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Today's Opinions

  • Enjoy the season with parade and trick or treating

    There's a lot going on in Vandalia this week. And with all the interesting things to do, we urge you to make plans to participate in some of them.
    It all kicks off Thursday night at 7 p.m. with the Vandalia Lions Club Halloween Parade. Known as one of the premier parades in this part of the state, the event features dozens of floats, a number of high school bands and a wide variety of walking entries.

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  • Lake closure too early for booked users

    Editor:
    Vandalia has a beautiful lake, but it could be a better campground if it was better organized.
    My issue is that in January 2012 we booked the Vandalia Lake Pavilion for Oct. 21, 2012. We were planning a “chili dump and wiener roast,” and were expecting in excess of 100 people from all over the state.

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  • Homeless find home at Vandalia's intersection

    Editor:
    Around 2 p.m. on Oct. 23, I was stopped at the stoplight on Kennedy Boulevard preparing to turn left on Veterans Avenue, and lo and behold, what do I see but another seemingly homeless individual sitting at the intersection, but this time with a walker, asking for money.
    Every year, I see at least three or four different individuals from who knows where dressed in raggedy clothing at this intersection holding signs asking for money. Not only is this dangerous, illegal without a permit and unsightly for our community, it is a scam!

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  • When is a hit more than a hit?

    It’s every parent’s nightmare.
    Your son is playing football, takes a thunderous hit to the head and goes face down on the turf. He doesn’t move.
    Time stands still. Your vision swirls. You rush to the field. Your protective instincts are running full-throttle.

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  • Breast cancer journey continues

    It has been 13 years now since I was told that I had breast cancer – a fast-growing type, they said. On a scale from two to nine, I was a seven. Not a good number to be.
    Being the first in my immediate family to be diagnosed with cancer, I searched my ancestor charts for other kin who may have died as a result of this particular affliction. I came up blank. In fact, throughout the lives of my family members, the most common cause of death was old age.

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  • School, teachers pact a good sign

    Earlier this month, as the Vandalia Board of Education and the union representing the district’s teachers reached a contract settlement, it was a win for both sides.
    Talks between the two groups had been going on since last spring, and had included one arbitration meeting in September when the two sides couldn’t come up with a compromise that they could live with. A second arbitration meeting had been scheduled, but never was held.
    The teachers had been working without a contract since the new fiscal year began July 1.

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  • Alderman shows initiative

    Vandalia officials learned on Monday night that their hopes for a quick, simple and inexpensive fix to the ongoing problem with the city’s raw water intake on the Kaskaskia River had been dashed.
    But the failure to find such a fix wasn’t due to a lack of effort.
    At some point, it may be worth it for the city to fix the problem, though the need to do so may be moot if the city can work out an agreement with the Kaskaskia Springs Water Co. that is cost-effective.

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  • Vandalia crucial to Illinois railroad history

    Editor Thomas Lakin of The Vandalia Union newspaper once wrote, “Vandalia is the cradle in which the infant Illinois was rocked.”

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