Mayor’s Row……by Ned Mitchell

What do South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford; Nevada Senator John Ensign; Louisiana Senator David Vitter; A Chicago Jewish Organization called Keshet; Pilgrim Church in Chicago; and dolphins have in common?

These people and organizations are just a small part of what is creating vast waves of dissatisfaction among the tax payers in America. Call it a culture of sleaze or whatever you wish; these are just a microscopic look at what is wrong in America.

First all three elected officials named in the beginning share some things in common. They are all Republicans and were at one time up and comer young office holders with brilliant futures. They all three criticized former President Bill Clinton and went on a rampage calling for his resignation or impeachment over his sexual dalliances in the White House. Another thing all three have in common is they have all been doing the same thing President Clinton did; well not exactly the same maybe, but you get the picture. One has been caught with an escort service, another paid a former campaign aide $96,000 to help calm her nerves, and the other went missing for a week in Argentina with his mistress who lives over there.

These gentlemen have all contributed greatly to the “do as I say not do as I do” atmosphere that is a plague on this country. People are human and human’s make mistakes but for the life of me I simply cannot understand how folks can call for President Clinton’s political head and at the same time know within their heart they are doing the same thing they just got done criticizing him for. It all adds up to a huge amount of mistrust in all elected officials by the electorate and rightfully so.

Back to the Jewish Keshet; Pilgrim Church; and dolphins. These three organizations and hundreds more just like them share in the boondoggle that we in Illinois have come to know as the Capital Bill recently signed into law by Governor Pat Quinn. We have been inundated with stories of crumbling bridges about to collapse; roads with potholes big enough to hide a Volkswagen; and schools with the ceilings falling in on students and their laptops. What we have not been told is where vast amounts of this $31 billion dollars are going.

The Jewish organization Keshet is receiving $150,000 to build a new cabin in Wisconsin of all places. Remember when a fire destroyed the Pilgrim Church in Chicago a few years ago and the reformer/unreformer promised a $1 million dollar gift to rebuild it? The only problem with that is the fact that the State of Illinois gave the million bucks to the wrong church and has been trying ever since to get it back. That surely must have been a computer glitch or oversight! Where do dolphins come into play you ask? Well the dolphins at the Brookfield Zoo are getting $100,000 dollars for a new tank liner even though the latest tax return shows that zoo has $135 million in the bank.

Add in the fact that the Chicago based Christian Love MB Church is getting $250,000 in unspecified improvements; Chicago Old Towne School of Music gets a cool $2 million; Chicago Not for Profit Beat Creators will get $1 million; Jubilee Market a convenience store located in Chicago will get $1 million; and the list goes on and on.

It all depends on who’s ox is being gored here as to whether or not you think these are justifiable expenses. I am sure we will see this list continue to be exploited by the press and I am sure we will get our fair share of goodies down this way.

Adding to the general consensus of tax payer revolt is the fact that Illinois needs almost $12 billion dollars just to be back to even. We are witnessing vast cuts in services provided to society’s most needy but we are finding thousands of dollars to take care of dolphins at a zoo sitting on top of $135 million dollars in the bank. I am sure there is a dolphin support group out there somewhere that I just offended but seriously folks; are we making wise use of our tax dollars? I’m sure that when we all see our local version of Santa Claus handing out “goodies” for us we will feel much better. I’m just not sure how well I will feel about a new cabin in Wisconsin, or a million bucks to a Chicago convenience store, or those danged dolphins, compliments of our tax dollars!

If you have time on your hands and wish to see a worthwhile exhibit that is free, come to the historic Sesser Opera House and take time to look at some coal miner memorabilia. Retired UMWA International Vice-President and Sesser resident Jerry Jones has put together a nice display featuring coal mine artifacts from this area and also other parts of the world.

Jerry spent 37 years in the business and is a huge success story himself. He started out as a bottom laborer at Old Ben Mine #21 east of Sesser and worked his way up to the office of UMWA International Vice-President. Jerry held a lot of union offices on his way to where he ended up and through hard work and diligence has shown to all of us that it can be done. One can start at the bottom and work him or herself up the ladder to reach goals that some think are not reachable.

We are proud of Jerry and his contributions to our community and invite you to come in and see some of his vast collection of items that are part of our history here in Sesser.