Mayor’s Row……………by Ned Mitchell
My O my, what will they think of next? First we were told the state’s tollway system would be sold or leased to bribe Reverend/Senator James Meeks out of the governor’s race in Illinois. Many lawmakers had problems with taking money from that sale and giving it to schools in Chicago. Now the latest boondoggle is that the state lottery will be sold or leased for $10 billion dollars and that money will mostly be given to schools in Chicago again to bribe Reverend/Senator James Meeks. It is another pathetic example of how this state is going down the tube in record fashion. Democrats have insanely taken on the task of doing all this damage by themselves and my feeling is when taxpayers and voters figure out they have been duped once again by the master of dupe, the reformer/unreformer governor himself, they will not be happy campers.
If, and that is a very big if, the lottery sale would bring in $10 billion dollars education would see a $1 billion dollar boost for four years and then would go back to the same funding they have now after that. For the next 21 years education would receive no increase in funding unless lottery proceeds went up drastically each year. You don’t have to have the last name Einstein to figure out the math on that one. Then after the 25 year term is up the state gets no money whatsoever. Who pays the bills then? Who is going to buy the lottery? Look for former staffer of the reformer/unreformer John Wyma to be involved in the mix somewhere if not the main player. It is just another example of pay to play in Illinois and you and I will suffer the consequences.
There are many questions to be asked about this proposal before we see a vote and hopefully our elected officials will not march in lock step on this issue. I can see the democrats, my own democrats, snubbing their noses and voting for this idea although the reformer/unreformer did not want to call this for a vote during the legislative session that just ended in Springfield. How would they do that you ask? Heads will be counted in Springfield and a given number of legislators are already for this proposal so they are in the bag so to speak. Then we have the fence sitters who are not convinced this is a good idea. Fence sitters will be offered projects in their districts for their vote. The longer they hold out, the more projects are piled on the table. It is kind of like buying a used car, once both sides figure the other won’t budge another inch, the deal will be cut and the votes will magically be there to pass this controversial bill. All of this of course will take place after the November election. Convenient I must admit!
I also noticed with very little fan fair a bill signing ceremony at 3:50 pm on Friday, the day before a long holiday weekend, that gives the horse racing industry a nice little gift of $36 million dollars for the next two years. I would be the last to accuse those knights on white horses running this state of trying to hide this so I’ll let you figure that one out all by yourselves. In reading through some of the budget I have noticed a pretty big cut of funds for hearing impaired schools, programs for blind children, and another cut in Veteran’s programs in our area but then they sneak in a $36 million dollar gift for the horse racing crowd. I really sometimes wonder how legislators who vote for this not only get re-elected but more importantly, how do they face a blind or deaf child or sick Veteran and still go home at night and sleep. I guess lobbying money from the horse racing industry outdid the blind or deaf child once again. Amazing is all I can say!
The First Baptist Church in Sesser is celebrating 100 years this coming weekend with two days of events to mark the occasion. This church is a major part of Sesser’s history and the festivities will begin Saturday, June 3rd at 1:30 pm at the church. After the Saturday service there will be an ice cream and pie social in the Fellowship Hall. On Sunday church members and guests will be treated to a full day of services. The Sunday morning service will begin at 10:30 am with lots of special music and a message by Aubert Rose. After this service attendees will have a noon meal in the Fellowship Hall. At 1:30 in the afternoon a special service will begin and will again feature special music, a reading of the church history and a message by Clifford Burney. The public is invited to attend any or all of these services to help our friends at Sesser First Baptist Church celebrate this special time.
Progress is being made in our continuing effort to clean up Sesser. We have several houses that have been condemned by council action and the legal proceedings are beginning on those cases. We have two houses scheduled for immediate demolition and several others on the radar screen. City police have also been very busy handing out citations for abandoned vehicles that dot our landscape. I think we have found about 130 cars or trucks as of this writing that do not have valid tags on them. This is another real simple concept here in Sesser. You cannot have vehicles sitting around with no valid license sticker or registration. We will tow off your vehicle after proper notice and fine you to boot. You will be given a court summons to appear in city court in Benton and you will be given the opportunity to explain to a judge just why it is that you cannot seem to rid your neighborhood of junk. Hopefully the judge will agree with our position and fine the daylights out of you and order you to get rid of the junk. If you do not want these vehicles the city will make arrangement to have them hauled off and scrapped at no cost to you the owner. Are we nice guys or what?
Sesser-Valier Schools lost three valuable people due to retirement this year. Husband and wife team Nick and Sandy Laur opted to retire as did Ron Van Horn. I, like a lot of people assume these folks are going to keep working forever and never give it a minutes notice until I realized, hey, these fine people are serious, they have retired. There are decades of service dedicated to educating our children involved here and I for one appreciate all that Mr. Laur, Mrs. Laur and Mr. Van Horn have done for not only the school but also for Sesser and Valier. Our cities benefit greatly from these dedicated people also and for that we are grateful. We wish them the very best in their retirement years knowing that their replacements will have big shoes to fill.
Have you noticed the Westminster Chimes sounding occasionally in Sesser? I have, but then I live pretty close to the source. The First United Methodist Church in Sesser has recently completed a restoration of the original chime system that was featured at the church for many years. The chimes sound at 12 noon each day and before each service begins and ring out the hour. The system is computer driven and has the capability to play over 2,500 hymns. Centralia to our north has a bell tower and they feature a special concert each day at noon that lasts for 30 minutes. At a minimum, holidays will be marked with special music for the community to hear but the idea of daily concerts is still being discussed. I live next door and would like to give it a try so we’ll see how that all works out.
Maple Hill Cemetery looked fantastic for the Memorial Day weekend and we owe that to caretakers Lisa and Jim Muir and their helpers and to city workers. I personally heard many comments on the cemetery and we intend to keep it looking this good at all times. You still have time to donate money to the fence fund. We will be installing a new white vinyl fence on the north edge of the cemetery soon. Our trivial fundraiser is set for this weekend and we need your help. Give us a call with any questions or ideas!
Our phone numbers are 625-3611 or 625-5322 or write nedmitchell@verizon.net or www.sesser.org we look forward to hearing from you!
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