Mayor's Row.....by Ned Mitchell

            We hope that you had a great Mother's Day and that time was well spent with family and friends as we head into a very busy summer schedule.  It was a great day around our house as little Carrigan continues to discover new things to get into every day.  At 19 months she still might not grasp what Mother's Day is all about but she does continue to give unconditional love every day and for that we are thankful.

            Are we so busy worrying about our electric bills that we have overlooked the fact that gasoline as of this writing is now $3.19 a gallon?  I'm not quite sure what is happening here but just in case you have not noticed I thought I would point that out.  Last Friday it took me $104.00 to fill up two vehicles and that will last us a week.  No, we don't drive large four wheel drive extended cab trucks or monstrous SUV type vehicles.  We drive a Dodge Magnum station wagon and a Chrysler Pacifica, both equipped with six cylinder engines.  That tank of gas will last us about one week so on the average we are spending in excess of $400 dollars a month on gasoline to get us back and forth to work and do some short pleasure trips.  Couple that with our monthly utility bill doubling and we are talking serious money. 

            But wait, there is more bad news!  Some sort of tax increase is more than likely to come out of Springfield in the next few weeks.  Illinois is in serious financial condition as spending continues to outpace income by millions of dollars.  As you know when the reformer/unreformer governor was running for election he blasted former Governor George Ryan for gasoline costing $2.00 per gallon and for financial mismanagement in Illinois.  There seems to be some sort of memory relapse by Governor Blagojevich as he is strangely silent on the price of gasoline under his watch.  We are told to expect gasoline to be at $4.00 per gallon by the end of summer with some petroleum experts predicting $5.00 per gallon gasoline within a year.  This is just a subtle hint governor, George Ryan is no longer governor and you are.  You are in your second term and the problems that you inherited the first term are not only still with us, they are getting worse by the day.  We can no longer blame George Ryan and it is time for you to step up to the plate and accept responsibility.

            What type of tax increase we will see is still up in the air.  The gross receipts tax passed out of a committee in the senate barely.  Senate President Emil Jones is a staunch supporter of this tax and the only way it even survived a senate committee vote was the fact that only democrats who owe their political life to Jones voted for it.  Once it got the house it went up in flames on a 107 to 0 vote.  When is the last time we have ever seen a vote in Springfield 107 to zip?  Speaker of the House Mike Madigan is this week asking State Representatives to tell him exactly what type of tax increase if any they will support, how much money they want to raise and where do they want to spend it.  Now there is a novel idea, asking legislators in advance to explain what they want to do to us folks who pay the bills in this state.

            So here it is in a famous Ned Mitchell nutshell.  Our utility bills have been doubled, gasoline goes up about .40 a month on the gallon, our taxes of some sort are going to increase, and this has all been brought to us by those we elect to serve us in Springfield.  This is the same group of public servants who by the way have voted themselves a huge pay raise.  Hold on though, because this just keeps getting better.  Your local cost of living is going to go up dramatically as businesses and local governments have to increase their cost of services just to keep up.  Speaking for cities, once our electric bill doubled like yours did, we will have to increase taxes to pay for added costs of street lighting.  It costs us twice as much now to operate the pumps at our sewer plant so your sewer bill is going to go up.  The cost of gasoline will increase the cost of operating police departments, fire departments, ambulances, street and water departments and about every aspect of local government.  If it costs the local grocer twice as much to cool a gallon of milk as it did a year ago, do you not think he has to raise the price of milk to make up the difference?  It looks to me like it is a good time coming as we watch politicians wiggle and squirm.  They are hoping that folks like you and me will not connect the dots between gasoline, electric bills, taxes and their pay raises!  How do you rate your elected officials?

            We are in the midst of a very busy summer here in Sesser.  We have been installing a new lighting system in the historic Sesser Opera House as we make ready for a hectic performance schedule.  Our newly formed local theater group called the Opera House Company is rehearsing for their first performance.  They will be performing the operetta "The Pirates of Penzance" on May 24, 25, 26, at 7:30 pm and a special matinee on Sunday May 27 at 2:00 pm.  This show will feature a live orchestra performing from the Opera House pit conducted by Sue Krapf.  The show is being directed by Dave Wicks, Jr. of Dahlgren and is being produced by our own Sesserite Aisha Mitchell.  This show has performers from all over Southern Illinois and is professional in every aspect.

            The much needed lighting is being installed by local electrical contractor Roger Loyd and his workers.  Stage modifications have been made by local carpenter Brad Eubanks who along with Carl Overton are making sure the stage is safe for performers and musicians.  City workers are making brackets to hang the new lights from and are resetting the theater seats.  We are applying for a grant through Modern Woodmen of the World Insurance to help pay for the lights.  The new lights and control board will cost about $6,200.00 with Modern Woodmen paying for $2,500.00 of that amount.  We hope that the Sesser Homecoming Association will assist us with some funding.  These lights and control board will be available for others to use, especially our local high school.

            In June the Chicago Chamber orchestra group under the direction of Professor Ed Benyas of Carbondale will perform three shows.  There will be two concerts and a live opera performance the week after the Sesser Homecoming.  In August the local Pyramid Players will put on the play "Bus Stop".  We will have more on those shows in future columns.

            We are also working this week on installing the new cemetery fence at Maple Hill Cemetery.  We had hoped to get it installed in time for Mother's Day weekend but obviously missed that goal.  We had to have the property surveyed first and that took longer that expected.  Then rain delays have held us back so hopefully we can now get that installed by Memorial Day.  We take pride in our cemetery and appreciate your patience as we strive to keep it looking nice.  Our Maple Hill Cemetery Trust Fund now has $133,000.00 dollars in it.  While that seems like a lot of money it is still not adequate.  Ideally a trust fund should have enough money in it to have the interest it earns to be able to maintain the cemetery.  As of this date we have not used any of the interest the fund makes and have allowed that to accumulate to help increase the fund.  We put a portion of each lot sale into the trust fund but we need your donations too.  If you have a family member or friend buried at Maple Hill now would be a good time to contribute to the trust fund.  If every person's family who has someone buried at Maple Hill would contribute just $10.00 per year we would have enough money to pay for the maintenance of Maple Hill from now on.

            We also are in the midst of building a new little league ballpark complex on the East side of town.  This park will be the home of a very nice field that the St. Louis Cardinals baseball organization will be constructing and the city will build at least two adjoining fields.  Eventually this area will have a walking track, soccer fields, picnic area and other recreational activities for our families and their guests to enjoy.

            Of course we have our normal street excavation project that will be on Callie and Walnut streets and other water line replacement work and also sidewalk construction.  On top of all of that we are the recipient of a $25,000 grant from State Representative John Bradley to pay for the construction of a mini park on our Main Street across from city hall.  As you can see we have a very busy schedule ahead of us this summer but we will continue to work together to make Sesser a better community!  We do appreciate your patience.

            Former Sesser Police Chief "Spike" Witcher has been in the hospital after suffering what is thought to be a stroke.  Sesser Patrolman Rick McCarty has also been hospitalized and is undergoing treatments at this time.  Both of these fine officers of the law would appreciate a card, phone call or visit as well as your thoughts and prayers during their time of recovery.

            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 to P. O. Box 277, Sesser, Illinois 62884.  Your comments and suggestions are valued by each of us at city hall.  After all, we do work for you!