City Beat

       • A DAY after last week’s editorial on the lies that politicians tell, one of our readers sent me a link to The Independent which quoted an article from The Washington Post: “According to analysis by the Washington Post, Mr Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims between his first day in office, on…

       I don’t have to look very far to find businesses that are understaffed because they cannot attract people to work for them. A few businesses have even closed their doors because they could not find anyone to work and the lack service can be felt at several local businesses because they do not have…

         THE city councilman was irritated that one of his pet projects had not been on the agenda. He turned to the mayor and sternly said: “Mr. Mayor. I have asked repeatedly that what I’ve been working so hard on be on the agenda for a vote. When is that going to be on…

       I WAS A child as World War II gripped the world and I didn’t understand a lot about what was going on. I did sense the strong emotional toll the war was taking on the people around me. I remember my mom, who had brothers overseas fighting in such epic battles as the Battle…

       During the years I served as Decatur’s mayor, I had a lot of interesting people address the city council during the “Appearance of Citizens”.      David Daker was a semi-regular who appeared before us to express his views on controlling drive-through liquor sales. During his appearance one night he asked how drunk a person could…

       This week’s “Scrapbook” feature (pages 4 and 5 of print and online edition) is about some of the places in downtown Decatur that, if only for a day, I’d like to travel back in time and visit again — and soak up the atmosphere. My mother always loved downtown Decatur and enjoyed shopping at…

            Stories and images coming out of Ukraine in recent days tug at the heartstrings as we see the faces and hear the voices of innocent people fearing for their lives because of a power grab by the world’s latest madman — Vladimir Putin, President of Russia. One day Ukraine children are at their…

       My “Scrapbook’ and “City Beat” articles about Stephen Decatur High School winning the 1962 state basketball championship that were printed in last week’s print and online editions, drew quite-a-bit of attention. Terry Howley, my predecessor in the mayor’s office, sent me an interesting email: “Enjoyed re-reading about the 1962 SDHS state champs. I remember…

    It seems like it happened only a few years ago because I clearly remember watching Stephen Decatur High School’s Ken Barnes standing at the free throw line with the opportunity to beat Chicago Carver in the state basketball championship game at Huff Gym in Champaign. The score was tied at 48 with only…

       I WAS preparing to pump gas into our newspaper van at Billingsley’s station in South Shores Saturday morning when I learned I would have to prepay. When I went inside the station to prepay, I was told the reason for prepayment was that so many drivers in recent days had pumped their gas and…