Lincoln native authors new book "A Deeper Dive into the Good Government Council of Logan County in 1950s Lincoln, IL"
Public appearances scheduled for November 17th thru 19th

 

[November 13, 2021] 

Three events are on tap next week in conjunction with the unveiling of former Lincoln resident John Fuller’s book, A Deeper Dive into the Good Government Council of Logan County in 1950s Lincoln, IL.

Fuller, a resident of Ft. Myers, FL, will return to his hometown for an appearance on the WLCN Viewpoint radio program hosted by Bill Gossett and Judy Busby at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17. WLCN can be found at 96.3 FM. Fuller will be joined by Bill Donath, who serves on the Board of Directors at the Logan County Genealogical & Historical Society. Fuller is donating proceeds from his book to the Society.

At 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18, Fuller will be hosting an open meeting in the Lile Lecture Hall at the McKinstry Library at Lincoln College where he will deliver a brief commentary on his book along with showing images and video segments relating to it. A question and answer session will follow. He will then be available to autograph books. COVID requirements call for masking inside the building.

An official book signing has been scheduled from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 19, at The Guest House, 113 S. Kickapoo St.

Books, which are priced at $35, will also be made available through the Logan County Genealogical & Historical Society. Although the Society is closed due to smoke removal resulting from an adjacent building fire last month, book orders will be accepted by leaving a message at 732-3200, writing the Society at 114 N. Chicago St., or by emailing [e-mail]. A pick-up location will be provided. For those wishing to have books mailed to them, there will be an additional $4 fee.

Fuller was inspired to delve deeper into the Good Government Council by his Father, Ken Fuller, who was chairman of the GGC’s government reform committee, and by the scrapbooks kept by his mother, Marjorie. Extensive audio tapes made by Ken provided rare insights for developing the story.

In an Overview, Fuller describes the situation, “In the early 1950’s, a number of residents of Lincoln and Logan County became ensnarled in a dispute over what constituted, ‘Best practices,’ in the conduct of local, small town, government. Questions arose addressing ethics, privacy, politics, taxation, morality, the role of the local newspaper, criminality, gambling, and likely more.

“Resolving conflicts between certain state laws and local norms was hard to come by.” Fuller’s book notes that at one point a judge ordered certain citizens to read Proverbs from the Bible and complete the assignment with a book report.

“A police raid ignited a small town firestorm.” he added. An ad hoc group came together seeking solutions and became known as the Good Government Council of Logan County. The ACLU and the Illinois Bar Association became involved as did the Taxpayers Federation of Illinois.

Readers are given a look at the days of Al Capone and Coonhound Johnny when a county treasurer was taken to task and a justice of the peace indicted, (later being overturned). At one time all 18 members of the GGC were sued, but later charges were dropped.

Principal characters in Fuller’s book include:

Vincent Jones, East Lincoln Justice of the Peace, whose record-keeping practices brought charges of embezzlement and more, but who was eventually acquitted.

Circuit Judge Frank S. Bevan, who presided over the pinball trial of 1951, recused himself from the Jones trial, issued contempt citations against GGC petition signers, which were eventually overturned, and is censured by the Illinois Bar Association;

S. L. “Bram” Bramwell, Logan County Board and GGC member;

Edwin C. Mills, Logan County State’s Attorney, who represented Vince Jones in a complaint against the GGC;

Bernard C. Mayberry, Logan County Assistant State’s Attorney, who appears to have advised the Efficiency in Government committee of the GGC.

Nelson Howarth, Springfield attorney, who initially represented GGC and petitioners. He and two other Lincolnites were held in contempt of court by Judge Bevan;

Ellis B. Wheeler, fieldman for The Taxpayers Federation of Illinois, was the first tax consultant brought in by the GGC to do a cursory review of Logan County financial records;

Robert Thornton, Lincoln Police Magistrate;

William S. Ellis, Logan County judge, who, “Approved,” or “Disapproved,” periodic fee reports submitted by JPs, magistrates, and the sheriff;

Clair W. Smith, Logan County Sheriff, who arrested Vincent Jones;

Allyne V. and John Lithgow Nugent, co-owners and co-publishers of the Lincoln Evening Courier;

Roy Clapper, owner of Lincoln Tire & Appliance Co., who along with two others was rewarded a contempt citation, $250 fine, and two days in jail, which were appealed and overturned;

Alan Wyneken, vice president and general manager of Gullet & Sons, Inc., would have been Roy’s cellmate if their conviction had not been overturned.

The author of this book, John Fuller, was born in Lincoln, IL in 1948, graduated from Lincoln High School in 1966, and learned to fly at the University of Illinois, obtaining a degree in aerospace engineering. From there he followed his dreams amassing a flying experience covering 52 years and 20,000 hours of civilian, military, and major airline duty.

While in the Air National Guard, John managed the Logan County Airport fixed base operation, instructing many new pilots and flew charter trips. This career transitioned into managing the family Agri-business, Fuller Seed Co., until its closing in 1984. A year later, John was flying for Britt Airways, which later merged into Continental Airlines. While flying for Continental, John resided in Denver.
 

He retired from Continental Airlines in 2005, then did some light-jet corporate air charter flying out of Naples, FL.

Marian Thompson of Duluth, Minnesota became John’s wife in 1972. They have a son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter who reside in New York.

[Text provided by Diane Osborn]