Still Waters,  Bird’s-Eye View,  the em space,  Where They Stand,
  By the Numbers,  How We Stack Up,  What’s Up With That?

Commentaries posted do not necessarily represent the opinion of LDN.  Any opinions expressed are those of the writers.

[NOV. 20, 2001]  I know I’m a wishful thinker. I always hope that things will get better. Although they rarely do, I seem to just continue to believe people will become involved in the processes that control their lives.

This past Saturday, nearly 200 employees, parents, guardians and supporters of keeping the Lincoln Developmental Center open gathered on the grounds of this landmark of more than a century in our community. Organizers were pleased by the turnout at the event. To be honest, I was not.

I am certain that on any given weekend some people are busy working. Others may be on vacation or at a family affair such as a wedding or perhaps a funeral. Still others may already have promised commitments to be another place when this rally occurred.

Keeping all these points in reference and not singling out any one individual, I was still dismayed to see only one city councilman and one county board member at the rally. The life of LDC is being threatened. Seven hundred jobs are on the line, and yet only one councilman and one county board member think showing their support is worth a few hours of their time.

I have heard all the issues regarding the lives of the residents and employees being adversely affected by the closure of the institution. But we have to be honest enough to admit that closing LDC also might ring a death knell for an already dormant economy in this community. Yet, at the rally I saw few business owners who depend on the income of this center being used in their establishments. I have to ask if $20 million in wages taken out of their sales will not direly hurt their business.

I have not heard a word about LDC from any of the gubernatorial candidates, have you? They will whistle-stop through Logan County in the spring and tell us they want our vote. They won’t get mine. If they can’t stand up for us now, I can’t imagine them standing up for us later. They have been so quiet that, in fact, I would respect them more if they honestly said we should close LDC. At least then I would know that they recognize the situation. I don’t need a governor who hides in the political closet whenever a tough local issue appears in the campaign.

[to top of second column in this commentary]

When John Turner was appointed to the bench, a half dozen strong candidates filed to become his replacement as our state representative. At the time Jonathan Wright was not my choice to replace Turner. I will go on record as admitting I was wrong in my choice. Wright has done nothing but impress me as a good, honest man with the needs of his constituents dear to his heart. Jonathan was there Saturday. He was one of the few to whom we have given the power to represent us who seems to take that concept seriously. The young man in his efforts to defend us and LDC is fighting a near impossible battle against those who look at the developmental center as just another way to trim state expenditures by writing LDC and Logan County out of the budget. Wright is fighting this uphill battle because of all of us.

A small county of 10,000 voters, we have shown that on any given election only a third of that small number will go to the polls. Logan County has no political might in Springfield anymore. Our district has been sliced, diced and spread into others, making it nearly impossible to have homegrown representatives or senators in the statehouse. This isn’t Jonathan Wright’s fault. It is ours. We showed on Saturday that we don’t even have it in us to gather to show support for an institution that pumps the life of economic stability into our community.

Other rallies being planned by the LDC proponents are coming up in Springfield. We as a community will have another chance to show we support and will defend what is ours. Another turnout like there was Saturday and we all might as well turn out the lights on an institution that has been a part of us since the beginning of our history as a community.

The effort might not matter, but I promise you, once the decision comes out of the governor’s mansion, any complaints will not only be too little, they will be too late.

[Mike Fak]

Reply to Fak (not for publication):

mikefak@msn.com

Response to Fak’s commentary:

ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com 

[NOV. 13, 2001]  As our nation and myself mourn and pray for the victims and their families from the overwhelming trauma on the infamous day of terror, Sept. 11, 2001, I want to firmly and boldly condemn our government’s role in war, death and violence toward any other people around the world. We need justice, not war! The best way to honor those innocent lives lost to the evil and senseless violence of Sept. 11 is to work for peace through justice. Violence only begets more violence!

I am writing today to urge everyone to carefully reflect on how we as a nation are responding to the horrific attacks of Sept. 11 in New York City and Washington, D.C. During this time of pain and anguish, I believe it is most important that we pledge ourselves to nonviolence, love of neighbors worldwide, love of enemy and love of all God’s living creations. We must respect all of human life, no matter the cost to us personally. In doing this, we are worshipping and honoring God, and all he/she stands for in our moral lives. This means we must tirelessly work to protect all innocent as well as guilty lives in far-off countries. We must vigilantly guard against the victimization of Arab-Americans and Muslims.

In addition, we must fervently ensure that the Bill of Rights does not become "collateral damage," another victim of the Sept. 11 attacks. In the name of security, we will fall prey to losing much more of our very freedoms that we hold dear to our hearts as Americans.

We must protect our civil liberties as we work to improve our security. I passionately reject the erosion of our civil liberties in the name of anti-terrorism. We can’t defend freedom by destroying it! The sole purpose of terrorism is to terrify. If we, too, surrender our freedoms, we have fallen into the attacker’s trap.

We as a people are naïve to think that war, death, and continued bloodshed and violence toward any human life will ever bring about true and lasting peace. War never brings peace; it only breeds more hatred and evil. The immoral madness of war must end, but it must begin to end today in your hearts and minds first. You hold the key to peace, not any government. Our attitudes and beliefs must change in order for us to include all of God’s living creations in our ring of love and friendship.

Another fear our country must face today may not be bioterrorism; it may well be our folly of widespread nationalism! Throughout recorded history, people and nations that believed they were the best and the greatest have shown the world of their egotistical, immoral and evil plunders, such as Germany and Adolph Hitler in the 20th century.

What happened on Sept. 11 was a crime against humanity, not an act of war as President Bush has blindly convinced our nation. Due to this unknowing, misleading and contrary to the truth, shockingly, nationalism has risen dramatically in our country.

"United We Stand" to kill human life — how very appalling! It may be nice or supportive to hug and wave your U.S. flags, but the ultimate truth reveals that nationalism separates and lowers the value and dignity of human life of people living in other countries, which is highly immoral. For all of us throughout the world are equally created by our Creator-Supreme Being. No person or country is better than any other. We must think globally, yet act locally. Defend your faith, become a peacemaker and a lover, not an evil destroyer of God’s living creations. It should be United We Stand for peace around the world. Instead of "God bless America," try believing and saying, "God bless the world!"

It is understood that this is a very complex and different reality we face and that it requires new ways of thinking and acting. This is why the prehistoric cycle of violence must be ended. With every fiber of my whole being, I do not believe that military force is the way to bring about an end to terrorism or bring about global peace and justice. In cooperation with the world community, the rule of law is urged to bring those responsible to justice for this crime against humanity. The U.S. should proceed on the basis of international law, following the U.N. charter and working through the normal channels of extradition law, to bring the perpetrators of the atrocities to justice.

Furthermore, we must end the deadly U.S. bombing of Afghanistan to allow aid workers to return and restore the delivery and distribution of essential aid to innocent Afghan civilians. Food drops and immoral bombs are not the answer. "Doctors Without Borders," the Nobel Peace Prize-winning relief group, condemned the food drop as U.S. military propaganda. Airdrops of food and medical aid are of little real value to the Afghan people, are potentially dangerous, and will likely cause real problems for truly independent nongovernmental aid organizations that are less likely to be perceived as impartial actors in the future.

Before the air strikes, U.N. agencies and independent relief organizations were still able to get some food convoys into Afghanistan. Now, all convoys have stopped, and the delivery of aid has become nearly impossible.

[to top of second column in this commentary]

In addition, although it has gone largely unreported by mainstream media, Afghanistan is in the grip of a three-year drought, which is the worst in decades, affecting 50 percent of the population. Even before the war, much of Afghanistan was on the verge of starvation, which increases this risk. By the end of the year, up to 7.5 million Afghan civilians will be entirely dependent on food aid to survive the winter. By impeding the delivery and distribution of aid, the U.S. war may cause massive civilian deaths, into the millions, similar to the immoral sanctions against Iraq that have caused millions to die due to our government’s adverse and ineffective foreign policies.

Plus, we should, as morally responsible children of Abraham, be prepared to highly encourage the Bush administration to support the U.N.-led peace process in Afghanistan. In essence, the U.S. should provide funding for the reconstruction of Afghanistan, a nation that has been destroyed and abandoned by the world community for decades. This neglect has created pockets of terrorist networks, for which we are to blame.

Ultimately, as a nation we will need to change or reassess many of our past and especially current foreign policies in the Middle East. Unfortunately, many U.S. foreign policies have created deep resentment and frustrated anger. In order to disarm this hatred today, our foreign policies need to reflect our values of the precious sanctity of all human life, true freedom based on fair-market economies, and justice.

What this all means, too, is the lifting of all economic sanctions against Iraq, which have been targeting Iraqi civil society and have put the blood of millions of innocent children and women casualties in Iraq on the hands and hearts of Americans since the Gulf War.

We, too, are guilty of terrorism on innocent human lives, such as the School of Americas, just as Osama Bin Laden around the world.

Always remember that there are many sides to any story. Good, bad, right or wrong, there are always several voices in the wilderness crying out for true peace and justice, if only we listen to our ears and hearts and discern the ultimate truth which prevails with God.

I personally want to go on record as wholeheartedly condemning the rash, immoral act of taking revenge for the deaths of Sept. 11 by military retaliation against Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and/or any other country and its innocent civilian population. I stand shoulder to shoulder with all the people of the world now, and especially the Muslim Arabs of the Middle East. I will continue to pray for an end to all violence against God’s living creations, especially mankind. In addition to the financial support of the victims in the aftermath of Sept. 11, I will do everything in my means, in the name of our God, to end war and restore love of enemy and neighbor. Please, join with me on this challenging and struggling journey to uphold the loving command of God.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said: "The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence only multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only LOVE can do that!"

So, in summation, starting with our children and neighbors, then our nation and world, we must be attempting to spread harmony and happiness to all humanity, and indeed all of the Great Creator’s creation, including, but not limited to plants, animals, earth, water, air and up to the universe. The Great Creator created the human being to be his/her guardian throughout the universe, and sent her/his many messengers and prophets disguised in many faiths as his/her mercy upon the universe, and as a true example of the fulfilled and satisfied life on earth.

I, Scott P. Diehl, just want to do God’s will, as I believe most of you only want the same. There is a powerful release in that kind of faith. We should live life to its fullest, doing God’s will to the best of our abilities whether we are 15, 38, 63 or 102 years old. Promise your God to live for others, work endlessly for true justice, not vengeance, and proclaim loudly that the way to peace is through nonviolence and love.

War (violence) and hatred are not the answer. Only love can heal the wounds!!!

God bless the world.

[Scott Diehl]

Mike Fak responds in this commentary to the Saturday, Nov. 3, commentary by Jan Schumacher in the Lincoln Courier.  The subject is the proposed industrial park.

This industrial park proposal is backed by the Logan County EDC, Chamber of Commerce and just about every other organization that seems to have any concern for growth and jobs in the county. 

The Courier commentary came out opposed to the industrial park.

In an uncharacteristic fashion, Lincoln Daily News is running this rebuttal to bring balance to this subtle debate.

Most economic indicators show that we are currently in a national recession.  The definition of recession is that our economy shrinks back and no longer performs at previous or expected levels.  People lose their jobs, there is less money available for spending, and people generally feel downcast about economic issues.

Isn’t this the best time to lead out and do something on a local level to make economics improve?  Recession will end when the national spirit improves and people once again believe that progress is possible.

-ed-

[NOV. 7, 2001]  I appreciate this opportunity to respond to Jan Schumacher’s article in Saturday’s Lincoln Courier.

Schumacher, as is her style, began her column with a quote from Joseph Epstein and his assertions on the ambiguity of courage. Although she doesn’t tie the quote into her article, I assume she is trying to tell us that moving forward with industrial park plans is not necessarily a courageous act. I could rebut Epstein’s thoughts with a few quotes from Presidents Roosevelt and Truman about the virtues of being progressive in adversity, but have always found column inches available for an article too precious to waste on quotes from dead people who never lived in Lincoln.

Schumacher states that the country is in a recession and uses statistics gleaned from Wall Street Journal articles as her source. The statistics are of course valid. They are the same stats presented by the Chicago Tribune, Washington Post and every other major city paper in the land. Since Schumacher stayed with information credited to articles in the Journal, I will do the same.

She has stated that most economic indicators have left little doubt that American retail and industrial growth is in the dumper right now and that we should place plans to build an industrial park on hold until the Wall Street Journal tells us things are better and it would be appropriate to proceed.

I recall the Journal telling us all through the 1990s that things were great, with record economic growth all over America. All over America, it would appear, except in Logan County. We as an economic community contracted during that decade, despite what the Wall Street Journal told us. I believe placing faith in ourselves, our community and our desire to grow are all conditions that can again make us an exception to what is going on in the rest of the country.

For years I have written articles and openly stated that this community needed to build an industrial park before the economy went south. Nothing ever happened. The effects of Sept. 11 and other factors have produced a significant downturn in our gross national product, but I believe it is not too late for Logan County to become a growth community. In fact I believe the time has never been better.

A recent survey conducted by MSNBC of the Fortune 500 companies showed 60 percent of them are rethinking their positions on where to locate offices and plant facilities. It seems that corporate America is starting to believe the fifth floor of a Peoria office building might be a more attractive alternative than the 80^th floor of the Sears tower. Now I don’t expect this community to garner the attention of one of these industrial giants, but there is an old adage that where the big dogs go, the smaller dogs follow.

[to top of second column in this commentary]

MSNBC also conducted a poll of residents of major cities throughout America, and for the first time in decades, individual preferences of where families intend to live in the future showed only Denver and Los Angeles as having population growth in the next decade. I have to wonder if perhaps, with the proper incentives, Logan County could not become a new home to at least some of this urban-to-rural exodus.

In the past month I have enjoyed debating the validity of an industrial park with those opposed. I have argued over the choice of the site of such a park. I have debated the issue of how to fund such an endeavor without increasing the burden to taxpayers. Until Saturday, I had found no need to fend for the proposal because someone states that the Wall Street Journal tells us it’s a bad idea to try and grow right now.

America’s business is contracting. I don’t need to read a specific newspaper to realize that. Logan County was immune to the growth of the ’90s, I believe that with effort and support we can also be immune to the recession currently stagnating the American economy.

Presently there are two types of corporations planning on building offices and factories somewhere in America this very day. One of those types is the business that is recession-proof at this time. The other is the business that has enough faith in themselves and their product to go forward when others would tell them to wait a while. Personally I would welcome the opportunity to vie for either of these corporation types to come to Logan County rather than somewhere else. An industrial park will give us the most important tool to have a chance to persuade these entities to make Lincoln their new home. A sign in a cornfield saying "zoned commercial" won’t get the job done. Telling them we are planning on having a site once the Wall Street Journal tells us it’s a good idea won’t work either.

[Mike Fak]

Reply to Fak (not for publication):

mikefak@msn.com

Response to Fak’s commentary:

ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com 

[NOV. 5, 2001]  I continue to find it remarkable that criticism of the Lincoln Developmental Center continues to pour in from organizations with no firsthand knowledge of our mental health center. Outside special interest groups, guising themselves as not-for-profit agencies dedicated to helping mentally infirmed individuals seem only to have enough available time to collect donations and write criticizing letters, without doing any specific nor knowledgeable research.

These groups, who profess to speak for clients or their families who have gone on record as not wanting to be represented by these individuals, continue to praise the alternative of community living centers without telling us that some such centers have a worse track record of abuse and neglect in a month than Lincoln Developmental Center has had in its complete history. Telling both sides of an issue, of course, does not serve the intent of special interest organizations.

The ARC, a group from Maryland dedicated to closing state-run mental institutions throughout the country, have been quick to send letters to the editors but are not nearly so quick to send representatives to our city to see for themselves what our community is all about.

Since the ARC is interested in telling only their side of the issue, I will tell you what they do not want you to hear.

In the 1990s, the Washington, D.C. district closed the Forest Haven Mental Health Institution. It was closed because the 1,100 residents of the facility were treated with abuse and forced to live their lives in disgusting conditions. The residents were moved into privately owned community centers throughout the area, and according to a series of eight articles by the Washington Post, these gifted souls went from terrible living conditions to intolerable ones.

The group homes, manned by untrained and poorly paid employees, gave little importance to helping the homes’ residents. Stories of neglect, filth and total lack of concern for the well being of the residents are documented in these stories. ARC doesn’t write to us about this problem in their own community. That would be counterproductive to their principal goal, which is to close state-run facilities. Isn’t it too bad their principle goal isn’t to find out and then support what is best for the mentally infirmed instead?

In one such article it was also noted that the private companies running these sorry slums charged taxpayers $20,000 a year more per resident to house the handicapped individuals than it would have cost to place them in swank suites in one of the area’s most prestigious hotels. There’s a good example of private over state-run, isn’t it. Ooops, but wait. Since this information doesn’t subsidize the primary goal of the ARC, we need to leave this out of the discussion. We do, that is, if you belong to ARC.

[to top of second column in this commentary]

In the event you would like to read the entire series of articles, e-mail me at mikefak@msn.com and I will be glad to forward the bookmarks for these tales of private sector greed at the expense of the handicapped. Perhaps after you read these articles you can tell me where I missed seeing the ARC stand up for the abused souls in these community homes. I couldn’t seem to find it.

The issue is simple. ARC is thinking LDC is as disgusting as Forrest Haven was in their own area. They have never taken the time to see that LDC is by no stretch of the imagination anywhere near the dump their own institution was. They do not know how beautiful the grounds of our facility are. They have never seen a supervisor walking a half dozen blessed souls around the campus reveling in the beauty of fall, as I have seen. They have never shared a cup of coffee or a soda with one of the institution’s graduates as have I. They have never talked to one of the area businessmen who have hired LDC grads and been told how hard they work, with such joy in their tasks. They never saw the three amigos, all LDC alums, walking around the county fair laughing about their buddy about to become married and thus officially being kicked out of the group. In reality this group knows nothing about us. Their own area of the country seems to have terrible problems with properly caring for mentally handicapped citizens.

I find it bizarre that they have the time to push their interests into an area of the country they know nothing about. To the ARC, I respectfully request you clean up the problems in your own back yard first. Then come visit us. Then know the truth.

[Mike Fak]

Reply to Fak (not for publication):

mikefak@msn.com

Response to Fak’s commentary:

ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com 

[OCT. 31, 2001]  One of these days Logan County will have to jump into the economic development waters. It needs to be sooner rather than later, because the pond that American business plays in is drying up in a hurry.

A decade ago, while the rest of the country was growing, we stayed the same size. While communities moved forward, we stopped to complain about the roses. While industrial parks, growth incentive packages and new infrastructure popped up everywhere in America, Logan County sat with "zoned commercial" signs in the middle of cornfields, waiting for someone to beg for a chance to come to a community not offering what all the others were.

The economy isn’t as good as it was just a year ago. Talk of recession is on the nightly news. Although immune to the growth of the 1990s, we are not, it seems, immune to the problems an economy gone soft can produce. There has been enough negative news about cutbacks and closures in Lincoln to make even a strong stomach churn with concern for the future.

There is a proposal before the city and county to become partners in a joint venture to create an industrial park on the northeast side of Lincoln. Critics say we don’t have the $3 million it would take to turn the 63 acres of farmland into an industrial belt. Perhaps we don’t have the money because our tax rolls keep decreasing while everyday expenses to run a city and a county do not. We actually do have the funds available, but they are kept by both the city and county in their rainy day funds, and neither body will acknowledge the drizzle of an economy gone stagnant that has been falling on this community for years.

I have heard skeptics say that we can’t afford to spend that kind of money on a hope of interest from outside corporations. These people are the same ones who continually complain about high property taxes.

And should find solace in the fact that without some type of industry, taxes will continue to escalate.

[to top of second column in this commentary]

An industrial park is just like any other business except this one would be owned by the county and the city. In other words, by us. As in any new business, costs are incurred to build or remodel, purchase inventory and equipment, pay for insurances and employee programs. Every new business has its own particular costs before opening its doors. Every new business understands it has to spend this money in order to make money. We as the owners of an industrial park have to think the same way.

The funding to build an industrial park is not a cost or an expense. It is an investment. The numbers presented so far bear out that, as investments go, this one has the promise of an excellent return.

An industrial park in Logan County is long overdue. I hope that the city, county and all of us understand that if we don’t look at this proposal as an opportunity to show faith in ourselves as an attractive enough community to lure new industry, then we all might as well be resigned to fewer and fewer of us paying more and more taxes. This park proposal is a chance to begin to grow. The alternative is to just do nothing again and sit on the town square waiting for the tumbleweeds to start to roll down the empty streets.

They are out there, just waiting for a few more economic ill winds to blow them into town.

[Mike Fak]

Reply to Fak (not for publication):

mikefak@msn.com

Response to Fak’s commentary:

ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com 

[OCT. 24, 2001]  I wrote the following paragraph as part of an article I submitted to the Lincoln Courier in the summer of 1999. The paragraph was the lead to a story I wrote in support of LDC and its employees after a sad and disparaging report had come out regarding the death of one of the residents at the Lincoln Developmental Center.

The buildings are huddled together, like a sprawling college campus on the end of town. We drive by them almost every day, but we don’t see them. We don’t see them because they are part of a place that most of us wish didn’t exist. We ignore them or choose not to ponder what they represent because the reality of what they are and who lives and works in those buildings is more truth than most of us can live with.

Two years later, nothing about LDC or the people who work there causes me to change a single word in that paragraph.

LDC is under a great deal of fire these days. It is under fire for many reasons that actually have nothing to do with the 700 employees who walk the halls of the institution.

LDC has been told that it has failed to correct administrative problems in a timely fashion. The state, or no one else for that matter, asks why a woman from the Department of Corrections was moved into the chief position of administration at a home for mentally handicapped individuals. She has been replaced, but no one has asked why this administrator was actually promoted to another office after having failed to handle the stated problems at LDC.

By the way, the employees at the center knew she couldn’t do the job and voted "no confidence" in her administration. But that wouldn’t be of any significance, would it.

We have heard that LDC is under scrutiny for not having enough staff to handle the patient load at the center, but no one has asked the state why their continued cutbacks in funding, which caused this understaffing, was not remedied in a timely fashion.

We hear press conferences by John Eckert, head of the Consortium of Illinois Disability Advocates, saying that the center should be closed down. No one asks the man if his consortium, which has a goal of shutting down developmental institutions in Illinois, has a truly objective view of the situation. No one has asked the man if he has ever visited LDC and seen for himself the claims he makes in front of a microphone. I can find no one who has ever seen him at the center.

Eckert has stated that the issue has nothing to do with jobs. An easy statement for someone to make who earns a living disparaging LDC and all the other developmental centers like it. I have to ask Mr. Eckert if, in the event he got his wish and all of Illinois no longer had these facilities, would he then be out of a job. Or would he perhaps find some other cause to ensure that he continues to earn a paycheck.

[to top of second column in this commentary]

Mr. Eckert claims that his organization represents the patients of LDC, but he has interviewed only those who agree with his position. He has nothing to say or do with the parents group, which Tuesday had their own press conference supporting the center and its employees.

Eckert, of course, has his own agenda that he claims is for the benefit of all the tenants of the center, but his actions and statements prove otherwise. His organization is intent on closing state care facilities, and with LDC on the ropes, he and his coalition are circling over the beleaguered center like verbal vultures waiting for the kill.

The coalition states jobs are not the issue, but jobs in any community always are an issue to be considered in an equation.

The employees of LDC have not discovered the great "cash cow." Working at that center is not some type of "died and gone to heaven" employment. These employees are making a living doing something that we and Mr. Eckert cannot do. That job is helping the mentally impaired have an existence in this world. The idea that all of them can have a coexistence with us is absurd. In the event Mr. Eckert walks away from a press conference long enough to visit LDC, he will find that a great many of the residents can never become our next-door neighbors. Many of these blessed souls need care 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

We could close LDC. All we need is for Mr. Eckert to pledge to bring these individuals into his home and neighborhood and to ensure, like the LDC employees do, that they are taken care of.

I find it disheartening that groups that profess their advocacy for disabled Americans have ulterior motives. No one should have to live in a home for developmentally disabled people. But the reality is, that is where some of us belong. We need to care for these individuals. We need to support the employees. Most of all we need to look in an honest and compassionate way at what God has dealt this world.

The Lincoln Developmental Center is an integral part of this community. More importantly, it is an integral part of our humanity. I don’t need to hold a press conference to explain that.

[Mike Fak]

Reply to Fak (not for publication):

mikefak@msn.com

Response to Fak’s commentary:

ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com 

Bird’s-Eye View

"Love is an exploding cigar which we willingly smoke." — Groucho Marx

[NOV. 1, 2001]  Walking along the city streets of Lincoln, there’s nothing greater than a man and a woman, hand in hand, alone, with only the company of warm smiles and fast-beating hearts to surround them. Nothing greater. Unless of course the above-mentioned man isn’t me… in which case: I hate them. And I hope "Captain Cupid" switches over to a pellet gun and starts chasing ’em up and down Woodlawn for at least eight hours.

Since the conception of love back in the early 1950s, many men had known no greater joy. Due to the fact that, that is when the remote control was invented. But this resulted in the sparking of a pivotal chain of events all of which lead back to the fact that men still forget to buy flowers on anniversaries. What happened first was in Webster’s Dictionary. People instantly removed the phrase "Extreme Male Bliss" out from under the word "Super Bowl" and over to a new word that was created by those friendly, non-bitter ladies at the National Organization of Women. That word was LOVE. Which, I should like to point out, stands for "Losing One’s Vital Enjoyment." Thus expiring the chain of events, along with those men’s ability to ever again watch televised sports with their friends.

This has not deterred me. I have found out through my time in Lincoln that the relationship process here goes as follows: Man meets Woman; Woman ignores Man; Man meets Emergency Backup Woman; Initial Woman smacks Man upside Man’s head; Man falls in love with Initial Woman. …It’s true. I actually know this couple. They are extremely content now, currently living more happily than ever in separate states.

So I decided that road wasn’t for me. Instead, I myself have taken on the role of Cupid, and here’s how it works. We’ll be dining out, my date and I, at one of Lincoln’s fanciest eateries. Then typically only a short while after I order our Happy Meals, she is suddenly overcome with an unexpected epiphany: that there has not been, nor will there ever be, any greater love in her life than that of her former boyfriend or any future prospect she may have been considering. Often prompting her to hail down a cab, right there in the Playland, leaving me behind in a cloud of love-dust, wondering if I spelled epiphany right.

But now I’m faced with two problems, coinciding. The first being that I have met someone in town that I, in the future, may consider being left by. The second is that I’ve been repeatedly identified by many highly paid therapists as being dense. A rare disorder, they tell me, that only affects me when I’m thinking. Although recently, I was more accurately diagnosed by a good friend of mine from Springfield, Greg Hoffman, who is both my life insurance agent and my banker (thus making him more than qualified to make fun of me publicly), as having two forms of "Colin-itis."

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The first form is "Normal Colin-itis." This variation causes me to (even though I am, by my own admission, in no way capable, or even willing, to maintain a relationship that involves any more depth than that of having random discussions on the vast, ethnical differences between the smooth and the crunchy peanut butter) think that every time I meet someone new, an enduring love is in the air. The second form is "Acute Colin-itis." This is when, 30 seconds after basking in the air of newfound enduring love, I happen upon somebody new, and for whatever reason, cannot for the life of me recall a single thing about the previous, potential-enduring-love person. …I have issues.

This is not something I’m proud of. In fact, at times, I can downright loathe it. Partly because as I grow older, I find myself enjoying less and less the prospect of potentially eating my Happy Meals alone.

Over the past few months I have seen an elderly couple walking Lincoln’s city streets, holding hands, redefining love. Perhaps you’ve seen them as well. Beautiful, aren’t they? Yes. Except I think they’ve been hired out by my mother, who has all but threatened me at gunpoint to get married and provide for her the World’s Record for number of grandchildren to spoil.

I admire that couple. I took a picture of them the other day while they were walking together at sunrise. It reminds me that this prospective "someone special" I’ve stumbled upon… well, just might be worth overcoming the fear I own. The fear of following these feelings I’ve slowly been allowing myself to experience. Is she the one? Is Lincoln where I’ll find her? Who knows? But one thing is certain: Captain Cupid is apparently packing.

[Colin Bird]

This is the em space, a staff writer’s section with observations about life experiences in Logan County and elsewhere. Enjoy your visit.

— Mary Krallmann

[Mary Krallmann]

Where They Stand

Where They Stand is a commentary section addressing specific issues in the community. Informed individuals present their position with facts, opinions or insights on the issue. The material is posted unedited, in its entirety, as received. If you have further comment on the issue, please send an e-mail message, complete with your name, address and telephone number to ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com.

Local teacher announces her candidacy for regional superintendent of schools

By Jean Anderson, candidate

[OCT. 31, 2001]  My name is Jean Anderson and I am announcing my intent to be a Republican candidate for the office of Regional Superintendent of Schools for Logan, Mason, and Menard counties.

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By the Numbers

Alexis Asher

Alexis Asher

Lincoln High School history

1859

Lincoln School District

5

School buildings in 1859

1

"Grammar school" in 1859

1

High school teacher, Mr. January, in 1859

1870-71

Central School opened

1898

High school building started

1900

High school dedicated, Jan. 5

$20,000

Cost of new high school

1920

Election authorized community high school District #404

1958

Dedication of new Lincoln Community High School, 1000 Primm Road, in auditorium, on Nov. 9

Alexis Asher

How We Stack Up

Racial makeup of selected Illinois counties

What’s Up With That?

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