First, my Uncle Joe Binder died after a long illness.

Uncle Joe was born in Hungary, but escaped to the United States in the 1950s to avoid having to serve in the Army. He met my Aunt Barbara in a bar in Peoria. He asked her for a kiss, which in his native language resembled as risqué euphemism for a certain female body part. The request earned him a slap on the face, but the language barrier didn’t prevent the two from hooking up. Their son, who we call Szepi, shares the same birthday with me.

Aunt Barbara passed away several years ago.

I’ll miss him.

And, I learned from Facebook that Doug Lawhead, a photojournalism instructor from Eastern Illinois University, collapsed at a coffee shop in the student union and died.

I didn’t know Doug “Loghead” (as I called him) at EIU. I worked with him at the Robinson Daily News, my first job right out of college. He was a class act – very friendly and very helpful to a young, right-out-of college kid. He left the Daily News several years after I did and went to work for the Mattoon newspaper and later took a job at EIU as the journalism department’s Apple computer guru. (I’ll never understand journalism’s preference to Apples over Microsoft).

My sympathies to Doug’s family, friends and co-workers.

Friendships, bought and paid for

Also on Facebook, I see that Dave Koehler is selling friendships and the price is as high as $5,000 per person. Well, that’s the maximum cost of a sponsorship of a fundraiser at the Lariat Club, featuring an appearance by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin. The cheapest sponsorship is just $100, which is more in line with the working class.

Gulley calls it quits

Clyde Gulley won’t run for re-election to the 1st District on the Peoria City Council.

Let’s just say that he won’t be missed among many neighborhood groups, who thought he worked against their interests far too often. The Adams Street Market issue stands out. Gulley defended the business, which fought for the right to sell liquor, while neighborhood activists opposed it.

I found him personable, but he isn’t a pro-neighborhoods, essential services first sort of guy.

I think the 1st District is demographically lost to that sort of candidate anyway. I am much more interested in who will represent the 2nd District. Is incumbent Barbara Van Auken going to seek reelection? I’m guessing yes.