Still Waters,  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.

[MARCH 16, 2002]  All of us deserve answers regarding this latest Lincoln Developmental Center situation. Three residents have died from complications brought on by the flu, and no one at the Department of Health and Human Services has said a word. No one from Gov. Ryan’s "we only want what’s best for the residents" crusade jumps on the media and says: "See, more people are dying at LDC."

Oh, they had a press conference on Thursday at the Illinois State House in Springfield, but only after they were called out by the union to explain themselves.

These groups, of course, are the same ones who made a huge stink about a resident eating something inappropriate and refused to pull back the claim after X-rays showed nothing but good food in the individual’s digestive tract. Remember Gov. Ryan claiming he saw a resident chewing on a pen? He refused, of course, to take back his words or even recognize that he had mistaken an employee for a resident.

Where are all the groups who say community living is best for all LDC residents, including the residents who will never have more of a community in their minds than the bed they live in and the familiar faces of those who turn them over?  Why then would not everyone enthralled with the demise of Lincoln Developmental Center not be all over this latest story as proof that the institution needs to be closed? People are dying, and the same individuals who called a press conference when they saw a janitor’s door left open don’t have a word to say!

Maybe it’s because this time the proof, as it were, would not serve the DHHS or governor’s strategy.

In the event there is blame to be met in these deaths, it has no place on the shoulders of the employees of the institution. You see, these deaths, according to AFSCME, may well be linked to decisions regarding the moving of these severely infirm residents out of the hospital environment offered by the Coty building and into the dormitory-style setting of the Bowen Cottage. These decisions, of course, are not the domain of the employees but rather of the administration, and that, of course, would never do as an issue for a press conference.

Under the present circumstances it is best that everyone so dedicated to helping residents live better, fuller lives by closing the center just go hide in the closet for a while. Perhaps they too will forget to close that door behind them, and if they do, I hope we follow them in and demand answers.

[to top of second column in this commentary]

I believe we are owed an explanation why these most fragile residents were moved into the common population, unattended by the trained personnel replete with proper equipment. The question has to be asked if the move precipitated their tragic demise.

I have received a dozen stories of patient movement throughout the center. The unfamiliarity of the caregivers with their patients then made great write-ups for the inspectors to post on their clipboards. Were the irrational moves from Coty to Bowen in hopes of still more and better negative reports against LDC employees? After all, union steward Don Todd’s own memo expressed concerns regarding equipment, training and space to care for these residents at Bowen.

Someone from the state needs to explain in detail why the move of these residents, within the same institution, was made at all.

I also need someone to explain why, after the transfer, this floor of the building was rewired for office and computer use. If the state was pondering closure and still requests the center be cut back to minimal size, why do we spend money on remodeling? Don’t tell me this huge campus didn’t already have enough office space for a meager 200 employees.

Something isn’t right about all of this, and the union has been instilled by the tragic events of the past few days to take the offensive posture of demanding why residents’ health has been placed into jeopardy by the Department of Health and Human Services.

I believe the questions deserve a full answer. The silence right now from DHHS and Ryan tells me more than a thousand bogus negative reports ever did.

Oh heck, let’s be honest. Even if we get any answers, they’ll make about as much sense as the governor’s plan to trim the budget on the backs of education, the aged and the infirm.

[Mike Fak]

Reply to Fak (not for publication):

mikefak@msn.com

Response to Fak’s commentary:

ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com 

[MARCH 14, 2002]  Last Friday I arrived early at the "Meet the Candidates" breakfast. Since I’m always one to try and promote what’s going on at Channel 15, early chances for one-on-one conversations with our movers and shakers are too promising to ever pass up. I had a chance to share words with two state senators, two state representatives and several who would wish to assume those occupations. I talked with a man who is running for lieutenant governor and stood drinking coffee in a ring of state jurisprudence that included a circuit, appellate and supreme court judge. When the forum was over I said my goodbyes to all of them, explaining I had to go and hang drywall in a bathroom. Like I said. Only in America.

There are other things about our political process where I could say "only in America." Only in America can we say that we have the ability by our citizenship to carry the same political clout on election day as the greatest financial contributor to a specific party or candidate. Only in America can a person living on Social Security or minimum wage have as much say on an election day as the most powerful businessmen in America.

If only in America we decided to vote. If only in America we didn’t give up every time the process allows us the chance to start over again. We could bring fresh faces and ideas to the jobs of helping us run our government. We could decide on keeping the good ones and throwing the others back into the dumpster of lost promises. We could by our sheer numbers give messages that are never ignored by those who seek or hold office.

Letters, e-mails, petitions are all taken with a grain of salt by a politician. A vote always commands more respect than a few words when voter counts are long past completion and the next is far away.

It’s close to the time for deciding who our next group of employees should be, and "only in America" will more than half of us not bother to do so.

In the last several months I have heard enough grumblings and gripes about our county being sliced and diced in the legislative remap to finish filling the city landfill. The gripes are legitimate, and mine stand proudly with all of yours, but I realize — and I hope you do as well — that we have done this to ourselves.

When a state has to cut back districts, where do you think they will look? How about a small district of only 10,000 registered voters that have on occasion graced the polls with an incredibly unimpressive 16 percent voter turnout. Where would you expect to place the remap carving knife? Certainly not in the breast of larger counties, which although they have just as poor a voter turnout percentage, by their numbers bring more voters to the curtains. Wouldn’t it make more sense to cut off one of those skimpy wings of voter apathy like Logan County?

[to top of second column in this commentary]

An unpopular decision becomes more palatable when there are fewer to complain. Logan County voters have shown repeatedly that if you’re looking for a district that doesn’t carry many votes, we fit the bill as a good place to send into representative confusion and oblivion.

There is a chance for us to come out of this morass upwind of the stink of this new remap. We have been graced recently with four state representatives visiting us and in fact championing our cause on the LDC issue. We have been visited frequently by two state senators, and they too have taken an early interest in our voter capacity.

Whether any or all of these legislators will continue to show interest in our county will be decided on March 19. A great voter turnout could give us more power and thus interest from our state candidates than more populated areas that don’t show up to vote. A poor percentage base of an already small voter pool, and the campaign caravans won’t continue heading to Logan County.

Politics is really a simple business. You attempt to receive more votes than others who would have that same job. The math tells any sane person that concentrating on the issues and concerns of principal blocks of potential voters helps one keep his or her job.

March 19 we will have the opportunity to show state officials that keeping in touch and abreast of Logan County issues will bring them the votes they need to continue or obtain their employment.

Although only a primary, this election is the most important in the history of this county. It in effect is our last, best chance. Only in America.

[Mike Fak]

Reply to Fak (not for publication):

mikefak@msn.com

Response to Fak’s commentary:

ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com 

[FEB. 28, 2002]  Hey, it’s been a while since I have cleaned out all the notes strewn about my desk. You remember how I told you when I see something that just doesn’t make sense that I jot it down and wait to see if the words eventually cause me in my angst to write a column about them. Sometimes by other stories appearing and taking precedence or, more often than not, a feeling of hopelessness at my wasting time trying to change a world that says no to common sense, I just throw them all away. But… not before I roll them all together into a little "bumps" article. Here are the last few months’ biggest "What the heck is going on?" stories.

Did you see that it took over six hours in delays for people in Utah to get on a plane after the Olympics were over. How about any business taking a person’s money, promising them a specific time to render services and then screw everything up. Would that business survive in the real world? It would if it’s the airline industry living off $5 billion in taxpayer relief funds. Does that make any sense?

Gov. Ryan is all hot at AFSCME because they refuse to submit to a year’s freeze on wages that would help keep their own members’ jobs. Doesn’t anyone remember that last year employees of the Capital Area Career Center took a wage freeze to protect their jobs? Now they are faced with a 20 percent reduction in funding that will send many employees packing. Is the governor’s word really worth believing?

While we are on wages, let’s not forget that the governor, staff and area lawmakers will get their raise of 3.8 percent this next year. Why? They have to take it because the state constitution says they have to. Where did this constitution come from? Mars? The one I know about was written and is continually rewritten by these same individuals. Just say "no" to a wage increase and repeal the rule. Isn’t that the fair thing to do? Or am I just crazy?

How is it that 95 Illinois communities will receive $23.5 million in funds for water and sewer projects but Lincoln isn’t on the list? Don’t tell me this is just going to the big boys. Have any of you heard of just two of these towns? Alexis, Alma, Atwood, Bluford, Buda, Colp, Gorham, Granville. Stop. That’s enough. Ninety-five towns, counties and cities get free funding but not us. Somebody explain this one to me please. (See http://wwww.state.il.us/PressReleases/
ShowPressRelease.cfm?SubjectID=
1&RecNum=1717) 

Three weeks ago the governor said privatization of the food industry in state-run institutions would save the state $20 million next year. Now the official figure is $15 million. Where did we lose $5 million in just three weeks, and why isn’t anyone asking?

[to top of second column in this commentary]

What about this craziness that the FDA isn’t checking on imports of meat and poultry to the U.S. to see if they meet quality standards. Are they waiting for "mad cow" or "crazy chicken" to hit us before they get off their duffs and do their job? They also fielded a yearlong trial of companies doing their own inspections to see how that would work. The answer, according to the GAO, is that the findings weren’t conclusive because the FDA didn’t keep proper track of the study nor use other FDA-inspected companies to form a comparison. Did everyone at FDA graduate from the Cleveland school system or what?

Speaking of the GAO. Did you know that the 2000 census came in 355 million under the $4.5 billion budget? What happened to this money? The Department of Commerce passed it out to other agencies that needed more funds than Congress had appropriated for them. Our tax dollars at work again.

Lastly, have you noticed all the vegetarian and animal rights groups now pushing to have their way with us? It isn’t good enough that we carnivores live and let live with these "veggies"? Now most of the world is supposed to be forced to give up all the foods they like because this meager percentage of the population demand that we sit around eating nuts and berries.

They say they are doing it for our health. Why is it then that Americans have a longer life span today than at anytime in the history of the world? If meat and diary products are so bad for us, why aren’t we all dying off at age 25 with a Big Mac and fries clutched in our hands.

I would never tell someone else what they can or cannot eat, so I sure don’t appreciate them telling me. I have compromised a little toward this tofu generation. I only eat bacon or steaks that have come from animals that have died of natural causes or in their sleep. Can’t we all get along? I’ll eat to that.

[Mike Fak]

Reply to Fak (not for publication):

mikefak@msn.com

Response to Fak’s commentary:

ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com 

[FEB. 23, 2002]  Oh, heck, it won’t hurt to talk about it. Will it?

The Lincoln Courier has carried several articles regarding the claim by Alderman Glenn Shelton that there is racial profiling in this community. Alderman Verl Prather as well as Chief of Police Richard Montcalm have taken umbrage with Shelton’s claim and show records that they believe invalidate Alderman Shelton’s Martin Luther King Day remarks that there is a higher rate of incidence for a black to be pulled over than a white within the city limits.

Jeff Nelson, managing editor of The Courier, wrote a Feb. 6 opinion piece stating he believes that the numbers crunch showing 5 percent of the tickets being issued to the 2 percent of the community that is African-American backs up Shelton’s claim. The same statistics were validated by the Lincoln Daily News in an article on the same date. Comments by readers in letters to the editor claim police officers have "favorite" targets as they patrol and protect. Tough words to be written in small-town community newspapers. Tougher decisions face us to look at the entire situation with honesty.

I look for numbers in a story more than anything else. Numbers, you see, are an exact science. They never lie, they never exaggerate. A number by its very definition is always the truth. We haven’t heard numbers, however, in this issue. We have heard percentages, and percentages, although a distant cousin in the world of math, are a favorite haunt of those trying to take away the reality of mathematics. What I mean is, if there is one incident and it increases to two, the reality is one more such incident has occurred. Percentagewise, however, one could say that the problem has gone up 100 percent.

Sorry if I’m drifting on you, but what I am saying is that I want numbers, not percentages, before I pass judgment either way on the issue. What is 5 percent, and of what? What is 2 percent? I need those facts to sort out my opinion.

And still, after my queries are answered, I believe we need to look past Shelton and the police force and look at ourselves.

Being an officer of the law isn’t a very easy task, especially in a small town. Stop someone and issue them a citation, and immediately you are in the doghouse with that person, their family, their friends. Remain on the force for several years and those animosities, justified or not, can build.

I got nailed for $75 a few years ago by a young cop for not having my seatbelt on. Was I, in fact, guilty? I was. But I still grumble under my breath when I see that patrolman drive by in his squad car. Was the cost of the infraction his fault or mine? Now that the check has cleared and time has healed the financial wound, I can admit the fault was mine.

[to top of second column in this commentary]

I was once profiled. As a 21-year-old I was thrown against a car, frisked and nearly hauled off to jail because I and my rusty old "tater" car were in the affluent suburb of Forest Hills at 2 a.m. Did I look suspicious? Probably. Would I, if I had been in those policemen’s shoes, decide to check me out as well? Again, probably. Did the fact four squad cars pinned me against the curb, frisked me and scattered all the papers in the car about tell me they were overreacting? Still another probably. It took many years for that night to slip off the front page in my memory. Maybe I have gotten mellow in my later years.

Today, more than ever, I realize that the moment you place that police shield on your chest doesn’t automatically remove a person from being a member of the human race, complete with strengths and weaknesses.

It seems that the issue of community bias is falling squarely on the Police Department, and I find that unfortunate. I had the pleasure of being police and fire commissioner 13 years ago when Chief Montcalm tested for the force. Through the years in all my conversations with him, I have never heard a single slur nor disparaging remark come from his lips against anyone due to their race, religion or personal lifestyle. To be honest, I can say that of very few of us, including myself, in this community. The cops I personally know are good people trying to do a job without having their personal lives disrupted by those of us who cannot separate their being a cop from the individuals they are.

I know Reverend Shelton and have always found him to be an honest, forthright individual with a wonderful sense of self as well as an engaging sense of humor. I cannot for a moment believe he has not measured every public comment he has made on this issue.

And so where are we? We are, of course, where every small American town is in these days we live in. We have biases against people of other races. We find those of another religion or lifestyle or handicap too different to not find a moment to tell and laugh at a joke told at their expense. We even look down on others because they are less affluent or more wealthy than we are.

We are so much better than we were 50 years ago as an "accepting" nation, but again let’s be honest. We are still a very long way from needing to go to a trophy store and buying ourselves plaques commemorating our humanity.

Bias in Lincoln? How about everywhere in this world. It’s good to talk about it. Having Shelton or the police force solely under this microscope just isn’t reality. Perhaps we need to take the time to pull ourselves over and check ourselves out. No flashing lights are needed. Just the solitude of a moment’s reflection to look within one’s own heart.

[Mike Fak]

Reply to Fak (not for publication):

mikefak@msn.com

Response to Fak’s commentary:

ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com 

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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