Peoria Illinoisan

Without trying to overstate the case, 2007 truly seemed to be the year the blog became more than a novelty in Peoria. Not only were bloggers in the news, they were making news and breaking the news. Moreso than ever it became apparent that news media and politicians alike were reading the blogs. Even Journal Star columnists Claire Jellick and Kirk Wessler began linking to them, instead of always being the other way around.

What started out as a simple project to recap the year turned into a huge undertaking going through multitudes of blog archives. I was a bit surprised at how much had happened over the past year, and believe me, I left out a ton of stuff, trying to focus on the more important and varied issues without linking to any single one multiples of times.

I appologize upfront to any fellow blogger that might feel left out or short changed as that was not my intention, and as any list or recap there will be disagreements about what should and should not be included, so keep in mind that this is the year in review, as I see it:

Jan

1 - Peoria.com debuts
1 - Save The Journal Star Campaign Begins (Peoria Chronicle)
1 - Twenty-One hours into the new year, Peoria records it’s first homicide (Peoria Chronicle)
6 - The Mysterious Case of Silven Yocum (Knight in Dragonland)
7 - John A Carroll continues his one man pissing contest, this time slamming Billy and Eyebrows in the same post (Peoria Pundit)
10 - Silent Majority finally speaks: Wants School Board to build new Glen Oak School at Glen Oak Park. (Peoria Chronicle)
16 - Peoria Journal Star allows comments on their website (Peoria Pundit)
16 - Catholic Diocese of Peoria falsely claims to have support of the Heart of Peoria Commission in the building of their Pastoral Center (Peoria Chronicle)
17 - F.Scotts to close (Angie’s Drama)
17 - Photo Essay: Spalding Gymnasium comes down (Name This Peoria Landmark)
25 - “As long as I’m president, we will not move farther west than Maplewood.” Bradley University’s David Broskey retires. (Peoria Chronicle)
30 - President Bush visits Peoria to a mostly receptive audience (Morton Malaise)

Feb

2 - Museum Square to looks for federal funds through low income New Market Credits (Peoria Chronicle)
24 - City Council At Large Election Quiz (PeoriaIllinoisan)
27 - Primary Election Results (Peoria Chronicle)
28 - Blogger and family threatened. Told to ’shut his mouth’ (Knight In Dragonland)

Mar

13 - New restaurant Tavern on the Water reviewed (Eyebrows McGee)
13 - Gatehouse Media buys Peoria Journal Star (Peoria Pundit)
25 - And The Walls Come Tumblin’ Down: Landmark Peoria Barn torn down for a bank drive-up teller (Chef Kevin)
28 - Self-proclaimed ‘Hottest Restaurant In Town’ gets another not-so-hot review (Eyebrows McGee)
31 - Journal Star opens a can of worms. Alleges D150 School Board member Alicia Bulter falsified claims of Masters degree from Bradley University. (Peoria Pundit)

Apr

2 - Cubs Opening Day (PeoriaIllinoisan)
9 - Billy switches themes (Peoria Pundit)
10 - Video: Bradley Demolition gets under way (PeoriaIllinoisan)
12 - CJ Summers: Terry Beechler wrongfully arrested (Peoria Chronicle)
18 - Election Results (Peoria Pundit)
22 - Cries of racism after Police subdue a drunken man who gave chase throughout the West Bluff and South End (Peoria Pundit)
26 - Billy switches themes (Peoria Pundit)

May

2 - Conned by the Iowa Steak Co. (PeoriaIllinoisan)
2 - Gary Sanford? (PollyPeoria)
8 - Councilman Bob Manning attacked on East Bluff (Scott Janz)
21 - The Riverstation returns (PeoriaIllinoisan)
23 - Billy switches themes (Peoria Pundit)
26 - Trail activists stoop to a new low. Degrade the Race For The Cure. (PeoriaIllinoisan)
29 - The Cicadas are coming! The Cicadas are coming! (Peoria Rocks)
30 - Spongebob Drowns (PeoriaIllinoisan)
31 - Globe Energy locates plant in Pioneer Park (David P. Jordan)

June

1 - Racists try to run Patriotic Citizens out of Pekin (PeoriaIllinoisan)
3 - Let’s Play City Council Jeapardy! (Peoria Anti-Pundit)
13 - Pammy ties the knot (Lollygaggin’)
16 - Video: Sigma Chi House Falls (PeoriaIllinoisan)
17 - Maplewood Update (PeoriaIllinoisan)
26 - Hypothetical: Would you boycott a business based on their support of a cause or lackthereof? (Chef Kevin)

July

1 - Billy switches themes (Peoria Pundit)
2 - Honey, I shrunk the museum (Peoria Chronicle)
2 - The Return of Drunken Deck Man (Scott Janz)
3 - PI Goes To Washington (PeoriaIllinoisan)
5 - Flight Attendants: Aren’t They Supposed To Be Nice? (Pointlessly Hypertechnical)
9 - Breastfeeding Nazis (PeoriaIllinoisan)
10 - Peoria Housing Authority is one of the worst and filthiest landords in the City (Scott Janz)
15 - The Overpass Incident (PeoriaIllinoisan)
15 - Video: Adagio in the keys of B & U (PeoriaIllinoisan)
22 - Video: Bradley’s Demolition Man (PeoriaIllinoisan)
22 - Thoughts and rambles about the deadly overpass brick toss (Peoria Anti-Pundit)
25 - Blogger Bylaws (PeoriaIllinoisan)
26 - Ray LaHood will not seek re-election (Ahl Things Considered)

Aug

1 - Chicago Cubs are in 1st place (PeoriaIllinoisan)
1 - The Arbor District has an arbor again (Peoria Chronicle)
3 - Billy switches themes (Peoria Pundit)
5 - Aaron Schock to run for Congress (Peoria Pundit)
6 - New Bradley University President: Joanne Glasser (Peoria Chronicle)
12 - How to find Peoria Landmark #164 in 7 easy steps (PeoriaIllinoisan)
13 - The Best Pizza In Peoria Is… (Chef Kevin)
15 - Bradley student Danny Dahlquist dies in tragic fire. Journal Star shows up uninvited at funeral. (Peoria Pundit)
16 - Peoria Journal Star reprints Dahlquist family statement, conveniently leaving out the paragraph regarding media intrusiveness. (Peoria Pundit)
21 - Recommended for Historic Designation: 21 Peoria Park District Landmarks (Peoria Chronicle)

Sept

3 - A visit to Bar Louie unleases a firestorm. (PeoriaIllinoisan)
16 - Billy switches themes (Peoria Pundit)
21 - The overpass incident & the Bradley fire are not racially tied (O’Brien’s Briar Patch)
22 - Cardinals are mathematically eliminated from the postseason (PeoriaIllinoisan)
28 - Cubs Clinch! (PeoriaIllinoisan)

Oct

2 - FOR SALE: Gateway Building (Peoria Chronicle)
10 - Manual 22? Oh, puhleeeeease….. (Lollygaggin’)
15 - Traffic study spawns misleading Journal Star racial profiling headline (O’Brien’s Briar Patch)
24 - Woodruff & Manual tickets rescinded (Peoria Chronicle)

Nov

5- Billy switches themes (Peoria Pundit)
9 - Riverfront Museum Group asks for a bailout from Peoria County (Peoria Pundit)
10 - While I’m videotaping a mob at Bradley, my wife is home chasing them off (PeoriaIllinoisan)
13 - Bar Louie management jumps on Chef Kevin case for posts he never made (Chef Kevin)
14 - St.Ann’s Expansion: City of Peoria ignores their own newly approved zoning code (Peoria Chronicle)
19 - Game Over: The STB rules against the city’s wishes. (Peoria Chronicle)
23 - Councilman Nichting suggests an illegal “Meigs Field Operation” on the Kellar Rail Line. (Peoria Chronicle)

Dec

7 - WTVP needs your help (PeoriaIllinoisan)
10 - Bradley fans salute Bradley Soccer’s end to an emotional run to the elite 8 and unsaid tribute to the Dahlquist family (Kirk Wessler’s Captain’s Blog)
12 - Shooting at Northwoods Mall (PeoriaIllinoisan)
21 - Justice for Silven Yocum (Knight in Dragonland)
22 - Committee being formed to study combined Rail & Trail (Peoria Chronicle)

There’s been one of those “Build The Trail” signs where the Rock Island Trail crosses Allen road for some time now, and I’ve always considered snagging it as a souvenir, but it mysteriously went missing a few weeks ago. I figured someone beat me to it, but as I was driving by today I noticed something in the ditch so I got out to take a peek.

I know the trail-only advocates are upset with the recent turn of events, but can’t they even pick up their own litter? No worries, I took care of it for them and got my souvenir in the process.

.

Piano & Vocals: Billy Dennis
Banjo: CJ Summers
Tuba: Jonathan Ahl
Cornet: Scott Janz
Clarinet: Chef Kevin

*Just recently picked up this CD. The band’s real name is the St. Louis Ragtimers.

As the Journal Star reports [here] and [here] there was a car-jacking in the Northwoods Mall parking lot. The victim was treated and released, the car was retrieved using On-Star, and the assailant was later found and arrested at the CityLink terminal.

Witnesses said they heard a woman screaming for help in the parking lot near the lower-level entrance for Macy’s department store about 8:30 p.m. When bystanders headed toward the parked SUV to help, some reported seeing a man repeatedly trying to close the vehicle’s rear door.

As witnesses approached, the attacker jumped into the driver’s seat, sped backward and hopped a short curb before striking an off-duty Creve Coeur auxiliary officer and ramming two parked vehicles in the process.

Though knocked to the ground, the officer, unhurt, grabbed his handgun from his car and followed the SUV on foot. As the carjacker fled north to the lot’s exit, the officer fired two shots, cracking the vehicle’s windshield and hitting the passenger side paneling.

Is the firing two bullets in the parking lot of a shopping mall by an off duty policeman justified? It sure seems like an over-reaction to me. Does slamming into several cars and hitting a man with an SUV in an attempt to escape justify being shot to death? Obviously he didn’t die, and I wasn’t there to witness the situation but did the off-duty officer know the car-jacker had a gun? If so, was the gun ever pointed at the officer? Was the officer in plain clothes, and if so, did he identify himself before being hit, or did the carjacker think he ran into a random pedestrian? Furthermore, was it intentional? Did the officer have reason to believe that this man would continue on a rampage and causing further harm or death to others if he was not immediately stopped?

The carjacker was charged with aggravated robbery, aggravated vehicle hijacking with a weapon and aggravated battery with great bodily harm.

I’ve never been one cry brutality or bash on officers, and I’m definitely not defending the carjacker, but as I work through this post I find I have too many unanswered questions … my gut says shooting at an escaping SUV in a mall parking lot is not the brightest of ideas.

It should be interesting to see how this plays out as more details emerge.

Update via WEEK: Peoria Police Chief Steve Settingsgaard takes a leap of faith: “I can only assume that when the officer took the shots he took he was fairly comfortable with what his backdrop was, whether or not he was endangering someone else.”

I want to believe that the officer was ‘comfortable with what his backdrop was’ too, but I still don’t think carjacking should be punishable by death, nor do I think the reward outweighs the risk of collateral damage.

Update 2: The Journal Star has not one, not two, but three articles today related to this story. As it turns out, the officer was not chasing a fleeing van as reported for two days in a row. Here are some of the answers to my previous questions.

Coming around to the driver’s side window, Hjortshoj flashed Ransom his gun, now loaded, and badge and told him to get out of the car. Ransom, locked inside, did not budge.

“He knew I was a police officer, looked me dead in the eyes and wasn’t going to stop,” Hjortshoj recalled.

Ransom put the SUV in gear and quickly reversed out of the parking spot. As the vehicle hopped a short curb and rammed two parked vehicles, Hjortshoj approached the hood of the SUV, blocking Ransom’s escape, or so he thought. There, Hjortshoj said, he could see Ransom trying to shift the SUV into drive.

Thinking Ransom had just backed over Kinsey and not knowing if he was armed, Hjortshoj said he feared for his life. As Ransom shifted and stepped on the gas, Hjortshoj fired once - with the bullet lodging itself in the windshield - and tried to slide out of the way.

He did not fire as Ransom fled the parking lot, as previously stated in the Journal Star. “That’s not something I would have done nor did I do,” he said.

Apparently still trying to leave, Ransom then began turning his tires toward Hjortshoj. Hjortshoj said he squeezed off a second shot and dodged the SUV’s bumper, thinking Ransom was aiming the SUV to again try to run him over. That bullet pierced the driver’s side window and ended up in Ransom’s coat pocket.

While I stand by my comments based on the previous two days of reporting, I now officially retract my criticism.

I recently had the good fortune to be invited along for a private viewing of the construction going on at Glen Oak Zoo, renamed the Peoria Zoo. It was quite fascinating to see how it is all coming together and how classy the expansion will look. I have no shame in saying I am and always have been fully behind their effort to expand the Zoo, to the disdain of some of my fellow bloggers who shall remain nameless. In thinking about the Zoo as a part of the park as a whole, it struck me that several things are all coming together at once to breathe life back into what used to be the crowning jewel of the Peoria Park District.

1. The Zoo. Can anyone honestly say they were happy with the former zoo? It was o.k., but definitely nothing to write home about. We visited once in a while, and I was glad that they finally got the Lions out of the 12×12 cement jail that used to house them, but it was sorely lacking any sense of a modern zoo. I enjoy taking my kids to the zoo, but I didn’t enjoy taking them to Glen Oak Zoo. It was downtrodden and dated, but it was still our zoo. With this expansion we can finally enter the 21st century with a modern zoo that will be every bit as remarkable as the ones we travel to visit, albeit on a smaller scale to suit our population.

If you are concerned about the chopping down of trees, at least you can take solace in the fact that any usable tree was milled and re-used. They are not being chopped up for mulch. I understand there is a money issue involved here of some concern, but sometimes a leap of faith is necessary. This is one time where it is necessary and will be enjoyed and praised for years to come. Until you schedule your appointment to see it close-up, you’ll just have to take my word for it. You can count me in as being behind the zoo.

2. The Children’s Museum. I think I’ve covered this topic once or twice already, but needless to say we’re going to have the finest one in Illinois outside of Chicago.

3. Glen Oak Park School defeated. Glen Oak Park is a Park, not a School Playground. ‘Nuff said.

4. Historic Designations. It is the duty of the Park District to be stewards of the property they are in charge of. They have not done so. Historic structures have been allowed to deteriorate beyond repair. Abandonment and neglect seemed to be the name of the game and we were losing more of our treasures, the Parapet & Cannon, and the Suspension Bridge being the two most obvious. It’s unfortunate that upkeep had to be forced, but so be it. History lost cannot be brought back.

All of these major events combined tell me that Glen Oak Park is going to shine and thrive once again. I have no doubt that Peorians will look back at this time in our history and praise the great revival of the crown jewel of our Park District.

Some interesting tidbits that won’t otherwise be noticed.

Gabriel on my Bar Louie related post I got the whole damn staff fired!

I would like to eat at your house and give a review to your wife I guess she is not pretty clean, because eating out, sign that she does not like to clean the dishes and who knows what else.
People that complain about everything and anything just because they pay the luxury of having their meal prepare and deliver to their table don’t make them especial, it just make them a customer. Everyone deserves a great service and everyone have the right to speak up if the service is not great. If you did not like the service of that specific person you should have bring it to the attention of the supervisor, this way you are giving the server a chance to work on his/her mistake, after all their are just humans as you and they make ………….. right!. Don’t be a fool and hide behind your computer saying “I got the whole damn staff fired!” How ignorant and how selfish does it sound

Gabriel, I always wondered why my wife likes to eat out. Of course, it’s because she doesn’t like to clean! The idiotic comments that come out of these Bar Louie posts never cease to amaze me.

Stephanie Stank on My Moral Sense is Disproportionately Shocked!

He was a cute murderer!!! ….but so dumb for killing that mother and her child. Although he probably didn’t intentionally do it….two innocent ladies were shot and killed. I just saw an episode like this story on the First 48.

That’s sorta sick.

Shep on The Player’s Championship

I also had the pleasure recently of playing the Stadium course with my 11 year old son. And yes, I also parred 17, with a 7 iron from 115 yards. I landed about 8 feet past the hole, missed my bird by inches but hit a two footer for the most satisfying par I have ever had!! Playing 18 with the sun setting and the evening bagpipes sounding in the distance was almost anti-climatic. Unfortunately, my son didn’t make the green in 3 tries. His first attempt was the closest, and if he’d played the junior tees instead of the whites like I suggested, he would’ve been on there as well.

Congratulations Shep! Hope you son takes your advice next time.

Von Clemens on Hey Look, Honey

I stumbled upon your site by accident and I must say that it has been nostalgic and informative. I am currently stationed in Indiana and this site is like a looking glass into my home away from home that the Journal Star doesn’t come close to. Recently I was back at home and wanted to play Newman Golf Course, but the Cross Country teams were competing there (why they shut down a golf course during the last good days of play is beyond me). Your blog above does mention that people were trespassing upon private property and I recalled that the Cross-Country teams did the same during their visits by urinating in peoples backyards during the tourney (even though plenty of Porto-potties were placed strategically around the course, upsetting many a senior citizen that have homes on the 15th and 16th holes) One lady complained and was told by one of the coaches that “she needs to go back inside her home and have another cup of coffee”. Had that been my mother or Grandmother, that coach would have had to sip his coffee thru a straw for the rest of his days. It always amazes me that people do things on public and private property that they wouldn’t think about doing on their own.

That coach would’ve gotten an earful from me. The only way I would think to own a house along that stretch of Newman Golf Course is if I had a privacy fence to keep out the golfers trying to find their errant golf balls.

V1CST3R on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

I thought that the door’s greatest hits would have been on top 10. Unfortunately not

No greatest hits album should ever be on a list of the best of anything. Especially the Doors.

John Pilecki on In Others’ Words: Bob Dylan

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld, reflecting on his days in high school, said something to the effect that he was never among the “in crowd”; rather, he would seek out some intelligent outsider kid and hang around with him/her. For over four decades, Bob Dylan has served metaphorically some millions of bodies as that intelligent outsider kid, and will continue to offer shelter from the adolescent and post-adolescent storm for generations to come - a note of influence that would play even in Peoria.

John, you were doing so well until you said “play in Peoria”

I don’t get out to concerts much these days and anyone I care to see means long travels and a ton of dough, but when a friend of mine told me that the Blues/Rock band Indigenous was playing in a small club in Bloomington, I was in. I wasn’t sure what I was in for, but I was definitely in.

So a minivan full of crazy middle aged guys took a little road trip to the LaFayette Club, capacity 800 people. Not knowing exactly what or where it was, I expected something of a refurbished old theatre. I couldn’t have been more wrong. What we found was akin to Bob’s Country Bunker of the Blues Brothers Fame. The LaFayette Club is basically Bloomington’s version of the Itoo Hall, complete with round dinner tables and white wedding garland strewn about. To top it off, the marquee said simply “Blues Band. 12/14. 7:30″

Native American front man Mato Nanji didn’t seem to mind that he was playing a wedding ballroom, that his name wasn’t even listed on the marquee, or that there were probably only 400 people in attendance, because he played his ass off and had a good time doing it. Now I have to repeat my disclaimer that I don’t see many concerts anymore, but I honestly haven’t seen such an intimate and inspired performance since I saw Stevie Ray Vaughan in Peoria years ago.

Thinking I might get frisked and have my camera taken away, I left it at home. Silly me. But it looked and sounded something like this…

Sorry you missed it.

I had the great fortune to see the Blue Angels back in the washout of 2004. It had rained all weekend and the entire air-show was pretty much shut down, but late on Sunday afternoon the rain stopped and I heard some rumblings in the sky. We decided to drive over and catch a glimpse of the Blue Angels. I don’t think we were charged to get in, the fields were a mess with mud, literally up to your ankles, and we sat in the V.I.P. chairs at the edge of the runway. The V.I.P.’s had all gone home. We had a private showing of the most amazing proportion.

I’ll be there in April. There is no way I am going to miss this and I suggest you be there too.

A brief conversation between my son’s 10 year old friend and I concerning the weather:

Holy Family always cancels school, and I don’t get it because everyone that goes there just lives across the street.

Everyone that attends Holy Family doesn’t live across the street. Who told you that?

My ex-girlfriend. She goes to school there.

You have an ex?

Yeah, I dated her for about three years, but I broke up with her because we only saw each other like once a year.

I needed to make an emergency trip to the CampusTown Dollar Tree tonight to pick up a few dollar type items. Of course the usual Christmas music was blasting out of the speaker system. I mostly tried to ignore it, but I tried to make the most out of Dean Martin’s Winter Wonderland when it abruptly ended in mid-song.

A split second later a mid-seventies sounding song that reminded me of something you’d here on Soul-Train with a smooth groove, sweet horns and soulful vocal harmony came on. I kept waiting for the word Santa or anything Christmas related to come out of lyrics, but it never happened. The Four Tops came up next. I didn’t want to leave.

I’ve never especially enjoyed shopping at the Dollar Tree, and generally don’t go there except to pick up goofy stuff (birthday streamers in this case) but if they continue to play Soul music during this time of year, I may do some of my Christmas shopping there. My wife asked for jewelry.

Well, at least I can pick up some stocking stuffers.

Here’s the scene: I’m holding a sawzall* walking down the driveway alongside my house to make a fresh cut on our Holiday Tree** and trying not to fall on my butt*** when I noticed this strange black fungus on my frozen hose.

I stared at it for a second wondering what kind of fungus would grow on the north side of a garden hose during an ice storm …

I then recalled that my son had recently used a can of black spray paint for a school project …

* God Bless the man who invented the Sawzall!
** Also known as a Christmas Tree.
*** Ice is slippery.

According to the Blog Readability Test via Billy Dennis, I am not worthy to read his site anymore as I do not have a Post-Grad College degree. After a little checking, I wasn’t shocked to find out that I’m not worthy of Eyebrow’s blog either. She also is Post-Grad material. Thankfully, to comprehend CJ’s and Knight’s blogs, you need a mere High School reading level.

But my ego took a big blow when I found out that my blog is only on the 7th grade level. I’m insulted, but at least I’m in good company with Chef Kevin.

Seriously though, how bad can I feel? WCBU news director Jonathan Ahl’s blog is in the Elementary School level! Ouch!

Last night, after the kids were tucked away in bed I sat down to see what was on TV and saw that the documentary Bob Dylan: Live at Newport 1963-1965 was on WTVP, so I switched over to watch it only to get roped into an emotional and urgent fundraiser.

If you haven’t heard, Bank of America is threatening to shut them down and sell of their assets if they can’t pay off their loan, or at least a substantial portion of it.

We pledged $50, payable in March. If the deal doesn’t go through, we owe nothing. Can’t beat that.

Roy Orbison is on tonight, so maybe I’ll pledge again.

I don’t need to reprint the entire article, but in a nutshell, Carl Gore, who according to Journal Star has been arrested 14 times in the past 7 years and has been shot twice previously, was on foot and raised a rifle at a police officer who was pursuing in his squad car. The police officer respond by firing “multiple rounds at Gore through the open window of his marked squad car.”

He missed.

“Two bullets struck Gore - once in the left thigh and once in the left elbow. He was taken to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center and is expected to recover.”

When I was younger, a Peoria police officer came to our grade school and gave a talk. I have no idea what the talk about, but he did say something I never forgot. “If you see in the news that a police officer shot and wounded a man, it means we missed.” I found that to be a bit harsh at the time, but it is generally a true statement as acknowledge in the Journal Star’s article by Chief Settingsgaard:

“Police officers are trained to shoot to stop the suspect’s actions, neither to kill nor wound, simply to stop the suspect’s action,” the chief said. “Police officers are not trained to wound people or disarm people like you see on television. They shoot typically center of body mass.”

Nine years ago, a relative of mine, who was a police officer, got his brains blown out because he was the first responder to a call of a lunatic walking down the street firing an assault rifle. A young mother lost her husband and twin baby girls lost their father on that day. You can read about it {here}. That is why I have no patience or remorse for anyone who raises a gun at an officer.