The dog shown above as well as on her Scooper Heros brochures and business cards looks a lot like the animated harmless cartoon character, Scooby Doo. Indeed, Scooper Heros can “rescues you from the poo,” according to Kelley Steger, the sole owner of the business. We’re talking about dog poo of course. However, it is about so much more than just hiring someone else to perform the dreaded chore of scooping poo out of your yard. It’s also a concern about the health and welfare of both pets and humans.

The proper equipment for her scooping tasks are shoe covers for her feet, a rake, waste disposal tray and bags to remove the waste.

Why should Steger and not the owners pick up their dog’s feces? According to Steger, her potential clients are dog owners that are elderly, busy mothers, pregnant women, or just busy people looking to unload a few chores. These ordinary people with busy lives probably don’t realize how important it is to remove fecal material.

Steger worked to become well prepared for her business. She is licensed from the proper credentialing agencies and is insured. She attended the Turner Center for Entrepreneurs and worked with SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives).

Steger has gathered research from the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Center for Disease Control websites. She discovered that specific consequences occur when the dog feces are not scooped after a dog defecates. “Within a week, eggs that come from the feces breakdown, causing unhealthy bacteria and usually develop after a month of growing. Once the decaying feces are absorbed by the soil, it becomes a harmful bacterial agent.”

According to Steger’s research, “failing to pick up after a pet is a health concern for humans and other animals, and can lead to water quality problems. Pet waste contributes nutrients, parasites and bacteria to water ground tables and other water bodies when it is not disposed of properly.”

Since storm drains do not always connect to treatment facilities, untreated animal feces often end in lakes and streams, causing significant water pollution.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, and the US Pet Ownership and Demographics Sourcebook (2012), it is estimated that a single gram of dog feces can contain 23 million fecal coliform bacteria, which is huge health issue. EPA estimates that just two or three days worth of droppings from a population of about 100 dogs would contribute enough bacteria to close a bay, and all watershed areas within 20 miles of it, to swimming and shell fishing.

Steger further explains that “because of the dangers posed to humans from the soil, it should not to be used as a fertilizer or for compost piles.” Furthermore, the e-coli can infect children while they play in or around the feces, which is contaminated soil. Then, as children are apt to do, they will touch the dirt to their lips and faces. These ecoli infections can lead to tapeworms and round worms and other parasites in children. Symptoms consist of vomiting and diarrhea.

The infected soil, when rained upon, can lead to water body conditions that are unsafe for human recreation such as swimming and fishing. Polluted water bodies can also sicken and kill pets and livestock that drink the water.

Humans can become sick just by stepping in dry fecal material. Then when you touch your face, or mouth and other parts of your body, your body can become infected by e-coli, which can cause harmful parasites.

Steger has tried to bring this important health risk issue to the public’s attention in various ways. She has discussed this very critical subject of animal waste with groomers and veterinarians as she seeks out new customers. She plans to try to further educate other professionals as well as her clients about this health issue. Steger is currently planning to find ways to contact other community health organizations, volunteer clubs, as well as associations to make them aware of the health issue and her services. She would also like to be able to educate/inform pediatricians to alert them to the dangers of infection due to lack of pet feces removal.

She has surveyed the surrounding communities and as she is going door to door servicing her current clients and seeking out new clients, she wants to be sure to persuade pet owners and the community of the dangers of pet waste to be responsible and to clean up pet waste.

Steger is trying to play an instrumental role in making the public aware of the problem and to urge them to do their part to address the problem. She’s hopeful that this topic will be recognized as an important health issue; that there will be a comprehensive effort to coordinate a community-based pet removal containment system. This will take the cooperation of public officials and residents.

Steger will gladly give free estimates on how much it would cost to eliminate dog waste, as well as a schedule for her to perform the pet services. You can reach her at 309-202-8450, or at 309-620-0365. Her email address is thescooperheros@yahoo.com.

Peoria’s City Council election on April 9 was quite a game changer. With just 12 percent voter turnout, those who cast their ballots managed to open the door for new faces—and new opportunities—for the next city council. Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis welcomed the new members, saying he looks forward to “working together” with them and claiming district council members’ jobs can be more challenging than those of at-large members. Although he claims the council will be losing the experience the incumbents brought to the table, he is confident the new members will have no problem getting up to speed.

“It’s to everyone’s advantage that they find the ability to do their jobs as best they can,” Mayor Ardis said last month.

Resounding Victory

Financial advisor and business consultant Denise Moore, 54, wife of WEEK-TV News Channel 25 morning anchor/reporter Garry Moore, defeated incumbent Gary Sandburg with 81 percent of the vote, or 705 votes to Sandburg’s 19 percent, or 167 votes.

Sandburg, 64, has served on the council for 24 years. He was first elected in 1989 when he won election to the 2nd District seat. He later left this position in 1997 when he was elected to become an at-large councilman. Sandberg still retains this position and will be up for re-election in 2015.

Moore attributes her victory to the fact that the people in the 1st District want “real changes.” Having served on the city’s south side as a former neighborhood association president, her first priority will be increasing economic development in her district. She says funding is a big concern for the Southtown Tax Increment Financing District. She also says she will make specific improvements to Western Avenue, an area she claims, does little to attract businesses to Peoria.

The 1st District consists of South Peoria and Downtown Peoria and the North Valley.

Familiar Faces

The city’s 2nd and 4th Districts are welcoming back former at-large city councilmen, Charles Grayeb and Jim Montelongo. In Peoria’s 2nd District, retired educator Charles Grayeb, 63, is returning to the city council after successfully ousting incumbent Barbara Van Auken with 52 percent of the vote. A retired attorney, Van Auken, 66, served for eight years on the city council.

Grayeb, an at-large council member from 1995-2007, says he had “an enormous amount” of encouragement from friends and family to run again. Having each received 595 votes in Tuesday’s ballots, Grayeb won the early voting, 107-77, and absentee ballots, 69-46, a strategy he claims helped put him over the top.

The 2nd District includes parts of Central Illinois and the West Bluff.

In the 4th District, former at-large councilman Jim Montelongo defeated former city code enforcement chief, John Kunski, with 58 percent of the vote to Kunski’s 42 percent.

Kunski served as Director of Inspections for Peoria for twenty-two years before taking early retirement.

Montelongo says his election came about largely due to the fact that his constituents desire business development and increased opportunities in the city. A plan for business growth, he says, will be one of his first priorities.

Staying in the Game

Incumbent Tim Riggenbach soared to victory in the 3rd District, winning against opponent Chad Grimm by a margin of 81 to 19 percent. Riggenbach was first elected to the city council four years ago and won by just 12 votes.

Riggenbach credits his victory to hard work over as well as “tough decisions” made involving budget cuts. He and his colleagues also worked hard to improve the way Peoria conducts business and strengthen the financial integrity of the city.

Over the next four years, the incumbent desires to continue his work with community leaders as well as his partnership with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) to improve the East Bluff and South Peoria neighborhoods.

Earning Constituents’Respect

Casey Johnson’s victory over incumbent Dan Irving changed the face of the 5th District. Johnson defeated Irving, a first-term incumbent, with 54 percent of the vote to Irving’s 46 percent.

Johnson, 33, a financial advisor and an assistant high school and college basketball coach, says good voter turnout—17 percent in the 5th District—worked to his favor. Johnson knocked on hundreds of doors, made phone calls for hours and, he says, made people really believe in what he was doing.

The new councilman says the same cooperation and hard work necessary in the athletic field translates to politics and believes that building relationships with experts will help the city move forward. He says his biggest job will be to earn his constituents’ respect over the next four years.

Portions of North Peoria and Northwest Peoria as well as all of Far North Peoria compose the 5th District.

The West Bluff began in the mid-1800, when stately mansions were built by Peoria’s most prominent citizens and lined High-Wine Street, Moss Avenue and Randolph Ave. Today the area includes Bradley Park, Bradley University and ten neighborhoods: Armstrong-Ellis, Arbor District, Columbia Terrace North, Cottage District, Orchard District, High-Wine, Uplands, Moss-Bradley, Randolph-Roanoke and University East.

Funds raised from the tour are used to beautify the West Bluff, Ticket donations are $12 in advance and $15 the day of the Tour, and tickets can be purchased from the following participating businesses: Sterling Flower Shoppe, Peoria. Marilyn’s Bow-K, Bartonville. Geirs Flowers, West Peoria. Gregg Florist, Peoria. All in Bloom, Washington. Michele’s Floral, Peoria Heights. Haddads downtown restaurant Main Street Peoria, The Old Hair Shoppe West Peoria. Fred’s shoe repair Peoria. Relics on Adams Street, Peoria. Rhythm Kitchen SW Water Street, Peoria. Random Apparel Main Street and Junction City Peoria.

Tickets also available from committee members, for more information please call Kathleen (above), LaDonna Bobbitt (309)672-1831, or committee member Connie Wright (309)674-2330

The Grand Tour, an Illinois nonprofit corporation

The agreement recognizes that Peoria Public Library and District 150 have a shared vision and common goals and calls upon administrators, decision-makers, staff and the general public to commit to planning and evaluating shared activities, among other goals.

Some common suggested goals include: creating an awareness of the importance of reading to success and quality of life; promoting information and literacy skills of youth; creating lifelong learners and library users; creating a network of libraries, resources and personnel between District 150 and Peoria Public Library; and establishing a network of people within the community and region of those interested in working with youth.

“When two organizations share common goals, more residents and children are impacted and have the potential to succeed because of the collaboration and overlapping resources,” said Peoria Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Grenita Lathan. “We appreciate the library’s support and their willingness to collaborate to help reach as many students and parents as possible within our community.”

Immediate concrete actions resulting from those goals could be providing computer labs and meeting rooms for Compass Learning for use by District 150 students at Peoria Public Library and creating partnerships between professional librarians at Peoria Public Library and library managers at District 150 schools.

Linda Daley, President of the Peoria Public Library Board of Trustees said that the agreement makes the best possible use of taxpayer dollars while enhancing the education of our students and community.

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 talked as usual about three weeks before. While frail in voice, I had no idea he was close to death. For almost eleven years we had talked every two to three weeks. The phone conversations were long, sometimes lasting an hour and a half. We covered everything from his family challenges to the economy and the Obama administration. Jonathan was a Republican and held conservative views so we had no problem discussing politics. Once he called and asked whether he should publicly endorse John McCain for President knowing the liberal media and the entertainment industry would be on him like a skin disease. He said Republicans in California had sought his endorsement. I advised him not to do so. He didn’t. I don’t know whether my advice was instrumental in his decision or not, but I was flattered that he even asked for it.

He loved to talk about how some people would challenge him in restaurants in Santa Barbara where he sometimes ate. No, it wasn’t physical confrontations. They would just say things to him like, “I never did think you were funny,” to which Jonathan would reply, “Well, neither did my mother and father.” On another occasion a woman asked, “Are you who I think you are?” He would respond with, “I don’t know. Who do you think I am?” The ensuing conversation would rapidly go downhill.

I knew we had a close and personal relationship when he called late one night to tell me his wife, Eileen, was dying. I knew she had been fighting breast cancer for years. Eileen, he said, was not expected to live the night. The phone rang shortly after 6:00 a.m., 4:00 a.m. Pacific Coast time, and it was Jonathan with the sad news of her passing. He talked about her for an hour and a half including how they met and the support she gave him in his struggles with alcohol and depression. When we hung up I couldn’t believe he felt so comfortable allowing me to be a part of his grieving within minutes of her death.

Jonathan had a terrible childhood. He said both parents drank. Both were verbally abusive, especially his mother who was jealous of his radio success as a morning disc jockey. She worked at a small 250 watt station and he worked for a 5,000 watt station in Dayton after he got out of the service. He joined the Marines when he was 17 to get away from his parents. He vividly recalled while other parents were hugging and kissing their sons, his mother and father were shoving him toward the train, saying, “Hurry, get on. We don’t want you to miss it.” And he was proud of his military service. He served as one of 90 Marines on the USS Bon Homme Richard under a commander who was also from Ohio, like Jonathan. Since he had everything, I always sent a U.S. Marine item or two like a battle cap or a T-shirt for his November 11 birthday or for Christmas. He loved being a Marine.

When we talked he shared a lot of personal stories. One of my favorites was about Lucille Ball who chided him about refusing to be a guest on her show, “I Love Lucy.” Jon said, “Lucy, I don’t do slap-stick comedy.” she replied. “The trouble with you Jonathan is you don’t bend.” He said, “Oh, I bend, but I don’t bend over.”

And he had a lot of personal medical battles. He was a diabetic so he cautioned, “Roger, don’t send me candy. I can’t eat it.” Since he was an alcoholic, he added, “No booze either. I don’t drink.” Jonathan explained he woke up in a San Francisco hotel with whiskey bottles all over his room and had no idea what happened the night before. At the age of 30 he joined Alcoholic Anonymous and never missed a day or night of attending AA meetings for more than 30 years regardless where he was performing. That’s how he beat alcoholism. Never touched a drink, he related, which was hard when he attended Hollywood parties. “Sometimes people tried to make fun of me, but I could handle them, and did.”

He struggled with mental problems from being bipolar to depression. Jonathan was in and out of mental facilities. I have a suspicion he spent time in the Jacksonville, Illinois, State Hospital because he knew something about the city. I never asked about that. He was very open about battling mental illness. While a patient in a facility, Jonathan said the doctor came into his room and said, “Jonathan, Mrs. Winters and I have decided electro-shock treatments would be helpful to eliminate some of your memories, some of the things you remember, some of your years.” He questioned the doctor, “What years are you going to erase?” “Well, I’m not sure, Jonathan.” The interview ended with Jonathan saying, “And that’s why you’re not going to do the shock treatments.” And they didn’t. I want to emphasize in all of our many conversations not once did I detect any evidence of depression, not a single incident. Most of the time I spent laughing. He was always making me laugh except when he talked about his girlfriend from Illinois who would fly out and visit him for three or four days. That relationship in and by itself is worthy of a column. It was one of the most amazing and loving stories I ever saw unfold a year or so after his wife died. This woman, her name was Cynthia, brought so much happiness to his life, that even he could not understand how it happily happened. And he shared this relationship with me. I think I knew more about it than his divorced daughter Lucinda and his son, also divorced, Jay.

While I proudly possess a signed copy of his book, “Winters’ Tales,” I urged him to write a kind of Norman Vincent Peale book on how he overcame so many adversities in his life to become one of the most clean and creative comedians who ever lived. We laughed together about what he would include in such a book. On May 26, 2002, he wrote in “Winters’ Tales,

“Dear Roger—

Remember, we’re all visitors

We’re just passing through——

don’t blow the visit.

Alway, Jonathan”

Jonathan didn’t blow his “visit.”

AND THEN MY FRIEND

ROYCE ELLIOTT

Royce was struggling with his own set of medical problems when Jonathan died. I didn’t have the heart to tell him. I don’t know whether his wife Helen told him. You see, Royce and I loved the humor of Winters. We often talked about flying out over a weekend to visit him in his Montecito, California, home. We had an open invitation. It was on my mental “Bucket List.” So much for the list.

I’ve known Royce since he was a Freshman and I was a Senior at Woodruff High School. We were not pals, just acquaintances. We gradually became closer over the years. When I was a graduate assistant teaching at Bradley one of my first students to enter the speech classroom was Royce. He was the most unprepared prepared student I ever had because he could think and speak on his feet. I would smile as I watched him quickly writing out his speech outline minutes before it was his turn to speak. The outline looked like it had been written by a chicken, but his speech would always be the best. What else would you expect? He got a “B” for the class. Royce complained later, “My friend Roger gave me a B at Bradley,”and then would admit it was the highest grade he received that year.

We had a number of radio programs on a variety of local stations from WTAZ to 94.3 FM to WIRL and later on WOAM starting in 2002. It was a laugh a minute with such national entertainers and sports figures as Barbara Mandrell, Jonathan Winters, Steve Gatlin, Lou Rawls, Jack Buck, Pat Hughes, Randy Hundley, and others. A frequent guest was former House of Representatives leader Bob Michel along with Pete Vonachen, George Shadid, the late Jim Maloof, Mayor Jim Ardis, Sheriff Mike McCoy, State’s Attorney Jerry Brady. We even jumped into local television with a show on cable that was a riot. We ran out of sponsors and I ran out of money.

Royce became like a brother. We were together for years each morning for at least three hours, longer when we went to breakfast. Many times we had lunch together as did anyone since he spent half the time making rounds in the restaurant telling jokes. His joy, yes, his legacy, was making people laugh. He was a master at it. Even though I heard the same jokes over and over and over, I couldn’t help but laugh each time because, well, it was Royce telling it with a laugh in his voice and on his face. Heck, every night for years I went to sleep listening to his tape telling jokes to an appreciative audience at the Gatlin Theater in Myrtle Beach.

Fortunately, we were on the same political page and never argued politics. He didn’t like Bill Clinton and certainly not Barack Obama. An ardent viewer of Fox News, he often called me to repeat breaking news about something Clinton did, like with Monica, and then Obama when he was elected President.

We had a ball, a baseball or two, when he invited me to go to the popular Randy Hundley fantasy camps, first at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, and then to the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa. Royce was the star attraction for the evening banquets and then later on the field. He could hit and he could field, but he couldn’t run. As he joked, “If I could run at I would be at the track.” When he batted during a game against the retired professional players, he usually had a pinch runner at the plate. Once when he was playing in right field, he had a glove on one hand with a sandwich in the other when he tracked down a deep fly ball. He caught the ball and held onto it and the sandwich, winning applause from everyone.

One of the greatest challenges of my life was visiting him in nursing homes and later in Intensive Care at St. Francis as he gradually lost his grip on the life he loved so much. Each visit found him weaker and less able to communicate. It was heart-breaking. Still is. His laugh, his infectious laugh, is but a memory, but will remain, thanks to his tapes and recordings. As Jonathan Winters said, “Remember, we’re all visitors—we’re just passing through— don’t blow the visit.” Royce didn’t.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I feel so fortunate to have had two close and dear friends in Royce and Jonathan. The two of them spent their entire lives making people happy with their special brand of humor and both certainly contributed to my happiness and ability to deal with adversity. This column this month is dedicated to both men. But I would also be remiss if I didn’t express my appreciation to the many people who sent cards, letters, and emails with such supportive messages along with personal phone calls. They came from friends and from people I’ve never met. It’s not easy to lose people you love, but grief is much better managed with the right kind of support along with prayer. I thank God for both.

The week of the Boston Marathon bombing, the workplace explosion in West, Texas, and the death of Peoria comic stalwart Royce Elliott, it was impossible not to feel guilty about a nagging sense of loss from flooding.

Even there, many people in greater west-central Illinois were hit far harder, losing everything short of their lives.

Still, there’s a nagging feeling of despair that makes you want to wad up the “Serenity” prayer and throw it into some overflowing gutter.

After ten inches of water flooded our basement in 1993, we moved almost everything off the floor twelve inches and got a de-watering system. Then the night of April 17, the drains backed up, the sump pump failed and 20 inches of water settled in. Besides appliances, clothes and food, lost mementoes include dozens of videos (ranging from twelve volumes of classic “Rocky and Bullwinkle” to my son’s high school basketball game tapes) and hundreds of vinyl record albums. Those included the end of the alphabet of my many LPs – the Soulard Blues Band and the Sons of the Pioneers; Fats Waller and the Who; Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys and Frank Zappa – but also a stack of favorites set aside for a summer reunion of ’60s college activists: from Crosby, Stills & Nash to It’s A Beautiful Day

It sure doesn’t seem like a beautiful day.

Plus, there also were two cardboard boxes with clips of my newspaper stories from decades of writing in Macomb, Peoria, Quad Cities, San Diego and Washington.

“Poof” (or, OK, maybe, “glub.”)

It’s less vanity than validation for journalists to hang on to our clips. Much of the material is not as memorable as it is proof of effort, of labor and of loving the work if not always the results.

So I just want to curl up into a ball and clench my whole body, but I know I just need to count my blessings. So I…

sit with loads of wash for an hour in a laundromat,

walk the dog,

mow the yard,

buy a bag of Golden Age comic books for a few neighborhood boys, and

retreat to the refuge of baseball.

Yes, baseball. A new season is a time of hope and memories of the National Pastime – and of fathers and sons. Everything’s fresh and new (if cold and dormant); everyone has an equal chance (depending on off-season acquisitions and injuries); and there are endless possibilities (at least through 162 games). It also conjures pleasant recollections of cigar-smoked, beer-fueled, ice-encrusted treks to Opening Day at Wrigley with a few friends.

My son accompanied us a couple of times, adding to a father-son connection we shared through many days at Wrigley, a couple of playoff appearances, and even one summer’s trip to eight Major League Baseball games in seven cities over a week and a half escape to Baseball Nirvana. (He’s a lawyer now in St. Louis, where he wears Cubs regalia to Busch Stadium, but he’s also home, featured in a framed photo above my desk, catching a fly ball in Wrigley’s right field in 1995 on one of those days the club let fans run around the ballpark.)

Last month, my own dad, a lifelong Redbirds fan, turned 85 and said he was going to watch the Cubs this season because he can no longer stand Cardinals announcers. That means we’ll share some hopes and shocks recounting adventures with Anthony Rizzo and Carlos Marmol, as well as recall playing catch 50 years ago, when he taught me a decent knuckleball when my fastball just couldn’t compete with two fireballers on my team.

Watching the Cubs or Chiefs, playing Senior Softball or remembering a week at Randy Hundley’s Cubs Fantasy Camp with Royce Eliott cracking up everyone, I’m reassured and warmed by baseball. When I concentrate, I hear crowds that never existed at high school or youth league games; I smell sweat decades dry and glove oil long evaporated; and I also see impossibly green grass between rows of bridal wreath bushes and Dad smiling, squatting at the garage backstop beneath a big shade tree and showing me a target and waiting for the pitch.

Others have described baseball as fathers playing catch with sons (as opposed to football: brothers beating up each other). That’s true, I believe.

Ahttp://thecommunityword.com/online/files/2013/05/0513-RKnight-photo.jpgnd whether it’s a sunny day game in Chicago or another drizzly night in rain-soaked Peoria, I can let baseball keep storm losses in perspective. I can feel the ball return to the pocket in my glove, and I swear I hear my son – maybe me – saying, “Just one more throw, Pop. C’mon, Dad, one more.”

As for the loss of a life’s clips, if not exactly the work, I take some comfort in the memorable line by journalist Alexander Woollcott, who decades ago wrote, “I count it a high honor to belong to a profession in which the good men write every paragraph, every sentence, every line, as lovingly as any Addison or Steele, and do so in full regard that by tomorrow it will have been burned, or used, if at all, to line a shelf.”

Contact Bill at Bill.Knight@hotmail.com; his twice-weekly columns are archived at billknightcolumn.blogspot.com

The tree was a veritable cornucopia of caterpillars. Hundreds had been devouring foliage, but as we looked closer, it appeared each caterpillar had upon its back, several pupae of parasitic wasps. Most of these caterpillars had been so depleted by the growing parasites, they were no longer feeding, or even moving, despite the abundance of their favorite food. In other words, thanks to the wasps, the tree was already adequately protected. This was a great example of how natural systems can resist pest outbreaks. Insecticide would have poisoned the wasps. The problem with pesticides and weed killers, like any poisons, is that they don’t know when to stop.

Where there are abundant species of flora and fauna, the very presence of diversity is protective. Something will hopefully take advantage of a pest population and keep it under control, thereby protecting the entire system. Writer/ scientist, Rachel Carson, compared this to nature’s immune system.

Unfortunately on a global scale, diversity (the immune system) is diminishing as extinctions grow. This is an ominous problem and potential disaster. Some downplay this trend, pointing out that “extinction is natural.” While this is a true statement, it’s been estimated from the fossil record that approximately one extinction generally occurs per million species per year. This would result in maybe ten extinctions per year. The problem is that today there are around 27 thousand extinctions annually… just in the tropics!

The biggest contributors to this monumental loss of species can be remembered by using the acronym H.I.P.P.O.: Habitat Loss, Invasive Species, Pollution, Population (human), and Over-harvesting. Loss of habitat is commonly a result of deforestation, urbanization, and agriculture. Invasive species are a major and ongoing problem crowding out natives. Pollution from industrial effluent and petroleum spills is bad enough, but then there are vast releases of greenhouse gasses, resulting in global warming, acidification of the oceans, ice melt, flooding, loss of permafrost, and extensive droughts. As human populations continue to grow, more habitats disappear, and excessive hunting and fishing take a direct toll. As Pogo would say, “we have met the enemy, and he is us.”

We are at a unique place in human history. It’s true, we, as a species, have never been in a position to cause more extinctions than we are today. But conversely, we’ve also never been in a position to prevent more extinctions. Most of us would like to insure a healthy environment for posterity. A diverse environment is fundamental to long-term stability. Look at biodiversity as ecological wealth. Harvard Ecologist, Dr. E.O. Wilson emphasizes how much wealth… “[Destroying rain forest for economic gain] is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.”

Forests are so much more than just trees. Forests represent a treasure trove of genetic wealth. They provide air, water, diversity, education, recreation, climate buffering, research, beauty. In the words of Aldo Leopold, “We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

Dr. Wilson has put forth some practical suggestions for protecting and restoring life on Earth. “We should preserve every scrap of biodiversity as priceless while we learn to use it and come to understand what it means to humanity.” He suggests this is cost effective and doable. We need to identify and focus efforts on the most critical habitats. “Twenty-five of the hottest spots, or more precisely the intact biologically rich habitats within them, cover a mere 2.3 percent of Earth’s land surface, yet they are the exclusive homes of 42 percent of the planet’s vertebrate species (mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians) and 50 percent of its flowering plants.” Wilson insists the price represents a mere pittance compared to what humanity stands to gain. We can give no greater gift to our grandchildren. It’s literally the gift of life.

Environmental health begins right in our own yards. In order to restore habitat at our new house, we’ve spent the past three years planting trees, shrubs, and perennials… this gets rid of turf grass, which has almost no habitat value, and replaces it with plants that provide food, cover, and places to nest. For water, we simply added a bird bath. In a place visible from the dining room table, we established a bird feeding station, and finally, we’ve added bird houses around the yard and even a “toad abode.” Already we are seeing a lot more life in our yard.

We use no pesticides or herbicides. Not only does this make our yard healthier for wildlife, it’s also a huge benefit for us … not to mention friends and relatives (and especially children) who visit. The typical weed killers, whether personally or professionally applied to urban yards, are known endocrine disruptors and are capable of causing cancers, such as lymphoma and leukemia, and can accumulate (from shoes) on your floors and carpeting.

“As we search for a less extractive and polluting economic order, so that we may fit agriculture into the economy of a sustainable culture, community becomes the locus and metaphor for both agriculture and culture.” Wes Jackson

“The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.” Wendell Berry.”

Sites to surf for more information: wildones.org, nrdc.org, nature.org, nwf.org, audubon.org, populationconnection.org

A man realized his Chryster 500 was being stolen from his driveway. So, he jumps in his car and gives chase, caught up a few blocks away and fired off a few rounds into the fleeing car. The thief, a woman, is wounded. The problem? Well, the guy was a convicted felon. He ended up pleading guilty to having a firearm.

He’ll serve six years. Six years for shooting at a person who WAS IN THE PROCESS OF STEALING HIS CAR. We have restricted the circumstances under which someone can use a firearm to defend their property to the point where we don’t even have the right to use a gun to protect our property anymore.

Yes, SOME jail time would be in order for illegally having a gun. But even felons have property rights. As far as I’m concerned, he not only had the right to shoot and kill the thief, he had the right to stick her head on a pike in his yard next to his parked vehicle.

By the way: I’m not a big fan of the Chrysler 300. I would have let the broad steal it and collected the insurance.

Here’s how Peoria can fix its deficit

Create a special “no jaywalking” zone around Bradley University. Fine jaywalkers $5,000 if they jaywalk on West Main between North Bourland and Farmington Road. The average B.U. student, being the self-involved snobs that they all are, will find themselves incapable of obeying this law. We will raise millions. Oh, and double the fine if they jaywalk with cell phones attached to their faces.

Royce Elliott nearly killed me once

I was attending a labor function and Royce Elliott was the entertainment. This was back in the early 1990s and I was assistant editor of the LABOR Paper.

I had heard Royce’s act before, and I liked it. But I had never heard Royce in person, nor had I heard his entire act. Well, there was the time he walked up to me while I was sitting alone at McDonalds and started telling me jokes.

To hear his complete act, one one-liner after another had me doubled over. The jokes literally had me doubled over, unable to catch my breath. This was about 20 years ago. If it happened today, it would have killed me. To this day, I cannot remember even one joke.

Royce died last month.

I think that would have been an appropriate headline for Royce. “Comedian who killed a man with his humor passes away.”

Peoria is a lot less funny now.

The downtown history-of-peoria museum isn’t jerking the county around

The Peoria Riverfront Museum’s fiscal year ended ten months ago. And they STILL do not have a report yet. The Peoria County Board wants answers, but it being given the runaround by the museum.

Essentially, they are telling the county board the report is ten months late because auditing when there is taxpayer money involved in HARD.

What a bunch of hooey. These people are operating with TAXPAYER MONEY. The City and County of Peoria have finances much, much, much more complicated, and neither entity had any problems providing financial data. Go up and supply them with a Freedom ion Information Act request about financial data and you will get your answer, usually from a cheerful city or county employee.

If these people who run the Riverfront museum cannot find the competence to provide the financial data, they should be fired and replaced with people who can find it.

Does anyone think for a moment that if these numbers were any good, they wouldn’t be touting it all over the place? Oh please.

You’ve seen the ads. They are plastered in coffee house bulletin boards, the sides of buses that weave their way through our neighborhoods and on the sides of billboards.

They feature the pictures of sad looking individuals looking right at the camera. the caption: “You’re killing me.”

The message seems to be a plea to the gangsters and thugs to stop killing innocent civilians. This is funny on at least one level. Most victims of gang violence are themselves gang members, or as authorities put it, “gang affiliated.”

I got a kick out of the poster they put up at Starbucks in Campustown. Did they think ‘bangers were stopping by for coffee and cappuccinos before drive bys?

Anyway, I attended a press conference at Peoria City Hall last month. I heard Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis, Chief of Police Steve Settingsgard, Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy and others describe — again — that the City was serious about making sure the law was coming down sufficiently hard on members of a certain street gang they deemed responsible for a spate of shootings that had hit Peoria the previous weeks.

Settingsgard was especially all up in their grill. He said the gang ‘self selected” themselves as the target of enforcement efforts. Patrols had been increased, especially in neighborhoods affected by the gangs. They were doubling up in squad cars. And they were going to enforce the heck out of ordinary traffic laws.

Really. These people could not have uses language that was any harsher. They really are mad at these gangbangers and they are really, really, really going to tell officers in the field to get tough. At least until overtime costs get too prohibitive.

But don’t worry civil libertarians. They aren’t going to do this to grandmas with cars full of groceries – just known gangbangers. They think.

This is how they got the “Bomb Squad,” the last gang to feel the wrath of stepped up enforcement. These cases are winding their way through the court system now.

I asked Mayor Adris if he had a message for those who might think the “Don’t Shoot” plan was pretty much just asking the criminals to stop shooting at citizens. He seemed a little peeved at the question.

The posters were part of the “carrot” in the program’s carrot and stick approach. If you are a gang member the city will help you get out. He suggested that anyone concerned abut how tough the program really is to just look at the Website at http://dontshootpeoria.com/.

Sheriff McCoy assured everyone that even though the Peoria County Jail is filled to capacity, his facility would have no problem packing more inmates inside.

I once heard Jim Ardis say that McCoy would handcuff inmates to the fence surrounding the jail if need be. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.