Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
An announcement for all citizens!
We hereby proclaim an event to celebrate our country’s independence on July 4th, 2016.
A concert to take place on the lawn of our New City Hall from 1:00-2:00pm.
The concert will be performed by the renowned […]
Now for July’s movie. WE have been waiting some time to run this film… it is The Westerner, a classic western if there ever was one. It stars Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan. Brennan, who plays Judge Roy Bean, won his third and final Oscar for this one.
Directed by William Wyler, The Westerner tells the […]
Good Evening All… Our movie in June 2016 is one of those films you don’t hear much about anymore, but one which was highly-popular when it was released. So said the book from which it was made… God Is My Co-pilot, starring that stellar good-looking leading man, Dennis Morgan… with support from Raymond Massey and […]
My wife kept reminding me about how I talked of writing a column on aging, in other words, growing older. I kept putting it off but finally came to the conclusion that I’d better write this now before she forgets to remind me. (She’s getting older, too.)
This […]
Hello Everybody…
Well… here is the information on the next Movie night at Old City Hall. The movie is Make Way For Tomorrow. I chose this film because, though having a sad story, it is a brilliant piece of film making. Make Way For Tomorrow, is a generational story concerning the plight of an aged couple […]
Most of our Jacksonville citizens have never been to one of our City Council meetings. They don’t know what they are missing. It’s true each meeting has an agenda, but that doesn’t always foretell what might happen since human behavior is quite often unpredictable. This was certainly […]
Good Evening Everyone…
Our next movie is It Started With Eve starring one of the brightest talents on the silver screen… Deanna Durbin. She had an impressive list of credits to her name and this one ranks pretty high. Even so, there is another actor who steals the show… Charles Laughton… the same fellow who uttered […]
Good Morning… Continuing our salute to British actors, our feature attraction in March is THE LODGER… a film starring virtually an all British cast… George Sanders, Merle Oberon, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Sara Allgood, and most importantly… Laird Cregar. A brilliant actor, Cregar is unknown today because of his early untimely death.
Despite boasting two Oscar winners, […]
Last month, a friend complained to me about reading newspaper headlines declaring what a bad year 2016 will be. Her reaction was to avoid reading these columns all together… and who could blame her? We seem to get enough bad news without some writer trying to tell […]
I remember, as a child, being struck by the Greek mythological fable of Persephone, daughter of the goddess Demetra, who was abducted by Hades and brought into the underworld. Demetra, whose task was to bring fertility to the land, became so depressed she renounced her divine duties, […]
Good Evening Everyone… I promised to follow up with our last announcement and give you a little background on November’s film, Shanghai Express. It stars Marlene Dietrich in her third film directed by Joseph von Sternberg, a director under whom she became a world renowned celebrity actress. I love train movies, and this ranks as […]
The film for October at Old City Hall is one that I don’t believe most of you may have ever seen. The Mystery of Mr. X starring Robert Montgomery is as neat a thriller as ever written. Evidently Montgomery thought so too, because he really threw everything he had as an actor into this role […]
“Where Liberty dwells, there is my country.” Words spoken by Ben Franklin. But today? We are willing to forsake Liberty for comfort or safety. Certainly this was untrue in Franklin’s day. So conditioned to some government bureaucrat telling us how to behave, it no longer concerns us […]
Our film for July is Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake, a 1942 adventure film directed by John Cromwell, starring Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney. It was the last film with the tragic actress, Frances Farmer, before her legal problems and eventual commitments to psychiatric hospitals until 1950. It also features a powerful […]
A while ago I wrote a column in which I rhapsodized over the construction of the historic Courthouse soon to become Jacksonville’s City Hall. Built in 1883, it is an example of superb hand-craftsmanship. Using only natural materials of the day, it was built […]
Jacksonville Mayor Paul Becker and the City of Jacksonville invite everyone to come-out and celebrate Saturday, July 4th on the Courthouse grounds from noon until 3:00pm and enjoy complimentary hot dogs, chips and bottled water. Picnickers may opt to bring their own food and drinks if they so desire. Once again, the Fire Department will […]
Well… it seems as if your Mayor has finally done it. I broke a rule every Boy Scout was taught since the first one earned that title in 1910. Even my grade school teachers did their best to make me understand… in any endeavor, in any undertaking, […]
At the risk of sounding like a disgruntled stage actor upset with his Wednesday afternoon matinee audience, I feel the need to share my thoughts about citizen attendance at our City Council meetings. Where, oh where are most of you? My one desire is to see more […]
At its April 7, 2015 City Council meeting, Jacksonville Mayor Paul Becker will honor Clara Wendt and Larry Smith for their many years of public service. The meeting starts at 6 pm at Old City Hall and the public is invited (as always) to attend and show their support. The brief presentation will be the […]
Are you troubled by the political discord today? I am! Not that it is anything new. It is as old as the art of politics. History bears that out. I remember the hatred directed at President Harry Truman. It was intense, personal, and vicious… especially after he […]
At 2 pm on Thursday, February 26, Mayor Paul Becker and others gathered at City Hall to open and review 4 contractor bids for the seismic upgrade portion of the historic courthouse renovation. Bids were made by Batzer Construction ($298,600), Taylor Site Development ($357,900), The Ausland Group ($221,150), and Vitus Construction ($308,992).
After announcing the bids, […]
‘Tis the season of Christmas! (Yes, we can still call it that despite all who would have it otherwise.) Christmas is upon us, as well as the end of another year, and it’s been a very busy year for this mayor!
As I wanted to do something special […]
The following scenario has not happened, but with all things possible is certainly worth contemplating…
It took months, but the sale of the old courthouse to the We Operate Efficiently Corporation finally went through. WOE had worked at obtaining the building even before the citizens of Jacksonville became […]
On June 23, Mayor Paul Becker issued a “proclamation,” effectively permitting downtown business owners...
We may live in an historic town, but I’ll wager that when studying history in school, you hated it. Was your history class like mine, consisting of nothing more than memorizing important dates of people and bigger-than-life events? King George may have been a bad king… at least from the American colonists’ point of view, but what were we taught about the man himself? Very little!
In today’s world the question arises… what is the definition of ethics, for often it seems to be lacking in at least some of our public officials. At least the daily headlines keep telling us that...
An incident occurred on my recent vacation that some might call coincidence… but I know better. My wife and I were strolling around a crowded street fair in Palm Springs when, quite unexpectedly, we heard a voice behind us cry out, “There’s the mayor of Jacksonville.” Sure enough, it turned out to be a couple who were also vacationing from Jacksonville.
I’ve lost count how many times I’ve talked about the incredible volunteers making Jacksonville a wonderful place to live. At the Review, I’m fond of saying, “the ‘V’ in Jacksonville is for “volunteer!” On February 18, I was thrilled when Mayor Paul Becker presented Dirk Siedlecki with the 2013 “Person of the Year” award.
New Year’s Eve 2013 marked the end of my third year as mayor, an occupation which seemed most improbable to me when growing up—it was a different world back then. This thought crossed my mind while recently watching an old Hopalong Cassidy film...
It was almost a century ago, 1916 to be exact, when a young man, only 18, was put on a boat by his six older brothers and shipped off to America before the Turkish army could conscript him...
This month brings us Thansgiving—A time to reflect on our reasons to be thankful—I would like to take this opportunity to...
On Tuesday, November 5th, City Hall was packed with a standing room-only crowd to honor Vi Davis for her decades of...
I was recently criticized as someone who lived in the “Wild West” and unable to move into the 21st century...
Join Jacksonville Mayor Paul Becker for a screening of the "The Gay Divorcee" when movie night returns on Friday, September 20th!
Lately, we have been hearing from a small number of citizens about their concerns over what they’ve heard...
That was quite a picnic on July Fourth! Five hundred hot dogs purchased, five hundred hot dogs served...
It seems appropriate to lead off this month’s column by mentioning the successful conclusion to the MRA land swap...
Our courthouse has had its own checkered history...
"Drums Along the Mohawk" is February's Free Movie - February 15
You are invited to join our own Mayor Becker in Jacksonville on Sept. 22...
It is in every sense pure entertainment...Movie Night is September 14, 7pm...
The Declaration of Independence: What a document!
Jacksonville's Disaster Drill was an important and enlightening exercise for the city...
I have finally come to the conclusion that in the eyes of some citizens, I must be… I hate to admit it… politically incorrect...
Summary of City Council Meetings for September...
Mayor Paul Becker has called for the creation of a program to save Jacksonville’s historic core buildings...