Organizations,  Events,  Milestones,

Good Neighbors, Fund-raisers,  A Day in the Life...,

Diaspora,  Reunions,  Reminiscence

August 2001

Aug. 10-19
WHO: Public
WHAT: Illinois State Fair
WHERE: Illinois State Fairground, Springfield

Saturday, Aug. 11
SPONSOR: Friends of Spickard
WHO: Public
WHAT: Fund-raiser bake sale and auction. Dance with DJ Joe Hackett. Joe has one of the largest libraries of music in the world, and he has an excellent reputation for playing what the crowd likes. $2.50 per person.
WHERE: Lincoln Eagles Lodge
WHEN: 1 pm bake sale and auction; 7 pm dance

Sundays in August
WHO: Public
WHAT: Free tours of J. H. Hawes Grain Elevator Museum
WHERE: Atlanta
WHEN: 1-3 pm

Sunday, Aug. 12
SPONSOR: Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital
WHO: Public
WHAT: Open house for Women's Health Unit and Family Maternity Suites
WHERE: ALMH, 315 Eighth St.
WHEN: 2-4 pm

Wednesday, Aug. 15
SPONSOR: NAPA Auto Parts
WHO: Public
WHAT: American Red Cross blood drive
WHERE: Lincoln Sports Complex
WHEN: noon - 5 pm

Friday, Aug. 17
SPONSOR: Logan County Board
WHO: Public
WHAT: FY 2002 budget review hearings
WHERE: Logan County Courthouse, third-floor jury room
WHEN: 9 am - noon

Saturday, Aug. 18
SPONSOR: Friends of Spickard
WHO: Public
WHAT: Cosmic bowl party. Tickets for this event can be purchased by calling 732-3556.
WHERE: Logan Lanes
WHEN: 6-8 pm

Wednesday, Aug. 22
SPONSOR: Logan County Board
WHO: Public
WHAT: FY 2002 budget review hearings
WHERE: Logan County Courthouse, third-floor jury room
WHEN: 8 am - noon

WHO: Public
WHAT: American Red Cross blood drive
WHERE: Mount Pulaski Christian Church
WHEN: 11 am - 5 pm

Thursday, Aug. 23
SPONSOR: Logan County Board
WHO: Public
WHAT: FY 2002 budget review hearings
WHERE: Logan County Courthouse, third-floor jury room
WHEN: 1-4 pm

Friday, Aug. 24
SPONSOR: Logan County Board
WHO: Public
WHAT: FY 2002 budget review hearings
WHERE: Logan County Courthouse, third-floor jury room
WHEN: tentatively beginning at 8:30 am

Aug. 24-26
 WHO: Public
WHAT: Lincoln Art and Balloon Festival
WHERE: Logan County Fairgrounds and downtown
[Also click here to read a three-part LDN article on ballooning.]

Saturday, Aug. 25
SPONSOR: Lincoln Park District
WHO: Public
WHAT: Sky's the Limit 5K run
WHERE: Lincoln Park District

Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 25 and 26
SPONSOR: Lincoln Junior Woman's Club
WHO: Public
WHAT: Art fair hospitality suite; food served
WHERE: Lincoln Women's Building, 230 N. McLean (across from Latham Park)
WHEN: 9 am - 4 pm Saturday; 9 am - 3 pm Sunday

WHO: Public
WHAT: 1800s Craft Fair
WHERE: Postville Courthouse State Historic Site
 WHEN: 10 am - 4 pm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPECIAL EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:  ABATE hosts Chiggerfest 6,  Evening gala at Henson Robinson Zoo,  Attention: Civil War dancers,  Fund-raisers scheduled by deputy’s friends,  Special call for blood donors,  Ed Madigan exhibit featured at Lincoln College Museum

REGULAR POSTINGS FOR ORGANIZATIONS:  American Red Cross,  Girl Scouts,  Lincoln Park District,  Mount Pulaski Courthouse,  Oasis

SPECIAL EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

ABATE hosts Chiggerfest 6

Chiggerfest 6, an ABATE of Illinois East Central Region party, will be Sept. 7, 8 and 9 at Ray’s place in Funks Grove. Gates open at noon. No one under 21 except ABATE Illinois members will be admitted. (Non-members can join at the gate.)

Live music Friday and Saturday nights will feature the Robin Crowe band, Exit, Easy Money and various other artists. There will be food and assorted vendors, a poker run, bike show, and field events. Primitive camping and limited camper spots are available.

The hosts say, "No kids, no pets, no golf carts or ATVs (three- or four-wheelers). Absolutely no one allowed without proper ID (if the cops won’t accept it, then neither will we)."

The event is hosted by Heart of Illinois ABATE and co-sponsored by Salt Creek ABATE

Directions: Take Interstate 55 south of Bloomington to the Shirley exit. Go south on Old Route 66 about a mile. Watch for signs.

There is an admission fee at the gate. For additional information or advance tickets, contact your local East Central Region chapter; a Heart of Illinois ABATE officer; or Debbie Carr, (217) 935-4253 or (217) 972-6186.

Evening gala at Henson Robinson Zoo

The sixth annual Torchlight Gala & Auction at the Henson Robinson Zoo will be from 6:30 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 25. The zoo is at 1100 East Lake Drive, Springfield.

The auctioneer will be Darrel Adcock. The evening also offers silent auction tables, dinner by Jimmy’s Sub Shop and music by the Jane Hartman Trio, sponsored by Illinois National Bank.

The event is sponsored by the Springfield Zoological Society.

Call the zoo, (217) 753-6217, for more information and to reserve tickets.

Attention: Civil War dancers

Practices and performance scheduled

Civil War dancers are scheduled to give demonstrations at the Postville Courthouse in Lincoln on Sunday, Aug. 26, from noon to 3 p.m. The group will give educational lectures to go along with the dancing and will teach others to dance as well.

Practices will be:

  • Thursday, Aug. 9, at 7 p.m. at the Mason County Democrat office, 219 W Market St. in Havana.

  • Thursday, Aug. 23, 7 p.m., back yard at 633 W. Elm Street, Mason City

Please call or e-mail Bonnie at (217) 482-5821 or bjknieriem@hotmail.com if you will be able to participate in the demonstration. Keep watching for further opportunities.

Special call for blood donors

The American Red Cross has increased blood collections each year for the past four years, but the need for blood is outpacing the supply. Year-to-date collections are 1.9 million units more than this time last year. However, medical advancements such as liver transplants, cardiac surgery and treatments for premature babies require more donations every day. Thirty-eight percent of all blood products used today are for people 65 and older. The blood supply is extremely fragile, and the Red Cross will not diminish its efforts to continually recruit new and repeat donors.

In the past four years the Red Cross has collected nearly one-half of the nation’s blood supply, providing more than 14 million blood products to more then 3,000 hospitals nationwide.

To give blood, you must be in general good health, be at least 17 years old, and weigh at least 110 pounds. The Red Cross especially needs type O donations, the universal blood type that can be safely transfused to any patient during an emergency and is always the highest in demand.

Click here for information on local blood drives in August.

Ed Madigan exhibit featured at Lincoln College Museum

The Lincoln College Museum is presenting a temporary exhibit called "Edward R. Madigan: From the Halls of Lincoln College to the Halls of the White House." The exhibit, which is currently on display, pays honor to one of Lincoln College’s most successful alumni, the late Edward Madigan.

Madigan graduated from Lincoln College in 1955, entered the Illinois Legislature in 1966, was elected to Congress in 1972, and was appointed by President Bush in 1991 to be secretary of agriculture. In 1974, the Lincoln College Alumni Association presented Madigan with its award for Outstanding Achievement in the field of Public Services. In 1975 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by Lincoln College. He died in 1994.

Lincoln College Museum curator Ron Keller says the display tells the story of Madigan’s career in public service. "The display reflects his experiences and service through many photographs, and letters from every president from Carter to Clinton. There are also various artifacts from his works in Congress and in the White House." The exhibit will run through November of 2001. The public is invited to stop by the Lincoln College Museum to view this exhibit and tour the rest of the historic exhibits.

The Lincoln College Museum is located in the McKinstry Library on the campus of Lincoln College. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.


[Evelyn and Agriculture Secretary Ed Madigan at the White House with President and Mrs. Bush in 1991.]

REGULAR POSTINGS FOR ORGANIZATIONS

Red Cross blood drives in August

NAPA Auto Parts sponsors two blood drives in August at the Lincoln Sports Complex. The first was Aug. 1. The second will be from noon until 5 p.m. on Aug. 15. Another blood drive will be at the Mount Pulaski Christian Church on Aug. 22. The hours will be from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

During July, the following people reached goals in their blood donations: Glenn McCrea and Connie Haseley, seven gallons; Robert Pharis, six gallons; Shawn Bertolino, five gallons; Phillip Richmond, two gallons; and Myrna A. Aper, one gallon.

Girl Scouts announcements

  • Girl Scout leader meetings:  the first Thursday of each month, at the usual time and place.

  • Girl Scout Jamboree Railsplitter event:  weekend of Logan County Railsplitter Festival; Janice Greer, event coordinator.

Websites with lots of ideas that Girl Scout leaders, families or kids can use:

makingfriends.com

crayola.com

elmers.com 

See the website for Girl Scouts, Land of Lincoln Council, at http://www.girlscoutsllc.org/.

You can send questions and suggestions to the council by clicking here: gsllc@girlscoutsllc.org.

Also, see the national Girl Scouts site at http://www.girlscouts.org/.

Lincoln Park District notes

From Roy Logan, program coordinator

Flag football, cheerleading

Registration for flag football and cheerleading is going on now. Teams will consist of players in second and third grades and fourth and fifth grades.  Cheerleaders will need to be in first through fifth grade. Registration closes on Aug. 10. Fee; reduced rates with additional family members. There is a $5 late registration fee after Aug. 10.  Games will start the week of Sept. 10, with the season lasting approximately six weeks.  Call Lincoln Park District at 732-8770 for costs and if you have any questions.

We are currently working on a few new programs for the fall and winter seasons here at your park district. Keep your eye on Lincoln Daily News for the latest information on sessions for adults and children.

5K run

On Saturday, Aug. 25, Lincoln Park District will host the 13th annual 5K run in conjunction with the Lincoln Art and Balloon Festival. Race time is 8 a.m. The run begins and ends at the Park District at 1400 Primm Road. Dan Slack, a veteran cross-country record-holder for LCHS, is our race coordinator. T-shirts are given to all participants, and awards are given to the top three finishers in each age category.  Refreshments are provided.  Registration forms are available at both the Rec Center and the Lincoln Chamber office.

Classic Chevys circle Mount Pulaski Courthouse

Over 200 classic Chevrolets and their proud owners filled the Mount Pulaski square on Thursday, July 5. Almost 600 people toured the Mount Pulaski Courthouse that day. Many went up to the historic courtroom to see a presentation by Don Russell.

The Vintage Chevrolet Club of America had their national event that week in Springfield. As part of the activities, the club members visited both Lincoln’s New Salem and Mount Pulaski. Since there were so many cars, they were divided into two groups: pre-World War II and post-World War II. The cars were beautiful and the people friendly. Almost all states were represented and there were visitors from five foreign countries.

R. Schachtsiek, site manager at the courthouse, says: "My compliments to Doug Johnson and his hard-working crew for all their effort that day. It was a great day for Mount Pulaski and the courthouse. I also wish to thank Jo Richner and Don Baker for helping at the courthouse that day."

Another group, about 20 ladies, visited the courthouse on July 21. They plus all the Chevy club members put July’s attendance at over 700 people.

Coming up in September, during Mount Pulaski’s Fall Festival, there will be a special display in the courthouse to honor the 50th anniversary of the Korean War. Richard Teike has helped provide posters and other items used in the display. On Saturday, Sept. 8, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. a re-enactor will be present to explain the uniform, equipment and weapons used by American forces in Korea. People are invited to stop in at the courthouse to learn more about America's "Forgotten War."

In July the following courthouse volunteers worked 125 hours: D. Aper, D. Baker, M. Borgerson, K. Boyd, D. Brooker, J. Cavestani, A. Davis, M. Downing, H. Fine, V. Harbarger, P. Hawk, M. Johnson, W. Kautz, J. Martin, J. Maske, J. Richner, C. and L. Schahl, D. Smith, E. Stahl, T. and W. Stephens, and C. Van Rheedan.

Oasis update

The Oasis, Logan County’s senior citizen center, at 501 Pulaski St. in Lincoln, is open weekdays (except holidays) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The center also is open on Friday and Sunday nights for table games. Dominic Dalpoas is the executive director. Activities are open to all Logan County senior citizens,  regardless of membership.

IGA steak sale

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 11, the Oasis and Lincoln IGA are sponsoring a steak sale. Stop by the Lincoln IGA to purchase your steak supplies for summer outdoor grilling.

Senior Day at Illinois State Fair

There are still a few seats available for a trip to the Illinois State Fair on Monday, Aug. 13. The van departs for Springfield from the Oasis at 9 a.m. Call for a reservation. Cost is $5.

Memories class

The class for Monday, Aug. 13, has been canceled. A new date and time will be scheduled for September.

Americana room

The Oasis is starting a new project in order to honor armed forces men and women. Please bring materials for display at the Oasis, such as pictures (or copies), newspaper articles and other items in your collections.

Flea market Aug. 25-26

There are still a few spaces available for flea market vendors at the Lincoln Art & Balloon Festival. Please call or come in to secure your space for only a $40 nonrefundable registration fee.

Hearing screening

This once-a-month free service is available from 10 a.m. until noon on Sept. 5. Please call the Oasis for an appointment.

Game winners

Daytime pinochle winners were Mable Hoagland for July 27 and Henry Warnisher for July 31. At the bingo games sponsored by Maple Ridge, Mary Kay Shipp won the drawing for lunch at First Wok. Friday night game winners were Grace McCrea for pinochle; Louis Johnson, Henry Warnisher and Betty Burger for 5-in-1; and Harley Heath for pool.

Newsletter

Friends of the Oasis members receive bimonthly newsletters by mail. For more information, people can call the Oasis at 732-6132 or 732-5844.

Milestones

 

 

Fund-raisers

Fund-raisers scheduled by deputy’s friends

[AUG. 3, 2001]  Benefits to help Bob Spickard and his family pay off their legal expenses will be on Aug. 11 and 18.

Friends of Spickard, who is facing $17,000 in legal fees for his defense of a criminal suit in which he was found not guilty, have formed a committee to help the financially burdened deputy.

On Aug. 11 at the Eagles Lodge here in Lincoln, a day of events will help raise money to pay off the deputy’s legal bills. The activities will include a bake sale and auction at 1 p.m. as well as an evening dance at 7 with DJ Joe Hackett. Joe has one of the largest libraries of music in the world, and he has an excellent reputation for playing what the crowd likes. Admission to the dance is $2.50 per person.

The next weekend, on Aug. 18 from 6 to 8 p.m., there will be a cosmic bowl party at Logan Lanes. Tickets priced at $10 per person will have half of those proceeds going to the Spickard fund. Call 732-3556 for tickets for this event.

Stuart Wyneken turns out the lights after 30 years with LCT summer productions

[AUG. 9, 2001]  When Stuart Wyneken was a boy, his father, an administrative assistant for Lincoln College, would allow Stuart to accompany him as he oversaw the construction of a number of new campus buildings. P.B. Johnston and his wife, friends of Stuart’s grandparents, had donated the funds for the construction of one of those buildings, a new center for the performing arts on the college’s campus. Little did Stuart know that the very site of that new construction where he idled away his summer vacation in 1970 would be the place where he would spend his summers for the next 30 years.

The summer of 2001 marks not only the 30th anniversary of Lincoln Community Theatre, but also the 30th consecutive year for Wyneken’s service as the lighting designer and technician for LCT productions. Announcing his retirement from both the LCT board and the LCT light booth at the end of the summer, Wyneken looks forward to having future summers available for family and other interests.

The first 19 years with LCT, he was a bachelor and had to answer only to himself. Things changed in 1989 with his marriage. For the next 11 years, when June rolled around, Wyneken’s wife, Kim, would say, "See you in August!"

Wyneken had just graduated from high school when Lincoln Community Theatre was formed. He had been the student lighting chairman at Lincoln Community High School when a group of students were recruited to get involved with the first LCT performance.

 

His knowledge of lighting was self-taught, primarily from observing upperclassmen operate an old resistance dimmer board for school productions. The dimmers were operated using large wooden levers, and Wyneken remembers when electricity would arc and spark when the levers were pulled. It took three students to operate the board during a show, and blown fuses would have to be changed "on the fly" while the production continued.

The "new" 16-dimmer light board available at the Johnston Center for the Performing Arts was more sophisticated than that at the high school, but in today’s view would be considered quite simple. In those earlier years, Lincoln College’s technical director Mickey Benson would provide training when newer equipment was added.

Serving as lighting designer and technician can be a time-consuming and demanding job. The preparation begins with reading the script to get a general idea of the lighting requirements of a show. After meeting with the director and set designer to discuss their views of lighting needs, the lighting technician must attend early rehearsals to understand how the actors and set pieces will be blocked on the stage.

A light plot is then created, which serves as a blueprint of electric strips that the lighting instruments will hang from. Different colored gels are cut to fit each lighting device to help create different lighting effects.

 

Next, whatever lighting system is currently hung in the theater must be entirely stripped, and the newly designed lights must be rehung and plugged into the appropriate circuits. All of this is accomplished by lowering light bars or crawling across a catwalk hung from the ceiling of the theater. After being circuited, the lighting instruments are plugged into the dimmer board.

 

 

[to top of second column in this article]

About eight years ago, Lincoln College purchased a new, computerized light board, which allows the storage of up to 130 light cues. The original board Wyneken used required every lighting effect to be done by hand during each production for each scene. With the computerized system, the settings for the desired effect can be predetermined and programmed into the computer. The lighting technician then needs to merely push a button for the complex lighting direction to be achieved.

The job of lighting technician has traditionally also included any special effects necessary for a production. Wyneken says, "Over the years, I have been privileged to be allowed to use various special effects. The 1987 production of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ was probably the first of these. For that show we constructed our own flash pots, used CO2 fire extinguishers and various other ‘homemade’ items for the wizard. It was also the first time the trap door to the lower level was used for melting the witch." How appropriate that his current and final production, "The Wiz," an updated version of that same play, with its robotics lighting system, is probably the most technically advanced show he has ever attempted.

 

Getting to work in the Lincoln Theatre building in the 1980s was one of Wyneken’s career highlights. "This is a marvelous old building and the epitome of vaudevillian theater," he says. "Being able to use their fly system and the footlights was indeed a real treat."

Though he is leaving the LCT board, he is assuming new duties as a board member of the newly formed Logan County Arts Council. One of his goals is to see the complete restoration of the Lincoln Theater building in downtown Lincoln to its original 1923 condition, with the exception of the installation of modern lighting, sound and stage equipment. Talks are already underway with the GKC Cinema Corporation in hopes of acquiring the facility when their new complex is completed. This building, in turn, he hopes will become a future home of Lincoln Community Theatre and other area art organizations.

 

Though Wyneken states that he certainly won’t miss the long hours at the theater, climbing ladders and catwalks, and cantankerous directors, he wouldn’t trade his years with Lincoln Community Theatre for a thing. He says that he will miss the people he has met over the last 30 years, as well as the luxury of watching a good production every night. With the time to relax and enjoy summer activities without having to rush back for a show, Wyneken states that he still "loves being able to create a mood for a show." He adds, "I will miss what I know I can do."

Lincoln Community Theatre recognized Wyneken this week by awarding him a life membership in the organization. LCT, too, will certainly miss what they know he can do!

[Judy Rader]

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Officer Sisk found a positive approach
to working with juveniles

[JULY 16, 2001]  Darrell Sisk, who retired in March, was the Lincoln Police Department’s juvenile officer for more than 20 years. It was a job he loved, but he admits that it had some negative aspects.
[Click here for Part 1]

"In police work, as a general rule, the job is negative. Who likes to give tickets? A lot of our job is surrounded by a negative atmosphere.

"But DARE [Drug Abuse Resistance Education] is surrounded by a positive atmosphere. Parents support it, the community appreciates it, and the kids love it. When school opens, the sixth graders are already asking when DARE starts."

Sisk, who recalls that he "taught sixth grade in every school in Lincoln," was the department’s first DARE teacher.

"When I started 18 years ago, DARE was a brand-new concept out of California. I was the only DARE teacher. Today five guys are teaching it.

"Everyone thinks it’s just about drugs. It’s not. It’s about stress and how to cope. It’s about how to build self-esteem, how to stand up to peer pressure, and it’s all positive. We don’t get into negatives. There are DARE dances, DARE picnics, DARE fishing tournaments, DARE baseball, softball and basketball teams. At the DARE picnic in May, there were 400 to 500 kids. And they keep coming up with new ideas, like the DARE bowling tournament."

Sisk emphasizes that DARE teachers aren’t trying to get kids to narc (tattle) on other kids, like telling them who is using drugs. "This is about you," he would tell the kids, "not about somebody else."

Although he took the DARE classes seriously, Sisk could also have a little fun with the sixth graders.

"The kids used to ask me how old I was," he remembers. "I would always tell them I was 37. Then I would tell them I’d been with the Lincoln Police Department for 30 years.

"There would be silence. Then about 15 minutes later one kid would raise his hand and say, ‘Wait a minute, you can’t be 37.’

"I would say, ‘I started with the police department when I was 7.’"

Sisk believes DARE is here to stay.

"I’ve worked with many mayors and chiefs of police, and never did any of them ever even remotely talk about eliminating DARE," he says. "If they had, they’d probably have seen the biggest uprising in the city’s history. City Hall wouldn’t be able to hold it."

Along with DARE, Sisk also taught fifth grade VEGA (Violence Education and Gang Awareness programs). VEGA leads into DARE in sixth grade, and the program was later expanded to reach junior high and high school students.

The Illinois State Police do the DARE training, and there are yearly conferences of DARE officers. "People at the conferences started to recognize that the program needed reinforcement after fifth and sixth grades," Sisk recalls. "First they came up with the idea it needed reinforcement in junior high school, and over the years they recognized a need to reinforce it in high school.

"A lot of communities haven’t done what we are doing, teaching a short DARE curriculum in junior high and high school," he says. "The Lincoln Police Department has a consistent program from kindergarten through 12th grade, and the difference it has made is clear.

"If a police officer in uniform had gone to the high school and walked around 15 years ago, he would have felt out of place. He would have been an outsider.

"Today the kids know who we are, and they will talk to us. They relate to officers in uniform. It’s a positive thing. If they have a problem, kids feel comfortable to come to a police officer, especially DARE officers, but others too.

"It’s helped the whole police department. We have officers that go out to the high school and eat lunch with the kids. Eighteen years ago, if the chief of police had said to an officer, ‘Go out to the high school and eat lunch,’ everybody would have thought he was crazy. Now it’s part of the day.

"That’s the concept of community policing."

Sisk’s efforts to be a positive influence on Lincoln’s youth are recognized by those who have worked with him.

"He was one heck of a juvenile officer," Detective Mike Harberts says. "He related so well with kids. The kids in this town trusted Darrell and would bring him information. We solved many crimes, both juvenile and adult, because of that.

"And he was a wonderful DARE teacher. He had an innate ability to get down to their level. He was compassionate, and he could see where they were coming from. He treated each kid as an individual with a story of their own.

"He was a wonderful colleague too. Detective Bunner and I very much enjoyed working with Darrell on investigations. Any time we had a juvenile involved with any kind of crime, he was a wealth of information."

 

 

[to top of second column in this article]

"Darrell created the Lincoln DARE program," Police Chief Rich Montcalm says. "He was the second officer in the state to be trained in DARE. He put his heart into it. His wife helped him make his own posters for the program, and the state used some of those posters in their statewide training.

"He was also instrumental getting us to proceed into the junior high and high school level. We are one of the few police departments in the state that does it.

"Everybody here still considers him part of the department. We look on him as a resource. We’re fortunate he’s still in the area and we can ask him questions."

Ron Robbins, who was police chief from 1989 to 1997, remembers that he heard nothing but high praise for Sisk from teachers, principals and superintendents. "I would hear it from Washington-Monroe School, then a month later from Northwest, then later from Central. That’s how I knew it was true.

"Darrell started the role model program. He would pick Lincoln High School students who had good personalities, were popular and had good grades. Sometimes he would get basketball and football players, because the younger kids knew who the sports stars were. Then those role models would go around with him to the grade schools and give the kids there a positive message — don’t do drugs, don’t smoke.

"Darrell is the main reason our DARE program is what it is today," Robbins adds. "As chief I sat in on some of his classes. He just had a way of working with kids that helped him get his message across. He really did care about the kids."

Dean Langdon, now assistant principal at Lincoln Community High School, worked with Darrell for six years, ever since he came to Lincoln in 1995.

"He was a great asset, and he will be missed," Langdon says. "Darrell made himself totally available to us, whether we needed help or just advice. We could reach him anytime we needed him.

"He had a great relationship with the kids, very proactive. He always wanted to prevent trouble from happening, and he was always interested in kids learning a lesson from their behavior.

"He had a nice balance between being a law enforcement officer and being an educator. He preferred to be an educator, but when needed he could take a firm stand.

"He had a post outside a certain door. Kids would come in, and it wasn’t unusual to hear them talking to him, maybe about law enforcement, maybe about fishing, maybe about their personal problems at home. He would give them advice about what they could do if they thought something bad was going to happen at home. He believed in kids’ rights to be free from abuse.

"Because of the program, there is a different attitude about police officers. The trust that Darrell built in the schools has worked to the good of the community," Langdon says.

Although he misses his role in the lives of school children, Sisk is enjoying his work with Sojourn and is looking forward to new developments.

"For the most part, I am a court advocate. I assist victims of domestic battery to get orders of protection against abusers." He doesn’t talk about details, because confidentiality is necessary for the safety of the victims.

He is looking forward to a new program. "Sojourn is in the process of putting together a curriculum to teach group sessions at Lincoln Correctional Center. Some of these people have been involved in domestic violence issues. They’re going to be released from prison some day. We can give them better skills to cope with relationships.

"I’m on a mission that’s not been done around here. It’s going to be exciting." Langdon thinks it is a natural transition for Sisk to go from working with young people to the Sojourn program.

"He has gone from helping one group of people in the community to helping another. Victims of domestic violence have kids. His expertise with children in a school context is a natural transition to working with young families. He has seen the effects of domestic violence in the schools. From there it is a natural step into the home with victims of domestic violence."

"He’ll do a wonderful job in his new career in Sojourn," Robbins agrees. "When it comes to helping someone, whether it’s a kid or an adult, he’ll do fine. He’ll see that they get the necessary help. Darrell will always be there for these people."

[Joan Crabb]

Juvenile Officer Darrell Sisk
made a difference to Lincoln kids

[JULY 13, 2001]  Although Darrell Sisk retired from the Lincoln Police Department on March 1, he didn’t go very far away. Just a couple of blocks.

Today you can find him in his office in the lower level of the Logan County Courthouse, where he is a court advocate for Sojourn, an organization that gives shelter and service to victims of domestic violence.

 


[Darrell Sisk]

He likes the new job. "There’s a real demand for this service, even more so than I thought when I was a cop," he says. The new job keeps him on his toes, the way he had to be as a police officer. "It’s educational, challenging, demanding, and sometimes frustrating and confusing," he says.

Still, he misses the old job. He keeps in touch with what’s happening in the police department and is happy that his old friend, Rich Montcalm, now police chief, is inaugurating some new programs.

"Many of the programs Rich is putting into place are things he and I worked on while I was in the department," Sisk says. He’s especially pleased that Montcalm is establishing an Emergency Response Team that will be prepared to deal with a serious incident in any Lincoln-area school, because kids were such a big part of his life as a police officer.

 


[Darrell Sisk and Police Chief Rich Montcalm]

"We’ve got to have a policy to deal with a school crisis such as a shooting. We’ve got to know who’s in charge, where the phones are, what door to go in, even how to deal with the media. The first people to get to a school emergency are going to be the local police, and they need to have the training and the equipment to end the threat. That’s what the Emergency Response Team is all about."

Sisk spent almost 31 years (he’s one month shy) with the Lincoln Police Department, and for more than 20 of those years he was a juvenile officer, a DARE teacher, a VEGA teacher, and a recognized authority on juvenile investigation and crime.

He designed and wrote the Lincoln Police Department policy manual for juvenile procedures, which is still in use. He assisted in writing school discipline policies and served on many committees concerning school discipline. He organized all juvenile records for the city of Lincoln and for Logan County, helped start the teen court for juvenile offenders, which is still operating, helped coordinate community youth programs of all kinds, and more.

He grew up in Lincoln, was drafted in 1967 and spent two years in the Army, 19 months of that time in Vietnam, came back and started to work in the Sheriff’s Department as a radio dispatcher under Glenn Nichols. Shortly after that he applied for a job as a city policeman and got it.

He started as a patrolman, driving around in a squad car. The car, he remembers, had one light on top and one little hand-held radio, with the radio equipment taking up the entire car trunk.

"To use the radar unit, you had to stand outside the car and point it at someone," he recalls. "If I got into a squad car today, I’d have no idea what all that high-tech equipment is. It’s like being inside a spaceship."

He moved up to sergeant and then became a shift commander. But on May 11, 1980, his career took a sudden turn. That was the night he got shot, and, ironically, he was shot by two juveniles who had escaped from St. Charles Juvenile Detention Center, although he didn’t know that at the time.

"They were 15 and 16, the kind of kids we teach now," he says.

He saw the two youths running around the old K-Mart building at 2 a.m. and decided to see what was happening. "I got out of the car, and the next thing I knew I was lying in a flower bed. A state trooper found me."

He should have been dead; a combination of good luck and good thinking saved his life. It happened that he was wearing the only bulletproof vest available to the Lincoln Police Department at the time, and that one was a "loaner."

 

 

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"Back in the old days, vests were heavy — about 30 pounds," he says. "Today you can’t tell whether an officer is wearing one or not. But in 1980 they were just coming out. The department was trying to find idiots to wear this one because it was so heavy. I volunteered because I was working nights."

When he was shot in the back, he was standing close to a steel door. He spun into the door and hit it so hard he got a concussion, but the borrowed vest stopped the bullets and saved his life, at least the first time. The concussion probably saved his life the second time.

An old friend, Detective Mike Harberts, adds some details to the story. Harberts was a patrolman then, relatively new to the department.

"It was the night before Mother’s Day. I had taken the night off, and he was checking my building," Harberts recalls. "There were a lot of flats of plants around the K-Mart. Darrell was near the double doors on the east side, walking down a row of flowers, when he was shot in the back two times. The force of the bullets hitting him drove him into the doors. He was knocked unconscious and thrown in a table full of flowers. That saved his life. If the kids hadn’t thought he was dead, they would have killed him. They were going to shoot him in the head with his own gun."

The juveniles fled south, finally killing a 23-year-old detective in Little Rock, Ark. They are now in jail in Arkansas, serving life without parole.

"They thought they killed Darrell too," Harberts says. "They told the police down there they had killed a police officer in a town between Bloomington and Springfield."

After the shooting, Sisk gave up patrolling the streets and became a juvenile officer. He didn’t know, when he took the job, that he’d been shot by juveniles. But finding that out didn’t keep him from becoming what those who worked with him call an outstanding juvenile officer, one who liked and understood the kids he was working with.

"I worked on any crime that involved a child — burglary, armed robbery, sexual abuse cases, anything. I did the investigation. I worked with the detectives on major crimes."

The most common crimes, he remembers, were fights and thefts. He recalls only one murder involving juveniles.

"I was involved in the court system, putting kids in various institutions. Back in the old days, in 1980, a police officer could put a juvenile in detention. If I picked up a kid for retail theft, I’d put him in detention. In 1980 the police could hold a kid 48 hours, then take him before a judge. Today it’s a whole different system. A juvenile probation officer has to authorize detention. That officer will be the deciding factor whether the kid is detained or released to his parents."

But Sisk would always rather find a way to keep a kid out of the juvenile justice system than a way to get him into it. To help do that, he designed a juvenile diversion and citation program, another program still in practice today.

"The largest percent of calls to the police department involved juveniles — a kid riding a bicycle through a garden, a kid throwing snowballs," he recalls. "I created a special citation. I would write everything down on the ticket, give it to the kid and tell him to take it home to his parents. If I didn’t get a call from the parents within two days, I’d write them a letter. The kids knew a letter was going to follow and they’d better tell their folks."

He also had some special techniques for the "station adjustments," when a youngster was brought to the station after doing something he shouldn’t have.

"In the early days, I used to target hair," Sisk says. "If the kid had long hair, I’d tell him the next time he got caught doing whatever he was doing, he was going to lose six inches of hair. The kid would sign a form that he agreed to that. Or if he was caught riding a minibike in the street, he’d sign a form agreeing that if he got caught doing it again, he was going to sell the bike."

However, it’s the positive, not the negative, side of his job as a juvenile officer that Sisk remembers and misses the most. He was the department’s first DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) teacher, and he still believes it’s a great program.

While teaching DARE, he was with every sixth-grade class in town once a week for 17 weeks. "I taught sixth grade in every school in Lincoln," he says. "I loved it. That’s the part I really miss."

(To be continued)

[Joan Crabb]

[Click here for Part 2]

People all across this country and, in fact, around the world, claim roots in Logan County. They have very interesting stories to tell, and some of them like to connect with those of us who stayed at home. Logan County Diaspora publishes the stories of former Logan County residents. With their permission, we also include their e-mail addresses so that old friends might be reunited.  If you wish to be part of the Logan County Diaspora, e-mail ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com.  

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Rippons returning to Lincoln

After many years away from Lincoln, my wife and I are returning from Florida to work a craft fair in Lincoln, at the fairgrounds, on Sept. 8 and 9.

We are looking forward to seeing old friends there.

Tom Rippon

(8-3-01)

 

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Ongoing class reunion in cyberspace for 1960 graduates of LCHS

http://www.geocities.com/lincolnhigh1960/

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