City Beat

         This week’s “Scrapbook” (pages 4, 5 in print edition) feature on the Michl’s Cigar Store that was once located on the east side of the 100 block of North Water Street, brings a lot of memories to my mind.      Nearly 40 years ago, when it was announced the building was going to be…

       The Decatur Board of Education didn’t score any points with many in the community in its treatment of the Decatur Federation Of Teaching Assistants (DFTA) by threatening to cancel their healthcare insurance if the members didn’t end their 3-day strike and return to their jobs last Friday.      What the DFTA members didn’t seem to…

       • GOOD NEWS! Monday afternoon Mueller Water Products hosted a groundbreaking ceremony at the Company’s newest foundry location at 2675 North Jasper Street in Decatur. The foundry will be one of the largest state-of-the-art, finished goods brass foundries in the world. The new facility will increase production capacity to meet current and future demands…

    One of my long-time friends, Carla Brinkoetter, called me Saturday to let me know that former Decatur City Manager Steve Garman had passed away. Carla was a Decatur City Councilmember during the early years of Garman’s run as city manager and was also a friend and supporter of him.      It was exactly 20…

         A few weeks ago in this column I mentioned how it seemed to me (from daily observation as I’m walking downtown) that more and more semi-trucks are moving through the core area of Decatur where they were banned a few years ago as redevelopment of the area was taking place. Such trucks are…

         As most of you know by now, the city council held a special public session in the Civic Center Theatre on Sept. 30 to allow citizens to speak about how they felt on whether Decatur should “opt in” or “opt out” of allowing a recreational marijuana dispensary within our city limits. After a…

         The Decatur City Council held a special public session in the Civic Center Theater Monday night to get input from those for and against our community “opting out” of allowing a marijuana dispensary to open inside the city limits — then voted 6-1 to opt out. Councilman David Horn was the lone vote…

       Last week in this column, I mentioned that I had called the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) Region 4, District 7, office, which includes Decatur and Macon County to find out what kind of road construction projects are planned for our area. As I also mentioned, it seems like there is a lot of…

       The Decatur City Council has a lot to deal with these days. I hear a lot of complaints about the horrible condition of our roads, especially the state routes through our city. Citizens who complain should remember that the condition of state routes is due to state negligence and the council should not be…

       I dug out some of the photos that I shot on the evening of 9/11/2001, when many of us gathered in downtown’s Central Park to pray and try to absorb what had happened earlier in the day when terrorists committed unspeakable acts at the World Trade Center in New York City, The Pentagon in…