Lincolnite

John Q. Hammons, for a while a prominent (would-be) developer whose name was on many Lincolnites' lips, has died. Raise your hand if you remember John Q. Hammons. If you've been around Lincoln for a while, you should. He built the Embassy Suites and he had his eyes on a few other major projects. The most prominent included a proposal for the former Starship 9 location -- now the home of the Larson Building -- and a hotel at 17th and Q that fizzled after the City Council refused to use eminent domain to support the project. Those of you who have been reading this website since 2005 -- holy crap, has it been that long?! -- will recall that I argued vehemently against using eminent domain on the 17th and Q project. Lincoln would be a very different place today had the Council caved to Hammons on that project. Instead, Hammons gradually faded from local discussion. His influence never took off in Lincoln the way it appeared it might. Still, the decade or so during which he was active in Lincoln was a colorful one. He leaves behind the legacy of the Embassy Suites and a number of indirect influences that helped to boost to a Downtown on the rise.

Good work, Lincoln! At least 6,624 donors helped raise $2.1 million for a whole variety of local charitable organizations. That's not bad for a day's work. Unfortunately, there's a dark side to that great news. Mayor Beutler plans to celebrate by doing the Harlem Shake with members of his cabinet. The Harlem Shake, you may recall, was a craze that briefly swept over the interwebs eons ago -- beginning way back in February of this year. Beutler may as well have promised to do The Urkel.

I'm having a bit of a hard time believing that this little guy turns seven today:

The second annual Give to Lincoln Day fires up tomorrow. You may recall that last year's giving reached a whopping $1.3 million. There are tons of worthy causes to support here in Lincoln. Please take some time to browse through the participating organizations and choose one (or more than one!) that calls out to you.

Starting late last summer we did "foster care" of sorts for a friend's dog as she went through a divorce and wound up in an apartment that didn't accept pets. He went home a few weeks ago. Ever since then, The Missus felt an emptiness in the house. She missed having two dogs around. And that's how we wound up with Gertie. Gertie is a 7 month old cocker spaniel from the Beatrice Humane Society. She was very shy when we met her -- so shy, in fact, that although other families had looked at her, she had been stuck in the shelter for weeks. We saw through that, however. After spending time with her it was clear that she would make a great family dog. She wanted to bond with a family, she just hadn't had the opportunity. Sure enough, it didn't take her long to find comfort here at 625 Elm Street. She is still learning to trust us, of course. That's entirely natural for any pup, but especially for one from a shelter. We met most of the other adoptable dogs from the Beatrice Humane Society. They were all very lovable. I really enjoyed meeting and playing with Bre, but she had way too much energy for our home. With three boys in the house we don't need any more bounciness. Looking for a pet but don't want to drive down to Beatrice? Check out Capital Humane Society here in town, of course. Or check out Hearts United for Animals down toward Auburn.

I noticed recently that Google has decided to taunt us with dreams of the South and East Beltways. Note that this is only visible at certain zoom levels.

It's election day in Lincoln, folks! Here are a two voter guides to get you started:

• Voter Information Project
• Lincoln Journal Star

And here is a sample ballot (PDF) to look over. Note the charter amendments. That's important stuff but neither issue has received a lot of press so far. Make sure you read and understand them before you go to the polls.

Some of you may get tired of hearing it, but thank you to everybody who participated in one way or another in yesterday's Lincoln Marathon and Half-Marathon. That goes for runners, walkers, the lone wheelchair guy, volunteers, cops, National Guard members, and spectators. The Lincoln Marathon is a truly wonderful event for our community and, traffic-snarling effects aside, we should all be extremely grateful for its growth and success. I finished the half-marathon yesterday in a PR of 1:45 on the nose. That happened to be my exact goal for the day. Talk about precise training! Well ... that gives my training regimen far too much credit. I got lucky. The day went both better and worse than it could have. The two sides apparently cancelled each other out. On the "better" side was the weather. You're not going to find much more perfect distance running weather than what we had yesterday. Cool, cloudy, and just a light breeze. That was PR weather if I ever saw it. Spectators apparently didn't think so, though. It seemed like there weren't nearly as many folks lining the course as there were last year. I'm probably exaggerating, but I'd almost put the numbers at 50% fewer. As for the "worse", my feet weren't in the mood to endure 13.1 miles of pavement. I could feel them giving out around 15K. By the time we turned onto 10th Street I was in a world of hurt. I walked from about 10th & Lake to South Street. Once I started running again I thought for sure I was going to have to walk at least one more time. Fortunately a young man by the name of Lucas Arredondo -- or as a spectator called him, "The Barefoot Bandit" -- came to the rescue. As he passed me around D Street I struck up a conversation, admiring his ability to run barefoot. We chatted off and on until he split off to continue the full marathon. Without that conversation I probably would have finished in the 1:50 range. Thanks, Lucas! I'm not sure how many of you readers ran yesterday, but please do let us know how it went. I know Fletch ran the half and finished near the top end of his expectations. Good work, Fletch! And I know that Nikkidemas hosts a marathon watch party every year at her house on Normal Boulevard. Thanks for supporting the runners, Nikki!