May 6, 2015

I have observed over the years that when one political party wants to curb these kinds of abuses by getting a handle on this out-of-control spending and trying effect legislation to help in this area, we see something happen. This political party gets severely demonized not only by the opposing political party, but by the media, Hollywood, and academia, all jumping in to call those trying to bring about positive change as heartless and haters of the poor and minorities, and on and on the heated rhetoric goes. Many people and families do need necessary help, and it’s great America can afford this as they most certainly should be helped. Read More

April 29, 2015

By Jim Nowlan
Outside Columnist

I travel the state a lot. On Amtrak, from western Illinois into Chicago’s Loop, I pass from left-behind rural towns and through new middle-class housing tracts on the suburban fringe.
Next come older, wealthy suburbs like Hinsdale and farther on the mostly Hispanic towns like Cicero and Berwyn. After that it is the mean streets of poor, black and Hispanic Chicago before reaching the golden, gleaming city center on the lake.
These varied worlds don’t communicate much with one another. Few in tony Hinsdale have in their world view the poor, often violent black neighborhoods not far to the east.
When I was a child after World War II, there were more vibrant farm market towns and small cities and fewer suburbs than today. Read More

April 22, 2015

By Jim Nowlan
Outside
Columnist

I am invited to give talks to Lions, Rotary, women’s and other clubs, generally about Illinois and, particularly, its budget problems.
In recent talks, during the question period, several listeners have observed that we could save taxpayer money if we took the “undeserving” off the welfare rolls.
Then the audience members illustrated with anecdotes of local cases they “know” of people who are abusing our several welfare programs.
Anecdotes certainly don’t prove a case, but they do illustrate alarming trends in the growth of dependency of Americans on our government.
For example, one audience member, who rented properties, told of a woman, “smart and capable,” with four children, who received substantially more than $2,000 a month in rental payments ($882), food stamps ($775), heating, phone and other benefits. Read More

Concern About Proposed Zoo

I no longer live in Moultrie County, however I do own farm land and am concerned about the proposed zoo in Moultrie County. I came to Sullivan on April 9 to attend the county board meeting as they were voting to change the zoning to allow a zoo in Moultrie County. Read More

April 15, 2015

By Jim Nowlan
Outside Columnist

Recent high-profile police shootings have put local law enforcement across the country under scrutiny. Will body cameras on police provide, as some experts think, a high-tech tool to improve behavior by both police and suspects, and thus de-escalate tensions over time?
The Economist, a highly respected United Kingdom weekly, offers trenchant analysis of American society by thoughtful outsiders. In December, the magazine excoriated U.S. policing for excessive use of force.
The publication noted that police in the U.S. shot and killed at least 458 people last year. In contrast, English “bobbies” felled no one in the period.
The Economist admitted that many American police operate in a violent world. Forty-six policemen were shot dead in the past year, and 52,000 were assaulted.
Policing has changed dramatically since I was a youngster in the 1950s.
In my rural county of Stark, for example, we then had simply a sheriff and his deputy; the deputy lived in the jail, and his wife cooked for the inmates. Read More