We support  protecting the Springdale Savanna.  It’s a piece of Illinois history that deserves to be left alone.

Please keep the existing agreement with the state IDNR. The Savanna should not be used for green burials because of its biological value.  There are many other sites in the cemetery more appropriate for green burials, where volunteers could construct memorial benches and plant gardens for quiet contemplation.

Do not mow any more of the Savanna or sell traditional concrete vault cemetery plots within its boundaries.  If burial sales are slow and revenue is needed, there are plenty of places to sell plots already, especially if you develop creative ideas to market the cemetery.

Destroying the Savanna won’t create many burial plot sales, and is likely to alienate many potential customers including us. We are long time supporters of Springdale.  We are also senior citizens, but have never selected grave sites. We are waiting to see what happens with Springdale!  We know others who agree with us.

Please preserve the most beautiful natural area in Springdale, as even rapacious past owners did for a century.  Destruction of even a portion of the Savanna will not fix the financial problems that the cemetery faces, and likely make it worse, as a boycott of Springdale can be easily organized in this day of instant communication.  (Perhaps the Occupy group can be persuaded to camp out there – that would make news everywhere!)

Get creative young people involved in marketing, to generate more sales, after you promise not to touch that Savanna!

Thanksgiving Day marks my 100th day as Peoria County’s Administrator. Reflecting on the past 100 days, I certainly have much to be thankful for since August 16, 2011.

First, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the County Board, other elected officials, my staff, and the community at large for extending such a warm welcome to my family and me. Peoria County truly is exceptional in this regard. The people I have met in the short time I have been in Central Illinois have affirmed we made the right decision this August and my husband and I are looking forward to raising our family here.

One of my first tasks, and perhaps the most significant for a county administrator, was to develop the 2012 Budget. I am very proud to have been able to partner with elected officials and department supervisors to produce a budget that is in the best interest of the citizens we serve. In a challenging economy with shrinking income, we were able to avoid layoffs, maintain our lowest tax rate in a decade, and hold our operating expenses to just .47% over the 2011 Adopted Budget. We are all thankful for this accomplishment!

Another achievement I believe crucial to our success is the ability to maximize efficiency by streamlining the organizational structure. The conversion of existing positions to Assistant County Administrator positions will allow me and my staff to better focus our energy, efforts, and resources on strategic goals and departmental responsibilities. Time previously spent managing 15 direct reports can now be spent solving larger issues and planning for our high performing future.

Lastly, I think it is important to note the progress we have made with our economic development initiative. Much needed revisions have been made to the County’s Government Assistance Program (GAP) Loan guidelines, and new micro and macro loan programs are being developed to address missing links in local financial assistance opportunities. These important initiatives reflect the Board’s commitment to growing the county and, once approved in early 2012, will prove useful tools for retaining and attracting business to our community.

It is amazing how quickly 100 days go by and now the holidays are already upon us. I anticipate the next 100 days will be as productive as these first have been and I look forward to spending additional time with individual Board members over the next several months. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any concerns you may have or ideas you wish to share.

Thank you for making these last few months so enjoyable for me.

With more that 25 million unemployed, the poverty rate moving upward every month, corporations going overseas, and many small businesses turning belly up, I think it is appropriate to take a backward glance to the 1930’s when Franklin D. Roosevelt was facing a situation similar to what’s happening in this country today.

FDR’s NRA – National Recovery Act – enacted to get the country back on its feet can give us something to consider today … Some tell us those programs really didn’t help much, and that it took WWII to finally get us out of the depression. In my estimation, however, FDR at least too action to get something done, and I think he accomplished much that was worthwhile.

The reason why I think that is because I was a teenager during those troubled years and remember very clearly how for one, the CCC – Civilian Conservation Corps – provided employment for thousands of young men along with a sense of purpose and valuable experience constructing buildings, bridges and other things in national and state parks. I remember also the Federal Arts Project that gave unemployed artists an opportunity to earn a living by creating murals and sculptures for post offices and other federal buildings. And walking to school, I saw gangs of men who were put to work by the WPA – Works Progress Administration. In addition to an income they were given a sense of dignity and motivation, attributes often lost when people are faced with long-term unemployment and lose hope of ever finding work.

So here we are. I can easily see a parallel between FDR’s efforts and President Obama taking control attempting to pass job bill after job bill to get people back to work and introduce legislation to help get the country back on its feet. And what’s the result? Unlike FDR, Obama is blocked at every turn by an opposition who lets their hatred of him and everything he tries to do sabotage America. Is it possible that in their blindness the Republicans care more about destroying the president than they do for the wellbeing of America? That they care nothing for the people they are supposed to represent? They were elected with promises – empty rhetoric, it proves to be – about how they are pledged to keep America the greatest country in the world, strong and wealthy and an example of what the blessings of unfettered capitalism can do.

I think it’s time to call their bluff and name their obstructionism for what it is … unpatriotic and criminal.

All the while the Republicans are pandering to their sugar daddies – the Koch Brothers, Coors, the Waltons and oil barons. Keeping them happy is of utmost importance to assure they look favorably upon their foodies and keep a steady stream of goodies coming in the form of bribes and payoffs for doing their bidding.

As Oscar Wilde once remarked, “they know the price of everything and the value of nothing – especially the values of public service, basic morality and common decency.”

h I hold no brief for Mormonism, and I’m not particularly fond of Mitt Romney. But when Christian leaders call it a cult, I find it appropriate to cite Hanlon’s Razor: “Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity.” In some cases, the reverse would be equally true.

A cult, which those detractors apparently don’t know, or care to know, is a clandestine group headed by a charismatic, power-hungry individual whose purpose is to offer refuge in the guise of “family” providing what masks as love and acceptance to many suffering from personality disorders resulting from dysfunctional families or other causes. To maintain power over his or her “family” the leader weans cult members away from contact with outside society, including natural family members, friends, and others, programming them to believe that all outsiders are enemies.

This brings up a larger issue. The Republicans and many of their supporters keep creating imaginary scenarios and charges designed to destroy the credibility and reputation of those they oppose and those who oppose them, much like calling Mormonism a cult or charges that Obama wasn’t born in the U.S., that he is un-American, attended a Madrassa, is a secret Muslim, wants to destroy America, and even attack his attending Christian churches as a deception.

In the distant past, Al Smith’s Catholicism, and more recently Jack Kennedy’s was apparently something that would prevent them from being good Americans and therefore disqualifying them from being presidents.

Now it appears that being a certain kind of Christian is a requirement for anyone to be elected. Consider the first amendment to the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, etc.” The question is, does it really make any difference what one’s religion is? Would a Roman Catholic, a Jew, a Baptist, Presbyterian, Apostolic Christian, Mormon or member of any other religion or none make a better president? Only when the candidate takes a radical attitude by claiming that only his or her religion has a corner on truth and would propose legislation based on that belief would religion become an issue of contention, and quite properly raise serious concern.

It would be much better for everyone if we took seriously the words of a song Grace Wilson used to sing on The National Barn Dance, “You go to your church and I’ll go to mine but let’s walk along together.”

If you are a subscriber to the Journal Star and participate in its Easy Pay Plus program with automatic monthly deductions from your credit card or bank account, you are being charged a hidden cost of $15.60 per year for something you may not want.

I received a letter around the first of September from Bruce Nielsen, Circulation Manager of the Journal Star dated August 18 stating that “effective September 19, your new rate will be $22.75 per month, which includes 4 cents per day for unlimited access to our website.”

The letter does not say anywhere that you can opt out of this cost. It does tell you how to begin receiving the unlimited access on September 19.

I called the Journal Star customer service department when I received the letter to explain the letter to me. A female representative named Nicky said although the letter didn’t state it, I could opt out of the unlimited access by calling them and asking to do it.

This “sneaky” unnecessary cost irritated me so I sent an email to Bruce about it on September 7 asking him why the letter was written so deceptively and asked him to call me to explain. He hasn’t as of September 21.

So I called the customer service department on September 21 and talked to a different female representative named Renee. I asked her to generally explain the access to the pjstar.com website. She said if I was a 7-day subscriber on Easy Pay, it was “included in my subscription.” So I asked if it was “free.” She said, yes, it was “included.” I asked “so am I paying for something I don’t really want?” She repeated that it was “automatically included.” I rephrased my question and asked if I could opt out of the unlimited access. She said no. I said that didn’t seem right. She asked for my address. I asked why. She said so she could look up to see if I was eligible to opt out of the unlimited access. I said, so then I can opt out? She said if people call and request it, yes they can. But the whole conversation was very frustrating because it took several repeated and reworded questions for her to admit that I could opt out of the hidden cost.

I then asked her if there was any free access to the website. She said that any “metered sites” could be accessed 15 times per calendar month for free. I asked her what a “metered site” was and she gave me the definition but it was hard to clearly determine what information in the Journal Star was and wasn’t included. But it is free for 15 times per month.

So, if you don’t want unlimited access to the pjstar.com website and you want to save $15.60 per month, call 309-686-3161 and ask to opt out of the unlimited access.  And good luck in getting a straight answer.

Has the Journal Star stooped to charging hidden unwanted fees to its subscribers to make more profits for it’s out of town owner? It sure seems so to me.

For those of us who grew up in the 30’s and 40’s remembering the Depression is often an exercise in nostalgia. We married after the War and raised our families in so much better times.

In my own family, we saw our mother affected all the rest of her life, having had to worry about having the electricity turned back on, or asking for a food order to feed her family, before welfare came along. World War II brought jobs and better times but she did not really recover.

Too many Americans are living with suffering and in real fear all around us. Compassion and sympathy is truly needed. Better still, empathy is needed as we call upon our leaders at every level on behalf of those fellow citizens.

It used to be, what with all the violent programming on TV, you could count on the commercials for a little respite – if often inane and hard to figure out. But no longer. For example, we have those SafeAuto commercials where some innocent guy is beset with a series of kicks in the crotch and apparently suffers considerable pain. Is that really intended to convince me to shuck my current auto policy for a SafeAuto policy?

If that hasn’t been working for them, they now have a follow up where another guy, walking along minding his own business, is approached by a series of perpetrators who each give him a wedgie, and at the end leave him hanging on a door supported by his shorts. I don’t know who writes and OKs these commercials, but they sure do have an obsession with genital pain.

Capitol One is another outfit that seems to dote on violence. Remember the barbarians armed to the teeth with swords, clubs, maces and other war-like paraphernalia who invade a department store and vandalize it while customers cower in fear? Nifty way to make us think kindly of Capitol One, wouldn’t you say?

One doesn’t have to watch TV very long to see other commercials that base their messages on violence. If not against people, against property. All in the name of what they apparently think of as humor, or fun.

Then, there’s the program on TruTV titled “The World’s Dummest.” If you haven’t seen it, congratulate yourself. It features really stupid stunts attempted by really stupid people … stunts that invariably go wrong and end in a catastrophe. It’s obvious serious injury is being suffered, but to add to the stupidity, a group of comedians make goofy comments and apparently see a lot of humor in someone suffering.

Violence has become a stock in trade for many who seek our business or want to entertain us. Having spent my working life in the advertising trade developing and writing commercials for radio and TV, and in public relations and marketing, I’m puzzled by this turn in advertising and entertainment. Has it become passé for commercials to present a client’s products or services in an appealing manner?

I must also ask, are our sensibilities changing so much these days that fear and revulsion, cruelty and insensibility are now the ways to see products and services?

Are we seeing a trend – a dangerous trend – in the way people think and what motivates them? We should be alarmed when the governor of Texas boasts about executing 284 people and his listeners go wild with applause. And we should ask, what is happening when another candidate for president says it’s everybody’s personal responsibility to look after themselves financially without government help in the form of Medicare or Medicaid, even when the old are broke and facing a serious and expensive illness. In other words: “Tough. You’re on your own.” These are people who tout their Christianity and tell us they talk to God, who motivates them. To that, the only thing I can say is, God help us all!

After Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s union busting bill was signed, Mahlon Mitchell of the firefighters union said, “It doesn’t feel like America. Where the hell are we?”

I can answer that. We’re in an era where a larger number of people have stopped thinking for themselves because they apparently found it easier to submit to the coercion of a party that sold itself out to its corporate overlords, along with the likes of the radical Tea Party and self-appointed know-it-all Grover Norquist.

That was in Wisconsin. But in state after state all across the country, people who are fighting for their rights against corporate power and political chicanery are feeling that the forces of greed and destruction are winning, forces oblivious to the millions whose rights they are stripping away, all for a patronizing smile, a pat on the head, and a fistful of dollars courtesy of big money.

America, the land of the free? The creeping takeover by corporate interests will make that hard fought-for freedom, like Kris Kristopherson sings, “… just another word for nothing left to lose.”

All the victories of America’s growing up years … the 40 hour work week, public education, banning child labor, minimum wage laws, voting rights, health care benefits, environmental protection, bargaining rights, Social Security and Medicare are slowly but surely being stolen.

Chris Hedges, award-winning author and journalist (American Fascists, Death of the Liberal Class, and others) say, “We have very effectively been pacified by the pernicious ideology of a consumer society that is centered on the cult of the self – an undiluted hedonism and narcissism that has been a very effective way to divert our attention while the country is being reconfigured into a cult of neo-feudelism, with a rapacious oligarchic elite and an anemic government that is no longer able to intercede on behalf of its citizens but cravenly serves the interests of the oligarchy itself”

Must we look back at our history, the great, stirring pageantry of America as only a memory of what we used to have: the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the dreams and sacrifices of all those great men and women who have dedicated their lives to help make us what we are today?

It’s easy and convenient to consider warnings such as this and dismiss them as the product of overwrought imagination or the rants of a calamity-howler. But read the newspapers and periodicals, listen to the radio, watch the TV news and if you have the ability to analyze the situation, you should be able to appreciate what is happening. Instead of it being morning in America, it could quite possibly be evening in America – and the light is fading.

Now that a woman may be nominated by the Republican Party for President, the questions arise again, and by now should have been addressed many times over. A woman’s abilities, etc., etc., etc. The question asked of Michelle Bachman in Iowa about her religious belief: a wife must submit to her husband, is interesting with the implication that her husband could be involved in Presidential decisions.

When Hillary Clinton was running, questions arose about HER husband who had BEEN President, and how he could influence her Presidential decisions!

I’m sure that Bachman or Sarah Palin actually running for President would put feminists to some amount of testing. Their positions on so-called “social issues” would be a serious litmus test. There are many Republican politicians, women, who could pass that test with feminist men and women, but neither of them could!