Blogging Forgottonia

Matt Hutton, the paper’s editor, is leaving.  His farewell article gives no indication regarding who will be replacing him.  The paper’s building at 400 S. Main was for sale, but now the listing has disappeared from the Mel Foster Co website.  What does GateHouse Media Inc have planned for the Review Atlas?

OK, can someone tell me why this article about the recent addition of 80 acres to the Northwestern Illinois Agricultural Research and Demonstration Center in Monmouth was printed in the Aledo Times Record, and why this article about the new Monmouth underage club AfterDark was printed in the Galesburg Register-Mail?  Better question … why was there nothing in the Review Atlas regarding these rather newsworthy local events???

Matt Hutton, editor of the Daily Review Atlas, announced recently that the Review Atlas, the Galesburg Register-Mail and the Macomb Journal would all be printed in Galesburg instead of Peoria.  This will result in some minor cosmetic changes to the papers.  Hutton also announced that the Review Atlas will begin charging for obituaries.

I’m glad to hear that the local papers will be printed closer to home, but I’m more interested in hearing the story behind the “For Sale” sign on the Review Atlas building.  Still no official word on that front.

Another local media change is the revamp of the Galesburg.com blog page.  I’m not sure when this happened, and it may have been a while ago.  The old page was so antiquated & unappealing that I rarely visited it.  The new version is certainly a big step up.

If Forgottonia was an independent country, it would be ranked #153, between El Salvador & Slovenia, based on total area (7906.37 square miles).  Based on population, Forgottonia would be ranked #175, between Belize and Iceland.

In 2000, the fourteen West-Central Illinois counties that Neil Gamm once grouped under the aegis of Forgottonia had a total population of 334,800.  Based on recently released data from the U.S. Census bureau, that population has now fallen to 324,389, a 3.1% decrease.  Only two of the 14 counties had a population increase – Calhoun (a whopping +5, so essentially no change) & Schuyler (+ 355, a 4.9% increase).

We could cheer for Schuyler County, but I wouldn’t.  The population increase there can be accounted for entirely by the number of inmates housed at the Rushville Treatment and Detention Facility for Sexually Violent Persons (average inmate population 352 in 2009).

The local papers have published several articles on the local census figures: Monmouth & Warren County census figures, Galesburg & Knox County census figures, official reaction in Knox County, population numbers for local school districts, Burlington’s population loss, and overall rural population decline in Iowa.  The hardest hit counties of Forgottonia are right here at its heart – Knox, Warren, Henderson & Hancock.  Henderson County saw the biggest percentage drop, down 10.7% to 7331.  The 2008 flooding that devastated Gulfport & other communities played a big roll in that precipitous drop.

All of the Illinois counties that saw population increases (except Schuyler) included &/or collared metropolitan areas – Peoria, Springfield, Champaign-Urbana, Bloomington-Normal, Carbondale, Rockford, Vincennes (IN), Dubuque (IA), Paducah (KY), St. Louis & Chicago.  It’s suburbanization at work.  The jobs are in the larger communities, and that’s where the people go.

On Tuesday, January 25, Monmouth-Roseville District 238 held a public meeting to ask for community involvement in developing a strategic plan for the district.  Superintendent Woehlke discussed how district finances are still very tight, and academic achievement in the district has hovered just above or just below the state average for the last five years.  As a part of this meeting, Margo Sorrick, Assistant Superintendent for Educational Services at Wheaton-Warrenville District 200, gave a presentation on how her district has consistently maintained high and yet steadily improving levels of academic achievement.

While I think we can always learn from the experiences of others – both successes and failures – I’m not sure how applicable Wheaton-Warrenville’s situation is to M-R238.  Comparing the districts on the Illinois Interactive Report Card, there are a few notable similarities, but also numerous glaring differences between the districts. Read the rest of this entry »

Michelle Nutting @ the Warren County Newswire has posted a good piece on the new Roseville Christian School.

I was rather critical of the idea of a private school opening up in Roseville when the idea first floated.  The anger underlying the criticism in that post stems from my belief that private schools take away from public education.  The passion in that anger stems from my belief that quality public education is essential to the success and well-being of our country.

My anger has cooled with time and the knowledge that there have not been major shifts in local school enrollment.  I was correct in my assumption that the initial interest in the new school was largely fueled by the anger over District 238 closing Roseville Elementary.  While over a hundred residents showed up for the initial informational meetings, only three students were enrolled when the school first opened (per the WCN post linked above, enrollment is now up to four).  I’m sure that the reality of paying thousands of dollars in tuition annually made a lot of Roseville residents realize that the 14 mile bus ride to Monmouth isn’t so bad.  Some students at United & other nearby rural school districts spend 2-3 hours on the bus every school day!

I also know that for one Roseville Christian student, the small class size & personalized educational environment has been a true blessing.  For that student’s sake, I hope this educational experiment succeeds.  However, I wonder how it can possibly be sustainable with so few students.  We’ll just have to see what the future brings for Roseville Christian School.

The home of the Review Atlas at 400 S. Main Street is for sale.  I searched the paper’s website, but I found no mention of the sale or their plans for the future.

It’s actually today, September 16.  Cinco de Mayo celebrates the victory of the Mexican army over invading French forces at the Battle of Puebla.  May 5 has achieved more notoriety in the U.S. … because we like to drink in May?  It’s become the Mexican St. Patrick’s Day.

There will be a local celebration of Mexican Independence Day on the 200 block of South Main Street (in front of La Tapatia) on Saturday, September 18, from 4 PM to 11 PM.  Gus Munoz, owner of La Tapatia, is organizing the event.  Come down and support a local business!

Vaughn’s Jewelry and the Downtown Coffeehouse, both owned by Tom & Mary Scudder, will be closing.  Unfortunately Monmouth seems to be losing more small local businesses than it’s gaining lately.  Walgreens and Dollar General are fine, and they provide employment (albeit low wage) and tax revenue.  However, no one is going to drive to Monmouth to visit those stores, and most of the profits generated by the chains don’t stay local, either.

Monmouth has a great downtown area, with local cultural institutions like the Warren County Library and the Buchanan Center for the Arts.  I hate to see the businesses there dying off.