I really didn’t have a lot of contact with Sen. Durbin over the years except during the years I served as mayor.
He always seemed interested in what was happening in Decatur and since he lived in Springfield, and not in Chicago, he understood downstate Illinois and that is something we should look at in considering who gets our vote when Sen. Durbin’s replacement is elected.
     Sen. Durbin, obviously, had strong support over the years and would have won another term had he decided to continue in office.

     • THE ABOVE item about Sen. Dick Durbin and when I first talked to him in 1982, and my “Viewpoint” column at the top of page 3 of the print and online editions regarding my interview with Lulu Roman who passed away last Wednesday, back in the 1970s, have reminded me that I have been editor of this newspaper for a long time.
     In case some of the younger readers are wondering…no, I didn’t interview Abraham Lincoln. He had left Lincoln homestead west of Decatur by the time I got there and I just missed him. (smile)

     • OZARK PIN — Tim Wrigley of Frankfort, Illinois, sent me the following email and photo:
“I think some of your readers might be interested in the attached photo.

     “That is a plastic pin which says ‘Ozark’ in the middle of the two wings. It was given to me by an Ozark Airlines pilot while I was a small boy visiting the cockpit on my very first airplane ride from Decatur to Chicago. I can’t remember the specific year but it was in the late 1970’s. I’m sure there are many readers who remember flying Ozark Airlines out of Decatur like I do.”
     Thanks, Tim, for sending the photo which our online subscribers see reproduced in full color.
     “Ozark” is a very familiar name in Decatur Airport history remembered by so many of us.

     • ANOTHER ONE: The Decatur Regional Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon- cutting ceremony last week to celebrate the grand opening of Dollar General’s new store in Forsyth at 106 Magnolia Drive.
     Dollar General stores seem to be about everywhere anymore — and that’s good for consumers.

     • CLOSE CALL! I had parked my car and was walking across the parking lot to enter the South Shores Dairy Queen one evening last week, when some guy turned into the lot heading for the drive-through window lane at a fairly high rate of speed!
     Had I not jumped back, he would have run over me!!!
     Not only do we have some crazy drivers on our roads and highways, but they can also be found in drive-through lanes of fast food restaurants!
     I guess they get confused and think a “drive through” lane is actually a “drive over” lane!
     Be careful out there,

     • I JOIN Brian Byers on WSOY’s Byers & Co. every Thursday morning at 7:00.
for the “City Hall Insider” half hour — some we’ve done since nearly the turn of the century — the 21st Century!

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