CITY BEAT: GREAT TO SEE THE CENTRAL PARK FOUNTAIN UP AND RUNNING – Decatur Tribune
Paul Osborne
Editor/Publisher
As I was walking through Central Park one day last week, it was great to see the fountain up and running for the season!
The fountain is usually operating for the summer several weeks earlier than this year, but the “turn-on” date was pushed back because of needed sandblasting, resealing and repainting.
According to the City of Decatur: “We needed about three straight days of no rain to repaint and that was really hard to find earlier this spring! Thank you to our Public Works Department for doing a great restoration.”
With the Central Park Fountain fully functional, the summer has officially begun for me.
• THIS WEEK’S “Scrapbook” on pages 4 and 5 of the print and online editions is about Decatur High School and how that structure, which occupied a full city block, was a dominate backdrop to so much of the activity downtown “back in the day”.
As I wrote at the beginning of this week’s “Scrapbook”: “It's hard to believe that it’s been over 67 years since the name ‘Decatur High School’ was changed to ‘Stephen Decatur High School’ and nearly a half century since the big brick school building stood where the civic center is now located and was filled with high school students — and a lot of tradition.”
Of course, today there is no Stephen Decatur High School as the northside structure is now a middle school.
Downtown was very different when the high school was at Eldorado and Franklin streets and the area was filled with the excitement of high school students, with many of them also making extra spending money by working part-time at downtown businesses like J. C. Penney, the Wayside Inn and many other shops and restaurants.
When I was getting my publishing business started in the 1960s, I hired several Stephen Decatur High School students through the Office Occupation classes the first few years and they were the only employees I had — and they all did a great job!
They would go to school a half day and then work in my office the other half day.
I have a lot of special memories of that time when the high school dominated the downtown scene.
I haven’t thought about the Office Occupation aspect of high school for years and I don’t know if there is such a course today.
I know that some classes that prepared students for careers no longer exist, but, newer classes that help educate in a different business world have been added.
• THANKS to “Chevy Bob” Reynolds for bringing some interesting items by our newspaper office for us to keep.
I especially liked this glass and metal artwork of the Transfer House. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Transfer House displayed in that form. Although most of you are seeing it reproduced here in black and white, it is in full color. I hung it in one of the windows of my office and it looks pretty neat with the sun shining through it.
“Chevy Bob” says he still has his 1957 Chevy.
That was a great year for Chevy. That was one of the first cars I bought (used, of course) after graduating from high school.
That was back when each model and year of the major cars had their own distinctive look.
Most of the time today, I don’t know the model, make or year of most cars I see on the road!
Of course, back when I bought my ‘57 Chevy, there weren’t a lot of different car models — just as our television only had 3 channels.
Maybe we have too many choices today — in vehicles and television channels!
I’ll just stay with my infamous possessed car “Christine” even though she is getting a few years on her.
She has threatened to “haunt me” if I ever try to trade her in on a newer model! She’s getting grouchy, too!
• A FEW weeks ago I printed a photo that Pat Hazelrigg shared with me of professional golfer Gary Player (pictured at center) when he was at South Side Country Club in Decatur decades ago.
After the photo was printed, I received an email from Darryl Stock who wrote: “I saw Gary Player play at SSCC and I don’t believe this is a photo of him. I think this is Doug Sanders. Gary always wore black and didn’t smoke. Player shot a course record but it was not recognized because he played preferred lies. He told the organizers that the course was not ready to play the ball as it lies and the people came to see him hit good shots—which he did. I think I saw every pro that came to SSCC back then. Really fun and saw some unbelievable golf. Bob Scherer played with most of them and even beat a couple of them.”
The photo, which was printed in color in the Trib in the earlier publication shows the subject wearing a red shirt, not black, but I don’t think that is a cigarette that he is holding, but a scratch on the photo.
Anyhoo, I thought I would share Darryl’s comment with you.
Thanks again to Pat, for bringing in the photo.
As I wrote at the time I printed it, a lot of well-known professional golfers came to Decatur, including my favorite — Arnold Palmer.
• THE cicadas have impacted the Decatur area the past several weeks (they seem to be disappearing this week) and I know that some people have told me that they remember other times when the cicadas appeared and they were just as bad as they are this year.
I honestly don’t remember them being this bad and I’m old enough to have endured them several times every 17 and/or 13 years.
They’ve even been like suicide pilots flying into our office windows from time to time.
I was getting ready to warm something up in our office microwave the other morning and there was a cicada on the countertop about a foot from the microwave!
Although it startled me somewhat, cicadas are harmless. I must have carried him in on my suitcoat.
One of my sons mows several yards during the summer and he has mowed with them all over his tractor and his clothes!
As I mentioned, I don’t remember them being this bad.
By the way, I’m hearing that a lot of bird feeders are not seeing much usage these days because the birds are eating cicadas instead of birdseed.
For birds, the cicadas are offering a buffet they can’t resist.
• DAY EARLY — Juneteenth is next Wednesday and the post office will be closed because it is a holiday.
We will be printing and mailing next week’s edition on Tuesday, instead of Wednesday, so that you should receive your mail edition the same day as usual. (fingers crossed)
• I JOIN Brian Byers on WSOY’s Byers & Co. every Thursday morning at 7:00 for the “City Hall Insider”.