In the Lincoln mayoral race, Republican Elizabeth "Beth" Davis faces Democrat Kenneth S. Gray. Davis, a member of the Logan County Board, has been active in many area organizations. Gray is a newcomer to local politics.

In other city races, incumbent Juanita "Nita" Josserand, Republican, is the only candidate running for the four-year term of city clerk, and Lester D. Plotner, also an incumbent and a Republican, is the only candidate running for city treasurer.

No contests exist in the races for aldermen. Benny L. Huskins Sr. is running again for a four-year term as Ward 1 alderman. Verl A. Prather, a former alderman, is running unopposed for the Ward 2 aldermanic seat. David R. Armbrust is on the ballot for the seat in Ward 3 to be vacated by retired Judge Gerald Dehner. Glenn Shelton, who was appointed to fill an unexpired term in Ward 4, is running for a full four-year term. Michael T. Montcalm, incumbent, is running again for the Ward 5 seat. All are Republicans.

There are no also contests in the race for Lincoln Park District commissioner or trustee of the Lincoln Public Library District. John Andrews, Dave Perring and James Sparrow are running for park district posts and Eileen Morris and William Vinyard for library trustees.

Voters in Atlanta face contests for mayor and for Ward 2 alderman. Mayor Bill Martin, Republican incumbent, is facing Democratic challenger Taplia "Jack" Renfrow, former 1st Ward alderman. Kenneth R. Martin is running unopposed for another term as clerk, and Vicki Martin is running for another term as treasurer. Both are Republicans.

Fred R. Finchum is running unopposed for the 1st Ward seat vacated by Renfrow, and incumbent Billie J. Cheek is running unopposed for the 3rd Ward seat. Democrat Ricky G. Lynch and Republican Darrell Deverman are vying for the 2nd Ward seat being vacated by Kenneth Timm. Deverman is a former member of the Logan County Board.

Two candidates are running for two six-year terms for commissioners of the Atlanta Memorial Park District. They are Douglas J. Thompson and William D. Seymour. Only two candidates, Karen E. Horn and John A. "Andy" Glass, are up for three six-year terms as trustee for the Atlanta Public Library District. James R. Applegate is running for one unexpired term of four years for the library district.

Mount Pulaski voters will decide contests for mayor and for alderman in two of the three wards. In the three-way mayoral race, William C. Glaze, Robert W. Letterle and Delmar L. Steward will vie for the position. Glaze is currently 1st Ward alderman, while Steward has previously served as mayor. Incumbent Marla K. Durst is running unopposed for clerk and Dee A. Anderson is running unopposed for treasurer.

In Ward 1 John W. Poffenbarger is unopposed for a four-year term, and John N. Bates Jr. is unopposed for an unexpired term of two years. In Ward 2, incumbent James R. Jackson and James P. Fuhrer are both seeking the open four-year seat. In Ward 3, three candidates are seeking the one open four-year term: incumbent Rhonda Ann Mattern, Robert L. Bates and Thomas A. Gupton Jr.

Mount Pulaski voters must also decide which of four candidates win the three four-year terms for Mount Pulaski Township Park District commissioner. On the ballot are Stuart R. Erlenbush, Terri Ann Meister, Kenneth J. Durst and Timothy W. Milner.

The Mount Pulaski Library District has only three candidates running for three trustee seats: Betty Phillips, Cheryl L. McCue and John Drake.

The Mount Pulaski Rural Fire District also has a race, with six candidates running for three six-year terms as trustees. Candidates are Gregory L. Holmes, Karol Gibbs, Roger L. Hayden, Jason L. Veech, Frederick A. Lipp Jr. and Leslie "Foxie" Hild.

Mount Pulaski candidates did not list party affiliations.

In the San Jose Park District election for park board director, two candidates are running unopposed for two six-year terms, Vernon Rademaker and Joyce A. Aggertt.

In Latham, Anti-License candidate and incumbent Gary A. Letterly will face independent Jim Altig in the mayoral contest. Incumbent clerk Pam Coogan has no competition. Four independents are running for three four-year terms as trustee: incumbent Beverly K. Altig and newcomers Steve Coogan, Staci A. Cheseldine and David Woodside.

New Holland voters will have choices to make in the races for village trustee but not in the races for village president or clerk. Jeffrey P. Mammen, a former trustee, is the only candidate for village president, and incumbent Jennie L. Dean is running again for village clerk. Four candidates are running for three four-year terms for trustee: Timothy F. Merriman, Suzanne E. Aper, Judith Funderburg and Jennifer Tobias. Two candidates are vying for an unexpired trustee term of two years: Frank Reliford and Guy F. Podbelsek. All are independents.

No contests are on the ballot for Elkhart voters. Dayle Eldredge, a former trustee who was appointed mayor last August to fill the unexpired term of Terry Moore, is running for a full four-year term. Village Clerk Gwen Rosenfeld, incumbent, is running for another four-year term. Running for four-year terms as trustee are incumbents Dan Durchholz and Timothy Gleason, along with Joseph Olson. Running for a two-year term to fill Eldredge’s unexpired term is Charles Matthews. All are members of the Citizen’s Party.

Elkhart also has just four candidates running for the four four-year terms as trustee of the Elkhart Public Library. They are Angela Olson, Angela McIntyre, Kelly Elias and Cheri L. Gieseke.

Broadwell voters also face no contests for municipal offices. Warren Bradley, a former alderman, is running for village president, and Deanna Bradley is running for village clerk. Running for the three four-year trustee terms are Paul Muchow, Darrell "Lee" Benner Jr. and William H. "Bill" Kennett. All are Peoples Party members.

Emden voters also have no contests to decide. Ivan Rademaker will run again for mayor and Frank D. Pieper will run again for village clerk. Running for three trustee seats are incumbent Joseph Hackett and newcomers Crystal Flatley and Kay Melton. All are Peoples Party candidates. Brad Lessen is running for one six-year term as Emden Park District commissioner.

In Hartsburg, no seats are contested. Incumbents Thomas B. Anderson will run again for mayor and Doris Last for village clerk. Incumbents Philip R. Langley and Thomas P. Mikelson will run again for trustee, along with Dean Leesman.

In Middletown, three candidates are running for three four-year terms as trustee: incumbents John R. Renfro and Harold S. Stout, along with newcomer Dale K. Nelson. Damon White is running for an unexpired term of two years as trustee. Middletown’s village president and clerk are not up for election this year.

The last page of the ballot for all Logan County voters is the question of dividing the county into districts for the purpose of electing county board members. At the present time board members are elected at large. Polls will be open in all precincts from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

"What I want is an ordinance that will be user-friendly and accepted by everyone. I want to see this passed," said Glenn Shelton, chairman of the ordinance committee. The committee met before the council’s work session on Tuesday to iron out the remaining problems and send the ordinance to the full council.

If approved, the ordinance will exempt bed and breakfasts from having to meet off-street parking requirements of one parking space for every sleeping room. One of the homes being considered for a bed and breakfast is on a corner lot and would not be able to provide the required parking spaces, Shelton said.

An appeals process was also added to the ordinance, allowing potential bed-and-breakfast owners to go before the council if the building code enforcement office turns down their applications.

The committee also agreed to amend the city code to make a bed-and-breakfast establishment a permitted use in an R-2 (residential) district.

City Attorney Jonathan Wright told the committee that according to state statutes only two people may sleep in one room, no matter how many beds the room has. This would mean a couple with a child could not allow the child to share their room. However, he added, most bed and breakfasts are intended for couples, not for families.

At its work session, the council heard a request from Paul Smith, owner of T-N-T Truck Repair Service, 1760 W. Fifth St., to be included in the city’s enterprise zone. Smith repairs tractors, trucks and semi-trailers and is planning to install a state truck inspection lane. The inspection lane will require about $240,000 worth of computerized equipment which will be used to weigh vehicles, check the braking distances and check the wheel alignments for up to eight axles.

Smith’s business is adjacent to and across the street from an enterprise zone, according to Robert Menzes, Logan County regional planning commissioner, and Smith wants the zone extended to include his repair shop. Inclusion in an enterprise zone provides tax relief for a business.

Alderman William Melton said he was glad to see this type of business coming to Lincoln, noting that state inspections have never been available in Logan County. Smith currently provides federal inspections, but commercial vehicles must go out of Logan County for state inspections.

Menzes said that Smith has letters of support from farmers and businesses in the community and from Lincoln Street Superintendent Donnie Osborne. Smith has three employees now and plans to add two or three more when he opens the state inspection line.

Smith must go before both the Logan County Plan Commission and the Lincoln Plan Commission and must have his request approved by both the County Board and the City Council.

Chief Ken Ebelherr of the Lincoln Fire Department reported that the bids have been opened on the department’s new rescue-pumper and that Pierce of Appleton, Wis., has made the best offer.

"They gave us the firetruck we asked for," he said, and the firm can have the truck built 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 months after the paperwork is finished.

Pierce quoted a price of $255,095 but will allow up to $5,700 in deductions if the department pays for the truck as it is being built. This will be possible, Ebelherr said, because the department already has a fund of $238,000 for equipment purchases, and he expects the council to add another $70,000 to the fund at the beginning of the fiscal year in May.

"We have the money now because we began putting it away several years ago," Ebelherr said. "We have a yearly set-aside fund of $70,000 which we use for the specific purpose of purchasing apparatus."

Along with the pre-pay discount, the Pierce company will give the fire department a guaranteed trade-in value for two vehicles, a pumper and a rescue vehicle, which the new truck will replace. He said the company will assist the fire department with trying to sell the old trucks, and if they cannot be sold will accept them on a trade-in.

"When we factor in the trade-in and the deductions, Pierce offered us the best total package," Ebelherr told the council. The council will vote on the purchase at its regular meeting April 2.

It would provide home lots for under $10,000 and homes for $80,000 to $100,000, give work to local builders, add $1.5 million worth of new real estate within the city, benefit the local economy and school districts, and provide for expansion within the city limits in the future, White said.

In return, White would like the city to upgrade Sherman Street, which the 16 new homes would face, widening the street and adding curbs and gutters from the 900 to the 1200 block, sometime within the next three to four years. Cost of the street upgrade would be about $230,000, according to Street Superintendent Donnie Osborne.

White made his proposal Monday night to members of the streets and alleys and sewers and drainage committees of the council, asking for some kind of commitment before putting in the rest of the infrastructure. A sewer line runs along Sherman Street, but White will have to put in a water line and provide gas, electrical and telephone service.

Although the streets and sewer committees cannot formally guarantee a commitment to White at this time, the consensus of the eight council members present appeared to be favorable.

Alderman Gerald Dehner asked if upgrading Sherman Street was on the list of priorities the city has for its street improvement program. Alderman George Mitchell, chairman of the streets and alleys committee, said putting the upgrade on the schedule three or four years down the road would not be a problem. Osborne agreed that "work is warranted on Sherman Street. We were looking to make some improvements on it anyway."

White noted that he is not asking the city to upgrade Sherman Street until most of the 16 lots have been sold.

City Attorney Jonathan Wright pointed out that before any formal steps can be taken, the plan commission must approve the plat. Other requirements include a public hearing and a vote by the full council.

However, as an initial step, aldermen directed Wright to "put language together" to deal with the financial aspects of the agreement so they could study the plan, particularly the money issues.

White’s proposal for 16 lots is phase one of a possible subdivision between Burlington and Sherman streets on Lincoln’s east side, in the same location as the East Park subdivision proposed in 1997 by Steve Bock. That subdivision was finally approved by the council but was never developed. The original plan called for 57 homes, but White emphasized that at this time he is planning to develop only the first 16 lots. He also noted that, unlike the previous developer, he is not planning for any multi-family housing.

White submitted a packet to the council, outlining his plan and including the plat of the former East Park subdivision. The packet also included letters of recommendation from Fred Plesé, superintendent of Lincoln Community High School; Cindy Olmstead, director of Lincolnland Technical Education Center; Robert Kidd, superintendent of Elementary School District 27; Mark Smith, director of economic development; Norman Newhouse of Mitchell-Newhouse Lumber Co.; and Rod Greathouse of Alexander Lumber Co.

White said he intended to use all local builders and all local materials so the money will stay in the community. Several local builders have asked him if lots would become available, he added.

He also said he would donate one lot to the Lincoln Community High School vocational program so students in the building trades program could build a home on it for next year’s project. Plese, who attended the meeting, said the school district would be interested in purchasing at least two more lots for future building projects. He said building lots, especially lots close to the school, are becoming hard to find.

Another lot will be dedicated for a roadway in case the rest of the subdivision is developed in future, White said. He also said that he has been approached by Lincoln Christian College about running a water line through his property. If the college decides to locate the line on his property, he will allow them to do so free of charge.

White said he wants to make his subdivision plan "create positive growth and benefit all who participate, but everybody needs to be on the same team."

"I think it’s an excellent plan. I don’t know of anybody on the council who is outright against this," Mitchell said.

White, a farmer and a longtime member of the Logan County Board and chairman of the board’s finance committee, lives in New Holland. He said he and his wife, Paula, have owned the Lincoln property for about a year.

"Several months ago, I spoke out against a statement made by Alderman Montcalm," Shelton told the council Monday night. "I thought it was true, and I owe him an apology. He said the population of Lincoln was going down, and I said that was not so. I was wrong. He was right."

Montcalm, however, didn’t want an apology. Instead, he said he wished he had been wrong and Shelton had been right.

According to the latest census figures, the population of the city dropped from 15,419 to 15,369. While this is not a large drop, it will lower revenue the city receives based on population.

Revenues received on a per capita basis include motor fuel tax funds, income tax receipts from the state, the state use tax collected on purchases of personal property from out-of-state retailers, and the local share of the photo processing sales tax, according to City Clerk Juanita Josserand.

Josserand estimated that the city will lose a little less than $2,000 in motor fuel tax funds, which are used for road repairs, and more than $3,000 from state income tax receipts.

"It won’t make a major impact on us, but that money could pay a couple of bills," she said. "Every time people move out of town, it does affect our revenue."

For example, if state income tax receipts are refunded at $78.50 per person, as they are in 2001, with a population of 15,418 the city would have received $1,210,313. The same refund with a population of 15,369 will bring $1,206,466.50, or $3,846.50 less in revenue. The same principle applies to all other receipts based on population, Josserand pointed out.

"It’s everybody’s business how many people live in Lincoln," she said.

Although population is down in Lincoln, census figures for Logan County show an increase of 385 people, from 30,798 to 31,183 in the year 2000. The county also receives some revenue based on population of the unincorporated areas, including the state use tax and state income tax receipts, according to Treasurer Mary Ellen Bruns.

The newest threat to the safety of average, everyday Americans is terrorism, more specifically bio-terrorism, according to state and federal preparedness agencies, and local groups like Logan County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency (ESDA) are working on plans to cope with it.

The threat of terrorism was one of the topics discussed at the March 21 meeting of the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), an organization of which ESDA is a member. LEPC is a group that will serve as liaisons to spearhead a community response to any incident involving hazardous materials, including an incident of bio-terrorism. Every county nationwide is required to have an LEPC.

Dan Fulscher, ESDA chairman, pointed out that terrorists are not always from other nations, but can be groups from within the United States "that have established goals to do something destructive to prove a political point." Examples are the Americans responsible for the April 19, 1995, bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City or the so-called "eco-terrorists" who destroy expensive new homes and building equipment to protest destruction of the environment.

"Before Oklahoma City these acts would have been looked [at] as criminal acts, but now they are seen as more of a political statement," Fulscher said.

After the Oklahoma City bombing, the federal government realized it was essential to develop a plan and train local emergency response groups to respond to weapons of mass destruction, Fulscher explained.

"They went into big cities first, 27 metropolitan areas. They trained big-city fire departments. Now it’s trickling down to smaller areas. The closest bio-terrorist response unit we have now is the Chicago or St. Louis Fire Department. However, the state of Illinois, with the Department of Public Health, is working to establish three response units in the state, but the plan is still in its infancy."

State agencies that oversee ESDA and LEPC want these local agencies to add a response to bio-terrorism to their planning, according to Terry Storer, assistant ESDA director, and that is the new project for the Lincoln ESDA this year. Bio-terrorism is the use of either chemical or biological agents to create physical and economic harm in a community.

At a recent eight-hour training session on hazardous materials presented for firefighters, health department representatives and ESDA volunteers, one hour of the class was devoted to a response to bio-terrorism, Storer said. A refresher class given by ESDA to the Lincoln Rural Fire Department also included a unit on bio-terrorism. Other projects for teaching the community to respond to this threat are in the planning stages.

"A lot of the response to a chemical spill is the same as the response to bio-terrorism," Storer pointed out, "but with a chemical spill, you know what substance you have to clean up and who spilled it. With an act of bio-terrorism, you have to find out what you are dealing with first. Also, the equipment to deal with bio-terrorism is expensive. A protective suit can cost as much as $5,000 to $6,000."

Storer also said that a great deal needs to be learned about protecting children. "Bio-terrorism planning now is not geared to pediatrics. The anthrax vaccine has never been tested on children, and some of the antibiotics used are contraindicated for children. A lot of research needs to be done."

The Logan County LEPC also elected delegates and officers at its March 21 meeting. The delegate from a local environmental group is Jerry Johnson, with Warren Wendland as the pre-designated alternate. Law enforcement delegate is Police Chief Richard Ludolph, with Harley Mullins as alternate. Local government ESDA delegate is Dan Fulscher, with Terry Storer as alternate; hospital representative is Barb Kline, with Sally Gosda as alternate. Transportation delegate is Kathy Dale, with Brian Hinds alternate, and fire-fighting delegate is Mike Patridge, with Fire Chief Ken Ebelherr alternate. Broadcast/print/electronic media delegate is Jan Youngquist, with Joan Crabb as alternate, and First Aid/EMS delegate is Tawney Forehand, with Tom Martin alternate. Community groups delegate is Don Begolka, with Mary Elston alternate; health delegate is Kathy Waldo, with Lloyd Evans alternate; and industry representative delegate is Celeste Rogers, with Sheila Nelson alternate. Pending his agreement, Lincoln Alderman William Melton will be the delegate for state and local officials, with Mayor Bill Martin of Atlanta alternate.

LEPC committee appointments are Dan Fulscher, community awareness; Celeste Rogers, community resources; Kathy Waldo, health services; Tawney Forehand and Barb Kline, response and preparedness; Mike Patridge, training; and Dan Fulscher and all committee chairmen, hazard analysis.

Officers for the coming year are Dan Fulscher, chairman, serving his second year of a two-year term; Barb Kline, vice chairman; and Terry Storer, secretary.