Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2005

Saturday, Jan 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

A couple of years ago, I was gazing out my apartment window while people streamed away from the downtown St. Patrick’s Day parade.

As I stood there, trying to warm up before heading out again, I noticed several small pieces of ice fly off the building next to mine, most of them falling harmlessly to the ground below.

But then I watched in horror as a gigantic, flat piece of ice - easily four or five feet across and wide - helicoptered downward a few dozen stories and headed right for a group of revelers strolling arm-in-arm on Randolph Street.

They never knew they were in danger until the huge ice shelf crashed just inches in front of them, spraying ice everywhere, causing them to leap backwards. I breathed a sigh of relief as they instictively covered their heads before furtively scanning the skies to see if any other potentially fatal gifts from God were headed their way.

For a second, though, I really thought they were goners.

Ah, life in the big city.

Anyway, check out the video on this page for some great shots of falling ice.

And in case you’re wondering who gets blamed if someone is hit by wayward ice:

Building managers were held liable in a 1994 incident in which a Wisconsin man was killed by falling ice on Michigan Avenue.

Killed. Oh, man, that’s not good. I don’t mind getting shot at or blown up, but I don’t want to go out like that.

“Where’s Miller?”

“Didn’t you hear, dude? Killed by a giant ice cube.”

“What a dweeb. Hey, how long before I can ask his widow for a date?”

“I don’t know about you, but I’m waiting until she gets her fat jury check.”

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Mell spills his guts

Saturday, Jan 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

I got a call from one of the boys last night and I’m told there’s more coming on this not-so-little spat. Mell is telling friends he wants to hold a press conference on Monday. Check Monday’s Capitol Fax for more.

Publicly humiliated by Gov. Blagojevich’s administration in a Will County landfill dispute, Ald. Richard Mell came out swinging Friday. He angrily accused his son-in-law, the governor, of ripping apart their family, being so politically manipulative that he would “throw anyone under the bus,” and granting plum appointments in exchange for $50,000 campaign contributions. […]

“He uses people, and he used me. He uses everybody, and when there’s no more use, he discards them,” Mell said. “When he was running, we talked five or six times a day. After he became governor, we never talked. He wanted everyone to believe he got there on his own.” […]

“My wife begged me not to support him for governor. She said you know how he is, and I did it anyway. I remember when there was a problem in his congressional campaign. I told Patti maybe we should just shut this campaign down now. But she said, ‘Oh no, dad, we’ve come so far. No dad, we can’t do that.’ Her mother said shut it down, and I told her my daughter will hate me. Do you think he’d ever have had a chance without me?” Mell said.

Man, that’s harsh. Read the whole story, it’s definitely worth a couple of minutes. Chris Kelly essentially threatens to sue Mell for claiming he’s selling appointments. Mell compares himself to “the old wife” who has been spurned for a fancy, young, new wife (Chris Kelly).

ABC-7 found Mell in Florida yesterday. He was in fine form.

“This governor is trying to put on this mantled cloak of what a great white knight he is when he’s not,” said Alderman Dick Mell […]

“What he is doing borders on being criminal. Using the state’s power to shut down and have a vendetta against me borders on being criminal. What he is doing to the family is beyond approach,” said Gov. (sic) Mell.

The governor’s office denies a vendetta and so does the Illinois EPA, which shut down the landfill owned by a nephew of Alderman Mell.

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