A Knight in Dragonland

Ed Emmons, chronic curmudgeon of the Pekin Daily Times editorial page, has entered the blogosphere. For those who aren’t familiar with Ed’s work, he’s a frequent writer of letters to the editor in the local paper. From the complaints on his blog, we’d see even more of his letters if many weren’t rejected [...]

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Did any of you read this column on the editorial page of today’s Pekin Times?
My take: Michael Noyes sure has a bloated opinion of himself. According to Michael Noyes, he’s the “man in black”, graciously taking upon himself the unpopular parental role, crusading against those big government types who want to steal hard-earned money [...]

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I’m glad I’m not the only one questioning Jim Mangan’s attack on District 108 teachers. Today’s Pekin Daily Times has a letter to the editor from city council candidate Chad Schmidgall. In the letter Schmidgall praises our teachers by highlighting the hard work that they do for a relative pittance considering the value [...]

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There was another letter to the editor in the Times today regarding the Supervisor of Assessments Office, the Mike Noyes January 8 column and Sharon Carter’s response to Mr. Noyes. My previous blogging on the subject can be read here and here.
Now … let me try to get this straight. Who actually works [...]

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Ugh … I have to defend Mike Noyes again.
Sharon Carter of Pekin wrote a letter to the editor in the Monday Daily Times regarding the “Secret Documents” article by Mike Noyes. My previous blog entry regarding this column is here.
In her letter, Ms. Carter states that Mike Noyes makes an “incomplete and inaccurate” depiction [...]

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(SIGH) … Do I have to? (Shuffling feet) Alllllright …
My damn conscience is making me be fair. Yes, I talk to myself … frequently. Loudly. Sometimes I use different voices.
OK, the last part was a joke. Pretty much.
Anyway … (SIGH) I’m writing this post to say thank you to [...]

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I had just finished a very good dinner, and I just about lost it when I read that comparison.
“I disapprove of what you say,” the French philosopher Voltaire is reputed to have said, “but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
Had Voltaire uttered the first line of that famous quote at [...]

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Does the Times really have to publish every letter they receive regarding the leak of former District 108 teacher Mark Sattazahn’s letter of resignation to Michael Noyes, Daily Times columnist? I realize that the answer is probably “yes” given the attention the consolidation issue has received in Pekin. However, the letter to the [...]

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There was a letter to the editor in today’s Daily Times entitled “Smoke, mirrors.” It was sent in by Tom Frazier of Pekin as a specific rebuttal of another letter to the editor. That letter (by Ray Garber Jr. of Pekin) was written in support of Mike Noyes and his publication of paraphrased [...]

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My running commentary on the Pekin school consolidation issue is getting some press over at the Peoria Pundit. I guess Mike Noyes has seen what I’ve been writing, although he chooses to address Bill Dennis regarding unsigned editorials and not me regarding Pekin school consolidation. Noyes refers to me as “an anonymous blogger.” [...]

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A letter to the editor from James Drainer, president of the Education Association of Pekin, was published in the weekend edition of the Daily Times. This must be the same letter Drainer mentioned to the 108 school board on Monday. Drainer decries Mike Noyes’s use of Mark Sattazahn’s letter of resignation in his [...]

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Mark Sattazahn, the former 108 teacher and author of the letter of resignation quoted by Mike Noyes in his Nov. 1 column, confronted the District 108 school board at their meeting Monday night. See my previous posts on this controversy here (mentions the Noyes column in passing, before I knew the letter was leaked [...]

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Mike Noyes got another “love letter” to the editor today. Again, it’s from a teacher – Jefferson Primary School teacher Angie Brush.
Money Quote:
What exactly is going to be different if we consolidate? Is consolidation another word for “magic wand,” that when waved over both districts the graduation rates and test scores will rise? [...]

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Mike Noyes used the last part of his column today to respond to the letters to the editor from November 6.
It appears last week’s column struck a nerve with our friends in the education business.
Ya think??? They called you “evil doer” – I think that qualifies as “striking a nerve.”
The public apparently would have been [...]

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Wow … anyone had a chance to read the letters to the editor in today’s Pekin Daily Times? Mike Noyes’ editorial from November 1st drew quite the response – no less than five letters to the editor regarding his editorial were published, including one from the teacher whose resignation letter Noyes used as part [...]

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