Peoria Illinoisan

I head to the ATM in the big empty parking lot area near Main, trying to avoid being hit by the cars who don’t realize that even empty parking lots have lanes. (If you recall, Starbucks was going to develop on this empty lot. I’m sure One World is thrilled that they backed out.)

Get my cash, head to BlockBuster.

There’s a lady who walks from Campustown Liquors and proceeds to sit down outside Blockbuster with a funny shaped paper bag; you know, crumpled into a roundish shape and tapered smaller towards the top. Appears to be counting her change.

Got my movie, back in the car, over to the gas station…

There’s a kid, 8-10 years old riding a bike around the gas station asking people for money. I successfully avoid him. Not everyone is so lucky. Some give him money. One car honks as the boy is not paying attention to cars that are moving. I am inside making a purchase, and think I’ll let the attendant know that this kid’s panhandling outside, (as if it never happens there) when who gets in line behind me? The kid, with a candy bar and a handful of change. I don’t say anything, but wonder if he learned this from his parents. Does he have parents? Do they care?

Leave the gas station to get into my car, when a lady is crossing the street from Papa John’s into Campustown holding a large pizza. She stops a car, creating a small scene among onlookers, and tries to convince the driver (very loudly) that she (paraphrasing) got this pizza, but has no way of paying for it, and they gave it to her on good faith that she will return with money. The driver is *not* convinced. The pizza lady continues walking towards the main parking lot of Campustown.

Too much fun for one night. Time to go home.

Maybe next time I’ll get the story I’m from out of town and need gas money to get back, even though I’m not parked near the Gas Station, and my car is running.

Can’t wait for Halloween!

This is a still shot from a NBC-2 radar loop of Hurricane Wilma coming ashore in south Florida. NBC-2 is based out of Fort Myers. They claim it was not doctored. You be the judge. Click here for the web site, which includes an animated loop.

Jean Van-De-Velde, the Frenchman who staged one of the most embarrasing collapses in modern golf (needing only a Double Bogey on 18 to win the British Open), now wants to play in the next year’s Women’s British Open. Click for the story.

“I’ll even wear a kilt and shave my legs,” he said Thursday after shooting a 7-over-par 78 in the first round of the Volvo Masters.

He’s upset by the growing number of females trying to play on the Men’s tour. Reminds me of the stories of Men applying for waiter jobs at Hooters, and then trying to sue for discrimination.

Personally, I just think he’s upset the he can’t beat the the women who are playing on the Men’s tour.

Never have I read a description of the sweet decadence of an Avantis Gondola like this…

Hoinews.com made it onto the Drudge Report.

For what? Reporting on a 17 year old Eureka girl labeled “Sexually Dangerous”, and having the dubious distiction of being the first female in Illinois with that title. She’s currently in the Dwight Correctional Facility; accused of fondling two young boys.

According to both Dave Dahl and WEEK, Cat is not starting construction until it knows Lakeview has the money to move forward.

“We would not proceed with the building of our facility until we knew the museum had been successful in their fundraising efforts, and that they were ready to commit to the construction of the facility as well,” said Caterpillar’s Mark Johnson.

While this may have caused a few to hold their breaths, it’s really common sense. Lakeview is having trouble getting their funding, even talking about having us Tax Payers foot part of the bill so they can build a new museum. Cat, on the other hand, is ready to go, but doesn’t want to dole out a bunch of money only to have Lakeview backout, or even worse, construction starts- they run out of money- Cat has to bail them out to keep their own Visitors Center from looking like a laughing stock next to the half-built Lakeview.

With this statement, Cat is trying to pressure Lakeview and send them a public message to get their act together. I’m sure they’re already the largest contributor, but this little jab in the ribs, is akin to saying, we’ve done our part- now we’re just waiting on you, PARDNER.

Click on the map to enlarge

Here’s an interesting map of Major League baseball teams and their fan base geographically listed. It is compiled by web users filling out a small questionaire from commoncensus.org Notice how the Cubs and Cards geographically split right down through Peoria (approximately at War Memorial Drive). The White Sox are the dark purple around the South Side. Also of note are the Braves, who seem to represent the “Southern” states. The grey areas don’t have enough people who have filled out the survey. For sports, there are also maps for the NFL, NBA, NHL, and NCAA. Additionally, there is a map which tries to identify major cities and their geographic influence, though I didn’t find it particularly interesting.

Confirmation of what I suspected…

The two games were seen by 15 million and 17.2 million respectively, compared to 23.2 million and 25.5 million for the opening games of the Boston-St. Louis series last year, Nielsen said.

Do you really think any of these shows were better than the dramatic game two??

For the week of Oct. 17-23, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships:
“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS, 28.5 million;
“Desperate Housewives,” ABC, 25.2 million;
“Lost,” ABC, 21.4 million;
“Without a Trace,” CBS, 19.8 million;
“Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 18 million;
“CSI: Miami,” CBS, 17.9 million;
“Survivor: Guatemala,” CBS, 17.8 million;
“NCIS,” CBS, 17.7 million;
World Series Game 2: Houston vs. Chicago, Fox, 17.2 million;
“Commander in Chief,” ABC, 16.3 million.

Source: White Sox Lack TV Allure of Red Sox

The lady scares me! All Brawn, No Brains!

From the inside of today’s local section - Woman arrested after dragging deputy

A Peoria woman was arrested Friday for allegedly dragging a Peoria County sheriff’s deputy down Farmington Road while trying to flee. She later allegedly punched the deputy in the face.

Pamela J. Richardson, 45, of 3335 N. Stanley St. was headed west on Farmington Road about 8 p.m. when Deputy Todd Foster noticed the light was out over her back license plate, according to reports.

As Foster explained the citation he had written for unlawful display of registration and no rear registration plate light, Richardson said she wasn’t “putting up with this,” the deputy wrote in his report.

Richardson started the car and began to drive away, reports said. Foster, hoping to thwart her escape, reached inside the open car window and tried to pull the gear shift down.

Richardson, ignoring Foster’s yells to stop the car, grabbed ahold of the deputy’s arm. Foster was dragged a short distance down Farmington Road until he was able to free himself.

Richardson sped north on Sterling Avenue and turned right on Newman Parkway. Foster followed, taking note when Richardson ran a stop sign as she turned left on Renwood Avenue and sped 60 mph in a 30 mph zone, reports said.

Due to construction on Forrest Hill Avenue, Richardson became snarled in a nearby parking lot. Foster caught her as she tried to run away, but was punched several times in the face and head, the report said.

Richardson also scratched Foster’s neck as he placed handcuffs on her. She then kicked Foster at least three times in the chest as he and another deputy tried to place her in the back of a squad car. Richardson was sprayed in the face with pepper spray so the deputies could place shackles on her feet.

Richardson was booked on charges of unlawful display of registration, aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude police, no rear registration plate light, reckless driving, failure to signal when required, disobeying a stop sign, speeding, aggravated battery and resisting arrest.
Foster sustained minor scratches to his face, neck, hands and knee. He sought treatment at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center for a sprained knee.

She obviously doesn’t listen to Ken Zurki’s CEFCU Traffic One.

From today’s Word On The Street, it sounds to me that the residents on Maplewood have thrown their hands up in the air and “ok, we give up!”

At one point, Armond Ciota thought City Hall could keep Bradley University in line and stop the school’s encroachment into his neighborhood.
Not so anymore.

Bradley now owns all but six homes on Maplewood, which is beyond its institutional boundary. Ciota lives on Maplewood and says he and his few remaining neighbors haven’t been contacted by Bradley yet, but he knows it’s coming.

The calm before the storm? You know the bad news is coming, but you just don’t know when. I have a feeling Bradley took all the easy houses, but caused a big stir, and is now going to lay low for a while before going in for the kill.

And I like this quote from the President of the Arbor District Neighborhood Assoc:

“We’re at a situation where we don’t know what to do. The only bright spot is that we’ve got Bradley to a point where they will meet with the neighborhoods.”

Yea, Bradley will meet with you alright. They’ll say “We have no plans”, then offer you double what your house is worth. Maybe they can call the new sports complex “Cat Arena” and get Big Yellow to bulldoze the neighborhood for free.

I went to a local Chinese restaurant last night for takeout (I won’t embarrass them by naming it). As I picked up a menu, I said it was for a to-go order and ordered a beer to drink while I perused the menu and waited for it to cook.

I was asked if I wanted to drink my beer here or take it to go also…

Glad to hear Landmark is back in the movie business. The Rave really turned me off when they jacked up their concession prices. The new Landmark cinema, called “Nova” offers Popcorn & a Soda for $1.50, and taking a swipe at the Rave, the owner says this “is not just a short-term promotional deal. “

Let’s hope so.

I know there’s more, but these are the ones we’re going to.

First year going to Howl-Zoo-Ween.
This Friday & Saturday 5:30-8:30 at the Glen Oak Zoo

Never miss Wildlife Scary Park.
This weekend and next, 5 - 9

I’m not the only one who noticed the Med Tech seems to be going nowhere. Well, they did propose a name change to Renaissance Park. Renaissance Park? Renaissance from blight? Why do I want to be reminded of that? I personally like the name Med-Tech. The Medical Technology District. That’s a place I would like to be.

Drive down Main Street. What do you see? Walgreens is closed. The Payday Loan shop has changed their name again. The AAMCO lot is still empty. Aaron Schock put a table and chairs in a window front. There’s a new headshop. Steak & Shake is an empty lot. They’re tearing down the old apartments at the top of the bluff (not sure why).

I know these things take time, but…

In the meantime, while we’re waiting for someone to do something, we can always admire those pretty flowers.