Following The (Majestic) Birds

"It's January," he stated the obvious to the audience, "meaning that we have a chance to view the beautiful majesty of the national bird of the United States of America. The bald eagles are in our region once again in much the same way the swallows return to Capistrano. The magnificent birds are making their annual stop in the Riverbend, sticking closely to the areas near the rivers so they can find food. But it's also somewhat for the entertainment of the human species, it would seem."

In the crowd someone makes a mental note: Surely, this is another person who is going to be attacked by groups of left-wing nutjobs or right-wing nutjobs. He's discussing the American Bald Eagle and hasn't brought up American Eagle Outfitters once. The crowd seems to notice this gaffe.

"How dare he not bring up an esteemed retailer!"

"For shame, not talking about the fashions we love to wear in the winter!"

"Does anyone remember the AMC Eagle in the 1970s?"

Oh, great. A skewed conversation already.

The speaker continues:

"It's around this time every year that the temperatures are cold and the eagles fly to the area around the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers as well as the Missouri and the Mississippi Rivers, and points from about 125 miles north of here to about 125 miles south of here. We're among the luckiest of Americans because living near Alton gives us a clear chance to view eagles for several weeks. We've had visitors from North Carolina and Georgia who arrived after the new year just so they can take part in this human ritual --- following the bald eagles as they almost endlessly ride a wave of rising air above the waters near the bluffs, or take a dive near the locks and dam to the rushing waters where they have just spied the fish they intend to have for lunch. It's following these eagles that have resulted in some of the most beautiful large bird photographs in the twenty-first century. All visitors are encouraged to bring their binoculars, cameras and video cameras to capture the eagles in flight."

This is pretty good stuff, even though I have heard all of this before. But it gives me a moment to pause and reflect upon the many times when my family has gathered together to stop at the river's edge to look up to the sky and watch these large creatures with the brown (not just brown, but a beautiful brown --- almost an oxymoron to say beautiful brown on any creature) feathers seem almost completely still as they take an airstream and float high above the waters in wait for that exact moment that they are seeking so they may look like a WWII flying ace and drop in an almost straight line for the water where that gigantic fish is slowly --- at least to the bird it's slow --- moving around just below the surface.

I hear someone in the crowd of people gathered near the dam say "That fish is a goner, for sure."

No doubt about it as within a few seconds that bird has pierced the fish in just the right place and is flying toward the sky to who knows where so it can devour the tasty morsel.

"That fish could feed a couple of hungry men," says a man who is voicing almost exactly what I keep thinking as we all see what has to be a ten pounder in the talons --- it looks lopsided in favor of the bird, firmly a bald eagle which has been around the North American continent a few years.

We all watch as the bird rushes northwest up the river past the city of Alton and continues for a long way toward its hideout. Even with the best binoculars and steadiest hands or tripod with a telescopic lense, that bird is gone from the view in what seems like only several seconds. It may have taken three or four minutes in all to be out of sight, but it was traveling in such a strong, yet graceful, manner that it was being viewed by its human followers as only having taken a moment in time. Is it really possible that we witnessed this GRAB AND GO and it only took the time that gecko says it would take to convert our car insurance?

Alas, we are not able to see where the prey has taken its catch. So we return our eyes to the closer sky view and seek another one of these big feathered creatures and the chance to see yet another dive toward the waters, or one that slowly comes into view from the bluffs at Alton and finds a wave of air to ride for several minutes between actual flaps of its wings.

A young woman exclaims to her young man, "This never gets old to me. I just love coming out here year after year to see these majestic birds!"

And she has summed up what so many of us think --- and almost word for word what the nature guide says year after year as he turns to a group of viewers near the Mississippi with an American Bald Eagle in sight.

Let's do it again and again --- and be awe inspired by something we may never see up close.

Sometimes I Hate Having a Scoop

I love ice cream. It can be the accompanying part of a dessert such as with a helping of bread pudding and make complete the entire dessert. And I've enjoyed this very dish at RAGIN CAJUN PIANO BAR in downtown Alton several times.

I am a reporter by nature. On occasion, I've been the person who had a "scoop" on a story. Sometimes this is a positive thing of which to be proud, and sometimes it's just another in a long line of stories.

UNFORTUNATELY --- I HAVE A SCOOP involving both ice cream and the RAGIN CAJUN. Well...sorta.

Last night on Facebook, RAGIN CAJUN PIANO BAR announced its own scoop. It will be closing this week unless an agreement can be worked out between the partners involved in its ownership.

Chris Keidel has been a face that all kinds of people from around the RiverBend have come to see inside the Ragin Cajun --- he is one of the two owners --- as far as I know there wasn't a day in the life of Ragin Cajun when Chris was away from the business. Aaron Agne is the other and was frequently seen behind the bar, in the balcony (office), outside with customers during the warmer weather, or even in a restaurant booth on the busier nights. Aaron wasn't around 100 percent of the time, but in any business one person usually takes a less hands-on approach. Such is how it is with these partners: Chris was hands-on, and Aaron --- while still a presence --- was not there every night.

If my scoop is correct (anyone who has taken a tour knows this to be true), Chris and Aaron have been putting their sweat and lives on the line to open up, maintain, and expand Ragin Cajun during one of the worst economic times in the history of any currently-living person. Despite this, countless people came in during 2010 and gave the restaurant (or the bar) a chance. Some of the spring and summer customers left thinking "I liked it, but it isn't open enough" --- thus, they expanded their hours in late summer and it was paying off. Chris and Aaron had listened to these people. There were new customers, new piano players, and bigger sales of food and liquor. As you can tell, I was partial to the food --- my family ate at the Ragin Cajun on several occasions, and even though our own personal economy tanked this fall, we still went and enjoyed ourselves greatly.

But...if the two cannot come to an accord today or tomorrow, this is the swan song for a destination for so many.

++++++++++

Now a bit about the "DESTINATION" part of RAGIN CAJUN PIANO BAR.

Note that key ingredient in the name: PIANO.

Over the summer, the staff who played on the keyboards grew. They added a drum set behind the keys, and suddenly it was taking a new life. This fall I was part of something special when on a Monday the musicians/entertainers were practicing. They were having a good evening, mixing it up, trying new songs out on those of us who were there --- getting some tips to improve their show. Suddenly there came a stranger into the place. We patrons didn't know what to expect, nor did the keyboard performers who had been working on their craft, when Travis sat at the keys with a drink in his hand and started playing. Actually, I think Travis said to Charlie and Jeff, "Can I sit and play one?" He did. And then another...and another...and suddenly we were all singing with him, myself included. Chris took notice. Several of us had the same reaction: hire this guy. And Chris did just that --- hiring Travis, setting things in motion for the remainder of the fall/winter. His existence helped push the younger piano talent in a positive direction --- in a matter of days there was a buzz about how much fun it was inside the restaurant on a regular basis. And the customer base was larger, spending more time and money in "the Cajun" --- the business was finally growing in a way that many of us recognized. It became clear that what happened was putting a happy face on so many people. You could see it when Charlie and Jeff played; when Carl and Travis were teamed up; when Brian beat on the drums and the electricity was in the air; when Melanie had so many customers that she couldn't rest on her trips from the kitchen to the tables and booths, and even on Chris' face on the slower nights when the bar was busy but the kitchen crew was able to do detailed cleanup. Customers, whether bar regulars or restaurant regulars, all had this feeling that we'd just witnessed the turnaround of the business at the Ragin Cajun and perhaps the entire downtown Alton economy --- because 2009 was pretty humdrum outside of the block parties. Now, we had another piece of the puzzle --- a place where the music flowed, the energy was terrific, and the atmosphere was electric. We had a destination --- even for nights when we didn't want food or drinks from the bar we could go and have dessert or a late night breakfast --- and we had musical talent enriching our lives --- Ragin Cajun Piano Bar drew people from outside of the immediate RiverBend on a nightly basis.
(One patron has so many pictures on Facebook that weeks ago I deemed her the Ragin Cajun photojournalist. She comes regularly from Edwardsville, and I dare say that her routine will be dramatically altered if this venue closes.)

++++++++++

It takes quite a lot to make any place a destination. But it was apparent that RAGIN CAJUN Piano Bar was a destination to hundreds of people each week.

Now, I have to wonder if there will be a last-minute savior who can keep open one of the brightest upstart businesses Alton has seen in quite a long time. I do not know what it is that Aaron wants or expects (other than money) out of a deal like this one, but if he simply wants too much money in a buyout, I guess he's going to lose a lot more than most of us. If Aaron forces the closure of Ragin Cajun, the customers cannot help him out.

What I wonder is this: is there someone in the RiverBend who can come into the picture and "save" our endangered destination? Who is he or she? Will they show up in the nick of time?

I will be at RAGIN CAJUN tonight. I need to show my personal support for these people, even though I am unable to put up the money necessary to buy out Aaron --- unless I won the jackpot of a lottery and don't know it.

It seems like an appropriate time for me to ask more questions and, as the late Paul Harvey always said, get THE REST OF THE STORY.

I sure hope that I have good news by this Friday.

Another Reason Why St. Louisans Should MOVE To The Riverbend

Here it is again --- the CQ Press study (flaws and all) shows the city of St. Louis atop the latest rankings for "Most Dangerous Cities" in the United States.

From our friends at News St. Louis: http://newsstlouis.blogspot.com/2010/11/st-louis-named-most-dangerous-city-by.html


Here it is (with permission from the publisher):

St. Louis is number one! Yes, it's happened again, and St. Louis' mayor and other officials are not happy about it.

A yearly study has once-again ranked St. Louis as the "most dangerous city" in the United States of America. That study, by CQ Press, has been controversial for its methodology and the subject of much scrutiny by the FBI and police agencies around the country for several years. St. Louis edged out Camden, New Jersey, as the study found St. Louis had 2,070.1 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, compared with a national average of 429.4. Citing those statistics CQ Press claims St. Louis edged Camden, which was atop last year's "most dangerous cities" list and was bestowed that distinction in 2003 and 2004 - and remains in the top five along with Detroit and Flint in Michigan, as well as Oakland, California.

The city of St. Louis maintains that it has become safer each year since 2007 and that crime is down in the past year.

The CQ Press statistics uses FBI data and population combined as basis for the statistics cited by the study, which does not take into account economic conditions and geography --- such as a city/county line as exists between the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County or a boundary area such as the Mississippi River which divides the city of St. Louis from East St. Louis, East Carondelet, Sauget, Madison, and other areas in southwest Illinois which would normally border a big city.

Criminologists have been critical of the way the statistics are used because of the minimal data versus population which many say does not take all factors into account.

The City of St. Louis last year was ranked second in the study and was atop this study in 2006.

=================

Well, okay, that should tell you something. I honestly don't know what it says for each of you who read this, but I have to admit that I lived in the city of St. Louis from 1998 to 2008 and know that the statistics are just for the city and does not take into account small crimes or the amount of people who come into the city for work and are crime victims. It also does not take into consideration the criminals who live outside the city of St. Louis and drive into the city just to take part in a crime.

It surely doesn't take into consideration the high taxation that city residents have to endure to live there or the taxation that non-city residents have to endure in order to have a job in the city of St. Louis. That one-percent city earnings or living tax is huge sometimes --- and the stretch from 2007 to 2010 is nothing short of one of those times. Boy am I glad I don't work or live in the city of St. Louis for that one-percent tax alone. But those who do live and work there honestly don't notice it unless they look at each and every pay stub and want to know "why" for this or that --- including "why is St. Louis showing up at the top of a dangerous city list when we are always being told how much better it is now because the police are doing their job?" And, honestly --- I think the study cannot be taken all that seriously because the overall criminal activity seems (in my opinion) to be a LOT LESS than it was 20 years ago. And I can account for how I felt riding the buses in 2006, 2007, and 2008 --- when you take public transit you get a good view of a city and its people, and the residents in the city of St. Louis aren't a bunch of hoodlums, which is how a study like this invisibly characterizes an entire city.

But --- again, why did I title this particular entry the way I did?

Well, frankly, I see a HUGE difference in how criminal activity is handled in Alton, East Alton, Wood River, Bethalo, Godfrey, Roxana, South Roxana, Hartford, Grafton, Jerseyville, Brighton, and all around up and down the Riverbend. Neighbors are always on the lookout for --- and reporting --- criminal activity. With that, police are not only informed about the persons involved, but react quickly and pull people off the street - jailing the offenders while investigators and prosecutors follow-up with each case. It leads to a safer overall environment, a security in neighborhoods, and a piece-of-mind that I didn't feel living in South St. Louis. [Note: my particular neighborhood near Carondelet Park was not immune to crime --- we had two murders during my years there, and I knew one of the victims. But, overall I only felt "less secure" a couple of times walking to and from the bus stops at 4:30 am --- because I was aware of criminal activity which had been reported.]

But again --- why did I use "THIS" title?

There is ample opportunity to buy an affordable home, live in a safe atmosphere, put children into decent schools, attend the church of one's choice, take part in scouts and other "family" activities, and enjoy the higher quality of life featured in this area. And one example of something relatively new and available for today's youth and families is the Riverbender.com Community Center in downtown Alton, where they have activities for children year-round. And if you're into history, Alton and the surrounding areas have rich history to view on a daily basis. PLUS --- for business people --- now is the time to move an existing business or open a new business in the Riverbend area and take advantage of the workforce that is available, the existing base of customers, and the expanding economic climate that the region has because of its proximity to everything in St. Louis --- and there is the river, highways, trains (both freight and Amtrak), and air traffic (Regional Airport at Bethalto, and Lambert is only 15 minutes from Alton).

And let's go with this line of thinking: Sure, there's "The Loop" and other venues in Missouri, but there is a burdgeoning entertainment industry in the Riverbend that includes regional acts which regularly are featured at venues throughout the Alton-Godfrey-Grafton-Bethalto and associated Riverbend area clubs, restaurants and stages. Argosy Casino Alton has also hosted numerous acts regularly on its stage including Chuck Berry, The Turtles, Max Weinberg's Big Band, and so many others, and has made overtures that it will be bringing more acts to the area in the coming months and years. In downtown Alton alone you can find regular entertainment at the restaurants along 3rd Street between Piasa and State Streets in Bossa Nova, Tony's Restaurant, Chez Marilyn's, Ragin Cajun Piano Bar, and on State Street at Spirits and other venues. This is just a small slice of what is available, as there is the Alton Symphony Orchestra, Alton Muny Band, and other musical entertainment groups which have a long history in the area. And if you don't know about Fast Eddie's Bon-Air you've probably been in a bubble for the past 20 years or so --- because Eddie Sholar advertises enough that St. Louisans come across the big beautiful Clark Bridge regularly just to see what the hubub is about and end up seeing things all around Alton. There are a lot of people who come over to Fosterburg to eat at Castelli's 255/Moonlight Restaurant as part of a tradition --- it's been there for four or five generations --- and they have been utilizing local and regional acts to attract people, too.
And maybe in 2011 the Riverfront Amphitheater will have a LOCAL operator that has knowledge of what to do with such a beautiful venue. At least I am hoping someone at Alton city hall will actually listen and award a local production group the chance to make this venue a regional and national attraction with touring acts stopping throughout the spring/summer/fall.

Honestly, I'm not even started good on how many different things there are to do regularly as an entertainment destination --- but the Riverbend has so much going for it in the positive way that even when the news is distressing (the centerfire plant which has been in operation in East Alton for 80 years or more is closing and moving to Mississippi because of greed by both a union membership and a company plant operator), it doesn't seem to make everything come to a halt because the region always pulls together and pushes on to the next phase of life. In the Riverbend, people do things in a "new, old-fashioned way" --- using what we have in the 21st Century and yet having traditional parades, celebrations, and neighbor-meeting-neighbor times like it was 35 or 45 years ago or more.

As much as I did like living in the city of St. Louis (I did --- don't let my disparaging remarkes make me sound like a total nay-sayer for St. Louis), I LOVE living in the Riverbend that much more. And I feel that if you're in St. Louis City or O'Fallon MO (which, by the way, was ranked as the city with the second-lowest crime in that same CQ Press study), you'll enjoy your time in Alton and the Riverbend --- because you are NEVER TOO FAR from those things you've been enjoying "over there" in Missouri.

And in the 21st Century it seems that one wants to feel safe and secure at home and in your neighborhood, as well as adventurous and outgoing. I cannot tell you how much MORE adventurous and outgoing I feel here --- but it would suffice to say that on a Monday morning when I find things are "slow" outside my window, I can always take my bicycle and go for a nice ride up the Great River Road and enjoy the scenery at my own pace.

And sometimes, it's the pace you take - fast or slow - which makes you realize what piece of mind is about. I'm not sure one can find piece of mind in the city of St. Louis. But it sure is here in the Riverbend.

Union NO Vote Robs The Community of Jobs

I'm not going to rant on a national company which started as a local concern. Nope. The story is not new to the area - the company is held by people who have NO relation to the founders. They don't live here, and they truly are like every other corporate board: concerned about keeping the doors open.



THIS NOTE IS ABOUT A BUNCH OF 21st Century UNION PEOPLE:



(FIRST SENTENCE) ---- Well, thanks you jerks, idiots, stupid people, morons.



You THINK you're right in doing what you did. But, in fact, you're just going to find yourself wishing you'd actually listened to what others were telling you.



First off --- if you've been in a job for 35 years - and it's 2010 --- you should just freaking be GLAD to have a job at all. Or, listen to the others who have been working for 10 or 15 years and HEAR that you're retirement is going to dry up pretty soon after you've done what you've just done.



I'm talking about the members of a union in East Alton who voted - for a second time - against a contract being proposed to them by Olin. It wasn't a pretty contract, no, because it was filled with wage concessions, loss of matching 401K funds, elimination of a fifth week of vacation to senior-tenured members of the union who worked at the centerfire manufacturing operation, and other things which may or may not have been accurately portrayed by those union members who spoke to others outside the union. Meanwhile the results of that "no" vote means one thing to the people of the metropolitan area - the Riverbend and beyond: 900 union jobs and altogether perhaps more than one-thousand jobs in the region will DISAPPEAR because THE UNION MEMBERS just --- read the first sentence again to see what they ARE.



Let's review something here. 2010 - a time when the economy is bad.

Olin happens to make ammunition at this particular operation --- and we have a presidential administration which doesn't want war, doesn't much care for bullets and other ammo being made, let alone it being sold to the public. The company is looking at the bottom line. They have to look at all areas of their operation in order to make ends meet in a bad economic climate and a government which doesn't think highly of such an operation in the first place and do their best as a company to not go bankrupt. So, they stockpile the goods, sell the goods at a higher rate and price than the competition, and the company is trying to stockpile money because they know they have to possibly layoff workers, not just here, but in other operations. They have cost-cutting in mind, so they can save the company.

Meanwhile, a union member just sees what they want to see: the company is making profits, the company wants concessions in order to save more money because they will have to find ways of making their bottom line better - which means the union member may have to give up something.



Oh darn. You may miss a fifth week of vacation, a vacation "bonus", a matching fund for a few years. What is your mind thinking about here?



It's my guess that most people in the region believe YOU WANT EVERYONE TO LOSE THEIR JOB!!!



Olin had said it was considered moving it's Centerfire Manufacturing Operation to Mississippi if this vote turned out the same way a vote did three weeks ago. Well...you're gonna lose your jobs. And you've CAUSED OTHERS to lose their jobs, too!



WEDNESDAY - OLIN ANNOUNCED THEY WILL BE CLOSING THE CENTERFIRE OPERATION in EAST ALTON and MOVING THE JOBS TO MISSISSIPPI.



This isn't a joke.



BUT YOU so-called "people" who voted "no" ARE A JOKE, mister and misses and miss union member who in doing so also made clear that they voted "no to continuing other related jobs for the community".



I know there are reasons you may THINK you were right in voting "no jobs" --- but you were dead wrong. And I'm not one to pussyfoot around this issue at all --- I was a union member myself for a national company which had a local office and watched as my former (I'd already separated from the job) co-workers lost their jobs because of a company with a legal jackal.



But when you stop to consider YOUR NO VOTE is taking jobs from NOT JUST YOU, but other companies when Olin moves to Mississippi...does it make sense to you that your families are now going to start suffering --- and if you've only been there 10 years and voted "no" on this contract, you didn't really understand what you were saying. You said "I really don't care if they go or not. I want my job, but not if I have to give up something else."



You didn't think at all. You decided for everyone else because for you, "it's my way or the highway". Selfish bums.

Union Membership at Olin: WE DO NOT WANT OUR JOBS - OR ANY OTHER JOBS - TO STAY HERE!

Sure, my headline is inflammatory, and over-the-top.

It's not accurate to say the entire membership of a union says it does not want the jobs it currently holds.

But it may be more true than inaccurate due to the vote taken last weekend to reject a new contract with Olin Corporation - a contract which was filled with concessions that union members are said to not be happy with having been presented after weeks of negotiations between union officials, company officials and state and local politicians involved in trying to hammer out a compromise agreement. Armed with the knowledge that the corporate entity is looking at cost savings and possibly moving approximately one-thousand jobs to Oxford, Mississippi, the union members were presented a contract that their own union officials AGREED TO with the company. This is to say that the heads of the union made concessions in the language of the contract proposal they deemed necessary in order to get a contract they believed union members SHOULD AGREE TO because of the potential loss of ALL of their jobs over a period of time.

But, whether it was due to rumors because someone did not like a particular concession and spread it, whether it was due to rumors because someone misread part of the contract, whether it was due to rumors due to --- who cares what the reasons were because there were rumors floating about at the time of the vote? Members got a contract, probably had it explained to them by their union head, their union shop stewards, their friends, and people they just sat near when the pieces of paper were being glanced at or combed through or --- again, who cares how I interpret how they read it --- they looked, listened to whatever extent they listened and decided they did not want the contract. In essence workers who make an above-average wage voted against a contract that would have allowed them to continue to work at their jobs for at least another year without the potential that the company would change its mind and close up the centerfire operation in East Alton before the end of 2011.

Well, ya blew it. And everyone but the union members who voted against the contract realized that it was setting up this scenario: Olin will take the centerfire operation out of the area because the union costs the company bottom line too much.

BEFORE you union people get all upset with me, let me explain some things to you about ME.

I have been a voting member of a union. My father was a voting member of a union. My grandfather was a voting member of more than one union. I have a work history with union representatives, do work with a group SPONSORED by a union. In short, I am not dissing having a union. Unions were formed, historically, to ensure workers safety and allowed for contractual obligations to be negotiated faithfully for decades. And in many cases the unions in the United States of America played a great part in making our economic engines purr right along. But - times have changed, legislators made the laws tighter on some areas and looser on other areas which have led to corporate giants having the upper hand. Unions, weakened over time, no longer hold the winning cards. Union members do not have the right attitude for the times. Union members who think "we need this, that and more" when looking at a contract that has language filled with concessions must not be looking at the overall picture when it is much more important to see the overall picture than the one in their own mind. This truly is "you can't see the forest for the trees" mentality I am talking about. The honest truth is that union members who voted against the Olin contract were not seeing the impact it will have WAY PAST their own home.

Let's go here: how many jobs will be lost when Olin pulls its centerfire operation out of East Alton in however many months or years it takes to be fully gone?

Starting point: approximately 900 "current" jobs will be lost at Olin's centerfire operation. This is because the number of retirees will be up before the company actually pulls out of East Alton --- and they won't be replacing those workers with temporary workers.

Secondary work - completely guessing on my part: those who currently do simple jobs but are not under union rules or contract will number around 100 or so - these are people who do not do what the union can control, such as directly working for Olin in the part of the plant where packing the packaging takes place, or in peripheral areas such as administrative assistants, safety and loss prevention personnel, and other administrative functions which will be lost to the Riverbend but may be shipped off to Mississippi. These jobs are just as necessary for our economy as those 900 to 1000 union workers jobs. But, for the trees in front of their faces, the union membership didn't realize there was a forest. The trees are their own paychecks in the economic stream of society and the forest is the overall money exchange in the economic stream.
From being uncaring about others or being ignorant of how huge the impact of their "no" vote, the union members who voted down the contract made a loud and clear statement last Sunday:
"WE DO NOT WANT TO WORK UNDER THESE CONDITIONS, AND WE DON'T CARE WHO ELSE IT HURTS!"

This mindset, frankly, is completely unproductive when it is the opinion of one small segment of society. And --- I remind all of you who are related to or are members of the union membership who said "no" to those concessions --- you are not the majority opinion of the public at large in times such as these. Not only are you not the majority opinion, but you're so much in the minority opinion that when you lose your jobs and cannot find a replacement job at anywhere near the $20 per hour or more than you WERE making (see, it is no longer ARE making once you lose your jobs, guys), you'll wish you had listened to everyone who told you that the only way you would save your job is to vote "yes" on the concessions even if it hurts your pride.

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I had a job with a company in the 1990s and was unfairly dismissed by a new boss. When that boss was gone, my old boss was back and rehired me. By this time the company had a union contract in place with my co-workers. The union had wiggled its way into the company between times I had worked there and was getting some good things out of the contracts. My wage when I came back to work at the company was much improved, and I liked that fact. Over a few years, I got raises, my co-workers got raises, and the company was bought by a bigger corporation - a conglomerate who has a powerful attorney. The rumors that went around during contract negotiations were many. We weren't the biggest union nor the tightest union, but we were a union and had a good attorney of our own negotiating on our behalf. Negotiations kept going for months and our good attorney was replaced by a better attorney. We had high hopes that we'd be able to get a contract hammered out and keep our jobs safe for the period of the contract. But by the time the contract was negotiated and to be voted upon, our members were unhappy because of some concessions - but the company was every bit as unhappy with the union. It took place in the 21st Century when times are different. The weakened contract was ratified, the union members were actually happy to have the jobs we had. The company, however, made sure the union didn't have enough power. Terms had weakened the position of the members --- not because of how our attorney negotiated, but because we all knew by this time that the company was going to start closing offices --- starting with offices where there were union contracts in place. This (at the time) was a nationwide company with more than 250 markets being served by this company. The corporate greed lovers said "we must have a better bottom line, and if you have that many employees to pay, you're not keeping our bottom line good enough for the stockholders. You must do something to make the stock prices good enough." And so a few months later, with many of us sitting there knowing how the climate was changing, I again lost my job, thanks to the corporate attorney and his way of figuring out how to eliminate positions one by one. This was followed by more workers losing their jobs. And eventually the entire office was closed in St. Louis. As far as I know, there are fewer than ten jobs remaining here --- but they are not paid from an office in St. Louis because that office is closed. I'm not even sure they are under a current union contract. But it should be noted that more than 15 people lost jobs because that company had the upper hand in this economic climate --- legislation allowed them to close offices due to "cost overruns" they probably brought on themselves. The union --- well, I haven't had to pay any dues since I lost my job. I don't have a job related to that union, and since the union did not exist in my life long enough for me to have any kind of investments I can say without reservation that I hope they are doing well without me. I can also say that I have seen the company wither after closing office after office across the country. Someone at the corporate office couldn't see the forest for the trees, either. Eventually the corporate attorney will leave that job and retire in his 40s for all the bonus money he made by closing offices and killing thousands of jobs. The company will be weakened because it could not continue to profit with fewer employees working. The union --- well, it was only in a few markets and doesn't have the power it once had --- will continue to negotiate from a weakened position and, hopefully, its members will still have benefits and good wages. But it is possible that "good" wages aren't even what I was making for the company ten years ago, and "benefits" are pretty much a joke now anyway, so why bother? The members wouldn't be able to afford insurance at the prices being offered or at the "good" wages which aren't as good.
This is the 21st Century plan --- work for less money, beg for insurance that you can afford (and not get it), and watch the corporations weaken themselves all the while the stockholders beg for more out of their pieces of paper.

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The big picture is this: if you want things to continue in a positive manner, you never do something as rash as voting down a few concessions that will keep your jobs. Also, from the corporate standpoint, if you disarm yourself by closing plants and moving jobs, you'll suffer losses.

This, my dear union friends at Olin, is what is called a LOSE-LOSE proposition. You have voted down a contract which would have kept your jobs and the jobs of others here. Olin will move its centerfire operations and many of those jobs but, meanwhile, will be losing business a few years from now after they find out that they made a bad decision in moving because it will, overall, eventually cost them too much to rebuild what they had here.

I just wanted you to know, in case the reason you voted "no" was that you felt corporate greed was overtaking everything you worked so hard in achieving. All will lose because of your "no" vote.

Job Saving, Job Movement, Job Stealing

Looking at the various Riverbend area sources for news over the past two weeks, since a rather startling piece of news came out of Olin Corp. regarding the Winchester centerfire operations and the company taking into consideration moving the approximately 1000 jobs to their plant in Oxford, Mississippi, it came as no surprise that there have been several stories about how the different local political operators are discussing how to stop the blood-letting that losing this operation would be to the entire economy of this region.

Stop.

Only the local and regional politicians and entities are doing this. Once again, no help from the state house, the state senate, the governor. Just "concern" they may - or may not - have noted for reporters who ask them about the possible loss of one-thousand jobs in East Alton and the surrounding communities which would lose several hundred more with the closure of the centerfire operation here.

Again --- stop. The local and regional persons are taking action. The rest of Illinois is sitting idly by and going to watch as we lose this business.

IT IS TIME --- permit me to be the person who has the guts to say this --- TO TAKE ALL OF THE MANUFACTURING FROM CHICAGOLAND/NORTHERN ILLINOIS AND MOVE THOSE JOBS TO THIS AREA.

No, I'm not kidding. They don't support "downstate" EVER, do they?

We have cheaper wages here than in northern Illinois and Chicago. All we have to do is the same thing that the other states and communities are doing: go to the CEOs and CFOs of the manufacturers in the northern half of the state, plead our case to be "a better quality of life" and "cheaper wages" and "you don't have to change your tax status much, just conform to the local county and city wages and you'll be much better off on your bottom line."

Who wants to do this? I can only bet that the people of southwestern Illinois and the Riverbend would look at this and say "we agree, but nobody wants to put up that kind of a fight against those crooks up north."
Don't tell me you don't hear all those naysayers. I sure do. They are whining, "We're too weak to face up to them" or "they'll start raiding our jobs as soon as we take one plant away from them" --- and too many similar cries of "we can't..." because they don't want to take the time to TRY and see if we can get those manufacturing jobs back here.

I, for one, am sick and tired of seeing lazy. I'm sick and tired of being lazy. But when I get told to "quiet down before someone hears you" --- then I get really sick of being around whomever is telling me that.
Look, I was not born to be quiet, as anyone who listens to me personally can attest. I sing, I talk for a living, I write blogs and news articles and manufacture public relations pieces. There is nothing quiet about my life's work. So, please to those who will whine that I'm standing for something wrong --- tell me how wrong you are FIRST for not standing up and making things better, and THEN I will apologize for being outspoken and telling it like it is.

I would gladly apologize for scaring you half to death if only YOU WOULD DO what is necessary to keep the economic engines running.

The problem with this reality --- this isn't just a scene, but the reality of today's world and those whiners who say "don't do whatever it is you want to do" --- is that we all live in it and if we cannot see any one of you taking this stand EVEN THOUGH you know in your minds and hearts that if someone does take this stand our region will have a fighting chance to recover, then , truly I say to you --- it is assured that YOU ARE THE PROBLEM. Yes, if you're not willing to stand up and help, if you're going to whine --- you are the problem. Put up or shut up. You'll be the first ones to say "shut up" and the last ones to "put up a fight" --- so, therefore, you are the problem.


STOP your whining and get off your collective butts and make noise, or we'll be a region without any manufacturing jobs --- in a region with a heritage of great manufacturing plants.

Get on the phone with the CFOs and CEOs of those manufacturers who are in northern Illinois and Chicagoland and promote this region now by saying: "We offer cheaper labor costs, a MUCH BETTER cost of living and doing business, and overall quality of life that is as good or better than what you have now."

If you tell me, personally, the names of companies you want to see here, I'll make the phone calls to the CEOs and CFOs myself. I don't need to be "in power" to make a decision like that. I just need someone to direct me to the person or company and give me phone numbers.

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It's the power of the people who know things can be changed for the better who will have a positive impact on our society.

Frankly, I'm willing to be outspoken and tell others what's good about this region, even if I have to be the bad guy who helps steal jobs and bring them here.

And you cannot tell me they didn't do it first. Look at those so-called crooked politicians up there. They certainly didn't do anything...to help our region.

Things Are Moving Forward: Entertainment

I posted about the Spectrum Entertainment Group in June. Since then the group has begun producing a concert series, starting with events at the upper ballroom at the Alton Eagles Club, 424 E. Broadway in Alton.

They produced Boom! and Boom! II --- featuring (a bit obviously) Boom, a St. Louis band known for its many years in the club Kicks at the Marriott West. Two weekends of crowds showed that there is something to be showcased.

Now it's a series called "Swingin' on Broadway" - again at the Alton Eagles Club. First two weeks featuring swing dance lessons and time to get out and dance. On August 22, the concert will feature "Miss Jubilee and the Humdingers" - who have a pretty good reputation among the music circle followers in the region.

I'm posting the latest poster for this Sunday night's event featuring "The Swing Kid" and his lessons.

I am so excited because now there is even more proof that "The 3D Entertainment Capitol of the World" is Alton, Illinois (and the Riverbend in general).

There are other things planned and I will post that information as I can. Also, you can see what Spectrum Entertainment Group has planned at www.facebook.com/spectrumentertainmentgroup