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With the Decatur area unemployment rate remaining high and the local economy struggling as it is in other places, many of us are left wondering what we can do to help. The question becomes can we really make a difference?

I stopped by Petals in downtown Decatur this week and was talking with owner Kari Bartosik when she told me about an initiative to encourage people to shop locally. The 3/50 Project calls for saving the local economy three stores at a time by picking three independently owned businesses that would be missed if they were gone. The project then suggests people stop by those places and pick up a little something.

The idea is that if half of those employed in the U.S. spent $50 each month in independently owned businesses, their purchases would generate more than $42.6 billion in revenue. The impact could be even greater if more people did the same thing.

Money from independently owned stores returns to communities and the project claims they do so at a higher amount than national chains. According to the project, for every $100 spent in independently owned stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll and other expenditures. For the same amount spent at national chains, only $43 stays in the local community. Online shopping does nothing to benefit the local community, the project claims.

It's something to think about as we look for holiday gift ideas. Shopping for holiday gifts might be as good of a time to start as any. Instead of going to a national chain, it might be time to stop by a business in downtown Decatur, for example, and spend money there. It's at least something that seems worth the consideration for those who care about where their money goes.

An extra $100,000 for a school could go a long way. With budgets squeezed tight, the money could be used for a variety of worthwhile purposes. It seems like a good deal, and all a school would need to do is rally enough people to pick up a code from any U.S. Cellular store. The winners can spend the money any way they would like.

The mobile technology company is giving away a total of $1 million to 10 schools across the country as part of its Calling All Communities program. Last year, one of the schools that won was from Carrollton, which has a population of 2,600.

Anytime through Jan. 15, any adult can drop by a U.S. Cellular store to pick up a code that can be used to vote online for the school of their choice. The top-10 vote-getters win.

The campaign has the support of U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.

“At a time when schools face difficult choices about funding even the most basic programs, there are few schools that couldn't use the financial boost that $100,000 would provide,” Durbin said. “Investments like this in our children's future are investments in our nation's future.”

More than 120,000 votes were cast last year for 6,500 schools across the country. Winners were from Illinois, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, North Carolina, West Virginia, Tennessee, Nebraska and Iowa. Funds were used for scholarships, computer labs, playgrounds and gymnasium renovations.

Decatur area stores include 3016 N. Water St. and 1619 W. King St.

As most of us begin to prepare for Thanksgiving with an economy continuing to sputter, the cost of dinner is an unfortunate consideration. It sure would be nice to have a meal without worrying about what it will cost, but those feeling the pinch cannot afford to be spending excessively right now.

The American Farm Bureau Federation's annual price survey for a classic Thanksgiving dinner including turkey, stuffing, cranberries, pumpkin pie and all the basic trimmings found a 4 percent drop in price. The average cost for a family of 10 is $42.91, a $1.70 decrease from last year's $44.61. The survey shopping list included turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish tray of carrots and celery, pumpkin pie with whipped cream and beverages of coffee and milk.

Knowing what the survey shows, I was surprised to see a Wal-Mart television commercial claiming to offer a meal for as low as $20. At $2.50 per person, that seemed awfully inexpensive and perhaps unrealistic. I wondered how this meal could be achieved.

I found that Wal-Mart's $20 menu includes one 12-pound Grade A turkey, three 11 to 15.5 ounce cans Green Giant vegetables, two 14-ounce cans Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, three 6-ounce boxes of Stove Top stuffing, one 5-pound bag of red potatoes, one 12-count package of Sara Lee dinner rolls and one 22-ounce pumpkin roll cake. Wal-Mart, for example, says its turkeys are available for 40 cents per pound, compared to the Farm Bureau survey price of $1.16 per pound.

Depending on the family, the Wal-Mart menu might not be exact the items found on the Thanksgiving dinner table, but it at least shows that an affordable meal can be achieved.

Often times we can say something is unfair without anything to back up our argument.

A new theory by a Purdue University researcher supports the argument top executives are overpaid. In fact, Venkat Venkatasubrmanian's theory shows chief executives in 35 of the top Fortune 500 companies were overpaid by about 129 times their ideal salaries in 2008. Fair pay for an average CEO, he said, should be about 8 to 16 times the lowest paid employee.

“One of the most pressing economic and corporate governance issues of the day is how to determine fair pay packages for CEOs,” said the professor of chemical engineering. “The proposed theory allows us to compute what the fair pay is for a CEO, including bonuses and stock options, under ideal conditions.”

Whether you understand the math behind the theory, it poises a worthwhile issue. Venkatasubramanian said the analysis raises questions about the efficiency of the free market to properly determine fair CEO pay.

“As we all know, fairness is a fundamental economic principle that lies at the foundation of the free and efficient market system,” he said. “It is so vital to the proper functioning of the markets that we have regulations and watchdog agencies that break up and punish unfair practices such as monopolies, collusion and insider trading.”

The issue has caught the attention of Congress. The Federal Reserve wants to eliminate excessive pay packages that might encourage bankers to take reckless risks. The Obama administration would like to reduce executive pay at companies that received the most federal bailout money.

“We now have a rational quantitative basis for setting the fair base pay scales for the top management, and any added incentive pay package might then be linked to measureable and meaningful performance metrics that promote long-term survival and growth for the organization,” Venkatasubramanian said.

Decatur residents turned out this week in large numbers to oppose the Ameren rate hike proposal. It was said to be the largest turnout for one of four Illinois Commerce Commission hearings on the issue.

Ameren executives, some of whom had to stand to take the brunt of the public outcry during the meeting, say they need more money in order to continue providing the level of service it currently offers. The company reduced the amount it is asking for to $162 million, down from the original $226 million amount.

The proposed increase comes as the economy continues to struggle. Consumers who attended the meeting showed little sympathy toward the company. Ameren officials in part blamed not having enough money on customers using less electricity this summer even as it encourages them to do so as a way to save on bills. Some talked about what they see as excessively high pay for Ameren executives and the company wasting money on activities such as advertising. The company said it is trying to trim costs and run the organization more effectively. Unfortunately, some of those cuts are coming in terms of staffing, with plans to eliminate 300 positions by the end of the year.

Others pleaded with the Illinois Commerce Commission to stop the increase but were afraid their opinions would fall on deaf ears. They see the commerce commission as out of touch with their concerns, with commissioners either from the Chicago area or Springfield, where most residents who are Ameren customers only have the utility for natural gas and not electricity. The commerce commission is seen as a body whose members are appointed by the governor and thus should represent residents and not the utility.

The regulatory process is not over. Both sides must still present their case in December and a decision is expected early next year. If approved, the rate increase would go into effect in May. For now, the public has had its chance to speak up. It is up to the commerce commission to decide if the concerns outweigh the utility's desire for more money.

The tourism rise in Macon County is being touted as a significant economic boost to the area. But it's not just out of town visitors that can contribute to the area's tourism numbers. Decatur area residents looking for things to do close to home can have a lot to do with making a positive impact.

City leaders say it can start with finding something to do when guests are in town. The area has its share of activities for children in addition to fine arts and recreation for the older crowd. Lincoln-related tourism has taken on added significance and will continue to be a focus of tourism-driven efforts even after the bicentennial is over, City Manager Ryan McCrady said.

As family vacation budgets tighten, area residents don't need to hop on an airplane for a getaway, Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce President Randy Prince suggested. Area hotels, including the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel, can offer the needed break without having to drive very far, Prince said.

For those who are looking to get out of town or more importantly for others to visit the area, a new air service connection from Decatur Airport to Chicago's O'Hare could very well provide the needed link, Prince said.

Most of the visitors coming to the Decatur area for a long weekend, however, are from 3 to 4 hours away, said Denene Wilmeth, Decatur Area Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director. They're finding a more affordable alternative to larger cities by visiting smaller towns, Wilmeth said. Realizing that helps tourism officials step up their efforts and continue to find ways to drive visitors to Decatur.

In the long run, having a healthy tourism market seems to be a beneficial move for Decatur. It can help attract people to the city not only to visit but to live as businesses could find the area a worthwhile place to locate. The struggling economy needs every boost it can get and continuing to have quality places to go will help.

By now, it's pretty obvious this year's harvest is well behind schedule and as it continues to rain seemingly every day, it will be hard to make up time. Until it is put in historical perspective, however, it is difficult to appreciate just how far behind the work really is this year.

It's been over 40 years since the corn crop was harvested at a smaller percentage by this week in October. The year was 1967 when 11 percent was recorded during the fourth week of October, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service's Illinois Field Office. This week's corn harvest figure of 14 percent is higher than that.

On the other hand, the soybean harvest has never been this slow. The lowest figure on record for this date is this year's 33 percent.

The late harvest has led the Secretary of State and Illinois Farm Bureau to alert motorists in rural areas to the fact the state's farmers are running way behind with this year's harvest because of continuing wet weather. Farmers are going to be trying to push ahead with the harvest, forced to work later hours. With this weekend's time change, darkness will fall to most of Illinois prior to 5:30 p.m. each evening but tractors, combines, trucks and wagons will continue to be using rural roads.

In a normal year, farmers expect to be more than 80 percent done with harvest by the beginning of November, said Farm Bureau President Philip Nelson.

“A lot of farm work is going to be done in the dark this year,” Nelson said.

Roadway collisions have ranked as the second leading cause of farm deaths, behind tractor rollovers and ahead of grain bin accidents.

I would hope those of us who drive at least occasionally in rural areas take the advice seriously, slow down and remain alert as farmers do have a lot of work they need to get done.

In sorting through my e-mail, I keep finding interesting surveys about the future the economy is going to take, and it's nice to see positive outlooks. One of the latest ones came from Grant Thornton LLP. Illinois CFOs and senior comptrollers were asked about their plans for the future.

Only 23 percent say their company will increase hiring in the next six months and more than half plan to reduce bonuses. Nearly half believe the U.S. economy will improve in the same period. The survey is in line with the national results. Most are expecting good things ahead, so that's a reassuring sign, but it's still anybody's guess.

But at the same time, many of us continue to a feel the effects of higher prices for the things we need. News of the economy coming out of the recession does little to soothe the fears and difficulties those struggling to pay their bills face. We can only hope as the economy improves, companies will start hiring again and benefits that have been lost can be restored.

Two Decatur area companies are experiencing labor issues as they try to weather their way through the end of the recession.

The union representing employees at printing company Huston-Patterson is upset because their wages have been cut by 15 percent. The labor agreement between Local 219-M, Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the company expired June 30. The union says benefits have been drastically cut, along with deteriorating working conditions.

About 45 union members work at Huston-Patterson. A strike is a possibility. The union is calling on the National Labor Relations Board to rule in its favor.

Another labor dispute we have been following is taking place at the PPG plant near Mount Zion. Union members there have been working under a temporary contract extension that the company has given its 30-day notice to end, said Danny Underwood, United Steelworkers of America Local 193 president. Underwood said the company has seemed unwilling to move toward getting a settlement and has shown no regard for the workers. Union members want decent paying jobs and benefits and have been holding periodic informational pickets since this summer.

Over 75 workers at the plant have already been laid off including 44 union members and 31 contract workers, and additional layoffs continue to be a possibility. A temporary layoff of 16 workers took place over the summer. Union members make up approximately 150 of the 250 workers at the plant.

The debate in Forsyth continues over a planned new residential subdivision now being called Shadow Ridge Estates; however, it is showing no signs of being slowed down. The village board of trustees approved several recommendations from its plan commission, but made a few changes of its own.

Much of the discussion seemed to stem from confusion in the village's procedure to get such a project approved and whether plans would go back to the planning commission for more deliberation. Board members all were in agreement that the development itself should be built.

“Everybody was caught cold with this,” trustee Jeff Allsup said. “I don't think the planning commission was very comfortable with it.”

Trustee Bob Rasho praised developer Steve Horve for wanting to build in rough economic conditions. Horve wants to build the 54-lot development on land around Stevens Creek west of Oakland Ave. and north of Macon County Road 20. Horve said it is designed in response to what he says is demand for houses in the area on larger lots. He said 21 of the lots are one acre or more in size.

“I appreciate that fact we have a developer under these economic conditions taking the risk,” Rasho said. “We should not discourage the planning commission from doing its job.”

Horve said he wanted to address each of the planning commission's points because some of them he considered unreasonable. He did agree to a stipulation calling for an eight-foot wide bike path to be built through the development.

Neighbors concerned about flooding again voiced their opinion that the development would lead to flooding problems, both upstream and downstream. The developers said flooding will actually be reduced because four retention ponds are planned. No houses will be built in the floodplain, Mayor Harold “Hap” Gilbert said. But the developers asked for the ability to “plat” in the floodplain.

“We want to have every development come in and have no effect on the flooding,” Gilbert said.

Trustees still have not decided on placement of a pocket park for the development. It does not appear like it would be within the development given the lot sizes and the developers' desire to have the village pay for the lot. One option might be for the village to receive money for the value of the park and possibly use it to build a park to go along with other subdivisions.

The plan commission is scheduled to take up the issue again at a public hearing scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22 at the village hall.