respublica

Mask fines

The Edwardsville Illinois city council adopted a measure Tuesday night mandating face coverings while engaging in almost any activity outside a residence. Such activities include shopping or working at retail businesses; picking up food curbside or from a drive-thru restaurant; visiting a doctor's office; traveling on public transportation; and interacting with customers, clients, patients or colleagues at businesses or places of worship that are open to the public.

And there will be fines, first offense is $25, a second is $50, a third is $100; and the fourth or more are $250. Higher penalties, ranging from $50 to $500, are stipulated for businesses, stores, offices, property owners, managers or operators.

But what I most approve of is: Anyone not wearing a mask over mouth and nose in public spaces in Edwardsville may now be fined. 

It drives me crazy to be around people in public places or working in businesses who have their noses uncovered which also makes the mouth part of the mask with a wide open gap. I see this and come into contact with, more people than I can count. So I'm happy to see Edwardsville taking note of the importance of getting the nose covered, not just the mouth.

On the search for paint

Last weekend I began a job we've put off and that is painting the front steps and porch. We've had almost everything else redone since we moved back except the front curb appeal. It was a debate on where to start so I ended that by painting the actual steps a brown color to mirror the cedar siding on the upper dormer. The steps were in worse condition than the actual porch floor. Then I scrubbed down the porch and hoped to get that done the next day, but then came rain.

We decided to paint the stair risers the same color as the house (I watch too much HGTV). We do like that look, though, and it's less tricky walking up them in the dark. I had to find a Benjamin Moore paint store since the color of our house has been the same for decades, Kennebunkport Green. It was that color when we bought it and it has been re-painted at least 3 times over the years.

I found the Troy Ace Hardware sold this paint so off I went. It's been a long time since I've been in Troy and it has really built up. And the Ace was just such a great find. I could have spent half the day in that store. It has so many interesting things to look at and I did a lot of that while the paint was being mixed. The paint guy was super nice. It took a bit of time to spell out Kennebunkport green for him to type into his paint machine computer but his mix was perfect.

I'd recommend them.

A Sad time for an old newspaper

We were mistakenly delivered the Belleville News Democrat newspaper this morning and frankly, it was sad. That paper used to be something of a "go to" paper for many in the Metro East for local news and sports. We used to get a kick out of the letters to the editor and the "sound off" page which shared reader's frustrations anonymously each Monday.

The reporters sent to any number of communities to write up city goings on and we got to know those whose beat was Collinsville. High school sports were given a lot of page time. Today I did not see any local by-lines, most stories were wire stories from the Associated Press. These stories could be read anywhere and had no relation to local readers.

I find this a loss to grieve over. It was also sad when the Collinsville Herald/Journal went out of business. These papers kept us up date on what was happening in our towns and the main news options now are Facebook postings or word of mouth. I wish it weren't so.

Back to the tally

Late yesterday afternoon a mattress hit the road on 143 near Edwardsville.

Mattresses 131

Ladders 127

A New Week, another mattress

Already this morning a mattress fell onto 161 near Frank Scott Highway in Belleville.

Mattresses 113

Ladders 111

More Poplar work on the way

From IDOT, two eastbound lanes will be closed for two weeks in July for roadwork.

The Illinois Department of Transportation announced Monday that the eastbound exit ramp from Interstate 55/64 to southbound Illinois 3 will be closed as workers repair the surface of the ramp. The work begins early morning on July 15 and will last until July 29. A marked detour utilizing Barack Obama Avenue will be in place during the closure period.

To keep traffic flowing into Illinois, one lane will be closed on the Poplar Street Bridge along with two exit ramps. Missouri roadways will be impacted as well. In Missouri, the Marion Street entrance ramp to I-55 northbound and the right lane of I-55 northbound approaching the bridge will be closed. Three lanes of interstate traffic will remain open on the bridge and through the Illinois 3 and Tudor Avenue ramp areas.

They say to expect extensive delays, especially during evening rush hours.

Hot time, summer in the city, sitting on the bridge. Again.

Read more here: https://www.bnd.com/news/local/article232410317.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: https://www.bnd.com/news/local/article232410317.html#storylink=cpy

Two road things this morning

There is a shovel in one of the lanes of 255 near Collinsville road and another ladder hit the highway on 270. The normal tallies take into account only mattresses and ladders since they are the most common items to fall. But it's often interesting to hear about other things which could be just as detrimental to your vehicle if you run into them.

Mattresses 54

Ladders 49

More ice, more accidents

How many winter messes will we have to endure this year? Woke up this morning with yet another icy glaze covering sidewalks and streets. The local news is all about the many many accidents on St. Louis interstates. There are even areas where they've closed portions of the highways totally. What bugs me is this was forecast yesterday and especially last night. Here is a link to KMOV's prediction last night. The other stations did the same and yet St. Louis interstates are so bad they've made another morning rush a nightmare.

So here comes MoDOT spokesman Bob Becker holding a press conference and lecturing us on what we already know. He did this a couple of Sundays ago when we had a bad ice storm and accidents were everywhere. He's done it for each winter event we've had, after the weather hit. But if news channels as well as us, know it was coming, what was MoDOT doing?

FOX2 in St. Louis has reporters out on the interstate overpasses giving traffic reports. In Missouri it's all about accidents and slippery surfaces. In the Metro East, the reporter had no accidents to report for drivers on their way into Missouri. "Be aware of the possibility of slick spots" he said, but traffic was moving fine all across the Metro East.

So what is the difference? Again, it just has to be how each of the state DOT's treat the roads and when. Illinois is just so much better at getting ahead of these things than Missouri. It's maddening that MoDOT can't do what IDOT does. Mr. Becker! Go over to IDOT headquarters and find out how they do things to get ahead of things.

Final countdown

We're nearing the end of this year's tally of fallen mattresses and ladders. Yesterday a ladder fell on 55/70 just east of Collinsville and what makes this interesting is the horrible mess that occurred on 55/70 right at Collinsville. Two tractor Trailers collided, one of which was pulling an open bed filled with scrap metal. That truck flipped onto it's side, spilling all that iron onto the road. This jammed up traffic for miles as drivers were diverted onto surface streets. This lasted for hours. Dale was heading back to the seminary after this happened he was able to get onto Old Collinsville Road and get to 111 before getting back on 55/70.

Mattresses 136

Ladders 111

Now a recliner

A recliner fell onto the center lane of 255 on the Illinois side this morning. I can't imagine how this could happen and how awful it must have been to be driving along and suddenly come across it. And, who's job is it to go into traffic and move the thing.