Category: Illinois

National Night Out 2007

August 8th, 2007 · · Illinois, Mount Vernon 5 comments - Tags: , , ,

Last night was National Night Out. The evening is designed for many things, chief among them is promoting police/community relations. The event is held nationwide (duh) and has been for 24 years. Participation last year was estimated at over 34 million people.

Locally, it is quite an event put on at Veterans Park with the help of local law enforcement and the BPOE lodge. I was unable to make it out, but mom managed to take Erich and Amaya to participate.

The kids had a blast. There were many activities including a dunking booth, inflatable games, face painting, toys, pencils, and an added sense of community. The kids had fun spending time at such an awesome event put together by so many giving people. The Elks had some great anti-drug items, and the law enforcement officers were “fun guys” according to the kids.

Erich even came home with a t-shirt. The shirt was 2 sizes too big, but he still wore it home and wanted to wear it again today. I did manage to convince him to leave it home and let me wash it, but he said I better not “mess it up”.

That’s a great impression imprinted on a child’s mind.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos to post, but they had a great time.

Miners Game at Marion – July 25

August 7th, 2007 · · Illinois One comment - Tags: , ,

Yes, I’m a little late posting about our experience in Marion, but I’ve been busy getting ready for school (yes, me and the kids).

We went to a Miners game on July 25, and it was awesome. I wouldn’t recommend taking little kids unless you want to spend a lot of time in the play area, but they had fun. Before the game, and during, there is a fun area with inflatable games for kids. There is a $5 flat charge for the kids to play, but it is well worth it to entertain them.

The experience is very fun with a light atmosphere. I don’t think there are any bad seats, and you can’t beat $8/ticket. We were barely up the first base line from home plate and near the top row. Amazingly, our seats were not far off the field and we could see and hear quite well.

Naturally Erich and Amaya did not want to sit in our seats and stay still, but Emily was nice enough to help me keep them entertained and take them over to the games about the third inning so I could enjoy the game.

There are a lot of activities between every inning, so the game lasted a solid 3 hours, but it was fun and worth every penny.

Here are a couple of photos of the kids….

Amaya at Miners Game

Amaya looking shocked for some reason.

Erich at Miners Game

Erich caught off guard.

Mid-Country Bank Robbed in Daylight

August 3rd, 2007 · · Illinois, Mount Vernon 6 comments - Tags: , ,

We received a message from a friend that police were buzzing around Mid-Country Bank. Naturally we assumed a robbery since there have been several in this area. We took a drive up there since it is so close to our home, and sure enough, it has been robbed according to a few sources who work and live nearby.

Initial Photo

At about 1:30PM on August 4th, Mid-Country Bank at 2929 Broadway was robbed. We have yet to receive any details at this time other than the obvious: Police are investigating. While I was taking photos, several local police and Illinois State Troopers could be seen walking around the outside of the building. They appeared to be taking notes, discussing, and looking around the scene.

All Closed

We will update when we have more information, but here are some photographs of the location shortly after the crime.

Wide View of Aftermath

Here is a wide view of the scene. It’s too large to show full-size, but you can see the larger version if you click on the photo, as with all of them.

Another View

View from Walgreen’s parking lot.

Officers discussing
Officers discussing the incident and gathering evidence.

UPDATE: We have an unconfirmed report that police have arrested a suspect. We will update when and if there is confirmation.

UPDATE_2: Apparently my source was mistaken, I cannot get confirmation that a suspect has been arrested in this case, and the Register-News is reporting nothing of the sort. I do find it odd that their story and mine have a LOT of similarities. I just find it odd that there is mention of a few things and how they are said that are strikingly similar.

Anywho, I did look at the R-N site and their capture from the bank footage. The guy looks strikingly similar to me (or me to him, take your pick). I mean really similar. I’m actually kind of afraid to be mistaken once the paper hits the racks tomorrow. I mean, he’s a large guy, fat face, dark eyes, wearing a cap (as I do often), and I usually just have on a t-shirt too. Creepy. (I forgot to mention the mustache too.)

The good news is that I was wearing a bright orange Jaycees shirt and my Southern Illinois Miners cap today. Whew.

As usual, I will update if I come across anything new.

Drug dealers, murderers, and pedophiles. Oh My!

July 19th, 2007 · · Illinois, Mount Vernon 2 comments - Tags: , ,

People wonder why our city keeps behind when other areas are growing. I say look at the headlines of our newspapers on any given day.

Yes, there are the happy-go-lucky stories about Joe Smith working his family farm for 50 years. Maybe there is also a happy picture from the Salute to Freedom.

Aside from the niceties sprinkled throughout, where’s the positive news? I keep seeing negative all over the place. It’s absolutely horrible.

Unfortunately, when you live in a poverty-ridden locale with an extremely high crime rate, this is what you get.  Even our county sheriff describes us as the “…worst crime rate south of I-70.” How lucky is that?

Yeah, I’m being captain negativity here, but how can we expect a quality employer to locate here when odds are that they will see such horrible stories on any given day?

Oh, and don’t forget the abundance of payday loan and instant credit shops in town. Those greatly add to the quality of a city and put forth an awesome image.

I didn’t create this shitty environment, but I am working to improve it. Are the city leaders and other citizens doing the same? Think hard.

Cates should now be tried for manslaughter at least, probably murder

July 18th, 2007 · · Illinois, Mount Vernon One comment - Tags: ,

I read this article in the Register-News today. This woman should now (assuming a guilty verdict) be convicted of no less than manslaughter. In my opinion, she should be convicted of murder.

Not only is she a habitual offender who has shown that she cannot/will not abide by the court’s orders, she has killed a woman. Her actions in violation of her bond conditions directly caused this woman’s death.

She killed someone else. Murder, there you go.

At the very least she is guilty of manslaughter. “But she has an addiction.” Wah. Cry me a river. She chose to drink, smoke, shoot-up, or whatever and killed someone. Perhaps not intentionally, but she did kill an innocent citizen.

Just my thoughts. Feel free to dissent.