Royce Elliott and I would like to thank everyone for their many acts of kindness during the Christmas season, especially the food. Actually, the food, period. Cookies and cakes were abundant as were the phone calls. We love what we do each morning on WOAM. Having fun, laughing and talking about old times and old people, like us, is a kick at this point in our lives. The reception we’ve received exceeds even our highest hopes. Thank you!
CHRISTMAS NOTES
The radio airwaves in December were filled with Christmas music. At the risk of being accused of a degree of bias, WOAM, in my opinion, played the most and best music of the season 24/7 with commercials coming in second. Not so with other “Christmas music stations.” Bah humbug, as Stan Freeburg would say.
Interestingly, one TV channel played “The Christmas Story” over and over and over. It sure brought to mind wonderful Christmas memories as the era depicted was when I was a young boy. It was a great movie. By the way, what happened to the large leg lamp that used to be prominently displayed in the front yard of the house facing I-74 in East Peoria? I missed it this year.
One of the most emotional Christmas stories I’ve even read was written by author Norm Kelly. It was about a Christmas he experienced with his family. At Norm’s request, I read it live on “Breakfast with Royce and Roger” with Mannheim Steamroller’s arrangement of “Silent Night” as background music. A number of listeners said Norm’s account brought tears to their eyes. He’s a damn good writer, but this story was even too personal for him to narrate. I found it difficult to read as well.
One of the most enjoyable traditions of Christmas is the exchange of cards. All of the cards, especially those with notes, are warm and wonderful to read several times over a cup of hot chocolate. My favorite was the one Nancy and I received from Jonathan Winters. On the cover was a picture of Jonathan in a Santa suit with Betty Furness. It was a photo taken for a Christmas commercial for Westinghouse. Remember the company slogan? “You can be sure if it’s Westinghouse.” The inside of the Winter’s card was a more recent photo of Jonathan in a Santa suit without the customary beard. He also drew a unique tree and penned a personal note. A collector’s item for sure.
POLITICAL NEWS
What’s going on in the local Republican Party? Rumors are flying. There are all kinds of races for Republican precinct seats. In Medina 1, Linda Lehman is running against Karen Taylor and in Medina 5, W.G. Lippert will face Brady Miller in the Republican primary. In other GOP primaries Blair Gambill opposes Beverlee Hayes in precinct 48 and in the 75th, its Matt Gill opposing Michelle Quinn.
In other GOP contests, William Lopotko and Tiffany Tebben want to represent the party in the 74th while Glendon Morton and John Spangler do battle in the 86th. More surprises on the ballot include the withdrawal by long-time GOP operative Mary Alice Erickson in the 77th precinct in favor of Donald Hoerr II and over in the 89th precinct Karen Oberlander has filed petitions opposing Aaron Shock as precinct committeeperson. Wow! Wouldn’t that be something if Shock lost? It would make national news!!!! Not going to happen. In another surprise, Jody Pitcher wants to unseat Eric Turner as the precinct leader in the 72nd.
So what’s going on? In my political days, getting people to be precinct committeeman was like pulling teeth. No one wanted to go door-to-door pimping for candidates. I mean, going door-to-door distributing campaign literature. No one. It was a thankless job. I know I did it for many candidates from my Dad to Ray LaHood.
While I volunteered for Ray, my Dad volunteered me for his campaigns when I was a teenager. But, I digress. Here are two rumors floating around the political grapevine. One is Aaron Shock wants to have stronger control of the Republican Party in Peoria County. The other is many Republicans want Rudy Lewis out as chairman of the Peoria County Central Committee.
To achieve those ends, one has to have the majority of precinct committee votes. I have no idea why there are so many contests for precinct leadership. Lewis, by the way, is running against Democrat Tom O’Neill for Peoria County Board District 17.
On the other side of the political aisle, Allen Mayer, who’s run for more offices than anyone in recent county history, will have opposition for his District 6 county board seat. The on again and off again politician will face fire fighter Rich Waldron. It’ll be interesting to see if the fire union has any political clout left these days. If they do, Mayer could lose. And as predicted in this column, Republican Brad Harding will have a contest for his District 16 county board seat in the general election next November. Democrat Bill Atwood has filed his petitions.
STRAIGHT THOUGHTS
There’s been a lot of changes on the local TV scene. New weather people are on Channel 25 and a new sports guy is on Channel 31. I won’t mention their names because they could be gone next month. Folks, there’s no security in broadcasting.
I can’t leave 2011 without remembering two special people, one in entertainment and the other in sports. Don Mathews, former basketball player and coach, died suddenly, and wonderful entertainer and friend, Mike Dentino passed away after a very brief illness. I was pleased to have paid a lengthy tribute to Mike in this column several months ago when he was alive. He thanked me profusely for the column. The week before he fell ill, Mike appeared on “Breakfast with Royce and Roger” as he had done many times before. We paid tribute to Mike on our program the day after he died. The three hour tribute was recorded and will be made available to his family and friends.
I knew Don Mathews much longer than Mike and we had mutual friends. I don’t want to scare future guests on our morning program, but Don also had recently appeared on our show. As a player, teacher and coach, Don touched many lives during his life-time, as did Mike. And for the life of me, I don’t understand the lack of coverage in the local media about the two of them. With due respect, one of the TV stations spent more time praising a donut maker in Bloomington who passed away than Don or Mike. But that happens when news editors are hired from out-of-town with no connection to the community or any knowledge of community history.
Congratulations to former State Senator George Shadid. He and his wife are moving into a their newly constructed home in the Edwards area a short distance from where they lived before moving into their apartment on State Street. George apparently misses the wide open spaces and a larger area for his “green thumb.” He has a reputation for growing some of the best tomatoes in the state.
What’s all the moaning about a bill requiring people in the back seat of cars to wear seat belts? They’re at risk as much as those in front seats. Canada has had such a law for over 20 years. I know. A friend of ours received a warning citation about 10 years ago when we were stopped not far from Calgary. Obviously, the Canadian trooper was not persuaded by our argument that we didn’t know since the U.S. had no such law at the time. Bottom line is everyone in a car should wear a seat belt just like people on motorcycles should be required to wear safety helmets.
PEORIA JOURNAL:
IS IT A NEWSPAPER
OR MAGAZINE?
As I opened Christmas boxes of lights and ornaments for decorations this season, I noted one of the packing papers was a Peoria newspaper from 1951. I sat down and opened it to read for a few minutes. I was fascinated by the huge difference between that paper and one printed today. Can you believe that on page one in the 1951 edition there were 19 stories. Get that. 19! Today’s Peoria paper has a meager three and two of them are not news, but feature stories that could be located anywhere, if at all. All of the stories in 1951 were news, interesting news.
I would recommend Peoria Journal publishers revisit what was done over 60 years ago. They just might save the newspaper. In the meantime, they need to figure out whether they want to be a newspaper or a magazine printed on cheap paper.
I wish I knew what the real story is on the so-called “affiliation” between Methodist Medical Center and the Iowa Health System plus the departure of former CEO Michael Bryant. While I applaud the appointment of long-time employee and nurse Debbie Simon as permanent CEO replacing Bryant, questions continue in the medical community about the affiliation. Why was it necessary if hospital finances were so solid? In a recent news release, the connection between Methodist and Iowa was called a “senior affiliation,” but no delineation was made or defined. After OSF St. Francis announced its $400-$500 million building program, recently completed, Bryant announced plans for a new Methodist Hospital costing an estimated half-billion. Those plans were scrapped, apparently, in favor of a new Hamilton parking deck and a new Hamilton entrance with a second skywalk and the closing of the main entrance on Glen Oak. Some question that entrance and the crooked drive, especially van drivers who have to negotiate the “hair-pin” turn.
Don’t you just love to root for local and area athletes as they compete? It was exciting to watch Metamora football star and now quarterback for Purdue, Caleb TerBush, lead the Boilermakers to victory over Western Michigan in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. We cheered when Peoria Central’s D.J. Richardson and former Bradley star Sam Maniscalco helped the Illini win in two overtimes against a scrappy Minnesota Gopher team. What a game!
HEALTH ITEM
Is it possible after all of the high caloric foods we ate over the holidays to drop 11 pounds in seven days? The famous TV physician, Dr. Oz, thinks so. In a recent show he pointed to African mango as something we can eat or ingest to successfully lose weight. I won’t go into the details outlined in a magazine article about how it works, but I’ll tell you I visited Naturally Yours in the Metro Center to learn there’s been a rush on the product known as African mango seed extract. They were plum out of the supplement since there are studies that claim it will not only help you lose weight, but will reduce LDL cholesterol by 46% in four weeks.
Dr. Oz says taking 150 mg. of African mango seed extract twice a day will also reduce belly fat. My name is on the call list when it arrives at Naturally Yours.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
“Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it.” —Ben Franklin