Peoria Pundit

From a press release:

Celebrate Mardi Gras
Make a Difference in a Child’s Life
Save The Date

Heart of Illinois Big Brothers Big Sisters invites you to join in the fun at the Mardi Gras Ball 2009.  The event is March 27, 2009 at the Embassy Suites in East Peoria with festivities beginning at 6:00pm.

The evening will consist of dinner, music, a silent auction, and introduction of the big brother and big sister of the year.  Meet children who have gone through the program to see what they have to say about how it changed their lives. Talk with volunteers who donate their time to make a difference in a child’s life.  See firsthand the impact Big Brothers Big Sisters has on today’s youth.

Your donations throughout the evening will go towards the Big Brothers Big Sisters program to match at-risk children with volunteer adult mentors through safe, high quality, professionally supported programs.   Many people are cutting back on their financial donations during this recession, but the children served by this organization still need your help so join us to make a difference.

From a press release:

Schock Calls for Exit Strategy on Government Bailouts in the Wake of Outrageous AIG Executive Bonuses

Washington, D.C. – In the wake of the news AIG has awarded executive bonuses totaling $165 million, Congressman Aaron Schock (R-IL) issued the following statement:

“The recent revelations that AIG is using taxpayer dollars to award $165 million in executive bonuses are simply outrageous. Taxpayers are not receiving an adequate accounting from the Treasury Department or from those companies receiving taxpayer funds. My amendment to H.R. 384, the TARP Reform and Accountability Act, would have established a website to track these funds. Unfortunately, the Senate has thus far failed to consider this legislation. This news regarding AIG executives receiving egregious bonuses, while leaving taxpayers to continue bailing out these firms, is the clearest example of why an exit strategy from this government involvement in private business is essential. I believe the Administration and Congress should recover these bonuses by any means and present taxpayers with an exit plan as soon as possible.”

From my inbox:

PEORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 16, 2009

For More Information: Contact Officer Doug Burgess
APPREHENSION OF ARMED ROBBERS
Case #’s 09-5430 & 09-5437

On Saturday, March 14th, 2009 between the hours of 3:45 pm and 5:30 pm two armed robberies occurred in the City of Peoria. In both incidents, the suspects in the robbery were identified and apprehended shortly after the crime took place.

At approximately 3:45 pm, a citizen was confronted by a male carrying a handgun in an alley in the 1800 block of W. Lincoln. The robber pointed the handgun at the chest of the victim and demanded money but was chased away when another male confronted him with a broom stick. Responding officers were able to locate the suspect nearby and he was positively identified by the victim.

At around 5:30 pm, the Top of the Hill Bar & Grill fell victim to a robbery where the weapon was implied but not seen. The suspect entered the business, sat at the bar and ordered a beer. When the bartender rang up the beer and the cash drawer was open, the suspect jumped over the counter, grabbed the bartender and informed her that he had a gun in his jacket pocket. The suspect then reached into the cash drawer and took an undisclosed amount of cash before fleeing. Officers in the area were able to identify the suspect while canvassing the area and he was later apprehended and positively identified by the victim.

From my inbox:

The not-for-profit organization Look. It’s My Book! is holding a gala fund raiser with dinner, music and literary entertainment beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 4 at the Mt. Hawley Country Club, 7724 N. Knoxville, Peoria.

The event, which is open to the public, costs $50 per person, with reservations due by March 30.

Joe Smith, singer and guitarist for Waylon Jennings will perform, joined by best selling mystery author Dorothy Cannell, a former Peorian who will present literary entertainment.

Look. It’s My Book! is committed to providing six new books each year to every Peoria School District pupil in kindergarten through fourth grade.

Children select the books with Look It’s My Book! from a list vetted by Accelerated Reader, a program used by District 150.  Research shows that the only way to get children to read more is to make it fun for them, while at the same time a child’s reading skills and school performance improve if there are books in the home.

For reservations or further information visit the website www.lookitsmybook.org or

call 309/691-9266 or email janeteroth@yahoo.com.

Contributions to Look. It’s My Book!  are tax deductible.

Do. Not. Send. Me. PDF. Files.

I’m not gonna retype your press releases. I’m not going to OCR your documents. I’m not going to upload your PDF files to my site and then hope my readers click on them. I don’t work for a newspaper, so I don’t have to print ANY of them, and I don’t feel the need to reword these things to maintain the fiction it’s original reporting. I am perfectly happy to cut and paste.

The easiler it is for me to put it on my site, the more likely I am to put it on my site. PDF formats are hard to work with. And the harder it is to work with, the less likely it is to be reprinted on Peoria Pundit or Verbatim.

So sending me a press release in a PDF format is an effective in getting your news on Peoria Pundit as writing it out longhand on the back of a candy wrapper, crumpling it up and toss it it at my house from a moving car.

Don’t send me email explaining the very good reasons you think you have for mass emailing of PFD documents (’the client wants it that way’ being at the top of the list). Really, there’s not a molecule in my body that gives a rat’s ass.

Thank you.

P.S. And if you think there are newspaper editors who don’t send this stuff to the recycle bin, think again.

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