Rambling through central Illinois, remembering Yukon Cornelius.
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Should someone under age 21 be allowed to own a gun or ammunition? Isn’t that a constitutional right? Or is it only OK for people under 21 to touch guns while toiling in the military and putting their lives at risk? And when will we finally decide what age constitutes adulthood? 18? 21? 75? Those are among many questions worth asking in regards to House Bill 5855, which will generate plenty of headlines between now and its appearance during the Jan. 4-10 lame-duck session of the Illinois legislature. Worth noting is that the bill was pushed out of the recent veto session – when passage would have required a two-thirds majority – to the lame-duck meeting, when it needs only a simple majority to become law. … HB 5855 would take away the right to own guns or ammunition for any residents under 21, unless they serve in the U.S. military or National Guard. The bill would also outlaw the manufacture, delivery or sale of an “assault weapon,” an “assault weapon” attachment, a .50-caliber rifle or a .50-caliber cartridge. Even possession of those firearms would be illegal within 300 days of passage, unless the firearm is registered with the Illinois State Police. … Gun owners should read the bill’s full text, which is available online and lists firearms that would be outlawed – including AR15s.
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Every family has holiday traditions, some of which center around watching a favorite movie or TV program. In our house we watch “It’s a Wonderful Life’’ every year, and I still remember every scene from “A Charlie Brown Christmas’’ and the animated “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” show featuring Burl Ives as a singing snowman. Add another must-watch to the list. After struggling to get in the Christmas spirit last weekend, my wife wisely suggested watching “The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.” The new 44-minute special available on Disney+ was, for me, an instant classic. The premise of the special is funny and, except for some cursing and a little violence, it offers heart-warming fare. If you enjoy the Guardians you will like this show – which will be replayed every year for decades in our household.
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While readers may not have noticed a recent change in the distribution of our paper, we are now mailing The Prairie News out of Elmwood, instead of Toulon. Why the change? Well, the Toulon Post Office told us they could no longer guarantee when our paperwork would be done and that the earliest we could drop off papers was 9 a.m. That’s a significant change from past practice and creates problems, since we must deliver papers to numerous other post offices in order to get them delivered in a timely fashion. Many of those post offices have limited hours, an unfortunate trend in rural areas. Unfortunately, our decision could impact the future of the Toulon post office. It’s no secret the U.S. Postal Service is not a money-making operation. It’s also no secret the Postal Service is increasingly closing rural post offices or cutting their hours. Often, the deciding factor is volume. In other words, how much money does your post office generate? The bad news for Toulon is that because of a policy change, the post office will lose more than $1,200 in “volume” every week. If that worries you, I suggest you speak with your postmaster.
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Black squirrels were a hot topic recently after a cold day of deer hunting. My buddy The Farmer asked if Elmwood had imported our black squirrels from Galva, which apparently also has a population of the rodents. My guess is Elmwood’s population migrated east from Yates City. Furthermore, I’ve seen several skinny little black squirrels on the eastern outskirts of Elmwood, which means they are likely headed east to Brimfield in search of greener trees. … Speaking of squirrels, the other day, we had a fat black squirrel in the yard – unusual since they are typically scrawny. Not this one, which looked like it must have some fox squirrel in its family tree, even though some “experts” say the species do not interbreed.
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Parting shot: Here’s a list of the most and least conservative state legislatures in the U.S. as compiled by the Center for Legislative Accountability based on lawmaker votes for “the conservative position.” Most conservative = 1. Alabama, 2. Tennessee, 3. Indiana, 4. South Dakota, 5. Arkansas, 6. Florida, 7. Idaho, 8. Wyoming, 9. Iowa, 10. West Virginia. Least conservative = 50. Massachusetts, 49. Hawaii, 48. Rhode Island, 47. California, 46. Maryland, 45. Vermont, 44. New York, 43. New Jersey, 42. Connecticut, 41. Oregon, 40. Nevada. Amazingly Illinois checked in at No. 36.
Contact Jeff Lampe at (309) 231-6040 or jeff@wklypost.com
