Welcome to Forgotonia

Virginia Cherill

Yesterday, side-by-side on the obituary page of my hometown paper, were two un-related women who, by all appearances, were just everyday members of this tiny, rural community. But these two senior citizens—who died on the same day—were relatives of some noteworthy Hollywood stars.

Six Degrees from Charlie Chaplin
Mary Agnes Habben, 91, of Carthage, was born on March 19, 1918, at the family home in Carthage, a daughter of Lawrence C. and Stella (Paris) Cherrill.

…which means she is a direct relative, one of the last remaining in the area, of Virginia Cherrill, who was Charlie Chaplain‘s leading lady in the classic silent movie City Lights. Virginia Cherill, who played the blind ingenue in the film, was originally from Carthage, and was just profiled in a new biography by British writer Miranda Seyour.

I had never met Mary Agnes Habben, but I think she was a pretty well-known lady in the community (especially because, well, everyone is.)

One Degree from Frasier’s Father
Vera A. Jones, 82, of Carthage “….is survived by [among many others] two brothers, John Mahoney of Oak Park and Bernard Mahoney of England….” making her the sister of “Frasier’s dad” John Mahoney. (Or for you 80′s film fans, that would be the father of Lloyd Dobler’s girlfriend).

I didn’t really know Vera, but she was one of my regular customers during my five years as a cashier at the grocery store in Carthage during my high school days and college breaks. I will always remember her because she was the only person I ever knew in Carthage with a British accent.

But I also probably took a bit more notice of her than other customers once I heard the rumor that she had a famous brother.

In the era when her brother was on NBC’s “Must See TV” every week during “Frasier,” this little lady would come in to the store for her Pall-Malls and to get quarters for the paper machine outside, never giving away a single clue to her status as the sibling of someone famous.

For a long time I thought it might just be a rural legend. I mean, John Mahoney doesn’t appear to have a British accent. And even if he did have one but controls it in his acting, how did he and his sister end up in rural Illinois?

I still don’t know the answer to those questions, but I do know that John was a master’s degree student here at WIU in Macomb, and that he got his first break in the Midwest (during his theatre days in Chicago).

Makes you wonder…
Looking back, Vera now reminds me a bit of Louise Harrison, (the sister of the Quiet Beatle), who was also a British lady in small-town Illinois, (Galesburg) and who (as I discovered while researching for my newspaper column) was also quiet about her ties to fame.

R.I.P., Vera and Mary Agnes; Carthage will miss you!

1. Do you think this news story means that someone stole the secret to The Ugly Steak?

“Macomb police were dispatched about 9:38 a.m. Friday in response to a burglary at the Red Ox Restaurant, 1302 W. Jackson St.”

2. On a more serious note, it looks like the International Film Series is in trouble, which really stinks.Not that I go anymore. But I wish I could.It makes me wonder if it’s Netflix doing the most damage. Or could it be something a little more philosophical, i.e., loss of a sense of community now that there are several showings over several days, (vs. the 4 showings that used to take place at the Cinema I&II)?

   And btw, how’s the Rialto doing in general?

   As for me, I seem to forget it’s there, now that it’s tucked away in a strip mall filled with other businesses I seem to never patronize (Sears, Kmart, CVS, etc.)

   A certain boyfriend of mine says he thinks the marquis looks like a sign for a car shop.

   And I don’t mean to be harsh on the owners, but I have commented before that their web site is hard to find and sounds like it’s named after your aunt and uncle. (In fact, I think I’ve gotten more hits from people Googling for the Rialto web site than anything else on this blog. Hmph.)

   I really want the new theater to survive, of course. But I don’t seem to have the time or the money these days to patronize it myself.

   What about y’all? Have you been there lately? Going regularly? Are the theatres full? (Leave me a comment below).

3. In other slightly depressing news, one of my esteemed sources tells me we have finally lost The Spaz. (Guess it’s been a long time since I’ve been on the Square). That true? If so, R.I.P. ….. from one local spaz to another.

A new photo essay about small-town America,

“Empty places. Empty spaces”

by my good friend and amazing photojournalist Kent Kreigshauser,
(a former colleague from my days as a reporter for the Galesburg Register-Mail, where Kent continues to rock.)

This photo at right shows the former Wal-Mart, which sits gapingly empty right on the main drag (Henderson Street). The new Super Center is just a mile or so away, on the edge of town. This building has been empty for several years now.)

For my non-local readers:  Galesburg was the birthplace of poet Carl Sandburg. If you own a Maytag appliance, it was more than likely built in Galesburg, before the town lost the major Maytag plant to Mexico several years back.

This photo essay gives a bleak but honest picture of what’s going on in a lot of Forgotonia (and the country in general).

Check out Kent’s photo essay here.

The good news is, Macomb has a new eatery, and it’s apparently family owned. It’s located in the former Secret Garden, nee The Old JC Penny’s.

The bad news? I kan’t eat at this place on principle. I just kan’t.

from the Western Courier:

Kafe adds sweet tooth to campus crust

What started out as a hobby has turned into a full time business for one Macomb couple. Debbie and Aaron Hix are the owners of the new Kakes Kafe & Bakery, located at 24 West Side Square, a few doors south of the Ford Hopkins Drug Store. Originally from Joliet, Ill.…

As you might remember, I blogged awhile back about endangered sites in the area, which include the “Bernie Dot” bridge in Fulton County.

Unfortunately, things are not looking good for this structure on the famed Spoon River, which you might have heard of because of its eponymous Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters.

At least some citizens are expressing concern about its future. (But, apparently, not so much about the side of beef a-floatin‘ on by!)

Linked to story from the PJ Star, and copied below:

Spoon River bridge gets a reprieve Fulton County Board approves structural analysis of historic span

LEWISTOWN — Instead of having one of its trusses removed, the historic Bernadotte Bridge received a stay of execution Tuesday night from the Fulton County Board.

But engineers warn the bridge is so far gone because of flooding and debris piling against it, a collapse into the Spoon River is very likely.
“The bridge is going to fall into the river,” Fulton County Engineer Bill Kuhn told board members. “It’s just a matter of when. We’re pretty much at the end.”

Several county residents spoke in favor of restoring the bridge and against the county’s agenda item to remove a “pony truss” to allow debris and water to flow past. Dawn Stambaugh, who serves as chairwoman of a committee formed to save the bridge, said removing the truss not only would make the bridge useless but would make it unstable and the rest would soon fall.

“The bridge would be less likely to stand if the pony truss is removed,” she said of the structure that is used for foot traffic and bicycles.

The board heard from six residents who urged members to pay for a study that would examine the structure before making a decision.

“That bridge is important to me,” said Bernadotte resident Tyrel Belless, who lives next to the bridge. “I don’t want to see it go.”
Bernadotte is about 23 miles southwest of Canton.

The board voted to pay $7,000 for a structural analysis of the bridge before deciding what to do next.

Kuhn said the bridge is supported by stacks of unreinforced blocks, which are getting knocked away each time the river floods.

Debris, including tree branches, logs and currently a dead cow, floats down the river and gets pushed against the already weakened structure.

“I was afraid we were going to lose it last winter,” Kuhn said. “A big ice jam came through and almost took it out.”

Casting the only vote against the survey was board member Don Zessin. Member Mat Fletcher abstained.

The board will take up the issue again once the study is complete.

In the meantime, Stambaugh said she is happy for now that the board decided to wait. “They’ll have some knowledge about what they’re looking at,” she said.

From a recent story in The Galesburg Register-Mail:

When Perry McFarland looked out his window around 7:30 yesterday morning, a glimpse of something caught his eye. In the grassy knoll behind his fence, about 650 feet from his sunroom window, a large animal pounced like a cat. He grabbed his binoculars for a closer look and determined the animal must be a cougar. His wife ran to the window. She spotted another one. McFarland called the Knox County Sheriff’s department, which transferred him to animal control.

Police Department Conservation Officer Darin Pitchford said he received the call from McFarland, who lives about six miles north of Galeburg just off of U.S. 150, but could not confirm that the animals were cougars.

“Some of the things don’t add up,” he said. McFarland reported that he saw two cougars, but Pitchford said traditionally cougars are solitary animals that do not live in pairs even during mating season.

He said the department typically doesn’t respond to cougar sightings, unless they receive a picture, which they’ll pass on to a biologist. He said there were some cougar sightings in 1999 around Lake Bracken, but none of those were able to be confirmed.

McFarland said he also called his neighbors Robin and Stephen Podwojski who live closer to where the cougars were. Robin Podwojski said she and her 13-year-old son, who was home sick from school, spotted the cougars as well. Intrigued, they decided to drive over to see them up close. Podwojski drove about 50 yards from the cougars before they decided to turn back. She said the animals were about the size of a large dog, tan in color and had a long tail.

Both she and the McFarlands searched on the Internet for pictures of cougars to make sure it wasn’t a bobcat or another animal.

“I have no doubt what it was,” Podwojski said. “It was definitely a cougar.”

Sara Mackey, a naturalist for the Prairie Wildlife State Park, said that it’s possible cougars are moving back to Illinois, after being reportedly leaving the area during the late 1800s.

“We definitely have a food supply for them here with all the white-tailed deer,” she said.

She said cougars are not a threat to humans and that there is no cause for concern.

Cougars “don’t have many predators out there except for humans so they have a natural fear of humans,” she said. “For the most part cougars stay away from humans.”

Only if someone is face to face with a cougar would they be in danger, she said. Otherwise, assuming there is large enough of a food source — and there is in Illinois, with all the deer — that people should have no reason to fear for their own safety or even their pets’.

Mackey added that cougars typically weigh between 100 to 200 lbs. She said she has not heard of any recent reported cougar sighting. There was one sighting earlier this year, but analysis of the animal’s tracks showed that it was a large dog, not a cougar.

A report from Prairie State Outdoors said that there were two sightings of large, cat-like animals in July in Henry County, directly above Knox County. The Department of Natural Resources and the Henry County Police Department were unable to verify the report.

Illinois’ last verified wild cougar was shot in Roscoe Village, a north-side Chicago neighborhood. The 122-pound male cougar traveled an estimated 950 miles from South Dakota. Cougars were found dead in 2004 in Mercer County and in Randolph County in 2000. Before that, the last cougar sighting recorded in Illinois was in Alexander County in 1862.

What was up with the K-9 sniffers all along 67 on Friday afternoon/evening?

I came up on the ominous-looking barricade as

I was exiting Macomb on my way to Davenport to see C-Nor.

As I approached, I got all prepared for them to stop me. I practiced a little speech in my mind, trying to think of phrases “civil liberties” or something else indignant-sounding.

I also made sure to lean over and reach down to the area where a passenger’s feet are supposed to go, and gathered up some of the filth and stuffed it in an empty Hy-Vee bag, in an effort make it look a little less like a homeless person sleeps in my vehicle.

So then when I drove past and the cops and their dogs gave me a nary a blink, I was almost a little…miffed.

What, me and my little Honda Civic don’t look fringe enough?

Was the tilt of my head, the knittedness of my eyebrows, a telltale

“listening to ‘All Things Considered” giveaway?

I felt like rolling down a window and hollering at one of the cops whose suspicion I failed to spark, “You better not even ask me what I was up to in college,

boys. Haha!”
(And then I re-cranked-up the NPR and sped away.)

Oops!

Check out this snafu in this article about the Vishnu tour in the Western Courier on Friday:

(I try not to be too harsh in poking fun at any newspaper, student or professional, because I’ve been in their shoes. But this one made me truly LOL. Couldn’t resist!)

The Friends of Vishnu want to respect the wishes of Ira Post and keep it a wildlife sanctuary, where no animals are harmed. The current caretaker of Vishnu Springs is Morris Wells, who helped get people to and from the parking area.

McDonough County sheriff Johnny Carson was also on site to help. He estimated that throughout the six hours that Vishnu was open to the public, roughly 1,000 people attended.

There is a new tenant for the old movie theater in Macomb.

The owners of The Rialto Cinemas have agreed to rent the former Carmike Cinemas building from Western Illinois University.

“They came to us a while back and asked if we’d be interested in leasing it to them to run a discount theater,” says Al Harris, WIU Associate Vice President for Student Services. “And we said we’d be open to that.”

Harris also says WIU workers have done some painting and repairs to the building in recent weeks.

…The Rialto is owned by Melody and Larry McGrath. Their company is Earlann, Inc*. The six-screen Rialto opened in June on Macomb’s east side.

Full story on Tri States Public Radio’s web page. Oh, and be sure to find out more about “Earlann” here!

hey, one can only hope!)

from today’s Macomb Journal:

Rialto opens

Macomb, Ill. - The screens were lit at Macomb’s new six-screen Rialto Cinemas Thursday night as the business opened to customers for the first time.

A group of about 300 local residents were invited [minus your humble blogger, sniff] to be the first to watch a movie at the new East Jackson Street theater.

Most of those in attendance were local business owners and governmental officials.

After a reception and official ribbong cutting, three of the theaters were opened to the invitation-only crowd for a free movie.

…. Several residents who attended the January announcement, said Thursday they were stunned to see the transformation.

Others said the business was something Macomb has needed for some time. [Nah, who needs more than two screens in a town w/ 10,000 young people, their visiting families, and oh also more than 2,000 employees/faculty?]

Jere Greuel, a representative of Prairie Hills RC & D, which helped with the project’s financing, said he hopes the theater will attract other new businesses, such as new restaurants. [Yes yes yes! This is gooooood positive thinking! Let's keep this up! ]

… As guests began arriving late Thursday former Cinema 1 & 2 manager Larry Jarvis was back in the movie business as manager of the new theater.

As he did at his former job, Jarvis mingled with customers, discussing the merits of each movie showing in the theater.

“(Larry) is the best movie man in the Midwest and now he’s got a great place,” said Bruce Biagini.

[Okay, so growth can and does eventually happen in Macomb.

Now: COFFEE PAST DUSK—let's start a campaign!]