WiffleBoy's Closed

Looks as if the WiffleBoy's Pizza on East Walnut in Carbondale has shut down. The street sign has been removed and the lights were off inside the building about 8 p.m. yesterday, quite unusual for a pizza place on a Saturday night.

Ryan Livingston Murder

Ryan Livingston was found murdered in the 300 block of West Walnut Street July 13, 2006.  The case is still unsolved and still under investigation, with a $16,000 reward for information leading to identification  and conviction of those involved in his death.   Though less common today, flowers and chalk markings still show up at the location where his body was found, The police department just sent out this email on the status of the case:

Friday, July 13, 2012 marks the 6^th anniversary of the death of Ryan Livingston’s death.  The City of Carbondale Police Department is still actively investigating Ryan’s death.  Ryan’s homicide occurred in the 300 block of West Walnut Street, where he was stabbed and later died as a result of the injuries.    
The family of Ryan and the families of other unsolved homicides still agonize over the loss of their loved ones.  The reward now stands at $11,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction of those responsible for Ryan’s death.  If you have information on any of the following crimes, please call the City of Carbondale Police Department at (618) 457-3200. You can submit your information anonymously by calling the Crime Stoppers Tip Line at (618) 549-COPS (2677) or by submitting your information atwww.carbondalepolice.comusing the Online Crime Stoppers form.
The City of Carbondale has a $5,000 minimum reward for each unsolved homicide case in the City. The reward money will be paid when information provided leads to an arrest and conviction in the homicide case. Hopefully, this reward money, when added to existing rewards, will encourage individuals who have key information toward solving these crimes to contact the Police Department and provide that information.
The Carbondale Police Department is committed to pursuing all investigations to their conclusion, especially murder investigations, regardless of how recent, or long ago the crime may have occurred.  The families cannot rest until someone is brought to justice in these cases and the City of Carbondale and its Police Department are determined to bring justice to each of these families.
Again, if you have any information on the death of Ryan Livingston or any of the following crimes, please call the City of Carbondale Police Department at (618) 457-3200.  You can submit your information anonymously by calling the Crime Stoppers Tip Line at (618) 549-COPS (2677) or by submitting your information atwww.carbondalepolice.comusing the Online Crime Stoppers form.

Mary Lou's Closed for the Week

I was really tempted just to put "Mary Lou's Closed..." in the headline but doing that would annoy a significant number of the Carbondale population who loves to eat there. According to the sign in the window, they are closed through July 7th.

However, the sign also says that if you miss them badly enough, come visit them at their other restaurant, Crazy Joe's Fish House, after 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.  Unfortunately, the sign doesn't tell you where Crazy Joe's is.  Doing a little research, apparently it is  a walk- up window out in the country off the Ava Blacktop, with picnic tables under a shelter.  In case you want to try it, the directions are:

From Rte. 3 or 4 to Rte 123, 4 miles to blue tourist sign, go 2 miles on Kessel Road to Suchman Road, look for the sign.

Cooling Center Update

A reader of the blog emailed to say that a lot of people are making use of the Carbondale Public Library as an unofficial cooling center.  This makes sense, since, as the email pointed out, the Library is located in the same approximate area as the Civic Center so it is not that much farther of a walk to get to it.

Plus, the amenities at the Library are head and shoulders above those provided at the Civic Center.  At the Library, you get computers, magazines, books, newspapers, Internet, in short, lots of things to occupy yourself with while there.  The Civic Center provides the city's WiFi, tables, chairs and a pitcher of water.  I know which one I would pick.

Local Fires

Ran in to Fire Chief John Michalesko yesterday so had to ask him about the fire situation locally (Like he hasn't been asked that a hundred times already).  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that people have actually listened to all the warnings about the grass and brush being dry as tinder and to not start fires.  According to Chief Michalesko, Carbondale has less than half a dozen small fires since the heat wave started, with only a couple caused by kids playing with fireworks.  The worst problem, surprisingly, wasn't people throwing cigarettes out of cars along the highway, though it does involve cigarettes.

Apparently, there have been several instances of small grass fires out by University Mall, caused by people throwing cigarettes out there.  Happily, according to the Chief,  the fires have all been small and the fire department handled them quickly.

Cooling Center Open

Cooling center was opened in the civic center last week, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., though, since the building is usually open until about 9.p.m. anyone needing cooling in the evening could certainly duck in there.  I spoke to a couple of city staff yesterday and was told a grand total of zero people had made use of it, as far as they knew.  During last year's heat wave (and there was one), two people made use of it.  Generally, the civic center cooling area has seen little to no use when opened up during heat waves.

While it is certainly a nice offering, the civic center is also too far away from the east side of the city were most of the residents live that would best make use of it.  Churches on the near eastern side of the city opening their doors to those without air conditioning would help much more.

SIUC Demolishing the Triads

A reader of the blog pointed out SIUC has started demolition of the Triad complex, Allen, Boomer and Wright halls, with removal of Wright already completed and the other two scheduled to come down by the end of summer.  As the article points out, Allen was the last of the three buildings to still house students, as the others had sat empty for a few years. Built in the mid 1960s as part of Delyte Morris' push to make SIUC a top level university.  I hesitate to refer to them as SIUC's glory days, but it was certainly an active time at the university and the buildings were considered state of the art for the time and students liked living there (though maybe not in recent years as the buildings reportedly deteriorated) but the "pod" structure of the facilities and comparatively low supervision made for the development of small communities and lasting friendships.

The university has fenced off the area containing the three buildings but the road leading to the rear of the area remains open during business hours if you would like to take a final closer look before they come down.  Just be sure to stay out of  hazardous areas.