LDC survives latest round of budget cuts

[NOV. 29, 2001]  SPRINGFIELD — Gov. George H. Ryan issued a second round of budget cuts in as many days as he seeks to close a state budget gap brought on by the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The latest measures, announced after the governor met with the General Assembly’s four legislative caucuses, will save the state up to $136 million through the end of fiscal year 2002.

Gov. Ryan said further cuts are needed, and he is asking for legislative assistance. Illinois faces a $500 million shortfall in its $23.4 billion General Revenue Fund budget. Like Tuesday’s cuts, this new round can be accomplished administratively without legislative action.

Gov. Ryan has repeatedly indicated that participation from the General Assembly would enable him to distribute cuts more fairly and reduce the severity of some cuts in some areas. Options include asking universities to shoulder the cost of some group health insurance for employees and spreading cuts across a wider range of health care providers. The General Assembly has thus far not considered legislation to provide the governor with broader budget-cutting authority.

"It’s not too late for the General Assembly to roll up its sleeves and show some leadership," Gov. Ryan said.

The spending reductions the governor just announced focus largely on health care issues and will:

•  Make adjustments to managed care contracts for Medicaid recipients, resulting in savings of $30 million.

[to top of second column in this article]

•  Eliminate extra tertiary care payments to hospitals. By reducing the extra payments, the state will save $35 million for fiscal year 2002. Hospitals will receive normal diagnostic rates and added payments to that base rate.

•  Eliminate extra outpatient payments to hospitals. This will save $55 million. Hospitals will be reimbursed at 1998 rate levels, prior to the pre-1999 incentive plan.

In the current budget, on April 1, 2002, human services providers are scheduled to receive a one-half of 1 percent cost-of-living adjustment. Gov. Ryan has said that unless the revenue situation improves or there is legislative assistance, this $16 million increase may need to be cut.

Steve Schnorf, director of the Bureau of the Budget, said the total cuts, including the COLA adjustment, now stand at $383 million. This total includes the detailed cuts making up the previously announced 2 percent reserve in agency budgets and restrictions on hiring and equipment purchases.

[News release]

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

Thursday, Nov. 29

333rd day of the year

"I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning to sail my ship." — Louisa May Alcott

"Liberty, not communism, is the most contagious force in the world." — Earl Warren

"Go West, young man, and grow up with the country." — Horace Greeley

1832 — Louisa May Alcott, Germantown, Pa., author ("Little Women")

1898 — C.S. Lewis, English writer and scholar ("Le Roman de la Rosa")

1927 — Vin Scully, sportscaster ("NBC Baseball Game of the Week")

1928 — Paul Simon, senator, D-Ill., and presidential candidate

1940 — Chuck Mangione, jazz composer and horn blower ("Chasing the Clouds Away")

1946 — Suzy Chaffee, U.S. skier and ChapStick user (Olympics, 1968)

1949 — Garry Shandling, comedian ("It’s Garry Shandling Show")

1955 — Howie Mandel, Toronto, Canada, comedian (Dr. Wayne Fiscus in "St. Elsewhere")

1775 — Sir James Jay invents invisible ink.

1812 — Napoleon’s Grand Army crosses Berezina River in retreat from Russia.

1825 — First Italian opera, "Barber of Seville," produced in United States (New York City).

1864 — One-Eye, Cheyenne chief, dies.

1872 — Horace Greeley, founder and publisher of New York Tribune, dies at 61.

1877 — Thomas Edison demonstrates hand-cranked phonograph.

1887 — United States receives rights to Pearl Harbor, on Oahu, Hawaii.

1890 — First Army-Navy football game; score: Navy 24, Army 0; at West Point.

1924 — Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer ("Mme. Butterfly"), dies in Brussels at 65.

1929 — The first airplane flight over the South Pole made by U.S. Navy Lt. Comdr. Richard E. Byrd. 

1933 — First state liquor stores authorized (Pennsylvania).

1934 — Chicago Bears beat Detroit in first NFL game broadcast nationally.

1944 — John Hopkins hospital performs first open-heart surgery.

1963 — U.S. President Johnson named a commission headed by Earl Warren to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy. 

1981 — Natalie Wood, actress, drowns off Santa Catalina, Calif., at 43.

1982 — The U.N. General Assembly votes that the Soviet Union should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. 

1986 — Cary Grant dies in Davenport, Iowa, at 82.

Council mulls GO bond issue

[NOV. 28, 2001]  The Lincoln City Council began exploring the possibility of issuing another round of general obligation bonds by hearing a presentation from a Bloomington firm on Tuesday evening, Nov. 27.

Kevin K. Heid of First Midstate, Inc., a firm with which the city has done business for many years, explained various types of bonds the city might use, especially the general obligation type, or GO bonds, which the city has been issuing for the past 15 years.

Because of the tax caps that went into effect in 1996 and because Lincoln is a non-home-rule community, the city can issue bonds totaling only one-half of 1 percent of the equalized assessed valuation without a referendum. This comes to a maximum of $595,000 for a three-year bond issue.

The bonds can be used only for capital projects, such as buildings or infrastructure, not for operational expenses such as salaries or wages, Heid said.

The last payment on the current bond issue, $175,000, will be due in December of 2002. Bonds are repaid from property taxes. If the city wishes to issue bonds soon to lock in low interest rates, it will either have to prepay the $175,000 or deduct that amount from the maximum it can issue, Heid said.

Heid also said the GO bonds are eligible to be purchased by banks and that Midstate has been very successful in marketing the bonds to financial institutions in Lincoln and Logan County. He said he felt sure another issue could also be marketed locally.

Melanie Riggs, deputy city clerk, said getting the bond money in one lump sum is a very useful way to fund capital projects. The last bond issue was used to finance the west side sewer project. She said the city should decide soon if it wishes to roll over the bond issue in order to know what monies will be available when budget discussions begin in February.

Representatives from three Lincoln investment firms attended the meeting to request that if the city plans a major bond issue, they would like to have a chance to bid on marketing the bonds.

Bob Neal of Edward Jones investment firm said if an issue of $5 million or more was being considered, he believed individuals in the community should have an opportunity to buy the bonds. Phil Dehner of A.G. Edwards and Doug DeMay of Eagle One Investments also told the council they would like to bid on a sizable bond issue.

[to top of second column in this article]

In other business, the police committee heard a presentation from Tom Keim of the Fuel Man program. In this program, the city buys fuel for city vehicles from the firm and gets price reductions and weekly monitoring of gas consumption and mileage.

Users of the program must provide an odometer reading and PIN number for each transaction, Keim said. He said the program provides accountability and control as well as fuel at a lower price. The special credit cards can be used only for fuel or other vehicle expenses such as oil or windshield wiper fluid, not for any other purchases. He also said the Logan County Sheriff’s Department has been using the program for about a year and is happy with it. He said there is no contractual agreement and the city can drop out of the program at any time.

Only one service station in Lincoln is now in the Fuel Man program, but others are eligible, Keim said. He said the program has locations in all 50 states. Verl Prather, chairman of the police committee, put the matter on the agenda for the next regular meeting Dec. 3.

City engineer Mark Mathon reported that there will be about $480,000 available through a federal STU fund for road work in the city. The work must be on either collector streets or minor arterials, not on less-used city streets.

The funds will be distributed by the Illinois Department of Transportation, which wants to know soon what the city plans to do with the money. Engineering for STU projects will be done in 2002 and actual construction in 2003, Mathon said.

Street superintendent Donnie Osborne said he would like to do mill and overlay work on downtown streets. Mathon said he thought that would be eligible under the program. Improving Broadway from Union to Hamilton streets and Pulaski from Logan to Sherman is a possibility, he said. The streets and alleys committee will meet to determine specifics of the project.

Alderman Prather announced that Logan County Board member Cliff Sullivan, chairman of the animal control committee, and employee Sheila Farmer will come to the council meeting Dec. 11 to answer questions about the animal control services the city is contracting for with the county.

A public hearing on the tax levy ordinance has been set for Dec. 17 at 7 p.m.

[Joan Crabb]

Letter from the governor concerning LDC

[NOV. 28, 2001]  Mayor Elizabeth Davis received the following letter from Gov. George Ryan.

207 STATE CAPITOL, SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS 62706

GEORGE H. RYAN
GOVERNOR

November 19, 2001

The Honorable Elizabeth Davis

Mayor of Lincoln

700 Broadway Street

P.O. Box 509

Lincoln, IL 62656

Dear The Honorable Davis:

Thank you for your letter regarding the Lincoln Developmental Center. Your opinions and concerns are important to me as I make decisions regarding this important issue.

My first priority is to the residents of Lincoln Developmental Center and making sure their health and safety are not compromised. In an effort to reduce the staff to patient ratio, 90 residents from Lincoln will be moved to other facilities that can properly care for them and attend to their needs. As of Friday, November 16, 2001, 80 residents have been moved.

In addition, the Lincoln Developmental Center is being closely monitored by a 27-member staff comprised of leading administrators and professional staff from six other Illinois state operated developmental centers. Based on their recommendation, the Lincoln Developmental Center was given an additional 30 days to address citations and staff problems and will be re-evaluated again in a few weeks. The Department of Human Services has also held three legislative meetings to discuss the situation with area legislators and keep them informed of any new developments.

I appreciate you taking the time to offer your opinions in this matter. I have not made a final decision on the future of Lincoln, but I am weighing all the options and will make a decision based on what is best for the people who live there.

Thank you for your interest and for sharing your thoughts with me.

Sincerely,

GEORGE H. RYAN

Governor

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

Wednesday, Nov. 28

332nd day of the year

"An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory." — Freidrich Engels

"The Church says that the earth is flat, but I know that it is round, for I have seen the shadow on the moon, and I have more faith in a shadow than in the Church." — Ferdinand Magellan

1757 — William Blake, English poet and painter ("Songs of Innocence and Experience")

1820 — Friedrich Engels, Germany, social philosopher; Marx’s collaborator

1829 — Anton Rubinstein Vykhvatinetz Podolia, composer (Omitri Donskoy)

1866 — Henry Bacon, architect (Lincoln Memorial)

1908 — Claude Levi-Strauss Belgium, social anthropologist (Structure Anthro)

1929 — Berry Gordy Jr., Detroit, record company owner (Motown)

1942 — Paul Warfield NFL/WFL wide receiver (Cleveland, Miami, Memphis)

1943 — Randy Newman, singer ("Short People," "I Love LA," "Raindrops")

1949 — Alexander Godunov, Russia, composer and dancer (Bolshoi), defected 1979

1949 — Paul Shaffer, Thunder Bay, Ontario, orchestra leader ("Saturday Night Live," "David Letterman")

1520 — Ferdinand Magellan begins crossing Pacific Ocean.

1582 — William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway marry.

1861 — Confederate Congress officially admits Missouri to the Confederate States of America.

1895 — America’s first auto race starts; six cars, 55 miles, winner averages 7 mph.

1922 — Capt. Cyril Turner (Royal Air Force) gives first skywriting exhibition (New York City). Turner spells out "Hello USA. Call Vanderbilt 7200." There are 47,000 callers.

1925 — The "Grand Ole Opry" made its radio debut on station WSM. 

1929 — Adm. Richard E. Byrd makes first South Pole flight.

1943 — FDR, Churchill and Stalin meet at Tehran to map out strategy.

1945 — Dwight Davis, donator of the Davis Cup, dies.

1964 — Willie Nelson makes his debut on the "Grand Ole Opry."

1981 — Bear Bryant wins his 315th game, to outdistance Alonzo Stagg and become college football’s winningest coach.

1994 — Jeffrey Dahmer, a convicted serial killer, is clubbed to death in a Wisconsin prison by a fellow inmate. 

1995 — U.S. President Clinton signs a $6 billion road bill that ends the federal 55 mph speed limit.

School board reorganizations completed

[NOV. 27, 2001]  Four public school boards in the Lincoln area reorganized and seated new members in November, as required by law, even though school board elections were last April. The combined elections, established by a change in the law in 1998, were a means to reduce costs of elections.

In Lincoln Elementary School District 27, school board officers did not change. Bruce Carmitchel kept his seat as president, Joe Brewer remains as vice president, and Marilyn Montgomery keeps the post of secretary. Other District 27 board members are Shelley Allen, Leta Herrington, James Wilmert and Stephen Rohrer.

In West Lincoln-Broadwell, Lincoln attorney Doug Muck was elected board president, with Terry Bell named as vice president and Don Papirnik as secretary. Doug Muck replaces retiring president Bill Cross. Scott Goodman was elected to fill the seat left open by Cross’ retirement. Other members include Augustus Scott, Laurie Muck and [check name] Patrician Quint.

In the Chester-East Lincoln district, Jeff Brooks was elected board president, with Jim Meyrick named vice president and Lori Birnbaum secretary. Two new board members were seated: Robert Harmon, appointed to fill a vacancy, and Aaron Leesman, elected in April. Other board members are Stephen Elkins and Robert Buse.

The Lincoln Community High School board has named Robert Meinershagen as president, Larry Gleason as vice president and Bridget Schneider as secretary. Other board members are Judy Lumpp, Robert Pharis, Tom Ackman and Jim Mammen. Ackman and Mammen were elected to the board last April.

[Joan Crabb]

[to top of second column in this section]

LCHS District 404 committees

(effective 11-19-01)

Curriculum Advisory Committee — Larry Gleason, Bob Pharis

Extracurricular Committee — Judy Lumpp, Jim Mammen

Building and Grounds Committee — Larry Gleason, Tom Ackman

Tri-County Special Education representative — Bridget Schneider

Lincolnland Technical Education Center — Bob Pharis

IASB governing board — Tom Ackman

IASB legislative liaison — Jim Mammen

LCHS Foundation board representative — Bob Meinershagen, Jim Mammen

Parent-student handbook — Tom Ackman, Bob Pharis

Negotiation Committee — Larry Gleason, Bob Meinershagen, Bridget Schneider

Board policy development — Judy Lumpp, Bob Meinershagen

Technology Committee — Bridget Schneider

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

331st day of the year

"We are not about to send American boys nine or 10 thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves." — Lyndon Johnson talking about Vietnam

"Before we go any further, I want you all to know I don’t take no orders; I walk into a bank, open fire, kill anything that moves, I grab the money and am outta there! If you don’t like it, find yourself another patsy!" — Baby Face Nelson, upon joining the Dillinger gang

1701 — Anders Celsius, Sweden, scientist and inventor (centigrade temperature scale)

1912 — David Merrick, Broadway producer ("Hello, Dolly!")

1917 — "Buffalo" Bob Smith, Buffalo N.Y., TV host ("Howdy Doody")

1940 — Bruce Lee, San Francisco, Calif., karate star and actor ("Green Hornet")

1942 — Jimi Hendrix, rock guitarist ("The Jimi Hendrix Experience," "Purple Haze")

1944 — Eddie Rabbitt, Brooklyn, country singer ("I Love a Rainy Night")

1095 — Pope Urban II preaches first Crusade.

1779 — The College of Pennsylvania becomes the University of Pennsylvania. It is the first legally recognized university in America. 

1870 — New York Times dubs baseball "The National Game."

1895 — Alfred Nobel establishes Nobel Prize.

1901 — Army War College established in Washington, D.C.

1934 — Baby Face Nelson shot by FBI agents.

1963 — U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson delivers his first address to a joint session of Congress. 

1970 — Pope Paul VI, visiting the Philippines, is attacked at the Manila airport by a Bolivian painter disguised as a priest. 

1973 — The U.S. Senate votes to confirm Gerald R. Ford as vice president after the resignation of Spiro T. Agnew. 

1975 — Ross McWhirter, Guinness Book of Records keeper, is murdered.

1978 — San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk, city supervisor, shot by Dan White.

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

330th day of the year

Quotes

"Big sisters are the crab grass in the lawn of life." — Charles M. Schulz, in Peanuts cartoon strip

"Variety’s the very spice of life,
That gives it all its flavour." — William Cowper

Birthdays

1607 — John Harvard, England, clergyman and scholar, major benefactor to Harvard University (library and half his estate)

1731 — William Cowper, England, pre-Romantic poet ("His Task")

1876 Willis Haviland Carrier developed air-conditioning equipment

1922 — Charles M. Schulz, cartoonist (Peanuts)

1938 — Rich Little, Ottawa, Canada, impressionist

1938 — Tina Turner [Anna Mae Bullock], Brownsville, Texas, singer ("Proud Mary")

Events

1716 — First lion exhibited in America (Boston).

1778 — Capt. Cook discovers Maui (Sandwich Islands).

1789 — First national thanksgiving.

1865 — Alice in Wonderland published.

1883 — Sojourner Truth abolitionist, women’s rights advocate, dies.

1896 — A.A. Stagg of University of Chicago creates the football huddle.

1939 — James Naismith, basketball inventor, dies.

1942 — The motion picture "Casablanca" has its world premiere at the Hollywood Theater in New York City.

1943 — The HMS Rohna becomes the first ship to be sunk by a guided missile. The German missile attack leads to the death of 1,015 U.S. troops.

1950 — China enters Korean conflict, sends troops across Yalu River.

1956 — Big-band leader and trombone soloist Tommy Dorsey dies.

1962 — First recording session of group under the name "Beatles."

1970 — B.O. Davis Sr., first black general, dies at 93 in Chicago.

1973 — Albert DiSalvo, Boston strangler, stabbed.

[NOV. 24, 2001]  The Illinois Supreme Court announced Tuesday the creation of a special committee to study and recommend ways for lawyers to be more respectful to each other and their clients.

Fourteen attorneys appointed from around the state will sit on the committee, known as the Special Supreme Court Committee on Civility.

Judge Robert R. Thomas will serve as Supreme Court liaison to the committee, and David F. Rolewick, an attorney from Wheaton, will serve as its chairperson. The committee is charged with recommending to the court "ways to promote respectful conduct, as the norm, within the legal profession."

"This is a very worthwhile endeavor," Thomas said. "The Supreme Court’s goal in establishing this committee is to discover appropriate ways to promote civility among Illinois attorneys."

Anecdotal and other evidence suggests that lawyers increasingly are becoming more rude to each other and their adversaries’ clients, putting aside the politeness and civility that once was considered a hallmark of the profession.

"Lawyers sometimes go beyond what they should in terms of aggressiveness in order to survive in what has become a very competitive profession," said Rolewick. "Now, a lot of attorneys go out and practice law on their own, and there’s no system or structure for internship or mentoring young attorneys to help them understand the professional obligations of the practice."

Rolewick also suggested that part of the problem may be lawyers responding to what they believe the public expects.

"Something that may be addressed by this committee is the issue of public perception of the law," said Rolewick. "The general public wants — because they’ve been watching TV too much — the meanest junkyard dog that they can get, and they think they’re going to win if they hire the meanest, toughest lawyer they can get.

[to top of second column in this article]

"Attorneys respond to what their clients want and expect. If a client wants a mean lawyer, he’ll get a mean lawyer."

The idea for establishing the special committee grew out of a symposium organized by Rolewick and other friends of the late Roger K. O’Reilly, a Wheaton attorney who, according to those who knew him, epitomized civility.

Judge Thomas, who had offices in the same building as O’Reilly, was among those who spoke at the symposium last August at the Northern Illinois University College of Law in DeKalb.

Rolewick said that from comments at the symposium, the manifestation of incivility in the courtroom occurs most often in the abuse of discovery practice. Outside the courtroom, he said, attorneys may be verbally abusive, degrading and uncooperative with other attorneys.

"That delays the process and delays the system of justice," he said.

Each of the seven justices appointed two attorneys to the special committee. In addition to Rolewick, the members are George Black of Morris, Michael H. Cho of Chicago, Robert A. Clifford of Chicago, Laura Clower of Champaign, Charles Colburn of Jacksonville, Gordon B. Nash Jr. of Chicago, John Rekowski of Collinsville, Ronald Samuels of Chicago, Lawrence Templer of Chicago, Richard L. Tognarelli of Collinsville, Debra Walker of Chicago, Edward Walsh of Wheaton and Sonni C. Williams of Peoria.

[News release]

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

Saturday, Nov. 24

328th day of the year

"The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don’t like their rules, whose would you use?" — Dale Carnegie

"When I want to buy up any politician, I always find the anti-monopolists the most purchasable — they don’t come so high." — William Vanderbilt

Birthdays

1740 — John Bacon, English sculptor

1784 — Zachary Taylor, U.S. president; died 1850

1847 — Bram Stoker, Irish theater manager and author ("Dracula")

1864 — Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, France, painter ("At the Moulin Rouge")

1868 — Scott Joplin, composer, musician, guitarist, pianist, bugler; died 1917

1888 — Dale Carnegie, lecturer and author; died 1955

1901 — William Vanderbilt, politician; died 1981

1921 — John V. Lindsay, politician, mayor of New York City

1925 — William F. Buckley Jr., writer, commentator, editor

1938 — Oscar Robertson, Charlotte, Tenn., NBAer (Olympics, gold, ’60)

1946 — Ted Bundy, Burlington, Vt., serial murderer

1572 — John Knox, Scottish preacher, dies at about 67.

1863 — During the Civil War, the battle for Lookout Mountain begins in Tennessee. 

1871 — The National Rifle Association is incorporated in the United States.

1929 — Georges Clemenceau, French journalist and premier (1917-20), dies at 88.

1963 — Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby shoots and kills Lee Harvey Oswald on live national television.

1971 — Hijacker Dan Cooper, known as D.B. Cooper, parachutes from a Northwest Airlines 727 over Washington state with $200,000 in ransom.

1991 — Flamboyant British rock star Freddie Mercury dies in his sleep in England at age 45, just one day after he publicly announced he was suffering from AIDS. The death of the charismatic lead singer of the group Queen is the result of bronchopneumonia brought on by the AIDS virus. His sudden death stuns the rock world.

1993 — In England, two 11-year-old boys are sentenced to be detained indefinitely after they are found guilty of the murder of 2-year-old James Bulger.

Sunday, Nov. 25

329th day of the year

"I can’t afford to pay them any other way." — Andrew Carnegie’s reply to the question, "Why do you pay your employees so well?"

"Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don’t want them to become politicians in the process." — former U.S. President John F. Kennedy

1835 — Andrew Carnegie, steel industrialist and library builder

1846 — Carry Nation, scourge of barkeepers and drinkers

1893 — Robert Ripley, illustrator ("Believe it or Not")

1914 — Joe DiMaggio, Yankee Clipper (56-game hitting streak)

1935 — Gloria Steinem, Toledo, Ohio, feminist writer (Ms)

1938 — Charles Starkwether, serial murderer. With his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, he embarked in 1958 on a shocking, murderous rampage that lasted eight days and left 11 dead bodies in its wake — including Caril Ann’s family.

1960 — Amy Grant, gospel singer ("Glory of Love," "Baby Baby")

1960 — John F. Kennedy Jr., lawyer, son of JFK

1792 — Farmer’s Almanac first published.

1850 — Texas relinquishes one-third of its territory in exchange for $10 million from the United States to pay its public debts and settle border disputes. 

1867 — Alfred Nobel patents dynamite.

1884 — John B. Meyenberg of St. Louis patents evaporated milk.

1920 — First Thanksgiving parade (Philadelphia).

1920 — WTAW of College Station, Texas, broadcasts first football play-by-play.

1922 — Archaeologist Howard Carter enters King Tut’s tomb.

1944 — Kenesaw Landis, baseball commissioner, dies.

1949 — "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" appears on music charts.

1958 — Charles F. Kettering, inventor of auto self-starter, dies at 82.

1963 — JFK laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

1968 — Upton B. Sinclair, U.S. author ("Jungle"), dies at 90.

1970 — Japanese author Yukio Mishima commits ritual suicide after giving a speech attacking Japan’s post-war constitution.

1973 — Maximum speed limit cut to 55 mph as an energy conservation measure.

1983 — World’s greatest robbery: 25,000,000 English pounds of gold from Heathrow, England.

First bids accepted for
Central School construction

[NOV. 23, 2001]  Bids for the initial work on Elementary School District 27’s new Central School are in, and preliminary work is scheduled to begin sometime during the week of Dec. 2, according to construction manager Bill Ahal.

At a special meeting on Nov. 21, the board accepted a bid package totaling $707,822, just $9,128 more than the budget of $698,694, a difference which board president Bruce Carmitchel called “statistically insignificant.”

The six packages for which bids were accepted are grade beams and foundations, $185,300 compared to the budgeted $193,440; caissons and drilled piers, $107,195 compared to a budgeted $96,312; concrete flatwork at $264,234, significantly higher than the budgeted $175,747; site grading and excavation, $82,400, significantly lower than the budgeted $131,849; site utilities, only $39,393 compared to the budgeted $77,842; and site demolition, $39,300 compared to the budgeted $23,504.

Ahal described the group of bids as the “most advantageous combination” for the school district.

The bids were accepted on condition that S.M. Wilson, Ahal’s firm, complete its investigation of one of the four firms that will do the work, Peak Aec of the Kankakee area.  Because of the short time between the bid openings and awarding of the bids, the firm has not completed its final check of the firm, with which it has not done business before. This is merely a normal check of financial qualifications and references, Ahal said.

“There is nothing in the scope of their work that raises any flags,” he told the board.  “If we don’t find anything that’s a problem, we’ll proceed.”

The other three firms, Felmey Dickerson, Burdick and RD Lawrence, are all area firms that S.M. Wilson has experience with or references from.

The bidding process has just begun, and the board will be accepting more bids in the next three to four weeks, Ahal said.

[to top of second column in this section]

Weather permitting, the first phase of construction might be competed by the end of February. This phase includes removing small items such as playground equipment and fences from the site, preparing the site, and pouring the concrete slabs. Site preparation will be especially complicated because soil conditions are poor and because when the first Central School was demolished about 1915, it was used as fill on the site.

The new school is being built behind the present Central School, which faces Eighth Street, on the site of the original Central School, which faced Seventh Street. The new school will also face Seventh Street.

Because the site is crowded, construction trailers will have to be parked on the Ralph Gayle ball field across Union Street from the site. Center field will be pulled in 25 feet and the fence will be moved in, so trailers can be parked across from the Central School site.

Ahal also told the board that a project manager has been selected, but a site superintendent has yet to be chosen. The two will work together to oversee the construction process, with the site superintendent to be at the site every working day.  The project manager will oversee paperwork and contracts.

The new Central School is the first step in the District 27 building program. After the new Central School is completed and students moved in, junior high school students will move into the present Central School. The junior high will then be demolished and a new school built on the site. The final stage will be the demolition of the present Central School. The $12 million building project, to be funded with the help of an $8 million state grant, was approved in a referendum passed in November of 2000.

[Joan Crabb]

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

327th day of the year

"The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts." — Charles Darwin

1804 — Franklin Pierce, U.S. president; died 1869

1859 — Billy the Kid [William Bonney or Henry McCarty], outlaw; died 1881

1887 — Boris Karloff [William Henry Pratt], actor; died 1969

1888 — Harpo [Arthur] Marx, comedian, musician, harpist, pianist; died 1964

1499 — Perkin Warbeck, Flemish imposter and pretender to the throne of King Henry VII of England, is executed in the Tower of London. He claimed to be Richard, Duke of York, son of Edward IV.

1718 — English pirate Edward Teach — known as "Blackbeard" — is captured off the Outer Banks of North Carolina near Ocracoke, taken to England and hanged.

[to top of second column in this section]

1859 — Charles Darwin’s "Origin of Species," a revolutionary work on evolution, is published.

1889 — The first jukebox makes its debut in San Francisco, at the Palais Royale Saloon.

1890 — Princess Wilhelmina becomes queen of the Netherlands at the age of 10 when her father William III dies.

1936 — The first edition of Life magazine is published.

1938 — Bob Hope and Shirley Ross record "Thanks for the Memory," for the film, "The Big Broadcast of 1938." It becomes Hope’s theme song.

1948 — Dr. Frank G. Back of New York City patents the zoom lens, which was first used by NBC television in April of 1947.

1984 — Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie passes his way into sports history, leading Boston College to beat Miami 47-45 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Fla. On the final play of the game Flutie throws a 48-yard pass that comes to be known as "The Pass."

1990 — British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announces her resignation.

1993 — Mexico’s Senate overwhelmingly approves the North American Free Trade Agreement.

It’s on the radio, TV, in all the media. You hear it in the office, on the street and maybe at home — threats of terrorism. America is on high alert. Here in central Illinois, away from any supposed practical target areas, perhaps we feel a little less threatened, but we are still concerned. So how concerned should we be, and how prepared are we for the types of situations that could occur?

Whether the threat is domestic or foreign, violent, biological or chemical, our public health and rescue agencies have been preparing to respond to the situations. Lincoln Daily News has been at meetings where all the agencies gather together as the Logan County Emergency Planning Committee to strategize for just such a time. Our reports have not even provided every detail that every agency has reported; i.e., a number of representatives from differing agencies such as the health and fire departments, CILCO and ESDA went to a bioterrorism and hazmat (hazardous materials) seminar this past August.

Here are some of the articles that LDN has posted pre- and post-Tuesday, Sept. 11. Hopefully you will see in them that WE ARE WELL PREPARED. At least as much as any area can be. Every agency has been planning, training, submitting for grants to buy equipment long before Sept. 11. We can be thankful for all of the dedicated, insightful leaders we have in this community.

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• LEPC hears plans for annual exercise

• U.S. under terrorist attack
  How is Logan County affected?

• The day after ‘Attack on America’
  Area leaders respond to national tragedy

• ESDA and LEPC conduct successful hazardous materials exercise at water treatment plant 

• Logan County ready for action if terrorist event occurs - Part 1

• Logan County ready for action if terrorist event occurs – Part 2

• Clinton nuclear power plant safety measures in place

• Logan County agencies meet to discuss protocol for suspicious mail

As promised, the United States led an attack on Afghanistan. The attack began Sunday, Oct. 7. American and British military forces made 30 hits on air defenses, military airfields and terrorist training camps, destroying aircraft and radar systems. The strike was made targeting only terrorists.

More than 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East have pledged their cooperation and support the U.S. initiative.

Online news links

Other countries

Afghanistan

http://www.afghandaily.com/ 

http://www.myafghan.com/  

http://www.afghan-web.com/aop/ 

China

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/

http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/

Germany

http://www.faz.com/

India

http://www.dailypioneer.com/ 

http://www.hindustantimes.com/ 

http://www.timesofindia.com/ 

Israel

http://www.jpost.com/ 

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/ 

England

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/ 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/ 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/

Pakistan

http://www.dawn.com/

http://frontierpost.com.pk/ 

Russia

http://english.pravda.ru/

http://www.sptimesrussia.com/ 

Saudi Arabia

http://www.arabnews.com/ 

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United States

Illinois

http://www.suntimes.com/index/ 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/ 

http://www.pantagraph.com/ 

http://www.qconline.com/ 

http://www.pjstar.com/

http://www.sj-r.com/ 

http://www.herald-review.com/

http://www.southernillinoisan.com/ 

New York

http://www.nypost.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/

Stars and Stripes
(serving the U.S. military community)

http://www.estripes.com/ 

Washington, D.C.

Announcements

[OCT. 12, 2001]  The city landfill on Broadwell Drive will be open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for leaf and brush disposal, beginning on Oct. 15, according to Donnie Osborne, street superintendent. Plans are to keep the new schedule in place until Dec. 15, he said. 

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