Straight Talk

The last breakfast

It’s hard to believe. Pete Vonachen is gone. Just a few days before his passing we were having coffee and donuts together at the Buehler Home. Pete was his usual charming and witty self, occasionally complaining about his sore bottom,…

Royce’s Park?

There’s a move to rename the park on the near northside of Peoria after our friend, Royce Elliott. Morton Square Park was a favorite “playground” for Royce and his many friends. They played football and some softball on the square…

Of Royce and Jonathan

LOSING MY FRIEND JONATHAN WINTERS It was a stunning loss, especially the way I learned it. I was driving home listening to the news on WOAM when the reporter announced Jonathan Winters had died. I couldn’t believe it. We had…

Straight Talk for April

STUNNING! The recent announcement that Proctor Hospital had sold all of its Prompt Care offices to OSF St. Francis Medical Center was a stunning surprise, especially to officials at Methodist Medical Center, past and present. Truth is, historically, Methodist and…

Straight Talk for March

Harry Caray was considered by many as the greatest play-by-play announcer in the history of baseball. Fans of Mel Allen of the Yankees and Vin Scully of the Dodgers would disagree, but to those of us in the mid-west, Caray…

Much ado about … nothing

The office building of our main WiredTree support offices will be undergoing fire safety system upgrades and the main power to our building is going to be shut off to undergo this planned maintenance. As a result, our support offices…

Straight Talk for December 2012

POST ELECTION NOTES Congratulations to the winners and losers in last month’s elections. The losers deserve special praise because it’s not easy to spend money, work hard, and wind up losing. No one enjoys losing. I congratulate you for trying.…

November Straight Talk

COMING SOON! R & R!! Believe it or not, “Breakfast with Royce and Roger” is returning to WOAM. After extensive discussions with owner Larry Nelson, an agreement has been reached for the two friends, make that three friends, to once…

Chiefs welcome Cards

The old saying, “When you’re handed a lemon, make lemonade,” sure applies to the Peoria Chiefs. After Chicago Cub management unceremoniously dropped the Peoria Chiefs as one of their minor league teams, it took Chief officials two days to turn a…