Bill Linneman

July 23, 2010

From Siberia to home

Ralph and Louise Bellas are certified world travelers. In this second installment of their world trip they travel from Siberia to Illinios.

Our Chinese attendant stayed with us (Ralph and Louise Bellas) from Beijing to Moscow. We learned that he had sidelines of taking Chinese jeans to Russia and exchanging moneys. At Irkutsk we had a Russian guide who had been educated in England. He planned to marry, but he and his betrothed were on a wait-list of 5-7  years for an apartment.

Irkutsk is the capital of Siberia. Our hotel room was comfortable and provided a good view of the city. Irkutsk was more modern than we had expected. There were many onion-domed Orthodox churches. All kinds of flowers grew in beautiful parks. When we were walking several young men approached us, wanting to buy our jackets, bags, Ralph’s digital watch and walking shoes.

A minibus took us to Lake Baikal, which is the largest and deepest fresh water lake in the world. It contains one-fifth of the world’s fresh water. As much as all the Great Lakes combined. A hydrofoil ride took us along the shore and across the lake, which is very blue. Paper mills and other industries were discharging pollutants, but efforts have been made since then to clean up the lake.

We took a walk through Holy Cross, a quaint village. Houses had no indoor plumbing. We saw women washing dishes, pots and pans in a stream. A small Russian Orthodox church had many icons and lighted candles. A Roman Catholic Church was no longer in use. Children playfully followed us around.

The next part of the train trip was a challenge in dealing with tedium. There were long long stretches of white birches, aspens and evergreens. There were some farms but few farm houses. The farmers lived in villages in houses with large woodpiles alongside.

The small towns had little activity of interest. Fast trains going east passed frequently. Some were freight, some military with heavy weapons and equipment, and some passenger. Chinese passengers often waved at us when they passed.

To counter the tedium we wrote in our journals, read, did crossword puzzles, and played scrabble. An attendant saw us writing with a ball point pen, something of a novelty for him. We gave him one. To find the time of day was somewhat confusing. Russia had 11 time zones, but the train was fixed on Moscow time.

On the trip overall the food was good, although the menu was not extensive. The Siberian beef and the potato soup were especially good. The waitresses came from the region the train was passing through.

Service was satisfactory, except in Mongolia we once waited three hours. The waitress kept ignoring us for others who had come in later, and she overcharged us.

We arrived in Moscow four hours late because one car had to have its wheel replaced. We were put up in the very large Cosmos Hotel which had been built for the 1980 Olympics. Our room had a view of the Space Monument and Communications Needle. There was a guard in the hallway outside our room, and we talked in whispers, wondering if our room was bugged.

We toured Moscow with a rather somber, business-minded woman guide. Colorful St. Basil’s impressed us. At Lenin’s tomb we watched the changing of the guard by three goose-stepping soldiers. We toured the Kremlin and had a super lunch at a Georgian restaurant. We visited a convent, which once housed women who disobeyed their husbands or couldn’t produce children. 

Later in the day we took the Metro back to Red Square. This is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful subways in the world. Marbled and decorated with mosaics, stained glass panels, sculptures, and ornate lighting fixtures.

We went to the Gum, the state department store, which has a glass roof and takes up the entire eastern side of the Square. We bought several items but had to go through a complicated three stage buying system.

Wherever we ran into young people, they asked for ball point pens and chewing gum. We got to the railway station at 9 pm. There was a large crowd of people, many sitting on the floor. There were long lines for everything. We left at midnight for Leningrad (which is now once again called “St. Petersburg.”)

The overnight trip was uneventful. Peter the Great intended for the city to be the Venice of the North. There were monuments and more monuments, especially of Lenin. We visited the Summer Palace, designed after Versailles, but the highlight of any visit to the city is the Hermitage. Its beautiful roooms house one of the largest and most impressive art collections in the world.

Our trans-Siberian Express tour ended in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). We went on to Helsinki, Finland, and were amazed at the contrast in ambiance. People were smiling and interacting with one another on the street or at outdoor cafes. Shoppers crowded the stores. Luscious pastries filled bakery windows. There was a vibrancy that made us want to stay.

From Helsinki we flew to Stockholm and then New York. Our spirits lifted as we approached JFK and saw the Statue of Liberty. On to Chicago and Bloomington. Having circled the globe we were home again in Normal, from where we had left 26 months earlier.

The Spectator by Jim Bennett

July 23, 2010

 jwbnnt@aol.com

A History of Sports in McLean County

ONE STORY, amount countless others about Fred “Brick” Young, is that he officiated area high school football and basketball games back in the Hoover and FDR years with a black partner named Joe Ward.

No one would doubt that Young, a local sports icon, would be bold enough to zebra up with an African-American colleague to call a basketball game in a small town with a “sundown law,” whether strictly enforced or not.

The level of respect Young commanded (in 1940, he helped officiate the 1940 NFL title game between the Bears and Redskins) throughout McLean County and beyond would no doubt have generated an Atticus Finch calming effect anywhere restless natives might get overheated in a charged gymnasium.

I don’t know that for sure; I wasn’t there. Someone was, and perhaps even a living someone.

The story is there, but scarcely framed; what about the particulars? Who, exactly, was Joe Ward? What kind of pluck must he have had? Or did he even need any? In which towns did the odd couple blow their whistles? Which games? Which years? Were there close calls of racial tension at any of the venues?

If not, perhaps that would be the better story yet.

IN THE ELLIPTICAL and often highjacked phenomenon we call the past, this is but one of many stories I find myself tracking through cobwebs and archives. For this summer I have become a museum guy.

A “guest curator” to be more specific. It’s a post I have agreed to work over the long term, for a 2013 McLean County Museum of History exhibit exploring the history of sports in our county.

If that seems like a long time to you, it seems shorter as we go to me. So many sports, so many years. So many stars and superstars. So many records set and records broken. So many transcendent moments and broken hearts. Coaches, players, fans, teams, officials, venues old and new, horses, dogs, even gamblers.

One member of the advisory committee, assessing the length (in years) and breadth (in sporting activities) of the project labeled it “an impossible task.” Another said, “No, it’s not.”

A third said, “You’ve got a big job ahead of you.” No doubt. To get a handle on how big, we might consider baseball alone. In McLean County, this would be a sweep of 130 years or more, reaching back to the 1880s of Charles Radbourn glory, with significant highlights to be struck all the way up through 2010: Just last month, Illinois Wesleyan’s baseball team won a national championship.

I HAVE NO background or training in museum exhibits. What I know about exhibits is “go and look.” So I had to think awhile before agreeing to this adventure.

Eventually, three things convinced me to get on board. First of all, the Museum itself has an award-winning pedigree of excellence. Any exhibit associated with it will have firm standards of precision and integrity. Corners won’t be cut and pronouns will agree with their antecedents.

Secondly, I determined that if I chose not to work on the project, I would regret the decision somewhere down the line. A month from now. A year from now.

Some friends were important in my decision. Roger Cushman (also a member of the advisory committee) reminded me of the words of Mark Twain: “Regret comes most in the things we choose not to do.”

Finally, Doug Williamson, who has worked with the Museum of History for years, assured me that there would be foursquare support from the organization’s professional staff.

He was right. Thankfully, I’m not on my own. I’m getting plenty of coaching. Susan Hartzold, the Museum’s Curator of Collections and Exhibits, is mentoring me, pointing out the differences between printed material and artifacts, and ways in which the two function to mutual benefit, the difference between an old-fashioned interview and an oral history.

None of which makes the workload any smaller. Every phone call, it seems, leads to other contacts that “ought to” be made. As in, “You really ought to talk to” so and so, to really get a handle on the MUNY League or Gold Gloves boxing or Irish setter field trials.

SO HERE’S THE THING: Perhaps you can help. As Greg Koos, Executive Director of the Museum playfully says, “The difference between books and exhibits is ‘stuff.’”

Maybe you have some “stuff”, even some you’d be willing to share. Newspaper and magazine clippings, saved photographs, ticket stubs, scorecards, baseball cards, bats, gloves, public programs and/or posters, autographs, caps, helmets, uniforms, letters, even shoes.

Maybe now is the time to rummage through that closet, like you’ve been meaning to do for so long, to separate some sheep from the goats.

The Museum accepts donations, but loans as well. Maybe you just can’t part with it, not permanently anyway. Often, borrowed items form a significant portion of a particular exhibit.

Or maybe your stuff is a poignant story you’d like to share—of a game, a match, a meet, a teammate, a respected opponent, a home run or touchdown, a rivalry, a coach, a unique story of a baseball lost in a cornfield, a football field or basketball court too short, a humorous or embarrassing moment (my own would be hard to top.)

If any of this resonates, feel free to send me a message (my e-mail address always appears at the top of this column.) Ms. Hartzold is also open to being contacted at shartzold@mchistory.org.

Now where was it you left that tobacco canister Ed Kinsella baseball card?

Alan Look Photography - Bloomington - Normal's Best Look in Sports Action Photography
Images from recent games are available for viewing and purchase

Twin Groves Wind Farm - Images by Alan Look

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Gardeners Tips
by Helen J. Leake

July 23, 2010

Hot weather tips

With the hot weather, we need to check the containers to see if they need water. Check to see if the soil is dry. Sometimes the leaves, such as squash, will droop because of the hot sun, then at night they straighten up.

Some places tell you to fertilize in mid-summer. The cool season grass goes dormant when the temperatures gets high and can not absorb fertilizer. The rains will just wash the fertilizer down the drain, wasting the fertilizers, time and money.

Do not use weed killer when temperatures are 85 degrees or above.  When it is hot the chemicals react different and the drift from them will kill plants you do not want to kill... even your neighbors plants.  As always follow the directions on the container,.

Don’t let your weeds go to seed.  “A year of seeding equals 7 years of weeding”.

Capitol Facts by Rich Miller

July 23, 2010

Women favor Quinn, seniors choose Brady

So, why did Gov. Pat Quinn close the gap with Republican state Sen. Bill Brady in Rasmussen Reports’ latest poll? There’s a one-word answer: Women.

Rasmussen’s newest poll had Brady ahead of Quinn 43-40. That’s a pretty hefty swing from the firm’s June poll, which had Brady with an eleven-point lead, 47-36.

Many political observers were stunned back in March when Rasmussen’s first poll had Brady trouncing Quinn with likely female voters 50-33. Quinn had a horrible time with women voters during the Democratic primary against Dan Hynes, particularly after the news hit that his administration had released a bunch of violent criminals from prison early. Women voters were still upset with him after the primary, it appeared. Subsequent polling backed up Rasmussen’s numbers. An April survey by Public Policy Polling had Brady leading Quinn among women by ten points.

Quinn ranks high on so-called “women’s issues,” but Brady is 100 percent pro-life, even in cases of rape and incest. Brady has also taken dozens of votes in the Illinois Senate that quite a few women, particularly in the all-important suburbs, won’t love. Some folks have been saying that Brady’s lead in all the polls was artificial because women just didn’t know what Brady stood for.

They were right.  By June 7th, Rasmussen had Brady leading Quinn among women by just three points, 42-39. Public Policy Polling’s June survey had the two men tied among women.

And the latest Rasmussen poll, conducted July 7th, has Quinn completely turning the tables on Brady and is now leading among women by 11 points, 47-36.  Word appears to be gradually getting out about Brady’s very conservative stances on abortion, guns, etc.

That movement by women was totally behind Rasmussen’s latest 43-40 overall results, which is the narrowest margin that any poll has recorded in this race to date. Quinn launched a TV ad in the Chicago area last week that whacked Brady good on abortion and his vote against requiring insurance companies to cover mammograms with no out of pocket expenses.  That ad will probably put Quinn’s numbers to where they should’ve been all along.

Meanwhile, Gov. Quinn’s signature this month on legislation creating a temporary “back to school” sales tax holiday dovetailed nicely with that same new poll by Rasmussen Reports which shows Illinoisans by a two-to-one margin believe tax cuts are a better way to create jobs than increased government spending

Every article and editorial about the upcoming sales tax holiday included the official budgetary cost estimates of $40 million to $60 million, which isn’t much, but is a definite issue during the state’s worst fiscal crisis since the Great Depression.

Yet, 55 percent of Illinoisans, including 60 percent of independents and 47 percent of “moderates” believe that cutting taxes is a better way to create new jobs than increasing government spending. That’s less than Rasmussen’s national result of 69 percent favoring tax cuts, bu to be expected considering Illinois’ more liberal bent. With the budget in sorry shape, tax cuts are few and far between, and with Brady advocating broad tax cuts, Quinn had to do his best to get the word out.

This sales tax holiday will probably get more publicity than any other pre-election tax cut Quinn could’ve devised. Retailers usually advertise quite heavily during back to school season, and they’ll surely include the automatic 5 percent discount from the sales tax holiday in their nonstop pitches to consumers. Broadcast and print news will do plenty of stories during the August 6-15 tax holiday.

Not to mention all the mothers who will be thankful for a break on their purchases. Quinn knew what he was doing there, or at least stumbled into it.

But before the Quinn campaign can celebrate any victories, there is a very ominous warning sign in the latest Rasmussen poll for their guy.

Back in March, Quinn and Brady split the 65 and older crowd with 45 points each in Rasmussen’s poll. By June, Brady had a three-point lead with seniors. Rasmussen’s July poll has Brady widening his lead to eleven points.

Seniors vote in high percentages, so Quinn needs to scare yet another demographic into retreating from Brady. Maybe a tax holiday on electric scooters?

Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and thecapitolfaxblog.com.