Well, I would like to balance some of these negative comments with
an experience I had Thursday morning in Alton. It wasn’t a big deal, but I give credit:

It was pouring down rain and I was walking down Alby Street hill from Alton City Hall to East Broadway. I was trying to keep dry under an umbrella being attacked by the wind, while also protecting two reporters notepads and an accompanying, important piece of paper while gripping two pens.

I was trying not to slip on the rainwater, but I didn’t expect to trip on an uneven piece of sidewalk.

But I did.

As quick as can be, I found myself sitting on my downturned foot, my clothing already getting soaked in the rain. I was stunned to find myself in that situation.

Just as quickly, three young men rushed out from the protected, dry lower doorway of City Hall that once served as a sally-port when the police station was located in its basement.

“Are you all right?” “Can I help you?” “Don’t worry, your umbrella isn’t going anywhere,” they chimed as I tried to grab all of the aforementioned belongings to keep them from blowing away or getting even wetter.

One of the young men scooped up my things and the others helped me back up to my feet. With less dignity, I continued back down that hill, albeit even more careful than before.

The top of my foot swelled a bit and it was somewhat painful, but it’s only tender today.

Of course, just prior to my fall I had joked with a woman who works in Alton City Hall about the treacherous Alby Street hill.

People up there always comment on my resolve to walk up the thing, but I always say I’m more worried about going down that hill than climbing up the incline.

Now, even more so.

Anyway, regarding these young guys - I do not know their names - I so appreciated their quick actions.
They jumped out of the dry doorway, not worrying about getting wet in the drenching rain and not just laughing at me or calling 911 – when all I needed a helping hand, or six.

Dave Coffman, head of maintenance at City Hall, said the men were helping him clean and move items in the old police station space.

He said they are employed through a Madison County work program, which is funded by the federal stimulus (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) money. They were at City Hall one day, and plan to do some chores next week at the public works building.

I hope these men find permanent employment soon.

Although I know nothing about them, it appears that their hearts are in the right place and someone taught them right.

Thank you, guys!

Post from: Right Here in River City

He is recovering in a St. Louis hospital.

In the course of my work, I’ve talked to many firefighters and police officers who get paid to do such feats – and they also are to be commended for taking such actions and risking their lives for a job.
But Tuesday, these people (including a nurse) just dropped what they were doing to save a life without qualms.

They didn’t ghoulishly stand there to watch, as has happened in some places when people are attacked on the street. They didn’t stand there and take cell phone pictures to put on the Internet or with hopes of selling the images someplace. They didn’t worry that they could get sued or killed, by traffic or if the car exploded.

They acted.

One of the people most impressed was Assistant Fire Chief Brad Sweetman, who repeatedly said if not for these peoples’ actions, driver Michael McKenna surely would have died in the car fire. He wanted to make sure I publicly credited these heroes with their unselfish actions in the news story.

Sweetman himself was recognized in 2004 with a Medal of Honor from the Illinois State Fire Marshal’s Office. He was honored for a daring and dangerous rescue and body recovery at Melvin Price Locks and Dam 26, not too far away from Tuesday’s car crash.

On Sept. 28, 2003, in the dark Sweetman braved leaking boat fuel and cold Mississippi River waters filling a crashed boat to rescue two injured women. In the course of the rescue, he discovered four people inside who died when the boat hit a tainter gate at the dam.

So, when a 20-year veteran firefighter who has risked dangers himself is that impressed by people snatching someone from certain death, it means even more to a civilian such as myself.

Tuesday’s events should be a reminder that everyone should welcome the chance to help another person - in even a small way.

If we have the opportunity to save a life, even better.

Post from: Right Here in River City

Recently I was at the rear of a large grocery store, (OK, the really big Dierbergs in Edwardsville), inspecting the fresh loaves of bread, trying to decide which one would go best with dinner. I finally made my selection and turned around to put the loaf in the shopping cart.

I couldn’t find the cart.

I looked and looked. No cart. I walked past several aisles to my right, then around the bread display a couple times, casually peering into a few carts in the area. I didn’t see mine, only “claimed” carts people were pushing, except for one. That one cart was all by itself, with no apparent shopper nearby, and containing food I never would buy.

Dodging blueberries someone had spilled all over the floor, I walked to the dairy wall to the left. No cart. What to do? What had I done with the cart? I was totally baffled. I was confused and starting to get agitated. Was I looking at the bread so long that an employee had taken it? Should I just go home?

This went on for what seemed like a long time, but it probably wasn’t. I just couldn’t figure out how I had totally lost the cart I had spent so much time filling with groceries.

Then, a cashier walking a near mile from the front of the store somehow picks me out from several shoppers in the bakery area. She is carrying some beer, the type I had put in my cart. She asks if the beer is mine. Umm, more importantly, where is the food I wanted to buy? That’s what I really wanted. And where is my cart?

The next thing I notice is an older man and younger woman who I’d seen as I perused the aisles of the store, pushing a shopping cart that had the same groceries I had put in my cart. It WAS my cart. They had made it all the way to the checkout lane, all the way to the front of the gigantic grocery store and were checking out or nearly checking out. There, the woman apparently got upset when she thought the man had put beer and ice cream in the cart, the cashier explained.

The man claimed innocence.

I guess she didn’t notice that there also was sushi, a can of spicy Indian food and acai juice, which I seriously doubt if the man ever bought, according to what I saw in the abandoned cart nearby.

We exchanged carts with few words. I gave him the only item he had put in my cart, Excedrin, and they walked the distance back to the checkout lane with their own food.

Greatly relieved, I told the nice cashier, “I thought I was having a senior moment!”

“No, he was,” she said with a smile. Whew!

Post from: Right Here in River City

Go on down to Argosy Casino’s entertainment hall that evening, as two standup comedians plan to keep the jokes coming from 7 p.m. on. Laughs are nearly guaranteed at the Alton Police Comedy Night show and buffet dinner benefit. (There will be a cash bar).

Funnymen David Graham of St. Louis, and Tim Northern of Louisville, Ky., will be on stage to help raise money for sponsor Alton Police Benevolent and Protective Association Unit 14’s holiday charity activities.
Each fall, police distribute holiday food baskets to needy Alton families and take underprivileged children Christmas shopping during their annual “Shop with a Cop” excursion.

It is fund-raisers such as comedy hour, a dance and trivia night that Alton police hold to pay for such charity efforts, which they do on their own time. Police need to raise at least $20,000 for the projects each year.

Back to comedy night: Doors open at 6 p.m.

Sgt. Richard Gillespie, supervisor of the Alton Police Department’s traffic division, is organizing the event. Tickets to comedy night were late in arriving - in fact they came in after a story on the show ran in The Telegraph - so he had to take names at first.

They are selling now.

Only 300 tickets are for sale, and Gillespie said Graham packed the house at a Downtown tavern in February to also raise money for Benevolent’s charities.

“He’s really funny,” Gillespie said earlier, adding that Graham calls one routine, “Forest Pimp.”

Graham began working in comedy in 1992 at the FunnyBone Comedy Club in St. Louis. He has appeared on “America’s Funniest People” on ABC-TV, and “Comic Justice” on the Comedy Central cable television channel. He also has been in two independent films, “Apocalypse and the Beauty Queen” and “Tapestry of Shadows.”

Northern, a former truck driver, characterizes his brand of humor as being “smart,” with an intellectual bent involving word play, puns and twists on phrases.

“Nothing is off-limits to Tim,” Gillespie said. “He will joke and make fun of anything.”

Maybe even police.

Both men are performing at a discount to assist in the benefit, Gillespie said. “They are both good people, nice upstanding people,” he said.

Tickets are available from Gillespie at the Alton Police Department, 1700 E. Broadway, until night of the show or until they sell out.

For more information, call Gillespie at (618) 463-3505, ext. 235.

It may be the only time you really want to get a ticket from Alton’s head traffic cop.

Post from: Right Here in River City

For those who haven’t seen the movie or know its premise, it’s about Powell, a young, modern day woman from New York City who vows to spend a year preparing every one of the recipes in Julia Child’s cookbook, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” She blogged about the process, then published the blogs in a book, “Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously,” on which the film was made. (My previous comments shouldn’t ruin anyone’s viewing of the movie. Enjoy, or bon appetit, Julia would say!)

Child compiled the cookbook with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle while living in France, aimed at American cooks. The first volume was published in 1961, with Volume II coming out in 1970. At that time, Child had Americans’ deep attraction to France and all things French in her favor when she published the volume, probably spurred by Jackie Kennedy’s impecable style and her French heritage.

Child’s television show also was French-themed, which had to have helped, during Americans’ Francophile stage that eventually faded during the British “invasion” of music and clothing styles. Their food did not catch on.

At that time, Americans didn’t just refer to poodles, they were French poodles. There also were French bikinis, French creme donuts and French cologne, et al. People decorated their homes with a French poodle base lamp; wallpaper with La Tour Eiffel images; pictures of Frenchmen carrying a bunches of balloons; sad French clowns; and even sadder-looking tots with their hauntingly oversized eyes. Any French food was a notch above American fare.

In my junior high school, more of us - including me - took French than Spanish. When I was in high school, and continuing my French studies, I tried to land a foreign exchange student trip to France, but they could not place me anywhere. I finally spent one day and one evening, with a memorable dinner, in the country last May. I hope to go back and spend more time there someday, preferably after checking out some French language instruction CDs from the library.

Years after her cookbook was published, I watched Child on television in black and white. We had only four television stations so we didn’t have a lot of program selection. I wasn’t particularly interested in learning to cook at that age, but Child was interesting to me because of her mannerisms, voice, flair and because I only knew of one other cooking show on at the time - The Galloping Gourmet with Graham Kerr. Such shows were a rarity.

Now, it amuses me to hear so many people discuss the various television cooks by first name, as though they are personal friends. I was at a party a few months ago and names such as Ina, Giada, Emeril, Bobby and others were tossed about by men and women, and everyone seemed to know who they are and chimed in. A guy I knew used to do a perfect impression of Food Network chef Ina Garten’s generous use of “budda.” He said his father could do an even better job.

I can understand people’s attachment to these kitchen wizards, even though some are more about “personality,” panache and lifestyle than displaying advanced cooking skills. You get the idea that these cooks and chefs invited you into their homes, and more intimately, into their kitchens. You see how these people fix a meal, so seemingly easy and not as messy as most of us do at home. Then there is the final spread of well-presented goodies, with friends arriving with wine and flowers to enjoy the bounty and converse. Is that an empty seat at the table? For me? Those inviting shows can make you feel that way.

You can credit Julia Child for starting this television “feeding frenzy.” I feel like going into the kitchen now, and turning on the Food Network.

Post from: Right Here in River City

Among the newbies this year is the Wood River market along Illinois Route 143 (Madison Avenue). The farmers, gardeners and crafters sell their goods from 4 p.m. until dusk every Thursday during harvest season (late fall) on the city parking lot behind Downtown businesses that face Ferguson Avenue. The city’s Parks and Recreation Department is the sponsor.

I take that route home from work, so last Thursday it was convenient for me to swing into the parking lot in search of a quick purchase of tomatoes and green beans. Actually, it is much easier to stop there than to drive to a specific stand or farmers’ market on a Saturday for just a few items.

Within minutes I located what I was after, small home-grown tomatoes of several varieties – including some with heirloom origins. I had brought along my own bag and carefully selected a few long Roma and yellow tomatoes, lots of small, round red tomatoes and some multi-colored ones. The tomatoes were reasonably priced and turned out to have a lot of flavor. I may need some more by next Thursday.

Fortunately for me, the vendor had a bin of sweet, freshly picked green beans that so far have had a part in three meals I’ve prepared since then, with enough left for a fourth. I didn’t need any more than those tomatoes and beans because I’ve been lucky to receive other tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, green peppers and cucumbers from several generous gardeners in the area willing to share their bounty. (Thank you, thank you!)

The Wood River market also has booths selling handmade goods, such as baked items, wind chimes and brooms, plus various plants. Everything for sale must be homegrown or at least 50 percent handmade.

It’s clever to hold a market on a weekday afternoon-early evening, with so much Saturday competition in the area. I’ve shopped in markets at other cities that have these markets mid-week – Soulard in St. Louis; Holland, Mich.; Lafayette, Ind.; Mainz, Germany - and apparently it works. People need produce during the week!

And, Wood River, I love the convenience.

Post from: Right Here in River City

Donate your tickets to the Boys and Girls Club of Alton for the Aug. 21 home game of the Rams vs. Atlanta Falcons.

For the fourth year, the club is soliciting tickets to a pre-season game, which usually doesn’t draw many spectators, but at which many club members would love to go. Most of the youths otherwise never would get the chance to attend a professional football game. It’s not a strings-free handout, though. The young people have to earn the privelege by exhibiting good behavior, regular attendance and active participation at the club.

Besides providing tickets, people who want to help out also can donate cash so the children can buy sodas and snacks while at the game.

The club also welcomes donations of other Rams tickets with which staff can use to reward its members later in the football season.

Sarah Woodman of Alton began the campaign, “Give it Up for the Kids,” after she attended one of the preseason games several years ago. She noticed the vast empty seats and thought the unused tickets could go to good use, such as to youngsters who would appreciate a rare outing at a professional football game.

From that idea, the effort was born in 2006.

Sarah subsequently joined the board of directors of the club, 115 Jefferson Ave., and now serves as its president. She said more than 300 children have gone to the games since 2006, and always enjoy themselves. Some tickets are used by chaperones; Alan Dunstan, Madison County Board chairman, helps out each year by providing rides to the games on buses from the Madison County Transit District.

I can imagine getting to go to a Rams game is thrilling to children who may not be able to attend such events. Actually, while I’ve gone to professional baseball games at different levels of play, soccer and hockey games, I’ve never been to a professional football game. (Just college games). I can picture how much fun this might be for some youngsters, watching players they’ve seen on television, the loud music bouncing off the enclosed stadium, the energetic cheerleaders and all of the accompanying big league level of excitement.

Woodman prefers that people donate their unwanted Rams tickets and any cash by Aug. 17, to allow the club to make arrangements for the outing. Donors can send tickets and donation checks to: Boys and Girls Club of Alton, P.O. Box 532, Alton IL 62002.

If you know of any generous people who might help out with this effort, feel free to forward this blog to them.

For more information, call Woodman at (618) 830-1098 or Executive Director Al Womack Jr. at the club, (618) 462-6249.

Post from: Right Here in River City

But years later, after patiently listening to various Altonians bending my ear on and on about this local plot, alleged criminal conspiracy or theory about this or that person – especially during city election seasons - I get aggravated.

Nearly all of the tales prove to be unfounded and I have wasted a lot of time trying to track them down.

Some of these calls obviously were attempts to skew news coverage of certain candidates, since the “big” revelation or downfall they predict never happens.

Theories about President John F. Kennedy’s assassination still remain interesting, and some of them are probable. I also find “sightings” of the Loch Ness Monster and furry Sasquatch to be entertaining.
But I have no patience with people who believe the Earth is flat; that the United States did not send men to the moon (the television coverage I watched in 1969 was a fake, they say) or who believe Elvis/Jim Morrison or other stone-cold dead celebrities still breathe.

With entertainers’ egos and massive royalties pouring into their bank accounts, would they really go away permanently if they aren’t dead?

My latest thorn is the so-called “birthers” who insist that President Barack Obama is not a natural born citizen of the United States, and therefore ineligible to be commander in chief. One of the ringleaders who spouts this on television has a heavy foreign accent. She actually said someone is not eligible for president unless BOTH parents are American citizens.

As any child in grade school is supposed to learn, that is not true.

Why is this person on television?

It bugs me because our country needs to focus on solving its problems. Are you happy with your health insurance? Your access to health care? Do you still have a job? When did you last get a raise? Did you have to take a pay cut, furlough or were you laid off temporarily this year? Did you lose your home? How about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – any solutions in sight?

While some Republicans may be enjoying the fray, not many are willing to step up and publicly demand proof of Obama’s birth on U.S. soil. That’s because it’s already been proven. And a Honolulu newspaper clipping has surfaced of Obama’s birth announcement. It’s copied on various Web sites, including:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthcertificate.asp

I’m sure the Republican National Committee checked into this issue early on during the past presidential campaign in order to put an early roadblock on Obama’s snowballing campaign. Also, a fact-checking Web site posted a copy of the certificate:

http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/has_obamas_birth_certificate_been_disclosed.html

If anyone could find true, accurate evidence that the president was born in a foreign country, I’m sure there are people who would reward him or her handsomely with a load of money.

If you are one of those who are dwelling on this subject, don’t write to me unless you can produce a copy of an authentic birth certificate showing Obama was born in Kenya, Indonesia or Timbuktu. I’ve already heard your “facts.”

The burden is on the doubters to prove otherwise.

And, as a woman who has had babies, don’t call yourself a “birther” unless you’ve given birth.
You don’t qualify.

Post from: Right Here in River City

Cronkite, David Brinkley and Chet Huntley and a few others were the broadcast news standards.

There isn’t much I can add to the accolades Cronkite received posthumously from leaders of our country, fellow national broadcasters and other famed Americans whom he covered during his long career.
But from the vantage point of someone who studied journalism in the olden days, when Cronkite still was on television and our professors were of like mind professionally, the contrast with today is sad. He gave the appearance of knowing what he was talking about, not trying to be fashionable or a “star.”

It wasn’t all about him.

Sadly, the trend continues of news programs wasting time on celebrity nonsense or promoting charity events or awards ceremonies with which people at the particular station are involved, particularly at local levels. The 30 minutes tick by quickly.

Some news “anchors” strongly interject opinions, giggle over chummy inside jokes or relate what they think are similar life experiences to what is going on in the news. They go beyond adding the personal touch.

My grade school teachers would give many of these people a failing grade for “makes good use of his/her time.” I know, the fluff sells and drives up advertising rates. Click.

Besides, with newspapers putting their stories online before the newscasts air, what could be easier than lifting someone else’s work on breaking news or dull issues that take time to dig up? I’m sure Cronkite didn’t show up at a news scene, holding a newspaper (my story) for reference, which I’ve seen.

We all lose, because those precious on-air minutes could be informing us of more in-depth coverage of important happenings and expanded stories on situations around the world. I don’t get home from work soon enough to watch any of the big three national newscasts at 5:30 p.m. The news that I do like to see is on BBC, but it starts at 11 p.m. (Channel 9) so I don’t always stay up to see the entire broadcast. It’s also not on every night.

Although I don’t care about the sports portion of the BBC newscast (i.e. European, Mexican and South American futball), the news is eye-opening. The broadcasts discuss countries we never hear about on our programs (but who probably are getting millions of our tax dollars); coups d’états; issues surrounding the European Union and conditions in Asia and Africa that eventually affect the United States.

I was embarrassed when I was in Germany a few months ago and our hosts asked us how much news we get of substance about Europe and its leaders. Not much, I admitted, and our economy is beholden to so many other countries’ leaders’ decisions.

I do think that one positive outcome of the “celebrity” culture in television news is that they inform voters of the illicit bedroom romps (and attempts at such at the airport men’s room) of our elected representatives and other officials enjoying jobs at taxpayers’ expense.

There was a code of silence about such behavior in Walter’s day unless there was a scandal, such as involvements with the Mafia.

So Walter, thank you for setting the professional bar in broadcast journalism.

Too bad it’s crumbling under the weight of Britney Spears, Michael Jackson ad infinitum, Jon and Kate, the OctoMom and all of the others we are force fed on a continual basis.

Post from: Right Here in River City

I had a lot of fun going to Fan Fest last Friday, thanks to the two tickets that came with my Pujols Pack Christmas gift. I wouldn’t say I’m a superfan, but I like going to several games per season.

I went to the Fan Fest out of curiousity, and knowing that if it takes another 43 years to come back to St. Louis, I either won’t be living in the area (or anywhere), or I won’t be able to walk through a building of that size. I had much more fun than I expected, it was so well done.

My favorite parts of the Fest were looking at the displays from the Baseball Hall of Fame Museum and watching the children, most of whom wore St. Louis Cardinals T-shirts. This was a baseball Disneyland for the young fans, with interactive baseball video games and skills competitions, such as video batting cages. Little tykes could run around a tiny baseball diamond, while the older kids competed while batting, throwing and catching balls in friendly, temporary rivalries.

Runners from about age 2 on up through their 20’s raced as fast as they could in “Beat the Fastest” competiton to win new Reebok athletic shoes.Their times and the top racers’ times they aimed to beat flashed on a scoreboard as they trounced on white bases that served as finish lines. It was a riot watching the littlest ones move their legs as fast as they could, determined looks on their faces. Everyone cheered the older winners, forgiving the man in charge of the race who wore a Philadelphia Phillies uniforms and calling the city, “St. Louie.”

Several times I commented on how I wish I could turn back my 27-year-old son’s age by 20 years for just those two hours so he could go to Fan Fest as a boy, which he would have loved. He played Little League baseball from kindergarten through ninth grade, if I remember correctly.

He also would have liked us taking his picture in front of the World Series trophies - for 2009 and the encased ones the Cardinals won in years past. There was a huge All-Stars ball, cutouts of the current Cardinals team and individual player cutouts, which are nearly life-sized and scattered about that people could pose next to for snapshots.

Grownups could drop lots of money on sports memorabilia, trinkets and clothing, but also try to outguess the refs as they watched close calls on flat screen televisions for free. Others watched national sportscasters discuss the upcoming game in person or sang karaoke to, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”
There were really detailed models of the three St. Louis ball stadiums that brought back memories to many, especially the previous Busch Stadium. People also could view dozens of fresh new balls in a drying case that will be used in the 2009 Home Run Derby and the Game.

Everyone seemed good natured and upbeat at Fan Fest, but it wasn’t apparent to us that we all would be kicked out after two hours - until about 15 minutes before closing time. There was a lot to see and do in the expansive rooms and lobby at the St. Louis convention center, and someone could spend a great deal of that allotted two hours waiting in line for autographs of retired players.

I didn’t care about meeting those players, whom I could not identify when I walked by, scoring an autograph or seeing how little ball skills I have at the game stations. It was cool seeing a table of both young and elderly women players signing autographs and looking at the antique uniforms, which had overskirts attached to the tops.

While watching the youngsters and perusing the various memorabilia were entertaining, the displays on the mainstream leagues and the old Negro League from the Baseball Hall of Fame Museum were really interesting, since I’ve never been to Cooperstown. I saw old canceled paychecks from players, some ridiculously high, others ridiculously low. The jerseys were amazing, some appeared to be rough flannel and so many of them had crudely sewn lettering and logos. Some of the shirts were really small! Their gloves were really small, thin and “low-tech” compared to today’s big models.

There was a pair of Babe Ruth’s shoes when he was a coach in 1938; Casey Stengel’s jersey from his European tour in 1924 with a small American flag sewn on it; the bat Hank Aaron used for his 2,000th hit on Aug. 11, 1955; Jackie Robinson and Sandy Koufax’s retirement jerseys; Stan Musial’s autographed shirt and silver bat; and numerous All-Star programs, just for starters.

While much of the overall Fan Fest displays were St. Louis-oriented, fans wore shirts printed with numerous other baseball teams’ names and logos, showing it was the game itself that interests them. Although there were vendors offering new and old merchandise, they were low key and didn’t dominate the Fest offerings overall.

The Fan Fest runs through Tuesday, July 14. If you have even a mild interest in baseball, it’s worth a visit, especially if it doesn’t return for another 43 years. And if you can, bring along a little kid. It will be even more fun that way for both of you!

If you went to Fan Fest, please share your observations, experiences and opinions.

Was it worth your time?

For more information:
http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2009/hr_derby.jsp

Post from: Right Here in River City