[FEB. 12 2000]   “He freed the slaves,” is how Josh Kastendick, a second grader in Sara McCormick’s class at Zion Lutheran, remembers Abraham Lincoln.  Like schools throughout the county, Zion Lutheran reaches a high pitch of activity each year at this time.

   Debbie Barr helped the Zion Lutheran second-graders make banks that look like Abe Lincoln’s stovepipe hat, an art project tailored to the season.  Her son, Jordan, a member of the class, recalls one of many facts the class learned about their city’s namesake:  “He studied to be a lawyer,” says Jordan.

   On Friday night, the eve of Lincoln’s birthday, his Grand Old Party gathered at the Lincoln Knights of Columbus Hall to hear from Joseph Hampton Jr., Director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture.  The event was emceed by Eric Robinson; Representative John Turner led the assembly in the pledge of allegiance and offered the invocation; and Senator Bob Madigan introduced the guest speaker.  Congressman Ray LaHood made a brief appearance as well.

[Zion Lutheran second graders proudly display Abe Lincoln banks]

   Today (Saturday), the City of Lincoln celebrated with activities beginning at 9:30 a.m. at the Logan County Courthouse.  Paul Gleason, a noted Logan County historian, spoke on Lincoln's boyhood. Mayor Joan Ritter made remarks, a wreath was presented in honor of Lincoln, and the Interveteran's Council of Lincoln contributed a 21-gun salute and taps.

   Debbie Barr helped the Zion Lutheran second-graders make banks that look like Abe Lincoln’s stovepipe hat, an art project tailored to the season.  Her son, Jordan, a member of the class, recalls one of many facts the class learned about their city’s namesake:  “He studied to be a lawyer,” says Jordan.

On Friday night, the eve of Lincoln’s birthday, his Grand Old Party gathered at the Lincoln Knights of Columbus Hall to hear from Joseph Hampton Jr., Director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture.  The event was emceed by Eric Robinson; Representative John Turner led the assembly in the pledge of allegiance and offered the invocation; and Senator Bob Madigan introduced the guest speaker.  Congressman Ray LaHood made a brief appearance as well.

   Today (Saturday), the City of Lincoln celebrated with activities beginning at 9:30 a.m. at the Logan County Courthouse.  Paul Gleason, a noted Logan County historian, spoke on Lincoln's boyhood. Mayor Joan Ritter made remarks, a wreath was presented in honor of Lincoln, and the Interveteran's Council of Lincoln contributed a 21-gun salute and taps.

   Tomorrow (Sunday), Lincoln College, the only college named for Abraham Lincoln during his lifetime, will hold its 135^th anniversary celebration.  The celebration will be held at Johnston Center for the Performing Arts and is open to the public.  A reception will immediately follow in the Meyer-Evans Student Center.  Lincoln College will bestow honorary degrees upon Barbara Burkhardt, A William Maxwell scholar; Charles Cullen, Librarian and President of the Newberry Library in Chicago; artist, Roland Ginzel; Congressman Ray LaHood; Norman Hellmers, Superintendent of the Lincoln Home National Historic Site; Marion Smoak, retired Ambassador of the United States; and artist Ellen Lanyon.

   In these and many other ways, Logan County residents, from grade schoolers to college professors, annually pause to celebrate the man who rose from the common stew of central-Illinois pioneer families to become America’s most beloved president.

[Serving Abe's birthday party cake.]

In Honor of Abe

Local Lincoln impersonator dies

[FEB. 11, 2000]   Most people knew Harry Hahn by one name. A name that was in fact not his own. Children, teen-agers, parents and grandparents alike would holler "Abe" from near and far when Hahn was around. They found a connection with him because of his connection to this community.

Hahn, who died yesterday, was a living legend. His tall slender frame, donned in a crisp black three piece suit complete with starched white shirt black bow tie, stove pipe hat and a perfectly trimmed rich black beard, presented an uncanny impression of America’s 16^th President, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln himself would have been 191 years old tomorrow.

Local historian, Paul Beaver, reminisces about how he met Hahn while they were in high school. "He was on a good high school basketball team in 1951. They would have gone to state except they were beaten by Lincoln."

"He’s a fine guy," Beaver states. "I doubt you could ever find a guy who looks any more like Lincoln than he did. He was the perfect height, with the same craggy features and dark coarse hair. He and Charlie Ott (another local Lincoln impressionist) have done so much good for so many people."

While Ott, who has also known Hahn through playing high school basketball in the 50s, says he didn’t know Hahn on a personal level, but because of their interest in Abraham Lincoln, they were acquainted professionally. "We spoke when we saw each other," Ott stated.

Hahn, known for passing out pennies to school children telling them that it was his picture, brought American History to life with his presentations about the life of Lincoln. Not a detail was missed from Lincoln’s birth in Hodgenville, Kentucky to Lincoln’s move to Washington, D.C. when he become President of the United States.

According to Hahn’s own literature he traveled throughout the U.S. portraying Lincoln. He even appeared on the Today Show and PM Magazine. In addition, he appeared in the Associated Press book Moments in Time.

He was also the winner of the 1981 Lincoln Look-a-like contest in Springfield and the 1982 Hodgenville, Kentucky, Lincoln Look-a-like contest.

At this time arrangements are incomplete.

[FEB. 11, 2000]   Maple Ridge, a skilled nursing center located at 2202 N. Kickapoo St., has recently earned a two-year licensure from the Illinois Department of Public Health. What is typically a one-year license has been extended for an additional year due to the results Maple Ridge received on public health surveys administered annually by the Department of Public Health.

Each year, public health officials conduct surprise inspections to evaluate the level of service provided by health care facilities, and to detect any deficiencies that need to be corrected. Officials walk through the entire facility and observe areas including nursing, housekeeping and patient care. Additionally, they shadow nurses as they administer medications and look over residents’ charts for accuracy. In the past two years, officials have identified only one deficiency at the Maple Ridge center.

Lenore Holmes, director of community relations, says commitment to excellence is reason Maple Ridge receives such good evaluations. "We have an administrator who really believes in providing quality care," she remarks. "We have high expectations here and the staff knows it."

A 120-bed facility, Maple Ridge also offers the largest Medicare unit in the Logan County area. It has an alliance with Family Medical Center, and provides a variety of services ranging from general rehabilitation to hospice care for both Medicare and private-pay patients. Additionally, occupational, physical and speech therapy is available daily, and interactive activities are offered for all patients.

Maple Ridge is currently owned by First Health Care, which purchased the facility in 1996. "We’ve made a lot of changes," says Holmes. "[Administrator] Lisa Trudeau has a very strong work ethic. She expects quality."

If you want to check out the how a particular nursing home performed on the latest public health survey, log onto www.medicare.gov.

[Katherine Heller]

[FEB. 10, 2000]   In commemoration of African American History month, Keeper of The Dream Jim Lucas, a nationally recognized orator, brought his one-man show, "Reflections," to Lincoln College earlier this week. His presentation included dramatic recitations and interpretive readings portraying the life and times of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Jim Lucas, a Louisiana native, walked through the crowd of white, black, Hispanic and Asian students toward the table top podium in the Meyer-Evans Student Center, and gave a captivating portrayal of the life and times of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He began with the lyrics to King’s favorite song; "If I could help somebody… then my living would not be in vain."

He spoke about the life of King and explained how Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on the bus to a white man changed history. Jim Lucas shared King’s thoughts on how the Southern Christian Leadership Conference grew out of the Montgomery bus boycott and how it eventually lead to the Poor Peoples Campaign of 1968, once King understood that it was the class system and not race that was the problem. King realized that poor whites weren’t treated any better than poor blacks. Jim Lucas then recited excerpts from King’s "I Have a Dream" speech.

In addition he talked about the many obstacles that African Americans had to overcome in order to register to vote and how college students today have the worst voting record of any group. Lucas asked the students to vote and participate in the political process so that they can have a voice. He then administered a test that was often given to African Americans in the south when they tried to register to vote. He asked for a volunteer to recite the U.S. Constitution verbatim but the room fell silent with no takers.

Lucas shared a story about when his father went to register to vote in Louisiana. His father was a farmer with an off-season job as a salesman in a clothing store. His father, being aware that there would be consequences to his decision to register to vote, put on his Sunday suit and told his employer that he was going to register to vote on his lunch hour. His father asked his employer if he should bother to come back to work after his lunch hour. The employer told him to take his time, get registered and to come back to work.

He spoke about King’s one-on-one spiritual experience after he had received a call threatening his life and the lives of his wife and first child. King prayed in his kitchen over a cup of coffee until he heard a voice say, "I will be with you until the ends of the earth." King said that from that moment on he was never afraid.

"I decided to bring Dr. King to life after listening to an audiotape of one of his speeches at a conference," Lucas said. "It was then that I decided that his words should come to life. Dr. King was a hero of mine and I chose to emulate and portray him. His legacy is current history and not ancient history."

[Kym C. Ammons-Scott]