Rock Island County Courthouse, R.I.P. (1895 — 2023)

As I write, the Rock Island County Courthouse, built in 1895, is being demolished. The building “died” at the age of 128 years. The cause of death was obsolescence, aggravated by the neglect of the county’s voters.

When I first came to Rock Island, in September of 1966, the courthouse was already a victim of voter neglect. A post card, in the collection of the Rock Island Preservation Society shows the courthouse with at least six beautiful domes and a copper roof. By the time I first set foot in Rock Island County, that copper roof and all six domes were long-gone. The spectacular main dome had been replaced by an ugly box covering the air conditioning unit.

But it is really not fair to blithely blame the voters. By the building’s 35th birthday, America was in the throes of the Great Depression. Most voters could barely support their own families; they didn’t have an extra dime for courthouse repairs and maintenance. And that Great Depression dragged on for a decade — and for many folks, until the end of World War II in 1945. Even after the war had ended, there were still people living on the Rock Island City Dump, feeding their families on the garbage discarded by others.

I can still remember my first full day in Rock Island County. Before my job interview with the then State’s Attorney Richard Stengel, I walked over to the federal courthouse to see if I might also interview with the U.S. Attorney. What I remember clearly from that morning, was how forbidding the Federal Courthouse seemed with all its office doors shut, and how friendly the Rock Island County Courthouse seemed with all its doors wide open.

After that interview and job offer, Dick Stengel took me on a tour of the courthouse. Over the years, I explored it myself when I had free time. When I explored the basement, it was like going down into a coal mine. By that time, the tunnel under 15th Street, from the old jail to the courthouse, originally constructed to allow the sheriff to safely convey prisoners to court, had been converted into a tunnel to accommodate the pipes that provided heat to the courthouse.

On the first floor was a large unattractive men’s room, a small unattractive sheriff’s office, and a very plain probate court and probate chambers. They had all the charm of an old bowling alley. There was also an ancient, tiny elevator.

The recorder of deeds office sat at the south end of the 2nd floor. An old, utterly unattractive county court occupied the north end. In the middle front, was the small, plain, cluttered clerk’s office.

The third floor had already been “remodeled.” The old two-story circuit courtroom, had been “remodeled” out of existence. It was replaced by a new courtroom with a jury box, a hearing room and three judges’ chambers in back. Above, a law library was created. None of the changes were in keeping with the design of the courthouse as originally constructed, or worthy, in the least, of historical preservation.

By the time I retired in 2000, the only portion of the building that bore any similarity to the original design, was the exterior brick work. In the interior, even the great double staircase had been halved — to allow for installation of a modern elevator. I can still recall our female court reporters complaining about the women’s facilities. Even the circuit clerk’s office, which when I arrived in 1966 had been so open and friendly, had been chopped up into a warren of cubicles.

Of course, like any building, the courthouse could have been restored to its original condition.

If that would have been a wise expenditure of money, a private investor would have bought the building and undertaken that restoration. The fact that the cost of restoration made the project unfeasible for a private investor, rather clearly demonstrates that it would have been a waste of taxpayer dollars.

I’m a guy that loves old buildings. While on the bench, while assigned to Mercer, Henry and Whiteside counties, I explored all the old courthouses. In Whiteside County, I walked across the boards laying atop the rafter above the old circuit courtroom, and upstairs explored the rooms where the judge and jurors slept over when the cases continued into the next day.

Of the four courthouses, I explored, during my years on the bench, only one — The Henry County Courthouse — was worth saving. To this day, it remains an architectural masterpiece and thing of beauty. The people of Henry County deserve high praise for their preservation of it.

First Published in the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on April 16, 2023. 

Copyright 2023, John Donald O'Shea

Plan to use high-potency marijuana? Buyer Beware!

On March 27, 2023, five members of the Moline City Council voted to approve Moline’s second marijuana dispensary. Two Aldermen, Mike Waldron and Scott Williams, voted “NO.” Waldron quoted as saying, “I don’t believe we need one; we certainly don’t need two!” Those who voted affirmatively, justified their votes saying, that they “appreciated the extra tax revenue.” (3% of revenues will go into the city’s general fund.)

While use and possession still remains illegal under federal law, as of September 2022, 37 states and the District of Columbia allow the medical use of marijuana; 19 states and the DC have legalized recreational use.

But whether the use of marijuana is legal or not in Moline, or whether Moline will receive extra tax dollars, really misses the point.

In a long article in the Frontiers of Psychiatry, dated Jan. 5, captured U.S. trends in the association of suicide ideation/behaviors with marijuana use among adolescents ages 12–17 and differences by gender and race/ethnicity, by Flores, Granados and Lê Cook, issues of far greater consequence are discussed.

Their paper is written against this background: “In the U.S. over the past decade, there has been a steady increase in marijuana use rates among adolescents, in part due to marijuana legalization laws. It is unknown whether these greater marijuana use rates are associated with rising rates of adolescent suicide ideation and behaviors (plan and attempt) or whether these associations differ by gender or race/ethnicity.”

The object of their study was “To determine whether marijuana use is associated with suicide ideation/behaviors among adolescents and if differences exist by gender and race/ethnicity.”

The discussion and conclusions of the paper strongly suggest great caution is in order.

“Using nationally representative data, our findings demonstrated that past-year marijuana use is a significant risk factor for suicide ideation/behavior among adolescents.

“This finding was consistent among males and females, as well as adolescents identifying as white, Black, Latinx, and NA/AN.

“We also found that rates of suicide ideation/behavior increased as the frequency (number of days) of marijuana use increased.

"While prior literature has found gender, race/ethnicity, and marijuana use to be independent factors associated with suicide ideation/behavior among adolescents, our study is one of the first to use a nationally representative sample of adolescents to examine associations between suicide ideation/behavior and marijuana use and how these associations differ by gender and race/ethnicity.

"Marijuana use, which we found to be associated with higher rates of suicide ideation/behavior, is influenced by a multitude of factors, including supply side factors such as availability, price and potency. Marijuana has become more widely available via recreational use legislation.

“Increased marijuana availability may result in adolescents initiating or increasing their recreational use.

"In an analysis of a national, annually administrated cross-sectional survey, “Cerda and (his) colleagues found marijuana prevalence rates among eighth and 10th graders in the state of Washington increased when comparing marijuana use rates before and after legalization.

“The state (Washington) saw an increase in the prevalence of habitual marijuana users and a decrease in the prevalence of non-users.

“With legalization, the stigma of marijuana use may dissipate and elevate the social acceptability, which can lower the perceived risks associated with marijuana use.

“As such, adolescents living in states with legalized recreational marijuana legislation for adults may initiate or increase their use without fully considering consequences (e.g., elevated risk of psychosis and impacts of brain development associated with adolescent marijuana use).

“The decreasing price of marijuana may also contribute to increasing use among adolescents and help to further explain our research findings.

“As markets, both legal and illegal, compete for customers, there has been a proliferation of potent marijuana products, which may have severe consequences for adolescents.

“The levels of 19-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the content that gives marijuana its euphoric effects, have significantly increased over the past several decades.

“THC is associated with acute increases in heart rate, various types of arrhythmias, coronary vasospasm, and acute myocardial infarction.

“As marijuana potency has increased, there may be a parallel escalation in mental health-related events. Work by Di Forti and (his) colleagues found daily adult (18–64) use of high potency marijuana, defined as THC 10% or greater, was associated with five-times the odds of having a psychotic disorder, relative to no use.

"Researchers determined that eliminating high potency marijuana would contribute to a 12% decrease in the number of first-episode psychosis cases. This is of critical importance as psychosis is a predictor of suicidal behavior.

“A systematic review and meta-analysis of 10 general population cohort studies found individuals with a psychotic experience had higher odds of suicidal ideation, plan, attempt, and suicidal death.

While not yet conclusive, the studies to date clearly suggest that daily adult use of high potency marijuana increases fivefold the chances of having a psychotic disorder, and that psychosis is a predictor of suicidal behavior.

First Published in the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on April 2, 2023. 

Copyright 2023, John Donald O'Shea

Applause and thanks to Mid-American Energy

After I voted Tuesday morning, I headed over to Hy-Vee in Rock Island to mail a package. As I proceeded West on Rock Island’s 18th Avenue, it got very dark. Then suddenly I hit what felt like a wall of wind. I looked ahead and saw a large tree overhanging the Avenue and waving. Given the strength of the wind, I immediately pulled to the curb. I was afraid of getting under that tree and having the wind bring it down atop my car. When the west wind abated a bit, I scooted past the tree, and on to Hy-Vee. My efforts were in vain; Hy-Vee had lost power to run their mailing devices.

I headed home, wondering if the wind had done any damage. It had. A large maple tree on neighbor A’s property had fallen against the electrical pole on the same lot, with one big limb around the north side of the pole, and a second around the south side. In the process, the tree has taken down and snapped the electrical wire leading to neighbor B’s house. When I got home, I promptly learned that I was without power.

I immediately called Mid-American Energy to report the tree-attack on the pole and my outage. As I waited no more than 30 seconds on the phone to make my report, I thought to myself, “We are on an unimportant street; we may not get power back until tomorrow.” To my very pleasant surprise, a woman answered, who identified herself as “Susan” (if I remember).

I first reported the tree against the pole, and she asked a few intelligent questions, obviously to make sure she understood what I was telling her, and then before I could report my own outage, she inquired “Do you also have power?” She gathered the pertinent details.

Then, in mid-afternoon, as I took the dog out, I saw an emergency vehicle over by the tree and the pole. I walked over, and they advised me they had been sent out to determine exactly what equipment would be needed to restore power in the neighborhood. I was pleased that they were out “scouting” to ensure the necessary equipment would be dispatched. I was still guessing Mid-American Energy would deal with bigger problems first, and that we would probably be without power until the following day.

Since I was now living in 19th century America — an “America before electrification, — I went to bed early. At some point, around 9 o’clock, I notice flashing lights. Being curious, I got up, dressed, and went outside to see what was going on.

I again was pleasantly surprised to see a big bucket truck across the neighbor’s yard either working, or getting ready to work, to get the tree off the pole.

Because I had seen in the daylight how the tree was straddling the pole, I wondered how the tree removers would do the job. And I recalled that when I was about 3, a neighbor, who had been a lineman with the electric company, was electrocuted and killed, while working on a line.

Fascinated, I stood about 150 feet away, both out of personal danger, and out of the way of the workers, and watched. As I watched, it was clear that the man in the bucket [who a number of the times passed over the top of the pole], was proceeding deliberately and carefully to both get the tree off the pole and avoid doing any further damage to the pole or the wires. Rather than cutting off large sections of the limb, he proceeded almost surgically, using the appropriate saws — to deal with the smaller branches, as well as the larger ones. Then as the job neared completion, the power company’s linemen appeared to do the electrical work.

One of the Mid-American Energy men had earlier told me that the power had earlier been shut off, down the street. (I guessed to avoid the threat of somebody being injured by the down wire(s).) With the tree removers done, the linemen went back to the other end of the block and in their own bucket changed the fuse, or turned on the circuit breaker, or whatever, and suddenly we had light. My porch lights went on!

As I went in, and headed back to bed, I saw them return to restore power to neighbors A and B. Both had power.

To put it simply, I was impressed with the entirety of the service. The tree men told me that they had come from Des Moines, with five other trucks/crews.

I am assuming, Mid-American Energy did every bit as well in other affected neighborhoods. But at least in mine, they have my applause and my thanks.


First Published in the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on April 9, 2023.

Copyright 2023, John Donald O'Shea

Here's what Moline-Coal Valley School Board candidates had to say

My First School Board Candidates’ Forum!

Last evening, I attended the 2023 Moline-Coal Valley School District Board of Education Candidate Forum. It was the first time in my life that I attended such an event.

I decided to attend when a close friend asked me who I was planning to vote for in the upcoming April 4 school board election, and when I had to admit that “I didn’t even know who was running.”

A brochure was available at the door. It contained a photo and a short resume of each of the seven candidates. The seven candidates were seated at a table on the stage of the MH theater.

The moderator was at a podium to the left.

The format was as follows: (a) each candidate was allowed a 90-second opening statement; (b) seven questions were asked (one at a time) and each candidate was allowed to make a 90-second answer; (c) each candidate was allowed a brief closing statement.

A movie screen was situated above the candidates. Each of the seven questions asked was shown on the screen just before, and continuously during the time each of the candidates were answering the question. I found this very helpful. It allowed me to check to see if the candidates were answering the question asked, or ignoring the question and making a canned speech. I was impressed by the fact that all the candidates were clearly making their answers to the question asked. The first six questions were:

1. What motivated you to serve?

2. What are the essential attributes and behaviors for a school board member.

3. How does a board member’s role differ from that of the superintendent or administrator?

4. How can communication with the community be improved?

5. What is your vision for education in the community?

6. What are the strengths of the Moline/Coal Valley School system?

The 7th questions seemed to invite repetition.


No questions were allowed from the audience. That avoided the possibility of a “friend of a candidate” asking a question designed to benefit the candidate, but it also prevented questions touching upon the issues tearing states like Virginia apart.

I was very pleasantly surprise with the presentations made by all seven of the candidates. All came across as intelligent and articulate. I saw no stuttering or stammering. No attempts at obfuscation or redefinition.

Two of the candidate, Audrey Adamson and Justin Anderson, were already members of the board, seeking re-election.

Audrey Adamson spoke of “Equity,” and “Trusting our educators” who were the “librarians to our children.” She spoke of “supporting the superintendent,” and “representing the people who put us in office.” She asked “Who will our decision impact?” And noted the importance of the board achieving “consensus,” noting that each board member was “only one of seven.” “We provide guidance; we set goals; we supervise.” The superintendent implements those goals.” When people come to us for answers, our job is to “connect them with the person with the proper answers.” We want our school to be a school where students “can come as they are; to prepare for the next step; a place where they want to be” — a school that also provides “social and emotional learning” and “recognizes the needs of disparate kids.”


Justin Anderson spoke of his “financial expertise” and the “need for board members to spend wisely.” As essential attributes, he identified “integrity,” openness, and being available,” noting that board members “represent 70,000 people.” He spoke of the need to balance between “holding the line” and “collaborating with the other board members.” He spoke of the need to recognize and set “community goals.” “Be available, act as a sounding board, and be a voice for those who reach out to you.” He believes the schools should be a “welcoming, loving place for whomever.” A “launching pad.” He called for teachers to be given what they need to meet the core needs of the students, and whatever else they need. He sees the district as having a “strong staff and team.” He wants a district were “everyone is welcome, and where various pathways are provided.”

Michelle Carter began by noting that “parental rights must be supported.” While working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, she worked with “billions of dollars” and acquired many “transferrable skills.” ”The school board members represent the families in the district; we need to focus on what families want.” “We need to be transparent to the people; to recognize what is possible, and what’s not; and to show their concerns are taken seriously.” “Our mission, on which we must focus, is to graduate students proficient in reading, writing and math. To teach and inculcate the importance of civility.” “We have a lot of good teachers. We must support their efforts to provide for student needs.” “Our students come from many different cultures; this enriches our district.”


Ramona Dixon “worried about pressures” and the “needs of the whole community.” She said a school board member must “know limits.” “We hire an administrator to do a job; our job is to collaborate with him.” “The superintendent is our point of contact.” We provide the “finances.”

In dealing with the people we represent, “we can’t over communicate.” We must provide “equity.” We must prepare our students “for whatever — work, the military, college,” and to deal with things on the horizon such as “artificial intelligence.” She took pride in the “relationship between our students and the police, and in our good staff.”


Jason Farrell spoke of being motivated by “Equity,” the need for “different materials.” He noted that providing good “service is difficult.” He felt his strengths were “explaining the complex in simple terms, working with others, and being a team member.” He also felt that the “superintendent was the Board’s point of contact.” He felt a board member should have “no direct contact with teachers,“ or be involved in “the removal of books.” He felt “tech in the schools could get better.” He spoke of “sexual orientation inclusion,” noted that “education is a fluid process,” and called for “getting rid of outmoded ideas.”


Lindsey Hines indicated she was motivated to run because “teachers are our greatest asset, and because special needs must be better served.” She felt a board member must be “a good listener, empathetic, a team member, and able to work with other board members and employees.” She felt it was important for a board member to “understand what the community wants for its students,” and to stay in touch with the community.” The students must be prepared both for the “jobs available today, and for jobs that do not exist yet.” She sees the District’s strengths in “its staff, and its partnership with the community.”


Mariela Trevino seeks election because the “language barrier still has to be dealt with” and to be "a voice for those who don’t yet know English.” She sees her strengths as being a “good listener, a team member, and someone who can effectively deal with data.” “A board member must represent the families in the district. Our policies should leave no one behind. The Spanish community is underserved. We must listen to their needs and be their resource.” My vision is to “train and educate for success in the real world.” We must provide for diversity, and the need of LGBTQ students and minorities.”

I am not a certified shorthand reporter. I took notes based on what I felt I heard the candidates say. If I have misquoted anybody, I didn’t mean to do that. As I listened, I made notes of what seemed important to me. I knew nothing about any of the candidates when I entered the room. At this point, I know only what I believe I heard them say. If others took better notes, rely on them. You have plenty of time. I make no recommendations as to whom you should elect.



First Published in the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on March 28, 2023.

Copyright 2023, John Donald O'Shea

From Moline to Chicago. By Amtrak? Or by Limousine?

Amtrak’s own financial statements conclusively demonstrate that pouring money into Amtrak is throwing it down a sewer.

Amtrak’s Consolidated Statements of Operations for the Fiscal Year Ending Sept. 30, 2022, show a “loss from operations” of $1,830,051,000.

Amtrak’s Consolidated Statements of Operations for the Fiscal Year Ending Sept. 30, 2022, show “revenues from contacts with customers,” $2,448,357,000. “Total Operating Expenses:” $4,827,545,000. That produced a “Loss from operations” of $1,830,051,000.

For the prior Fiscal Year (ending Sept. 30, 2021), Amtrak’s “loss from operations was $1,983,997,000.


Amtrak states that 2022 was a good year for Amtrak revenues. They were up 47.8% — “driven by higher ticket revenues” — this, as the result of the upturn of the nation’s economy as our country came out of the shutdowns of the pandemic.

However, on the expense side of the “P & L,” all expenses, save one minor one, were up substantially: Salaries, 26.7%; wages and overtime, 17.3%; employee benefits, 26.2%; employee related, 79.5%; train operations, 33%; fuel, power and utilities, 60.5%; materials, 25.7%; facility, communication & office, 20.7%; advertising and sales, 55.4%, etc.

But can a 47.8% revenue increase be reasonably expected for FY 2023? Once the country comes out of the shutdown, can it do it again? And again? Amtrak doesn’t think so. Amtrak predicts that gross ticket revenues will be back to the pre-COVID annual level by FY 2024.

On the other hand, given the inflation, created by our political geniuses, is there any reason to believe that Amtrak’s loses will not recur year after year?

The people supporting the coming of “high speed rail” between Chicago and Moline blather that “the money will be well-spent.” Really?

If this is such a good investment of $400,000,000, why don’t those who want “high-speed passenger service invest their own personal savings? Why are the taxpayers being asked to come up with the $400 million?

Imagine that you are a business man. You have $100,000 to invest. Would you decide to invest your own $100K in a new high-speed railroad? If it were possible, would you invest your $100K in “Amtrak common stock?” What if you knew that it would take 400 years for you to recoup your investment? 100 years? You, of course, would not begin to “make a profit” until you have recovered all of your $100K initial investment.

The point is this: You will never recover your investment in any company that loses money year after year. The only Amtrak routes that have ever made money are in Amtrak’s “Northeast Corridor.” And the Chicago-to-Moline route would be nearly 1,000 miles from the “Northeast Corridor.”

In FY23, Amtrak projects its “Long-Distance Routes” will lose $709,000,000. Its “State Supported Routes” will lose another $110,000,000.

So, what would be a reasonable time for the taxpayers to recoup their $400,000,000 investment in high speed-rail between Chicago and Moline? If the route can generate a net profit of $1,000,000 per year, the taxpayers would recoup their investment in a mere 400 years. If the route can net $4 million a year, the taxpayers would recover their investment in just 100 years!


One other thought. A car, a van or a limousine can provide regular, daily ground-passenger transport to and from Chicago. I-80, I-88 and even I-90 connect Moline and Chicago. Such services would not require the acquisition of new train depots, right-of-way, the co-operation of any railroad, the tearing up of old tracks, the laying of new high-speed tracks, the purchase of new train engines, and/or modern passenger cars. And we already have limousine companies in the area. Do you suppose that they would provide regular twice-a day service, if they were subsidized? Would a subsidy of $1million per year do it? If so, we could have service for 400 years before we expended the $400,000,000.

The time has come for those who claim that this is a “good investment of taxpayer funds” to set out in detail their projections of (1) Revenues, (2) Expenses, (3) Expected ridership, (2) and Ticket prices.

Unless full and fair — open disclosure is made to the people of the Quad-Cities, this “project” has all the hallmarks of a boondoggle, and the $400,000,000, the appearance of a slush-fund.

Everybody leading the charge here should fully and fairly disclose their financial interest or potential financial interest in the project.

The Rock Island ended its intercity passenger operations to this area on December 31, 1978. That service ended because it could not profitably compete with other modes of transport. Where is the evidence that that is no longer true?

Full Disclosure: I have no financial interest in any limousine-type business. I do own some Lionel trains.

First Published in the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on March 19, 2023. 

Copyright 2023, John Donald O'Shea

Losses caused by remote teaching entirely foreseeable

In December 2022, The Dispatch published a long article, captioned “Quad-City schools see historic learning losses.”

The article cited findings from the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress evaluation. The principle finding was “since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic” there have been “historic declines in student performance.”

Among the sub-findings for the 2020-21 year were the following:

•Low-income students saw the biggest drops in learning levels.
• Black middle and high school students saw lower math proficiency rates.
• Urban districts showed greater declines in math skills.
• Losses were greater in districts that spent more time in “remote learning” instruction.

In 17th century England, the education of children, other than those from upper class families, was generally provided by the family and the church, or through apprenticeships. The first public school in the American colonies was the Boston Latin School which opened in 1635. Four years later, the Mather School opened in Dorchester, Massachusetts. It was the first “free” publicly supported school in America.

The reason why public schools came into existence is not hard to understand. Many parents, who themselves had received little or no education, were incapable of educating their own children. Those fortunate enough to have received some education, often were too busy eking out meager livings, and lacked the time, or the will, to educate their children.

This is certainly not to say that educated parents, with the will to do so, are incapable of home schooling. In the years I directed theater at Alleman HS, I was fortunate to become acquainted with a number of kids who had received excellent educations by their mothers through their grade-school years.

But in the first 15 years of my judgeship, especially during those times I was assigned to hear juvenile neglect and delinquency cases, I saw why public and parochial schools were essential to the welfare of children. The one conclusion I drew, that had really stuck with me, was that most of the neglected and delinquent kids who appeared before me were products of a broken home, who had no religious affiliation, and who lacked the ability to read and, therefore, succeed in school.

As a very young boy, I was fortunate to have a dad who loved reading history, geography and detective stories, and who had a solid understanding in basic math. I can recall an evening when we were assigned math homework in subtraction that required “borrowing.” For some reason, when “Sister Mary Arithmetic,” earlier that day taught us how to “borrow,” I didn’t get it. When I tried to do the homework, it seemed impossible. When I told my dad, “I didn’t understand, “how to subtract a bigger number from a smaller number,” it took dad about one minute to explain “borrowing.” After dad’s help, subtracting the likes of 197 from 343 was easy.

But did the math scores really fall during the period of “remote learning” because the kids came from Black or low-income families? I would not draw that conclusion. Based on my life experiences, I would have concluded that the kids who suffered the greatest decline in math and reading skills came from homes were the parents (or parent, in a broken home) didn’t have the skills or the will to supplement the “Zoom” lessons.

Sadly, I think this was entirely foreseeable.

The principle reason for the creation of programs like “head start,” was to fill the void for those children whose parents couldn’t teach because they themselves lacked the education (or the will) to assist their children in their studies.

In my most recent book, "Memories of the Great Depression: A Time Remembered," the first story in the book tells the story of a “low income,” Black family with three children. The mother was a high school graduate, and a fine pianist. The father was a WWI veteran, who found work at Union Malleable. Both parents had a deep commitment to the tiny church, kitty-corner from their home, where the mother served as pianist for 50 years. The parents prayed with their children every night before bedtime. And then, notwithstanding the untimely death of the father, when the oldest son, my story teller, was in first grade, the widowed mother carried on and fought through the hard decade of the “Great Depression” to successfully raise and educate her three young children.

In later years, two of those children served this county as two of our finest probation officers. The family survived and thrived because of the values the mother instilled and cultivated in her children, and her commitment to the education of her children. Fortunately, they had help from their relatives, their little church, and a number of “kind neighbors.”

So, what’s the real cause of kids not progressing in reading and math during the pandemic?

Some children need face-to-face time with teachers far more than others. In homes where the parent(s) lacked the education to do what teachers could do in the classrooms, and could not (or would not) make up for the loss of in-school teaching, that’s where the losses were the greatest.

First Published in the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on March 12, 2023. 

Copyright 2023, John Donald O'Shea

Is Amtrak from Moline to Chicago a good use of $400 million

On Feb. 28, this paper featured the following article: “Local officials seek federal intervention.”

The problem seems to be that “About $400 million in state and federal funding is committed to the downtown (Moline) project.” And it seems to be burning holes in the trouser pockets of our city officials.

We are told that negotiations have broken down between the Illinois DOT and the Iowa Interstate Railroad.

Therefore, “The best hope for the project to move forward is to get Amtrak to go to bat for those supporting the passenger route from Chicago to Moline."

I read that to mean, that Amtrak should use a baseball bat to “convince” the nasty folks at Iowa Interstate Railroad to hop aboard the money train so the $400 million can be peed down the political drain.

Before, however, any rational taxpayer or voter hops aboard the “cannonball express” supporting this expenditure, there are some hard questions that need to be asked.

Where is the money going? Which business men or businesses stand to directly profit from seeing rail passenger service come to Moline? Which politicians?

Is rail passenger service from Chicago to Moline a necessary or wise expenditure of $400 million?

Would the money be better spent shoring up Illinois’ major under-financed pension systems? (According to a state report, the funding ratios for the five state retirement systems ranged from 22% to 45.2% as of June 30, 2022).

Or on highways? Bridges? Expanding airport service?

Is there any Amtrak passenger service within 500 miles of Chicago that makes a profit? Within 750 miles?

Amtrak’s net Loss for 2021 was $2,007,073,000, up from a paltry $1,679,032,000 in 2020 (as per Amtrak’s Consolidated Financial Statement). On its longer routes, Amtrak loses more. In 2018, Amtrak’s Chicago to San Francisco route lost $57.3 million; its Chicago to LA route lost $57.2 million; its Chicago to Seattle route lost $51.9 million; Boston to Chicago lost a mere $35.7 million.

How many millions will it cost to upgrade the tracks to accommodate high-speed-rail service? Acquire better right of way? Build new bridges? Overpasses?

How much will new engines and passenger cars cost? Pensions? Salaries?

The Wanderu website indicates that you presently can get a train from Chicago to Moline for just $42, and arrive in Moline in a mere 10 hours and 50 minutes. Would that meet your expectations Are the tracks being used sufficient?

How many trains are going to run each way each day? One? Two?

How many passengers will travel by the trains?

What will the fare be? How does that compete with flying from Moline to Chicago? A bus? Will the fares paid result in the line being profitable? Or will the taxpayers forever be in “bailout mode?”

Once you take a train from Moline to Chicago, where will you disembark? How far will that be from your real destination? How will you get from the train station to your actual destination? Will you go by cab or Uber? What will that cost?

How often would you take this train? What about your family members? Or will it be more convenient and cheaper to simply drive up?

My best guess is that the voters and taxpayers will be far better off if our public officials who are so on fixated passenger rail service would buy a Lionel train, and build a nice layout in their basements.

That way, the $400 million that is burning a hole in their pockets might be put to a far better public use.

First Published in the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on March 2, 2023. 

Copyright 2023, John Donald O'Shea