That was the year that was in the River City
By Bill Dennis | 1st January 2008
With the start of the new year, I thought it appropriate to take a look back as some of the news that caught my eye during 2007:
The race to replace Congressman Ray: First, U.S. Representative Ray LaHood’s decision to retire caught everyone by surprise. He was one of the first GOP members of the House to call it quits this election cycle because, as LaHood himself says, it’s no fun to be a member of a minority party. It threw re-election plans for a loop throughout the 18th District. State Rep. Aaron Schock essentially blew off LaHood’s suggestion that everyone wait before endorsing anyone. But Schock sprung into action. Behaving like he was following a pre-planned strategy, Schock worked the phones and contacted all party leaders and got their endorsements.
From the moment he decided to run, Schock has gone out of his way to make it appear that he’s the inevitable nominee. The other two guys in the race - former Peoria City Council member John Morris and Heartland Partnership CEO Jim McConoughey aren’t playing along with this scheme, however. They both have put up viable campaigns. And Aaron hasn’t helped his own cause with numerous foot-in-mouth incidents. Yes, it’s true: He really did suggest selling nuclear weapons to Taiwan. Yes, he really did get kicked out of county party headquarters for running a national campaign out it (it’s a campaign spending violation). Yes, he really did send out literature suggesting LaHood as endorsing him, when LaHood isn’t. It’s really making Schock look out to be too immature for the job.
There wasn’t a shortage of folks considering seeking the Democratic nomination. But in the end, it was as hard getting a viable Democratic candidate as it usually is in the 18th. Dick Versace - the guy who coached B.U. more than two decades ago - tossed his hat in the ring. But he took his hat out of the ring a few months later, too late for anyone to get into the primary. There are some folks reconsidering their decision to not be considered.
A big gulp of racism: Black people weren’t getting inside the 4 a.m. bars in downtown Peoria. In fact, there were often very large numbers of them hanging outside the bars. Some complained the bars’ rather silly dress codes were keeping them out. Some have suggested that occupancy rules were keeping them out. Sure. Whatever. In any case, large groups of black people loitering in Peoria isn’t exactly conducive to promoting convention trade. Eventually, the Peoria City Council added one bar to the 4 a.m. liquor zone. It’s owned by a black person and caters to black people. This is supposed to lure some of the loiterers there.
The whole mess made Peoria look bad, but I can’t really call it racism when the city gives a minority business owner a coveted 4 a.m. license. Of course, the puritans in Peoria were aghast. If the latest a bar could stay open in Peoria was 2 a.m., they would complain that any bar was allowed to stay open past midnight. Hell, these folks are upset that grocery stores can stay open on Sunday. In my humble opinion, the city’s decision works, even if it is inelegant, and codifies what I think is a form of racism being practiced by some of these bars. But I don’t want the city putting itself in a position of trying to decide where and when some business is discriminating. Let the state and federal courts do their jobs for a change.
A study in contrast: A passenger in a car on Interstate 74 is killed by a brick tossed from an overpass. A Bradley University student died in a fire started by his roommates. These two stories are related, in that they happened at approximately the same time frame, and the public linked them. As soon as news of Katrina Kelly’s death hit the streets on July 14, people were calling it cold-blooded and calculated murder. This was the general public’s conclusion before anyone knew anything about how or why this happened. But when Danny Dahlquist died on Aug. 12 in a fire set by his roommates, the public almost immediately seemed to clamor for forgiveness and mercy. Rakiem Campbell pleaded guilty in Peoria County Circuit Court to vehicular endangerment in exchange for a 15-year sentence - the maximum under law - for tossing the concrete block that killed Kelly. As part of the deal, a murder charge was dismissed. Much of the public considers the sentence too lenient.
Nicholas Mentgen, Ryan Johnson, David Crady, Daniel Cox are still awaiting trial on relatively minor arson and fireworks possession charges for their lethal, drunken prank. Their sentences, even if they go to trial, will almost certainly not approach the ten years that Campbell is likely to serve. I’m guessing if these people serve any time in prison at all, it will be condemned by some for not being lenient enough.
So what are the differences? Well, the roommates knew their victim and tried to save his life when their realized their prank went wrong. In Campbell’s case, this was just the last in a long list of violent behavior. He didn’t know his victim, and there’s no evidence he expected anything other than harm to come to someone.
But there’s another difference: Campbell is black. The BU students were white. Only a fool would think these cases are identical. But only a fool would think that race played no role in the differing reactions by the public and the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s office.
Kellar Branch re-opens to Pioneer Rail Corp: It’s over folks. The Keller Branch rail line - which runs from the river to waaaaaaay out in North Peoria beyond Pioneer Parkway, is NOT coming down. Period. End of story. The Surface Transportation board has had its the final say. Pioneer Rail Corp (who the City of Peoria wanted to kick off the line) and Central Illinois Railroad (who the city hired to oversee the line until it’s demolished) has long since turned on the city and wants to be the lone provider. The folks who wanted to rip out this line and replace it with - I kid you not, a walking/biking trail - are flabbergasted they aren’t getting their way. They are just soooooo used to the fact that developers usually get what they want in Peoria.
Manual 22: Twenty two students at Manual and ten at Woodruff High School were given jaywalking tickets. And it was a huge story for about a month. Community activist Rita Ali, who witnessed the incident, said students were not walking down middle of the street. Police Chief Steve Settingsgaard stood by his officers, who reported they were jaywalking. The whole thing collapsed, and the tickets were dismissed after the students attended assemblies. The vehemence at which white people wanted these kids punished surprised me, as did as the insistence by black people that the police are targeting them in a deliberate effort to keep black people down. I don’t buy the conspiracy theories. And I am also fairly certain that black drivers are more likely to be stopped that white drivers. But I’ve also talked to whites and blacks who have encountered the aggressive, confrontational style of jaywalking that so frightens people.
GateHouse Media buys the Journal Star, other central Illinois Newspapers: It took them little time to offer buyout agreements to veteran staffers. They’ve refused to replace reporters who quit to take other jobs or those who were promoted to fill vacancies. They laid off support personnel. I’ve lost track of the number of lost positions. In my humble opinion, I’ve noticed a decline in enterprise reporting, shorter articles and bylined articles that seem more like press releases. I think it’s due to having an overworked staff. GateHouse Media has also bought out newspapers in Galesburg, Springfield, Lincoln, not to mention local weeklies in the Times Newspapers chain. This includes my old stomping grounds, the Peoria Times-Observer. If this continues, Peorians can forget about being able to get quality print journalism from their one and only newspaper of record. Putting out a quality newspaper requires people with enough time and resources to do the job. GateHouse seems intent on gutting the paper to nothingness.
District 150 caves: Last year, District 150, the Peoria Park District and the Peoria Housing Authority made a behind-closed-doors agreement that would have shuttered Glen Oak School and led to the construction of a huge new school on land adjacent to Glen Oak Park. Essentially, the park would become the school’s de facto playground. The nearby community freaked, because they didn’t want their kids walking that far and across Prospect Avenue; they didn’t want to lose any more park land to development; and they didn’t want to see GOS shuttered, as it would continue to destabilize the neighborhood. After a long and bitter fight, the park board declined to participate, but not before the allegedly cash-strapped school district paid top dollar prices to buy some property on Prospect. THIS YEAR, the district did it right. Rather than have no public input, they had public input on steroids. They held a series of public hearings, moderated by an outsider, and ended up deciding to follow the advice they were given consistently at these hearings: Build TWO schools to replace the total of four schools that will be closed. The only question that remains is where the East Bluff School will be built.
Predictions:
1. There will be new taxes coming into Peoria City Hall’s coffers to pay for additional firefighters, additional police officers and other projects. City Council members are sick of saying “no” to reasonable requests for sidewalks and lighting projects (among other things). This new tax revenue might come from taxes on liquor and on drive-thru fast food (it’s an idea I heard once proposed to pay for litter cleanup). There might, perhaps, be some sort of public service fee attached to utility bills, one based on usage, that might get institutions like BU and the hospitals to pay their fair share for the services they receive.
2. There will be BIG changes proposed for Peoria School District 150. At least, there will be if they don’t get their heads out of the clouds and apply some common sense to their decision making.
3. Peoria School District 150 will pick the current Glen Oak School site as the location for its new East Bluff school.