The Panthers rebounded from Tuesday's loss to defeat Seneca 9-5 at home. CJ Opp shutdown the Irish for six innings to record the win. Drew Dudek homered for the second straight game. The Panthers' next opponent is Steeleville at home April 1.

The varsity Panthers went to 1-5 for the season after losing to Zion-Benton 9-3 March 30 at home. Drew Dudek and Landon Chandler each homered for the Panthers. The Panthers face Seneca March 31 at home and host Steeleville April 1.

BY JEFF SMYTH

The rain peppers the windshield of my truck as I drive back to Pinckneyville. Reality is obscured and then reappears with each swoosh of the wiper blades. I’m just a few clicks south of “The Friendly Little City” when I look for it – a sign that reminds me of where I’ve been and where I’m heading. Then I see its bold lettering: “Pinckneyville Coon Club,” it reads. The rain then dissolves the vision as my stomach churns in disgust.

            To many who pass by it the sign is innocuous. It’s simply a directional to a clubhouse where members who hunt raccoons gather. (That is a sport, and a bloodless one to some, where the trainer’s interaction with his/her dog – not killing the vermin – is the thrill).

            But there is something more insidious about this sign. Painted in black in the lower left- and right-hand corners are what appear to be feet of the human kind. Perhaps it is just poorly-created art. Raccoons do have feet with five slender digits but these depictions are more man-like than creature and that has not gone unnoticed. More than a few non-Pinckneyville people have commented to me about the sign and each took for granted that it served a dual purpose. 

            The sign has always troubled me, but more so on this day. I’m returning to town after listening to an author lecture at John A. Logan College about the very ugly subject of “Sundown Towns.” He wrote a book about the subject five years ago and it’s one in which Pinckneyville – as are Tamaroa, Anna, West Frankfort, Sesser and many other communities in our region – is mentioned repeatedly -- 16 times in Pinckneyville’s case.