Maybe everyone else in Muscatine already knows this: The lights are working again on the Norbert F. Beckey Bridge over the Mississippi River.
The Muscatine City Council in September authorized spending $40,000 to fix the lights, which had not worked for several months. Read some background here if you are interested.
It sounds as if the lights have been working again for about a week, but I’m not sure. And since it’s nearly 9 p.m. on Friday, an official confirmation may not be available until Monday. I sent a message about the lights to Erika Cox, a spokeswoman for Muscatine Power and Water.
“Musco has been working on them and I knew they were getting close,” she said. She said she thought the lights had been turned on in the past week, but would check Monday and let me know. As soon as I hear from her again, I’ll update this.
Lottery lunatic: After arriving home an hour or so ago, I realized I hadn’t stopped somewhere earlier to buy a ticket for tonight’s lottery drawing, which could be for a jackpot approaching $700 million.
So I left the house, planning to get a picture of the bridge lights and to buy a lottery ticket. I went to the Kum & Go at 501 Cedar St. in Muscatine.
There really wasn’t a long line to buy lottery tickets, so I waltzed in and waited a few minutes while the cashier told stories about her dog with the customer who was ahead of me.
The customer looked like she had come from central casting for the People of Wal-Mart. But more troubling was her son, who must have been 4 or 5. He was running around in a pair of pajama pants without a shirt or shoes. Call me a grumpy old man, but at the moment, it’s 55 degrees outside, which doesn’t strike me as conducive for bare feet.
And, of course, mom locked her keys in the car. As I pulled out of the lot, there she stood, cigarette dangling from her mouth, with a Slim Jim, trying to unlock the car while her half-naked son ran around in the cold.
It was almost enough to make me hope this family wins that record lottery jackpot. They need the money more than I do.
Brome Hill 