Thursday, May 18

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Tourism has it going on

[MAY 18, 2006]  The timing is right and efforts through various entities continue to build Logan County tourism.

Happy Wiener Days will kick off the festival season, board member Paul Gleason said. You're sure to find a great hot dog to eat at the Happy Wiener Days that will be celebrated in Atlanta, the place with the tall smiley face, over the Memorial Day weekend, May 26-28.

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Gleason reported that Main Street Lincoln and Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County are putting together a self-guided Looking for Lincoln tour where visitors will be led on a trail to all of the Logan County sites. It will include an audio CD or tape and map to guide tourists to the sites and provide information while en route.

The directors of the agencies, Wanda Lee Rohlfs from Main Street Lincoln and Geoff Ladd of the tourism bureau, are excited about the new project. Rohlfs said that there would be local people engaged to speak on the CD to tell details about their sites like no one else can tell it. This will enhance the visitors' tour experience when they get to the site, as well as making finding the sites easier and travel between sites more entertaining.

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New board members of the Work Force Investment Board joined the other board members and committee chairman Paul Gleason in new job training. Gleason said that there is now a new program, Worknet, that provides a one-stop center for all services. Matching job skills, personal information and location by ZIP code has become more integrated and is now being done quicker on the computer. In a nutshell, that's what we got in a three-hour training, Gleason said.

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Gleason said that Community Action is getting ready for the program cuts that will begin in a few months. State funding cuts have affected several programs. In particular, the senior nutrition program that delivers meals to homebound will cut two of five delivery days, doubling up the number of meals delivered on the remaining days.

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Buildings and grounds chairman John Stewart gave an update on Logan County Courthouse improvements. The elevator repair is complete. A $20,000 matching state grant received through the county clerk's office to assist people with disabilities paid the bill. The county contributed $200.

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An evaluation and proposal to renovate the courthouse dome is under way. The bid request is to reglaze windows, replace Plexiglas, renew stucco and fiberglass coating.

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Mr. High will be taking action against the courthouse birds. The five-year bird repellent contract has six months left. So, there's a contract out on the birds.

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County board member Dick Logan asked about the progress on the sale of the county farm.

The county determined to sell the farm located northwest of town last year and estimated $100,000 in revenue from it to go toward this year's budget. There was just one surveyor who offered services, Ron Fox. Fox has just returned from being out of state. He will begin that survey soon and then the farm will be put up for sale, finance chair Chuck Ruben reported.

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Illinois has had an outbreak of mumps this year. Logan County Health Department Margie Harris relayed a message via Logan County Board liaison Pat O'Neill that there are inoculations against mumps available at the health department.

Harris also conveyed that they don't expect the mumps to spread since school will be out soon.

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Last month's tire collection exceeded expectations at 200.2 tons, 80 tons over last year, Pat O'Neill said. O'Neill said that the Lincoln streets and alleys employees were a great help and the fair board was pleased with the cleanup afterward. "Hats off to Tracy Jackson, Lincoln streets superintendent," he said.

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The year's glass collection has gone well too. So much so that Lisa Madigan, representing the Lincoln Junior Woman's Club, the group that leads the collection the second Saturday every month at Wal-Mart parking lot, has asked for a larger truck and manpower. They had 10,365 pounds of glass in April.

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Appointment

  • Lois Conrady to the Logan County Housing Authority.

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The board recognized May as Workforce Development Professionals Month.

[Jan Youngquist]

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