I thought it would be a fun idea to once in a while ditch the political topics and write something fun.  I have tons of memories about growing up in Decatur and most of them are good ones, so…

The old wooden bridge that crossed Spring Creek on North East Carrol, was our absolute favorite hangout.  My best friend and I spent hours upon hours skipping stones, hopping from one rock to the next.  A lot of times we just sat under the bridge, hearing cars rumble overhead as the wooden planks rolled and clunked.  We built rock dams across the creek and screamed whenever we lifted a rock to find a crawdad.  I hated those things!  Their pinchers, their beady little eyes, their exoskeletons, their pinchers! They still scare me.  We built rafts out of driftwood and sticks, which supported our weight for about 3 seconds until we sunk to the bottom.  We walked up and down the creek, sometimes in our good shoes, and came home dirty and smelly.  The funny thing is, I never remember my parents ever getting mad at me for having some good clean dirty fun.

We’d play from sunup till sundown outside riding up and down South Court Drive, East Court Drive and North Court Drive on our banana seat bicycles.   Highway 51 bordered the neighborhood on the west, so there was no West Court Drive.  I’m thankful we didn’t have computers, iPod’s and video games.  Life was so much more fun when it was lived and not just talked about or played out on a computer screen.

Besides the bridge, Brettwood was our major hangout.  Those “No bicycles or skateboards allowed on the sidewalk” signs you see there today, were because of us!  My contribution to the community!

Brettwood was usually fun, except for a couple occasions.  We had this really cool idea to sneak out of our houses at 3:00 in the morning and walk to Brettwood.  My friend knocked on my window, right on time and I climbed out into the backyard.  Once in the backyard it seemed barely recognizable.  It looked creepy.  How could my backyard, my beloved backyard look so creepy?  We hurried to the back street and walked quickly.  The bridge, which seemed so benign during the day, looked like a scene out of a cheap horror movie.  It was extremely humid that night and the heavy night air was hard to breathe.  The moisture in the air could be seen, touched and felt.  Under the lone street light above the bridge, the mist  reached its arms out beneath the old wooden structure, like a clouded monster about to grasp us and pull us under.  We ran across the bridge.  We made it to Brettwood.  The post office was still located there at that time and we walked passed it.  It looked creepy.  We walked past all the stores that we knew so well and they too looked creepy.  We made it to Kroger’s which was open 24 hours a day.  The bright light shinning out wasn’t as welcoming nor comforting as we thought it would be.  We stood before the automatic doors and looked at each other.

I think every lesson our parents had ever pounded into our heads about strangers, kidnappers and murderers of careless, disobedient children suddenly popped up in our brains.  “This had been a very dumb idea.”  We both concluded.  We ran the entire way home.  The pines on Christine were dark, ominous masses of fright.  The yews, in front of the ranch style houses, surely had something sinister hiding behind them but they were all blurs as we ran by.   Sweat dripped off of my body and as I climbed back through my bedroom window, and sat in front of the fan, I vowed never to do THAT again.

This wasn’t the only time we had ran all the way home from Brettwood.  The other time involved my one and only stint in the criminal world.  We had shoplifted a couple candy bars from SupeRx, hidden in a couple hats.  These were those cheesy painter style hats from the 1980′s.  I think mine was of some bad heavy metal band like Ratt.   Just as we reached the door, the cashier yelled, “Hey, let me see what you have in those hats!”  We dashed out the door, ran  behind the shopping center and into the woods.  This was before Martin Luther King Jr. Drive had been made four lanes.  There was a small creek and railroad tracks to cross.  We ran through the water and then thought, hey maybe we should go back in forth through the water so the dogs, who the police would surely send after us, wouldn’t be able to pick up our scent.

So back and forth we went quickly and then just to be on the safe side we ran through Spring Creek near our homes just in case those dogs had really good noses.  Neither one of us had ever been so scared before.  I ran into my house and he ran to his.  We stayed hidden for a good while.  Every time I heard a dog bark I freaked.  The worst part of the whole ordeal was, we had tossed our candy bars into a dumpster, so as to dispose of the evidence.  All of that trouble and I had nothing to show for it but a guilty conscience and wet shoes.

I watched a little bit of the debate between current Governor Pat Quinn and his rival Dan Hynes on PBS yesterday evening.  I tuned in to watch “This Old House”, as I didn’t even know a debate was scheduled, but instead I got “This Old Tiresome Politics in Illinois” instead.   I didn’t really learn anything of value from either candidate.  They were busy tossing back and forth blame for Illinois’ current economic woes. On the Republican side, there’s about 4,000 candidates for governor and 40,000,000 for lieutenant governor, so I have a feeling, the 2% of illegible voters who show up to the polls Feb 2nd, will be doing a lot of eeny-meeny-miny-moe-ing.

Locally, we do have an interesting primary battle between Amy Bliefnick and Tim Dudley for the 51st District Illinois seat, which is currently held by Republican Kyle McCarter.  I don’t know either one of them personally but from what I’ve noticed, the unions and the big wigs in the Democratic Party are tossing their support behind Dudley (they did so early on in the race) and the business folks are rooting for Bliefnick.  That may be a bit simplified but that seems to be the case.  Dudley is currently a Macon County Board member, real estate professional and broadcaster.  Bliefnick is currently president of the board of trustees at Richland Community College and has been the Illinois State Fair Manager.  At this point, I don’t know who would prefer.

From my highly scientific polling, Dudley is in the lead with 518 fans on Facebook compared to Amy’s 457 – if that means anything.

Amy Bliefnick’s Website

Bliefnick’s Facebook Page

Tim Dudley’s Website

Dudley on Facebook

Scott Brown’s win in Massachusetts tonight leaves me with mixed emotions.  I think the voters of Massachusetts sent the right message to Washington and the Democratic Party – which has seemingly lost its’ way.  Brown wouldn’t be my first choice but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures.  Meetings behind closed doors, late night votes, hurried legislation, and bad legislation at that, is not what Americans want from their leaders.

I don’t want Brown’s win to kill health care reform.  On the contrary, I want real discussions between both parties to form real solutions.  There are many things, many American’s agree on when it comes to health care reform:  the ability to purchase insurance in a competitive market across state lines, the same tax breaks for individuals that businesses enjoy when purchasing health insurance, better efficiency within the health care industry such as electronic medical records, putting an end to Medicare overpayment, fraud and abuse, putting an end to insurance companies denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions, allowing small businesses to form co-ops to purchase insurance at a lower rate .  Those changes would be enormous without adding to the deficit, infringing on personal freedoms or hampering job growth.

Most of all, I hope the Democratic Party comes to realize that the American people want honesty,  integrity, transparency and the best intentions from their leaders.  I almost feel silly for writing such a thing because it seems so ridiculous to still dream that our leaders would possess such basic good human qualities. It shouldn’t be ridiculous to expect such things.

Boy, not much has been going on in Decatur lately.  I guess we’re all too cold, depressed, bored and/or hibernating till Spring – kind of like the city council.  The only thing interesting on the agenda for tomorrow’s council meeting is a discussion on downtown parking.  I know, I know the excitement is too much for me too!  Here’s a rundown of the suggested changes:  http://decaturil.gov/council/councilagenda/Downtown%20Parking.pdf

I do like the idea of utilizing the trolleys to transport downtown workers in an effort to encourage them to park in employee designated zones.  Reducing the enforcement period for the meters to 9:00am – 3:00pm seems reasonable too.

2010 looks like it will be a year of decision making for Decatur.  After several years of planning and talking about future needs, projects and goals for the city.  2010 is the year when many of those plans will be, if not put in motion, at least made more clear.

A final vote hasn’t been taken but it looks like the new police station will most likely be located in the Wabash Crossing area.  In the past, many different locations and options have been discussed and promoted by different groups and individuals but Wabash Crossing seems to be the most logical and realistic spot.  The next step is getting the project “shovel ready” for federal funds.  The city will have to spend some money upfront to get a detailed plan developed but that in itself is a big step – considering past disagreements about where any facility should be located.  A new police station is not going to be built in 2010 but the preliminary planning to get it built, will begin.

The school district will also be putting their recommendations for improving Decatur’s high schools before the voters this year.  It hasn’t been settled what plans will actually be voted on yet.  Either a brand new single high school campus located in a site yet undetermined, or at least undisclosed to the public as of yet, is one option; completely remodeling Eisenhower and MacArthur high schools is also an option; lastly converting Stephen Decatur Middle School back into a single campus high school may be on the ballot.

However, the Stephen Decatur option fails to mention where the middle school students would be displaced to.  Would MacArthur be converted into a middle school and Eisenhower sold to St. Mary’s Hospital?  That’s still up in the air but we’ll probably be voting on something in 2010.  The problem of course, with any plan, is how do we pay for it and what are residents willing to pay?  A county sales tax has been suggested but that seems even more unlikely to pass than asking Decatur’s residents for an  increase in property taxes.  Of course, doing nothing is an option if voters reject whatever plan is placed on the ballot.

The plans for the  lakefront at Nelson Park will also be unveiled this year.  This has been a hot topic in Decatur as many residents fear losing public access to the lake through one of Decatur’s oldest and most beloved park.  The Nelson Park golf course was closed in 2009 and plans for that land are still up in the air.  The city, park district and Chamber of Commerce have all contributed time and money towards the planning but now it’s the public’s turn to contribute both with ideas and possibly money.

So, it looks like 2010 will be a busy one for Decatur.