Straight Talk

Have you noticed how quickly Peoria police are capturing the bad guys? One robbery after another and one killing after another, police wind up nabbing the culprits. And folks, these are really bad, bad, people. Too many young thugs are roaming the streets at night carrying “weapons of (mass) destruction;”...
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As I write this column January 18, discussions are taking place between retiring Peoria County Administrator Patrick Urich and Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis. Don’t be surprised if an announcement is made within days that Urich is the city’s choice for city manager. He’s a great choice. I was on the ...
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Merle Widmer has retired from the County Board, but not from politics. Everyone who knows him, and I do, knew he would not go quietly. After a big time losing effort to slow down, if not stop the downtown museum, Merle’s latest diatribe in the local paper was directed at board chairman, Tom O’Neill....
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The sleuths at the Peoria Journal have uncovered another major crime! While there are murders on the streets and alleys of the city, drug deals almost in the open, fights among teens at Peoria High, and muggings of shoppers, the newspaper has revealed that Mayor Jim Ardis used City ...
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Former State Senator George Shadid and his wife, Lorraine, traveled to Washington D.C. for the Judicial Committee hearings for their son, Judge Jim Shadid. If that wasn’t a big enough thrill, they were then invited to the Oval Office to meet with President Barrack Obama. George and the President ...
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The popular and legendary Bradley basketball coach, Joe Stowell, has been fired by WMBD’s general manager, Mike Wild. Stowell will no longer be heard doing games with Dave Snell. Wild, who has a history of firing people, dumped Stowell in favor of Danny Adams, who graduated from the Hilltop ...
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EXCLUSIVE For writing a column in a monthly newspaper I’m proud of the scoops I’ve had over the years. This column was the first to predict a federal judgeship for Judge Jim Shadid and the first to forecast that Chillicothe’s IVC would join the Mid-State 6. Here’s another one to remember....
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Woodruff High School is dead.  Its execution was ordered by District 150 board members David Gorenz, Laura Petelle, Debbie Wolfmeyer and Linda Butler. As a physician, Gorenz lost “the patient;” Petelle, the attorney, pulled the plug; Wolfmeyer, a school secretary, filed the official death notice; and Reverend Butler, former WPEO radio employee, gave the...
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Greg Maddox, one of the greatest pitchers of modern day baseball, got his professional start playing for the Peoria Chiefs at the old Vonachen Stadium on Nebraska Avenue. And thanks to that Vonachen, as in Pete, the “Mad Dog” is returning to Peoria, Saturday, June 11. The occasion is the...
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On numerous occasions I’m reminded by other people what a great man my father was. Recently, I received an invitation to appear as a guest on the cable program, “Neighborhood Views,” from the host, Lorraine Carter. Lorraine said she not only graduated from Dad’s school, the Peoria Barber College, but was the first African-American...
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