Peoria Illinoisan

Did you know Peoria played a major role in the settling the Oregon territory?

On the first day of May 1839 a group of 16 armed and mounted men rode up to the courthouse in the town square of Peoria, Illinois, bowed their heads, pledged themselves never to desert one another, turned and rode west to the cheers of local citizens who had turned out to see them off. Their stated intent was to colonize the Oregon country on behalf of the United States and drive out the English fur trading companies operating there. Their organizer and elected captain was a Peoria lawyer, Thomas Jefferson Farnham and he called his men the Oregon Dragoons. They carried with them a flag emblazoned with the motto Oregon or the Grave, a gift from Mrs. Farnham.

[…]

The seed for the expedition had been planted the previous fall when Rev. Jason Lee visited Peoria on a national speaking tour about the Oregon country.

[…]

When Lee spoke at Peoria’s Main Street Presbyterian Church on October 1, 1838, he had with him five Native American boys from the Calapooya tribe. One of these, Thomas Adams, became ill and was left in Peoria to recuperate. Indian Tom, as he was called, created quite a sensation as he described his life in Oregon. The combination of Adams’ stories and Lee’s speech created the incentive to form the Oregon Dragoons with the intention of claiming Oregon for the United States.

Almost all the Dragoons were single, in their early twenties, with a romantic sense of adventure. When they left Peoria, each man had his own horse, a rifle with powder and 120 balls, a Bowie knife weighing as much as 7-9 pounds, and $100-150 for supplies. The party jointly owned a tent large enough for all 16 men to sleep, a wagon with two horse team, provisions and a communal kitty of $100 for contingencies.

Read the whole dramatic story [here]

An alternate, shorter version is [here]

…and the Wikipedia entry is [here]

Random comments from the Journal Star which won’t appear on their YouPage.

Semi drivers face towing problem. Bartonville lot they frequented now enforcing rule letting it remove trucks from property.

dan wrote: “frickin alvin york doesn’t live in SPRING BAY why would someone from spring bay park in bartonville”

What happens to the Warehouse District? State, City Hall, developers struggle as area shifts from industrial to residential, commercial.

DHS wrote: “The various Societies-for-the-preservation-of-everything have never met a grubby, nearly abandoned 1900’s warehouse that they didn’t love. […] Tear these old buildings down. Create space for safe, modern, effecient homes - safe parking - adequate schoos - decent streets - get the crime under control, and people will return to downtown.”

Were Hanna City cows mistreated? 2 animals euthanized as state investigators order a vet to assess health of animals.

Concerned wrote: “Gee talk about sensorship! Where did all the comments go? this is why I don’t subscribe nad never will again.”

Jerry Smith - Journal Star responded: “Don’t recall deleting comments off this story. Maybe you are talking about these.

And thanks for reading. Your page views are just as good as a subscription. :-)”

Letter to the Editor: Send oil companies a message by curbing driving.

Nancy wrote: “Who do you think those bored soccer moms driving their SUV’s around are talking to on the cell phone after they drop off the kids at the game? Hint: It’s not their husbands who are working 60 hours a week providing all the goodies.”

DELAVAN: Mayor appoints new city administrator, police chief and fires longtime city attorney.

ThankgodIamoutofthere wrote: “Hey Delavan Forward, Before you go pointin fingers at someone better make sure you have your ID correct!!!!!!! But you are from Delavan that is what you are good for jumpin the gun to point fingers to make yourself look better!!!!! Thank the Lord I wised up and have already left Hellavan!!!”

ex delavan person wrote: “I think Liz Skinner is a snooty rich lady!!She thinks her **** don’t stink.As for the new “police chief” he’s a creap.He acts like a idiot at the school! I think they could’ve found somebody else who is “quilifed” to fill that position like somebody who”s a police officer alreay. That town is such a joke I’m so glad i moved!! It was the smartest thing i did!!!”

Elliot’s continues license fight. City Council will decide Tuesday whether to grant Class B liquor license.

JG wrote: “Also the women stipping are nasty.”

Pam Adams: Have an election ‘elopement’

KG wrote: “This is wasted print space and I’m irritated with myself for spending 45 seconds even responding to it.”

Police, fire and courts. Monday, March 24, 2008.

concerned wrote: “Maybe if the crime would go down , the Officers would stop pulling everybody over on the South End .”

Gish not indicted in friend’s death. Teen who allegedly pushed student into traffic could face lesser charge or none at all.

renda wrote: “And to try to make this a racist issue is pathetic. Absofuckinglutely Pathetic White trash like what is displayed here perpetuates the rasists shit that will never be over come. It just makes me sick. oh btw I am white and let me distant myself from the rasist pukes that spew there shit here. WOW just fucking WOW”

Heights institution The Penguin Tap closes.

Silent Bob wrote: “I can’t believe the PJS felt the need to yank over half the comments here. Nothing like having your freedom of speech stomped on.”

Spring is not here and it did not begin on March 20th- I don’t care what people are telling you. It doesn’t officially begin until Masters Week, which would be the week of April 7-12. There’s actually a slow transition throughout the week from Winter to Spring culminating on Sunday afternoon when Tiger Woods puts a smack down on the rest of the field to win his 5th green jacket.

I can’t wait for Spring to finally arrive. Oh joy!

When your wife takes your nasty stinky inflamed athletes infected my weenie ass thinks it needs to be amputated foot and rubs medicinal lotion into it.

More proof that women and stronger than men.

Update: Let me rephrase… When your wife takes care of your sick feet.

Is that better?

In the middle of a fluff piece about local medical school graduates lies this little nugget:

Day, the day they learned where they will spend the next five years as medical residents. The 44 candidates for graduation at the Peoria college tore open envelopes in the banquet room of the Weaver Ridge clubhouse - precisely at 11 a.m. Central Daylight Time. They instantly learned whether they were in the market for a moving van or had five more years ahead of them - like the rest of us residents of central Illinois - watching whether a museum will ever get built on the Peoria riverfront.

Was this little dig intentional or was it an inside joke that forgot to get edited out? Inquiring minds want to know.

This is regarding Bradley Basketball’s invitation to the CBI (College Basketball Invitational), which is for teams that weren’t good enough to get into the NCAA Tournament, nor were they good enough to get into the lightly followed NIT.

Apparently Kurt, the sports announcer on WMBD31, started Wednesday night’s broadcast with a quip which went something like this: “…and next Bradley will move on to the sectionals of the Galesburg Invitational.” After catching a lot of flak, he appeared on the 1470’s Greg & Dan show to apologize, which was the first time I had heard about this.

Was it a bit harsh, especially coming out of the sports director? Yea. Is it true? Yea. I’m glad they get to continue playing, and I’ll listen to the games and cheer them on, but if you’re honest, you know this is post season play is sort-of silly.

For the record, Kurt said he was just trying to make a light-hearted joke, but in doing so he struck a nerve with some people who probably don’t want to hear the bitter truth that Bradley is playing in a tournament consisting of the best of the rest of the rest.

Go BU!

Lou, we’ve been dealing with this for nearly ten years- you’ve been dealing with this for what… two? Jim Hendry- use your brain and let this guy go!

www.cubs.com

MESA, Ariz. — Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood, who appears to be the front-runner for the closer’s job, was scratched from Wednesday’s game because of lower back spasms. His status was listed as day to day.

Wood, competing with Bob Howry and Carlos Marmol for the spot, was to throw one inning on Wednesday and again on Thursday. That plan is on hold now, and the Cubs may delay an announcement as to who has the job until Wood can pitch on consecutive days.

“It’s a little bit of a setback but nothing, nothing serious,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said Wednesday. “It’s a minor thing he goes through every spring.”

Check out this cool site, www.sleeveface.com. It’s a real hoot! Undoubtedly, tonight you’ll find me digging through my record collection. Here’s a preview of what it’s about:

Can’t do that with an Mp3, can you!?

“There should be a sewing patch so the boys can sew on their own patches. It’s a bitch.” - Mrs. PeoriaIllinoisan

(Scouts earn patches which are sewn on to their uniforms after fulfilling various activities specific to that patch and signifies that a particular requirement has been met.)

* showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop and spread across the watch area by this afternoon. Locally heavy rainfall of 1.5 to 2 inches is expected through Tuesday afternoon. The heaviest rains northwest of a line from Springfield to Bloomington will come earlier in the event… mainly this
afternoon and into tonight.

Regional Radar Loop

Local Radar Loop

It’s been long known that Stevie Ray Vaughan followed up his Peoria Civic Center concert in 1986 with a blistering set at a bar with Bernard Allison. Well low and behold, there is video…

He starts off with Texas Flood

Following that up with Pride & Joy.

Before playing Rude Mood and Mary Had A Little Lamb, of which I couldn’t find the videos, for a total of just over a 30 minute set.

Sorta.

That would be Peoria.com’s recent addition of a news feed. Similar to Google news and Peoria.com’s Blog feed, it scans the local news outlets and runs links to the stories as they appear on their web sites.

Currently included are the Peoria Journal Star, WHOI, WEEK, WCBU and 1470.

If you’re like me, you tend to gravitate towards one or two of these and likely miss out on some good stories or angles, so this is not only a good way to get them on a level playing field, but to alert you and me of breaking news, whoever breaks it.

You can see the most recent few on Peoria.com’s home page, or on the news page for the full feed.

Wife: I’m really glad we ate lunch here.

Me: I am too.

In unison: Because now we know not to come back!

The first is dead.

The second is the drunken idiot who pushed the first one into the street.

The third is the unfortunate person who drove over #1’s head.

[pjstar.com]

Update: Turns out the kid who fatally pushed the other kid into the street was his best friend since childhood. So, the question now is should he be criminally charged? The kids who accidentally killed Danny Dahlquist were, so wouldn’t it be consistent to charge this kid too? I don’t think he should be, but then I didn’t think the Dahlquist’s friends should have been either.

A recent ruling from a California Appeals Court ruled parents that are homeschooling without teachers credentials are illegal under the law.

I don’t disagree.

My problems with homeschooling:

How do kids learn social interaction?

How can a home-school parent/teacher replicate the multiple personalities and experiences that different teachers bring to the table?

How does a home-schooled child ever learn to recognize an adult other than his or her parent as an authority figure; one to be respected and obeyed?

What becomes of band/drama/sports and other extra curricular activities?

Does the child present their special project and related public speech to their family over the dinner table?

School pride? Do you cheer your vinyl sided house?

What happens when the kid hits High School? If you are a true home-schooler that thinks you can do better than any public or private school can do, I would assume that he/she would continue to be home-schooled in those years too. No locker. No backpack. No prom. No sports. No teacher. No principal.

And what happens when that high schooler, like most high schoolers, thinks that their parent is an idiot. How do you teach them then?

Even if you despise structured learning, can you teach your child Spanish, Chinese, & German, let alone Algebra, Chemistry, World History & Literature? How do they learn to cope in society when they’ve been isolated all their life? How do they learn to function in a work place where the day is strictly regimented?

In my opinion, homeschooling is a selfish act by parents thinking they are doing right for their kids. In reality, they are doing nothing but harm by robbing them of vital childhood experiences. They are selfishly, and perhaps egotistically, placing themselves on a pedestal above hard working educators.

You may all crucify me now…