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The Jim Shrader Blog ~ Riverbend School Zone

Relax and take a deep breath.

June 25th, 2009, 1:46 pm by jshrader

It was all over the St. Louis television news: the air quality in Madison County is worse than any other area in the U.S. except Los Angeles!

Hurry to your bomb shelters and pull out the gas masks! The air we breathe is killing us!

Whoa! It makes for great TV, but let’s get to the bottom of the story.

First, and foremost in my assessment, the EPA data released yesterday was from a study done in 2002! Yep, it takes the EPA seven years to crunch their numbers and release findings. Geez, I’m glad they didn’t find pollution with fast acting effects!

Second, though the pretty people on TV didn’t tell you this, the seven year old findings found three census tracts where the pollution levels were exceptionally high. Guess where the census tracts were? Right next to the steel mill in Granite City! Well, duh! That’s like reporting the smell is bad next to a hog farm.

What, you might ask, is a census tract? According to the U.S. Census Bureau, “Census tract population criteria will be 1,500 to 8,000 persons.” So, thanks to our friends at the EPA and our friends in TV news, we alarm more than 265,000 county residents with seven year old data that, at the time, affected between 4,500 and 24,000 people! So at the max, about 10% of county residents were affected in 2002.

And third, had the EPA spent some time in Madison County anytime recently, they would know about the millions of dollars spent in the last five years on cleaning up the air in our county, and specifically the three census tracts in Granite City. U.S. Steel, the now-owners of what we all refer to as Granite City Steel, has spent millions on upgrades to clean up the air and to comply with current EPA requirements. That’s OK, we’ll hear about it in the data they release in 2016.

And lastly, since this report reflected negatively on Madison County, Illinois it makes great TV news. If the same findings had been released about St. Louis City (or county) the TV folks would have had a slew of official “rebuttals and demands for new studies” from every spokesperson they could videotape. But this was bad for those residents from the “metro east”, so we’ll pile it on. So much for fair and balanced reporting.

So take heart! We are not breathing ourselves to death in Madison County. Relax and take a deep breath. I feel better already.

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Let’s celebrate our team!

June 15th, 2009, 1:38 pm by jshrader

Did you catch this Associated Press story:
Police: 8 officers hurt in Laker victory melees

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles police say eight officers have suffered minor injuries during downtown disturbances that erupted amid street celebrations of the Lakers’ NBA championship victory over the Orlando Magic.
Officer Gregory Baek (BEK) says the officers were taken to hospitals for treatment of the injuries sustained during melees Sunday night in the Staples Center area.
What began as a lively but peaceful celebration took on a different tone for those remaining a few hours after the game. Some in the crowd vandalized a shoe store, buses and police cars, set small fires and threw rocks and bottles at police.
Police also said Monday that police cruisers were damaged, windows on public buses were smashed and fires were set in the street. Seventeen people were arrested Sunday night after police declared the gathering an unlawful assembly, authorities said.
Television footage showed people jumping on police cars, rocking vehicles attempting to pass through the crowd, setting small trees on fire and throwing bricks at empty buses. A gas station and a shoe store were looted, police said.
Bratton commended his officers for showing restraint despite “a lot of provocation from a number of knuckleheads,” he told KTTV-TV.

What the hell?! Call me sheltered, but I don’t understand how a victory celebration can turn into a riot where 18 people are arrested and 8 police officers are injured.

Can you imagine the pandemonium if the Lakers had lost to Orlando?

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Mr. Burris, in my book you’re a liar.

May 29th, 2009, 12:40 pm by jshrader

In case you missed it, please read the first two paragraphs of a Friday Associated Press story out of Springfield:

“SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Sen. Roland Burris continued to fight accusations that he misled lawmakers and the public, saying Thursday it wasn’t his duty to tell a legislative committee about his conversation with the former governor’s brother if lawmakers failed to ask the right questions.

“You all have got it backwards. It is not upon a person who’s testifying to go out of his way on anything. It is the person who has to ask the questions,” Burris said during a stop in Springfield.”

So, the esteemed Mr. Burris testifying, under oath, to a legislative committee investigating allegations of a “pay for play” scheme involving the disgraced former governor Blagojevich’s appointment to fill the Senate seat vacated by now President Obama, didn’t feel it was necessary to disclose his verbal promissory note because the lawyers didn’t ask the right questions!

Amazing. Doesn’t it make you proud to know that your junior senator from the Land of Lincoln is an honorable man because he didn’t tell about his conversation with Rob Blagojevich just because nobody (specifically) asked him about it!

I’ll remember this loophole in case I ever witness a robbery or murder. I won’t report it unless the cops ask me if I saw it. No sir, no civic responsibility here. My senator said so.

Nope, I don’t buy it. I’m not a lawyer, but even I’m smart enough to know that at the minimum Burris is guilty of obstruction of justice. He may have told an edited version of the truth when he only answered the questions, but he didn’t tell the whole truth. I think perjury is the more appropriate charge.

Let’s review that oath again: “I promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.”

You’d better hope God helps you Mr. Burris, because in my book you’re a liar.

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WANTED: Politician that tells the truth

May 14th, 2009, 1:21 pm by jshrader

We’re all grownups here, so how about our politicians treating us like we are. The latest: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi denies any knowledge of “waterboarding”, the interrogative technique now being called torture.

In the latest effort to blame every thing on the former administration, the most powerful Democrat in the House of Representatives is sticking with her story that she didn’t know anything about the practice, and the Bush administration purposely mislead her with respect to the techniques employed. She implies that had SHE known she would have called an end to the practice.

I can’t believe Madame Speaker was kept entirely in the dark on this matter, and apparently memos exist indicating she must have known. Now she is positioning herself as the indignant speaker calling for a full investigation, and the appropriate heads to roll.

Does this remind you of then-Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (who voted to authorize the war in Iraq as senator from New York) swearing the administration mislead her and the “if I had known then what I know now, I wouldn’t have voted that way” stance after the fact?

This is not a partisan observation. Everyone likes to blame the former fill-in-the-blank. How about this: a politician that is willing to say “yeah I knew, and circumstances at the time required my support” rather than denying any knowledge and therefore, “I was mislead”.

Things change, circumstances change, and most importantly, political winds change. I want a politician that tells me the truth… I supported it then, but I don’t support it now. I’m a big boy, I can handle the truth.

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Candidates, what are you going to do right?

April 1st, 2009, 2:55 pm by jshrader

The local election season is winding down, or ramping up depending on your perspective.

On April 7, several local political races will be decided. From mayors to trustees to board members and supervisors, I applaud all candidates for their willingness to throw their hats in the ring for what is usually a thankless job with questionable compensation when you figure it out by the hour.

I have been in the newspaper business for 30 years, and served as a publisher for 17. Regardless of the political race, one common denominator seems to remain constant. When running against an incumbent a candidate tells me everything the incumbent has done wrong. When running for an open seat, tell me everything the former office holder did wrong. The current (or former) office holder was obviously incompetent, so elect me!

Sound familiar? You bet it does.

Here’s the problem I have with that type of campaigning. I don’t want to hear what you think the past office holder did wrong, I want to hear what you are going to do right!

You know why you don’t hear politicians telling you their specific plan to fix problems? Here’s a little secret: most office seekers don’t have a plan! They’ve never done the job, they don’t really know what can and can’t be done with funds available or within statutes. And, if you make specific promises, people will remember and hold you to it. So, a candidate gets elected by castigating the former and implying they can do things that they probably won’t be able to do.

OK, I know this isn’t news to most of you. Just remember as you are deciding which proverbial lever to pull, that most elected officials are very limited in changes they alone can actually make (remember checks and balances?).

And to the candidates: You want my vote? Don’t tell me what the last guy did wrong, tell me what you are going to do right (and you’d better have a plan).

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The price of Ignorance

February 23rd, 2009, 11:30 am by jshrader

As octogenarian Paul Harvey would say, here’s the rest of the story:

If you read my last blog lamenting my citation for a backseat seat belt infraction while in California on business, you, no doubt, sensed my frustration at being an out-of-towner getting a ticket for violation of a new law of which I, nor anyone else in the car, had any knowledge.

A quick recap: I hop in the back seat of a rental car driven by a business colleague from Rhode Island, accompanied by a front seat passenger from Colorado for a lift to the airport. Add my Illinois roots and we have eastern, central and mountain time zones in a rental car on Pacific time.

It’s a five minute ride to the airport, top speed maybe 17 m.p.h. in Orange County traffic, when we are pulled over at the entrance to John Wayne Airport. The backseat passenger, that’s me, is in violation of California’s new law, requiring backseat passengers to buckle up. There’s no notice in the rental car or on the rental agreement apprising us of the new law, no signs on the streets, and there was no sign in the backseat of the cab I took to the hotel.

My complaint to the officer of the lack of notification or postings to educate tourists fell on deaf ears. Well, not really. The officer said he understood that there was probably no way for us to know about the new law, but it was just like traveling to a foreign country - it is your responsibility to learn the local ordinances. Besides, he was on a seat belt enforcement task force paid by the federal government and he had to give me a citation.

I asked the amount of the fine. The officer said he didn’t know, it would be decided by the court, and I would received a notification in the mail. On Friday, I got my notice, exactly three weeks after the violation. The fine? $132.00 (minimum)!

I say minimum, because I do have options. I can attend “traffic school” for which the fee jumps to $181.00, plus I have to make arrangements to attend traffic school for three Monday evenings in Orange County court. Or I can choose to pay nothing and choose to appear before a judge at the Orange County Superior Court Harbor Justice Center, “no later than 8:00 a.m. on or before the due” being fully prepared to “deposit the bail amount (surprise, $132.00) at the time of request for a trial.”

So, having nothing better to do with $132.00, I am sending some cash to Orange County, California. I have no doubt my money will help lessen the burden of a $44 billion California state deficit, and keep the clerks of the court from enduring a state-mandated, unpaid, furlough or layoff.

So, if you’ve ever wondered the price of being ignorant, in Orange County, California it’s $132.00.

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The Country of California

February 10th, 2009, 4:34 pm by jshrader

A couple of weeks ago I attended a Freedom Communications Publishers conference in Irvine, California. That was the week we got the heavy snow here, so I must say the weather in Southern California was an improvement.

When I left for the airport,a couple of inches of snow were on the ground and it was still snowing. That’s winter coat weather, right? So when I got off the airplane in sunny California, I looked a bit out of place with my layered parka, a cap and carrying gloves.

Now before you assume I was in a California resort for the golf and the sun, I’ll set you straight. We were in a Irvine hotel in an office complex five minutes from the airport. I saw the airport, a cab, the hotel lobby, a hotel room and three meeting rooms. Lunch in with special speakers. Back to the meeting rooms. I then saw a shuttle bus, had dinner, then the shuttle bus and the hotel. Let’s just say I didn’t need sunscreen.

Now to the last morning of the trip. I am standing in front of the hotel waiting for a shuttle bus to the airport. My parka is draped across my arm, and my cap and gloves are in my briefcase. Two colleagues in a rental car pull up and offer a ride with them to the airport. I accept.

We have a driver from Rhode Island, a front seat passenger from Colorado, and a back seat passenger (me) from Illinois, for the five minute ride to the airport.

As we are pulling in to the airport property, the driver says “What did I do? A cop is stopping me!” We pull over, flashers blinking, and await the policeman.

The reason for the stop? The back seat passenger (me) is not wearing a seat belt. The policeman asks for the driver’s ID and mine. He’s gone for about five minutes and comes back to present the back seat passenger (me) with a ticket for failure to wear a seat belt.

Now, I learned a long time ago not to argue with police officers, especially those that might have trained with the LAPD. But I had to ask. “Officer.” I said, “I am from Illinois and rarely travel to California. The driver of this rental car is from Rhode Island, and the front seat passenger is from Colorado. There are no signs posted on the street informing me of the seat belt law for back seat passengers. There is no notice posted in the rental car, nor was the driver informed of the law. The cab I took didn’t have a sign, and I was in the back seat. How would I know that California requires seat belts for back seat passengers?”

The officer’s reply: “that’s a good question. I don’t know. But, it’s a new law and I am on a task force paid for by the state, so I have to issue you a ticket.”

“OK,” I said, “but how was I to know? No signs, no postings, no info in the car or cabs. How is a tourist supposed to be aware?”

I love his answer. “It’s just like traveling to a foreign country. You have to abide by their rules.”

So, I guess California is now a foreign country. Now, I’ve always heard their are two places you don’t want to be in a foreign country - the hospital and jail. So, no more arguing with the cop that might increase my chance of ending up in the latter.

I asked the cop, very kindly, how much the fine would be. He said that would be decided by the court, and I should call the phone number on the ticket. When I got back I tried several times to get though the automated phone hell of contacting the district courts in Irvine. Three days later, when I finally got a human being (also obviously from another foreign country) I was informed that there is a four to five week backlog, and I would be sent a courtesy notice with further court instructions and the amount of the fine if I chose to plead guilty.

I’ll let you know how much I have to pay. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, so I’ll pay the fine. At least I didn’t end up in one of those two bad places in the country of California.

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Godspeed, Mr. President

January 20th, 2009, 10:39 am by jshrader

The world is watching the dawning of a new presidency, and, to many, the dawning of a new era with the swearing in of our new President, Barack Obama.

Notice, I wrote “our new President”. If you didn’t support him in his campaign, support him now.

President Obama faces challenges unlike any incoming president in recent years. The least me can do as a country is give him the opportunity to demonstrate his hope and leadership for this country.

Godspeed, Mr. President. And may God bless us all.

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A stiff drink makes for a stiff penalty

January 13th, 2009, 4:50 pm by jshrader

New DUI laws went into effect January 1, 2009. If you are even a “social” drinker, you need to be aware of the new penalties for a DUI.

Effective the first of the year mandatory drivers license suspensions doubled. Any driver, even a first time offender, agreeing to a BAC test (commonly refered to as “blowing”) a blood alcohol content exceeding 0.08% faces an automatic one-year suspension of their driver’s license, plus installation of an ignition interlock (more on that later).

Refusal to submit to the test will mandate an automatic 2-year suspension. Those suspension penalties are tough, but not really the topic of this blog.

My question is with the mandatory vehicle ignition interlock. Here’s how I understand it: in addition to the mandatory one-year license suspension, you must also pay to have this little gizmo attached to your car that you must blow into to test your BAC. In order to start your car, you blow into the gizmo and if you exceed 0.025% BAC you car will not start.

Don’t think you can have a “sober somebody” blow for you so that you can drive home, the interlock forces you to re-blow every few minutes, at a fairly random rate.

Cost of the interlock is a $80 installation fee, $80 per month in rental and $30 per month fee to the state. The interlock must be installed five months of the 12-month suspension. Cash outlay, $630 plus court costs, fines, etc.

Given the “pay-to-play” reputation of our current state government, it makes you wonder who got this no-bid contract. It’s not like you can shop around for a different provider, or have your own mechanic install it. You will go though the state’s provider.

Note the interlock’s cutoff point at 0.025% (legal DUIs require a BAC in excess of 0.08%). According to a University of Oklahoma website that calculates BAC (www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm), if you weigh 160 and have one glass of wine in an hour your BAC will exceed 0.02%, and hence the interlock would not work.

Before someone attacks me, I am not condoning drinking and driving. I am questioning the zero tolerance and low threshold for a first time offender.

Face it, a stiff drink could result in a very stiff penalty.

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Are you surprised at Rod’s reaction?

January 9th, 2009, 3:08 pm by jshrader

Well, the House of Representatives did it. By a vote of 114-1 (one!) the House voted Friday morning to impeach Governor Rod Blagojevich. He’s the first Illinois governor to face impeachment, so for an additional reason, Rod is #1.

Milton Patterson, D-Chicago was the lone dissenting vote. Could it be that Milt is right and his 114 colleagues are wrong about Rod? Nah, I don’t think so either.

Now fast forward three hours to Rod’s news conference in response to the impeachment vote. He expected the House vote to impeach and wasn’t surprised. Why? Because the members of the House want him out because as governor he was just doing what they refused to do… expanding healthcare for families, setting up discount plans for medicines, buying flu vaccines, and so forth. Rod contends that he was just doing the job the people of the state hired him to do.

Rod vows to continue to fight. He again stated that he is not guilty of any criminal wrong doing, only of serving the citizens of the great state of Illinois. And, of course, he had time to quote another poet, this time Tennyson.

I couldn’t help hearing his underlying message: “The citizens of Illinois need to know that their governor is not a crook. Well, I am not a crook.”

No, he didn’t say it, but that’s what I heard. It seems like I’ve heard that somewhere before.

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