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Today's Opinions

  • Banks of the Okaw

    This week’s Mystery Banks Photo: This young man, pictured nearly 50 years ago, has lived most of his life in Vandalia. He and his wife have three grown children and five grandchildren. In this picture, he was advertising a local car dealership.
    Do you know him? If so, call The Leader-Union, 283-3374.
    In last week’s Mystery Banks Photo were: Tammy Stine Votrain, G.R. Stine II and Kelly Stine Redenbo.
    Identifying them were: Juanita and Ted Workman, Danny Donaldson, Shirley Ferguson, Bailee Workman and Debbie Smith.

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  • The Way We Were

    15 Years Ago

    1995 – The chief of staff preservation services for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency came to Vandalia to view the rehabilitation work being done on the Fayette County Museum building.
    Tom Isbell, a Vandalia alderman and former member of the city planning commission, died after suffering a stroke.
    The Vandalia Vandals opened the 1995 football season with a 40-0 trouncing of Litchfield. Travis Blain led the Vandals’ offense with 73 yards, and Zach Gummert completed seven of 17 passes for 103 yards.

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  • Blankenship's hobby preserved history

    Granville Blankenship was born on April 5, 1890, in Bear Grove Township, the son of Francis Marion Blankenship and Barbara Tirzah Carpenter.
    Barbara was a daughter of Peter and Mary Dickson Carpenter, and came to Illinois with members of her family from Cleveland County, N.C., soon after the death of her father on May 27, 1865, in a Union prisoner of war camp at Point Lookout, Md.

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  • Blankenship's hobby preserved history

    Granville Blankenship was born on April 5, 1890, in Bear Grove Township, the son of Francis Marion Blankenship and Barbara Tirzah Carpenter.
    Barbara was a daughter of Peter and Mary Dickson Carpenter, and came to Illinois with members of her family from Cleveland County, N.C., soon after the death of her father on May 27, 1865, in a Union prisoner of war camp at Point Lookout, Md.

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  • Keep up search for bypass plan

    Though the Illinois Department of Transportation had already announced its intentions to “take a couple steps back” in the process of determining a route for a U.S. Route 51 bypass around Vandalia, a meeting last Wednesday with more than 125 northside residents gave the engineers a clear sense of the local concerns about the proposed bypass route.
     It was, as state Sen. Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon) described it, evidence that “democracy works.”

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  • Your Opinion

    Editor:
    We want to commend the editorial in the July 22 issue of The Leader-Union.
    We agree that more questions should be asked in this uncertain economy. What used to work in the past does not mean it works today.
    Asking questions may bring about new ideas, a better way of doing things, and maybe even why things are done like this. It may bring to light that this does not have to be done at all.

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  • Banks of the Okaw

    This week’s Mystery Banks Photo: These three siblings are pictured about 35 years ago. They grew up west of Vandalia. The girl on the left now lives about 60 miles west of here, is married and has four children. They boy in the middle and the girl on the right still live in the area. The boy is single and has one son. The girl is married and has two children.
    Do you know them? If so, call The Leader-Union, 283-3374.
    In last week’s Mystery Banks Photo was: Erma Joy Warner.

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  • The Way We Were

    15 Years Ago

    1995 – Jenner & Block, a Chicago law firm representing convicted murderer Stuart Heaton, filed a motion asking for the right to seek additional information it felt would help fight Heaton’s conviction and life imprisonment. Special prosecutor Don Sheafor was arguing that Jenner & Block should be disqualified because it was arguing Heaton was not adequately represented at trial, even though it waived that issue in appellate court.

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