The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 53

FIRST tOtTON COM The Pantagraph Saturday, April 27,1996 Jfl Tony Parker 4 1 5 PTHS COUP: Students take reigns of government i Jr 4, 5 v. 'V i I hn'V; sr '-i? i imf" ft If Arbor Day Right Students at Stevenson Elementary School helped shovel dirt on an English Oak tree planted near the building in celebration of Arbor Day. The Citizens Beau-tification Committee of Bloomington planted the tree. Above, Mary Shepherd, the conservation chairman of the Daughters of the American Revolution, talked to fifth- and sixth-grade students at Northpoint School about the history of Arbor Day. The group also donated a River Birch tree to the school and awarded sixth-grade teacher Betsy Meyers a conservation medal r' i i1' V- Scott Wahls, Lori Abry and about 30 of their classmates had a chance to wear someone else's shoes Friday and, for the most part, they liked the fit And Livingston County Board Chairman Roger Brown, County Coordinator Ann Capela and other county officials didn't seem to mind passing the torch briefly to the Pontiac Township High School seniors.

The students in Gene Burnett's civics classes participated in a mock County Board meeting, where they mulled the controversial issue of where new county offices should go. Beforehand, the students researched the three sites that are being considered 19 acres along Old U.S. 66 just south of Pontiac's Kmart, 6.5 acres of county-owned land along Torrance Avenue and locations in downtown Pontiac. Abry, who was assigned to a committee favoring the Torrance Avenue site, said the simulation gave her a better understanding of the difficulties involved in holding public office. "I learned a lot about all three of the sites," Abry said.

"I know that it is tough for them (county officials) to have to please everybody." And Abry said her classmates enjoyed the assignment once they got working on it "I think it's pretty good. At first we didn't take it seriously, but when we realized we had to do it we found it was interesting," she said. Burnett divided both of his civics classes into four groups one for each of the proposed sites and a fourth that was instructed to support making do with existing facilities. The assignments, tied to National County Government Week, went out about a week ago after Capela spoke to the classes about the role and structure of county Then, students contacted County Board members and officials for their input, obtained copies of site evaluations and drafted bills favoring their group's position. The mock County Board meetings began Friday and will continue Monday.

Burnett said students will be graded on their group's written proposal and their own participation in the subsequent debate. During debate, students supported the position of the committees they were assigned to, but they will be free to express their own opinions when the classes vote on the best option next week. Both Brown and Capela attended the Friday morning class and said they were impressed with the students' knowledge of the issues involved. "I'm very impressed with the young people here. We have a lot of concerns that were mentioned here and there's nothing here that's trivial," Brown said.

Capela agreed, saying, "We got some really good input" from students in the class. Meanwhile, Wahls agreed with Abry that most students found the assignment interesting. "We learned more by asking board members or Ann Capela, instead of just reading out of a book," he said. "Not every one in class does their homework, but I'm pretty sure everyone talked to a County Board member." The students' research was evident during Friday's debate, as they at least touched on most of the major arguments used by Pontiac and county officials and downtown merchants. Students supporting a specific location highlighted the advantages involved and students from other groups attempted to bring out the disadvantages during questioning.

Perhaps the biggest challenge was given to Abry's group, because the Torrance Avenue site seems to have more disadvantages and less support than the others. But the group's proposal said building a law and justice center at the location would save from $300,000 to $1 million in property acquisition costs and help consolidate county facilities since the Health and Education Building is already located there. "Money is tight these days and I don't think taxpayers need to see their tax bills go any higher," Abry said. When asked about the potential loss of revenue to downtown business, she responded, "People don't go to court and then go shopping." But other students successfully brought out the disadvantages of the Torrance Avenue location, saying it is difficult to access, is located in a residential neighborhood and may be too small for the county's long-term needs. Aaron Pike, who made the sponsoring speech for the group supporting the Kmart site, suggested accessibility and available space for consolidation and future needs were perhaps that location's strongest points.

"I'm looking down the road 50 or 75 years. That $125,000 purchase (of the 19 acres near Kmart) will turn out to be priceless in value," he said. Students advocating downtown locations and simply maintaining existing facilities will make their presentations Monday and the entire class will then have an opportunity to vote. One student who spoke against the Kmart site, Chris Sancken, came to the same conclusion many County Board officials have undoubtedly arrived at "There is nothing perfect about any of the sites," he said. "There's something wrong with all of them." Tony Parker is The Pantagraph'8 Pontiac bureau chief.

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