Mayor’s Row…………by Ned Mitchell

                What are they thinking is a question that our great reformer/unreformer governor might ask democratic Senate President Emil Jones and his cohorts about their decision to close up shop in Springfield for part of this week and head to Ohio to campaign for Barack Obama.  Stop and think about this for a minute and ask yourself, would you want a State Senator from Ohio coming to Southern Illinois and telling you to vote for their candidate for President?  I thought not!  Even if things were peachy keen in Illinois, all of our bills paid, a construction program in full force, education fully funded, health insurance, pensions all caught up and practically no unemployment, it would still be a dumb move.  I have heard more folks grumbling about our own Senator Gary Forby making that trip than I can care to count.  All of those grumblers without a doubt questioned his decision to make the trip while we are drowning in problems down here on top of the fact that he does have a viable opponent in this fall’s general election.  Mind you these are Forby supporters, not opponents, they just question the wisdom of Emil Jones leading his flock out of state when there are many pressing problems here to be dealt with.

                My take on this whole concept of packing up and leaving is that maybe it was a good idea.  That simply means that at least if this bunch is not in Springfield they cannot do anything to us back here at home.  Sometimes we are better off without our leaders in Springfield and based on last year’s fiasco of a legislative session and how this year has already started and this might be one of those times.  Meanwhile we see record utility bills, more unemployment, more folks with no health care, fewer tourists and more bad news coming at us every week.  I just don’t know how bad things are going to have to get before those of us who really care decide to roll up our sleeves and do something about it.

                On top of all of that malarkey we have this joke of a governor holding a press conference at Northern Illinois University campus last week proposing the demolishing of Cole Hall where the mass murders were carried out a few weeks back.  Governor Blagojevich proposes to tear down this building and blow $40 million dollars on a new one.  What?  Where did he find $40 million dollars?  The University does not want to tear down the building and neither do the residents in that community.  On top of that we now find out from the Governor that a $1 million dollar grant that he gave to a Baptist Church in Chicago to help them rebuild after a fire really went to a school instead.  Now he says that was a mistake and yes, he has found another $1 million dollars to now give to the church.  There will be a pink snow laying all over Southern Illinois before fellow democrats finally admit a mistake was made in re-electing this guy.

                I had to laugh out loud when I received me latest President’s Report brochure from Rend Lake College and noticed the headline in the upper left hand of the publication as it proudly proclaimed “We’re At It Again”.  No sooner did I read that than I opened my mail and found an invitation from the Rend Lake College Foundation that featured a performance by area artists in a production called “The Collaborators”.  Boy, I don’t know who was in charge of putting those things together but they have caused a stir of laughter behind the scenes.

                President Mark Kern has announced his decision to retire and depending on whom you believe that may or may not be true.  Kern a few years ago made his intentions known yet some on the inside at the local campus swear up and down that he is being forced out the door.  It has been widely circulated on blogs and in coffee shops that Kern had about a 45 minute high speed come apart during a recent campus wide staff meeting.  Board members are mum and rumors are flying but this I know advertisements have been published asking for applications from those who are interested in becoming the next President of Rend Lake College.  I found it strange that the board has decided not to make a doctorate degree a requirement for the position.  The way the ad is written someone with an 8^th grade education would be eligible for the job if they had the experience.  This will be an interesting process!

                Sesser area residents, like other communities will see an increase in their water bills in the next few months.  Rend Lake Conservancy District has notified all cities that purchase water from them that bills will go up about 11% over the next five years.  Board attorney Larry Sanders laughingly said that cities will raise the rates and blame the Conservancy District.  While that is a widely held concept out there, we do not feel that way in Sesser.  We understand all too well that you cannot sell a product for less than you pay for it.  We will raise our water and sewer bills to compensate for our increased costs.  As I have been saying all along when the utility bills took a huge jump folks in Southern Illinois would get a double whammy.  First their home utility bills jumped through the ceiling.  Well I am here to tell you that ours at city hall almost doubled, particularly at the sewer plant.  Add to that increases in wages, insurance, pension and other costs of maintaining our system and yes, we will have to raise your bill.  We will make it as easy on folks as we can and we at city hall are customers too and when we raise your bill, we also raise our own.

                Make plans now to attend the community choir Easter Cantata under the direction of Gayla Stubblefield on March 16^th at 2:00 pm at the historic Sesser Opera House.  This group of VOLUNTEERS have been rehearsing for several weeks and always put on a top notch performance for all us to enjoy.  We appreciate their hard work on our behalf.

                Mark your calendar for March 20^th, a Thursday evening for a live performance of the Southern Illinois Symphony Orchestra.  This orchestra will feature 35 musicians and will use our new grand piano.  The concert starts at 7:30 pm. 

                If you missed last week’s recital, let me tell you Kyle Miller, Andrea Harris, and Chinmi Ryu put on a show and folks are still talking about their talents.  We made history in Sesser with this new piano purchase.  We will have CD’s of the evening for sale at a cost of $5.00 with proceeds going to the continued restoration of this historic Opera House.

                My mother, Rosemary Mitchell is home from a few days in the Herrin Hospital and doing better.  We appreciate the cards, prayers and concerns.