LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Posted September 27, 2023

Dear Editor:

This letter is in response to Randy Miller’s editorial “Spending Our Way to Oblivion”. I agree that spending is out of control; however, I would like to point out some important facts he omitted.

First, Randy referred to a lack of self-control by government bodies at the state and federal levels. He left out the city, township, and county bodies we as taxpayers should be able to hold accountable to a greater degree. For example, Taylorville doubled water rates over 4 years to build a new water plant, gave the water superintendent a $15,000 salary (a 23% increase) in 2020 and 2021 (which assuredly increased his annual pension), and for some reason allows take-home vehicles for employees who live as little as 2 miles from the water plant. I have seen at least one fire dept. employee using his TFD SUV for personal use.

As for the county, the sheriff is paid $155,000/year despite the fact he receives an ISP pension of $101,724.36/year, $12,000 more than his salary before retiring due to 3% annual increases. He has already collected $1,000,000+ in pension benefits and will receive a county pension when he is no longer sheriff.

As for the state, you refer to the public pension debt ($4.4 billion per the Illinois Policy Institute) due to legislators purposely underfunding pensions. Yet, the Illinois Policy Institute also reports that teachers in 2/3 of the school districts in the state do not contribute the full “employee share” (9.4 % of their salaries) towards their pensions. The taxpayers in those districts are responsible for the difference. https://www.illinoispolicy.org/reports/teachers-pensions-whos-really-paying/

The big issue with pensions is the fact they are defined benefit plans. Whereas the Average Joe sticks his money in a 401K and prays he doesn’t lose his principal, a government worker gets a guaranteed amount no matter what happens in the stock market. State employees who contributed under $400,000 to their pensions are collecting over $5,000,000 in benefits over their lifetime. https://www.illinoispolicy.org/illinois-pension-bonanza-invest-166k-take-home-5-5m/

If the state were to actually fully fund pensions, could you imagine our taxes? Since fiscal year 2000, there has been almost an 600% increase in pension spending which has been accompanied by a 20% cut in spending on core services like higher education, public safety, public health programs, and what many consider vital services for the poor and vulnerable.

The only true answer to the Illinois pension crisis is passing a constitutional amendment which would allow the state to modify future benefits while protecting benefits that pension recipients have already earned. Keep in mind, I am using the terminology from the Illinois Policy Institute as I do not see how anyone can say they earned a $5,000,000 pension on an investment of $400,000 when one considers even an average annual rate of return of 15%.

Lastly, I acknowledge Covid spending may have gotten out of hand; nevertheless, when you lost loved ones to Covid prior to the availability of a vaccine, it changes one’s mind on the need to spend that money.

Sincerely,

Evan Mahan

Taylorville, IL

STATION EDITORIAL

Posted September 4, 2023

This is a station editorial, I'm Randal J. Miller, station president.  Myself and many others have long lamented about the lack of self-control in government spending on both the state and federal levels, no matter what party is in power.   

Seems like those running Illinois' checkbook just keep taxing us to fund what they think the priorities are but many times they aren't what Joe and Nancy Lunchbucket want.  What looms in Springfield is the public pension debt which according to the illinoispolicy.org web site, is now 4-point-4 billion because legislators are supposedly underfunding that pension fund on purpose.

And, on the federal level, politicians think they have an open-ended credit card and as a result the country now has a debt the legislators claim is only 32-trillion, but according to the web site "truthinaccounting.org" where the national debt tally shows by the second, the true U-S debt is closer to 159-trillion dollars.   That's just short of one MILLION for each U-S taxpayer.

The sad part about all this, is that spending both in Illinois and in Washington is in the "runaway" category with no signs of ending.

The U-S government is the biggest borrower in the country.   Can you imagine what the true interest rate you and I pay to borrow, would be, if our country didn't have to make principal and interest payments on that 159-trillion dollar debt?

This issue doesn't make the headlines because frankly politicians want to ignore it.  Passing out money, whether it's COVID funding or pork projects, get them re-elected.   It's like being on an addictive drug.  Once you've tasted the candy, you don't want to stop.

With an election year looming next year, it's time you and I start asking the question to whoever runs for any office:   What are you going to do about the out of control government spending, whether in Springfield or Washington?   If they give you a gobbly-gook answer, you know they're either not going to answer the question, or do nothing about it.
And, that unfunded state pension obligation, and the national debt clock, both continue to roll on.   That's our opinion, we welcome yours.   Our e-mail address is editorial@randyradio.com.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Posted August 10, 2023

Dear Editor:

Over the past few years, Christian County has been inundated with requests to approve “Green Energy” projects incentivized by the federal government and even further incentivized by our Illinois government led by Democratic governor Pritzker.  Wind, solar and carbon sequestration along with their supporting infrastructure of electric transmission lines, pipelines and even batteries all have their place in our nations economy, but I believe approval of these technologies should be based on what is best for our county district constituents and Christian County residents.

These projects will change the use of the land for the first time in history.  This argument is not a new one, as it is discussed passionately whenever a city or a town grows to accommodate their growing population.  What is different about this conversation, is that we are being asked to take our land to fuel others luxuries (electricity), possibly at that expense of our own necessities (food).  Any project that changes the use of land in our County must be scrutinized to make certain that the rights of one landowner do not adversely affect the rights of area land owners and county residents. 

I ask my fellow County Board members and County residents to consider the following factors.  
Comprehensive County Zoning Plan  I believe our County is in desperate need of a plan that will look at the “ten thousand foot” view and identify the resources in our county and the best way to utilize to the benefit of the County, Illinois and US citizens, in that order.  If the currently labeled “green energy” projects are all necessary for the survival of the human race, how do we choose which one is best for our residents. 

Do we want wind turbines dotting the landscape, solar panels covering all our soil, carbon injected into the rock beneath our homes?  Can we have all of them?  If not, how much of each and where?  Careful planning should balance the individual property rights of landowners while maintaining the rural landscape and culture that so many of our county residents enjoy.  Maybe even entice a few more to join our community.  

Economic Effect:  The goal for most projects is to earn income for the owner.  In the process, the project creates local permanent jobs, produces energy, manufactures goods or provides services for residents and consumers.  A project that results in long term growth for our county will balance these factors in reasonable proportion.  A project that produces goods or energy that is sold out of the county can still be good for the residents if it provides a significant number of local permanent jobs. 

However, a project whose product is used outside the county, provides minimal jobs, and only tax revenue as the economic benefit, favors the project owner more than the county residents.   Tax revenue should be an organic by-product to offset the County resources used by the project, not a profit center for the taxing body. 

A Comprehensive Zoning Plan would have zoning and economic development agencies working together to use our “Green Energy” (wind, solar, carbon, crops) for projects that would provide goods (manufacturing, consumer energy, grain, oil, ect.) and services (retail,transportation, ect), local jobs and therefore local growing economy.  If the solar or wind electricity generating installations provided reduced electric rates for our residents, or supported a Clean Energy manufacturing plant, the conversation around these projects would be much different. 

This not an “If you build it, they will come!” scenario (borrowing a cliché from the Field of Dreams movie).  The current projects reality is that “If you build it they will Leave!” and use our Illinois produced energy anywhere in the MISO electric grid from Canada to Lousiana.  

Neighbor and Resident Acceptance:  Projects that benefit a few but affect many, will continue to divide our communities.  Acceptance rate of 50 percent or less within a project footprint is an indication of the divisiveness of the project.  If those neighboring landowners who could have benefitted economically from a project did not sign up for the project, it is in the best interest of the county board members to understand why.  

Thank you for your careful consideration.

Ken Franklin
District 2 Christian County Board Member

EDITORIAL written 7/27/23

This is a station editorial, I'm Randal J. Miller, station president.   

Our local county, 4-H, junior, and livestock fairs around Central Illinois have been in full swing this summer.

Our announcers have traveled to many of these fairs interviewing 4-H'ers and adults that have shown their cattle, pigs, rabbits, chickens, and culinary exhibits, that they've put hundreds of hours of work into.

One of the greatest pleasures I have as a radio station owner, is to hear these interviews and the passion these kids and adults put into their animals and projects.   You can sense it just from how they shared how they turned their animal or exhibit into something they were proud to show at their Fair.

There's another group of people that are quite literally the unsung heroes of all the Fairs we broadcast from each summer.   That's the HUNDREDS of Fair board members and volunteers all over Central Illinois, that do the work most people DON'T see, to get their Fairgrounds ready for the animals and exhibits to show up.

That work is YEAR-round, but especially in the days before and during a Fair.   You'll see them working in the barns, or on the grounds, or making sure an event goes off without a hitch.

That includes all the livestock shows, the pageants, the auctions, the pulls, and the Demo Derbys.

It takes HUNDREDS of people that volunteer their time, to make the Fairs in Central Illinois, some of the BEST in the state.

So, if you know of someone who's involved in one of the Fairs you attend, shoot them an e-mail, text or phone call, and let them know they are APPRECIATED.  They quite literally are the unsung heroes of our Central Illinois fairs.

We are grateful for their commitment and passion to keep our fairs going and thriving across our coverage areas.   Thank you Fair volunteers, and know that we all APPRECIATE what you do!

That's our opinion, we welcome yours.  Our e-mail address is editorial@randyradio.com.

STATION EDITORIAL

Posted July 12, 2023

This is a station editorial, I’m Randal J. Miller, station president.

With much fanfare, the Taylorville School Board almost a year ago announced to the community their intent to tear down the East Gym at the high school, along with the adjacent former Junior High School, to build a new fine arts performance center.  The initial plans called for the building to cost some 16-million dollars.   The board then worked to cut the price by cutting features.

There was a lot of chatter in the community about what was going to be built and what it would cost.   Those in support of some type of field house addition to the fine arts center contended that due to the tearing down of the East Gym, a field house was needed.

Other needs expressed included mental health classrooms.

Since that time, a lot has happened, including a school board election.  Several board members that were instrumental in getting the project to nailing down what it would be and what it would cost, are no longer on the board.

The board went ahead and voted to tear down the East Gym and old Junior High School, without deciding on WHAT exactly was going to be built, or its cost.

Further discussion in the July Eleventh board meeting, again ended with the board appointing a focus group to decide what direction to go.   This is after the previous board that made the decision to build, did the same thing leading up to the plans the architects provided them nearly a year ago.

The longer they delay a decision, the more whatever they decide to build, will cost.    In the meantime, the gaping hole in the main high school structure, is there for all to drive by and say:   Why did they do that?

That’s our opinion, we welcome yours.   Our e-mail address is editorial@randyradio.com.

STATION EDITORIAL

Posted June 17, 2023

This is a station editorial, I'm Randal J. Miller, station president.  I had a couple of time markers take place the weekend of June 16th and 17th.

The first was not expected, when I was honored to receive the "Community Impact Award" at the Greater Taylorville Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet June 16th, for my 30 years of service to the Taylorville community.   It was one of the rare times in my life, I was speechless.   Found out later that several members of my staff, as well as several community leaders, nominated me for this honor.

As I've said before in this space, I thank God every day for bringing my family and I to Taylorville over 30 years ago, to provide local radio service to Taylorville and a 6-county area.  It's been and continues to be a privilege to serve our listeners and advertisers in Taylorville, Pana, my hometown of Shelbyville, as well as Nokomis, Hillsboro, and many other towns and villages that count on our 6 Taylorville-based radio stations and our on-line daily newspaper taylorvilledailynews-dot-com for information and entertainment.

The 2nd of the 2 time markers that weekend, took place June 17th, when my wife Cathy and I hosted my 50th Anniversary in Radio show on the WTIM platforms.   We reminisced thru 50 years of history on both sides of the microphone, starting at my first part-time job at the former WSHY AM and FM in Shelbyville the first Saturday of June 1973.  That history took us and our listeners thru my years in many communities where I worked, then towns where I built or bought radio stations.  The most fun of the 50th Anniversary show, was playing audio clips from our 3 daughters Michelle, Ramey, and Sheri, and listening to them as they literally grew up on the radio.

I am blessed to be still be doing what I love, 50 years later.   Not many people can say that.  

As I look ahead, I hope to continue to be serving all of you for years to come in providing the local news, agriculture information, sports play by play, and entertainment, on our 6 stations serving 6 counties in south central Illinois.

That's our opinion, we welcome yours.   Our e-mail address is:   editorial@randyradio.com.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Posted June 2, 2023

Dear Editor:

Getting along with others, midway or anyway, is obviously a difficult hurdle since the TDN Editorial was posted.  Not many responses to that can of worms which is another historical lesson being challenged in our 21st Century. The Melting Pot of American citizenship is foaming over with diversity adnauseam!  I could not resist a line from the 1950s TV Rawhide Theme Song; “Keep movin’, movin’, movin’, Though they’re disapprovin’, Keep them dogies movin’, Rawhide”.  

Our culture has sifted through herd-mentality (legal immigration versus illegal migrunts) into herd-immunity (Corona Pandemonium) and is now knee deep in herd-stupidity (Woke and assorted nonsense ideas)!  Follow the crowd and go with the flow seems so relevant but leads where?  Since the middle of the 20th Century We the herd have been steadily brainwashed with anti-American behavior and convictions.

Herd-mentality can be advantageous when driven by herd drivers (drovers) with a common purpose, such as delivering herds of cattle to market and food production.  We-the-herd can be driven way off course and against the intentions of the pioneers who established a new nation here over 400 years ago.  They had a common purpose and desire for life not corralled by corrupt leaders and governments.  They did not seek a halfway or midway existence. It was all or nothing, right versus wrong, following leadership with principals from on High, just like Mr. Miller heralded in his Station Editorial. 

There is a very real hope to a common cause in America and any nation that expects to endure. We-the-herd are either going to stampede the corruption and open rebellion against the USA or settle for whoever has the worse perversion of a Godless way of life.  A middle ground cannot solve the ongoing assault and mockery of the America we inherited from our parents and grandparents. Integrity and responsibility go together when we acknowledge a Higher power and purpose in life.  

Any doubters are encouraged to visit The Sedalia Katy Depot, The Legend of Rawhide - Sedalia, Missouri at the link https://katydepotsedalia.com/thelegendofrawhide.htm

Reviewing our heritage and history are still powerful reminders to why America has succeeded and why we do not need to trash it over the nonsense and open rebellion against our nation.  For the most arrogant and obnoxious amongst us a one-way migration to your favorite ‘other nation’ is highly recommended! 

Sincerely

Ernie & Ruth Poani

Edinburg, IL 62531

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Posted May 5, 2023

Dear Editor:

I caught your editorial about “getting along”.   I agree with your sentiments about it being harder to get along with others.   I believe this is due to an extended period of complacency from friends and neighbors. 

Getting along with others is combination of wanting to do the right thing and not wanting to be called out for doing the wrong thing.  If no one has guts to call out people for unethical behavior there is no reason for selfish people not to act in their own interest and tell everyone else to pound sand. 

As the owner of a media company, I urge you and your reporters to ask tough questions of elected officials, economic groups and citizens.  Report their actions both good and bad and let your readers and listeners judge whether it is their best interest to “get along” with an individual or group. 

When your devotional gets to the story of Jesus “throwing the money changers out of the temple”, I hope you share with the same enthusiasm as Apostle Paul urging us to get along.

Thank you for being a part or our community and holding us all accountable to each other.

Kenneth Franklin
District 2 
Christian County Board
 

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Posted May 5, 2023

Dear Editor:

To the Taylorville Community:

On behalf of the Taylorville area Kiwanis Club,  I would like to thank everyone who supported our Pancake and Sausage Breakfast fundraiser held April 29 at the Moose lodge.

Many dedicated, hard working Kiwanis members served 338 breakfasts in four hours.

All food and supplies were donated or purchased locally. Kiwanis members were assisted by several members of the THS Key Club and TJHS Builder’s Club.

Special thanks to the Moose lodge for the use of their facility.

Funds raised by this event are earmarked to serve the youth of the Taylorville area.

Our 2023 breakfast was a big success thanks to you!

Sincerely,

Chuck Martin, Pancake and Sausage Breakfast Chairman

STATION EDITORIAL

Posted May 3, 2023

This is a station editorial, I'm Randal J. Miller, station president.   As I travel the communities in our Taylorville and Clinton stations' service areas, I continue to hear a common theme that I'm concerned about.  That is the rancor and dissention that is heard in conversations on just about everything.

The COVID pandemic has taken an emotional and mental toll on all of us.  For months at a time, we were unable to have the one thing we as humans must have:  Face-to-face relationships with family, friends, and community.

This is having a devestating effect on those same 3 groups.   We aren't communicating like we did before the pandemic.  Friends and acquaintenances are turning on each other.

We as a country, as a state, and as a community can't operate this way.  It takes communication.  And, as I've said the past 3 years, it takes all of us meeting in the middle.

In my devotions recently, I came across a passage in Galatians 5 that seems fitting to share.  In it, Paul the Apostle wrote the following:

"You, my brothers, were called to be free.   But do not use your freedom to indulge your sinful nature; rather serve one another with love.  The entire law is summed up in a single command:  Love your neighbor as yourself.  If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other."  end of quote.

While Paul was writing about being spiritually free, these verses can be applied to our personal freedom we enjoy in the United States, as well.

Whether it's in Washington, Springfield, or the town you live in, we as Americans must meet in the middle to tackle the challenges we face in 2023.  For without compromise, as Paul wrote, "You will be destroyed by each other."

Good words to follow to live life in our faith with our families and friends.

That's our opinion, we welcome yours.   Our e-mail address is:   editorial@randyradio.com.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Posted April 17, 2023

Dear Editor:

CRT and WOKE and CCS, oh my (repeat). Certainly reminds me of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz (1939) chanting, Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my (repeat)! Something you hope never to be confronted with but here we are in America stuck with three scourges. Good and bad events occur in sets of three many times past and present. It is encouraging to hear on the radio TDN Editorials and then read TDN citizen responses about these three culture and media revolts. 

CRT; Critical Race Theory erupted in the mid 1980s and has clearly become the most racist-revolt since the Civil War in 1860s. It is the ongoing division of our Nation primarily by protesting and demonstrating against “inequality” but then ultimately claiming “equity” as the major take-away of never ending demand for more and more of what normal people live and work for! It is a small stretch to link this scourge with BLM or Black Lives Matter (2012) as a byproduct. A major investigation of the CRT revolt is found with Subotnik,Daniel (1998) "What’s Wrong with Critical Race Theory: Reopening the Case for Middle Class Values,"  The internet link is https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cjlpp/vol7/iss3/1/

WOKE or WOKE-ISM;  has actually been brewing since the middle of the 20th Century. Practically it is transformational indoctrination, paradigm shift or outright brainwashing, intended to control people politically and professionally. Culture shocking may define it as well. Changing vocabulary and the meaning of usual terms is a definite sign of any such radical movement to impress people about a supposed superior way of thinking and behavior. Re-imagining is such a key buzzword and clue. A couple thorough articles below will help us through another senseless scourge;

1-Wokeism Is a Cruel and Dangerous Cult, By Victor Davis Hanson, January 24, 2022

     Link; https://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?id=13968

2-Why Wokeism Is Not Marxist And Why It Matters, By Alexander Riley, April m2023

    Link;  https://chroniclesmagazine.org/featured/why-wokeism-is-not-marxist/

CCS; Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS) and Pipeline Projects from the Dakotas to Illinois, a genuine Green-Dreamer idea to save planet Earth from Climate Change! For people who believe their ancestors live in zoos and evolved from apes, then controlling weather and climate became a mandate. Thanks to Charles Darwin who published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life in 1859, the naturalistic-bible was born. No more supernatural but onward with anything deemed natural. Projects to extract (suck) Carbon Dioxide CO2 from Ethanol factory chimneys, produce the toxic chemical slurry with CO2 for pumping it through pipeline 1300 miles to sites along the way and eventfully into mile deep wells in genuine Illinois private properties and croplands. Cap the CO2 wells and abracadabra save Earth from CO2 extinction. Remember CO2 already exists in our Atmosphere, Hydrosphere and Lithosphere normally! Two important resources below to realize and escape the CCS scourge from Illinois;

1-Coalition to Stop CO2 Pipelines Unsafe at ANY Price

   Link; https://noillinoisco2pipelines.org/

2-Heartland Greenway (Navigator CO? proposed CCUS)

   Link; https://d3o.151.myftpupload.com/?page_id=612

America can recover from these scourges through Citizens and Leaders who still believe in God and Country in that order. We must not abandon our inheritance from; “Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independance of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,” when thirty-nine of such leaders ratified the Constitution between the States! (US Constitution Article VII, Sept. 17, 1787)

Sincerely

Ernie & Ruth Poani

Edinburg, IL 62531

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Posted March 29, 2023

Dear Editor:

Will S.B. Candidates scrap CRT, which teaches children to hate?  

What about encouraging a child’s  transgender worries, even to the point of arranging for students to have surgeries without informing parents?  Will they, as board members,  prevent teaching of explicit sex to kindergarteners and early grade school students?

Will the candidates vote to teach our true history, and not the 1619 crap that proclaims a group of enslaved Africans founded our country starting in  1619?

Will they stop scaring children that the world is doomed without government  climate control?  Do they agree a good education has a strong emphasis on reading, history, and technology?  And will these school board candidates pledge to make parents important partners in the education of their children?

Betty Harryman

Taylorville

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Posted March 28, 2023

Dear Editor:

I notice a few “Vote for Me” yard signs around posted by school board candidates. I ask you and hope that you will publish statements from the various candidates, new and those seeking reappointment, that explain their positions. 
 
We had a flurry of coverage when the new auditorium and gymnasium project was being considered but most of that discussion was about spending money. While the buildings are important, we also need to hear about what is being taught in our schools. Since our U.S. President has declared any citizen who voices an opinion at a school board meeting as a “terrorist” and becomes subject to examination by the FBI, we don’t hear much about the curriculum being taught.
 
Public news talks of teachers Grooming, that is convincing young students that they need to change their gender (and not allowing them to discuss it with their parents). There is a lot of discussion about teaching youngsters, first, second, third grade about sex. We hear of text books that if an adult had them, the adult would be arrested for possession of pornography. Some schools are teaching that the United States was started in 1619 by slaves and  whole populations have been abused for years. And then there is Critical Race Theory that drives a wedge between races and teaches hate.
 
I would like to see the candidates address these “modernizations of teaching” before we have to vote and your stations are the perfect venue for this discussion. It will be much easier to not elect someone than to fight with them for an entire term about things we don’t want our children exposed to.
 
And no, I don’t believe there is any reason the children, including high school, need to see a Drag Queen performance, especially in school.  Stick to the basics.
 
Thanks,
 
Dr. William Harryman

Taylorville

STATION EDITORIAL

Posted March 16, 2023

This is a station editorial, I'm Randal J. Miller, station president.   The Taylorville Park District Board will put on the April 4th ballot, a referendum to provide some 6-point-5 million dollars towards the construction of a new outdoor swimming pool facility for the Christian County seat.

Park District officials put together a Pool Committee consisting of Taylorville citizens.  That committee worked with an architect specializing in pools on a design concept that would best benefit Taylorville.  They then took that design and finance plan to the Board that approved the design.  A Pool Referendum Committee was then organized to help promote the design and proposed referendum. 

The Pool Referendum Committee is also hoping to raise one-point-5 million dollars locally, to go with the 6-point-5 million that would come from passage of the April 4th ballot initiative.

Park Board officials tell us that if the April 4th referendum passes and the one-point-5 million are raise locally, construction would be at the end of this swim season, with opening day being the start of the 2024 swim season next year.

The Manners Park Pool is one of those quality of life issues for Taylorville.  It's used by those young and old, with people of all abilities including children who learn the skills to safely and responsibly enjoy the water.

Bottom line for a homeowner inside the Taylorville Park District that owns a house assessed at 150-thousand dollars, is an increase of just over 100-dollars per year, and when you break it down, it's just under 9-dollars a month, or just over 2-dollars a week.

I'm voting YES on this Taylorville Park District Manners Park Pool project, and I hope those of you inside the Park District do, too.  

Whether to just swim, or making it part of their reason to move to Taylorville, the Manners Park Pool is truly an asset we need to keep.   The current pool is over 60 years old, and pool officials have gotten all the life they possibly could out of it.

Vote YES for the pool to benefit our town and area for generations to come.

That's our opinion, we welcome yours.   Our e-mail address is editorial@randyradio.com.

STATION EDITORIAL

Posted February 6, 2023

This is a station editorial, I'm Randal J. Miller, station president.   Today, all of us are bombarded with more information than we ever have, from more sources than ever before.

But, you know, there's still ONE LOCAL source for local news and sports, severe weather information, high school sports play by play, and community involvement.  And, that's LOCAL RADIO.

As radio celebrated it's 100th anniversary last year, it's continued its commitment to service in markets large and small.

Despite the additional choices all of us have to get our information, LOCAL RADIO is still delivering the LOCAL information you want, expect, and deserve.

And, in those 100 years, radio has also evolved to deliver its LOCAL content via a variety of platforms, whether they be AM, FM, streaming, live video streams, or podcasts. 

I've told many people over the years, that as long as WE in LOCAL RADIO continue creating the LOCAL CONTENT you want and expect, and deliver it in the many platforms we now have the opportunity to, you'll continue listening.

With the advent of the Internet, LOCAL RADIO is delivering that LOCAL CONTENT in streaming, live videos via Facebook and Youtube, and podcasts.  And, that LOCAL CONTENT is also being POSTED to read on our free, on-line daily newspaper in each of our 2 markets, Taylorville and Clinton.

Another benefit is that LOCAL ADVERTISERS can reach LOCAL shoppers with these multiple platforms our LOCAL CONTENT is being delivered on, continuing to grow our economy in Central Illinois.

We're proud of our many stations' decades of LOCAL service to the communities we serve, and are THANKFUL for our thousands of listeners to our on-air platforms on-air and on-line, as well as THOUSANDS of readers to our free, on-line daily newspapers.  

We're here to continue helping our local economies GROW!

That's our opinion, we welcome yours.   Our e-mail address is editorial@randyradio.com.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Submitted January 14, 2023

Posted January 19, 2023

Dear Editor:

Our Granddaughter Olivia Garren is a 7th grader at T.J.H.S.  Like many junior high Students this week she was excited to have the opportunity to try out for the THS Spring Musical.

Tryouts were opened to both high school and jr. high school students with no caveats listed limiting roles. They were told they could try out for any role they wished.

Olivia tied out on Tuesday and was given a “call back” along with two other girls on Thursday regarding the role of Annie.

Yesterday at the High School Choir Room Kathy Fergin and Mr. Chase, directors of the play, announced to  a room full of students and adults the cast of the upcoming Spring Musical Annie.  Oliva was given the role of “Annie”.

Last evening a video as well as a list of the cast was also posted on Facebook.

This morning my daughter and son in law received a phone call from Kathy Fergin saying that she is being “forced” by Principal Matt Hutchison and Superintendent Chris Doughertry to remove Olivia from the lead ‘Annie’ role and give it to the understudy who is a high school student because she and her parents are not happy. Now let me also mention that said student’s father is a teacher at THS.

Why even bother to hire a play director and waste their time if the principal and superintendent 
want to cast the roles of the play.  How pathetic is it that a girl doesn’t get what SHE feels she deserves so we’ll just do it the ‘good old underhanded, good old boy backdoor way’!  

Why doesn’t Matt Hutchison and Chris Dougherty choose the team members for football, basketball, volleyball, track, baseball, soccer, and any other activities.  They could save the district a ton of money.

My point being IT IS NOT THEIR JOB TO STICK THEIR NOSES IN where disgruntled students and parents who can’t deal with not being chosen reside.

The principle and superintendent are educators. The duty of educators is to teach. What are they teaching with this decision. If you lose the game, just change the rules after the game is over. You educators get a grade of F-.

Skip and Marlane Miller

Taylorville

EDITORIAL POTPOURRI posted January 3, 2023

This is editorial potpourri, I’m Randal J. Miller, station president.

Point number one:  Despite various legislators telling us over 5 years ago that Illinois Route 48 thru Macon, Christian and Montgomery Counties was part of the state’s 5-year road improvement plan to be re-paved, it hasn’t happened since telling us that 5 years ago.  It’s one of the roughest roads in the area for commuters, shoppers, and the general public to travel.  Here’s a public hint to our area legislators, that the road sure could use getting re-paved before another 5 years is up.

Point number 2:  We welcome new county board chairs across our 2 clusters’ coverage areas, and especially the new chairs in our stations’ home counties of DeWitt and Christian.  We hope with new leadership comes a new era of cooperation among county board members in their respective counties, to discuss the issues in a respectful manner with an outcome that’s positive for county residents, especially in the area of economic development.  

Point number 3:  Countless doctors and nurses we know thru-out Central Illinois, have shared that the demeanor of their patients during and since COVID, has been anger, demanding, and condescending.  While patients have long asked for understanding and emphathy from doctors and nurses, it’s time to remind those patients that health care is short-staffed and doing the best they can with the staff they have.   One of my daughters, who has been in the nursing profession some 15 years, tells me that during and since COVID, she has been yelled at and verbally abused by patients.  But!  So that hospitals will keep their high rating to continue receiving government payments, nursing staff are told to just take it.  Some nurses have even been told they can file charges against patients that physically abuse them.    Patients need an “attitude adjustment” and realize that a nurse isn’t going to answer their call button the second they hit it because they’re short-staffed.  Such abuse of nurses by patients is one reason thousands of nurses are leaving the profession in the first place.  So, next time you’re a patient in a hospital or doctor’s office, remember that courtesy and understanding is a 2-way street.

That’s our opinion, we welcome yours.  Our e-mail address is editorial@randyradio.com.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Posted December 12, 2022

Dear Editor,

A meeting of the City of Taylorville Finance Committee was held on Monday evening November 7th prior to the Regular City Council meeting.  The only item on the agenda was the Review of Audit Report.  This is an annual report presented to the Mayor and Aldermen completed by an independent accounting firm.  This report is presented to the City leaders providing information on how the City is doing financially. 

As indicated in the minutes of this meeting available on the City’s web page the auditors recommended two findings: 

•             An adequate segregation of incompatible duties does not exist *REPEAT FINDING”

•             Pooled Cash general ledger accounts were not timely reconciled to the monthly bank statements nor were they reviewed by a second person outside the Treasurer’s Office

Other recommendations/areas of serious concern for strengthening internal controls were identified in the minutes of this meeting:

•             Incorrect filing of City, Police and Fire Pension Form 941 forms an dpayments to IRS; penalties were incurred

•             Social Security Administration has not received 2021 Forms W-2 and W-3; will incur penalties for each employee

•             Lack of repayments between pooled cash account and other accounts

•             Voluntary Insurance payable general ledger accounts do not reconcile as of April 30, 2022

•             IMRF 1,000 hour participation limit has no documentation for Council Members claiming IMRF

               (the auditor stated that the current resolution provides a 1,000 hour participation requirement.  It was stated that none of those participating have submitted any documentation or timesheets.)

•             No documentation for furloughed employees paid unemployment through IDES;  includes many fraudulent claims that must be investigated

•             Safe Passage grant does not include full reimbursement of costs;  amended reports should be submitted

•             Water Fund should be reconciled for years prior to 2022 and corrections made

It is stated in the minutes of this meeting that many of these items are time sensitive and must be rectified prior to the end of the calendar year, so as not to affect current year W-2’s for employees.  All recommendations must be addressed and rectified expediently.

Why was this information not provided to the public through local broadcast or print media?  This audit is paid for and provided annually to inform both the elected leaders of our community as well as the taxpaying residents who reside within in the City on how the City is doing financially.  Transparency and accountability is needed at all levels of government.  The minutes to this meeting can be found on the City’s web page www.taylorville.net. 

Martin Vota

Taylorville, IL 62568

Today marks the 4-year anniversary of the December 1st, 2018 EF-3 tornado which ravaged our community. 

A special thank you to Missions For Taylorville who undertook the monumental task of trying to rebuild our community. You have done an awesome job. 

The City has received much needed financial support from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency in a check for $500,000. Thank you to Deputy Governor Manar and Governor Pritzker for this help. 

As we move forward, I am optimistic with the revitalization of downtown. A special thank you to DowntownTaylorville.org and Small Town Taylorville. Taylorville will be looking better than ever before. 

On December 1st, I ask that at 5:15 p.m. everyone in our community observe a moment of silence and a special thank you to our former Fire Chief Mike Crews for having our community prepared. 

Together we remain Taylorville Strong!

Mayor Bruce Barry

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Posted November 20, 2022

Dear Editor:

Thank God for freedom of speech and press. It became a great American institution in
December 1791! Those founding fathers called it the First Amendment to our Constructional
Republic because they recognized a Biblical pattern of nations who acknowledged their Creator.
If you cannot trust that legacy where do you look for a better one? Some call America a grand
experiment probably to satisfy the sciences which abound in a free nation. Like most nations in
history there comes confusion and rebellion. Many no longer exist. We can do without repeating
that history out of ignorance or conquest.

This writer has lived long enough to see such patterns and their consequences. The “rancor and
division in our country” stated in your editorial are such consequences. Listening to so much
balderdash from the news media, not only do they claim it but promote it. News and history
should be clues to a future worth living. Those pioneers of 1620 truly applied their convictions
and established a colony of grateful people on the east coast. In 1621 those who survived their
first year in a new country celebrated. We know it as Thanksgiving and is among the Holydays
celebrated in America. Yes, it is Holyday in place of Holiday; an actual USA Federal day of
observation. A review of President George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation of October
03, 1789 should suffice. Dare we not forget.

Americans will celebrate again on November 24 a very honorable feast called Thanksgiving, in
spite of the commercialism and competing distractions of media. Families will make the effort to
meet together and enjoy great times and meals. Is once a year enough for citizens in a free nation
to Thank God for another year of life and opportunity? Probably not but it continues as a great
tradition. Even though we have not visited all 50 States it is amazing to live here with the
opportunities taken for granted.

Back in the 1990s as we drove across the plains I finally
recognized “for amber waves of grain” from a memorable song. The winds were literally waving
the grain fields around in the open plains. Thanks to Katherine Lee Bates who was overwhelmed
and inspired in the Rocky Mountains in the summer of 1893 and subsequently (1913) produced
“America the Beautiful” and another permanent memory among so many available in America.
Let’s keep it that way!

Sincerely,

Ernie & Ruth Poani
Edinburg, IL 62531
 

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Posted November 14, 2022

Dear Editor:

I would like to thank the voters of Christian County for their support.

I am very humbled to be re-elected to another 4-year term as Sheriff of Christian County. The election was a result of all the great work done by the employees of the Sheriff's Office. From the deputies, who do an excellent job of protecting and serving the public.

To the dispatchers, who receive all the emergency calls in a calm and professional matter. To the correctional officers, who oversee individuals who are incarcerated awaiting trial. To the court security officers, who protect everyone at the court house.

To the clerical staff members, who handle all the civil process paper work that needs to be served. It is an honor to work with such great employees, and I look forward to continue serving the wonderful citizens of Christian County.

Bruce Kettelkamp

Sheriff

Christian County

STATION EDITORIAL

Posted November 5, 2022

This is a station editorial, I'm Randal J. Miller, station president.  Well, it's the holiday season...the season of thanks for our many blessings and for the birth of Jesus Christ.  

Despite another year of rancor and division in our country, we still live in the greatest country in the world, where we can do and say just about anything as long as we follow the rule of law.  Not many countries have the freedoms we do and many times we don't stop and think about it.

Time marches on for us all.  I thank God for my faith, my family, and for the extended family I have in every one of you, our listeners.  

I'll be celebrating 50 years in the radio business I love, in 2023.  

I've been blessed to have been part of the Taylorville-Shelbyville-Pana communities with our Taylorville cluster of stations the past 30 years, and 15 years in our Clinton-Monticello-Lincoln markets.

Our 2 legacy stations this year celebrated anniversaries, too.  WTIM in Taylorville threw a party in May with the Greater Taylorville Chamber of Commerce to honor that station's 70th anniversary, and WHOW in Clinton is celebrating 75 years of service with a fun evening as well.

While all of us have challenges every day, it's important to stop, reflect, and be thankful for all that God has given each of us.

May you and your family have a most blessed holiday season, and may the love we share this time of year extend into the new year ahead.

Quoting Henry Wadsworth Longfellow from the poem "The Harvest Moon":  
"It is the Harvest Moon! On gilded vanes
And roofs of villages, on woodland crests
And their aerial neighborhoods of nests
Deserted, on the curtained window-panes
Of rooms where children sleep, on country lanes
And harvest-fields, its mystic splendor rests!" 

That's our opinion, we welcome yours.  Our e-mail address is editorial@randyradio.com.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Posted November 5, 2022

Dear Editor:

Thank you for exposing more of the reckless actions of the Illinois General Assembly (IGA) and our wonderful Governor J.B.Pritzker. Since 2000 the security of ballot Elections has been at risk but our first Selected president succeeded in November 2020. It will continue as long as the diabolical wave ebbs and tides wash away American history and legacy. Illinois has a similar legacy and needs to retreat from immorality, socialism and taxation out of control. Unfortunately the Illinois Constitution is under assault again. Look carefully at the second long sentence of text in proposed IL Constitutional amendment:

(ILCON Art. I, Sec. 25 new) SECTION 25. WORKERS’ RIGHTS (a) Employees shall have the fundamental right to organize and to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing for the purpose of negotiating wages, hours, and working conditions, and to protect their economic welfare and safety at work. No law shall be passed that interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively over their wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment and work place safety, including any law or ordinance that prohibits the execution or application of agreements between employers and labor organizations that represent employees requiring membership in an organization as a condition of employment.

Organized labor and unions have their place but this is a major power plot IF the Amendment is passed. The Right to Work Law is targeted as well and could be eliminated or overridden. Non union jobs might become obsolete. More citizens and companies will migrate out of Illinois.

And education is reaching the limits of unbound behavior, from the sand pile until college indebtedness (K-12)! Remember when ‘conduct’ was a measure of responsibility and even morality. Well our wonderful Governor J.B Pritzker & IGA have been busy passing laws to re-imagine what and why children are taught in schools. Adolescent children became targets in the 1960s but Kindergarten and elementary children are the contemporary harvest.

American culture has rejected a moral compass, especially from a Biblical standard. The Book of Leviticus especially Chapter 18 clearly describes how immoral our culture has become. You may be surprised how accurate and overboard ‘conduct’ is now. Compare that with some reviews of JB’s obsessions from just a few websites

(some radical ABCs);

A https://hlerk.com/governor-signs-two-bills-updating-sex-education-standards-for-k-12-schools/

B https://will.illinois.edu/news/story/pritzker-signs-bill-requiring-illinois-schools-teach-lgbt-history

C https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-money-behind-the-transgender-movement/

D https://www.dailywire.com/news/illinois-gov-pritzker-billionaire-family-at-forefront-of-radical-gender-ideology-push-report

E https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/billionaire-family-pushing-synthetic-sex-identities-ssi-pritzkers

Voting on Tuesday November 08, 2022 is vitally important to the future of Illinois.

Ernie & Ruth Poani

Edinburg, IL 62531

STATION EDITORIAL

Posted November 1, 2022

This is a station editorial, I’m Randal J. Miller, station president.  Well, the mid-term election is just days away, and while the statewide office campaign rhretoric is flying, Illinois Democrats have already stacked the deck in their favor long before Election Day.

According to some lobbyists I know in the State House, the General Assembly passed 2 bills basically assuring Democrats continued control of state government.  The first was a bill mailing ballots to all who voted Democratic in the 2020 general election.  But, my sources say just Democratic voters received the mail in ballots.

Secondly, you and I are the recipients of a classic con job.  We have some of the highest property and income taxes in the country.  So, to make us feel good about voting for the controlling party, the General Assembly in kahoots with Governor Pritzker, voted to mail out state rebate checks just ahead of the general election.  My wife and I got ours on Halloween October 31st, 9 days before the election.  How convenient.

Any Republican running for statewide office, and most Republicans running for state rep or state senate districts, don’t have a chance at being elected, except if they were granted the privilege of staying in office by the Democrats when they re-drew the maps back in 2020.

It’s all about control.  It’s a shell game.  And, we’re being played as suckers by the Democrats running state government.

Will my wife and I cash that state rebate check?  Sure.  It’s my money.  But, I’d rather they NOT take my money to begin with, than to tax me to death and then give just a pittence of it back to me.  That’s what I call an insult.

Illinois residents are moving by the thousands to states that tax less and their state governments are more transparent.  Sadly, that transparency ain’t happenin’ here anytime soon.

That’s our opinion, we welcome yours.  Our e-mail address is editorial@randyradio.com.  

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Posted October 7, 2022

Dear Editor:

This is a response to Mr. Miller's recent Editorial on "What's Old Is New Again".

Music can produce memories of our past and present living.  Mr. Miller’s editorial ‘What’s Old is New Again’ struck a chord with me (pun intended). I remember music and songs as a boy on my parents’ radio and phonograph console and television. We listened and watched their music like Perry Como, Jimmy Dean, Dean Martin, Henry Mancini, Kate Smith, Lawrence Welk and others. As a teenager my favorite records were on a personal sound system at home and an eight track system in my Camaro. My Wife and I continue to listen to favorites on CDs and DVDs. 

Music has always reminded me of events and times past even when we raised our two sons and learned to appreciate some of their music.  Music and songs are very entertaining and enjoyable.  However they can either reflect our culture or modify it. 

In addition to displacing some modern music there is a rash of old songs re-imagined as theme music for current pharmaceutical commercials on television.  That is clever but not very original advertising. Maybe the linkage between the 60s drug culture and the pharmacology industry is more than a coincidence.  

Look at the influence of some music and songs in America. Rock music became a major vehicle of change. The Beatles craze of the sixties ventured from romance to drugs to Eastern Mysticism. George Harrison introduced the Krishna cult and clearly defined it with ‘My Sweet Lord’ in the 1970 album ‘All Things Must Pass’. 

Some songs have very provoking lyrics and themes such as Don Henley’s ‘Dirty Laundry’ in 1982.  He very clearly lamented the arrogance and unemotional manner of media reporters. Many still can report a disaster or tragedy in one breath and the latest stock market in the next breath. We witness this very typically with the Covid Pandemonium reports.

Another spectacle of music came from Thomas Dolby also in 1982, “She Blinded Me with Science”.  This is almost a total parody except that American culture is very blinded and brainwashed with abundant “science” as the ultimate source of truth. The recent major hurricanes Fiona and Ian are clear victims of assumed climate change science and explanations! 

So “The Beat Goes On” according to Sonny & Cher from 1967 and it truly does. An advantage of older music is the clarity of lyrics and theme.  Since the 60s the noisier and weirder productions prevailed until the market dried up or songs were irrelevant.

Some songs are practical and borderline prophetic such as Denis Zager and Rick Evans in the summer of 1969 “In the Year 2525” but we have not waited until 8510 to unravel who we are.  And there is another song we used to hear on the radio since the 1950s. It originated in the 1920s hymnal Spirituals Triumphant but a young British singer Laurie London recorded  "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" in 1958.  When was the last time we heard that hymn on Sunday Mornings?

Well Sir, older music makes more sense and tranquility.

Ernie & Ruth Poani

Edinburg, IL 62531