A few updates on the storm

Update on the update: I've added a couple of pics.

For those who watch the weather, last night and this morning, we were that funny little pinkish-white dot in the middle of all that green, yellow, red, purple, etc. over the Mississippi Valley. I don't know how much rain we got between 12:50 p.m. yesterday and so far today, because Pop's 7-inch rain gauge was topped out. Whatever it was, it was flash flood stuff.

I'm not building an ark, yet, though, even though I've gathered ma wee beasties over here at the folks' place. The city's drainage system, installed over the past decade or so, appears to have worked very well. The streets flooded temporarily, and there were the rare blocked drains, but overall, the only real damage to Monmouth was from the wind bringing down trees. And power lines... and poles.


(The police officer who sent in the report on the tree in front of my house said they were answering a lot of calls about "smelling gas", and a number of meters had been detached from pipes by falling tree limbs, but otherwise, there had, by 3:00 yesterday, still been no reports in town of serious injury or massive flooding).

Meanwhile, Kirkwood, just a few miles to the west of us, is closed to all but the lawful residents. 20 homes were completely destroyed, over 200 homes were damaged, and they'll be digging out for a very long while. I'm thinking my friend Anna and her husband are going to be very glad they sold their Kirkwood house and moved south two weeks ago....

It's still chaos out here -- In Monmouth, most of the houses and businesses have electricity again, but they're sawing away branches, trees, and other scrap. A couple of lighter buildings and garages have gone belly-up, and folks are still a little nervous.

In Galesburg, things are a little worse than in Monmouth. There's been one storm-caused death confirmed already, and a number of injuries reported at the hospitals. A lot of property is damaged, power is still out for multiple pockets of houses, and it will be a while before the streets are cleared there.

We all had been hit hard economically a couple of years ago when the bulk of Galesburg's major industries left town (following the Maytag cut-and-run), but it looks as though we'll be able to pull through. Kirkwood is a tight-knit community, with lots of relatives in the region, so we're all pulling together to the best of our abilities.



Meanwhile, my neighbor whose truck was crunched is filing a claim against my homeowner's insurance company... We have one angry mother and a couple of stunned men...

And it's raining again (just a sprinkle!).



This corn field doesn't look so bad, if you don't know what you're looking at -- but from another angle, farther up the road...



For further information, see Monmouth's Daily Review Atlas, the Galesburg Register-Mail, and the Burlington Hawk Eye.

Getting past Galesburg High School's grad stupidity

GHS has been in the national news this past week as a result of their new policy, instituted this year, of denying diplomas to students whose family and/or friends disrupt the graduation ceremony for any reason (I suppose they'd make an exception if Pa fell over from the shock of seeing Sonny actually gradgitate, and needed a paramedic -- but no exception for cheers, whistles, and party crackers).

Personally, I'm thinking there are quite a few people in the wrong, here... but probably not the actual graduates being denied their sheepskins. And, maybe not the school administration.

First of all, let's get a little background on the roots of the admin's policy. Galesburg High School (grades 9-12), according to the city of Galesburg's detailed profile, has a student population of over 1400 students. That puts the graduating class at a likely count of about 350 (give or take a few). It takes a while to walk through a ceremony with that many people walking across a stage to receive a document and a handshake. Any little distraction adds to that time.

Last year, people were celebrating their loved ones' success, as the ostensibly sober occasion progressed, by tootling of horns, roaring of motors and stomping of feets (an obscure reference to a ferry warning -- maybe someday I'll find the old photo & post it), among other disruptive acts. According to several people I know in the city, the event was mayhem and went on "all stinking day." Perhaps that was exaggeration, but, having been to several such events where the guest speakers knew nothing of editing for (a) comprehensible content or (b) time constraints, I can see how they may have developed that impression.

So, the school drafted a new policy. It was put into print. Every student was to read it and sign it. Family members were notified by missives sent to the up-and-coming graduates' homes. Friends knew about the new policy because it was discussed in classes, as well as bandied about in some regular chummy-like conversations.

The policy read simply that a student whose family and/or friends caused any disruption to the ceremony would not receive his or her diploma. Most families understood and complied with the new policy. By and large, the graduation ceremony went well and swiftly.

Except for a handful of thoughtless idiots, whose only concern was to make themselves heard.

Now, the few students, whose inconsiderate friends and families caused the disruption, are being forced to pay the penalty -- and some of the students are taking legal action against the school for its having the gall to do what it said it would do.

In a perfect world, the graduate would be given that diploma -- after those who actually caused the ruckus were punished.

In a perfect world, somebody would have made a recording of the entire graduation ceremony, including the noisy interruptions. That recording would then be remixed, so that after each and every grad received his or her sheepskin, the complete uproar those few made would be inserted. Over and over and over and over again. Then, make the disruptive family and friends stand in a hot, crowded space reeking of sweat and heavily redolent of old-lady perfume and faint traces of cheap beer and sweet wine, wearing those infernal caps and gowns, while they watch the entire re-edited monstrous movie and see how they like the experience.

After the last noisemaker of each party has been put through this, the graduate should be handed his or her diploma with grace -- and a healthier respect from the family and friends for what it is to stand up there and be subjected to graduation speeches and family idiocy.

In a perfect world.

But this is Galesburg, IL, in the heart of Forgottonia, so we'll have to see how things resolve themselves.