The Community Word

It was a shock to learn of the untimely death of Brad Horton. I’ve known Brad for years.
Those at City Hall knew him as Township Assessor and over at the Courthouse people there knew him as County Recorder of Deeds. But throughout the city and county people knew Brad as just one nice guy [...]

How sad it is to watch as people with good intentions do bad things to others. That’s what has happened in Peoria as a group of people successfully worked to bring a charter school to District 150 while quietly applauding the closure of Woodruff High School. Those people should be ashamed, including the elected members [...]

I’m sorry my column was missing in last month’s issue of the Community Word. Despite my wife’s hospitalization and subsequent admission to a nursing home rehab unit, I still managed to write another “award winning” column. I say that with a smile, of course. Seriously, the column was written and emailed to the editor. For [...]

Information has been provided to this columnist that indicates some District 150 board members may have been relying on a secret resource for making decisions regarding school closures. At least one board member has inferred the decision to close Woodruff was based on recommendations from a “community resource.” The board member refused to identify the [...]

Did you watch? Did you hear people speak at the District 150 school board meeting that ended with an historic 4-3 vote to close Woodruff High School? Thank you Public Access Channel 17 for showing the meeting so taxpayers could see and hear the hotly debated and discussed issue: Shall Woodruff or Peoria High be [...]

Built in 1938, the Hub Ballroom in Edelstein had an unceremonious ending as it burned to the ground Tuesday night, June 23. Its famous dance floor contributed to the complete and final demolition of the structure, according to fire officials. The smooth, but old wooden floor quickly ignited as the fire spread. Over the years [...]

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 [...]

Peoria made national news with the election of Aaron Shock, the youngest member of the House of Representatives. Peoria became a Jay Leno joke as he talked about the 13-year old who was arrested for robbing South Side Bank. What’s next for Peoria? How about news that District 150 is [...]

As I write this month’s column my dear and close friend, Royce Elliott, is a patient in CCU at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center. He’s recovering after collapsing at home. He had a close call, but when I visited him, he was smiling and, not so surprisingly, even managed to get off a few quick [...]