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Library
announces summer reading program
The
Lincoln Public Library's summer reading program is again kicking
off with a bang. Children who are planning to read a specified
number of books this summer are encouraged to bring their parents
to the kickoff on Saturday, June 3, from 9 a.m. to noon at the
Lincoln Park District Recreation Center. There will be games,
snacks and the summer reading sign-up until noon. At 9:30 a.m.,
The Timestep Players will present the program, "Just for the
Fun of It."
For
more information about all the great children's programs being
offered by the library this summer, call 732-5732 or stop by the
Lincoln Public Library at 725 Pekin St., across from Latham Park.
Herb
guild finds thyme to get together
The last Tuesday of each month, a group
of women gather in the Jefferson Street Christian Church to
indulge their senses, greet friends, further their education and
share their passion. The source of all their interest is herbs.
 Since
1994, the Logan County Herb Guild has been meeting and sharing
their love of the same multi-purpose plants their ancestors relied
on hundreds of years ago. They each have a favorite herb –
whether it’s bee balm or basil, sage or thyme, rosemary, tansy,
parsley or maybe mint. They discuss new plants they’ve
discovered are considered herbs, like dianthus and hawthorn. They
pass pots of freshly picked herbs around the room, taking in the
heady scents and discussing their names and uses. They indulge
their taste buds with new recipes using herbs, like rosemary
lemonade, pesto pizza and lavender cookies.
 Karen
Lowery, a lifelong gardener, founded the guild in 1994. She placed
an ad in the local newspaper, inviting anyone interested in
forming such a group to attend a meeting. To her surprise, about
30 women showed up. The informal group has been meeting ever
since, first at each other’s homes and now at the church.
“We’ve had a lot of neat programs
over the years. It’s been fun, that’s the main thing. If you
can make a club fun, with little work, that’s the key,” she
said.
Lowery, who is also a member of the
newly formed Mount Pulaski Herb Guild, said the local interest in
herb gardening is really increasing.
“I think there’s a real interest in
gardening. Interest is always picking up. We have a lot of members
that just come about every third meeting. I think once people get
hooked in herb gardening, they find out how relaxing it is and how
they feel when they use them instead of salt or sugar. It’s good
for the mind and body both,” she said.
 At
a recent guild meeting, Lowery, dressed in period costume as a
pioneer woman, gave a rousing talk about the history of herbs and
what plants our ancestors brought from their homelands and how
they used them. Even though she has been gardening all her life,
her enthusiasm and interest in herb gardening is refreshing and
contagious.
Lowery said
the guild is not only an educational experience but something all
ages can enjoy.
“We have members in their 20s and 90s, a wide span of
ages, and when we have our meetings, there’s no generation gap.
That’s the neat thing about plants and herbs, it bridges all
generations,” Lowery said.
“I like the historical aspect of
herbs. Our forefathers were pretty savvy about plants. We got away
from our roots, but we’re starting to get back to it. Like
coneflowers, which people use and grow now, the Native Americans
used – good benefits,” she added.
Lowery, who confesses to planting
“tons of things,” has about 60 different varieties of herbs,
including an abundance of the sweet-smelling though very invasive
lemon balm, but has a special affection for bee balm, or monarda,
and English thyme. Her herbs are contained in six 10-by-3-foot
plots, a large 100-square-foot garden, along the house, in the
pasture and just about any place there is a bare patch of dirt
around her rural Beason home. Wildflowers are tossed into the
gardens to give an added boost of color to the herbs.
 The
herb guild, which now has 22 official members, meets the last
Tuesday of each month at the Jefferson Street Christian Church.
Dues are $12 a year, which cover the cost of a monthly newsletter.
The public is invited and usually an average of 30 people attend
the meetings.
Guest speakers often give programs on
topics such as cooking with herbs, making herbal vinegars, crafts,
dried flower arranging and beneficial bugs for the garden. The
group also travels to Clark’s Greenhouse in rural San Jose for
their May meeting, which includes a plant swap and tour of the
business. Some years the group holds a summer garden walk and tour
of several members’ gardens. The guild also sponsors a couple of
trophies at the Logan County Fair, has given the Herb Companion
magazine to the local library and demonstrates uses for herbs at
the annual Railsplitter Festival.
“We try to get out a little bit in
the community,” she said.
Lowery, who said her grandmother
sparked her interest in gardening when she was a small child,
holds a zoology degree and teaches biology and four environmental
science classes at Bloomington High School. In between teaching
and chauffeuring her 13-year-old son to sports events and
practices, she tends to her wildflowers, herbs, perennials and a
few vegetables at her rural home and also gives lectures and
programs at local nurseries and other events.
“I
use herbs for culinary purposes and also use a few medicinal.
I’ve always had an interest in herbs. It started with my
interest in cooking. I also love the way they smell,” she said.
She favors thyme, which can be used as a ground cover, for its
tiny flowering habit and scent, and
basil. Her other favorites include chives, parsley and
cilantro. “I also
used them for ornamental uses. Even now, I have a small bouquet of
purple
chive flowers on my dining room table,” she said.
 “I’ve enjoyed meeting other people
who share my interests in herbs and gardening. We’ve all learned
together. We talk about how at our first plant exchange, we
didn’t have much stuff and how different it is now, how much
more we all have to exchange and how much we’ve learned. It’s
fun to see how we’ve grown together,” she said.
The herb guild will sponsor its first
annual plant sale, which is their yearly fund-raiser, from 8 a.m.
to noon, May 20, at Cooper’s home, at 140 Campus View Drive.
More information about the guild or its programs may be obtained
by calling her at 732-9788.
[Penny
Zimmerman-Wills]
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Lincoln
College commencement May 13th
Four honorary degree recipients
announced
The
133rd annual Lincoln College spring commencement will be Saturday,
May 13, at 2 p.m. in Davidson-Sheffer Gymnasium.
Dr.
James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize author and Princeton University
history professor, will be the commencement speaker and one of
four honorary degree recipients.
McPherson
(Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, 1963) has taught at Princeton since 1962.
His specialty is the American Civil War. He is the author of a
dozen books, the best known “Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil
War Era (1988),” which won the Pulitzer Prize in history for
1989. He is currently working on a book about the battle of
Antietam. McPherson lives in New Jersey along with his wife,
Patricia.
 Other
commencement guests receiving honorary degrees will be Caterpillar
CEO Glen A. Barton, The GSI Group Chairman Howard G. Buffett and
Lincoln College trustee emeritus H. Safford Peacock.
Barton
has worked for Caterpillar for almost 40 years and has held
numerous marketing and general management positions. He became
Caterpillar’s CEO in February 1999. Barton is originally from
Alton, Mo., and graduated from the University of Missouri-
Columbia in 1961. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in civil
engineering.
Buffett
founded the GSI Group in Assumption. The GSI Group is a leading
manufacturer of agricultural equipment, including production of
silos and livestock feeders. Buffett is also an avid wildlife
photographer and owns a photographic company called Bioimages.
Some of his works can be found on cards that are sold in museums
nationwide.
Peacock
has served over 30 years as a Lincoln College Board of Trustees
member. In 1984, Peacock was invited by Caspar Weinberger to
participate in the joint civilian orientation conference sponsored
by the United States Defense Department. This conference was a
high-level national tour of key installations of all branches of
the service. Peacock started his career at Myers Industries, Inc.
(MII) in Lincoln. He retired in 1977 as director of MII. Peacock
is originally from Monmouth and holds a bachelor of science degree
in business and engineering administration from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
Approximately 207
students will receive associate of arts degrees at the Lincoln
College commencement ceremony.
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Annual
bird count logs beautiful birds
“Is
that a beautiful bird, or what?” The beautiful bird, an
indigo bunting, continued catching insects in the grass, giving
the 18 bird-watchers a chance to focus their binoculars and see
its feathers glimmering iridescent blue in the sun.
 The small, brown bird feeding nearby was not so cooperative.
He flew away before anyone could get a positive
identification.
“I
think it was a Savannah sparrow, but I can’t be sure,” leader
Steve Coogan said. “We’ll
have to log it as a ‘question-mark’ sparrow.”
The
birders who met in Kickapoo Creek Park at 7 a.m. Saturday were
able to positively identify another 31 species, along with brief
sightings of a “question-mark” thrush and a couple of “question-mark”
warblers. Coogan, an
ardent naturalist who lives in Latham, added the 32 species to the
five other migrating warblers he had seen earlier at Skunk Hollow.
These birds, and the ones he would see later that day,
would be reported to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources,
Division of Natural Heritage, as part of the annual spring bird
count.
The
bird count helps state naturalists keep track of the species
moving through on migration as well as those birds coming back to
this area to nest.
 This
year both the number of participants and the number of species
identified were lower than usual.
“We usually see about 50 species and have about 35 people
present,” Coogan said.
Coogan
thought the decrease in the number of species was because of the
early warm weather. Many
migrating birds are insectivores, and if flowers and trees bloom
early, insects and the birds who eat them arrive – and move on
– early, too. In
addition, Coogan said, trees have already leafed out, making birds
harder to spot.
With
this in mind, Coogan set next year’s official bird count day as
the last Saturday in April. The day was not a disappointment
to the birders, though, who ranged in age from 9-year-old Benjamin
Conrady to senior citizens.
A
handsome gray catbird sat on a low limb and serenaded the group
with a series of tweets, whistles and warbles, ending with a
raucous screech that some people think sounds like a cat.
The bird is a mimic, like its cousin the mockingbird, which
is now occasionally seen in the Lincoln area.
A
phoebe was seen building a nest, mostly of mud, on a rafter under
a shelter. Canada
geese protested the birders’ approach to the creek where the
geese were swimming, perhaps looking for a nest site.
Something
small and twittery caught the attention of a sharp-eyed birder,
and half a dozen others thought it was worth wading through poison
ivy to see the black-throated green warbler he’d spotted.
The warbler sat in a small tree preening its feathers,
providing an excellent view of a bird that would not be back until
the fall migration.
“I’ve
never seen a warbler so cooperative,” Coogan said. “This is a gift.”
In
the open area of the park, meadowlarks sang and an eastern
kingbird sat on a small tree, ignoring the birders and
occasionally diving down into the grass or swooping through the
air to catch an insect.
“That
bird is one of the tyrant flycatchers,” Coogan said. “They can be mean birds.
I’ve seen them mob hawks.”
Donna
Hellman, wife of park ranger Don Hellman, said she knew all about
those mean birds. “Last
year we had a pair nesting at the edge of our property.
When I mowed I had to wear a hard hat because they would
dive-bomb me.”
 The
birder everyone agreed had the sharpest eyes, Mark Tebrugge,
spotted a medium-sized, bright yellow bird in the top of a
sycamore. Everyone
agreed it was an oriole, but the question was what kind?
Field guides came out of pockets and backpacks. The bird
was yellow, not orange, so it ought to be a female.
But it was singing, which made it more likely to be a male.
Then the bird turned, displayed its black bib, and the
puzzle was solved. It
was an immature male orchard oriole, which will turn russet red
next year.
It was
a beautiful bird.
[Joan
Crabb]
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Dee
Brestin was the keynote speaker at the annual Ladies Day seminar
held on the campus of Lincoln Christian College on Wednesday,
April 26. Over 1,300 Christian woman attended from all over the
state of Illinois and Indiana, Missouri and Ohio.
These women come to Lincoln hoping to be encouraged by the
speakers and also to enjoy the fellowship of so many ladies.
Dee
Brestin is a nationally known Christian author and speaker who can
be heard at seminars and conferences all over the United States.
Her most recent book, “My Daughter, My Daughter,”
encourages women to "pan for gold" in God's Word and
pass along the rich heritage of faith to the next generation.
Following
is an interview she graciously gave during her busy schedule
filled with speaking and book-signing opportunities.
Q: How did you
know you were called to this ministry of speaking and writing?
A: "I began
writing Bible study guides 26 years ago before many were
available." Dee's first
interest was in the friendships of women and how they differed
from men and their relationships. Being the mother of five children helped her analyze
firsthand how women related to women and how they need each other
differently than men need friendships. "These observations
led me to explore the different dimensions of friendships of
women."
Q: What has
prepared you most for this ministry of speaking and writing?
A: "I have
learned to be faithful in doing the things for which God opens the
door and then watched as He opened more doors for opportunities of
service and ministry. My
present project is a collaborative effort with the Christian
singer-song writer, Kathy Tricolli.
She has paralleled her life as a single adult with her
falling in love with Jesus. Jesus
is her companion and soul mate."
Mrs. Brestin shared how powerful this visual picture has
been in her own life, and she will be encouraging others in her
next book to "fall in love with Jesus."
Q:
Give two specific pieces of advice for young women today.
A: Dee stressed
the need to have a right relationship with God in order for other
relationships in your life to be healthy and happy.
She firmly believes that "a problem with your vertical
relationship will present problems in your horizontal
relationships. Her
number two adage, especially when raising children in the teen
years, is this: "Rules
are important but relationships are primary."
When talking about her own family, which includes two
adopted daughters, she lovingly reminded us to say less and give
an affectionate hug, back rub or tousle the hair, especially when
words would not be kind or encouraging.
She suggests that when our children are making what seem to
be poor choices, always remember a silent hug or touch rather than
speak harsh words.
Q: How do you
manage a busy household, a writing career and a speaking schedule?
A: Without
hesitating Dee replied, "Give every day to the Lord and ask
Him what He wants you to do." She learned early in her ministry not to plan ahead of God.
"Thankfully, I have a wonderful, supportive and understanding
husband," to whom Dee gave much credit.
"He is home with our two high school-aged daughters
while I travel, " grinned Mrs. Brestin.
A full-time assistant plans her travel schedule and now
also helps edit and proof her books and Bible Study guides.
Together with a large circle of supportive friends and
family, Dee Brestin has made a valuable contribution to the
Christian community through her seminars and books.
[Jeaneen
Ray]
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DARE
fund-raiser scheduled Sunday, May 14
A
DARE fundraiser will be Sunday, May 14, at 2 p.m. at Lincoln
Community High School.
The
Super Bowl champion St. Louis Rams and Lincoln Railer alumni will
compete in an exhibition basketball game.
Autograph
items will be given away at halftime.
Kids
are invited to come and meet Darren the lion.
Tickets
are $8, and all proceeds will benefit the Lincoln Police DARE
program.
St.
John United Church of Christ hosts ice cream social
An
ice cream social at St. John United Church of Christ, 204 Seventh
St. in Lincoln, will be from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, May 12.
Tickets are $5 each and will be available at the door. Children
under 5 eat free. Tickets cover sandwich, chips, cake, ice cream
and drink.
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American
Red Cross classes offered in May
Upcoming
American Red Cross classes will be offered at the Logan County
office at 125 S. Kickapoo St. in Lincoln.
A
Community First Aid and Safety class will be Wednesday, May 17,
from 6 to 10 p.m. and Thursday, May 18, from 5 to 10 p.m. The
class will cover adult CPR, child and infant CPR and first aid.
A
Challenge class will be Saturday, May 20, from 9 a.m. to noon.
People who have previously been certified in the above classes may
demonstrate their skills and be recertified.
Preregistration
is required. For further information, call 732-2134 between noon
and 4 p.m. any weekday.
Choirs
hit the road; Bible Bowl teams hit the Book
The junior high and senior high choirs of Lincoln Christian Church
are hitting the road this summer to spread the Word of God through
music.
 The
senior high choir, known as the Good News choir, is directed by
Tim Searby and will leave Friday, June 9, and return Sunday, June
18. They will perform at seven churches throughout Illinois,
Florida and Georgia. Upon their return to Lincoln, the choir will
perform at 7 p.m. at Lincoln Christian Church. HeartSong, the
junior high choir directed by Karen Gerdts, will tour June 1
through 4, performing at several churches in Illinois and
Southeast Missouri.
This
marks the 27th year that the youth choirs have gone on
tours around the United States. Tracy Thomas, youth minister at
Lincoln Christian Church, says the purpose of the choir tours is
“to bring the message of the gospel to people in a unique
format, and show that young people are committed to the gospel.”
Bible Bowl
participants will also be on the road this summer. The teams will be traveling
to the national Bible Bowl Tournament, which will take place
during the North American Christian Convention July 10 though 14
in Louisville, Ky.
The
teams have been studying texts from Acts chapters 13 through 28, 1
and 2 Corinthians and 1 and 2 Thessalonians. At the tournament,
the local youth will compete against
approximately 250 teams from across the nation. Last year, the top
team from the church placed 14th.
[Katherine
Heller]
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ALMH
accepts applications for summer teen volunteers
Applications
are currently being accepted for this summer’s teen volunteer
program at Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital.
Teen
volunteers work throughout the hospital, performing a variety of
duties in many different departments. To be eligible for the
program, teens must be an eighth grade graduate and must complete
an application form that includes personal references. All teen
volunteers must also complete the training session scheduled on
Friday, June 9, from 9 a.m. to noon at the hospital.
Applications
are available at ALMH from Barbara Dahm, director of volunteer and
special services. Applications should be filled out and returned
in person to the volunteer office as soon as possible. A brief
interview will be conducted at that time. For more information,
call 217-732-2161, ext. 184.
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Atlanta
4-H club invites youth from town to join
The
members of the Atlanta Town and Country 4-H club invite eligible
youth from town to join. Jeff Jones, the club reporter, says,
"4-H isn’t just for people who live in the country. There
are lots of things for a guy or a girl from town to do."
Activities include cooking, growing flowers, woodworking, small
engines, arts, crafts and herb gardening. For more information,
people can call 217-648-2973.
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