Opinion

My job that day was to clean shelves in my office. Among and amidst the papers, boxes and books, was a slim black metal deed box.

I carried the box to the kitchen table, and with slight pressure, opened the lid. The 5-inch-by-10 l/2-inch box had last been the property of an uncle, Renatus (Noddy) Torbeck of St. Paul. It was given to me some years back by my cousin, Leila Dippold, who co-administered his estate.

At the suggestion of Gale Red, I sat down one day and worked my way through the 1870 Federal Census of Fayette County, searching for men who may have been soldiers of the Confederacy.

Gale, a member of the Dixon Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans, is heading up the effort in Illinois to compile a list of all known Confederate veterans buried in the state.

The results surprised me a little, because as I scanned the entries and identified families from Virginia, Tennessee, etc., all of the Confederate veterans known to us showed up in this census.

Emmett Kelly, who became famous worldwide as "Weary Willie," the sad-faced clown, had his beginnings in a small Kansas town. But there is a local connection, too.

Born in Sedan, Kan., on Dec. 9, 1898, Emmett was called “Tater” in his youth, alluding to his Irish heritage. His father, for whom he was named, was a section foreman for the Missouri-Pacific Railroad, and owned the house in which Emmett Jr. saw the first light of day.

The Vandalia City Council has long been searching for a solution to the city’s inoperable raw water intake on the Kaskaskia River. On Monday night, it heard of a possible solution.

Yet, there is still some varying opinions on how to deal with the situation.

Gonzalez Companies projects that it will cost about $400,000 to get the intake working properly.

As we close the door on 2009 and prepare to launch into 2010, it’s an appropriate time to take stock of what has happened in the past 12 months, and to look ahead to what the new year may hold.

For most of us, bidding goodbye to 2009 is a welcome relief. It’s been a tough year on several fronts. Yet, many of the year's clouds were not without silver linings. Better times lie ahead.

Following is a summary of the highlights.

The Economy

Last Thursday my son, Ethan, and I put up our Christmas tree. It was fairly simple – fit tab A into slot B and so forth. I’ve never had an artificial tree before, so this was a new experience.

After the metal pieces had been slotted, we stood back and Ethan said, "Mom that doesn’t look like the box." I assured him that the metal branches extending from the metal trunk could be covered with cuttings from our cedar tree outside – not to worry.

I was worried. It looked like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

Grandma (Berniece Meyer Davidson Spires) first met Eddie Spires in 1928, when she was 16 years old. Eddie had accompanied his buddy, Ed McNutt, to Bingham to visit Ed’s girl, Lenore Harrison, who lived there. Ed and Lenore later married.

Both men lived east of Ramsey – Eddie Spires in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood. For Eddie, it was love at first sight, although Berniece did not know this. Distance and lack of transportation kept them from meeting again – until after World War II.

As the first blast of winter hit this week, the memories of past winters – when we had mounds of snow – came to mind. This year, according to the persimmon seed, with its telltale spoon, we should expect to have our snow shovels at the ready.

The winter of "eighteen hundred and starve-to-death" in 1831, was not the first big freeze experienced in Illinois. An earlier freeze, about 1813, was known as the "year without a summer."

Vandalia’s city administrator last Tuesday night rolled out a number of budget cuts that he was proposing in light of shrinking surpluses and decreasing revenues.

With that in mind, we hope that the city council takes a long, hard look at the request for an extension being requested for the proposed $300-million sports and entertainment complex.