Welcome Obviously Quincy....

Take some time to check out the new Blog !!!

Welcome !!!

Help Wanted.....

Ahhhhh.....

Once again the "good ol' boys" hiring system is still up and running in the city's personnel department. If ya' missed the Sunday's article in the QHW by Doug Wilson, it's worth reading.

To look over Carpers "resume" and tell me that he is the best person qualified for this job, I'll show you some neighbors who are more than happy to have an ethanol plant so close to their house.

Really folks......this is NOT a political reward.


Please......


Hats off to Doug Wilson for running this story !!!

Just in Time for K C......

By Larry Copeland, USA TODAY
A nationwide crackdown on drunken driving aimed primarily at men ages 21 to 34 began Wednesday as federal authorities reported that alcohol was a factor in 16,885 traffic deaths last year.
"Drunk driving is one of America's deadliest crimes," Acting Transportation Secretary Maria Cino said. "Our message is simple: If you drive drunk, you will be arrested."
Cino announced an $11 million campaign of television, radio and Internet advertisements. The campaign — "Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest." — is the largest such effort ever and will coincide with increased roadside sobriety checkpoints between now and Labor Day.
The ads show authorities pulling over three men driving in vehicles filled with beer, wine or liquor and tell viewers: "Make no mistake: You will get caught, and you will be arrested."
Alcohol was a factor in 39% of all traffic deaths in 2005, Cino said. Male drivers ages 21 to 34 were involved in more alcohol-related crashes than any other group, followed by men 35 to 44.
It is illegal to drive in the USA with a blood-alcohol content at or above 0.08%. The number of fatalities in crashes involving a driver or motorcycle operator who was illegally drunk dipped slightly.
Deaths in crashes involving a driver with a blood-alcohol level of 0.15% — nearly twice the legal limit — rose modestly.
The overall number of alcohol-related traffic deaths represented a small decline from 2004. The total includes people killed in crashes in which at least one driver had a blood-alcohol reading of at least 0.01%.
Twenty-three states recorded decreases in alcohol-related traffic deaths from 2004 to 2005. But Eric Bolton, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said the data represent a "snapshot" and not a significant trend.
The figures have shown little improvement in recent years. In 1997, for example, 16,711 people were killed in alcohol-related traffic crashes.
Safety advocates predicted that the enforcement campaign would bring results.
"Everybody in this country's going to hear about this campaign," said Jim Champagne, Louisiana's top highway safety official and chairman of the Governors Highway Safety Association. "We will be using sobriety checkpoints at a level that we've never done before."

Insight 0 Quincy -2

Seems Insight will drop two channels from the Cable channels Quincy now has. Also mentioned that Qcy has NO chance of getting the NFL channel. I will wait for my bill this month to see how much that will shave off my bill.........

Conflict of Interest ??? YA THINK !!!!

An interesting side-note to all of this, Hubert Staff is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Western Illinois Economic Development Authority. WGEM asked him, if representing the people of the Ewbanks neighborhood in this matter was a conflict of interest? He said, "no it was not."

Quincy vs. Village People....

By Edward Husar
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
Two major business organizations are opposing a proposal to allow a new village to be incorporated just northeast of Quincy's city limits.
The Great River Economic Development Foundation and the Quincy Area Chamber of Commerce convened a press conference Thursday to announce their joint opposition to the formation of the village of Ewbanks. The groups will ask the Quincy City Council to withhold its consent when the council votes on the issue Monday night.
Doug Aeilts, chairman of the GREDF Board of Directors, and Glenn Bemis, chairman of the chamber's governing board, addressed members of the news media in the lobby of the Oakley-Lindsay Center.
They issued a joint statement saying, in part: "The formation of new municipalities within the 1 1/2 mile jurisdiction of the city of Quincy would present a significant roadblock to future development, jeopardize the long-range plans carefully developed by the joint efforts of our organizations, the city of Quincy and Adams County, and result in the waste of the investments already made in infrastructure to support this planned growth."
Aeilts and Bemis said GREDF and the chamber are committed to fostering economic development in Quincy and Adams County, and they believe allowing any new village to form so close to Quincy would be counterproductive.
"What it effectively does is limit the growth, particularly of the city of Quincy, but then also raises the complexity of the jurisdictional boundaries between all the various new entities that could be there," Aeilts said.
The Ewbanks proposal calls for creating a village three miles long and about three-quarters of a mile wide generally along the west side of 60th Street. If the village is incorporated and adopts zoning regulations, Aeilts said, the village — just under two square miles in size — would be able to exert zoning control over an area totaling more than 12 square miles within 1 1/2 miles of its boundary.
Aeilts said the amount of territory in Ewbanks' control would be comparable to the current size of Quincy. He said that could hurt Quincy's hope of expanding in that direction.
"In effect it cuts off the entire northeast quadrant of the city of Quincy from additional growth," he said.
Bemis called the Ewbanks issue "one of the most significant decisions facing the City Council in the last 25 years."
He warned that the creation of a village so close to Quincy's border would not only cut off future growth but also reduce future tax revenue going to the city.
"What this will do is reduce the tax base needed to support redevelopment, will result in higher taxes for Quincy businesses as areas of new tax bases are blocked, and would prevent the city from recovering much of the cost of infrastructure invested into to support a carefully developed comprehensive plan," Bemis said.
He also said creating a new village with its own zoning rules so close to Quincy would pose a headache for future developments along the fringe area.
"With multiple sets of zoning, building codes, etc., contractors, developers and other people coming to town — new businesses — will have an absolute nightmare trying to work through," he said.
Hubert Staff, an attorney representing a group of residents seeking for form the village of Ewbanks, took issue with some of those arguments.
"I think it's the height of arrogance for GREDF and the Chamber of Commerce to assume that only the city of Quincy has the wherewithal to do proper planning," Staff said.
"I think there are other units of government, including hopefully the new unit of government of Ewbanks village, that also could conceivably adopt a plan that was not inconsistent with Quincy's plan."
Staff said concerns about the village's ability to inhibit Quincy's future growth "are based on a false premise" that Quincy is trying to annex aggressively to the northeast.
He said at the current rate of annexations, it would take 50 to 70 years for Quincy to reach Ewbanks. Reaching the village sooner, he said, would require changing the city's policy to use only voluntary annexation and to have developers pay for infrastructure improvements, such as water, sewer and streets.
"This City Council and previous City Councils have not shown a willingness to involuntarily annex nor to build the infrastructure and say build it and they will come. So their premise is not based on fact nor history," Staff said.
When asked Thursday if a proposal to build an ethanol plant in the Ewbanks neighborhood had anything to do with the opposition to the incorporation of Ewbanks, Aeilts said the issue is "related" since a main reason the village is being proposed is to fight the plant proposed by Energy Resource Partners.
"But our position specifically is dealing with the creation of new municipalities within the mile and a half jurisdiction of the city of Quincy," Aeilts said.
Staff said: "In spite of what they say, I believe this is an attempt to support Energy Resource Partners in the location of this ethanol plant on the Mittelberg property."

Meth remains an issue in area

This Just In......

The number of area methamphetamine lab seizures might be leveling off, but meth continues to be a major area law enforcement issue.


...and I thought it was traffic safety.......

QIPS ?????

This is so damned funny, I can't resist posting it. You can read the whole article on the link above, but I'm going to take pieces out cause there so damned funny.

The Quincy City Council is considering a plan to build three hydroelectric power plants on the Mississippi River.
The council's Finance Committee agreed Monday to recommend the council seek federal permits to build hydroelectric plants at Lock and Dam 20 at Canton, Mo., Lock and Dam 21 at Quincy and Lock and Dam 22 at Saverton, Mo.

In recent years, an Ohio power company has held the permits for most of the locks and dams on the upper Mississippi River. However, the company did not take any action to move forward with any hydroelectric plants, and the permits lapsed.

Hint #1: If somebody already looked at it and didn't take any action......WHY ???

Quincy officials feel it would be in the city's best interests to seek permits for the three dams closest to Quincy. The application fee would total $15,000 for all three locations. If the permits are granted, the city would then spend an additional $45,000 to update a feasibility study conducted in 1983 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

$60,000 spent and we're just LOOKING at it ???? Who gets this money ??? Next paragraph>

The original feasibility study showed that many of the locks and dams on the upper Mississippi — including all three in this area — have favorable capabilities for producing hydropower, according to Mike Klingner, who heads the Quincy-based Klingner & Associates engineering firm.

Ching Ching !!!

Several factors could make this an attractive opportunity for the city. For one thing, federal legislation signed last year will require power companies by the year 2012 to buy at least 8 percent of their power from so-called "green energy" sources, which are comprised of any renewable, non-polluting energy source, such as wind energy, solar energy or hydroelectric energy.
That means power companies will be looking for new sources of energy, including any hydroelectric plants that begin operating in coming years. "The demand is definitely going to be there," Klingner said.
If Quincy were to build and operate the three hydroelectric plants — or even if it ultimately decides to take on just one such project — the city would be able to use some of the generated power to meet the electrical needs of, say, the city's wastewater treatment facility. Then it could sell the surplus electricity to a local power company, such as AmerenCIPS or Adams Electric Cooperative.

Hint #2: Who runs the city wastewater plant ??? Not the city, they couldn't efficently run it. How do we expect them to run a power plant ???


That means, for example, that if one 15-megawatt plant were to be built, it would cost between $22.5 million to $30 million. If three plants that size were built, the total cost would be $67.5 million to $90 million.

...and what's the payback on $90 million investment ????

In addition, the city would face about $300,000 in engineering costs plus $150,000 for an environmental impact assessment for each location — just to prepare a draft license application. More engineering fees would come for final plans and permits.

....and I would guess that Klingners would be the one for the studies ???? Ching Ching !!!!


Pete Pohlman, a GREDF spokesman, said conditions appear to be right for a city such as Quincy to take on such a project. "We think it's a natural for the city," he said.

Just like "natural" disaster.......

Mayor John Spring also likes the idea. "It has great potential," he said.

...so did the Titanic.....

QPD Christmas in July......

40 new pistols - $4,600
40 new night sights - $3,000
40 new Holsters - $3,854
40 new Surefire lights - $9,306
5 new patrol cars - $85,206
More needed auto equipment - $ 6,799


Wonder how they'll pay for this.....hmmm.

Best Award That Their Money Can Buy For The Motori$ts of Quincy I$........

By Rodney Hart
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
The Quincy Police Department has been chosen as the third-best department in the nation for traffic safety in 2005 by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police also honored QPD with the 2005 Rookie of the Year award.
The international award will be presented to QPD representatives Oct. 27 in Boston, while the Illinois award will be given Aug. 3 in Chicago.
The Illinois Law Enforcement Challenge is designed to recognize law enforcement agencies addressing traffic safety issues. Each year since 1975, an average of 40,000 Americans lose their lives as the result of traffic crashes.
Agencies provide certain policies, discuss and document officer training, elaborate on public information and education efforts, report on enforcement activities and articulate how effective they believe their efforts were in these areas.
Competing with other agencies in the state with regard to size and type of agency, each application is separated based on the number of sworn officers. Judges then review each application, carefully assigning points based on set criteria.
Quincy Police Department Traffic Safety Officer Neal Meyer said there were 634 accidents in Quincy during the first six months of this year, down from 732 during the same period last year.
There were 1,527 reported vehicle accidents in 2005, down from 1,667 the year before.
"We were shocked and pleased to receive the awards," Deputy Chief Curt Kelty said. "We thought we might get something, but we didn't know it would be this."
Kelty said the department has placed an increased emphasis on traffic safety.
"When we compared traffic safety to more traditional crimes, we saw we were experiencing more problems in the traffic enforcement," he said.
Kelty said the awards are a result of the department's "continuing endeavors to educate and inform our officers and our community about the importance of traffic safety in the areas of impaired driving, speeding and occupant restraint."
The department has put increased emphasis on traffic safety. Programs like the school safety speed zones, where signs were put up and 20 miles per hour speed limits are strictly enforced, have helped educate the public.
Kelty said lowering speeds and increasing seat belt use lower accident numbers.
Meyer said one-third of all accidents are rear-end collisions, with almost all rear-end accidents caused by excessive speeds.
"We have done things like the school safety zones and seat belt enforcement that have made drivers more aware and safer," Meyer said.

Fishing ??? Try the Mississippi Please....

Copley said his department has focused on traffic safety, resulting in a 43 percent increase in traffic stops from 2004 to 2005. Citations increased by almost 35 percent, while vehicle searches and driver searches increased by 44.2 percent and 45.1 percent, respectively.

The increase in vehicle searches is, in part, attributed to a problem Copley calls "fishing." He says young and aggressive officers are looking to make big arrests with vehicle and driver searches without much reasonable suspicion to base the searches on, "hoping to get lucky on the search."

"There are at least six individual officers who appear to be conducting a lot of searches without success," Copley said. "Now that the problem and the officers have been identified, we are working with the officers to alleviate this problem."

Copley said officers will get more "coachable sensitivity training" and information on the legalities of conducting searches.

QPD also will do a better job in the search reporting process and require officers to explain why the search was conducted.

"We want to get away from searching the vehicle just because we can," Copley said. "We want officers to have a good reason before they ask a person."

...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM CDT

TRY TO PLAN YOUR ACTIVITIES FOR THEEARLY MORNING OR LATE EVENING HOURS WHEN TEMPERATURES ARE A BITCOOLER. DRINK LOTS OF WATER OR OTHER NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES...

I'm Gettin' That Feelin' Again.......

Oil Prices Continue Their Rise, Topping $78

Oil prices briefly topped $78 per barrel Friday and stayed near record highs as intensifying violence in the Middle East raised concerns of a possible supply disruptions. OPEC tried to reassure the market.

I think that the sun coming up also raises oil prices.....

This just in from the "Who gives A Shit" Weekly...

Italy 5 France 3


Does ANYONE give a shit about this ???

Despite Crack, Shuttle Still Scheduled for Liftoff

I too noticed a crack on my cooler this weekend, but like NASA, I plan to launch it Tuesday also.



Have a safe and Happy Fouth of July !!

Grillin' Out 101

Water not alcohol

By Lisa ConnPosted: Friday, June 30, 2006 at 5:15 PM

Tri-state grill masters are gearing up to light the coals this fourth of July.
Be sure to drink plenty of water when grilling out.
In this KHQA Safe Family Health report, water is the best way to stay hydrated while celebrating outdoors...it helps you avoid muscle cramps, heat stroke, and heat exhaustion.
Fitness Instructor Lee Ann Sims says drinking too much alcohol and sugary drinks can cause dehydration even though you're taking in fluids.
Dehydration symptoms include increased thirst, dry mouth, irritability, clammy skin, and an inability to stand or walk.

I'm amazed I could grill out all these years without this important Health tip !!!

$2.8 Million Dollar Caller ID......

By Edward Husar
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
Adams County's new 911 communications center at 52nd and Maine is nearing completion, but local officials are still months away from putting an enhanced 911 system into operation.
John Johnson, chairman of the Quincy/Adams County 911 Governing Board, said "just a few minor issues" need to be resolved before the building can be turned over to the 911 agency.
"It's probably 95 to 98 percent complete," he said.
Ground was broken in September for the 5,328-square-foot facility just east of the Adams County Youth Home. Leander Construction Inc. of Canton, Ill., was awarded the $1.26 million contract.
The building not only will house the 911 dispatch center, currently in the basement of the Adams County Courthouse, but it also will provide space for an emergency operations center. In addition, it will have an office for the coordinator of the county's emergency management agency.
Completion of the center is one step needed to get an enhanced 911 system up and running — a project that's expected to cost between $2.6 million and $2.8 million once all the bills are tallied.
Adams County currently has a "basic" 911 system, which simply allows callers to dial three digits to summon help. Callers then must describe their location. An "enhanced" system will automatically display the caller's location and which police, fire and ambulance agencies have jurisdiction.
"It will be a big step forward for Adams County," Johnson said. "It will basically bring us up to the rest of the world."
The new system will initially provide enhanced services just for landline phones but it will eventually work fully with wireless phones.
Johnson said it's difficult to say when the enhanced system will go online because many variables can come into play. "I would say late winter or early spring," he said. "Probably January or somewhere in that ballpark would be our guess."
The governing board continues to oversee the development of the enhanced 911 system, which is taking place during the construction of the new center.
The board awarded a $649,590 contract to Motorola for enhanced 911 telephone equipment, radio control communications equipment, digital recording equipment and structured cabling.
Once work on the communications center was far enough along, 911 officials were able to start installing some of the equipment, though a few larger pieces won't arrive until August. The equipment must go through a rigorous testing process to make sure it works properly.
One big effort under way now is the creation of a database of all Adams County addresses and telephone numbers. Johnson said the county is working with several telephone companies to gather the most accurate information available.
"We're making sure that the telephone numbers actually match to an existing address," he said.
Meanwhile, the 911 board has filed a draft of its enhanced 911 application with the Illinois Commerce Commission, which makes sure all such systems meet state standards.
Once the new system is online, the existing 911 dispatch facility in the courthouse will be retrofitted for enhanced 911 and become a backup facility.
Sharon Tedrow, assistant 911 director, said the dispatching staff is eager to move into the new facility.
"We're all excited about it," she said. "We're not totally cramped, but we're looking forward to having more space to move around in."

Don't Have Notta.....

OK.

....after several weeks of nothing, guess I will open it up this WEEK to whatever is on your mind. Have thought about several items that have ALMOST prompted me to fire up the the laptop and bitch, but didn't. This included the property tax increase which absolutely NO ONE took any blame for but blaming the multiplier of the state ( right). QHW paper being printed in J-ville. See that the QPS union is looking for a new contract and pretty much everyone will bitch if the teachers make anything close to what the trash haulers for the city make. City still losing the corn plant to our neighbors to the west. Cold temps this weekend blamed on Bush. Global warming films by the weenie who LOST the election. You name it.

Keep 'er clean and to the point.


....and as always, Thanks for stopping by.

Northeast Missouri officials meet with ethanol plant developers

Last night while sipping a cold beverage on the deck, I couldn't help noticing the distance noise that was annoying me. That was the sound of Jobs, Income, Revenue and tax dollars being sucked out from under the residents of Adams County. While Mayor Spring, GREDF and others quietly stand by, Quincy is quickly getting the shaft from a neighboring county that is begging for business.

UPDATED 5/31:

From the QHW

Janssen said West Quincy wants the economic development promised by the ethanol plant, and he's surprised that Staff, who chairs the Western Illinois Economic Development Authority, seems to be encouraging the plant to go outside Illinois by representing the association.
"Typically when ethanol plants make an announcement of where they're going to build, it's like hitting the lottery for the folks that live there. Very seldom do you run into a situation where you have this kind of resistance for a good thing," he said.
"I understand what their concerns are, but there's a lot of fears among folks that might be unjustified ... I hate to see the positives go away because of their narrow focus on what they consider to be negatives."


On another note, here is the "mission" statement from GREDF's website:


GREDF Mission

Great River Economic Development Foundation seeks to recruit and retain businesses in Quincy and Adams County as a way of preserving and expanding local employment opportunities and improving the area's tax base. GREDF helps existing businesses grow, promotes Adams County as a location for new businesses, and works to enhance the area's economic infrastructure and quality of life.

Racoons Attracted to Electricity......

Electrical power was interrupted to 9,200 AmerenCIPS customers on Quincy's south side late Tuesday night when a raccoon got into a substation. Surprisingly the animal survived.
Power went out at 11:48 p.m. Tuesday and was restored within 33 minutes, said Leigh Morris, an Ameren Corp. spokesman.
"It was one angry animal when we (AmerenCIPS crew) got there but he was alive and is free to roam," Morris said.
Ironically it was the second time in the last two weeks that a raccoon caused a power outage in the Quincy area.
On May 14, more than 9,000 customers on the east and south side of Quincy were affected by an outage when a raccoon caused a breaker to open on a 138,000-volt transmission line. That incident occurred at 10:51 p.m. and power was fully restored within about two hours.
The raccoon also survived in the May 14 power outage