Mayor’s Row…….by Ned Mitchell

             The call came in from concerned neighbors; someone had just broken the window of a Sesser residence and climbed in.  Police quickly arrived on the scene and arrested a burglar in the act.  In talking to the burglar caught in the act it was determined this was a domestic situation between a young man and his girlfriend or former girlfriend, whichever you prefer.  Of course these upstanding citizens were not from Sesser, they were from some other town and once again the question popped into my mind, how do we keep getting these creeps in Sesser?  We try to keep the riff raff out of Sesser and when we discover them here we try to move them down the road by stressing the concept that if you want to reside here, you have to live within the law, nothing more and nothing less will do.   We have been accused of harassing people, only problem is that anyone who lives here or drives through here never has any occasion to meet up with a police officer, until that person breaks the law.  Once that happens, we pay a visit or make a traffic stop.  It is called doing our job!  One thing we are bent on doing is stressing the safety of our town.  We want our senior citizens and young people alike to feel safe in Sesser.  When we hear about folks not feeling safe, we have failed in our job.

            Sesser does not appear to be on the radar screen of the reformer/unreformer governor in that we don’t have a $50 million dollar shooting range, or a $4 million dollar privately owned little league field.  Coal mines are shuttered, MUMS is in the process of shutting down in Pinkneyville, Maytag is leaving Herrin, Joy Manufacturing is out of Mt. Vernon.  The list could go on and on about the dire straits we are in around Franklin County.   Shucks, we can’t even get the grant for our Opera House that was promised us several years ago.  It saddens me every time I come across the official documents awarding us that grant, only to see the State of Illinois not keep their word, not only to us but to many other area towns.   The one thing we do have to promote is the quality of life here in Sesser and that means we try to sell Sesser as a safe place to retire or raise a family.  We have a top notch school system. Our town is cleaner than it has ever been.  We are aggressively condemning houses and buildings in an effort to make Sesser more attractive.   So if you hear about folks being harassed over here, talk to the other 95% of our citizens who never have any contact with a police officer.  We want our residents to be able to sleep peacefully at night and not have to worry about some criminal encroaching on their property.  If after the day is done we can point to the fact that a widow women living alone in Sesser feels safe in their own home, we have succeeded beyond what millions of dollars in pork money could do.  We intend to do just that so if you cannot live with that program it would be best for you to move on down the road to some other town that is more tolerant of criminal behavior.

            A side note to the burglary investigation reveals that the accused is also addicted to meth, surprise, surprise!  The young man even pointed out a fact that we were aware of that most folks are not.  Now that our brilliant public servants in Springfield have passed a law making purchasing a simple cold remedy against the law and even removing some of the best part of that drug, the part that made it work.  Now the meth heads are taking salt blocks from farmer’s fields and using the ingredients to take the place of the popular cold remedy in its’ place.  We had recently heard of this process but until last week had not found it being used in our part of the world.  I can see it now; legislators will soon begin crafting legislation to outlaw salt blocks without a prescription!  Here is a simple concept for any legislator willing to do the right thing. If people are on meth, lock ‘em up, not just for a few days, but for a long time.  It is time we quite ignoring this scourge and buck up and do something about it.  Our courts could be tougher on the state level.  One reason most cops want to work federal investigations on meth cases is that once you get in that arena and get convicted, you are going away for a long time.  There is no second chance in the federal court system, no treatment while you are running loose, no if, ands, or buts, you are going away if the feds get you.  It is amazing how that works!  What is more amazing is our legislators in Illinois and our court system can’t see that.  Seriously, if it works in one venue, it will work in others.

            I recently received a letter from a couple of Benton readers and they enclosed a letter from their doctors who are leaving the state.  The letter was from Dr. Scheffer and Dr. Gonzalez who practice in Marion.  The letter simply states the doctors are leaving Illinois “due to the skyrocketing malpractice costs.”  Excuse me, but while I am picking on politicians, I thought we had solved this problem in Illinois.  Of course I knew better and soon realized this was just a bunch of smoke billowing out of some politician’s mouth.  Now we have the proof, two more local doctors are leaving the area.  But there may be a silver lining in this cloud, perhaps the two doctors can try out for the Butlerville little league amateur semi professional baseball team and get a job.  Hey, don’t laugh; it pays $25.00 per game.  All jokes aside, this is a serious matter to all of us and especially to those two Benton folks who now have to find another doctor and transfer all their records and such.   The next time someone tries to tell you Illinois has solved the medical malpractice problem, give me a call and I’ll put you in touch with the Benton residents who know better.  Not only do doctors have to wait six or nine months to get paid by the State of Illinois in a lot of cases, they also have the medical malpractice problem still forcing them out of the state.  Lets’ see, maybe if we build another shooting complex and dump some more money into Marion we can all feel good about the really neat things our state government is doing for us.  That is all well and good, until you lose your doctor!

            Pardon me while I gloat at the end of this column about the Sesser Redbird Rookies.  Most of us in Sesser that are involved know the hard work these parents and kids have put forth in the last two years.  Most of you until recently had never heard of the Redbird Rookies.  The program is sponsored by the St. Louis Cardinals organization and helps communities build around baseball.  The really great thing about this though is that while it is all about baseball, it is not really ALL about baseball.  This program in Sesser has been successful in getting kids to read books, lots of books, during the summer.  The coaches are trained and kids are taught teamwork, character building respect and integrity.  Sesser had one of only 19 teams in a three state area that was chosen to participate in the program.  Sesser teams were recently recognized at the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis where some of the youngsters played a real game on the new field while another team was selected as the winner of a personal computer for each player.  The winning team won 15 free computers, some of which were donated to the Sesser library and to the Sesser-Valier school.  So yeah, excuse us for telling the world about the great students we have here being guided by some wonderful parents who take the time to make a difference.  Hats off to the Cardinals for taking the time to get involved with not only mentoring but also providing equipment and rewards for a job well done.  This year Sesser had over 280 kids involved in the summer baseball program and we are very proud of each coach, fan, and player!  This is what Sesser is all about!

            Congratulations to the Christopher Homecoming folks who put on a first class show this year. The event was moved to the Bill Dennison Park and that was a wise decision.  It allowed for much more room and I was impressed with the event.

            If you need us, call 625-3611 or 625-5322 or write nedmitchell@verizon.net or www.sesser.org or P. O. Box 517, Sesser, Illinois.  We welcome your comments!