Features

New and used book store
opens on square

[MARCH 27, 2003]  Now & Then Books, which stocks a mix of new and used paperbacks and hardbacks, is open for business at 107 S. Kickapoo, next door to The Treasure Chest in the Griesheim Building.

"I guess you have to love reading first of all," said co-owner Venetia Shaffer in explaining why her family went into the book-selling business. "Half the fun is buying the books to put in the store."

With husband Paul and son Philip, Shaffer opened the business on Feb. 17. She and Philip run it during the week. Paul, who has been a consultant for State Farm Insurance almost two years, works with Venetia on weekends. Daughter Sarah, 14, a high school freshman, completes the family. Eventually, plans are for Philip to run the store almost exclusively.

Hours for Now & Then Books are 10 a.m. to 5 or 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. A hand-lettered sign in the window reads, "If the light's on, come on in." Other notices promote instructional books for spring projects and "Coming soon: Handmade hemp bracelets/chokers. Made to order."

The store currently stocks approximately 8,000 books arranged by subject matter and sometimes by format. Children's books are in the front of the store. Other sections feature history, horror, fiction, mystery, sci-fi/fantasy, romance, humor, psychology/sociology, action, Westerns, crafts and New Age. A few music CDs are also in stock. Because of shelf size, larger books are placed in special sections or on top of shelving units. A former changing room at the rear of the store houses hardback fiction.

New books comprise about 10 percent of the current stock. Venetia Shaffer said she plans to increase that percentage. "I'm finding they're the ones that are going out the door," she explained.

The majority of paperbacks and many of the hardbacks are offered at half price. It all depends on what the Shaffers have to pay. They buy from a variety of sources, such as wholesalers and auctions. "Anyplace that sells books," Venetia Shaffer commented. "If we can get them at a reasonable price, we buy them." She said she has accepted a few books on consignment and would consider more.

The Shaffers' first stock came from wholesalers in Oregon and Maryland. At that time they bought books by the pallet but sometimes found they had half a dozen copies of the same title. Now they hand pick to fill particular slots and avoid duplicates.

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[Photos by Lynn Spellman]
Venetia Shaffer

The Shaffers entered the book business about 10 years ago in Bedford, Pa. At that time they were operating a bakery-delicatessen. Paul Shaffer got the idea of stocking books along a long hall that led to the bathroom. Eventually, the books sold better than the food, so the family closed the bakery-deli and opened a bookstore.

After about three years in the book business in Pennsylvania, the Shaffers moved to Brown Deer, Wis., near Milwaukee, and put their books in storage. When Paul moved to Illinois to work for State Farm, they started to look for a place in the area to live, checking out Bloomington, Normal and nearby towns. Venetia said as soon as she saw Lincoln's courthouse square, she was a goner. "I fell in love with the town," she exclaimed. "I don't know why, but this reminds me of Mayberry."

Philip Shaffer graduated from high school in Wisconsin in 2002, Sarah began at Lincoln Community High School in the fall, and in January Venetia quit her job in Wisconsin and moved permanently to Lincoln, glad to be done with the four-hour commute. In January also the family rented 107 S. Kickapoo from Harris & Harris and began moving in stock. It took a month and a half to get set up.

The biggest sellers so far have been small activity books for children, put out by Dover. These go for $1 apiece or five for $4. Instructional books have also sold well. Venetia Shaffer said several types of books are particular targets on buying trips. For example, craft books are a specialty, and she is looking for more cookbooks. The family is also working on the history collection but finds the books difficult to come by. "Mystery is my husband's baby," Shaffer added, and he has amassed quite a number.

Not all the 8,000 books in the store are on display. Duplicates and some older volumes are warehoused at the back.

All the Shaffers are book lovers, and that is a major motivation for opening a bookstore. Another is meeting people. Venetia Shaffer said that she enjoys talking with customers and meeting new people in the community.

[Lynn Spellman]

Invention Mysteries TM
Self-syndicated weekly newspaper column

We might have lost World War II
if not for this little-known 'invention'

By Paul Niemann

[MARCH 27, 2003]  In war, the side with the superior level of intelligence has a major advantage, as does the side with the most effective use of communications. 

This story delves into how the use of a certain communications tool influenced World War II. This "invention," though not patentable, is probably more native to America than apple pie and baseball.

It was used in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945 -- Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Peleliu and Iwo Jima. It was used in all six Marine divisions, Marine Raider battalions and Marine parachute units, enabling our men to transmit messages by telephone and radio in a code the Japanese never broke.

Without it, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima, according to Maj. Howard Connor of the 5th Marine Division. 

So what is this great "invention" that helped us win World War II?

The answer:  Navaho code talkers. These code talkers were Navaho Indians who were recruited to transmit and interpret messages during the war. 

The Germans had the Enigma machine as their code system, but it was no match for the Navajo code talkers. The syntax and tonal qualities, not to mention dialects, make the Navaho code unintelligible to anyone without extensive exposure and training. It has no alphabet or symbols, and it is spoken only on the Navajo lands of the American Southwest. One estimate indicates that less than 30 non-Navajos, none of them Japanese, could understand the language at the outbreak of World War II.

How important to the American war effort were the Navaho code talkers?

Maj. Connor had six Navajo code talkers working around the clock during the first two days of the battle of Iwo Jima. Those six sent and received over 800 messages, all without error.

The subject of a 2002 Hollywood movie called "Windtalkers," the Navaho code talkers' code is the only unbroken code in modern military history. The code enabled American translators stationed outside the United States to decipher the code in minutes, whereas other codes would take approximately two hours to decipher. It would take only 20 seconds for the Navaho code talkers to decode a three-line English message, whereas machines required 30 minutes to perform the same job.

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So how did the Navaho code talkers go virtually unnoticed for half a century after the war had ended?

Navajo remained potentially valuable as code even after the war. For that reason, the code talkers, whose skill and courage saved both American lives and military engagements, only recently earned recognition from the U.S. government and the public. They were honored in September of 1992 at the Pentagon.

Thirty-five Navajo code talkers, all veterans of the U.S. Marine Corps, and their families traveled from their homes on the Navajo reservation, which includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, to attend the dedication of the Navajo code talker exhibit, which is a regular stop on the Pentagon tour. The exhibit includes a display of photographs, equipment and the original code, along with an explanation of how the code worked.

Who was this visionary Navaho individual who came up with this brilliant plan to use their native language as code in World War II? 

The idea actually came from an American named Philip Johnston, the son of a missionary to the Navajos and one of the few non-Navajos who spoke their language fluently. Johnston, reared on the Navajo reservation, was a World War I veteran who knew of the military's search for a code that would withstand all attempts to decipher it. He also knew that Native American languages -- notably Choctaw -- had been used in World War I to encode messages.

Sources: The History Channel, Naval Historical Center of the Department of the Navy

[Paul Niemann]

Paul Niemann is a contributing author to Inventors' Digest magazine and he also runs MarketLaunchers.com, helping people in the marketing of their new product ideas. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com.

Last week's column in LDN: "The case of the missing 'monkey'"

Eagle continues open for business

[MARCH 19, 2003]  Rumors that the Eagle store in Lincoln may be closing are completely untrue, according to a company vice president.

Pat Flatley, vice president of information technology, said in a telephone interview that the "tons of rumors" are false. "We're not closing; we're not closing the chain," he emphasized.

"I get calls and e-mails all day long from customers, who are happy to hear that we are not closing," Flatley continued. He said Eagle employees are among those who have spread the rumors, and the company has requested that they discontinue doing so.

Without supplying any statistics, Flatley said he believes Lincoln sales have been affected by the rumors. Customers who believe the grocery store is already closed go elsewhere to shop. However, he said he was in the Lincoln store on Saturday, and Lincoln manager Barb Pollock reported that sales are beginning to recover.

[Lynn Spellman]

Lincoln and Logan County
bucking the trends

Economic growth slow but steady

[MARCH 14, 2003]  Over the course of the last 18 months many people have been quite concerned about the economy in Logan County. With the closing of the Lincoln Developmental Center and a couple of retail businesses going under, the rumors began to swirl. However, not all the news is bad news. In fact, a case may be made that Lincoln is not only bucking those negative local trends, but also bucking those depressing national trends as well. Unemployment rates that are climbing, taxes being raised and not much talk about any economic prosperity may have you wondering: How could Lincoln be curbing those indicators?

But a closer look at what is actually happening in Lincoln and the surrounding area seems to indicate that reports of our demise may have been greatly exaggerated. Take Precision Products for example. Bob Jones is reporting that PP has actually added 22 new jobs just during the month of February, not exactly your growth month. And Ed Block over at Saint-Gobain Containers is reporting the creation of 12 new positions at their plant. Main Street Lincoln Director Cindy McLaughlin has cited at least six individuals who have applied for grants to start new businesses in the Courthouse Square Historic District. Several other local businesses plan to expand or add jobs in the near future. Bill Campbell and Charlie Lee over at the IGA grocery store are planning a 5,000-square-foot addition as soon as possible.

The growth is not just limited to our city's borders, as business seems to be doing well in the county too. Mark Hughes over at Inland Tool in Mount Pulaski has just added a new shift. That has meant the establishment of 10 new jobs. In Atlanta, nine of the 10 houses built on the golf course have been sold, while two new ones are currently under construction. In addition, three new ones are scheduled to begin construction in the spring.

We're sure that the math majors and the bean counters will be quick to remind us all that these reports will not make up for the loss of the LDC. While that may be true, you have to start somewhere. We commend these businesses for their vision and foresight during perilous times. We're sure those decisions must have been easier when the stock market was flying along at record levels.

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Keep in mind that the companies mentioned here are only the ones who have agreed to go public with their plans and additions. There are others with deals pending who don't want publicity until deals are done and contracts are signed. We suspect that there are several people wanting to relocate, remodel and or increase the size of their businesses, judging by the wealth of calls we're getting. We also believe that some people want to come to Logan County to set up shop. We are predicting that as the weather warms we will be bombarded with requests for even more economic development projects in our community and in our area.

And why wouldn't that be so? We have maintained for years that Logan County may be one of the best kept secrets in the state, if not the nation. For the second year in a row, Illinois was chosen as the No. 1 state for economic development in the country! Couple that with the tourist boom we're expected to see in the years ahead, and things might not be nearly as gloomy as the doom, gloom and naysayers would have you believe. At least these recent reports seem to indicate that Logan County may be bucking the trends!

[Jeff Mayfield, economic development director]

Nationally known business leaders
to host seminar in Lincoln

[MARCH 11, 2003]  You can take advantage of staying at home in Lincoln as Jefferson Street Christian Church, using cutting-edge technology, hosts "The Maximum Impact Simulcast" on March 28. The seminar to be presented, "Becoming a Champion of Change," seeks to offer participants answers to the following questions:

• Are you seeking to be a more motivated leader?
• Do you desire to know how to reach your leadership potential?
• Would you like to increase your ability to influence others?
• Do you need to hone your leadership skills and build a winning team?

• Would you like to maximize your impact on your workplace?

Who will answer these questions? Three of the nation's top consultants.

The live simulcast training session will bring well-known business leaders Ken Blanchard, John C. Maxwell and Joe Gibbs here to Lincoln. Ken Blanchard is author of "Raving Fans and Whale Done" and co-author of "The One Minute Manager." John C. Maxwell is best-selling author of "The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership." Joe Gibbs owns the titles of NFL coach of the three-time world champion Washington Redskins, is a NASCAR team owner and has authored "Racing To Win." These men are proven winners in business, sports and organizational management and will share their experience as instigators of effective change.

Their program is designed to appeal to a broad spectrum of businesses and organizations, with a focus on developing leadership potential. Participants will learn from America's leaders on leadership.

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The program is open to individual or team sign-ups. Primary goals of the one-day seminar will be to motivate participants to:

• Reach leadership potential.
• Increase ability to influence others.
• Become skilled at building a winning team, whether as a team leader or team member.
• Develop individual and team esteem.

• Make a maximum impact in the workplace.

A major benefit to this seminar is that it qualifies for ongoing continuing education credits. Additional course work is also offered following the seminar. Participants will receive more information at the seminar, or you may call to ask about the courses offered.

"Becoming a Champion of Change" will be hosted Friday, March 28, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. by the Jefferson Street Christian Church, 1700 N. Jefferson St. in Lincoln. The cost is $59 per person and includes lunch. If five or more participants come from the same organization, the price drops to $49 per person.

Call Donnie Case at the church, (217) 732-9294, to make your reservation.

[News release]

• Is this the right time to go into business?
  [Click here for Feb. 28 article by Jim Youngquist.]

Announcements

The Chamber Report

Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce

Bobbi Abbott, Executive Director

303 S. Kickapoo St.

Lincoln, IL 62656

(217) 735-2385

chamber@lincolnillinois.com
www.lincolnillinois.com

Honors & Awards

Main Street Corner News

Main Street Lincoln

Cindy McLaughlin, Program Manager

303 S. Kickapoo

Lincoln, IL 62656

Phone: (217) 732-2929

Fax: (217) 735-9205

E-mail: manager@mainstreetlincoln.com