Mayor' Row......by Ned Mitchell
I had to laugh a week ago last Sunday as I left the Sesser Foodland and passed the city park on my way to the historic Sesser Opera House. It was a nice day and I had the windows down. I noticed a large crowd in the park around the stage listening to a local country band perform. Folks had their lawn chairs and were enjoying the music and the great weather. At the Opera House a completely different type of music was coming out of the old building as the orchestra under the direction of Sue Knapf played. On this day the orchestra, made up of local musicians who volunteered their time, was rehearsing music for the operetta "The Pirates of Penzance". I thought as I entered the building what a great place Sesser is to live. On one hand we have a country music band performing in the city park and on the other we have a professional orchestra rehearsing in the Opera House. What a diverse lot we are and for that I am thankful! No matter what type of music you like, chances are you can find it being performed on any weekend around here.
The "Pirates of Penzanze" was a hugely successful show this year and marks the first performance of the newly formed Opera House Players theatre troupe. This show was directed by David Wicks. Jr. of Dahlgren; produced by the wife; Aisha Mitchell of Sesser with the orchestra directed by Sue Krapf of Benton. This trio of VOLUNTEERS joined together professionally and put on a show that was a huge hit. It will be hard to top this performance but plans are already underway to do just that.
The cast came from all over Southern Illinois. There were performers from Carbondale, Benton, Odin, West Frankfort, Sesser and parts in between. The orchestra was made up of local musicians. They did an outstanding job of providing the music for the show. I am always delighted to hear Karen and Bill King play as they are truly professional musicians and just really great people to boot. Throw in Tom Herman of Benton, Cam Brown of West Frankfort and Marcus Lappin of Sesser and we just had a really great sound emanating from the old orchestra pit. There were other musicians in the pit that I do not personally know and they all joined together to make their part of the show superb.
One of the things that impressed and probably depressed me at the same time was the dedication to the cause that the performers had for the most part. Here were a diverse group of people being led by Dave Wicks who for the most part had to drive quite a distance to get to Sesser just to rehearse. That is no small matter any more with the price of gasoline. A good lot of them spent hours and hours not only getting their lines down, learning the singing parts and such, but they also made the costumes and completely built the set that was used on stage. Any one of these would have been difficult alone but we had several who were in on all of the action and spent countless hours putting it all together.
We had great crowds for all performances and once again those in attendance were a diverse lot. One night we had an employee of the famous Fox Theatre in St. Louis attend and was duly impressed with the Opera House, the set, the music, and the performance. Another night we had two television producers from Los Angeles and a professional actress from Key West, Florida. Of course these folks did not make a special trip to Sesser but were in the area visiting over the Memorial Day weekend and chose to grace us and see the show. We were gratified by their kind comments and enjoyed visiting and talking with them. All of the hard work came together and as folks left the theater after each performance one could hear them talking amongst each other about how they enjoyed the show and what a beautiful town Sesser was. We heard how nice our Main Street looked and how friendly our people are. That made me extremely proud of Sesser and all of a sudden the hard work that many people put together came to a close. We hope that the good memories will linger on about Sesser and that our little Opera House Company theatre troupe will have a very long and successful run.
Perhaps the best compliment I received as Mayor was one gentleman who toured the Opera House during the day on Saturday. He explained to me that he last performed in a band on stage April 6th of 1940. He was excited to see that we had restored the theater and were using it today. It really made me feel good to have a former resident come back to Sesser and relive that day in his life. It just makes me feel good to preserve a bit of history and brought back good memories for this man. It makes me feel even better to know that we have preserved the past in Sesser and we are right now making memories for the future!
Shifting gears now and getting off my Sesser cloud, what will happen in Springfield this week looms out there before us? As you know the legislature has a May 31st deadline for adjournment. If a budget is not put in place and passed by that deadline the whole matter becomes much more difficult for the democrats. Right now the democrats have enough votes to pass a budget and get the governor to sign it without republican help. If the May 31st deadline is not met then it will take a three fifths majority vote of both the house and the senate to pass a budget. I seriously doubt that democrats will allow that to happen and truthfully speaking I doubt that the republicans are too upset about that. The republicans can sit on the sidelines and do some complaining about being left out of the process but the bottom line is now that the democrats have control of everything, they will have to put forth a budget and either raise revenue or cut costs. We all know that cutting costs is not an option in this state so the republicans can sit by and watch the democrats hang themselves looking for billions of dollars in new money. I can see the campaign commercials already being made!
It appears the easiest solution for the money woes, according to the democrats, is to increase gambling in Illinois. Now there is a real novel idea, we can gamble ourselves out of debt. I sometimes wonder where we get such great leaders. Gambling is simply a tax on poor people, nothing more and nothing less. The largest pockets of lottery sales come from the most poverty stricken areas of the state. You don't find a booming lottery business in the exclusive area of Wilmette, Illinois but you will find a land office lottery business in East Saint Louis. That should speak volumes to us as to what gambling is all about. While it is true that nobody forces anybody to buy a lottery ticket or gamble on a river boat, I still have serious doubts about building more casinos to solve our financial problems.
As of this writing a strong proposal is on the table to build four new gambling casinos in the Chicago area of course, that will raise an estimated $5 billion dollars. We might as well legalize prostitution and tax that business as well while we are in the sin tax business!
We do have to hand out the crafty award though to Senate President Emil Jones who slipped in a little goody for Chicago State University. Jones had written into the gambling legislation a little tidbit that would give the university as much as a $40 million dollar windfall. Could it be that Jones has relatives with million dollar no bid contracts at that university? Only in Illinois could the Senate President's wife get a $70,000 pay raise and practically every member of his family be on the state payroll either though jobs or no bid contracts and folks just look the other way. This has the potential to embarrass democrats all over the state in next year's elections. Jones is basically unbeatable in his district but fellow democratic senators may have trouble explaining to their constituents why they keep electing him as their leader.
In my limited experience I have found that the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House will put together a last minute budget plan and cram it down the throats of their members. Members will be forced to vote for it or else. That is a problem for most legislators and it was for me. If you question the budget your legislative leader will see to it that you get no funds for your district. If you vote for it without question the voters back home will question why you did it. Legislators have been in session for months now and have basically not even talked about the budget. I assure you that the final budget will be put together in a matter of hours on the last day and it will pass.
I don't see any huge tax increases as that is the most difficult way to raise income for two reasons. First, nobody wants more taxes and second taxpayers are not large campaign contributors like casinos are. Millions of dollars in campaign cash are being put together right now to entice legislators to expand gambling in Illinois. If you don't think cash works, think again. This state and its politicians are notorious for taking cash and passing legislation to benefit those who give away the cash. It is all legal and ethical we are told. I say only in Illinois could we call what is happening legal and ethical!
Neva Sulser is recovering from knee surgery. Spike Witcher continues to recover and is looking forward to getting back to work. Donnie Loucks is out of the hospital after having heart tests done. Grandson John Eubanks, Jr. is home recuperating surgery. Kim and Ray Scott have welcomed home their new bundle of joy, Raylin. If you would like to see a picture just get within in 50 feet of proud grandma Lowanda. She, as all grandmothers, has pictures of their new grandbaby and is willing to share them! Congratulations to them!
If you need us give us a call at 625-5322 or 625-3611 or write nedmitchell@verizon.net .
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