The Community Word

She turned heads as a member of the Pleasant Hill District 69 School Board and garnered respect as a retention program coordinator at Illinois Central College. Now Jehan Gordon is making her mark in Springfield’s General Assembly, earning a reputation as the people’s State Representative of the 92^nd District.

 The life-long Peoria resident basked in her full victory on Election Night after a year and a half of grueling campaign work. But she didn’t celebrate for long. The former Peoria Promise chair and AmeriCorps Volunteer in Service to America (VISTA) quickly got down to business, signing up for numerous committees and acquainting herself with both Democrats and Republicans during January orientation in Springfield.

 “I represent constituents from both parties,” Representative Gordon (D-Peoria) told The Community Word in December. “I’m going to work in a bipartisan way and let Republicans know that I’m planning on spending a lot of time over on their side of the aisle.” Read the rest of this entry »

Shoppers delight in the fresh fruits and vegetables available at the Farmers Market in Metro Centre. This season’s kickoff is Saturday, June 6th beginning at 8:00 a.m.

Metro Centre Farmers Market officially kicks off their season on Saturday, June 6^th.  The Market opened in May and will continue through October with fresh produce, much of which is organic, some certified organic, flowers, pasta, herbs, honey, syrup, and much more. The Market was founded by community leader Marvin L. Goodman over 30 years ago. Goodman wanted to “promote healthy eating while bringing together consumers and farmers from all over Central Illinois to a marketplace with a wide variety of fresh, locally grown produce.” 

   “We still have farmers here who were some of the original ones when the market started at Metro Center over 30 years ago,” says Jason Fuller, Manager of Metro Centre and the Market. “We are proud of our longevity. The physical buildings for the Market were constructed in 1977. Most of our participants selling their products are back each year.” The Market is the “longest running, largest covered farmers market in the region.”

  It is open daily from Monday through Saturday beginning at 8:00 a.m. and features the largest selection of locally grown organic and no-spray produce in Central Illinois. Most of the vendors accept FNS Food Stamps and the WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program vouchers. Metro Centre will contribute a portion of this year’s Farmers Market proceeds to Heart of Illinois Harvest, a local food rescue program that helps feed the needy in the Peoria area. 5,000 cloth tote bags from the Metro Centre will also be available for shoppers. A $2.00 donation to Harvest is requested for each eco-friendly tote bag. Read the rest of this entry »

Ken Kavanagh is gone as Athletic Director at Bradley University. After 13 years of successful leadership in a very demanding position, he was forced to seek employment
elsewhere by new BU president Joanne Glasser. How ironic that the very week he was
unceremoniously told to clean out his office and be gone by 5:00 p.m. that the Bradley Lady Braves softball team would win the Missouri Valley tournament for the first time in school history. God does work in mysterious ways.

I won’t brag about how many people I interviewed because it isn’t the number but the quality of contacts that’s important in writing a story or a column. Readers of this column were the first to learn about the impending departure of the Bradley A.D. Others in the media were hesitant to admit what many Bradley supporters and employees already knew; Kavanagh was told to look for other employment despite a sterling record of achievement. And I don’t buy what one Bradley source told me; “Glasser has a right to bring in her own people.” While I know that’s a corporate mantra, I think it’s horse manure. We’re dealing with people, families and children not business philosophies. Read the rest of this entry »

In the midst of a wet spring that’s flooded the area, it might seem silly to fret about water, but it is the center of life. As Galesburg poet Julia Fletcher Carney wrote in the classic McGuffey Reader in the 1800s, “Little drops of water/ Little grains of sand/ Make the mighty ocean/ And the pleasant land.”

 But there’s tension and conflict surrounding this increasingly scarce resource: drought in America’s vegetable and fruit-growing region, climate change causing glacial melt, the bottled-water industry taking water and making landfill waste, and privatizing Earth’s key public resource.

 Dozens of people discussed water at an April 26 Peoria workshop, “It All Flows Downstream: Water Consumption and Consequences.” Read the rest of this entry »

Sarah walked across the stage, a bright yellow and purple “hood” was placed around her neck so that it hung down the back of her black gown, was then congratulated by the University President, photographed with her department chair, and returned to her seat armed with diploma and optimism.

In May, our daughter had her commencement ceremony at Western Illinois University, where she had just completed grad school. WIU President, Dr. Al Goldfarb, gave a moving presentation, both congratulating and challenging the graduating class. Seeing all these bright enthusiastic kids who have earned graduate degrees through dedication and hard work is inspiring. I’m particularly impressed by those who admit they wish to make a decent living, but mostly they want to make a differenc Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t claim to be an expert in the laws that govern how cities collect and spend money. I know that money that goes into certain funds cannot be pulled out and put into other funds. I know that it’s not all one big pile of money.

 Nevertheless, any city with a nearly half-million-dollar projected deficit that is going to cut police overtime and put fewer police officers on the street, has no damn business whatsoever spending $56,000 to pretty-up the Peoria Civic Center’s drop-off area. This public facility will be used by the exact same number of people regardless.

 Good God.

 When your garage or your car has been broken into, or when neighborhood punks are selling drugs on the corner, don’t call the police. Call a landscaper. Read the rest of this entry »

Waterboarding has always been a war crime

by Ed Klein, Peoria, IL

 A debate has arisen about something which is not debatable: the rule of law, and the floor beneath which we must not go if we are to be the country we claim to be.

 Waterboarding has been punished for being torture - a war crime – enough times to be acknowledged and accepted as such instead of being “debated.”

 In 1898, American soldiers were court-martialed for inflicting what they called “the water cure” on Spanish-American War guerillas. In 1968, when a photo appeared in the Washington Post of a group of soldiers waterboarding a captured Vietnamese prisoner, those soldiers were court-martialed. In 1947, a Japanese officer served 15 years hard labor for similarly torturing a civilian. And, in 1983 in San Jacinto, Texas, a Sheriff Parker waterboarded prisoners to extract information and was sentenced to ten years, his deputies to three years. This documentation is taken from cable news MSNBC.

Mr. Cheney probably knows of these facts and that waterboarding is indeed torture, but in the interest of self-preservation, dare not admit it.

New Young Adult Dependent Coverage Law in Illinois

by Debbie Adlof, Editor/Owner Community Word

 We’ve all heard the corny joke line that says, “I’ve got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?” How do you answer that? Well, here’s some good news for you. A new law goes into effect on June 1, 2009. This law states that all individual and group health insurance and HMO contracts must give parents with insurance policies that cover dependents the right to choose coverage for qualifying dependents up to the age of 26 and up to the age of 30 for military veteran dependents. Even if the “child” exceeds the IRS definition of dependent, said “child” can be eligible for dependent coverage under this new law.

 Wow! Any parent whose insurance plan dumped their dependents before they had completed college knows how difficult it is to find affordable insurance for them. If you’re lucky, your student attends a college that offers a decent insurance plan. However, some do not. My husband and I have really good insurance, but both of our kids were kicked out of the program as soon as they turned 22. I was very pleased to hear this news because our daughter seemingly meets the criteria.

 Upon researching, I learned several useful facts. All policies must offer an initial 90-day enrollment period to eligible dependents. For existing policies, the initial enrollment period will vary depending on the date your policy is issued, amended, or renewed. You would need to check with your employer group or your insurer for the date on which your initial 90-day enrollment period begins. For dependents added into group policies during the initial 90-day enrollment, annual enrollment, or special enrollment periods may not be declined coverage due to health status. For individual policies, you should check with your insurer.

 So, what’s the bad news? Like many laws that are written with the intent to help our citizens, there are loopholes and clauses that will let the insurance companies literally off the hook. The first such loophole that I found is that there seems to be a clause whereby dependents may be subject to preexisting condition limitations contained in the policy. So, that’s not too bad, right?

 Further research revealed that for the most part, parents are responsible for paying the full cost of coverage - whatever rate the insurance company deems necessary for adding dependents to their policies. Furthermore, Illinois law does not restrict the rates insurance companies charge for these plans. Therefore, parents may find that adding their dependents to their policy might not be affordable. Wow, that could be really bad, right?

 Oh yeah, I found one more loophole that would be funny if it didn’t impact my family. Blue Cross/Blue Shield for federal employees claim that they’re exempt from this Illinois law because the federal government doesn’t have to adhere to state laws. Excuse me? When did Blue Cross/Blue Shield become a part of the federal government?

 You’ve almost gotta laugh.

 So, my hunt for decent insurance continues as my daughter’s last two years of college will be with a school that doesn’t offer health insurance.

 (You can check out this new law at: http://www.idfpr.com/doi/default2.asp)

 Define the word ‘Conservative’

 by Dolores Klein, Peoria, IL

 A current media report on David Souter’s retirement from the Supreme Court, states that he was appointed by the elder George Bush as a Conservative. Then he is said to have departed from that philosophy, in a Decision supporting Roe v. Wade and, when he dissented as other Supreme Court justices intervened in the controversial first election of the younger President Bush.

 Regardless of the label attached to his actions, he was in line with a majority of Americans on Roe v. Wade, and his position on that Supreme Court intervention which made Bus President, is considered rational by those Americans who consider the High Court’s actions as a “first” to be deplored!

 Among the many definitions of that good word, Conservative, I find: moderate, cautious, and stable. Would that today’s self-labelers would fit that description! Just as they use the word Liberal to convey scary attributes like unpatriotic and irreligious, they have managed to hijack Conservative to fit a narrow religious ideology and certain political positions. This has been harmful and divisive.

If you study the anatomy of a book, you’ll find its chapters consists largely of suspense, as in, what’s going to happen next? Writers craft words in such a way as to keep that book in your hand so you cannot put it down until the very last word.

 I have always viewed my life as a book with each season being a chapter. However, I’ve spent most of my adult life bemoaning the fact that the past chapters of my life contained mainly horror, fear, and tragedy. It never occurred to me that such negatives build hope in the reader. After all, which of us does not have a built-in cheerleader that starts cheering whenever they encounter an underdog?

 It’s true. We all rally around those who have suffered injustice. We have a natural desire to right the wrong, to reverse the outcome or aid the victim. Many who have been ‘reading’ my life ‘chapters’ have rallied around me – even those of you who regularly read this column. I have been so blessed by many of you as I’ve written my stories on this page, month after month, year after year – can you believe I’ve been writing for the Community Word since 1998? Read the rest of this entry »

Mothers across the regions are known to fervently recite, sometimes through clenched teeth, the favorite maternal mantra: “I can’t wait until you have a child of your own who is just like you!” Fathers repeat it also, but with varied voice inflections and colorful adjectives. Moms and Dads respond differently to children, but there’s commonality among the masses in yearning for that glorious moment when you realize your adult child, through the miracle of procreation, now understands your perspective. And has utmost respect for your survival techniques. Read the rest of this entry »