So, C-Nor and I are finding that we have a hobby to share together.
[Awwww, nerd love! Can you handle it?!?]

We took his camera out for another little jaunt last Sunday and on Memorial Day, then took a long walk along the Mississippi in Bettendorf.

Here are some shots.

Warning: skeeze factor ahead!

Part of a sculpture next to the I-74 Bridge.

Bridge beam.

Big wheel keep on …

White ducks, Muddy Mississip’

And also:Ross’s 24-Hour Restaurant*.

* Site of parking lot where we met up for our first date.

(I was coming up from Forgotonia to meet him in Iowa; it’s conveniently located just next to the I-74 Bridge.

It’s also conveniently located right across the street from the Traveler’s Inn, which Chris swears is a rent-by-the-minute kind of place.

Twin Bridges Motel

Bridge beams**.

Bridge and blue sky**.

**These photos by Chris Norton.
Um yeah he is better than me;).

[From yesterday's Macomb Journal]

Boy finds officer’s gun in bathroom

Macomb, Ill. –

While some first grade students are struggling with multiplication and learning cursive, other students are proving their responsibility and potentially saving lives.

A first-grade student found a loaded 9mm service revolver in the men’s restroom at Aurelio’s Pizza while on a class trip May 14.

Margaret Harn, the boy’s teacher, and his mother did not respond to messages Tuesday seeking comment.

Jimmy Buwick, owner of Aurelio’s, 221 N Randolph St., said that around 12:20 p.m. a group of first- graders from Rushville-Industry and a group of Illinois State Police investigators were eating at the restaurant. When one of the officers used the restroom, he left his gun on the paper dispenser in the handicap stall.

“I was notified later when a monitor teacher came to me and said that one of the boys said that there was a gun in the restroom,” said Buwick. “One of my employees had already removed it and brought it back to the kitchen, and I took it upstairs.”

Buwick said that the gun was loaded. When the agent returned about an hour later to retrieve the revolver, Buwick asked to speak with the agent’s superior, and soon a lieutenant came to the restaurant. After taking the revolver, the lieutenant said that he would follow normal procedure for dealing with the incident within.

A woman who answered the phone at Illinois State Police headquarters in Springfield Tuesday referred questions to Trooper Edward Howard, who handles media inquiries for District 14 headquarters in Macomb. Howard did not return messages left for him Tuesday afternoon.

“Before he left I asked him if he could go by the school and give some kind of awards to these boys,” said Buwick. “They saved a real tragedy from happening by being smart on the job when needed.”

The officer who left the service revolver is a long-time agent, and he seemed sincere and concerned, said Buwick.

“He was not arrogant or abrasive. He did basically what I asked him to do,” said Buwick. “He was very concerned about what he’d done and what could have happened, because it could have ended up much worse. Both gentlemen from the state police were very cooperative.

“Those boys really are heroes. We feel very fortunate.”

From today’s Macomb Journal

McDonough County on poverty watch list

Macomb, Ill. –

The percentage of people living in poverty in McDonough County is twice as high as surrounding counties, according to an analysis by the Heartland Alliance.

The Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty in Chicago does an annual report based on data about income, education, unemployment and other factors. Heartland publishes a “well-being index” for each county in Illinois.

McDonough, Fulton, Hancock and Schuyler counties all appear on Heartland’s “watch list” based on those statistics and trends.

In 2007, McDonough County’s poverty rate was 23 percent, representing 6,293 people. For 2009, the federal government considers poor a family of four with annual income less than $22,050. A family of four with less than half that income is considered extremely poor.

Suzan Nash, executive director of the Western Illinois Regional Council, said her agency is seeing the effects of escalating poverty in McDonough County.

“We’re seeing persons we haven’t seen in five or six years or who we haven’t seen before,” Nash said.

A year and a half ago, the agency provided food for 18 to 24 families a week. That number is now closer to 18 to 24 families a day, she said.

She had no explanation for the high poverty rate in McDonough compared to neighboring counties, such as Hancock with a poverty rate of 10 percent and Schuyler with 12 percent.

“We have a lot of service sector minimum wage jobs,” Nash said. “When times get tough economically and the costs of everything continues to rise, it becomes more difficult for persons to support a family and make ends meet.”

One of the factors contributing to poverty in McDonough County is the low high school graduation rate, 88 percent, compared to nearby counties. The graduations rates – the percentage of students entering ninth grade, plus transfer, who get diplomas – is 98 percent in Hancock County and 97 percent in Schuyler.

Macomb High School’s graduation rate is 95 percent, according to its school report card on the Illinois Board of Education Web site. Only 74 percent of Bushnell’s freshman class finishes school. West Prairie’s graduation rate is 85 percent.

High school drop-outs earn less than graduates and are far more likely to receive government assistance. Citing 2003 figures, the Center on Education Policy and American Youth Policy Forum reported that dropouts earned an average of $21,447 per year, compared to $32,226 for high school graduates. People with an associate’s degree earned $43,462 per year on average. With a bachelor’s degree, that figure jumps to $63,084.

One bright spot in the McDonough County picture is the low rate of births to teen mothers. In 2006, the rate of births to women between the ages of 15 and 19 was 12 per thousand. That compares to 48 births per thousand in Hancock County and 24 in Schuyler.

From the Macomb Journal:

Cinema I & II shows its last films

Adair, Ill. -[um...anybody know why this is the dateline?!?]

Carmike Cinemas I and II, 306 W. University Drive, screened its final two movies Thursday night and closed its doors for good.

The theater opened in 1972, originally under Carroll’s Cinemas, as an independent theater. Excellence Theaters moved in about 1989, and two years later the theater came under the Carmike Cinemas name. Larry Jarvis, manager of Carmike Cinemas I and II, has worked there for more than 20 years.

“I’m melancholy about it. This is the longest I’ve ever worked in one place,” said Jarvis. “I’m sorry that it’s closing, but I think there will still be more opportunity for the new theater of which I am to be the manager.” Yayyyy! Larry lives on!!! I had been worried about what was going to happen to him….]

The six-screen Rialto movie theater is expected to open on June 18 at the site of the former Eagle grocery store building at 1401 E. Jackson Street.

Jarvis said that he looks forward to seeing the community enjoy the new theater and carrying on the international film series in the same format as at Cinemas I and II.

[This quote is soooo Larry:] “There’ve been a lot of employees here and a few crises over the years, but we never got robbed and we never had any fires, for which I’m grateful,” said Jarvis. “I’ve put a lot of time and energy into this theater, and it’s all been good.”

www.pjstar.com/news_state/x157151270/Macomb-swimming-pool-may-not-be-on-last-lap

Now that’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout!

Posted May 27, 2009 @ 11:30 PM

MACOMB —

Aldermen voted Tuesday to recommend extension of several city contracts and develop plans for the local swimming pool and the addition of bicycle routes.

Aldermen had a lengthy discussion about the future of Glenwood Pool. Initially it was decided this would be the last season for the pool, but at least some aldermen have backed off that idea, saying it should be kept open longer if that’s financially feasible.

Discussion will continue next week about bringing the City Council and the Macomb Park District together for discussions on the pool. Discussions could include whether to attempt a referendum to pay for any new structure.

Aldermen also decided to have city attorney Liz Wilhelp draw up ordinances to develop bicycle routes in the city. The routes would be striped and run on existing city streets.

[....]

Also, in today’s news from central Illinois,

find out what happens when you peel the winning sticker off your cup in the Hardee’s drive-through and it says GRAND PRIZE!
[from the PJ Star]

…”I knew instantly and just started shaking. I was speechless,” said Noel, 31, of Washington, who works driving an oxygen delivery van from nursing home to nursing home throughout central Illinois.

He gathered his composure.

“I just won,” he told the woman at the drive-through window.

“What did you win,” she asked, probably expecting that same bag of fries that Noel half-expected.

“The Grand Prize,” Noel answered.

“Well, I can’t help you with that,” the woman said.

[full story in the PJ Star]

Thank you, thank you, thank you Larry Doyle.

Not only for providing me with several happy, laugh-filled hours as I read through your novel, I Love You, Beth Cooper, (which is soon to appear on the silver screen).

(I’ve had this book in my overflowing Basket o’ To-Read Books since late last summer, and I swear, the very day I finally picked it up to read it, [or, okay, right after that, anyway], I learned that a film version starring that Hayden P. girl from Heroes hits theatres July 10.)

Anyone who suffered an obsession /crush-from-afar in high school, or happened to be clumsy, sweaty, cerebral, neurotic, and nervous, (in other words, anyone who was ME), will cringe and ache and laugh with recognition at—and must read—this book.

Also, anyone who grew up in the 80s, (and who grew up on John Hughes films), will alternately love the self-referential nature of the book, and lament how quickly time has gone by (specifically, in the scene in which the teens listen to “Don’t You Forget About Me” on the iPod-attached car radio and the main character, Denis Cooverman, notes the fact that the song is from their parents’ own high school days).

It’s the story about a bunch of suburban teens (from Buffalo Grove, IL) on their graduation night, a few hours after Denis Cooverman—a somewhat Portnoy-ish, worry-wart nerd and captain of the debate team—publicly declares—during his valedictorian speech—his love for the eponymous cheerleading captain, to whom he has barely spoken.

The author, Larry Doyle, used to write for The Simpsons, and the novel is bitingly, hilariously satirical. It’s also a little cartoon-y in a way that I won’t bore you with trying to explain here, but will say bugged me just slightly…but then totally redeemed itself in many other ways.)

ANYWAY, funnily enough, one of the passages that spoke to me most was not so much about awkwardness but about suburban kids spending a few moments out in the country.

After they’ve had a few beers—and gone through every urban legend about murders and hauntings taking place in this supposedly dark and spooky open space—they, like so many (real and fictional) teens of yore, decide it would be hilarious to go “tip” a cow.

Now, in any other show or movie or book about teenagers, this is usually the point where I groan, and, because I grew up on a farm, am forced to start hating the story—because it suddenly becomes clear that the writer or director or producer has never set foot in a rural area in his or her life, and also did not do his/her research.

So, thank you, thank you, thank you, Larry Doyle, for creating a scene in which your fictional teens learn the hard way that the phenomenon of “cow-tipping” is actually a bunch of bull!

Hopefully suburban kids everywhere will watch this movie and learn the error of their ways!

(Oh, and hopefully the script will stay true to the book, too! Although the trailer appears to belie one violation right off the bat, as Beth Cooper is totally supposed to have brown hair, not the golden tresses displayed by little miss Hayden P.

Sigh….

If this means the teens actually do end up “tipping” a cow in the movie version, I and my country kin should stage a revolt!)

Find the full Forgotonia journey on Flickr.

Take full journey through Forgotonia on Flickr!