Much has been written and said about the Quincy Tea Party protesting President Obama’s visit in Quincy Wednesday. Here’s what I wrote for our Thursday edition, and here’s what Steve Eighinger wrote for our Friday edition.

I am not taking any sides. I have no dog in the fight. But I was there, I saw what I saw, and I accurately and fairly reported as best I could what transpired.

By the way, Obama did not send in the riot police. Thank you, Web Warriors.

If I’m in the tea party group, I wouldn’t be happy about seeing those officers standing there. But put yourself in law enforcement’s shoes and ask yourself what you would do.

I respect the opinions of all involved, but don’t compare this to Nazi Germany or the Gestapo. You are only belittling yourself if you do.

Check it out ... by the door ... POTUS get his cheeseburger to go!

I’M NOT A Republican or a Democrat, and I couldn’t care less about people who get blue in the face from either side.

But the President of the United States stopping to get a cheeseburger in Monroe City is HUGE. I just can’t see Bill Clinton or either Bush doing that, could you?

Click here for more and click here for our continous blog coverage of his visit.

Wonder if he’ll zip down to Kutters after his Oakley-Lindsay Center presentation. Tiramisu is just down the street. O’Griffs, if he wants to try a home brew.

Or the Flying Inn just before he hits the airport.

Even the POTUS has to be fed ….

President Barack Obama holds a toddler handed to him from the crowd after the president spoke Tuesday afternoon at Siemens in Fort Madison, Iowa. (H-W Photo/Philip Carlson)

MAYBE IT WAS because the event was invitation-only and the environment was controlled, but President Barack Obama’s visit to the Siemens plant Tuesday came off as carefully planned and staged.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Obama’s trip to Quincy two years ago seemed much more unscripted and off the cuff. Then again, he wasn’t president yet.

A few years before that, when he showed up at the Redmon & Lee Center, there was a genuine rock star reception waiting for him.

Don’t get me wrong — the president got a warm welcome from the Siemens employees and he seemed to enjoy meeting and talking with them.

But the loudest cheer of the day was reserved for when Obama had left the sprawling wind turbine production plant. Employees on all shifts were told they had the rest of the day off with pay, prompting a giant roar.

If I got the day off with pay, I’d let my appreciation be known, too ….

TWO THINGS TO remember as the days get nicer ….

If you are a runner or walker, please use sidewalks when they are available. Try to wear bright clothing and be as visible as possible. Last week I almost hit a jogger near 24th and State who darted out from behind a parked car. The road should be shared, but roads are built for motor vehicles.

By the same token, we need to watch for walkers and joggers when driving, especially early in the morning and in the evening hours.

The Quincy Police Department is also reminding motorists more children are walking to school as the weather warms. School speed zones (20 miles per hour) are in place every school day between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. when children are present. Also remember it’s illegal to talk on a cell phone while driving through a school zone when school speed limits are in effect, unless using a hands free device.

Illinois State Police and Quincy Police Department officers will be conducting joint school zone enforcement details. Personally I would rather see law enforcement doing other things, but you can’t say we haven’t been warned.

Be careful out there!

Pettey

CALVIN DUANE PETTEY, accused of killing his fiance, Sandy Fugate, in Hannibal last week, had some interesting Facebook entries before and after he was arrested.

On Friday, April 16, at 4:04 p.m., a post with Pettey’s name appeared on his site:

“I want to thank everyone for their prayers, well wishes during this extremely difficult time! Tomorrow was to be our wedding day and this morning while at the house picking up some clothes I discovered a photo of Sandy in her wedding dress! I instantly started crying because she looked like a queen! Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers as the hard part is still yet to come!”

Pettey, accused of shooting Fugate to death in her Hannibal home, posted a Facebook entry on Saturday, April 10.:

“Well only 1 more week of freedom before entering the great domain of marriage! She is a nervous wreck! Hope she doesnt pass out at the alter!!!

Sandy Fugate’s reply at 7:47 am on April 12:

“Don’t worry Honey I will be alright once I get to the alter and have you holding me upright! lol Love you!!”

Pettey will have a preliminary hearing for his first-degree murder charge June 14 in Hannibal. Click here for our latest story.

QUINCY NATIVE AMANDA Dickerman Van Ness, who lives in South Bend, Ind. with husband Ben and daughter Olivia, has been researching the family tree and recently made a startling discovery — she is distantly related to President Barack Obama.

Robert Overall and Annie Browning are the president’s fifth generation grandparents and Amanda’s sixth generation grandparents.

“I have been doing my family tree for years, off and on, but with the NBC show about genealogy, it spiked my interest again,” Amanda says. “And WHAM, I found out that crazy piece of info!”

Not only that, but Amanda says Obama appears to have descendants who were born and lived in the Quincy area. The common ancestor between Amanda and the president is the Browning family.

According to material compiled by William Addams Reitwiesner, one of Obama’s great-grandmothers was Ruth Lucille Armour of Plymouth, Ill., born in 1900. A great-great-grandfather, Harry Ellington Armour, was born in Quincy in 1874 and died in Lewis County, Mo. in 1899. Another great-great-grandparent, Gabriella Clark, was born in Ladonnia, Mo., in June 1876.

Canton, Mo., and Knox and Clark counties in Missouri are homes to his ancestors, as well.

For more, click here, here and here.

JWCC President Tom Klincar will pitch an idea Wednesday to trustees to close the campus on summer weekends.

DR. TOM KLINCAR’S proposal to close John Wood Community College from Friday through Sunday on nine summer weekends is sure to spark debate at Wednesday’s board of trustees meeting. Click here for more.

Klincar, JWCC’s president, was given a clear directive by the trustees last year to consider any and all cost-saving measures. The state of Illinois is behind in promised aid to JWCC, and like many public education entities, the school is scrambling with anticipated budget issues.

Klincar proposes closing the college during the summer months to save an anticipated $15,000 to $20,000 a year. Maybe it’s a drop in the bucket of a $14 million annual budget, but this won’t be the last of ideas to save money.

Give credit to Klincar for at least coming up with ideas. By the way, many other community colleges are doing this in the summer months, so it’s not extreme or unusual to cut back.

Trustees Reggie Coleman and Jerry Hagmeier say are not sure how they will vote on the proposal. On the one hand, you can save some money, the college has no classes on Fridays during the summer and staff will work a little longer Monday through Thursday to make up hours.

But what happens if you have a prospective student on a summer Friday morning needing help with counseling or scheduling, or wanting to pay a bill? What happens if by chance you have a person passing through on a Friday who sees the campus at 48th and Harrison and wants to check it out?

No matter how well you advertise it, some people won’t hear about the school going dark on Fridays.

It’s service versus fiscal responsibility, and trustees will likely hammer it out from all angles Wednesday.

The college would be wise to consider the move for this summer only, and revisit the issue again next year.

THE TURNOUT AT last Saturday’s Big Brother And The Holding Company show at the Oakley-Lindsay Center was pathetic — 71 people paid to see the show.

Maybe there aren’t a lot of fans of 60s style music and few people were interested. Maybe most people didn’t realize it was going on. Maybe the $22 at the door scared people off.

The promoter from Iowa took a bath, and that’s not good, either. Not sure if there was much advertising, though I did hear some stuff on one local radio station. Chances are the next time a band wants to come to Quincy with him as the promoter, they will think twice.

Quincy music fans are fickle. The free Blues In The District shows in the summer draw thousands, but the key word is free, plus you can bring your own beverages.

It’s interesting that Bret Michaels sold out one of his Backwaters shows, and had several hundred tickets sold for the second show before both shows were canceled due to his appendix issues.

I hope the Oakley-Lindsay Center will continue to try and have shows. The acoustics are improved and the seats are right by the stage.

The Kentucky HeadHunters are at the OLC on May 20. Let’s see if country music fans show up.

NOW THIS IS a suds bust worthy of making the news …

The Associated Press is reporting two Columbia, Mo., sanitation workers allegedly took dozens of cases of expired brew from the city landfill. Police and city supervisors are trying to determine if the salvage was a crime — theft of city property — or just a policy violation.

“If we determine it’s a police matter, we will take some action,” said Officer Jessie Haden, a Columbia police spokeswoman.

About 50 cases of beer are suspected of disappearing. City officials reviewed video from the landfill and saw the workers drive away with their haul. City officials say they still don’t know what happened to the beer.

When the sanitation workers were confronted on Monday, one quit, the Columbia Tribune newspaper reported. The other could face disciplinary action.
Scheppers President Joe Priesmeyer said the expired beer would not be a health concern, although it might have lost some of its taste. He said expired beer is usually dumped at the Scheppers’ plant unless there is too much for the company to handle.

It’s not unusual for people to want to take some beer, Priesmeyer said.

“Every once in a while, we’ll have some beer get stolen by overzealous people off of our trucks,” he said. “Beer is a popular product.”

Big Brother and the Holding Company comes to Quincy Saturday night for a show at the Oakley-Lindsay Center.

I HAD A great phone interview Tuesday with Sam Andrew, founding member of legendary rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company. BBHC, known for being the band Janis Joplin was in when she burst onto the music scene in the 1960s, is still going strong and plays a show in Quincy Saturday at the Oakley-Lindsay Center. Click here for the band’s Web site.

Our story will be published in Thursday’s Weekender. Andrew was a lot of fun to interview and talked about Joplin, the band’s early days, his passion for music and still being out on the road all these years later.

Hopefully they get a decent crowd at the OLC, which isn’t a bad place at all the have a show now that they’ve done improvements to the acoustics.