“Oh come all you young fellers so young and so fine
Seek not your fortune in a dark dreary mine
It’ll form as a habit and seep in your soul
Till the stream of your blood runs as black as the coal
Where it’s dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew
Where the danger is double and pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls the sun never shines
It’s a dark as a dungeon way down in the mine”

“Dark as a Dungeon” – Johnny Cash

 

By Jim Muir

Like many area residents I had that ‘kicked-in-the-gut’ feeling Wednesday when I learned that there had been a fatal accident at the Viking Mine near Thompsonville.  Like the old Johnny Cash song says so correctly … ‘where the danger is double and pleasures are few.’

Adding more grief to that familiar feeling was the fact that the young man was only 25 years old.  In terms of life … just a kid.

And it was with a unique perspective that I started following the story. It’s always the way I follow tragedy in the coal industry. Even for a guy that strings words together for a living it’s hard for me to explain how I feel. For want of a better explanation, it’s like every story that involves coal mining grabs me and won’t let go. Sometimes I do what I am doing now, sit down and write and try to sort my jumbled thoughts out.

You see, as I watch these stories play out, I realize that I know these people and the lives that this now-grieving family live. I know their lifestyle, their desires, their tenacity, their faith, their endurance, their ingenuity and their fears. I’ve never met the young man that was killed or his family … but I know them.

I know about riding a ‘cage’ 600-feet into the ground and about the feel and smell of the damp, dark recesses of a coal mine. I know about swing-shifts, rock falls and about trading the ability to breathe fresh air for a paycheck. I know what it feels like to change clothes next to a fellow miner at midnight and laugh and talk with him only to learn that he was killed in a rock fall three hours later. I know about the eerily quiet, subdued feelings that are present when miners return to work on the shift following a fatality. I know what it feels like to work in the exact same section of a mine where only hours before a young life had been snuffed out.  I helped in the recovery of miners killed in roof falls so I also know what it’s like to hide my fears and tears and to hope against hope, even if it’s only a fleeting hope.

Again as I follow another tragedy, I am reminded that occupation-wise I’ve lived two lives. I spent 20 years as a coal miner that nobody knew and the past 20 years as a reporter, broadcaster and columnist that a lot of people know.

To many, it might seem logical to embrace my current job status and visibility and to shun my previous life as an underground coal miner. But, that will never happen because that’s where I came from, that my roots. While it’s been 20-plus years since I worked my last shift in an underground coal mine those days are like yesterday, never too far away.

Again, I don’t know anybody involved in this story personally, but I do know them well and my heart breaks for them. They are just like the people I worked with every day for two decades. As my mother used to say, ‘they are the salt of the earth.’ These people are hard-working, faithful, loyal, outspoken and certainly not afraid to stand up for what they believe. As I watched this current tragedy unfold I am also reminded once again that I am who I am today not because of something I learned in a classroom but because of my previous ‘life’ and because I ‘know’ these people. Even if I wanted to (and I don’t) I will never shed my blue-collar mentality.  It’s just part of my fabric and makeup and always will be.

In the coming days the Viking Mine will reopen and loved ones will worry and fret as miners will grab their dinner buckets and trudge off again into the bowels of the earth to mine coal. But those miners will go because, speaking as the son and grandson of coal miners, ‘it’s a way of life, it’s all we know.’

God Bless this grieving family and the miners at Viking Mine.

 

 

 

 

By Jim Muir

The community of Sesser is mourning the loss of city alderman Jim Kelly, a man whose legacy of working for the betterment of the small Franklin County community and the entire region spans parts of seven decades.

Kelly, 78, died Saturday night at Memorial Hospital in Carbondale after a brief illness.

Kelly, a 1953 graduate of Goode-Barren Township (Sesser) High School, was a graduate of SIU and an Army veteran.  He was co-owner of a local grocery store in Sesser and then entered the banking industry, rising to the position of president of the Bank of Sesser (later Magna Bank) before retiring in 1993.

Jim was a lifelong member of the Sesser Methodist Church, where he served in various leadership roles for many years including serving as a Certified Lay Speaker.
He was currently serving as a member of the Sesser City Council; a member and past chairman of the Rend Lake College Foundation Board; treasurer and past president of the Franklin County Shrine Club; a member of the Ainad Shrine; a member and past master of the Sesser Masonic Lodge; a member of the Sesser-Valier Alumni Recognition Committee; and member and former long-time Treasure of the Sesser Homecoming Association.
Previously he served as Sesser City Clerk from 1960-1968; had served as a member of the Cache River District Lay Leadership Committee; had served as trustee of the Goode-Barren Township Building; had served as a member of the Christopher Rural Health Corporation board of directors; was a former officer and member of the Sesser Chamber of Commerce; a former member and treasurer of the Sesser Area Cultural and Development Corporation; a former member of the Sesser Jaycees, Lion’s, and Kiwanis; a former member of the Franklin County Sherriff’s Merit Board and past member of the Illinois Bankers Association.
While Kelly was a fixture at the local bank in Sesser helping many young families with their first home or car loan, he was even more widely known for his role in the community and for getting things done with a genuine smile and a quick wit.

Sesser resident Keith Ward has been associated with the annual Homecoming for 54 years and said Kelly served as treasurer “for as long as I can remember.”

Ward said the late Ralph Gordon, another long time banker in Sesser, held the role as treasurer briefly when the Homecoming Association was initially formed in the early 1950s but Kelly soon took over the financial reins for the organization that oversees the popular Rend Lake Days, held each June at the city’s Miner’s Memorial Park.

“I guess 50 years he’s been our treasurer,” said Ward.  “He’s just always been there, and from the beginning he was always a go-to guy.  When you needed something he was always there. As far as the Homecoming Association he was much more than treasurer.  Jim just looked over a lot of different areas and always made sure things got done.  He knew the dates and times we needed to get things moving and he took care of so many of the little details.  He was just a guy who got the job done and he always did it with a smile.”

Ward noted that Kelly’s work within the community went far beyond his role with the Homecoming Association.

“Jim was an active member of his church, the Masonic Lodge, Shriners and he also served the city as an alderman,” said Ward.  “I can honestly say that he made Sesser a better place to live.”

Former Sesser mayor Ned Mitchell said he knew Kelly “all my life.”

“My acquaintance with Jim spans all of my life of 66 years,” Mitchell said. “I grew up in the Methodist Church in Sesser and have attended church with Jim all of those years.  As I grew older I knew Jim as a partner in a grocery store, then as a banker, then as an Alderman for the City of Sesser.  Through all of those years I developed a friend ship that crossed all boundaries of politics, both of us different in political parties, yet we had an outstanding friendship that crossed those barriers.”

Mitchell said Kelly kept his priorities in order throughout his long history of community service.

“Through the years we served on various committees together and worked together for the betterment of Sesser,” Mitchell said. “Jim had a full and complete life seeing many projects that he was involved in come to pass, and he accomplished all of that with a very keen sense of humor.  He leaves a legacy of dedication to his church, his family and his community.”

Sesser Mayor Jason Ashmore, who took office in May 2013, said Kelly was “one of the most well-respected men in the community.”

“Jim was a part of many different community organizations and he loved the city of Sesser and always had its best interest in his heart,” said Ashmore. “We had many great conversations in my first year as mayor. I will miss him and those conversations.”

Sesser businessman Randall Crocker served alongside Kelly the past 30 years as a volunteer with the Homecoming Association.  Crocker pointed out that while he was involved in many civic and community projects, a role that Kelly took on following the sudden death of his brother Joseph made a lasting impression on him.

“His brother Joseph died suddenly of heart attack when he was in his early 40s and he had three young sons and Jim made it a point to be involved and be an influence in his nephews lives,” said Crocker. “I always admired and respected him for that.”

 

Crocker called Kelly “a great public servant” and noted that while he was active within the community, he wore many hats on various committees and boards throughout Southern Illinois, including his role as a board member and past president of the Rend Lake College Foundation – an organization that has provided scholarship assistance through the years to thousands of area students.

“Jim spent a lot of his own personal time giving back to the community, helping others and trying to make Sesser and Southern Illinois a better place,” said Crocker. “He will be missed.”

 

By The Associated Press

MOUNT VERNON — Cleanup is underway in portions of southern Illinois a day after severe storms that spawned deadly tornadoes in Oklahoma and Arkansas rumbled through the region.

When questions arose about political hiring at the Illinois Department of Transportation, Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration evaluated several jobs that already had been filled to ensure they were among the few positions where an applicant’s political loyalty and connections could be considered.

SPRINGFIELD — The state’s biggest supplier of police cars wants to put the brakes on a proposal requiring Illinois to buy only cars assembled in the United States.

 

Here’s a link to the story in the Decatur Herald-Review.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Illinois Voters shows Republican businessman Bruce Rauner picking up 43% of the vote to Quinn’s 40%. Six percent (6%) prefer some other candidate in the race, while 10% are undecided.

Here’s the link at Illinois Review.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. • Faced with an expected $3 billion budget hole from an expiring income tax increase, Illinois lawmakers are grappling with whether to raise taxes to avoid major cuts to schools and social services next year.

Here’s the link at the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

INA, Ill. – For many students, on-the-job training and internships are just as important when it comes to learning about a career choice as the classes they take during college. This is especially true for Rend Lake College alumnus Cailah Brock, who turned her experiences at RLC into a career that she hopes to grow for years to come.

The Benton native and now resident of Herrin graduated from RLC in 2011 with an Associate Degree in Agricultural Business. Knowing what she wanted to do from the start, she set the foundation for her future in the classrooms of RLC.

“When I went into Ag, I decided that I wanted to be a rep, and the classes at Rend Lake College definitely helped me with certain jargon and terminology. Also, to graduate, I had to take a class that was like a ‘getting you ready for life’ kind of class where we talked about tips and different avenues to look into. It was required at RLC and having it that early definitely helped,” she said.

As a part of the Agriculture program, Brock spent several summers working in an on-the-job training at Southern FS, getting first-hand experiences that prepared her for her future.

“To graduate from RLC with an Ag degree, you have to do on-the-job training for two summers. Not only did I get to work in the summer, but I got paid for it, and received three credits for each summer toward my degree. I worked at the same place, Southern FS, for three summers,” said Brock.

But it didn’t stop there for this former Warrior. After graduating, Brock said Southern FS helped her land the job she has now as a Product Specialist at Precision Laboratories, the job she hopes to build upon throughout her career.

“In January before I graduated, I sent out résumés, and Southern FS worked with Precision Laboratories, so Southern FS sent my information and Precision contacted me about the position. Southern FS really helped me get my job. I had no experience in sales, but Precision went by my connections,” said Brock.

Other than her on-the-job training at RLC, Brock said the individualized education in the classroom helped her get a step ahead of others in her field.

“The Ag program is really great, especially being around all of the other Ag students and instructors,” she said. “It really is a top notch program and I loved everything about it. One of my instructors, Kathy Craig, and I still talk. The job I’m in now had a six-week interview process, and I would talk to her through the whole thing for advice and tips. She’s been really great.”

Brock then added the small class sizes and one-on-one teaching time she received at RLC were a bonus when compared to her time in a university.

“The smaller class sizes are very, very personal. I made several great relationships that I plan on keeping,” she said. “A lot of my friends were going straight on to SIU (Southern Illinois University) and I decided to save money and go to Rend Lake. The Ag Department is the best of the best in my book, and I consider choosing Rend Lake College over four years at SIU one of the best decisions I have made. Not many can say they graduated on a Saturday and started work that following Monday. RLC holds a very special place in my heart.”

Once graduated, Brock said the transition to SIU was a hard one, but thanks to her experiences at RLC, she was ready to dive in head first.

“I was terrified of going to SIU. On my first day, I remember I had a couple of general classes and an Ag class. I thought, ‘I don’t want to walk in here and be behind,’ so I was really nervous. When I got there, the instructor pulled out the book for the class and it was the exact same book that we had used in a class at RLC. All the weight of the world dropped off my shoulders and I felt so relieved,” she said.

Graduating in May of 2013 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Plant and Soil Science, Brock said she hopes to be able to grow in her career and stay in the area at the same time.

“I’m very family-oriented. That was one of the main reasons I decided to go to Rend Lake and SIU. My goal is to make a life here in Southern Illinois. The reason I wanted the job was because it is in Southern Illinois and I can continue to grow here,” she said.

For more information about Rend Lake College, visit www.rlc.edu.