Peoria Illinoisan

These knocked over stones with level and upright foundations can be found in an approximate 20×20 foot area at the edge of the fascinating but oft-neglected ‘old public lots‘ section of Springdale Cemetery.  I can’t say when this abuse happened, but I don’t recall seeing this the last time I visited the area a few weeks ago or any other time previous.

Related posts:
Oak Ridge Cemetery being “Desecrated”
Eureka’s Old Methodist Cemetery

If you’ll recall, this building was destined to fall to the wrecking ball; now it has plans to be fully renovated.

Post 64 officially unveils its newly renovated third floor during a 4 p.m. ribbon cutting and open house, completing a $140,000 renovation of the floor from an unused former bingo hall into the rejuvenated “Freedom Ballroom.”

“Once we get people here, they will see we have a hidden jewel,” said John Johnson, the finance officer with Post 64.

Officials with Post 64 hope that by renting out the space, revenue can be generated to raise enough money over time to refurbish the entire building, including its exterior.

Peoria Journal Star.

I was hoping to look at this image in the Chicago Sun-Times which graphically showed various crime statistics in Chicago, but the resolution was so low I could hardly read a thing. What I could read wasn’t too shocking.. most murder victims are male, black, have prior arrests, and the murderer has most likely had a prior arrest also. Murders are also most likely to occur during the 10 o’clock hour and in June.

Feeling pretty safe, but wanting to reassure myself I googled the phrase “how to not get shot” and found a satire piece on how to not get shot… by police.  It too is mostly common sense, but common sense seems to be lacking all too often these days, so I’m reprinting it here:

1. DON’T COMMIT VIOLENT CRIMES. I know this seems elementary, but this rule is lost on many. They do the crime, get shot, and then wonder how it could possibly happen. They whine that it is so unfair. Well, Slick, violent crime, like jumping in front of moving cars, is just a high risk occupation, and, in case you missed it, committing violent crimes make police officers think you may not be a good person.

2. If you ignore rule No. 1, and the police do confront you, DON’T RUN AWAY FROM THEM. I know it’s hard to believe, but that may make them think you’re guilty of something. Hiding in bushes or closets makes some cops (mostly older ones) very nervous. They might even foolishly conclude that you’re up to no good!

3. If you disregard rules 1 and 2, and the cops catch up with you anyway and inform you that you are under arrest, DON’T MAKE FAST MOVEMENTS WITH YOUR HANDS. I know it sounds silly, but grabbing a shiny beer can, a dark colored wallet, or one of those snazzy and real looking replica guns may make police officers mistakenly believe that you are about to hurt them.

4. If you disregard rules 1, 2, and 3, and manage to get what looks like a deadly weapon into your hands, DON’T POINT IT AT THE COPS. We all know that you’re basically a nice person, but that may be lost on the police officers confronting you. In their paranoia, they may even believe they need to protect themselves.

5. If you disregard rules 1, 2, 3, and 4, DON’T BE ASTONISHED IF THE COPS DO NOT INSTANTLY TURN INTO YOUR PERSONAL CONFIDANTE. They may be too preoccupied to realize that you’re normally a splendid person and that you’re just having a bad day. They may be too preoccupied to see that when you point a weapon at them in a threatening manner, it is just your way of crying out for help. We both know that the whole problem can be traced to the fact that your mother didn’t breast feed you, but some police officers are so cynical they just don’t see it. So, there you have it.

Could you please process my transaction while keeping the chit chat to a minimum.  I did not come here to make small talk through a speaker, and if you must babble on and on, could you at least talk fast?  I really just want to take my receipt and leave.  Thank you.

Curious about a short post by Merle Widmer regarding a local business heading to bankruptcy and which he states “some government bodies may be stuck again with some unpaid bills of 6 figure size” got me wondering as to who this business could be.

On March 21, 2009, the Journal Star printed a list of businesses that currently have Small Business Loans through both the city and county of Peoria. Of those listed only four companies have a combined outstanding balance of over $100,000: Sloan Biotech, Tim’s Ace Hardware, Lagron Miller and Globe Energy.

Globe Energy.

Remember them? They burst on the scene in 2007 with the promise of 600 jobs only to hire 38 at their height according to what I could find.

Remember the company president David Jones who ruffled some feathers when responding about complaining workers with the quote “I have a Ferrari and a $3 million house in the U.K. I don’t need this abuse” and later threatened to sue Billy Dennis over a post that I wrote?

I had noticed over the summer that no more than three or four cars were in the parking lot at any one time, and not long ago the security guard at the entrance to the parking lot (yes, they really had a security guard) had gone missing. Common sense tells me that in a world wide recession most Fortune 500 companies do not want to spend a boatload of cash to upgrade their facilities using Globe Energy’s products, so it should come as no big surprise that they’ve been struggling.

Also on March 21, the Journal Star printed an article written by reporter John Sharp, reprinted in brief here:

Globe Energy LLC is several months behind in repaying taxpayer-backed loans it received from the city and county in 2007 to open and operate a Peoria manufacturing plant for energy-efficient heating equipment.

The company, whose British founder and president has called Illinoisans’ work ethic “awful,” owes a combined $251,598 in principal and interest payments on two loans it received in 2007 totaling $300,000. The loans are for $150,000 each and are to be repaid in five years.

[...]

Neither the city nor the county has a defined deadline in which small-business loans need to be repaid before each entity seeks legal action.

Peoria City Finance Director James Scroggins said typically whenever a business is late by two months or more in payments of sales or hotel, restaurant and amusement (HRA) taxes, the legal department is notified.

But with small-business development loans, such as the one Globe Energy has, it’s up to the Economic Development Department to work with the company to make sure the debt is repaid. The Finance Department does send a monthly bill to the company informing it about the late payments that are due.

In Peoria County, Brunner said it’s up to EDC to monitor the small-business loans. While the county doesn’t send out a monthly bill, the EDC does assess fines on late payments.

EDC’s Chief Operating Officer Vickie Clark said it’s the county’s “ultimate decision” whether legal action should be pursued to recoup a loan.

I don’t fault the city and county’s Economic Development departments, although I do think they may want to look at how better they can enforce and collect on defaulting payments. I had high hopes for Globe Energy and its future here in Peoria, as many did, and of course I hate to hear of any local business going under. Although this is mere speculation, if Globe Energy is truly on the brink of bankruptcy, Mr. Jones has burned too many bridges for me to feel much sympathy.

If you haven’t seen it yes, this is an amazing video of a forklift driver slamming into the pallet racking setting of a chain reaction that brought down an entire warehouse of Russian liquor. The driver suffered only minor injuries, but caused damages in excess of $150,000 usd.

{wife, standing next to me as I’m doing the dishes} Phew! The dishes really stink.

{me} I don’t smell anything.

{5 minutes later, me, noticing my own stink after hiking in Robinson Park earlier} I think the smell was me.

{daughter} Your face is red and sweating.

{me} I’ve been sweating all day.

{wife} So why don’t you take off your sweatshirt?

{me} Because I was afraid the stink would really get out there.

{wife} Hello!!  D E O D O R A N T ?

Get outside and enjoy the weekend!

He worked hard all year, just wanted a few weeks alone
But his old ladys into modelin’, she can’t get away from a phone
Besides she bitches about the mosquitoes
She says, down there there is nothing to do
Her goddamn phone never stops ringin’
He’ll try the service in a day maybe two

Well he’s on his third drink before the wheels of the plane leave the ground
Makin’ points with the stewardess high over Long Island Sound
Shes also spending some time on the island
Too much city madness gives her the blues
They make a date to go dancin’ and dinin’
It seems neither has that much to lose

Chorus:
The weather is here I wish you were beautiful
My thoughts aren’t too clear but don’t run away
My girlfriends a bore, my job is too dutiful
Hell nobodys perfect would you like to play?
I feel together today

Well now that’s just the start of a well-deserved overdue binge
Meanwhile back in the city certain people are starting to cringe
His lawyers are calling his parents
His girlfriend doesn’t know what to think
His partners are studying their options
He’s just singin’ and orderin’ drinks

Chorus

Hes goin’ back to new york pack it up and let everyone know
It was something that he should have done such a long time ago
Still time to start a new life in the palm trees
Ah, Billy Clyde wasn’t insane
And if it doesn’t work out there’ll never be any doubt
That the pleasure was worth all the pain

Chorus

An article in this morning’s print edition of the Journal Star about airlines tacking on more fees to the traveler reminded me of an interesting email I received last week. Excuse the grammatical errors.

Please take note that the current air market is extreme tight and airlines still do not operate more aircrafts at this critical moment because they have cut down almost 50% of their schedule flights since past months and parked all their aircrafts at desert when the market was dead.

Since limited space capacity supply, airlines are now taking this best advantage to increase the rates continuously so even they could accept the booking, goods is needed sitting at airport for 3-5 days before departure because airlines are clearing the backlots/over-flow cargo which has been stuck at airport everyday.

Kindly find attached pictures that you will be aware why the air market is extreme tight now.

According to an AP article, “the number of planes in storage has jumped 29 percent in the past year to 2,302, according to aerospace data firm Ascend Worldwide. That includes 930 parked by U.S. operators alone. Eventually, some will be sold, some scrapped, some will sit at desert facilities in southern California, Arizona, and New Mexico.”

Interesting, eh?

…but in my feeble attempt to remain a ‘glass half full’ kind of guy, it does make for nice sunsets over Walmart.

Don’t SCARE me like that while I’m watching ‘A Haunting‘ on the Discovery channel.

Instead of constantly trying to police what is uploaded to YouTube, you should embrace it. Had it not been for my accidental stumbling across this video I would have never heard of or bought a Feist album.

You rarely stock anything I want to buy in the music section, but I did see that you had a good supply of the newly remastered Beatle’s CDs, including the White album for $19.95. You also had a copy of the un-remastered White album for a mere $29.95.

I didn’t buy either of those, but I did buy Abbey Road and it sounds glorious.

You lost a sale today. After paying my AmerenCilco bill at your facility I thought I would pick up some libations but you had all of the aisles blocked. Deciding against walking in a big circle to get to the area that I was standing right in front and not wanting to hurt myself by jumping over the obsticles you placed in my way, I decided to leave. Sorry. Open the aisles next time.

I love oddball roadside attractions as much as the next guy, so using RoadsideAmerica.com as my guide, I compiled a top 10 list of attractions that I would like to visit.

[All text is reprinted from RoadsideAmerica.com]

10. Cathedral of Junk, Austin, TX.

Wrapped in years of subtropical Texas vegetation, the Cathedral is a hollow framework of improvised trusses, around and within which Vince has wired and packed all manner of mass-production cast-offs: lawnmower wheels, car bumpers, kitchen utensils, ladders, cables, bottles, circuit boards, bicycle parts, brick-a-brack, and a lot of stuff that is frankly unidentifiable.

Illuminated beer signs, clocks, and other electric do-dads still operate, powered by unseen cables and outlets hidden within the shadowy silvery-green. Walk through the Cathedral’s passages, and one is eerily reminded of scenes from the film Aliens, where half-organic walls are built of humans waiting to be sucked dry.

“Some people recognize junk that they used to have. Women, mostly,” Vince tells us. “A few people get overwhelmed and have to leave. Sometimes people get weird. Some people cry. Women again. They just get overcome or something, I dunno.”

9. Truckhenge, Topeka, KS.

“I don’t try to be nice to the county when they’re morons,” [Ron Lessman] tells us, showing us his signature creation, Truckhenge.

8. Giant Lady’s Leg Sundial, Roselawn, IN.

Dick had big ideas: he renamed the place Naked City, made it the home of the Ms. Nude Teeny Bopper Contest and the “Erin Go Bra-less” Dance on St. Patrick’s Day, and had built the giant lady’s leg sundial, 63 feet long and properly positioned to tell time — a useful feature for wristwatchless nudists.

Naked City closed in 1986 when Dick was run out of Indiana on child molestation charges, but the leg remains and so does the resort, now under new management.

7. Idaho Potato Museum, Blackfoot, ID.

At the World Potato Exposition, you can “Learn about the agricultural, historical, social, scientific, educational, artistic and economic aspects of the world-famous Idaho potato.” A giant chunk of Idaho gold — the world’s largest Styrofoam potato — lies next to the parking lot, like something that fell off a flatbed truck on a novelty postcard.

There are displays on how the industry grew in Idaho, and exhibits of farming and sorting equipment.

A tribute to Mr. Potato Head sits behind glass.

6. Museum of Bad Art, Dedham, MA.

“Talented artists can make bad art,” said Louise. “Incompetent artists can make bad art, too, but mostly what they make is just boring.”

And what about people who intentionally make bad art? Do their creations qualify for exhibit space in MOBA? Louise said no. “If you do it bad deliberately, you’ve accomplished what you set out to do. You’ve done it good. It’s not bad any more.”

5. Kansas Underground Salt Mine, Hutchinson, KS.

If ever there was a mine tour designed for Mr. and Mrs. Armchair American, this is it. The Kansas Underground Salt Museum doesn’t even have the word “mine” in its title, and that’s no accident. There are no claustrophobic squeezes here, no deadly gasses, not even any dirt. A tour here is like a drive inside a parking garage — except that it’s 67 miles long and sealed inside of a 400-foot-thick block of salt.

4. Arm of General Stonewall Jackson Grave Site, Ellwood, VA.

In the early days of the war, Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia surprised the oddsmakers by winning battle after battle. In Chancellorsville, though, Jackson was mistakenly shot by his own men. He had his left arm amputated, and died eight days later.

In 1929 it [the arm] was exhumed from a nondescript crypt and reburied in a steel box on a plantation known as Ellwood in the Wilderness Battlefield. Little has changed around the field in which it now lays. There is only one gravestone, the one belonging to Jackson’s arm.

3. Presidents Park, Lead, SD.

The 43 heads are arranged chronologically along a path winding up into a rocky knoll of tall pines. George Washington, generally accepted in history as the first President of the USA, looks over the snack bar.

The busts are16-20 feet tall, with the seven greatest Presidents’ heads rendered at about 12 times life-size. Each head is accompanied by an informational display.

2. Eastern State Penitentiary Tours, Philadelphia, PA.

Eastern State Penitentiary was the largest building in America when it opened in 1829. Its grounds still cover a dozen acres; its 30-foot-high walls extend for nearly a mile.

There’s a second floor view from Cell Block 7 (”one of the most beautiful cell blocks”), and the well-appointed cell of former star prisoner Al Capone, and Cell Block 12, “the haunted cell block” where people pay to be locked in overnight to see ghosts (It’s also the location for “Terror Behind The Walls,” one of America’s creepier Halloween attractions.)

1. Carhenge, Alliance, NE.

A family reunion in 1987 produced what has become America’s best-known quirky Stonehenge — “Carhenge,” built in a dusty field outside of Alliance, Nebraska, under the supervision of farmer Jim Reinders, who meant it as a memorial to his dad. What made Carhenge unique was that it was made of, well, cars — 38 of them, rescued from nearby farms and dumps. The Reinders family spray-painted the cars a flat gray to make the monument more accurate. Two foreign vehicles were originally part of Carhenge, but they were subsequently dragged away and buried, replaced by models from Detroit. The “heel stone” is a 1962 Caddy.

The residents of Alliance at first wanted to tear down Carhenge. The Nebraska Department of Highways wanted to label it a “junkyard” and erect a big fence around it. But the animosity has long since passed, and signs on the outskirts of town now proudly identify Alliance as the “Home of Carhenge.”