Mayor’s Row………..by Ned Mitchell
In case you missed it the reformer/unreformer governor paid a visit to beautiful southern Illinois last week and not only changed state law to rid the Rend Lake Conservancy District board of two members, but also doled out dribbles of cash here and there. The reformer/unreformer started out in Du Quoin and on his way to Mt. Vernon he missed a golden opportunity to visit the shuttered cookie factory in Du Quoin, passed right by Pinckneyville where hundreds have lost their jobs at Technicolor making CD’s and then missed the bankrupt fish processing plant. He ventured north to Mt. Vernon to sign some legislation on coal but he missed a really great chance to visit the folks at Joy Manufacturing who are all out of work because of Illinois policies. Traveling further south to Benton he signed the all important bill to whack Pete Micheletto and Mike Davidson from the Rend Lake Board, but he failed to show up at Big Johns or Bonanza in West City. Going on from Benton he stopped in Johnston City to sign more coal legislation before going to Marion to give away three million dollars of our hard earned tax dollars to a very rich trial lawyer from the Metro East area. He then made his way to Saline County to give away a few hundred thousand dollars for some deer hunters paradise, but once again, he failed to go by Roundy’s and visit that shuttered plant where hundreds of people once worked .
Are you beginning to see a pattern here? Are we selling out too cheaply? In my opinion the answer is yes. There is a pattern here of brushing a few crumbs from the table to the floor for us to eat all the while we grovel at the reformer/unreformer’s feet. We, and especially our elected representatives, should not hold still for settling for losing job after job and then think we’re treated grand when the powers that be sprinkle a little tourism coins here and there. Tourism is a plus for our area, no doubt, we see the additional sales tax money in Sesser during the summer months, but virtually nobody makes a living working in this sector other than the owners of some of the businesses involved. Most of these jobs are seasonal and workers are often laid off during slow months.
And another thing, I have been hearing for 25 years now how the coal industry is looking at the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. About the only thing the coal industry has seen so far is the light on the locomotive bearing down on us. While the industry is booming next door in Indiana and doing well in Kentucky, here we sit on top of more coal reserves than any other state in the country and our mines are idle, our miners out of work. Folks, that could change this afternoon if we had leadership in Springfield that was serious about the coal industry. Indiana and Kentucky are just a phone call away, heck the reformer/unreformer could hop the state plane as he so loves to do and make a trip to Indiana and find out how they do it operating under the same federal clean air rules that we have in Illinois. I’d venture to say that any person who was serious about the coal industry could make the changes we need in Illinois. I don’t know about you but I am sick and tired of being fed the nonsense that if we just pass this legislation and have this press conference things will get better. Put me on the doubtful list on this one. I truly hope I am wrong, but we need elected officials who will make things happen instead of having press conferences to explain how important they are to us! We should demand more from our elected officials.
One of my democrat friends, and I stress democrat, has now decided that in addition to the three ring democrat circus in Springfield, Washington and Chicago, he is adding a fourth ring and that is here in Franklin County. This guy, like all of the rest of us got his real estate tax bill over the week end and boy is he steamed! He was not happy with the amount of the bill but what really had him irked was the hidden story out there about so many people in Franklin County who are not even on the tax roles in the first place. He points out that surely if you have a new home or business and don’t get a tax bill you would think something is wrong. He adds, if I did not get a utility bill from Ameren/CIPS, or no phone bill from Verizon, or no water bill from the city, I would start calling and asking why. Surely he reasons one would think there was a problem. Or if all your friends and neighbors got their tax bills and you didn’t, wouldn’t you think something was amiss? To add insult to injury he talked to his county board member who explained that after running several advertisements in local newspapers that if you were caught as a property owner not listed on the tax roles you would not only have to pay the back taxes but also a penalty and interest. Now he is told the county board thinks they might not want to collect the past due amounts, just start paying in the future. Is this another blunder at the courthouse by county democrats? Only time will tell but you are not talking to the same folks I am if you think this one can be swept under that giant rug in Benton.
The phone at city hall must have rang 200 times Friday with frantic citizens claiming someone had stolen their trash can. As of July 1 our new trash service will take over. If you live on the south side of main street the former hauler CWI made their last pick up on Friday and took your container when they left town. The new contractor, Bulldog out of Harrisburg began putting out new black trash containers over the weekend on the south side and will do the same next week on the north side of town. Your trash bill will be up somewhat, going from $5.85 to $7.30 per month. That’s the bad news, but the good news is you will no longer pay a garbage tax on your real estate tax bill so next year that amount will be eliminated meaning that your over all cost for trash service will be about what it was before this new contract. Confused, you shouldn’t be, we took off the property tax starting after this year and added $1.45 per month on the trash bill. Bulldog also promises better service and they will pick up appliances on regular trash pick up days if you call in advance and let us know. The service was awarded after Bulldog was determined to be the low bidder. CWI, due to a clerical error on their part, did not submit a bid for the contract. Your trash pick up days will remain the same.
What do David Kim of Philadelphia, Adam Fellegi of Hungary, and Mary Chanteaux of Detroit have in common? They represent the most combined musical talent to ever perform on a single stage anywhere in southern Illinois and they put on a clinic as the sports fans would say at the historic Sesser Opera House. Folks around here, including me, had no idea how famous these three are in the classical musical field. Chances are we will never have that much talent at the same time again in this area. Kim on the violin, Fellegi on the grand piano, and Chanteaux on the cello performed flawlessly to the delight of the capacity crowd at the Opera House. There were 38 musicians in the orchestra including 20 violinists and the sound coming from the stage was something I had never heard in my 28 years of involvement at the Opera House. There were professional musicians from Boston, Russia, Cincinnati, Chicago, Texas, Poland, Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, some of the best in the world and we had them in Sesser. It gave us a great opportunity to meet some new people as well as give local patrons the chance to not only hear these musicians, but also to meet them in person. It was great to see over 300 people at the Opera House and if you missed it, you probably missed an opportunity that will not come this way again. I had no idea what we were in store for.
If you need us, give us a call at 625-3611, 625-5322, or 625-5788. We can be reached in person at city hall or write to nedmitchell@verizon.net or visit us on the web www.sesser.org. We’re here to serve you!
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