City Beat

     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…

      After a few years of absence, the WSOY Community Food Drive is back and it couldn’t come at a better time! Although a lot of work and contacts have been made over the past several weeks to build the momentum, the highlight of the food drive will be this Friday, Oct. 4, when the effort…

     • IT DOESN’T seem possible this is the last week of September and 2024 is three-fourths over already!      Except for the fact that the cold days of winter are closer, October is one of my favorite months of the year with crisp air, football and the beauty of changing leaves.      I love living in Central…

     Decatur has been home to a lot of famous people over the years, and Shirley Luster (June Christy) was one of the most famous.      She was born in Springfield on Nov. 20, 1925, nearly a century ago, but the family moved to Decatur when she was three years old and she attended local schools and…

          It doesn’t seem possible that it has been 23 years since America was attacked on 9/11.      I shot the front page photo of three children, who were among many, gathered with their parents and other adults in Central Park on Sept. 11, 2001.      The expressions on the faces of the children reflected the feelings…

     • I RECEIVED a disturbing email from Chris Brodnicki, General Manager of the Decatur Civic Center, on Friday.      Chris wrote: “I need your gum shoe talents this morning,” adding that when the building superintendent “came in this morning and while conducting his rounds found the attached (pictured below) in our WWII memorial. It is…

     This week’s “Scrapbook” feature (pages 4 and 5 of the print and online editions) is about The Lone Ranger, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers — three larger than life heroes of my generation.      The heroes stood tall for the good they represented and were great role models for “standing up for what is right” which…

     Anyone who has been a resident of the Decatur area for at least a quarter-of-a-century can easily remember when Firestone, later Bridgestone/Firestone, was a major employer — with an imposing building complex on North 22nd Street.      This week’s “Scrapbook” in the print and online editions of the Decatur Tribune is about the day in…

      Doug Quick’s “Scrapbook’ story about the rocky start of WTVP in Decatur on pages 4 and 5 of this edition, brought back a lot of memories of my contact with the station over the years —first as WTVP and after February, 1966, as WAND-TV.     My first experience with WTVP was in the mid-1950s, only a…