Heard on the Street

A STAR IS BORN

Or rather several stars. July 22, 1980, was the issue date of the first Springfield Business Journal (then known as TOP's Executive Journal), and SBJ shares its July 22 birthday with a variety of prominent persons, among them: Kennedy family matriarch Rose Kennedy; 19th century genetics pioneer Gregor Mendel; Republican statesman Bob Dole; actors Terrence Stamp, Louise Fletcher, Danny Glover, Willem Dafoe and David Spade; musicians Don Henley and George Clinton; sculptor Alexander Calder; poet Stephen Vincent Bent; fashion mogul Oscar De La Renta; and "Jeopardy" host Alex Trebek. We'll take celebrity birthday trivia for $1,000.

WHERE'S NOAH?

The flash flooding of July 12 took its toll at Trinity Lutheran Church, 1415 S. Holland. According to church secretary Phyllis Hansen, the church basement shipped about four inches of water, floodwater ran into the ground-level gymnasium and education buildings, and the basement of the church office where paper records were stored was filled with water up to the top basement step. The damage was discovered at 5:30 a.m. by a parishoner, and by 6 a.m. church members had arrived in force with brooms, squeegees, sump pumps and dehumidifiers to help clean up, bail out and salvage whatever could be saved.

YOU'RE THE TOP

Silver Dollar City's Web site, silverdollarcity.com, is ranked among eMarketer's Top 10 Amusement Park Sites, chosen from a field of 200. Web sites were evaluated on their design, ease of navigation, shopping and support, and features and technologies, according to an SDC release. Silver Dollar City came in at No. 4, following No. 3 Disney, No. 2 Paramount and No. 1 Cedar Point. SDC was followed by No. 5 Universal Studios, No. 6 Mountain Creek, No. 7 Six Flags, No. 8 Legoland, No. 9 Worlds of Fun and No. 10 Schlitterbahn. Links to all the winning sites are available at www.emarketer.com.

AFTER THE DELUGE

The Jordan Valley, which lends its name to Springfield's planned civic park, has a history of flooding July 12 being an extreme case in point. Buildings were swamped, motorists were stranded and cars parked in the valley were submerged. What is the city's comprehensive plan to address stormwater flooding as the civic park develops? Well, there isn't one. According to Bob Schaefer, assistant director of Public Works, the park development, unlike the structures it replaces, will not be 100 percent impervious surface and so will have less impact. Stormwater impact will be addressed with each park project, he said, and infrastructure improvements will occur in tandem with the new construction. Hey, it worked for the south side ... didn't it?

HONOR AMONG THIEVES

John Robert Young, 25, and Homer Lee Peak Jr., 22, both of Crane, were sentenced in federal court July 10 for the theft of a stamp vending machine from the Crane Post Office. Young was sentenced to nine months' confinement and a year of supervised release. Peak was sentenced to three years' probation, according to a release from Stephen L. Hill Jr., U.S. attorney. A third person, a 17-year-old, also took part in the crime, which netted a total of about $120. The best part: Later, while the 17-year old was sleeping, Young and Peak stole the minor's share of the proceeds and went to Midnight Rodeo in Springfield to spend the loot.