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Today's Opinions

  • Deem, McCarty good Abe Award choices

    Last week, as our community prepared to celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday, the Vandalia Chamber of Commerce presented two awards named after our 16th president.

    Those Abe Awards, presented annually by the chamber, honor those who have made significant contributions to our community. This marks the 35th year that the awards have been given.

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  • Watson served us for three decades

    There was quite a bit of irony in one of the last speeches given in the Illinois Senate chambers by state Sen. Frank Watson.

    As he addressed the impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the Greenville senator asked, supposedly in a rhetorical tone, who had been there to stop Blagojevich from going against the wishes of the Illinois General Assembly and the residents of the state.

    He answered his own question, saying, “No one.”

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  • Bermuda Triangle has local connection

    The Western Union telegram came late in the day of July 11, 1945, to Mr. and Mrs. O.E. Garner of Rural Route 1, Vandalia.

    Dispatched by the Commanding Officer at Naval Air Station, Banana River, Fla., the standard tersely written telegram read: "Regret to inform you that your son Thomas Arthur Garner AMM3C missing since about 0215 July 10, 1945, while on a routine training flight search being conducted will keep you promptly advised.”

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  • Closed campus improves stats

    When the Vandalia School Board last February voted to close the Vandalia Community High School campus, it was with the hope that keeping students on school property during the lunch period would enhance the overall learning atmosphere.

    But they couldn’t have imagined that the results would be so dramatic.

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  • Company D roll included 20 county men

    In last week’s column, we were introduced to Dr. James A. Black, born near Salem, and the keeper of a diary during his three years with Company D of the 49th Illinois Infantry.

    It wasn’t so much the good doctor who caused my interest in Company D, it was the fact that author Benita Moore of Galesburg informed me that 20 men from Vandalia were assigned to this company.

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  • There's still time to run for office

    A day before our nation celebrated the outcome of last November’s election, some local residents began looking toward the next election.

    Monday was the first day for filing nominating petitions for the April 7 election. At that election, a number of municipal and school board seats will be filled.

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  • Downtown projects a big boost for city

    After nearly a decade of planning and several rounds of seeking bids, it appears that Vandalia's downtown enhancement project is finally going to be launched this spring.

    A bid opening last Friday produced a contractor whose price tag for the project is within 10 percent of the engineer's estimates. And that contractor has been involved in a similar – though much larger – enhancement project in downtown Belleville. It sounds like a good fit.

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  • Dr. James A. Black served in Civil War

    James A. Black was born July 2, 1835, eight miles east of Salem, the son of Willis and Emilla Hensley Black.

    After finishing his schooling, he taught school for a while in Marion County, and began to study medicine. In 1860, now Dr. James A. Black, he established a medical practice at Keensville in Wayne County.

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