We don't write papers, we build scrapbooks
We don't write papers, we build scrapbooks
Sorted by date Results 601 - 625 of 1301
There is an old sports axiom that points out how hard it is to beat a team three times in the same season ... especially when they are good. But the Warren/Stockton Warhawks played the villain role to a "T" as they knocked off a formidable Fulton squad for the third time in the Sectional semi-finals to end their season in a 4-1 game that was dominated by Warhawk starter Caleb Mammoser. In the top of the first inning, Austin Chumbler smacked a single, stole second, then beat the throw home on a...
Coming into the Sectional Championship game, Warhawk head coach Jim Nielsen knew that the keys would be solid defense, and making sure they didn't leave too many runs on base. "We left a lot of runs on base against Fulton, and we can't afford to do that," Nielsen pointed out. More prophetic words were never spoken. The Warhawks had Newman on the ropes. After plating two runs in the first inning, they held a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second with the bases loaded and only one out. Ian...
I usually know exactly what I’m going to write about for my column, but every once-in-awhile, I do try and get a second opinion. So, when in doubt, I call my attorney. “Hey, it’s me. I have a question.” “Why do I think this is going to be dangerous?” “What’s the statute of limitations on destroying a mailbox?” “You did what?” “I never said I did it. But let’s just say - hypothetically - that I knew someone who was, well, accidentally, ... somehow, ... possibly, ... involved in destroying a mailb...
In the first inning of their Regional opener at home against Milledgeville, the Stockton/Warren Warhawks were, well ... not in sync. A soft floater over second fell for a hit, a shot to left was misjudged and went over the fielder's head, and those plays counted as hits! Add in the two errors, and the Warhawks were lucky to get out of the inning only down 2-0. "We were so flat in practice yesterday," said assistant coach Dean Zink, "the slow start had me scared we were going to lose." The Warhaw...
The Lena-Winslow Panthers will always remember their Regional semi-final game against Eastland as "One that Got Away", while the Cougars will forever think of it as "The Cougar Come Back." But no matter which team you rooted for nobody could argue that they witnessed one of the finest softball games of the year. The game turned against the Panthers very early as senior centerfielder, Kamryn Cain, smashed an RBI in the first inning to put the Panthers up 1-0. But she then tried to pull off a dela...
Lena-Winslow head coach Nick Werhane had plenty of worries going into the Panther's Regional semi-final against Alden-Hebron, but all of them proved to be pointless as his squad played an excellent defensive ball game in cruising to the 6-1 victory and a date in Saturday's Regional championship. We're officially changing Drew Streckwald's name to Drew Sit-em-down as the junior threw four strong innings – striking out five. Alden-Hebron jumped out early to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first i...
Both the Galena Pirates and Aquin Bulldogs came into their Regional semi-final with the same plan – save your ace pitcher to take on Lena-Winslow in the championship. But that meant that they both had to dig down into their pitching depth to try and knock each other off. For Galena, that meant Joe Heller, and for Aquin, they turned to Cade Geiken. Judging from what took place in the first inning ... both plans failed. Aquin jumped on Heller early with big hits from Evan Broge to get things s...
The Lena-Winslow Panthers were awarded the Regional title with their 3-2 victory and will compete in the Sectional Tournament, but anybody and everybody who witnessed the game against the Galena Pirates knew ... nobody lost. Words won't do the game justice as what was expected to be a pitching duel turned into a defensive masterpiece put on display by both teams – with Herculean efforts on the mound as Ethan Hefel of Galena and Ethan Fye of Lena-Winslow battled it out. The Panthers jumped out t...
The senior prank stories keep coming in, and what I just heard took place at Aquin could be a classic … not by the students, but by the parents! You see, apparently, the seniors pulled a couple of pranks on a pair of popular teachers. One had her classroom totally covered in toilet paper – complete with a hanging wall when you opened the door. While the other had his entire floor covered by red solo cups – all half filled with water – we’re talking the entire floor was covered by thousands...
Just when people were beginning to get excited about the upcoming Taste of Lena scheduled to be held on June 11th, a controversy suddenly erupted that prompted angry phone calls to our office. "How could the Lions let Laser Take away the Taste?" "I thought Laser was done, why are they butting in?" "You have to look into this Stevens!" So, we did some digging. And are happy to report, that as it turns out, the controversy followed that of a Shakespearean Classic – Much Ado About Nothing. And h...
I need to begin by giving some kudos to the Lena-Winslow senior class. Apparently, they took my column about senior pranks to heart and pulled off a good one - listing the nice truck owned by Principal Mark Kuehl on the Facebook Marketplace. From what I heard, he was inundated with phone calls from people looking to buy it. And fortunately, he took it in stride - seeing it for what it was, and laughing it off - some might have gone overboard and gotten mad. But the way I see it, it only shows...
I don't think we've ever had to suffer through a Spring season that was as uncooperative – in terms of weather – as this year. Whether it was the constant rain, the cold, or now the sudden heat wave – life on the ball diamonds has been miserable. Congratulations go out to the Warren/Stockton Warhawks, Lena-Winslow Panthers and Eastland Cougars in baseball, along with the East Dubuque Warriors, Pearl City Wolves and Forreston Cardinals in softball for winning their respective conference title...
My apologies to all area principals, but now that graduation is upon us and most seniors are out of school - I can do what seems to be turning into almost an annual column. The topic, if you haven’t guessed yet, is about senior pranks. At least when I was in school, it was the traditional obligation of the seniors who were leaving school to mark their exit with some form of “prank”. The key is that it can’t be vandalism. One year when I was in school, some idiots tried to take a chainsa...
Baseball 1. Lena-Winslow 13 – 4 Panthers have figured it out - strong pitching and a lineup that is murdering the ball right now. 2. Eastland 10 – 6 Big wins over both Forreston and Warren/Stockton vault the Cougars up to the #2 spot. 3. Fulton 11 – 2 Steemers continue to cruise through their schedule, but it's not an impressive on right now. 4. Warren/Stock 14 – 4 Warhawks had a bad week as both Eastland and East Dubuque took them down. Need to rebound. 5. Forreston 10 – 3 Cardinals are stumb...
A lot of stuff has been coming in recently in regard to Summer Camps, and that got me thinking about when I was a kid and going to YMCA camp. Every year my parents sent my brother, sister and I off to camp at Camp Tecumseh in Brookston Indiana. For a full week, we slept in the little cabins they had that were divided up by age and gender – as the youngest in my family, I was down in the cabin with the other ten, or eleven year olds, while my brother was with the “big” kids – 13 to 14 – and m...
It was like something out of a dream … There I was, in an Apache attack helicopter, flying over a vast wooded area. Sitting next to me, with one hand on my thigh, was none other than Michelle Pfeiffer – not the Michelle Pfeiffer from Scarface who was attitudinal and too skinny – but the Michelle Pfeiffer from What Lies Beneath and Dangerous Minds. Now, admittedly, I love my wife dearly, but Michelle Pfeiffer … yeah, I’d be willing to burn in hell for her. Anyway, there we were flying over the...
We got a much stronger response than we thought we would in regard to what things to cut from the paper. The puzzle page didn’t make it – best comment about it was that too much of it was geared towards little kids, and our market is more High School kids and their parents. However, many did like the puzzles, so we are going to look for some stand-alone puzzles we can put in. The Court Report got a big reaction both ways, but the best idea we got came in from Joe Vaske who asked why we cou...
Baseball 1. Forreston 7 – 0 Cardinals claim the top spot with Warhawks loss at Lena. Only team that is unblemished so far. 2. Warren/Stock 8 – 2 Warhawks just couldn't get the key hit against the Panthers and slip in the rankings to #2. 3. Fulton 6 – 2 Most people don't get to see Fulton much, but they continue to put up impressive numbers. 4. Lena-Winslow 6 – 4 Panthers seem to be hitting their stride with huge win over the Warhawks. Will it last? 5. East Dubuque 4 – 4 Warriors took down Gale...
Very few things can immediately instill a cold shiver down the spine, but in my household, the words “Stevens project” instantly creates that sense of impending doom. “Stevens Projects” got their name while I was growing up – there was the time my father through it would be a great idea to create a road through the 20+ acres of woods in the back of our property over to our neighbor’s house a quarter mile away who also butted up to the same woods. Of course, nobody but yours truly had ever ac...
Concerns seem to be misplaced regarding recent actions voted upon by the Freeport Park District. Specifically, at their April 5 meeting, the Park Board voted to declare the two homes owned by the Park District – one at the entrance to Krape Park, and the other on the Park Hills Golf Course – to be declared, "Surplus Property." By making the declaration, it allows the District to either sell the property, rent them, or tear them down to make room for some other purpose – but that's what spark...
Ever feel like you’re a burden to your team? Normally, my evenings are spent covering a sporting event throughout the region. But that all changes in the Spring when Softball and Baseball tend to end before seven o’clock at night, so I actually get to see my wife and spend some time at home. And with bad weather canceling games … we actually had time to go out and “do” something – an activity which is normally relegated to the Summer months when school is not in session. Anyway, one of the event...
Whenever people talk to me about other local newspapers in the region, a criticism I keep hearing is how, “It’s so thin, there’s nothing in it.” Well, by now, that same sentiment is probably hitting you as you’re holding our paper this week – so let me explain the decisions we are facing. Inflation is hitting everyone – take one look at the price of gas, and every grocery shopper in the family can attest to how some products have climbed dramatically in price, or are simply too hard to find....
Once again it's time for our All Area Boys Basketball team, but a major point needs to be made before I begin. As many who followed them throughout the season know, I was particularly enamored with the Scales Mound Hornets this season – the biggest reason, was because of how unselfish they were, and played as a cohesive unit. Because of that, it was simply impossible to separate them out into a first or second unit, because I firmly believe – if any part of that equation had been missing, the...
It had been three years since the Stockton gym could present a theatrical performance, and the fans were obviously hungry for one as the gym was packed to capacity for their production of Footloose last weekend. People wanted to be treated, and the Stockton kids came through with flying colors. Let's begin with the problems, because there were a lot of them – but that would be expected when trying to rekindle what hadn't been done for three years. The technicals were ... well ... in a word ...
A long time ago, back when I was writing this column for a different publication, I did a piece on “Woman Speak” which somehow made it to the point where it came back at me several years later over the internet as many people altered, or tweaked it, then posted it online. So, while I’m sure many of you might have read some version of this, here is the original column that got the whole thing started. I think it’s fair to say that women are complex creatures. But until I got married, the levels...
