Don't blame Marcia; the mistake was mine

As much as any of us in the media try to be perfect, we make mistakes. Some are factual and normally they are the worst. They can be corrected, of course, but often not until damage is done.

Sometimes, however, a mere typo can be even worse. That is particularly true when that typo comes in a direct quote and on a word that, when written incorrectly, can change the entire dynamic of the quote.

Such was the case in our most recent...

Read more...

Better for a year than for good

The revelation that the Hotel Pere Marquette will be closed for up to a year during renovations has many people concerned about what that will mean for local conventions and tourism.

The immediate future will be affected, of course, because of events already scheduled for the Pere Marquette and for the Peoria Civic Center. That will be 284 downtown rooms taken off the market for a while.

Some, however, say that could mean a loss...

Read more...

Royce is still around, still making us laugh

Royce Elliott never seemed to care how large his audience was; he'd walk through a restaurant and launch into his routine of jokes to a table of one the same as if he was on a Vegas stage before a couple thousand people.

He would gently insult me or you the same as he would Frank Sinatra or Mike Ditka, two of the names he would drop simply because he could.

Royce could turn a 30-second excursion, such as dropping something off,...

Read more...

Help make wishes come true

Who among us would not want to be able to grant a sick child his or her wish?

Anybody who would not want to do that please stop reading now.

Those of you who not only want to be able to grant such wishes but have the time to commit and the ability to handle a variety of family situations — including, possible, sad news — please read on. The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Illinois may want to meet you.

Read more...

If you want Pere Marquette memorabilia, act fast

You know the phrase, "you snooze, you lose?" My wife and I lived it Friday when we went to check out the liquidation sale at the Hotel Pere Marquette.

Each of us spotted something we though we'd like to buy, but then we hesitated. We when decided to do it, it was took late, the items was gone.

In my wife's case it was a matter of minutes; she spotted a striped wing-back chair that was in great shape she thought would look great...

Read more...

You can go home again, at least for a day or two

This is the time of year when people enjoy the changing fall colors, football games, carving pumpkins and, of course, homecoming.

Oh yeah, homecoming.

Without going into details – and hoping the threats to put my antics on YouTube don't come true – I had a great time at my 35th high school class reunion this past weekend. It was nice to take a night to lose my inhibitions – oh wait, I don't have any of those.

Anyway,...

Read more...

Hoping blue will raise awareness, prevent abuse

Hundreds of people have called to ask what is up with the blue trees in front of our office on Pioneer Parkway.

OK, so I'm exaggerating a little. A couple people have asked me. But with the amount of traffic we get through here every day, there has to be hundreds of people curious about why there are four trees wrapped completely in blue ribbons standing in front of the AdCo Advertising building at 1302 W. Pioneer Parkway.

If we'd...

Read more...

At the dojo, learning is a skill itself

I kept waiting for the admonition of "Don't try this at home" as Joseph Walker prepared to walk on broken glass. I didn't hear it, but then with the amount of respect he commands from his students it probably wasn't necessary.

I mean, I can't imagine those students would try anything they've seen at their karate studio without Walker, the Shihan (master), teaching them how to do it without being injured.

Read more...

Sensing something good at the Pere Marquette

There is little question Gary Matthews has a fondness for the Hotel Pere Marquette. I mean, why else would he be doing what he's doing to rehabilitate the 85-year-old structure? Why would he have stuck with it through the recession, through the hassles he has endured?

A lot of the hotel's former employees have a special love for it, as well. Why else would Bill Carter, an award winning hotelier, stayed there for 30 years when he could...

Read more...

Feelings about 9/11 tough to put into words

Anybody living and able to comprehend events had to have been profoundly affected by what occurred in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.

Most of us know where we were or what we were doing when we heard about it; most of us, in today's mass-media dominated world, watched in horror the end result of the planes crashing into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

Read more...

President's plan not that simple

  A lot was made about President Obama's proposals in his recent State of the Union address to reward companies who bring jobs back to the United States from other countries.

Sounds good, right? But in many cases, it just isn't that simple.

For example, it would seem, some people have said to me since the president's speech, that Caterpillar Inc. was one of the companies the president was talking about, especially since...

Read more...

Shay loves her bosses. How about you?

You can meet the neatest people and hear the best stories in the most unexpected places sometimes.

Take last Saturday, for example. My wife and I decided to go to Famous Dave's for dinner before heading to a movie and by pure chance were seated at a table being served by a waitress named Shay. (At least that's what her nametag said. I later learned it was a nickname.)

Read more...

Want fries with that snow?

Pepper Bauer has a happy tummy today, provided she was able to shovel her way out of Mapleton.

Pepper won The Peorian's inaugural "guess the date of the first 1-inch snowfall" contest. Her prize was a Roast Beef Classic Sandwich from our good friends at Arby's.

Pepper was the only one who entered who guessed Jan. 12 as most other entrants guessed dates in December or early January. So, way to go Pepper! (By the way, fries and a...

Read more...

Hey Looch, carve Nancy Brinker's face into your mountain

Given its shear size and local connections, Peorians who pay attention to what goes on around them know about Komen for the Cure, its history and the fact it is a major player in the search for a cure for breast cancer.

Talk about keeping a promise, eh?

Read more...

When it's time for giving, we all come through

A bit of news came out during the past week that has to make a lot of us proud to be Americans, proud to be part of a culture that does what it can to help those less fortunate — even when our own chips may be down.

The Charities Aid Foundation, which reports annually on charitable giving throughout the world, reported that the United States is now ranked number one in the world for charitable giving despite the fact our economy still...

Read more...

Aw, shucks ... Next stop Cooperstown

There will be those who will question whether Jim Thome, who hit his 600th career home run on Monday, should be elected to baseball's Hall of Fame since he was almost strictly a designated hitter the last several years.

Now I don't get a vote, of course, but if I did it would be a resounding yes. That's not simply because Thome is from the Peoria area or even just because he is only the eighth player in baseball's glorious history to reach...

Read more...

'Like' us, then help a non-profit agency

The Peorian is pleased with the number of people who have gone on Facebook and said they "like" our page.

We want more.

We also want more people to go to our website, www.ThePeorian.com, and participate on our message forum.

Yes, we are getting a growing number of readers, but I guess you could say we're a greedy lot over here because we are not satisfied. We want more readers.

Therefore, we have a little proposition...

Read more...

Fogelberg weekend is illuminating

I met a delightful couple of women from Virginia on Saturday. I also met a woman from New York City, another from Birmingham, some people from California and Texas.

It wasn't at the airport. It was in downtown Peoria. All were here for the celebration to honor Dan Fogelberg on what would have been his 60th birthday.

Read more...

It wasn't Matthews' decision to close Pere

Gary Matthews isn't sure how soon he would have had to close the Hotel Pere Marquette once he took ownership and started the multi-million dollar renovation.

One thing is sure; it would not have been as early as Dec. 2, which is the date the Pere will close. In fact, Matthews will not yet own the Pere Marquette on Dec. 2, thus he doesn't have the authority to make such a decision, he said Tuesday.

Read more...

Why not Peoria?

Even Rocco Landesman knows a lot of people think the arts are frivolous and therefore unworthy of tax money.

But Landesman, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, said there is money out there that, regardless of that narrow-minded thinking, is going to be spent somewhere. It's a question of where and to which groups are selected, he told the crowd at Wildlife Prairie Park a couple days ago.

So why not in Peoria?

Read more...