Being an incredibly average guitar player, I always love finding new artists and musicians who makes the strings sing.

This young man is just unfair. Click here for his website.

Happy Friday, and have a great weekend!

Nothing like a little manhunt and bad guy hiding in the weeds along the river to break up a routine Thursday afternoon.

Click here for the story. Fortunately the guy was caught and everybody went home in one piece. The river is really swirling right now and several officers at the scene said the guy was lucky he didn’t fall in and get swept down toward the dam.

I was at the park as Adams County Chief Deputy Fred Kientzle and investigator Sam Smith were on a boat on the river, trying to find the fugitive. Several other officers were just to the south on the ADM loading barge property, so I zipped over on the scooter and walked right down the river.

A guy wearing a company badge and hard hat then politely informed me I could not be on the private property. No problem. He was cool about it.

But as I’m leaving, he says, “By the way … what’s going on?”

Only too glad to tell him, even if I was trespassing on private property ….

LINDA HUNSAKER AND her Ursa Christian Church made a big discovery by organizing a back to school fair at Unity Middle School Tuesday.

The need is great, no matter who you are.

Click here for today’s story — 263 students registered and received all kinds of great stuff, from free haircuts to sports physicals to child identification kits.

“Considering we have 700 kids in the district, that’s really amazing,” Hunsaker said. “There is definitely a need in our community, and it’s not just for the lower-income families. It’s for those in the middle and on the cusp, too. I think they all really appreciated it.”

Hunsaker and her Friends of Community Unit School District No. 4 raised $2,500 to buy supplies and fund the effort, but they started running out of stuff within the first hour. Hunsaker said she sent volunteers to buy more items during the fair, and used about 40 vouchers for supplies.

So how will the Friends pay for those vouchers?

“Well,” she said, “I don’t know. God will provide.”

HERE’S A FRIENDLY little reminder about keeping up family relations, especially if you are in an election. Click here for a story about a daughter who took out a full page ad in an Oklahoma newspaper urging voters to not support her father.

You Can’t Make It Up ….

QUITE THE RAIN we had Saturday night, did you get flooding or have issues?

I was heading north from the 60th and Ellington Road area when the storm hit. Kirk Gribler was driving and kept looking out the window and saying, “I’ve never seen a pond there before.”

At one point we saw water rushing out of a culvert and flowing uphill. I am not making it up.

Glad we didn’t head east on U.S. 24, where water crossed the road and shut the highway down in the Coatsburg and Paloma areas.

Be safe if you are driving in a bad rainstorm. We’ve already heard sad stories from our area about tragic accidents and drownings.

The city of Dixon, Ill., isn’t fooling around when it comes to showing what it thinks of convicted murderer Henry Michael Gargano.

Here’s the letter of resolution the city sent out Monday ….

I GET A lot of strange phone calls at the paper. Tuesday’s might have taken the cake.

It was a young woman, let’s call her Amy, calling from the Mason County Jail. “I know you hear people say they are not guilty all the time. Well, I’m REALLY not guilty,” she said.

You are right, Amy. I do hear that all the time.

After listening to Amy’s long and convoluted story about getting mixed up with something her boyfriend did, and hearing her protest hearsay can’t be used against her in a preliminary hearing (actually, it can), I broke in and informed the poor girl I couldn’t help her, because Mason County is out of our coverage area.

“Well, I got your name from one of the federal prisoners in the back and he said you could help me,” she said.

When she told me the name, I about fell off my chair.

I better not tell you what the name is, but this person is likely to spend a good chunk of the rest of his life in federal prison for a meth arrest.

Nice to know my named gets bandied about by the best of the best ….

JOHN EATON IS a proud Dirtball who sits in Box K at all the Quincy Gems games. Click here for my column in Tuesday’s H-W. Here’s his guide to Dirtball traditions.

Ball Four: When a Gems player walks on balls it becomes my responsibility, Count Johnula, to count the balls. Ball five! Ball six! in a loud and obnoxious manner, until an out, strike or hit.

Ka-ching: After a foul ball, the announcer sometimes plays “Dan-Dan the Auto Glass Man, obviously advertising for fixing a busted windshield. So Box K counters with “Ka-Ching!” Dan-Dan owes us money!

Dirt Balls: Balls from opponent pitchers which end up in the dirt are of course a cause of great celebration and are called Dirt Ball, Worm-Killer or Worm-Decapitator. Even near-dirt balls are considered “Dirt Seekers!”

I Love A Parade: Whenever a bevy of babes walks by, one of us will sing out “I love a parade!”

Seventh Inning Stretch: We always sing “Take Me Out To The Ball Game.” At Box K, we do it opera style, which garners quite a few smiles. Furthermore, after “Root, root for the home team …” instead of “home team,” Hank and Phil shout out “Cubbies” while I shout “Cardinals” at the top of my voice.

Stolen Base: You heard the Box K reaction to a stolen base:“ Arriba, arriba, andele …. yeeha, yeehaa!” We are imitating Speedy Gonzales.

Nicknames: We have nicknames for most of the Gems players, whether they like them or not.

Water Break: Never forget “Franciscan Pale Ale” when beer just isn’t good enough.

The Opponents: We try to engage the players from the other team. Saturday it was all about the origin of the name of one of the players, Sandica. We just couldn’t place it. Turns out is was Sicilian. In any case, we always applaud good baseball, no matter what team they are on.

Interaction: Peyton Rosencrans, 8, for some obtuse reason is enamored with the Blue Sox. So whenever we play the Butler Blue Sox he roots for THEM. At last Saturday’s game I tried to quiet him down several times, to no avail. Well at one point we talked the batboy into giving us a foul ball — he slipped it under the wall through the hole. Then we convinced one of the Blue Sox players (Colby Roberts) to get all the signatures of the Blue Sox team. He got most of them, and we’ll probably get the rest tomorrow  (Sunday) night. Cool, huh?

Footnote: At the end of the 2009 championship game, after a few minutes of hoopla, EVERY SINGLE PLAYER on the team lined up and went to Box K to high-five everyone in the box, thanking them for their support all season long. I will never forget that!

So it’s Monday morning and black as night as we look out the newsroom windows at the storm rolling through.

It all leads to this, of course ….

EARLIER THIS WEEK, the Chicago Crime Commission released its most wanted list, and it didn’t take long to catch a fugitive.

The Associated Press reports bail has been denied for a murder suspect who was captured after being named to the list. Cook County Judge William Kunkle denied bond Saturday for 51-year-old Sherry Halligan, the lone woman on the list.

She was arrested Friday after someone recognized her from media coverage and called the FBI.
Halligan vanished in 2004 after being charged in the 2003 murder of her ex-boyfriend at her home in suburban La Grange. She was arrested in nearby Palos Hills.