Flood watch issued for tonight and Friday

(Posted Thursday afternoon)

[AUG. 22, 2002]  A flood watch tonight and Friday includes the following counties: Stark, Knox, Marshall, Peoria, Woodford, McLean, Tazewell, Fulton, Vermilion, Mason, Champaign, Logan, Piatt, DeWitt, Schuyler, Menard, Cass, Macon, Sangamon, Edgar, Douglas, Morgan, Christian, Moultrie, Scott, Coles and Shelby.

A slow-moving cold front will drift south into central Illinois tonight into Friday. A moist and unstable atmosphere will interact with this front to produce rounds of thunderstorms and heavy rainfall across the watch area through Friday. Some stronger storms will likely produce rainfall rates in excess of an inch or two an hour.

A flood watch means that conditions are favorable for heavy rain that may lead to flooding of urban and low-lying areas as well as along rivers and streams. Flash flooding is also a threat with some of the heaviest rainfall rates. If you are in the watch area, remain informed and be ready to take action if flooding is observed or a warning is issued.

Judge weighing decision on injunction; hope fades for LDC

[AUG. 22, 2002]  Supporters of the embattled Lincoln Developmental Center got a major setback Thursday morning when Logan County Circuit Court Judge Donald Behle said he could not issue a temporary restraining order until sometime Friday afternoon.

After hearing well over an hour of arguments from attorneys for the state agency that wants to close the Lincoln facility forever, Judge Behle said he would have to study the issues further and would not announce his decision immediately.

Behle also dashed the hopes of supporters when he said the plaintiffs "have a heavy burden." He said he could not submit his beliefs for the action the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board took on Aug. 15, when it issued a permit to allow the Department of Human Services to close LDC.

Since that time, DHS has moved well over half of the 153 residents that remained at LDC to other facilities. As of early Thursday morning, only 59 residents remained, according to Dan Senters, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 425.

If Judge Behle does decide to issue the temporary restraining order, Senters said, the facility may well be empty. He quoted a memo issued by Peggy Davidsmeyer, temporary director of LDC, which suggested DHS transfer some residents scheduled to leave Friday on Thursday instead because the court might block further moves.

"There may be only 25 residents left there now," Senters said as he left the courtroom. If no more residents remain, the temporary restraining order would be useless and the facility would be in essence closed.

AFSCME and other plaintiffs, including Norlan and Eleanor Newmister, parents of an LDC resident, sought the injunction pending an appeal of the Health Facilities Planning Board decision.

The plaintiffs contend that the planning board failed to follow its own rules in permitting DHS to shutter Lincoln when they cited a lack of funds as the primary reason to approve the closure.

"Nowhere in the Health Facilities Planning Act does it state that the board should consider how to fund a facility," said Roberta Lynch, deputy director of AFSCME Council 31.

AFSCME also said closing LDC would create a lack of needed services in the area. "The planning board’s rules are very clear. Closing facilities must ensure that residents have alternative services in the area. Despite the department’s own admission that it is sending LDC residents as far away as Chicago, the board approved the closure," Lynch said.

Plaintiffs also objected that Gov. George Ryan’s last-minute appointment of three new members to the planning board, replacing members whose terms had expired but who were still serving, was illegal.

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Steven Puiszis, attorney for the state, argued that the planning board appointments were legal and pointed out that the board voted unanimously to allow DHS to close Lincoln. Even if the three new members’ votes were not counted, the board would have had the majority it needs to issue the permit, he said.

He said that "uncontradicted and undenied evidence" of the fact that the state has not appropriated money to fund LDC beyond Aug. 31, the date designated for its closure, had been submitted to the board.

"The money will run out Aug. 31, and the state can’t lawfully pay bills for salaries, food and utilities," he said.

Puiszis also said the Newmisters did not have a valid complaint because DHS is planning to move their son to an intermediate care facility in Morton, which is actually closer to their Peoria home than LDC is. The Newmisters have repeatedly stated that they were happy with their son’s care in Lincoln and did not want to see him moved into a privately owned care facility.

Puiszis also argued that AFSCME has no legal standing to ask for the appeal because they are "not an aggrieved party."

"The purpose of the Health Facilities Planning Act is not job security or job protection," he said.

Services do exist for LDC residents in the area, Puiszis argued, because they can be sent to the Jacksonville Developmental Center 60 miles away.

LDC has had "the highest number of cases of abuse and neglect of any facility in the system," Puiszis argued, and he cited three recent deaths of residents. "There is ample evidence on the record to support closure."

He also said the injunction should not be issued because there is little likelihood the appeal will succeed, and the restraining order would be justified only if there seemed a chance the planning board’s decision could be reversed.

Citing administrative review law, Puiszis also questioned Judge Behle’s power to issue a ruling, saying the plaintiffs were asking him to "go beyond your power and authority."

"The Department of Human Services is acting in compliance with the law," Puiszis said. Stopping layoffs and stopping transfers is beyond a trial court judge’s power and would be interfering with state and even federal functions, he said.

Attorney Steve Yokich was not present because of a sudden death in the family, and Robert Seitzer argued the case for the plaintiffs.

[Joan Crabb]

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