Monday, June 24

HCP updates community
on task force programs

[JUNE 24, 2002]  The opening number on the program of the Healthy Communities Partnership’s "Report to the Community" on Thursday showed that the organization is accomplishing its goal of reaching young people in the Logan County community

Twelve third-graders from Carroll Catholic Elementary School, wearing their "Cops and Kids" T-shirts, gave the crowd of more than 70 a rousing chorus of their own original song, "Stop the Violence."

 


[Photos by Bob Frank]
[The highlight of the program: Kids from Carroll Catholic perform "Stop the Violence.]

The message of the song told about ways to solve problems without resorting to violence and also about saying no to drugs and alcohol. "Together we can do it," was part of every chorus.

The youngsters were so well received they had to repeat the performance, even though some of them said they were hungry and ready for lunch. In spite of their protests, though, they presented their encore with as much enthusiasm as they’d shown in the original performance.

Pointing to the group as they left the stage, Dayle Eldredge, director of HCP, said, "That’s our future."

 


["That's our future."]

The Healthy Community Partnership is an organization whose mission is to protect, maintain and improve the health and quality of life of all residents of Lincoln and Logan County. It currently has five task forces. At the semiannual Report to the Community meeting, each group gives an update on its activities.

Speaking for the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Task Force, Marcia Greenslate said 400 young people and adults attended the Family Fun Day activities in April, and another Fun Day is planned for August at the Lincoln Park District facilities. The post-prom activities sponsored by a grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation — an "all-nighter" at the recreation center — were another success.

She also said the task force is continuing its Victim Impact panels, a program mandated by the courts, in which those charged with automobile accidents caused by alcohol or drugs as well as victims of such accidents speak out in a public forum.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Dick Logan gave a donation of $2,287 to ATOD in memory of their son, Daniel Joseph Logan, killed in April of this year in an accident involving alcohol.

Darrell Sisk, Sojourn advocate, reported on the Domestic Abuse and Violence Task Force. Sisk said that although incidents of domestic battery and arrest for battery are going down, for some reason orders of protection granted by the court have gone up this year. Eldredge suggested that these numbers might have risen because more women who need protection against domestic violence are learning they can get help.

Four Lincoln patrolmen are getting training in ways to deal with domestic violence, and fifth-graders in area schools are learning about dating relationships, Sisk said.

Cells phones are being collected for victims of domestic violence so they can call for help whenever needed, and Lincoln police officers are transporting victims to a shelter in Springfield if that is necessary.

Jennifer Boeke, speaking for the Healthy Families Task Force, said the task force is working in three areas: reducing teen pregnancy, increasing parenting knowledge and increasing community awareness.

 

[to top of second column in this article]

The Baby-Think-It-Over program, which uses a programmable life-size baby doll that cries, wets and needs to be fed, is going to be expanded from junior high into freshman health classes, she said. The HCP has purchased two new dolls for the program.

 


[Jennifer Boeke, holding the Baby-Think-It-Over baby doll, speaks for the Healthy Families Task Force.]

Several Chester-East Lincoln students who had been in the Baby-Think-It-Over program told the audience it has taught them a lot about the responsibility of having a real baby.

Andrew, who just graduated from the eighth grade, said he hadn’t realized a baby needed so much attention. "They need attention and they need it now," he said. "And I needed multiple arms instead of just two, getting off the bus with a baby, a stroller and all my own stuff.

"This program made me see I’m not ready. I shouldn’t be raising a child while I’m a child myself."

Senior Issues Task Force spokesperson Linda Marini said an Alzheimer’s caregivers group has been started to give support to those who must deal with loved ones with Alzheimer’s. She said she is working with Tim Butterfield of the Lincoln Police Department on a Senior Safe Program, to identify seniors who would need help in case of an emergency in the community.

 

The Senior Task Force is also taking over the Grandparents raising Grandchildren program, which will meet at the Oasis Senior Center. She also said the group is studying possible parish nursing programs in area churches.

Kristi Lessen of the Rural Health Partnership, who formerly taught ATOD material to seventh- and eighth-graders in area schools, said she is now working to raise community awareness of alcohol and drug issues. She is working on a Web page for schools and parents and also will speak or do research for community groups.

She said she is trying to get a parents’ group established and also hopes to organize a MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) chapter in the area.

She said there are many new drugs available. "Kids have the information about these substances and parents don’t. Substance abuse is a communitywide problem and we are trying to get the message to the community."

 


[One of many task force information displays at the semiannual report.]

Reporting on the rural health van, usually called the "corn bus" because of the rural scenes painted on its exterior, Eldredge said that along with providing health care and diagnostic services, the corn bus also educates its clients.

"In addition to giving shots and drawing blood, they do a lot of health education," she said of the nurses who staff the van. "Twenty percent of that education is about heart and cardiovascular problems, 13 percent about medications, and 48 percent about immunizations," she said.

Out-of-town visitors who attended the Report to the Community included John Record of the SIU School of Medicine in Springfield and Julia Kasper of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

[Joan Crabb]


District 27 news

Washington-Monroe gets credit;
junior high rules change

[JUNE 24, 2002]  Washington-Monroe deserves recognition for the fine job teachers there are doing educating students from low-income families, Kidd told the board. He said he had had a call from Max McGee, former state superintendent of schools, who has been doing research on schools in Illinois that have most of their students coming from low-income families.

McGee identified 920 schools that fit the definition of low-income, and Washington-Monroe was in the top 60, Kidd said.

 

Kidd also explained that the new federal school legislation proposed by President George W. Bush and approved recently by Congress will not affect District 27 this year but will in the future.

"The ‘No Child Left Behind’ act says that if you have a school on remediation, you will have to transfer kids to more successful schools if parents ask for that," he said.

The new law calls for every school to have at least 40 percent of its students meet or exceed state standards in reading, math and one other subject this year, 45 percent next year, and will continue to move that percentage up so that in 2014 every school in the nation is supposed to have 100 percent of its students meet or exceed state standards, Kidd said.

 

He said he believed the odds of any school in the nation having 100 percent of its students meet or exceed these stands would be very low.

"We’re all right now, but I don’t know how long I will be able to say that," he said.

The board voted 5-1 to give $4,000 to the Junior High Booster Club to build a concession stand at the ball diamond. Leta Herrington voted against the measure.

The board also agreed to make some changes in the junior high handbook regarding dress codes and rules for participating in athletic events.

Currently the dress code calls for students to be covered from shoulder to midthigh and prohibits shirts with profanity, advertisements for alcohol, tobacco or drugs, or with offensive and vulgar language, junior high Principal Curt Nettles said.

 

[to top of second column in this article]

The dress code will now ban sagging pants with legs dragging on the ground, in part because of safety considerations, Nettles said. Dragging pant legs can be a hazard for students going up or down stairs. Shirts must also be long enough to cover the waistband.

The board also voted in a somewhat stricter code for allowing students to participate in extracurricular activities, especially athletics.

Students who are suspended during a quarter will not be allowed to attend any extracurricular activities, including sports, at any time during that quarter.

 

Students caught using tobacco the first time will not be allowed to take part in any sports for 33 percent of the competitions in the present season, and if less than 33 percent of those events remain, the suspension will continue into the next year, Nettles said.

For example, if a student in basketball is caught using tobacco and only three basketball games remain, he will be suspended for those three games plus whatever number constitutes 33 percent in the next year, or in the next sport event in which he participates.

The second time a student is caught using tobacco, he is suspended from all athletic activities for one calendar year.

Students caught using alcohol or any controlled substances do not get a second chance but will be suspended for one calendar year. Family gatherings and religious ceremonies are not considered a violation of the rule.

Five members of the board voted in favor of the new rules. Carmitchel voted no. Joe Brewer was absent from the meeting.

[Joan Crabb]

 


Articles from the past week

Saturday:

  • An important message to everyone in the Logan County community
  • Water damage assessment under way at LCHS
  • Illinois Senate week in review

Friday:

  • LDC short-staffed, AFSCME claims

  • Central School opening date projected for March 2003

  • Homeland Security Summit in Springfield

Thursday:

  • Sesquicentennial Committee OKs ballgame, band, speaker and stage
  • One tired and hungry little bird

Wednesday:

  • County revenues down 12 percent at midyear

  • Federal storm, flood disaster funds available

  • ‘Greatest Cardinal of them all’ has fallen  (Sports)

Tuesday:

  • Magnitude 5.0 earthquake in southern Indiana

  • City of Lincoln sued over Fair Housing Act

  • Council OKs 11 a.m. Sunday liquor sales

 

Monday:

  • Parents of LDC residents won’t give up

  • Lincoln loses valued business/family man

  • Pettijohn remembered as generous

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