At the Dec. 14 meeting of the entire board, member Rod White asked Phil Mahler, chairman of the committee, to put the subject on the agenda for discussion.

Once every 10 years, by law, the board must address the topic and vote to maintain the current "at-large" process or switch to the members being elected from districts, based upon population.

A number of people are currently circulating petitions in a bipartisan effort to obtain nearly 2,000 signatures from registered voters in order to have the measure put on the ballot through a court order.

"The committee can recommend to the board as a whole to place the question on the April ballot," White said.

"If the board does vote to put the issue before the voters, the petition drive wouldn't be necessary," he added.

The referendum is advisory in nature and does not bind the board to public sentiment.

Those not able to attend can contact the board members to express opinions on the referendum, which only seeks public opinion.

Board members who currently serve are as follows:

The police department will purchase two 2001 Chevrolet Impala front-wheel drive patrol cars from Graue Chevrolet in Lincoln for $31,301.30 and a $7,000 trade-in on two used patrol cars.

"We are spending $116 dollars more to buy these cars locally," said Alderman Michael Montcalm. The other alternative would have been to purchase them at a Springfield dealership which bids on Illinois state purchases of large numbers of vehicles.

"Ideally the council always attempts to spend money locally if it’s within reason, and this difference is very reasonable," Montcalm said. "We are fortunate to have dealers here in town meeting state bids for the vehicles we need, such as police cars, dump trucks and snow-removal equipment."

Police Chief Richard Ludolph said he wanted to try the front-wheel drive vehicles because of their lower cost and a possible savings in gasoline use.

The only other company building police patrol cars is Ford, which makes an eight-cylinder rear-wheel drive patrol car similar to the Crown Victoria, Ludolph said. The Chevrolet, a six-cylinder model, is priced about $1,600 less than the Ford and may cost about $400 less per year to run because of better gas mileage, he said.

Ludolph said he had talked to state police officers who use the Chevy and to police officers in Clinton, who have also purchased the cars. "Other agencies are pleased with them," he told the council.

Montcalm commended Chief Ludolph on his "good planning," noting that the police department has already had to spend about $85,000 for back pay and overtime for the 19 months during which police department members worked without a contract. The contract was approved early in December. Ludolph said there will also be about a $10,000 shortfall this year because of salary increases in the new contract.

"We are pinching nickels right now to make sure we are staying within our appropriation," Montcalm said.

"Next year we will know what the salaries will be and be able to budget for them," Ludolph added.

Mayor Joan Ritter gave a special "thank you" to street superintendent Donnie Osborne and his street and alley department crew for coming in early Tuesday and plowing out the downtown area.

Rod White, board member, said that the drive is the result not only of his belief that candidates to the board should be elected by districts but also that of a number of others who have expressed a similar interest.

"Currently," White said, "of the 13 board members, 10 are from Lincoln."

The other three include White, who is from New Holland, Lloyd Hellman from Emden and Roger Bock from Elkhart.

A recent decision by the board to change zoning requirements on "Lazy Row" in rural Atlanta to accommodate plans to operate a low-level radio station with a 16-mile broadcast radius was met with disapproval by a number of Atlanta residents. Currently, however, no board member lives east of the city of Lincoln, leaving the eastern section of the county as the only area without a board member living there.

Those supporting a change to election by districts see this as a solution to the problem of equal access to board members, according to White.

The referendum is bipartisan and only seeks the opinion of the voters as to which form the election process should take. The referendum does not dictate the process.

The drive requires 2,000 signatures in order for the court to have the question placed before the voters in the spring election.

"Right now is a crucial time for small birds," says Don Hellman, ranger at Kickapoo Creek Park. "We got our first significant snow on Dec. 11, about six inches. We haven’t had bare ground since then. And most of the bushes in the park that have berries birds will eat are pretty well stripped.

"A Peoria TV station says it’s the most snow in December since they’ve been keeping records, and November and December were two of the coldest months," Hellman continues. "We’ve fed about 400 pounds of birdseed since this started."

Deanna Frautche, a member of the John Wesley Powell Audubon Society of Bloomington, who has been feeding birds on her five-acre rural homesite for many years, agrees with Hellman.

"At this time, with the snow cover and the extreme cold, it’s very difficult for birds to find natural sources of food. Also, it takes a lot more energy for birds to stay warm in very cold weather.

"Since we have had milder winters in the last few years, more birds that might otherwise migrate have stayed. To survive here, they need people to help them out."

And many people in Lincoln are doing just that, according to employees of three local businesses who regularly stock birdseed.

At R & H Farm Supply, the cupboards were nearly bare on Friday afternoon. Two 50-pound bags of a general birdseed mix sat on a bottom shelf, but the space reserved for a special mix was empty.

"We’re selling birdseed faster than we can get it in," employee Ron Tucker told the Lincoln Daily News. "Some things we’re out of, the suppliers can’t even send us. They’re out, too, and the recent storms have affected the transportation."

Another employee, Jim Billington, is one of his store’s best customers. He and his wife keep two finch feeders and one regular feeder filled and put out ear corn for squirrels at their Angel Valley home.

"We’re feeding hundreds of birds a day. The finch feeders will be empty in about three days, and the birds will empty the regular feeder every day," Jim reports. He’s feeding house finches, goldfinches, cardinals, blue jays, chickadees and of course English sparrows and grackles.

"We sell quite a bit of birdseed. It’s one of the bigger parts of our business," says Aaron Johnston of Animal Nutrition Warehouse. Friday afternoon the store was well-stocked with a variety of seed, but Johnston said some special seed mixes still hadn’t come in.

"As soon as the snow flies, sales of birdseed jump. This past week, we had trouble keeping up our stock."

He reports that people are buying a lot of squirrel food, too: corn and shelled and unshelled peanuts.

"Our shelves have been literally bare," says an employee of Big R. "We just got a truck in Tuesday, and our seed is almost gone. I do not remember us being totally out of wild bird food as often as we have been this year. There’s a huge demand."

He says he’s also noticed "an immense increase" in sales of products to keep domestic animals and their food and water warm — heating pads, electric pet bowls, and de-icers for tanks and pails. On Friday the store was completely out of electric heaters to keep bird baths from freezing.

"We’re doing out best to keep stocked up. Supply is coming in as quick as we can get it. We’ve even delivered bags of birdseed to shut-ins who want to feed the birds," the employee added.

Another customer, who lives in a rural area, agrees that it’s hard times for birds. She said she is seeing birds in her yard who have never before come to her feeders, such as horned larks and Lapland longspurs.

At Kickapoo Park, Hellman not only feeds birds, he puts out ear corn for the squirrels and shelled corn for the deer. Whatever goes out, it will be gone by morning.

"The deer are having a hard time finding food, but there’s not much purpose in putting out hay," Hellman advises. "Deer normally don’t eat it. They’d rather eat weeds or the bark on trees."
A retired Lincoln couple are helping Hellman keep the deer fed. They come most days and put shelled corn under the bird-feeding stations, where they know deer will come morning and evening to get it.

Hellman says deer keep warm in winter because their hair is hollow and provides good insulation. "Right now their hair sticks out like the spines on a porcupine," he said. "They’re not sleek like they are in summer."

Don Butler, site superintendent at Edward R. Madigan State Park, says deer come to that park in winter because they can find food and shelter. "We farm some fields adjacent to the park, and we leave many rows of standing corn in those fields for the deer."

Instead of maintaining bird feeders at the park, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources plants special food plots to provide food for birds, such as millet and other grains, Butler said.

Hellman advises people who have started feeding birds to keep it up, because the birds come to depend on the food people provide. "We will continue feeding through the first of April We feed heaviest when the snow in on the ground."

Frautche agrees that birds become dependent, and it is best if people can continue feeding. It is also important to provide water, she points out. Electric heaters can keep water in bird baths open in most weather. Whatever container you use should be shallow, she advises. "Birds don’t like to go into anything over their heads."

Also, you can help the birds keep warm. The Christmas tree you are about to throw out can provide shelter for birds at night. "Birds fluff up their feathers to keep warm, and they do a lot of roosting together to share their body heat. Some birds fly from the country into town and roost under the eaves of buildings, where it is warmer," Frautche explains.

She advises feeding first thing in the morning, so birds can "fuel up" after a long cold night, and before sunset, so they can stoke up again before roosting. She also advises scattering feed on the ground or on a feeding table, because many birds who winter here, like the "snowbirds" (gray-and-white juncos), are ground feeders.

Birdseed is available in all kinds of mixes, employees of R & H, Animal Nutrition, and Big R point out, depending on the birds you have and the birds you want to attract to your yard, and bird feeders are available there as well.

Birds play an important part in creating a healthy and beautiful environment. They control insects, pollinate flowers and disperse seed. Feeding them in winter means they will be here to provide color and song when spring comes.