My children stayed home from school today. They’re not missing this piece of history.

What reason did they give my wife? The children would not be watching the inauguration of the 44th President because … [drum roll] … there would be RELIGION involved.

Say WHAT?!?!?!

OK … I’m all for separation of church & state, but that’s just stupid. This is a historic event. Besides, didn’t my daughters sing “Silent Night” and several other Christian-themed carols at their CHRISTmas concert in December, an official school event? Why yes they did!

Religion excuse = COMPLETE B.S.

Was this just isolated idiocy at Sunset Hills, or did the whole of District 108 fail to observe the inauguration? Since the religion excuse is utterly absurd, that leaves us to come up with our own reasons why Pekin school children didn’t watch the inauguration of the first BLACK president.

Given Pekin’s reputation, what reason do you think many people will come up with???

So, from the Daily Times Weekend edition:

* CityLink now has hourly routes between Pekin & Peoria for only $1. Covenient & affordable public transportation … now there’s a novel concept! Kudos to the City of Pekin and CityLink for making this happen.

* The Times editorial board thinks the Pekin City Council should choose someone outside their ranks to serve the remainder of Dave Tebben’s mayoral term. I concur. Any chance that Frank Mackaman would be willing to go another round??? I’m guessing no, but I think he would be fantastic choice.

* Speaking of the Times editorial board … Michelle Teheux has been chosen as the new editor of the Pekin Daily Times, effective December 29. Congratulations, Michelle!

Teheux will step into the opening left by Rick Wade’s rather rowdy departure. I’m still eager to hear more details about that particular event.

* The back page of the Lifestyles section has a half-page advertisement declaring that my old office (Suite D) in the Park Court Medical Center is being transformed into the new Pekin UrgentCare. The reason given is “to better serve you and your family.”

What’s the real reason? Because of its current location contiguous with the Emergency Department and within Pekin Hospital proper, a hospital surcharge is added to the bill of everyone who uses the UrgentCare. This is speculation on my part, but I’m thinking the surcharge can be eliminated in this new location, improving Pekin Hospital’s competitiveness with the Pekin Methodist Medpointe in regards to Urgent Care services.

However, I’m not sure that makes up for the loss of seven physicians in the last year – three of them to Methodist.

Our thoughts & prayers are with Mayor Tebben and his family. We wish him a speedy recovery.

UPDATE (11/5/2008): Good news! Mayor Tebben has been transferred out of the ICU.

My condolences to the family of Kayla Casper.

I couldn’t understand why that spot was vacant for so long … at least the two years that I’ve lived here. Court & Parkway is probably the busiest intersection in Pekin, and the lot sits right next to the high school. I’d think that would be a prime spot for an eatery. Apparently Kevin Kraft of Washington, the franchise owner, thinks so too.

Like the Times editors, I have mixed thoughts about the ordinance. I can understand shifting administrative costs to the perpetrators of crime, and there are several lines of recourse available to appeal the fees. However, the ordinance punishes those accused, not convicted, of certain crimes, and I think that’s problematic. Isn’t our justice system supposed to pivot around the idea of “innocent until proven guilty”?

On a much brighter and less controversial note, ICC is opening a South Campus on Hanna Drive in Pekin. This is wonderful news for the community. While initially offering vocational training courses (welding, HVAC, mechanical & electrical maintenance), I’m sure that course offerings will expand in the future.

What gives???  Has Pekin always had such frequent outages?

I’m sure these guys probably feel like they’re showing pride in their hometown by wearing these shirts, but all they’re doing is hurting their community by perpetuating its negative image.  Shame on them.  One shouldn’t take pride in being the butt-end of a bad joke.

Ed emailed me asking for a link to let people know his site is up an running, which I’m happy to provide. I’m not sure if he’s ever read my blog, though. His first post bemoans the cancellation of Michael Noyes’ editorial column, and the second post on the site is written by Jim Mangan. Michael Noyes and Jim Mangan have been frequent targets of my criticism, primarily because of behavior that I consider unethical – most notably the slanderous, xenophobic witch hunt that drove previous District 108 Superintendent Don White away from Pekin.

So, if you’re interested in a view of Pekin that’s likely to be diametrically opposed to my own, check out Pekin News and Views.

I’m really tired of the arrogant sense of entitlement some smokers seem to have.  Just because smoking is legal doesn’t meant that you can inflict your toxic habit on other people.  Also, as I stated previously, the world is not your ashtray.  Keep your carcinogenic chemicals to yourself, and clean up your own mess!!!

Why does our society continue to enable smoking behavior when it’s the number one cause of premature death in this country, killing almost half a million people every year?  I understand that providing ashtrays is probably a practical solution to the cigarette butt litter problem, but the simple truth is that smokers who toss their butts on the ground are littering.  FINE THEM.  $50 a butt sounds about right … or they could simply assign violators to community service and have the littering smokers pick up their own mess.