The Lincoln Public Library District announces that the Prime Time Learning Center will begin on Sept. 25 for grades three through eight. Tutoring center sessions are scheduled by appointment on Monday through Thursday from 3:30 to 6 p.m. This is a free service provided by the library and is available to all area students in grades three through eight. For more information on tutoring sessions or volunteering as a tutor contact the library’s Youth Services Department at 732-5732.

"Rock for Life," a fund-raiser for Living Alternatives, the Crisis Pregnancy Center at 5 Arcade Building, will take place on Saturday during the Rail Splitting and Craft Festival at the Logan County Fairgrounds.

Volunteers will be organized into teams who will rock in rocking chairs without stopping for seven hours. Each team will have solicited donations for their participation. The event, which will be in the Antiques Pavilion, begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m., when a plaque will be given to the team that has raised the most money. Informative displays will be set up, and coffee, juice and snacks will be available throughout the day, according to Jennifer Boeke, Living Alternatives director.

Events scheduled for the Abraham Lincoln National
Rail Splitting Contest and Crafts Festival

Daily features 

• Early American crafts
• Variety of free entertainment
• Food concessions
• Historical displays
• Antique tractors
• Flea market
• Crafts
• Quilt show
• Indian village
• Antique cars

Schedule of events

Saturday, Sept. 16

9:00 a.m. – Opening ceremony

10:00 a.m. – Watermelon contests; cash prizes

10:00 a.m. – Woman’s firewood spilt contest; cash prizes $15, $10

10:30 a.m. – Log rolling contest; two-man teams; first place team: $20

10:30 a.m. – Tug o’ war; teams of four men/one woman; first place team: $25

11:00 a.m. – Cross cut saw contest; women and professional, two-person teams; women's prizes: $30, $20, $10; professional prizes: $75, $50, $25

1:30 p.m. – Water boil contest; three-man team; first place team: $30

2:00 p.m. – Team splitting contest; two-man teams; team cash prizes: $50, $30, $20

2:45 p.m. – Junior rail splitting contest; prizes to first, second, third

3:30 p.m. – Amateur rail splitting contest; prizes to first, second, third

4:00 p.m. - $50 attendance prize drawing

4:15 p.m. – Parade

Sunday, Sept. 17

10:00 a.m. – Non-denominational worship service

11:00 a.m. – Tomahawk throw contest; youth 8-14, women 15 and up, men 15 and up; cash prizes

each division: $15, $10, $5

11:00 a.m. – Rail toss contest; first place: $10

11:30 a.m. – Cow chip throw; three males and three female; cash prizes each division: $10

11:30 – Corn shelling contest; youth 8-13, women 14 and up, men 14 and up; first place each division: $10

3:00 p.m. – Re-christening of city of Lincoln

3:15 p.m. – Championship spilt

4:00 p.m. – $100 attendance prize drawing

4:00 p.m. – Raffle drawing

4:15 p.m. – Parade

Events and times are subject to change

A Challenge Class will be offered on Saturday, Sept. 16, at the Logan County Red Cross office, 125 S. Kickapoo St. in Lincoln. Hours are from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. This class gives an opportunity for those who have previously had CPR to renew their certification in adult CPR or infant and child CPR.

A Community First Aid and Safety Class which covers all CPR plus first aid will be on Sept. 27 and 28 at the same location. Hours will be 6 to 10 p.m. the first evening and 5 to 10 p.m. on the second evening.

Preregistration is required for all classes. You may call 732-2134 for further information. Office hours are noon until 4 p.m. weekdays.

New Holland welcomes anniversary parade entries 

New Holland’s 125th anniversary celebration will be the last weekend in September. There are still openings for the parade. Entries may be bicycles, vans, floats, children and so on. If you have any questions, or would like to enter the parade, please call Susie Aper at 445-2418.

As New Holland prepares for its 125th anniversary, 1875 - 2000, New Holland pictorial history books are now available. Only 100 books remain to be sold. The book will not be reprinted. If you are interested in a book, you can reserve one by sending $25 (plus $3.50 for shipping if you want it mailed) to Lila Conklen, 100th Avenue, New Holland, IL 62671.

The Jessie C. Eury Library on the campus of Lincoln Christian College and Seminary is pleased to announce the debut of "Hymnals of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Enos E. Dowling Hymnal Collection" on their website at www.lccs.edu/library/hymnals. This online collection of more than 9,000 hymns from selected rare 19^th-century hymnals features works by Alexander Campbell, J. T. Johnson, Walter Scott, and Illinois residents such as Barton W. Stone, Silas W. Leonard and the Fillmore Brothers. The Office of the Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White funded this project with a $34,000 digitalization grant.

Online viewers may browse through the pages of 19 selected hymnals, view a scanned image of the actual page from the hymnal, and access more than 300 tune-related audio files. The title, first line, lyrics or composer of each hymn can be searched. Information such as the hymn's meter and tune is also available. The website also offers a background sketch of the Stone-Campbell Movement in Illinois, a timeline of the Stone-Campbell Movement hymnals and information about pivotal hymnals, writers, publishers and compilers.

Enos Dowling, former academic dean at LCS, gathered some 2,000 hymnals throughout his lifetime, including nearly 200 affiliated with the Restoration Movement that arose from the 19^th century Stone-Campbell religious heritage on the American frontier. His collection is one of the largest-known compilations of hymnals representing this religious movement and serves to illustrate changing religious musical styles. Nancy J. Olson, project director and library director for the Jessie C. Eury Library, considers this website a "technical tribute" to Dowling and his desire to preserve the heritage of religious music.

The project has received similar praise from across the country for its part in the preservation of historical music and the history of the Stone-Campbell Movement. Prior to their Internet availability, access to the rare hymnals was limited to patrons of the Jessie C. Eury Library, which owns the collection. Bonnie Travers, University of Arizona special collections librarian, says the site provides a way for Stone-Campbell Movement history to be accessible "worldwide through the Internet." "I was very impressed," she adds. Marsha Harper, Abilene Christian University library director, agrees: "I haven’t seen anything to equal it."

Through mid-September, Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital (ALMH) is providing free colorectal cancer screening kits and lab testing to assist you in identifying indicators of possible cancer in the colon or rectum. Colorectal cancer is one of the most curable of all cancers when it is detected early and treated promptly.

Because colorectal cancer develops over a period of time, it is possible to detect it by testing stool samples long before physical symptoms appear. The majority of people who develop colorectal cancer are over age 50. Over 75 percent of all cases can be cured, and patients can resume normal lives. The American Cancer Society recommends yearly stool blood tests after the age of 50.

The simple at-home test kit provided by ALMH will help the laboratory check your stool samples for hidden blood, which can be a sign of cancer or other internal disorders. The kit lists dietary suggestions of what to eat and what to avoid two days prior to the test. Following these few suggestions can reduce the chances of a "false positive" test result and increase probability of a more accurate test. The kit also provides all materials and directions needed for collecting stool samples and preparing slides for testing, and includes a pre-addressed envelope to mail the sample and information back to the ALMH lab. The lab will notify you of your results within two weeks after receiving the test. It is important to remember that the screening does not provide a complete cancer detection examination. Regardless of test results, you should see your physician whenever you experience changes in your bowel habits.

To take advantage of this opportunity, all tests must be received at Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital no later than Sept. 15.

Test kits are available at local physician offices, pharmacies, senior living centers, the Logan County Health Department, and the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital Laboratory. In rural locations it is also available on the Rural Health Partnership’s mobile health unit. You may pick up your free kit at the following locations:

Abe Lincoln Pharmacy

Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital Laboratory

The Christian Village

CVS Pharmacy

Family Medical Center

Friendship Manor

Graue Pharmacy

Lincoln Health Care Specialists (Drs. Carroll, Harmon, Sagins and Sielaff)

Logan County Health Department

Logan County Highrise

Maple Ridge Retirement Center

Medicap Pharmacy

Oasis Senior Center

Wal-Mart Pharmacy

Sherman’s Pharmacy

Mobile health unit of Rural Health Partnership

Family Medical Center

Mason City Pharmacy

Dr. Borgerson’s office

Dr. Schmidt’s office

The Mount Pulaski Pharmacy

Mobile health unit of Rural Health Partnership

In Beason, Broadwell, Chestnut, Cornland, Elkhart, Emden, Greenview, Hartsburg, Lake Fork, Latham, Middletown, New Holland and San Jose, kits are available on the Rural Health Partnership’s mobile health unit.

Contest deadline: In-hand by Sept. 15.