Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

330th day of the year

Quotes

"Big sisters are the crab grass in the lawn of life." — Charles M. Schulz, in Peanuts cartoon strip

"Variety’s the very spice of life,
That gives it all its flavour." — William Cowper

Birthdays

1607 — John Harvard, England, clergyman and scholar, major benefactor to Harvard University (library and half his estate)

1731 — William Cowper, England, pre-Romantic poet ("His Task")

1876 Willis Haviland Carrier developed air-conditioning equipment

1922 — Charles M. Schulz, cartoonist (Peanuts)

1938 — Rich Little, Ottawa, Canada, impressionist

1938 — Tina Turner [Anna Mae Bullock], Brownsville, Texas, singer ("Proud Mary")

Events

1716 — First lion exhibited in America (Boston).

1778 — Capt. Cook discovers Maui (Sandwich Islands).

1789 — First national thanksgiving.

1865 — Alice in Wonderland published.

1883 — Sojourner Truth abolitionist, women’s rights advocate, dies.

1896 — A.A. Stagg of University of Chicago creates the football huddle.

1939 — James Naismith, basketball inventor, dies.

1942 — The motion picture "Casablanca" has its world premiere at the Hollywood Theater in New York City.

1943 — The HMS Rohna becomes the first ship to be sunk by a guided missile. The German missile attack leads to the death of 1,015 U.S. troops.

1950 — China enters Korean conflict, sends troops across Yalu River.

1956 — Big-band leader and trombone soloist Tommy Dorsey dies.

1962 — First recording session of group under the name "Beatles."

1970 — B.O. Davis Sr., first black general, dies at 93 in Chicago.

1973 — Albert DiSalvo, Boston strangler, stabbed.

[NOV. 24, 2001]  The Illinois Supreme Court announced Tuesday the creation of a special committee to study and recommend ways for lawyers to be more respectful to each other and their clients.

Fourteen attorneys appointed from around the state will sit on the committee, known as the Special Supreme Court Committee on Civility.

Judge Robert R. Thomas will serve as Supreme Court liaison to the committee, and David F. Rolewick, an attorney from Wheaton, will serve as its chairperson. The committee is charged with recommending to the court "ways to promote respectful conduct, as the norm, within the legal profession."

"This is a very worthwhile endeavor," Thomas said. "The Supreme Court’s goal in establishing this committee is to discover appropriate ways to promote civility among Illinois attorneys."

Anecdotal and other evidence suggests that lawyers increasingly are becoming more rude to each other and their adversaries’ clients, putting aside the politeness and civility that once was considered a hallmark of the profession.

"Lawyers sometimes go beyond what they should in terms of aggressiveness in order to survive in what has become a very competitive profession," said Rolewick. "Now, a lot of attorneys go out and practice law on their own, and there’s no system or structure for internship or mentoring young attorneys to help them understand the professional obligations of the practice."

Rolewick also suggested that part of the problem may be lawyers responding to what they believe the public expects.

"Something that may be addressed by this committee is the issue of public perception of the law," said Rolewick. "The general public wants — because they’ve been watching TV too much — the meanest junkyard dog that they can get, and they think they’re going to win if they hire the meanest, toughest lawyer they can get.

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"Attorneys respond to what their clients want and expect. If a client wants a mean lawyer, he’ll get a mean lawyer."

The idea for establishing the special committee grew out of a symposium organized by Rolewick and other friends of the late Roger K. O’Reilly, a Wheaton attorney who, according to those who knew him, epitomized civility.

Judge Thomas, who had offices in the same building as O’Reilly, was among those who spoke at the symposium last August at the Northern Illinois University College of Law in DeKalb.

Rolewick said that from comments at the symposium, the manifestation of incivility in the courtroom occurs most often in the abuse of discovery practice. Outside the courtroom, he said, attorneys may be verbally abusive, degrading and uncooperative with other attorneys.

"That delays the process and delays the system of justice," he said.

Each of the seven justices appointed two attorneys to the special committee. In addition to Rolewick, the members are George Black of Morris, Michael H. Cho of Chicago, Robert A. Clifford of Chicago, Laura Clower of Champaign, Charles Colburn of Jacksonville, Gordon B. Nash Jr. of Chicago, John Rekowski of Collinsville, Ronald Samuels of Chicago, Lawrence Templer of Chicago, Richard L. Tognarelli of Collinsville, Debra Walker of Chicago, Edward Walsh of Wheaton and Sonni C. Williams of Peoria.

[News release]

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

Saturday, Nov. 24

328th day of the year

"The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don’t like their rules, whose would you use?" — Dale Carnegie

"When I want to buy up any politician, I always find the anti-monopolists the most purchasable — they don’t come so high." — William Vanderbilt

Birthdays

1740 — John Bacon, English sculptor

1784 — Zachary Taylor, U.S. president; died 1850

1847 — Bram Stoker, Irish theater manager and author ("Dracula")

1864 — Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, France, painter ("At the Moulin Rouge")

1868 — Scott Joplin, composer, musician, guitarist, pianist, bugler; died 1917

1888 — Dale Carnegie, lecturer and author; died 1955

1901 — William Vanderbilt, politician; died 1981

1921 — John V. Lindsay, politician, mayor of New York City

1925 — William F. Buckley Jr., writer, commentator, editor

1938 — Oscar Robertson, Charlotte, Tenn., NBAer (Olympics, gold, ’60)

1946 — Ted Bundy, Burlington, Vt., serial murderer

1572 — John Knox, Scottish preacher, dies at about 67.

1863 — During the Civil War, the battle for Lookout Mountain begins in Tennessee. 

1871 — The National Rifle Association is incorporated in the United States.

1929 — Georges Clemenceau, French journalist and premier (1917-20), dies at 88.

1963 — Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby shoots and kills Lee Harvey Oswald on live national television.

1971 — Hijacker Dan Cooper, known as D.B. Cooper, parachutes from a Northwest Airlines 727 over Washington state with $200,000 in ransom.

1991 — Flamboyant British rock star Freddie Mercury dies in his sleep in England at age 45, just one day after he publicly announced he was suffering from AIDS. The death of the charismatic lead singer of the group Queen is the result of bronchopneumonia brought on by the AIDS virus. His sudden death stuns the rock world.

1993 — In England, two 11-year-old boys are sentenced to be detained indefinitely after they are found guilty of the murder of 2-year-old James Bulger.

Sunday, Nov. 25

329th day of the year

"I can’t afford to pay them any other way." — Andrew Carnegie’s reply to the question, "Why do you pay your employees so well?"

"Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don’t want them to become politicians in the process." — former U.S. President John F. Kennedy

1835 — Andrew Carnegie, steel industrialist and library builder

1846 — Carry Nation, scourge of barkeepers and drinkers

1893 — Robert Ripley, illustrator ("Believe it or Not")

1914 — Joe DiMaggio, Yankee Clipper (56-game hitting streak)

1935 — Gloria Steinem, Toledo, Ohio, feminist writer (Ms)

1938 — Charles Starkwether, serial murderer. With his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, he embarked in 1958 on a shocking, murderous rampage that lasted eight days and left 11 dead bodies in its wake — including Caril Ann’s family.

1960 — Amy Grant, gospel singer ("Glory of Love," "Baby Baby")

1960 — John F. Kennedy Jr., lawyer, son of JFK

1792 — Farmer’s Almanac first published.

1850 — Texas relinquishes one-third of its territory in exchange for $10 million from the United States to pay its public debts and settle border disputes. 

1867 — Alfred Nobel patents dynamite.

1884 — John B. Meyenberg of St. Louis patents evaporated milk.

1920 — First Thanksgiving parade (Philadelphia).

1920 — WTAW of College Station, Texas, broadcasts first football play-by-play.

1922 — Archaeologist Howard Carter enters King Tut’s tomb.

1944 — Kenesaw Landis, baseball commissioner, dies.

1949 — "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" appears on music charts.

1958 — Charles F. Kettering, inventor of auto self-starter, dies at 82.

1963 — JFK laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

1968 — Upton B. Sinclair, U.S. author ("Jungle"), dies at 90.

1970 — Japanese author Yukio Mishima commits ritual suicide after giving a speech attacking Japan’s post-war constitution.

1973 — Maximum speed limit cut to 55 mph as an energy conservation measure.

1983 — World’s greatest robbery: 25,000,000 English pounds of gold from Heathrow, England.

First bids accepted for
Central School construction

[NOV. 23, 2001]  Bids for the initial work on Elementary School District 27’s new Central School are in, and preliminary work is scheduled to begin sometime during the week of Dec. 2, according to construction manager Bill Ahal.

At a special meeting on Nov. 21, the board accepted a bid package totaling $707,822, just $9,128 more than the budget of $698,694, a difference which board president Bruce Carmitchel called “statistically insignificant.”

The six packages for which bids were accepted are grade beams and foundations, $185,300 compared to the budgeted $193,440; caissons and drilled piers, $107,195 compared to a budgeted $96,312; concrete flatwork at $264,234, significantly higher than the budgeted $175,747; site grading and excavation, $82,400, significantly lower than the budgeted $131,849; site utilities, only $39,393 compared to the budgeted $77,842; and site demolition, $39,300 compared to the budgeted $23,504.

Ahal described the group of bids as the “most advantageous combination” for the school district.

The bids were accepted on condition that S.M. Wilson, Ahal’s firm, complete its investigation of one of the four firms that will do the work, Peak Aec of the Kankakee area.  Because of the short time between the bid openings and awarding of the bids, the firm has not completed its final check of the firm, with which it has not done business before. This is merely a normal check of financial qualifications and references, Ahal said.

“There is nothing in the scope of their work that raises any flags,” he told the board.  “If we don’t find anything that’s a problem, we’ll proceed.”

The other three firms, Felmey Dickerson, Burdick and RD Lawrence, are all area firms that S.M. Wilson has experience with or references from.

The bidding process has just begun, and the board will be accepting more bids in the next three to four weeks, Ahal said.

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Weather permitting, the first phase of construction might be competed by the end of February. This phase includes removing small items such as playground equipment and fences from the site, preparing the site, and pouring the concrete slabs. Site preparation will be especially complicated because soil conditions are poor and because when the first Central School was demolished about 1915, it was used as fill on the site.

The new school is being built behind the present Central School, which faces Eighth Street, on the site of the original Central School, which faced Seventh Street. The new school will also face Seventh Street.

Because the site is crowded, construction trailers will have to be parked on the Ralph Gayle ball field across Union Street from the site. Center field will be pulled in 25 feet and the fence will be moved in, so trailers can be parked across from the Central School site.

Ahal also told the board that a project manager has been selected but a site superintendent has yet to be chosen. The two will work together to oversee the construction process, with the site superintendent to be at the site every working day.  The project manager will oversee paperwork and contracts.

The new Central School is the first step in the District 27 building program. After the new Central School is completed and students moved in, junior high school students will move into the present Central School. The junior high will then be demolished and a new school built on the site. The final stage will be the demolition of the present Central School. The $12 million building project, to be funded with the help of an $8 million state grant, was approved in a referendum passed in November of 2000.

[Joan Crabb]

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

327th day of the year

"The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts." — Charles Darwin

1804 — Franklin Pierce, U.S. president; died 1869

1859 — Billy the Kid [William Bonney or Henry McCarty], outlaw; died 1881

1887 — Boris Karloff [William Henry Pratt], actor; died 1969

1888 — Harpo [Arthur] Marx, comedian, musician, harpist, pianist; died 1964

1499 — Perkin Warbeck, Flemish imposter and pretender to the throne of King Henry VII of England, is executed in the Tower of London. He claimed to be Richard, Duke of York, son of Edward IV.

1718 — English pirate Edward Teach — known as "Blackbeard" — is captured off the Outer Banks of North Carolina near Ocracoke, taken to England and hanged.

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1859 — Charles Darwin’s "Origin of Species," a revolutionary work on evolution, is published.

1889 — The first jukebox makes its debut in San Francisco, at the Palais Royale Saloon.

1890 — Princess Wilhelmina becomes queen of the Netherlands at the age of 10 when her father William III dies.

1936 — The first edition of Life magazine is published.

1938 — Bob Hope and Shirley Ross record "Thanks for the Memory," for the film, "The Big Broadcast of 1938." It becomes Hope’s theme song.

1948 — Dr. Frank G. Back of New York City patents the zoom lens, which was first used by NBC television in April of 1947.

1984 — Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie passes his way into sports history, leading Boston College to beat Miami 47-45 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Fla. On the final play of the game Flutie throws a 48-yard pass that comes to be known as "The Pass."

1990 — British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announces her resignation.

1993 — Mexico’s Senate overwhelmingly approves the North American Free Trade Agreement.

[NOV. 21, 2001]  With no further discussion since its Oct. 25 budget meeting, the Logan County Board on Tuesday night officially passed a 2002 budget with $8.94 million total expenditures and a $314,000 deficit in the general fund. Levies designed to raise almost $2.6 million were also passed.

In the fiscal year 2002 budget, total revenues are $9.92 million and total expenditures are $8.94 million, yielding a projected surplus of $982,468. The budget year begins Dec. 1, 2001.

For the first time in seven years the board approved a budget with a deficit in the general fund. Projected general fund revenues are $3.76 million and expenditures are $4.07 million, yielding a deficit of $314,000. The general fund includes most of the board’s discretionary spending. Board member Jim Griffin, who has said he would not vote for a deficit, was the sole dissenter.

"A deficit budget is not unique to us," said Finance Committee Chairman Rod White, adding that many other public bodies have the same problem and saying the board will work to keep the financial situation under control in the coming year.

A total 2002 tax levy of $2,588,705 was approved, with roll call votes on each of 11 different levies conducted separately. The general fund levy is $623,500. Other sources of income besides the tax levy include federal and state payments, fines and fees, and interest.

Negating a straw vote taken at last Thursday’s work session, board member Dale Voyles made and then withdrew a motion "to endorse the concept of developing an industrial park in Logan County."

On Thursday Director of Economic Development Mark Smith had asked for the endorsement before proceeding with a feasibility study to be paid for by the Logan County Economic Development Foundation. At that time Smith talked only about the proposal to create an industrial park on 63 acres northeast of Lincoln as presented to the city and county several weeks ago.

[to top of second column in this article]

On Tuesday board members expressed confusion about whether Voyles’ motion meant support for an industrial park on only that one site or on any available site in the county. Voyles withdrew his motion, saying he would confer with Smith and present it again in December.

Another of Thursday’s votes was put on hold when it was announced that a hearing would be on Dec. 6 before deciding whether to increase fees for building permits in the county.

On other issues the board made official the straw votes taken Thursday:

· To approve rezoning 2.1 acres belonging to Carol Litwiller from agricultural to country homes use. No votes were cast by White, Roger Bock and Lloyd Hellman. The Zoning Board of Appeals voted earlier to deny the rezoning request.

· To pay the Illinois appellate prosecutor $11,000 a year to assist the state’s attorney’s office with appeals.

· To accept the $5,097 bid from The Carpet House for vinyl flooring for the treasurer’s office.

· To renew the county employees’ dental policy with Guardian Dental Insurance at an 11 percent increase. Guardian will be allowed to sell term life insurance to county employees, and if enough subscribe, the dental policy raise will be reduced to 9 percent. White and Hellman voted no.

· To pay J. L. Hubbard $250 to increase extra expense coverage from $25,000 to $250,000.

A vote taken several months ago to increase the size of the zoning appeals board from five to six members was revoked. State law requires that the zoning board have either five or seven members. The reason for choosing six was to make the board representative of the districts from which board members are to be elected.

[Lynn Shearer Spellman]

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

325th day of the year

"Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers." — Voltaire

"Drawing is the honesty of the art. There is no possibility of cheating. It is either good or bad." — Salvador Dali

1694 — Voltaire [Jean Francois Arouet] author, philosopher; died 1778

1867 — Vladimir N. Ipatiev, Russian chemist who owned the house where Tsar Nicholas and family was murdered by the Bolsheviks after the communist revolution

1916 — Sid Luckman, football Hall of Famer; died 1998

1920 — Stan "The Man" [Stanley Frank] Musial, baseball Hall of Famer

1945 — Goldie Hawn [Jean], Academy Award-winning actress

1966 — Troy Aikman, football player

1969 — Ken [George Kenneth] Griffey Jr., baseball player

1620 — The Mayflower reaches Provincetown, Mass. The ship discharges the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Mass., on Dec. 26, 1620.

1783 — The first successful flight is made in a hot-air balloon when Frenchmen Francois Pilatre de Rosier and Francois Laurent, Marquis d’Arlandes, fly for 25 minutes above Paris for a distance of some 5½ miles.

1789 — North Carolina becomes the 12th state to ratify the United States Constitution.

1871 — M.F. Gale of New York City patents the cigar lighter.

1877 — Thomas A. Edison invents his "talking machine" (phonograph). On Feb. 19, 1878, Edison receives a patent for it.

1922 — Rebecca L. Felton of Georgia is sworn in as the first woman to serve as a member of the U.S. Senate.

1929 — Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali has his first art exhibit.

1942 — The Alaska Highway across Canada formally opens.

1962 — U.S. President Kennedy terminates the quarantine measures against Cuba.

1963 — U.S. President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, arrive in San Antonio, Texas. They were beginning an ill-fated, two-day tour of Texas that would end in Dallas. 

1973 — U.S. President Richard M. Nixon’s attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, announces the presence of an 18½-minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to the Watergate case.

1980 — An estimated 83 million viewers tune in to find out "who shot J.R." on the CBS prime-time soap opera Dallas. Kristin was the character who fired the gun.

1995 — The Dow Jones industrial average closes above the 5,000 mark for the first time.

[to top of second column in this section]

326th day of the year

"I’m at the age where food has taken the place of sex in my life. In fact, I’ve just had a mirror put over my kitchen table." — Rodney Dangerfield

"Silence is the ultimate weapon of power." — Charles de Gaulle

1888 — Tarzan, of the Apes, according to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novel

1890 — Charles DeGaulle, president of France; died 1970

1898 — Wiley Post, pioneer aviator and parachutist; died 1935

1899 — Hoagy [Hoagland] Carmichael, songwriter, singer, pianist, bandleader, attorney; died 1981

1914 — Lew Hays, founder of Pony League baseball for youngsters; died 1998

1921 — Rodney Dangerfield [Jacob Cohen], comedian, actor

1940 — Terry Gilliam, Minneapolis, comedian, author, animator ("Monty Python")

1943 — Billie Jean King, California, tennis pro (Wimbledon 1968, ’72, ’73, ’75)

1247 — Robin Hood, dies (from "A Lytell Geste of Robyn Hood").

1718 — English pirate Edward Teach (aka "Blackbeard") is killed during a battle off the coast of Virginia. British soldiers corner him aboard his ship, and he is shot and stabbed more than 25 times.

1896 — George Washington Gale Ferris, inventor (Ferris wheel), dies.

1899 — The Marconi Wireless Company of America is incorporated in New Jersey.

1906 — The International Radio Telegraphic Convention in Berlin adopts the SOS distress signal that means "Save Our Souls." 

1910 — Arthur F. Knight patents a steel shaft to replace wood shafts in golf clubs.

1917 — The National Hockey League (NHL) is officially formed in Montreal, Canada.

1928 — In Paris, "Bolero" by Maurice Ravel is first performed publicly.

1935 — The first trans-Pacific airmail flight began in Alameda, Calif., when the flying boat known as the China Clipper leaves for Manila. The craft was carrying over 110,000 pieces of mail.

1942 — During World War II, the Battle of Stalingrad begins. 

1943 — U.S. President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek meet in Cairo to discuss the measures for defeating Japan.

1963 — U.S. President Kennedy is assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. Texas Gov. John B. Connally is also seriously wounded. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson is inaugurated as the 36th U.S. president. 

1972 — U.S. President Richard M. Nixon lifts a ban on American travel to Cuba. The ban had been put in place on Feb. 8, 1963.

1977 — Regular passenger service on the Concorde begins between New York and Europe.

1986 — Mike Tyson becomes the youngest to wear the world heavyweight-boxing crown. He was only 20 years and 4 months old. 

[NOV. 20, 2001]  Complaints about stray animals prompted Lincoln City Council members to request a report from Logan County Animal Control about its services.

"I’ve had another letter about the animal problem," Alderman George Mitchell told the council at its meeting Nov. 19. "Could we have a county animal control officer come tell us what it does and does not do?"

Mitchell said he and other council members have been getting letters and phone calls from Lincoln residents about the services of the county agency. He said he had a complaint from a woman who called the agency about a squirrel in her attic and was told it did not handle incidents of that type.

Mayor Beth Davis said at least once a week the city gets a phone call from a resident who cannot get in touch with anyone at the animal control service.

She said she has also been hearing on weekends and off hours about dogs running loose and feral cats.

"These calls should be going to Animal Control. We want them to handle these calls so they don’t get referred to the city. People say they call and all they get is a recording. Maybe we should get them cell phones. We are paying for their services, and they should provide better service," Davis said.

The city does not have an animal control service but contracts with the county to pick up stray animals for a fee of $27,951 per year.

Alderman Verl Prather said he would contact Logan County Board member Clifford Sullivan, who is chairman of the animal control committee, to see if he could talk to the council at its committee-of-the-whole meeting on Nov. 27.

Police Chief Rich Montcalm presented two awards to area businesses that have helped with the DARE anti-drug program’s fishing derby. Awards went to Kay and Walter Goodman of Hickory Lane Campgrounds in Atlanta and to Bert Rawlings at the Lincoln Cycle Center. The Goodmans host the fishing derby, and Rawlings helps provide the prizes, including the winner’s choice of a bicycle.

[to top of second column in this article]

City treasurer Les Plotner said that once again the city’s treasury is suffering from the current low interest rates.

"We are going to take a beating on interest, but there is not much we can do about it," he told the council.

He said he purchased a certificate of deposit for the Lincoln Firemen’s Pension Fund from State Bank of Lincoln for an interest rate of 2.92 percent, and also invested Firemen’s Pension Funds with the Illinois Public Treasurer’s Investment Pool at 2.968 percent. He said he did not even check treasury bills because they are at the lowest rate they have been in the past 42 years.

The council heard a letter from U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, promising to continue to work to get the Lincoln Developmental Center in compliance with federal regulations. They also heard a letter from Mick Turner, representing LDC employees, asking for help keeping the facility open by writing to state officials.

The council and other city officials were also invited to attend the Logan County Chapter of the Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities in Illinois meeting at 7 p.m. Dec. 7 at the Maverick Steak House. Speaker for the evening will be Tonia Bogener, an assistant attorney general in the Disability Rights Bureau of the attorney general’s office in Springfield. The bureau is responsible for enforcing the law that ensures physical access to public facilities by people with disabilities. The public is welcome to attend also.

[Joan Crabb]

[NOV. 20, 2001]   

We are writing this letter in that once again we need your help in keeping Lincoln Developmental Center open. The new management team has been working diligently to make the changes necessary to pass the Department of Public Health inspection. Needed improvements are being made.

Lincoln Developmental Center is a fine facility, staffed by 700 employees who genuinely care about the developmentally disabled individuals they care for. If the Center were to close, the loss of 700 jobs in Lincoln would be devastating to a community that has recently lost many other jobs.

Anything you can do to help us during this trying time for our employees and our individuals who live at and rely on LDC would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely on behalf of LDC employees,

Mick Turner

A sample letter to send to your representatives in government

Dear Governor Ryan,

I am writing in reference to the recent difficulties at Lincoln Developmental Center. As a member of the community I would like to express my great concern for keeping the facility operating in Lincoln...

I am not only concerned for the residents, but for the economic impact and potential loss of a historically valued institution.

I am in favor of remedying the patient care problems at the LDC facility, preserving the existing facility and jobs for Lincoln and Logan County.

Please make your decisions to make this a win-win situation for everyone concerned: the patients and the people of Logan County.

Sincerely,

Your Name

Address

Phone Number

[to top of second column in this article]

Addresses

Gov. George Ryan

State Capitol

Springfield, IL 62706

Sen. Claude Stone

618 N. Chicago St.

Lincoln, IL 62656

U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood

3050 Montvale Drive - Suite D

Springfield, IL 62704

Jonathan Wright

407 Keokuk St.

Lincoln, IL 62656

Gwenn Klingler

1128-E Stratton Building

Springfield, IL 62706

Raymond Poe

E-1 Stratton Building

Springfield, IL 62706

Larry Bomke

111 State House

Springfield, IL 62706

Please sign your name, address and city at the bottom of each letter and forward to all of the above addresses no later than Dec. 1, 2001.

[NOV. 20, 2001]   

Congressman Ray LaHood

18^th District, Illinois

November 9, 2001

The Honorable Elizabeth Davis

City of Lincoln

PO Box 509

Lincoln, IL 62656

Dear Beth:

Thank you for your recent letter regarding the Lincoln Developmental Center (LDC) and the difficulties that are currently being experienced there.

I fully realize how important LDC is to the many longtime residents, their families, and the more than 600 employees who operate the facility. I have been in regular communication with the new facility management, as well as the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS), since I first heard of the possibility of decertification by the Federal government.

My staff recently visited LDC, and also participated in the parents’ forum hosted by State Representative Jonathan Wright, State Senator Bud Stone, and State Senator Larry Bomke. Rest assured that I will continue to closely monitor the State’s progress, and encourage them to work vigorously to get the Lincoln Developmental Center back on track, and in full compliance with Federal regulation.

I appreciate the time you took to relay your thoughts on this important issue. If you have any questions, or if there is anything else that I can be doing in this matter, please do not hesitate to contact my constituent services specialist, Judy Hinds, at my Springfield office, or my district casework and projects director, Carol Merna, at my Peoria office.

Sincerely,

Ray LaHood

Member of Congress

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

324th day of the year

"Life’s been good to me so far." — Joe Walsh

"Now I can go back to being ruthless again." — Robert Kennedy, after winning a race for Senate.

1602 — Otto von Guericke, inventor (air pump)

1620 — Peregrine White, son of William and Susanna White, born aboard Mayflower

1866 — Kenesaw Mountain Landis, judge and first commissioner of baseball

1889 — Edwin Hubble, astronomer (discoverer of galaxies, red shift)

1908 — Sir Alistair Cooke, author

1917 — Robert C. Byrd, U.S. senator

1920 — Gene Tierney, actress; died 1991

1920 — Ricardo Montalban, actor

1925 — Robert Kennedy, U.S. senator; died 1968

1929 — Dick Clark, Mount Vernon, New York, TV host ("American Bandstand")

1947 — Joe Walsh musician, guitarist, singer

1956 — Bo Derek [Mary Cathleen Collins], actress

1956 — Mark [Marcus] Gastineau, football player

[to top of second column in this section]

1789 — The United States Constitution’s Bill of Rights is ratified.

1789 — New Jersey becomes the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.

1873 — Budapest is formed when the rival cities of Buda and Pest are united to form the capital of Hungary.

1888 — William Bundy invents the first timecard clock.

1914 — Photographs became a requirement on passports from the United States State Department.

1917 — Under the command of General Elles, 324 tanks strike at the German lines in the battle of Cambrai, France — the first major battle to involve tanks. By the end of the battle no gains have been made and the British have 43,000 casualties.

1945 — The war crimes trials of 24 German World War II leaders begin in Nuremberg.

1947 — "Meet the Press," which ran for more than 29 years on television, airs for the first time.

1962 — The Cuban missile crisis ends. The Soviet Union removes its missiles and bombers from Cuba, and the U.S. ends its blockade of the island. 

1967 — The census clock at the Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C., passes 200 million.

1998 — Afghanistan’s Taliban militia offers safe haven to Osama bin Laden, accused of planning two United States Embassy bombings in Africa.

It’s on the radio, TV, in all the media. You hear it in the office, on the street and maybe at home — threats of terrorism. America is on high alert. Here in central Illinois, away from any supposed practical target areas, perhaps we feel a little less threatened, but we are still concerned. So how concerned should we be, and how prepared are we for the types of situations that could occur?

Whether the threat is domestic or foreign, violent, biological or chemical, our public health and rescue agencies have been preparing to respond to the situations. Lincoln Daily News has been at meetings where all the agencies gather together as the Logan County Emergency Planning Committee to strategize for just such a time. Our reports have not even provided every detail that every agency has reported; i.e., a number of representatives from differing agencies such as the health and fire departments, CILCO and ESDA went to a bioterrorism and hazmat (hazardous materials) seminar this past August.

Here are some of the articles that LDN has posted pre- and post-Tuesday, Sept. 11. Hopefully you will see in them that WE ARE WELL PREPARED. At least as much as any area can be. Every agency has been planning, training, submitting for grants to buy equipment long before Sept. 11. We can be thankful for all of the dedicated, insightful leaders we have in this community.

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• LEPC hears plans for annual exercise

• U.S. under terrorist attack
  How is Logan County affected?

• The day after ‘Attack on America’
  Area leaders respond to national tragedy

• ESDA and LEPC conduct successful hazardous materials exercise at water treatment plant 

• Logan County ready for action if terrorist event occurs - Part 1

• Logan County ready for action if terrorist event occurs – Part 2

• Clinton nuclear power plant safety measures in place

• Logan County agencies meet to discuss protocol for suspicious mail

As promised, the United States led an attack on Afghanistan. The attack began Sunday, Oct. 7. American and British military forces made 30 hits on air defenses, military airfields and terrorist training camps, destroying aircraft and radar systems. The strike was made targeting only terrorists.

More than 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East have pledged their cooperation and support the U.S. initiative.

Online news links

Other countries

Afghanistan

http://www.afghandaily.com/ 

http://www.myafghan.com/  

http://www.afghan-web.com/aop/ 

China

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/

http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/

Germany

http://www.faz.com/

India

http://www.dailypioneer.com/ 

http://www.hindustantimes.com/ 

http://www.timesofindia.com/ 

Israel

http://www.jpost.com/ 

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/ 

England

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/ 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/ 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/

Pakistan

http://www.dawn.com/

http://frontierpost.com.pk/ 

Russia

http://english.pravda.ru/

http://www.sptimesrussia.com/ 

Saudi Arabia

http://www.arabnews.com/ 

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United States

Illinois

http://www.suntimes.com/index/ 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/ 

http://www.pantagraph.com/ 

http://www.qconline.com/ 

http://www.pjstar.com/

http://www.sj-r.com/ 

http://www.herald-review.com/

http://www.southernillinoisan.com/ 

New York

http://www.nypost.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/

Stars and Stripes
(serving the U.S. military community)

http://www.estripes.com/ 

Washington, D.C.

Announcements

[OCT. 12, 2001]  The city landfill on Broadwell Drive will be open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for leaf and brush disposal, beginning on Oct. 15, according to Donnie Osborne, street superintendent. Plans are to keep the new schedule in place until Dec. 15, he said. 

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