Mayor's Row....by Ned Mitchell
If last week's column started out with Tom T. Hall's song of "Faster Horses, Older Whiskey, Younger Women, and More Money" perhaps we should tune in and listen to Ray Charles this week as he performs "Its' Cryin' Time Again". I had many comments from last week's column as readers tried to pick three out of four subjects for those defenders of democracy in Springfield. Most readers picked older whiskey, younger women, and more money. They decided that faster horses probably are not all that important to our elected officials!
Now everyone has received their second AmerenCips utility bill and from the sounds I have been hearing it is definitely crying time again! I'm reminded of the old lesson in history about Nero fiddling while Rome burned. It appears we have several hundred Nero types in Springfield who are fiddling while Illinois is burning. Lets' take a look at what is going on around us.
Utility bills are going through the roof so to speak. Schools, hospitals, city halls, sewer plants, businesses, courthouses and other government buildings are experiencing major shock as utility bills come rolling in. Most of the above do have the means to raise rates in some fashion or another for services provided to cover their increased costs. Ultimately this lands directly in the lap of the citizen either through fees that are increased or taxes of one sort or another. Businesses can raise their prices and lay off employees to help their bottom line. Again that hits the consumer or average Jane or Joe as they have to pay the fiddler or fiddlers. So what we have here is not only are we all paying higher utility bills we are also having to pay more for goods and services because of the inactivity of the Nero types who run state government in Illinois.
Gasoline is back up to $2.50 a gallon and going up almost daily. It jumped .30 cents per gallon around here in one day last week. Just last week another poverty report came out about Illinois and again it was very bad news. Not only are we wallowing in poverty in this state, it is now starting to hit young people. It used to be that poverty most often did not start with young people but eventually caught up as folks got older. Right now we have 1.5 million Illinoisans living in poverty. A whopping 85 percent of the counties in Illinois or about 87 out of 102 are now reporting dramatic increases in poverty in the last 12 months. A total of 17 percent of Illinois young people now do not have even a high school diploma. Locally here in Franklin County 24 percent of our residents live in poverty. Now there is a record we can all be proud of!
When we compare tax rates with the other 49 states in the nation we find that Illinois is ranked number 7 in the amount of sales and income taxes it collects. We are 14th in the nation in real estate taxes collected. So you can see we are in the top 10 percent in dollars collected to run our government and provide services for our citizens. Many other states have no income tax and one half the property taxes that we have. As I pointed out recently the state of Washington is one of those. How do they get by with it you ask? In every one of these states a booming economy with a lot of employment opportunity is the answer. You see in Illinois we have lost 50,000 manufacturing jobs in the last two years and it is estimated that the utility increase alone will cost us another 20,000 jobs. Are you beginning to see Nero fiddling in Springfield instead of Rome?
Our jobs are being snuffed out by the same folks who are responsible for allowing utility rates to soar. Illinois is ranked as one of the least friendly business climates in the nation. In other words, businesses don't want to come to Illinois because of the costs involved to do business here. Those include a terrible worker's compensation rate, extremely high unemployment insurance costs, state pension debt, out of control property taxes, and now higher utility costs. Not only do new businesses want to come to Illinois, existing ones are packing up and leaving in droves.
Just one example of where we are going wrong in this state involves the recent revelation concerning the Illinois Department of Human Services or DHS. Here we have an agency that probably best describes exactly what is wrong in Illinois. This agency has the difficult task of assisting the most needy of our residents. They have seen staff cuts all across the board that actually make it more difficult for citizens in need to get services. Offices have been closed or consolidated requiring more travel from people that often do not have the means to travel. Staff numbers have been cut back meaning the case load of the remaining staff have increased dramatically. Now we find out that an agency whose main goal is to help those in our society that need it most, have chauffeurs who drive around department big wigs.
Not only do we have one chauffeur making $70,000.00 a year but another who makes $84,000.00 a year. The only good thing I have read concerning this is that some of our legislators are incensed by the fact that a chauffeur with not even a high school education is making more than a legislator. Talk about poetic justice, here is a prime example of what is wrong with our government in Illinois.
If I were to bet, I would bet that this is only the tip of the iceberg in a state government that has its' priorities exactly in the wrong place. I think it is a safe bet that more horror stories like this will be forthcoming in the next few months as once again those we elect to run this state have been caught with their pants down. Who on earth hires these people? Are we to blame our local legislators? No, my friend, we must place the mantle of shame on the captain of the ship or captains in this case. We have so called leaders in this state and it is time for them to step up to the plate and fix things.
There is good news however on the horizon in Illinois. Our own versions of Nero have put forth legislation to make it possible for underage girls in this state to get an abortion without parental notification. Never mind the fact that the same underage girls cannot be given an aspirin at school, or get a tattoo, or have their tongue pierced without mom, dad, or guardian involved, they will soon be allowed to have an abortion.
We are also about to completely abolish the death penalty in Illinois so you can come here and kill us but won't ever have to worry about being put to death for your crime. On top of all of that we have countless gun control bills being introduced to take away our second amendment rights. All of the above I might add are proposals from my fellow democrats in Illinois. Democrats control every branch of government in Illinois but I am not sure right now that common sense and wisdom prevails in their daily deliberations. Are Illinois' elected officials a group of Nero types? You be the judge!
Leroy Spotanski is home from the hospital after having knee surgery. Kay Styve is also home. Art "Doc" Basso had surgery Monday; Mildred Spann is recovering as is Ruth Ann King. Josephine "Mama Jo" Gibbons is in the hospital with heart problems. All of these Sesser residents would appreciate a card, phone call or visit. You would be amazed how a little act of kindness from a friend or neighbor helps in the healing process and we ask that you remember these and others not mentioned in your daily thoughts and prayers. We are all here to make Sesser a better place to live and helping out a neighbor is perhaps the highest calling that we will ever have. Take the time to help someone in need today. You will be glad that you did!
If you need us give us a call at 625-3611 or 625-5322 or write to nedmitchell@verizon.net or www.sesser.org or P. O. Box 277, Sesser, Illinois 62884. You can even do the old fashioned thing and pay us a personal visit. I can be found at the historic Sesser Opera House Café about every day either at 10 am or 3 pm.
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