I gave blood today at the Adams County Courthouse.

Giving never felt so good.

You’ve heard a million times how important it is to give blood, how desperate the need is, how you never know if it’s going to be you that needs the gift of life.

It’s all true.

A lot of people are scared of giving blood because they think it hurts. It doesn’t. It just takes a little time.

Today’s blood drive at the courthouse was well-run, and the Red Cross staff was great. Gayla, the team leader, has a great sense of humor, and everybody makes you feel comfortable.

They do prick your finger to draw blood for your iron count. I look the other way, because I’m squeamish about stuff like that. In my job, I’ve seen blood and guts that would knock most people down, and it’s 
no big deal, but it’s different when it’s your own deal.

When Gayla put the needle in, I barely felt the prick. It took just a few minutes. A drink of water and a granola bar later, I was on my way back to work.

Please consider giving. It feels good! And the "I Gave Blood Today" sticker looks great on the guitar case, too!

Four years ago to the day, Herald-Whig photographer Jeanne Long passed away in Quincy.

Jeanne was at South Park doing what she loved when she fell ill on a cool spring day. She took pictures of kids playing on the swings. She headed out but made it only as far as the fire station at 12th and Jackson.

And she was gone.

I miss Jeanne a lot. She was always smiling, always positive. One New Year’s Eve I went to her house after working and played guitar and hooted and hollered until the wee hours, and I remember laughing until my side hurt.

We have a television studio just off the newsroom. It used to be our photography department. I think of Jeanne a lot when I go in there.

Yesterday I walked through the cemetery where she’s buried and saw her smiling face once again on her tombstone, and it was good.

Miss you a lot, Jeanne.

The story of Michelle Riley and five others charged with first-degree murder in connection with a former Quincy woman in Alton is shocking and disturbing.

Two of the other five are Michelle’s children. They allegedly tortured Dorothy Dixon to death in Alton over a period of six to eight weeks, Alton investigators said.

The Herald-Whig did a major feature story about Michelle about a year ago as part of a poverty package. She overcame drug addiction and huge obstacles to get a good job and better life for her children. She was clear-eyed, engaging and honest during the interview.

You couldn’t help but root for her.

Michelle was the poster child for several agencies for her determination and ability to get help and make it work for her.

One thing to remember about all this — Michelle, her two kids and the other two people haven’t been convicted yet, and there will be a lot more to this story before it’s all said and done.

It will be a long time, and maybe never, before we
know the circumstances that led to them leaving
Quincy for Alton, and just what took place there.

Hard to believe it’s been two years since Monroe City was smacked by a tornado which caused millions of dollars of damage.

Wednesday was the official two-year anniversary. I remember getting up and being told to not even come to the office, but to head straight to the scene.

It was a cold and sunny morning and the winds were still fierce the day after the storm. The devastation was mind-boggling. There was debris everywhere. Metal wrapped in trees, vehicles knocked over, homes completely gone …. the awesome power of the storm left you reeling.

It was also strange to see damage to a house while just yards away it was like nothing had happened.

I remember Milton Baumgardner, pastor of First Baptist Church, looking at his ruined structure with a steely glint in his eye, and the church members getting ready to dig in. And the emergency workers and city officials fighting off numbing fatigue and trying to take one thing at a time.

Monroe City got through it, though the scars are still visible.

Here’s to hoping it never happens to us here in Quincy.

So I’m driving past a gas station the other day when I noticed the price for a gallon of gas.

And I almost crashed the car.

Gas is nearly $3.40 a gallon? It was 50 cents a gallon cheaper last time I filled up.

I could tell you what I said, but this is a family-owned media outlet and I like my job and want to keep it.

In the end, is there anything you can do? Drive a little less? Walk a little more? Curse out oil-rich nations holding us hostage? Wonder why car companies can’t figure out a way to make vehicles run on cheaper forms of energy?

I need to fill up soon. And probably go to the dentist after grinding my teeth when I see how much it costs.

More bad news for Van Halen fans — Eddie Van Halen’s “medical tests to define a course of treatment” for an undisclosed illness have torpedoed the spring tour, including the March 30 show in St. Louis.

This is the second time Van Halen, which reunited with original frontman David Lee Roth last year, has canceled the St. Louis show. I bet our Quincy friend Rocky Marcola is going crazy — he’s been all fired up for months about the show.

Van Halen, 53, has battled cancer and substance abuse in years past.

Wait a second. EDDIE VAN HALEN IS 53 YEARS OLD?

That’s rock and roll in what the band Boston coined “Corporate America” these days. No offense to the formerly hard-living Eddie, one of the greatest guitar players ever, but when you get up there in years, stuff happens. Here’s to hoping he gets better soon.

Rescheduled dates will be announced shortly.

Maybe Geritol can be a sponsor when Van Halen hits the road again.

How long does it take you to adjust to losing an hour?

A friend who gets to work very early in the morning says it takes almost a week to get adjusted. For most it’s probably a day or two.

Daylight saving time is not observed in Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Hawaii or Arizona. However, the Navajo Nation utilizes daylight saving time, even in the state of Arizona, because of its large size and location in three states.

This morning in Edina, Mo., there were motion hearings for the brother and sister accused of killing Knox City resident Larry Callahan in 2006.

The hearing was about changing judges in the case, and was supposed to start at 9 a.m. Judge Richard Steele ambled into the courtroom at about 9:15, greeted various people with friendly handshakes.

Then Knox County Sheriff Mike Kite asked everybody to rise and court was in session.

The judge read a “roll call” and went through every case. This brought confusion because when people heard their names called, they came to the front, only to be told they’d be called back later.

The hearing for Roberts started. Not three minutes into it, Steele suddenly stopped the hearing, motioned for another person to come forward, and spent 10 minutes listening to the man explain why he hadn’t paid restitution on his probation case. The attorneys in the Roberts case patiently waited and didn’t seem to think it was a big deal.

The hearing for Roberts resumed and finished. Then Knowles had her hearing. Her attorney said they were trying to find another judge to oversee the case, and he asked for a recess to call the Missouri Attorney General’s office to finalize selection of a new judge.

After about 20 minutes, the judge and lawyers came back from chambers. The lawyers packed their stuff up and left, and nothing was said about the new judge.

Only after tracking down one of the attorneys did I find out who was selected to hear the case.

I am not saying this is wrong, and every judge and courtroom has quirks and procedures. I like the people in Knox County, including the sheriff and the circuit clerk, James Gibbons, who’s been really helpful during this case.

Just a little different and interesting. That’s all.

In Saturday’s Herald-Whig, I will have a column about two longtime smokers who recently quit. It basically details their experiences, why they stopped, how hard it’s been, and one rather interesting side effect from anti-smoking medication.

I’ve never smoked and never will, save for an occasional cigar.

Just curious — has the state ban on smoking in bars and restaurants led to more people quitting?

A story posted on our site about the Farm & Home Supply thefts shows how the web has changed what we do as a news-gathering operation.

It used to be we stuck to the daily newspaper deadline, only in rare occasions “stopping the press” for breaking news. During the week, if a story broke in the afternoon, all we could do was wait for the next day to publish it.

Not anymore. The Internet has pretty much eliminated the daily deadline. When we got the information for the theft story, we put it online with a video link of the surveillance tape, almost 18 hours before it appeared in the print edition of The Herald-Whig.

It’s for the better. Reporters worth their salt will tell you they operate better with looming deadlines. Gone are the days of relaxing when we stumble on a big story after deadline.

I like the new challenge.