The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 3

THE PANTAGRAPH, Tuesday, July 9, 1991 A3' Road, zoo jobs -passed despite 2 budget blunders fa 'w: Vv I'll Highlights Bloomington aldermen approved a higher-than-expected bid for the Miller Park Zoo education building, deciding that rebidding the project would not bring substantial savings. The council also approved shifting money from other projects to cover widening of the Emerson-Linden intersection on the near east side. City staff mistakenly did not budget enough money for the $250,000 project. Filing in Tony Miller, 604 W. Front Bloomlngton, a data entry operator at the Heartland Community College office at 1540 E.

College registered Lorl Hunt, 906 S. Fell Normal. She was one of the first students to sign up yesterday during the first day of registration for fall classes at Heartland, which will be offering its first slate of classes. Students can work toward a two-year associate's degree, but many are expected to move on for a four-year degree. By KURT ERICKSON Pantagraph staff Bloomington city staff may be feeling snakebit, but aldermen did change their minds when it came to approving a new education building at the Miller Park Zoo last night For the second City Council meeting in a row, staff faced the task of convincing aldermen to overlook errors in bidding and budgeting a major construction project At their June 24 meeting, aldermen were asked to postpone several parks department projects because construction costs of the zoo facility appeared higher than anticipated.

Last night aldermen were asked to delay or kill all or part of about $112,500 in other budgeted city projects to make room for the widening of the Emerson and Linden street intersection. Dubbing it an "oversight," city staff said they left the $250,000 street widening project more than $100,000 short in the budget In order to fund the project, the council was asked to postpone $50,000 in bridge repairs to the pothole-strewn Jersey Avenue bridge; transfer $12,500 budgeted to repair a retaining wall on Indianapolis Street; and transfer $40,000 from the street resurfacing budget With no discussion, the council unanimously approved the transfers and the project, which consists of widening East Emerson Street to four lanes from White Place to the Country Club Branch of Sugar Creek and North Linden Street from 300 feet south of Emerson to Th PantagrephLORI ANN COOK Computer firm, county may part ways County to hire investigator for defense Public Defender John Schwulst told the Justice Committee last night that he must hire an investigator to help with the defense of Glenn Wilson, who is accused of killing three people during the October 1988 holdup of Liquors, 709 N. Clinton St, Bloom-ington. "It won't be easy and it won't be cheap. We may need $50,000 before Labor Day," Schwulst said, adding that besides an investigator he will need a part-time felony assistant to fill in for assistant public defender Richard Koritz, who is assigned to represent Wilson.

Wilson, who is serving an eight-year prison term on an unrelated charge of possessing a handgun, is scheduled to be tried in October, but Schwulst said that early trial date may be optimistic. Though Schwulst said the Wilson case could rival the David Hendricks case in costs, he declined to give an estimate. The committee could take action on the extra help next month. and Rassi Inc. for $408,000.

Al derman Mike Matejka was the lone dissenter. At its June 24 meeting, the council had voted 5-2 against iic- cepting the bid of the Deer Creek- based contractor, saying they did' -not want to see the loss of parks programming and that the building could be pared down if the higher, priced bids were approved. Staff, however, argued that a cost in savings from rebidding was unlikely "because there are no to remove." "Only a complete redesign to a smaller, less useful building could result in significant savings in construction costs," noted City' Manager Herman Dirks, who added that those savings would be offset by additional architectural fees. The delay of the other projects including soccer fields on South Morris Avenue, was not caused by the higher-than-anticipated because of underestimated site! costs such as removal of a sewer' line, staff said. By BOB HOLLIDAY Pantagraph staff An agreement allowing McLean County to eventually divorce itself from a Michigan computer firm that has caused county officials two years of headaches was approved by the county's Justice Committee last night In an agreement that McLean County State's Attorney Charles Reynard has described as an alternative to litigation, the computer firm, Manatron, has agreed to give the county a source code that will allow the county to modify and maintain the system without its assistance.

In exchange for the source code, the county has agreed not to sue Manatron for problems already apparent with the system, said McLean County Information Services (data processing) Director Lynn Mason. "We're not giving away our right to sue for something we might find wrong in the future," Mason added. The proposed agreement goes July 16 to the County Board, which paid $200,000 for the court automation system about two years ago. McLean County Sheriff Steve Brienen has been a vocal critic of the system. He said his department could not access records, including traffic and accident information, that it could get before the Manatron system was installed.

Brienen at one point recommended that the county sue, but now says that if the problems are not resolved, they're well on the way to being resolved. Besides agreeing to furnish the source code, Manatron will give the county title to four computers that were loaned to the county to help it over problems caused by the computer system and allow it to return one $8,600 piece of equipment the bridge over Sugar Creek. For the zoo education facility, of which about $220,000 of the more than $408,000 project was raised through donations to the Miller Park Zoological Society and the Ewing Zoological Society, the council, as expected, reversed field and approved the bid of Schieler In a related matter, the committee agreed to recommend that the county spend $27,933 for equipment to get Manatron files into county personal computers and $8,244 for the remainder of this year for a computer support technician. In other business The Justice Committee: Agreed to ask Chief Judge Charles Glennon to amend an administrative order to reflect a charge of $50 per case to counties in the circuit using McLean County courts during Saturday court sessions. County Administrator John Zeunik said the $50 is based on 15 minutes of court time and that if the time required for a particular case doubled, for instance, so would the charge.

Heard Sheriff Steve Brienen explain that a central records system incorporating McLean County, Bloomington and Normal police departments, as well as the Illinois Division of Criminal Investigation and Task Force 6 is being studied. Brienen said he hopes to have the system operating yet this year. "It's all there, it's just a matter of hooking it up," Brienen said, adding that the central system could be used 24 hours a day by participating agencies and would be "dirt cheap." Recommended the County Board approve a $1,000 loan to the McLean County Emergency Telephone System Board, which needs operating money until it begins collecting a surcharge. Passed on to the County Board an alarm system ordinance that would regulate the installation and operation of alarms that the Sheriffs Department responds to. Brienen said his department already deals with 19 alarm companies that "sometimes- we find out about when the alarm comes in." The ordinance proposes that each alarm user pay an annual permit fee of $50.

Eureka school board eyes 'mini-curriculum' Eye damage possible Use caution in viewing solar eclipse 51 Safely viewing the eclipse fifth- and sixth-graders can take each class. For these two band would be taken from this time rather than class time. At the fifth- and sixth-grade level, Steinbeck said, he would like to focus on life skills for fifth-; graders and conflict management for sixth-graders. Both courses, would deal with a student's relationship to self and others, with life skills focusing on concepts of self-esteem and conflict management on problem solving. Steinbeck said the two areas of study are important for fifth-and" sixth-grade age groups according to.

educators who helped direct, the classes' development He said, 4H percent of suspensions at the middle-school level are connected to fighting. "The biggest thing we can, do' now is to try to get kids to solved their own problems," said Stein" beck. He asked for input on the two courses, expressing concern about how they are handled. "What need are boundaries," said Stein' beck. By ARLENE FRANKS Pantagraph correspondent EUREKA Addition of a mini-curriculum to the middle school topped discussion of the Eureka school board last night Middle school principal Ed Steinbeck presented his tentative plan for the addition of short-term, 30-minute courses for the fifth- and sixth-grade level and 45-minute classes at the seventh- and eighth-grade level.

The time for the courses will be taken primarily from the students' study halls, he said. Among the seventh- and eighth-grade elective offerings would be: band, chorus, computer skills, current events, drama, agriculture and wildlife. Fifth-grade students would be offered drug education, journalism, organizational skills, current events and storytelling, among others. Sixth-graders will have computer, creative writing, logic, conflict management and public speaking. The classes would rotate, so all Dont even think about looking directly at the eclipse.

During the one in 1970, about 145 cases of retinal burns were reported In the U.S. Viewing the sun directly can burn the retina, causing total or partial blindness. You won't know it's happening because the burns are painless. Here's one safe way of viewing the eclipse. Vs- cardboard A A 1 Get two sheets of white cardboard, a foot square or larger.

2 Cut a harf- In one sheet. Tape a piece of By DANIEL DIGHTON Pantagraph staff For anyone tempted to look directly at the solar eclipse Thursday, a variety of experts have some strong advice: Don't Looking at the sun, even for a short time during an eclipse, can cause severe eye damage, including blindness, a coalition of safety and astronomy organizations warn. Viewed from Hawaii and parts of Mexico, the eclipse will be total, but in Central Illinois only about 28 percent of the sun's diameter will be covered by the moon at the maximum eclipse time of about 2:16 p.m. The eclipse will begin about 1:27 p.m. and end at 3:06 p.m., according to Carl Wenning, director of the Illinois State University Planetarium.

The moon will first contact the sun's lower right limb, and its motion around the Earth will carry it eastward across the face of the sun. There are no widely available methods for viewing the eclipse safely. Smoked glass, sunglasses, some welder's glasses and the like are generally unsafe, Wenning said. Those methods may reduce the sun's intensity, but generally do not reduce the amount of ultraviolet and infrared radiation that can damage the eye without the observer being immediately aware. But the eclipse can be observed by taking the right precautions.

The Twin City Amateur Astronomers Inc. will offer the public chances to view the phenomenon Jury picked for Streator murder trial By TONY PARKER Pantagraph staff OTTAWA Opening statements are scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday in the trial of two Chicago men charged with using a shovel and metal crate to beat a Streator man to death in October. Jury selection was completed yesterday in LaSalle County Circuit Court in the trial of Walter L. Merritte, 24, and his brother, Earnest Merritte, 20.

Both men, who are in the custody of state prison officials on parole violations, face two charges of first-degree murder and a single count of mob action. Circuit Judge Alexander T. Bower reserved today for a final hearing on pretrial motions, said LaSalle County Assistant State's Attorney Rob Alvarado. The Merrittes and a third defendant Gregory Ennis, 22, Peru are charged with the fatal beating of Mark Ha-rcar, 34 Ennis faces identical charges and is scheduled for trial Aug. 12.

Harcar died less than two days after an Oct 26 fight that police said began when he and William Vietti 24, Streator, directed "racial slurs" at two black women. The women returned a short time later with two carloads of men who became involved in a fight with Harcar, police said, adding that Harcar was repeatedly struck with a shovel and metal crate. aluminum foil over the Yes, we're making Mortgage Loans! hole and poke a pinhole in it. A Let the sunlight fall through the hole onto the second sheet of cardboard. An inverted image of the sun will appear.

White cardboard AT Image of sun TIP: Extend the sheets further apart for a larger Image, closer for a sharper and brighter Image. AP SOURCE: WtllntM Latter, UC Bffkrtey; Totality, Univ. Hawaii of the event and talk about their trip at a meeting at 8 p.m. July 20 at the ISU Planetarium, Miller said. The eclipse also can be observed indirectly using a couple of pieces of cardboard, as seen in the graphic.

through telescopes with special solar filters and with other devices at Fairview Park beginning at 1:30 p.m., said Mike Miller, vice president of the club. Several of the club's members have headed to Mexico to view the total eclipse. They will show slides Fast Service Competitive Terms Weather may force Gibson City into water restrictions mm a hairhnru honprol rrlF Savings Loan Association GIBSON CITY Water restrictions could be sought for Gibson City residents later this month if there is not adequate rainfall before then, City Superintendent Donald Ehlenfeld warned last night Ehlenfeld told City Council members that water levels are starting to get low. He will seek council approval to seek restrictions as early as the next meeting, July 22, if conditions don't change. In another matter, the council approved a $4,256.43 bid from Valley Chemicals, Bartonville, for chemicals to be used in the city's pool.

In other business The council: Heard Mary Timm, chairwoman of the Ordinance Committee, ask residents violating a junk ordinance to dispose of discarded items on their properties. The city can take action three days after property owners are notified, according to Ms. Timm. Not complying could, bring fines ranging from $25 to $500. Heard there will be a Finance Committee meeting at 7:30 p.m.

July 16 at City Hall; and a Police Committee meeting at 6:30 p.m. July 24 at City Hall. Emden Village Board meeting to open bids The Emden Village Board will meet in special session at 11:30 a.m. today at the Village Hall. The meeting will be to open bids for street maintenance projects.

115 N.Thlrd, Fairbury 815C92-4338 Morehead i Crittenden, Chenoa 81 5945-7871 1212Towanda Plaza, Bloomington 309828-4356.