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Today's Opinions

  • The Way We Were

    15 Years Ago

    1997 – As the year came to a close, area law enforcement were gearing up for a change in the legal intoxication limit from .10 to .08 that went into effect at midnight on Jan. 1.
    Fayette County Sheriff Michael D. Kleinik and his department, along with Illinois State Police, were investigating an armed robbery at First National Bank in Ramsey.
    The Vandalia City Council approved the purchase of a $54,000 computer system. The system would alleviate the record-keeping system of writing and typing.

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  • Lincoln's protest against slavery

    On March 3, 1837, by a protest entered upon the Illinois House Journal of that date, at pages 817, 818, Lincoln with Dan Stone, another representative of Sangamon County, briefly defined his position on the slavery question.
    “They believe that the institution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy; but that the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than to abate its evils.

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  • Lincoln weekend good for Vandalia

    It was a good weekend to be in Vandalia if you were a fan of all things Abraham Lincoln. Everywhere one looked, it seemed, there was something going on related to our 16th president.
    And that was a good thing for Vandalia.
    Among the major events of the weekend were:
    • Special programs for children and adults at the National Road Interpretive Center on Saturday.
    • The third annual Lincoln Victory Ball on Saturday evening at the Moose.

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  • Reports of newspapers' demise exaggerated

    Back in 1897, James Ross Clemens was ill. Not-so-careful passing on of information resulted in word that Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name of Mark Twain, was dying in London.

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  • Asking questions unfolds McManmie story

    Sometimes it just helps to ask.
    That is how I learned what I now know about Pvt. Isaac McManmie of Company G, 21st Arkansas Infantry, Confederate States of America (C.S.A.)

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  • We all must step up to aid schools

    Last month, we criticized the Illinois General Assembly when it adjourned its lame duck session without offering a solution to the state’s out-of-control finances.
    They failed to address the chronic overspending. They failed to take any action to rein in the $96 billion pension deficit. And they failed to grasp the impact their irresponsibility was having on the state.
    Those failures have now come home to roost in Vandalia.

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  • Banks of the Okaw

    This week’s Mystery Banks Photo: This young man, who grew up in Mulberry Grove, was about 15 when this picture was taken.

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  • Banks of the Okaw

    This week’s Mystery Banks Photo: This picture, taken of Augsburg Lutheran School in 1971, shows students in grades 1-4. Do you know them? If so, call The Leader-Union, 283-3374.

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