Morton's Memorial Day

Memorial Day in Morton Illinois started with a terrific breakfast put on by members of Post 318 of The American Legion. The breakfast was well attended and veterans ate free in recognition of their sacrifice to our country.

At exactly 11:00am the ceremony began with a resounding rendition of The National Anthem by Heather Berger head of the vocal department at Morton High School. Heather gave the audience a real treat by singing not just the traditional verse we all know, but all FOUR verses of Francis Scott Key's song describing the defense of Fort McHenry in 1814.

The program continued with participation from Citizenship award recipient Jake Marks who led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Kathy Reynolds sang freedom's song and medley of songs that included God Bless America.

The grand-daughter of Post 318 member, Jack Hirstien, Bretta read in Flander's Field.
Bretta will be entering the United States Air Force next month.

We were pleased that Of the four scholarships the American Family gave out this year, three of the recipients were able to participate in the Memorial Day Program. Megan Eastman read the Gettysburg Address. Ryan Wezieck explained the Battlefield Cross. Caitlyn Vandermeer explained the POW/MIA Table. Caitlyn is a Private First Class in the Illinois Army National Guard with one year time in service. It should be noted that she just graduated high school a couple of weeks ago.

The widow and Children of SSGT Paul Gene Smith were honored by the presentation of a Gold Star Banner in recognition of their loss to the war in Afghanistan. Incoming Post 318 Commander Bob Wertz made the presentation.

Pastor Jeff Johnston gave the keynote address.

Incoming Commander Wertz also read the list of War dead from Morton who died in the Civil War or World War I. Morton Veterans of Foreign Wars Commander Jerry Davis read the list of World War II, Korea and Vietnam War dead from Morton.

American Legion Post 318 Adjutant and host for today's program, Larry Stimeling, read the list of American Legion post 318 members who have died in the past year.

Stimeling then announced that the Morton Veterans' Memorial Committee is starting its fundraising for a Veterans' Memorial to be built in Birchwood Park. Displayed were the concept drawings of the memorial and samples of the granite blocks to be sold to help cover the cost of the Memorial.

PFC Vandermeer then escorted SSGT Smith's family to the monument and they placed a wreath in honor of all our departed comrades.

Post 318's honor guard saluted the dead with a gun salute and Taps.

The ceremony concluded with a thank you to all the participants and those who worked behind the scene to make the program a success.
For those of you who were there .... Thank you For those who missed it.... hope to see you next year.

Memorial Day

Monday is Memorial Day.The weather is forecast to be good. There will be boats on the river, kids in the parks and the smell of grilled foods will permeate every neighborhood.

There will also be veterans in every community honoring their fallen comrades. Memorial Day Ceremonies seem to be gathering of veterans with a few non-veteran citizens thrown in.

Memorial Day is a date set aide to honor and remember those who have died in defense of this great nation. Somehow America has chosen to observe Memorial Day by celebrating the unofficial start of summer.

Look at the Sunday newspaper. Ads for Memorial Day sales for patio furniture, pools and other summertime items abound. Sure there is the usual list of Holiday closures for Monday. Perhaps there is an article on veterans placing flags in a local cemetery. There will be a list of Memorial Day activities. I am willing to bet that the crowd Monday morning at Wal~mart will be larger than the crowd at the local Memorial Day ceremony.

Why? Why can't we postpone the unofficial start to summer until after the morning ceremonies? Why do we have to have a "Memorial Day Weekend? with 3 days of beer and brats combined with roadside safety checks?
Why can't we give up a day of beer and brats for those who gave up everything for us?Why can't we have a single day dedicated to remembering and honoring those who have given their lives for our freedom?

A day of solemn remembrance, a day of thanks, isn't that the minimum we should dedicate to those who have given us our way of life by giving up their lives?

I am certain that between now and Monday Many well meaning people will utter those words I despise...."Happy Memorial Day"
Yes I despise those words. Memorial Day is never happy for me. I have too many memories of too many men who died in service to the United States to be happy. Memorial Day I think about these men. I think about their sacrifice and the sacrifice of their families.

You want me to be happy on Memorial Day? Join me and my fellow veterans at a Memorial Day ceremony near you on Monday morning. Don't wish me a happy Memorial Day! Show some respect and honor for my fallen comrades. Do something most Americans don't do on the last Monday in May..... Honor those who have given the last full measure of devotion and made the ultimate sacrifice for us all.

Where will you be on the last Monday in May?

Ah! The last Monday in May is on its way. What a wonderful day. Picnics, cooking out, boats on the water and kids in the pool. Summer is here! It just doesn't get any better than this !

What am I forgetting? Hmm .... The last Monday in May.....Hmm.......
Oh I remember... That is Memorial Day !

Memorial Day, a time to remember.
Remember Lexington
Remember New Orleans
Remember Gettesburg.
Remember the Alamo
Remember Tripoli
Remember Pearl Harbor
Remember D-Day
Remember The Frozen Chosen
Remember Hue
Remember the Pentagon on 9/11
Remember Beirut
Remember Baghdad
Remember Kabul
Remember the men and women who gave their all so that you can enjoy picnics, cooking out, boats on the water and kids in the pool.
Where will you be on Memorial Day this year?

The Morton American Legion Post 318 will host a Memorial Day breakfast from 7 to 10am with a ceremony to follow at 11. This year the ceremony will include a special announcement about a Veterans' Memorial for Morton.

I urge you to attend this Memorial Day and take a few minutes of your weekend to REMEMBER.

A ROYAL PAIN!!!

William and Kate....
Charles and Di......
Who's invited?
Who got snubbed?
What is she wearing?
What is he wearing?



WHO CARES?

This is the United States not the United Kingdom!
If it were really important Walmart would be closed, there would be no mail delivery and the NHL would cancel their playoff games.

Since none of those are happening, why is every mainstream media outlet sending people to England to report on the Royal Pain of a wedding? Why do Americans think this is an event worth hearing about? The grocery checkout rag magazines and newspapers are flying off the shelves. Put the royal wedding in a headline and it will be gone in sixty seconds. Sort of reminds me of the time when everything in the stores had Martha Stewart on the label. That didn't last long till she washed out. They didn't learn from that.... they went to everything being Hannah Montana endorsed products. Everything from shoes to Mac'n'cheese had to say Hannah Montana. The retailers that fell for that took a big hit when the crap stayed in the stores for months.
But now it is William and Kate. didn't the colonists fight to get away from the rule of the Crown? So now our media is acting like the Crown is still in power in America when in fact it has no real power on the other side of the Atlantic.
Personally I will be happy once the wedding is history and we can focus on what really affects Americans. Idiocy in Washington, Idiots in Springfield an unbalanced budget that doesn't appear to be fixable.
But then neither is or main stream media.

So now that the school referrendum was defeated...

What is next?

Will the school board go back to the drawing board and come up with a new (better) plan?

What happens to the kids who are being required to learn in an environment that is not conducive to learning?

How does the school district get around the mandatory PE every day for ALL students?

I can't answer these questions.

With the vote so lopsided 65% to 35% I have even more questions.

Did the voters vote no because they wanted a better plan?

Did they vote no because of the increase in property tax?

Did they vote no because they just approved a large sum for the new pool?

Or did they vote no for other reasons?

They air is full of questions and the School board needs to find the answers. Our children deserve the best education possible from what has long been one of the best school systems in the State. While what we have is still better than most, it isn't good enough for the school kids in Morton Illinois.

My challenge to the school board is to quickly find out why the vote went the way it did and change what was wrong so that ALL students in Morton's Public Schools get the best education possible!

**note two years ago I wrote about the school district and the schools here in Morton. What I wrote then stands today ...

WE HAVE ONE OF THE BEST SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN THE STATE

We need to make sure it remains on the top. and we can not do that with 3 facilities that are over

crowded and one facility that is not hadicap accessible.

Cotton Candy anyone?

The talk of the town this week has not been the upcoming referendum on the schools,even though this is a very important vote for all of Morton. No. Instead all of Morton is abuzz about Cotton Candy and her client. The former Superintendent of Public Works has reportedly admitted to visiting one Cotton Candy on more than one occasion. I am not here to judge him for his visits to Ms Candy. I question his doing so while on duty for the Village of Morton and his using a Village vehicle for his visit to Candy land. According to published reports the former Supt. admitted to being on duty and was pulled over in a Village vehicle. Perhaps a lawyer can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that in some jurisdictions a vehicle used in the commission of a crime can be seized by law enforcement and sold at auction. fortunately the folks 80 miles southeast of here didn't choose to keep our SUV. I guess this entire incident is a case of our tax dollars hard at work???? It is a bit ironic that this took place just 2 days after the village board met in closed session to discuss the use of village vehicles. Did I mention auction? In another bit of irony, The Supt. told the Candy Madam his name was Jim Roth. what hat did that name come out of and why? It is a shame but 99.9% of those I have spoken too are shocked yet happy that the Supt. has met his demise. He didn't seem to have many friends. Possibly because he was good at his job? Or possibly his demeanor was arrogant and 'It's my way or not at all". It is a shame to lose a good man over a piece of candy.

Weather the storm from afar.

The winds are full of rumors. One of which I first caught with a Phil Luciano piece earlier this week. In his piece, the Luce states that there is a possibility that WHOI/WEEK new and weather may lose local representation in that the news and weather may be produced in Fort Wayne Indiana.

FORT WAYNE? I have been to Fort Wayne. I was never impressed.

But aside from my opinions of the city, there is the reality that our local weather forecasters (read that guessers) can't get the forecast right more than 5 minutes in the future. So we are going to add a time zone difference to the formula. OK .... Let's see here.... the 6 O'clock update will now be made at 5 O'clock.... Meaning it will be an hour old before we get it.

I am going back to the old time way of forecasting the weather, the weather rock
If rock is wet, it is raining
If rock is swinging , it is windy
If rock casts a shadow, it is sunny
If rock does not cast a shadow and is not wet, it is cloudy
If rock is white it is snowing
If rock is coated with ice, there is a frost
If rock is bouncing, there is an earthquake
If rock is under water, there is a flood
If rock is missing, there was a tornado.

I am fairly certain using a weather rock I will be more accurate than those who are paid to be wrong. It won't matter if they are in Peoria, Fort Wayne or Rio Linda.

DEALING WITH COMCAST CORPORATION

"Comcast Corporation is one of the nation's leading providers of entertainment, information and communications products and services." comcast.com about comcast

Well they may be a provider of communication products and services but they don't communicate well!

I made a call to comcast today. Checking on cable adapters that I had ordered 4 weeks ago. Before talking to a human the computer let me know that I was calling from my home phone and it had found the acount associated with that number. Excellent! That saves me a lot of time spelling my last name!

Because my problem was more complicated than the computer could handle, I pressed zero to get transferred to a human. I explained my problem. I ordered two digital adapters for televisions that do not have digital receivers several weeks ago but they had not arrived. I am calling to find out if they were shipped or if there has been a delay due to a high volume of requests.

Here is when the communication problem came apparent. I was asked for my account number. I did not have it in front of me. OK then can you give me the exact ammount of your last payment. No, I don't have that information either. Then can you give me the last 4 numbers of your ssn? Never mind we do not have that in our records. I am sorry sir but without verifying your account I cannot tell you about your account.

It was obvious she was reading from a script.

Hmmm you have my phone number it is associated with my account and you can't tell me about my equiptment order? No sir I can't.

At this point I ask for a supervisor. I am placed on hold while on hold I here a commercial in the background on my television stating that if there is a problem and we don't fix it on the first try we will give you a credit on your account. finally the supervisor gets on the phone.

How may I help you Mr Stimeling?
I want to see if the adapters I ordered were shiped as I have not received them.
I will need your account number for that.
I don't have it with me. Ma'am I am not ordering any equiptment or services I just want to know if they were shipped. I am trying to find out if they were lost or taken off my porch.
I am sorry sir but I cannot give you that information without your account number. Again from the script
OK so when I first called in the computer associated the number I am calling from with an account can you give me the account number associated with my phone number?
No Sir I can't do that
OK she is begining to sound like HAL in 2001 a space Oddesey and I am more aggitated that the laundry in my mom's wringer washer.

So I end the call with a promise to contact Corporate headquarters to request a credit on my account as I gave two people a chance to fix a problem and I got no satisfaction.

When my wife got back from doing whatever wives do when they leave the house, I asked here where I could find an account number.
Armed with the number, I called again. gave the number and was told that the package had been delivered on Feb 4 . OK I didn't get it what do I do now?
We will send you another package or you can go to your local office to pick up the adapters you need.
I would love to pick them up at the local office but it has been shuttered for several months.
OK we will send it to you but you need to call UPS and ask them to start a trace. Here is the tracking number.
Thank you

On to UPS
UPS How may I help you.
I never received a package that was shipped to me by Comcast. Here is the tracking number. According to your records it was left on my porch Feb.4 at 12:26pm.
Sorry sir comcast will need to start the trace on your package.
Comcaast told me to call you.
No Sir they will need to call us. but I will do the preliminary work up so that when they call we will have all the information we need.
Thank you Ma'am

Back to comcast
You need my account number again to tell you to call UPS and start a trace on your missing equiptment??? Come on now I am tired of the scripted call let's just talk here.
I am sorry I cannot talk about your account without your account number.

Time to find a new cable provider.

Mr. Mayor, Village Board are you listening? Comcast broke their contract when they closed the local office. When can we get a provider of Communication and broadcast services with a local office that can communicate without a script?

It has been awhile

The Blizzard of 2011 is done and the snow is beginning to melt, FINALLY!
To the Morton Street Department ...... GREAT JOB!!!
My question is this .... Why were there so many people on the road during the blizzard. We were forewarned that it was coming and NO ONE was saying it might miss us. Yet there were people on the road. Even in the heart of the storm, people were shopping. WHY? Shouldn't you have gotten your much needed milk on Monday before the stores ran out? Who were the idiots trying to get fast food at McDonald's in the middle of a blizzard? If it were your kid working there wouldn't you have wanted the place to close so your kid could be home safe?
Throughout the storm the TV and radio were broadcasting the following message, " Stay at home unless it is an emergency stay off the streets so the road crews can do their job. IDOT, Tazewell County and the Village of Morton did a great job and should be commended. Sure, there were som points of contention but all in all they did a great job in the worst possible weather. Just another reason why I tell everyone from anywhere other than Morton, "Morton, It really is better here!"