City Beat

   • SPANNAUS CHOSEN — The Decatur school board voted Tuesday evening to approve naming Fred Spannaus to fill the board seat vacated by Regan Lewis.  Spannaus served on the school board from 2013 to 2017 and will finish Lewis’ term which ends in April. Lewis, who was in his first term on the board and…

       There must be a good explanation for the Decatur School District Board’s decision last week to pay half of the demolition cost, with the City of Decatur paying the other half, to eliminate the former Woodrow Wilson Middle School, 1140 West Sunset, in order to get the lot that will remain. I just haven’t…

       On behalf of the Decatur Tribune staff, including this editor, I want to wish all of you a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year of 2023! I also hope the Christmas holiday season will be easier to celebrate next year without the dominance of COVID-19, or the Flu, or incredibly bad winter weather…

       Christmas Day 2022 is coming up on Sunday and it will be an especially meaningful day for many Americans who have been isolated from family gatherings the past two Christmas holidays because of COVID-19. Despite hospital beds across the nation filling up again with patients suffering from a trifecta of respiratory viruses – Covid,…

       “Decorum” according to Webster means “propriety or good taste in behavior”.      There’s not a lot of “decorum” at many of today’s public meetings. Undoubtedly it is because more and more citizens with differences involving public officials seem to believe that rudeness in speech and actions are needed to make their arguments and win people…

       High speed, reckless driving on city’s streets is a growing concern for many Decatur residents. There has never been a time in my long history of driving on Decatur streets where I’ve noticed so many drivers speeding, driving recklessly and ignoring traffic signs and signals.  I’ve also been receiving a growing number of similar…

       With the dust settling on the mid-term elections local attention now turns towards the city council where the positions of mayor and three city council members will be up for election on April 4, 2023. When the deadline for filing ended Monday, three candidates had filed for the mayor’s position and four candidates had…

       Here’s wishing everybody a very Blessed Thanksgiving!       I hope this week is, and has been, filled with warm thoughts, family gatherings and genuine thanksgiving for how God has blessed your life.      Although “trouble and trials” are in everyone’s life, it is important to see the many reasons that exist to give thanks,…

     Decatur voters have barely had time to catch their breath from last week’s 2022 General Election before attention turns towards our municipal government and the expiring terms of Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe and Councilmembers Bill Faber, Lisa Gregory and Dennis Cooper.      As I’m writing this column Moore Wolfe and Gregory have already announced they are…

       The General Election of 2022 is finally over but the stench of verbal character assassination of candidates will fill the political air for a long time.      Now it is time to “power wash” your television because of all the residue it has collected from political commercials that got so nasty that more than a…