THIS IS MY favorite weekend of the year in Quincy, when Gus Macker rolls into town for the annual 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the downtown streets.

Seems like there’s a bunch of stuff going on this weekend. QHS graduation tonight. Some good local bands tonight and tomorrow night, including Fielder at The Blind Pig (get there early, Fielder fans). And lots of ceremonies to honor our the men and women who have served our country.

Don’t let anybody tell you there’s nothing to do in Quincy. Get out there, be safe and enjoy!

QUINCY HIGH SCHOOL girls basketball coach Sandi Devoe resigned Wednesday after seven seasons.

My daughter, Emily, played four years of varsity basketball at QHS. She had the great experience of playing on a team that beat Quincy Notre Dame twice in the postseason, including the 2007 regional semifinals.

The next year, QHS won one game. It was a very long season.

I am only going to say two things about Coach Devoe.

First, she was fair to my daughter. Emily had many different interests and was into music and other things at QHS, and Coach Devoe worked with her to make sure she could play sports and participate in music.

Second, coaches should coach, players should play, and parents should just shut up. I am guilty of not shutting up at times.

I wouldn’t want to be a coach today, that’s for sure.

HANCOCK COUNTY PUBLIC Defender Kam Miller did something you rarely see a defense attorney do in a courtroom.

HIs client, Gary Mason, received a 12-year prison sentence Monday for leaving the scene of a fatal accident last December in Hamilton. Mason was driving a truck with a trailer when the trailer came off and struck another vehicle, killing 6-year-old passenger Emina Smajlovic. Click here for the story.

After the hearing was over, after Mason was escorted out of the courtroom and several of Mason’s family members also left, Miller leaned over the railing in the courtroom and told the Smajlovic family how sorry he was for their loss.

Attorneys have a job to do. I’ve seen hundreds of cases where defense attorneys simply don’t like their own clients, or the victims and their families.

It was a small gesture, and it won’t bring Emina back, but seemed to be genuine.

THE HUNT IS on for the Chicago man suspected of shooting to death Quincy resident Ian Barksdale at the 30th and Broadway Hardee’s parking lot early Sunday morning.

For more, click here.

Authorites say Diaz may be armed and he is considered dangerous. They say a check of his criminal record shows Diaz has at least three drug-related convictions and a possession of a stolen vehicle conviction.

U.S. marshals are searching for Phillip Diaz Jr. While local authorities aren’t saying much as to why he hasn’t been found yet, let’s just say there’s a good chance he’s already left town. He isn’t from Quincy and one has to assume there wouldn’t be that many places to hide, but stranger things have happened.

Remember Jose Olmeda, the guy who brought 500 pounds of marijuana into town, later broke out of the Adams County Jail and somehow eluded authorities for a week before he was caught in town?

Sometimes it takes a while to catch a suspect. Authorities are hoping Diaz will run out of places to hide so they can make an arrest.

Everybody will breathe easier when it happens.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON A fire was reported coming from an attic on Chapel Valley Road, south of Quincy city limits.

Tri-Township fire crews responded. When they got to the house, they noticed what appeared to be smoke coming off the roof.

But on closer inspection, it was only steam, probably because of the cold rain on the warm roof surface — the sun appeared briefly between raindrops and warmed it up in a hurry.

A neighbor apparently saw the house and called the resident, urging the person to get outside because the house appeared to be on fire.

First time we’ve ever heard of a false alarm because of steam.

Hopefully they can laugh about it now, but the neighbor is to be commended for being vigilant.

I SPENT MUCH of Wednesday on a train from Springfield to Griggsville as part of Operation Lifesaver and Norfolk Southern’s crossing safety campaign. We’ll have a story in the print edition of The Whig soon.

I was amazed at the number of railroad crossings as we zipped through one small town after another. Many had the gates, but many had few markings and were in front of one-lane dirt roads out of farm fields.

The line is used for freight trains, and the views are spectacular. I was fortunate enough to ride in the front engine and the communication between conductor and engineer to make sure the tracks were clear at all times was fascinating.

We saw a lot of wildlife, including a huge turkey puffing its chest, and plenty of deer. The creeks are all up because of recent rains and there are waterfalls galore.

The best part was in Bluffs and after crossing the Illinois River, where the terrain rolls and the tracks bend and dip.

At one point two young deer were on the tracks and the engineer put on the brakes, but the deer ran down the tracks instead of veering off.

We kept getting closer and closer.

So what happened?

Well — you’ll have to read your Herald-Whig when the story comes out, of course!

IN TODAY’S INSTALLMENT of Weird Crime News, Quincy police report a resident complained about her shirt and shorts damaged “due to someone spreading grease on the playground equipment at Blessing (sic) Sacrament.”

It’s actually Blessed Sacrament at Eighth and Adams. The person making the complaint lives a few blocks away. It doesn’t give the person’s age.

If this is true, and it’s a big if, it’s a sick joke and it just makes you shake your head.

But if it isn’t true, maybe somebody was playing in the mud or in another place they shouldn’t have been.

You Can’t Make It Up ….

WHEN WAS THE last time we saw the sun in Quincy?

Geesh. Four, five, six days ago?

Believe it or not, lack of sunlight can cause serious health issues. Click here for more.

It’s way to cold and gloomy around here to be May. If you have any pull, use it so we can get that thing, you know, the yellow orb that hangs in the sky and cheers us up, to come back.

We’d appreciate it!

THE OLD ROYAL Printing building at 514 Jersey was in bad shape. Quincy Public Library officials think they are doing the right thing by turning it into a parking lot.

But Friday was a sad, sad day.

Crews from Brink Construction demolished the building Friday. A huge backhoe knocked down the walls and dug out the rubble as Fifth Street was enveloped in a cloud of dust and dirt.

A Greek Revival structure, the building was constructed in 1854 as the German Methodist Episcopal Church and was one of the oldest church buildings in Quincy. The church used the building until 1901, and Charles Hummel bought it the next year and installed a natatorium and a Turkish bathhouse.

In 1909, the Knights of Pythias Lodge occupied the building as a men’s club. The Royal Printing Co. bought the building in 1932 and continued operating there until 2004.

The building came down Friday. It had to be done.

But it was hard to watch.

TIME IS RUNNING out for Termass Pleasant.

His friend, Aaron Horton, was found guilty earlier this week by an Adams County grand jury of home invasion and residential burglary in connection with an incident on Koetters Lane in January. The two occupants said they were beaten with a pistol when Horton came looking for drugs, according to trial testimony.

Now Horton is staring at a maximum sentence of 45 years in prison. Authorities say Pleasant was in the vehicle with Horton and another woman, Tiffany Robinson, who testified that Horton went into the house and Pleasant stayed in the car with her.

Pleasant, 27, is also charged with home invasion and residential burglary. His violent and troubled past puts him at risk for a long prison sentence if he goes to trial next week and is found guilty.

Pleasant was convicted in 2002 of burglary and sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison. He also has a 1997 juvenile conviction for aggravated battery and resisting arrest.

In July 2006, Pleasant pleaded guilty to burglary in connection with a house on Hamman Lane being entered. Pleasant claimed at the time his plea was a matter of convenience and he wasn’t really guilty, but he was still sentenced to four years in prison

The circumstances of the July 2006 case are, not surprisingly, similar to the January incident. Pleasant was accused of being with two other men who entered the Hamman Lane residence to steal money and cannabis.

But Pleasant might figure he has nothing to lose. After all, he was found not guilty in April 2006 by an Adams County jury of robbing the Ayerco convenience store at 12th and Koch’s Lane on Aug. 24, 2005.

He has a good attorney in Public Defender Todd Nelson. State’s Attorney Jon Barnard, who prosecuted the Horton case, says he’s preparing for trial.

We’ll see if Pleasant goes to trial or tries to work out a deal with the SA office.