The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 2

2 Monday, June 8, 1998 The Pantagraph The menu includes barbecue beef and pork, baked beans, baked potatoes, applesauce, drinks and dessert. Carryouts are available. X- Central Illinois Griefs The following meetings, events and activities are scheduled today in the Twin City area: gram this week with stories, crafts and special activities for children in preschool through eighth grade. The program will be from 10 to 11 a.m. on Tuesdays for children in preschool through second grade and fifth to eighth grade.

However, the final day of the program will be July 16, a Thursday, and will feature an appearance by Ronald McDonald at the library. Children under 3 years old must be accompanied by an adult. Third and fourth graders will meet from 11 a.m. to noon on Wednesdays. Their program will end July 15.

During the program, children will learn about being an actor and will rehearse and present a play at Asta Care Nursing Home, Toluca. Fifth- through eighth-graders will work on the second edition of The Toluca Times. Reporters will receive their assignments on the first day of the program. For information, call the library at (815) 452-2211. Government Description Bloomington City Council Today in history Regular meeting "PONTIAC Early intervention picnic slated The Livingston County Local interagency Council for Early Intervention will hold its fourth annual picnic for families of children with special needs from 10 to 2 p.m.

Thursday at the 4-H 'IPark in Pontiac. The picnic will games, prizes, agencies displays, free lunch, balloon -Sculpturing and face painting by -Alotta Fun 4-U, Miller's Petting Zoo, Big R's Bounce House and "he Pontiac Fire House. Horseback riding by Dreams Come True Stables, which spe- cializes in rides for children with special needs, will be available along with entertainment by Minnie Mouse, McGruff the Crime Dog, David the Dinosaur and various clowns. All Livingston County families with children with special needs are invited to attend this event. To register, call Pat Bufe at (815) 844-2700, ext.

10. For questions or information, call Carol Darveau at (815) 796-4526 or (815) 844-7241. Volunteers are also needed to help distribute food. For information contact Hazel Swango, (309) 723-6060; Norma Baker, (309) 723-4371; or Donita Lutman, (309) 723-6260. DANVERS Reading program lets children take plunge The Danvers Township Library summer reading program, Dive Into Books, will begin June 16 and continue through July 24.

Registration will be today through Saturday at the library. Children age 3 through second grade will be required to read 10 books. Children in third through sixth grade are required to read 600 pages in six weeks. There will also be a Read-To-Me program for children too young to read to themselves. Details and times are available at the library.

LEXINGTON Kiwanis Club plans annual barbecue The Lexington Kiwanis Club will hold its annual beef and pork barbecue during the Lexington Homecoming from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Lexington Community Center. Advance donations are $4.50 for adults and $2.50 for children 12 and younger. Adult donations at the door are $5. In 1968, authorities announced the capture in London of James Earl Ray, the suspected assassin of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

TOLUCA Library programs begin in Toluca The Toluca City Library will kick off its summer reading pro Silverleaf clubs celebrate Maple Grove blaze destroys mobile home BLOOMINGTON Ronald McDonald to perform at museum Magician Ronald McDonald will perform at 10 a.m. Friday at the Children's Discovery Muse- 1 I um, 716 E. Empire, Bloomington. The event begins at 9 a.m. and includes breakfast provided by McDonald's, Bagelman's and Cub Foods.

Advance registration is required and can be made by calling the McDonald's office at 663-4181. The cost is $5 for participants 2 years or older. The museum also will raffle five retired Beanie Babies and a Princess Beanie Baby. All proceeds from the raffle will benefit the museum. For information, contact Shelly Hanover at 829-6222.

ities. "4-H to me teaches responsibility," Roch said. "It gives the kids an opportunity." According to Ropp, both clubs are geared toward helping their members. "There's less emphasis on competition," he said. "We make an attempt to establish positive self-esteem in the kids." One competitive aspect of the clubs that hasn't changed much over nent raise, both figured on salaries that have been frozen at 1996-97 levels while the contract was being negotiated.

The contract also provides merit raises averaging 5 percent next year. The average SIU faculty member earned $46,300 in the 1997-98 academic year, well under the $59,051 av i- cram Camp Fire offers bereavement outing The Camp Fire Council of North Central Illinois will hold its Treasure of Life Camp at Stronghold near Oregon, 111., a bereavement camp for children ages 6 to 14 who have lost someone close to them. The camp will be July 5 through 10, and activities will include supervised canoeing, swimming, arts, crafts, hiking, sports, challenge course and games. Cost is $200 for the one-week camp. Camp Fire is also seeking donations to cover expenses, as the cost of the camp is lower than the expenses incurred.

Registration is being accepted and is limited to the first 50 people. For information, contact the Camp Fire office, (815) 434-4409. If you have items of community interest in your town or county for inclusion in the Central Illinois Briefs column, send them to Pete Falcone, regional news editor, P.O. Box 2907, Bloomington, IL 61702-2W7, or fax them to (309) 829-7000. Please include information about your news item to answer the following questions: Who, What, When.

Where and Why? ing on their door. "The lady was alerting all of us to the fire, telling us to call 911," Hibbs said. Quinn said the woman then drove him to the home of Gilliam's relatives and found him there. "He bolted out the door to see what was going on," Quinn said. A Bloomington Fire Department captain said when firefighters arrived, smoke was coming from throughout the home, and fire was venting through the kitchen window.

Members of the fire department extinguished the fire and remained on the scene for about two hours. A fire inspector was called and determined the fire was a result of discarded smoking materials in a plastic trash can. Fire, smoke and water damage was estimated to be $10,000, and Red Cross was on the scene to assist the family. It was not known if Gilliam had insurance. Quinn said Gilliam lost everything and only had the clothes that he and his family had on.

Hibbs said she would like to thank the woman who awakened a neighborhood and maybe saved lives. under investigation could be seen for miles. The Bloomington Township Fire Department fought the blaze with assistance from the Heyworth, Dale Township and Downs fire departments. The McLean County Rescue Squad and Bloomington Lifeline were also at the scene, but there were no injuries Saturday night. Tom Willan, chief for the Bloomington Township Fire Department, said Saturday night at the scene that a cause had not been determined and would be under investigation by his department, the Illinois fire marshal's office and the McLean County sheriffs department.

Time to travel, fish, golf the things that give you pleasure! With all of your maintenance taken care of, you will have more time to do the things you enjoy! Purchase your very own duplex today! Worry free living No maintenance Beautiful setting Safety 2 Bedroom2 bath duplexes Principles remain as 4-H changes over the years By REBECCA LODA Pantagraph staff 4-H runs deep in the Ropp family blood. In the 1920s, Gordon Ropp's parents, Mable and Clarence, competed against each other in a pig showing in the local 4-H fair. Seventy years later, Ropp and his daughter, Diana Emberton, co-leaders of the Silverleaf Let's Go Ag club, are preparing Twin City 4-H members for similar fairs. Ropp, Emberton and others celebrated the 80th anniversary of the Silverleaf Let's Go Ag and Silverleaf 4-H clubs Sunday at the Interstate Center in Bloomington. The event featured guest speaker Max Armstrong, a farm reporter from Chicago's WGN-AM radio.

Don Meyer of the McLean County Cooperative Extension and University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Acting Director Dennis Campion also spoke, as a tree planting ceremony commemorated the birthday and a flag was dedicated in honor of former 4-H leader Glen Rader. The two clubs actually started out as one, initially named the Silverleaf 4-H. Club, said Margery Roch, organizational leader of Silverleaf 4-H. Afler several changes over the years, the two clubs splintered and adopted their current names, although the four Hs head, heart, health and hands remain the sajme. think that it probably did start rural," Roch said.

"People think of 4-H and they think of farms, but all my kids are from in town." Both clubs also have become more sevice-oriented than they were in the past. Time Location 7:30 p.m. City Hall 109 E. Olive St. COLFAX SHARE food sign-up to be held Friday Sign-up for the SHARE Food will be Friday.

Distribution will be 1 to 2 p.m. June 26 at the Old Village Hall, Colfax. Participants may sign up for the July distribution at this time. Cost is $14 per food unit of meat, vegetables and fruit or $7.50 per unit for vegetables and fruit only. Participants are also required to put in two hours of community service per food unit purchased.

80 years the years is their participation in the McLean County Fair, where members display projects they've worked on throughout the year. Although many of the traditional agricultural projects such as animal showing and gardening still exist, they now sit alongside electrical, woodworking and glasswork projects. "The fact is you can have any project you want," Ropp said. "There's even a category called Do Your Own Thing." erage pay at all public universities that grant doctoral degrees. Besides higher pay, the faculty union has pressed for a greater say in running the university, especially in budgeting; deciding which programs are eliminated; the hiring of administrators; and the hiring, promotion and firing of faculty.

NORMAL, By PAMELA CROSS Pantagraph staff An early morning fire destroyed a mobile home on Bloomington's west side Sunday, displacing the family that lived there. Neighbors said owner Eric Gilliam and his family were not home when the fire broke out a little after 7 a.m. at 88 Epsilon St. in the Maple Grove Mobile Home Park on Alexander Road. The fire was noticed by a woman leaving Alexander Estates on her way to LeRoy to teach Sunday school.

Don Quinn, who lives directly behind Gilliam's home, said the woman, whose name he said he knew but could not think of at the time, told him she saw black smoke coming from Maple Grove Park and went to investigate. She told him she first thought someone was barbecuing but decided to check just to make sure. When the woman saw the mobile home was on fire, she began to alert those in nearby homes, Quinn said. Quinn's granddaughter, Danielle Hibbs, said her family was asleep when they heard someone screaming and bang Crestwicke fire still By PAMELA CROSS Pantagraph staff The home in the Crestwicke subdivision that was severely damaged by fire Saturday night is owned by Bill Edwards, the McLean County sheriffs department said Sunday. No one was home at the time of the fire.

A neighbor who noticed smoke coming from the home called 911. An estimate of damage from the fire and further reports were not available Sunday. The fire occurred a little after 8 p.m., casting a black cloud of smoke over the dusky sky that The PantagraphDANA L. HOBACK Suzanne and Loren Lay, left, shared a laugh with Sandra and Bill Foli as they looked at a newspaper clipping of Sandra Foli as the 1957 McLean County Fair queen. Current club members and alumni of the Silverleaf Let's Go Ag and Silverleaf 4-H marked the clubs' 80th anniversary with a potluck Sunday at the Interstate Center grounds in Bloomington.

SIU faculty negotiators approve tentative contract (AP) Faculty negotiators at Southern Illinois University have come to terms with administrators on a tentative contract. Members of SIU's local of the National Education Association will get details on the contract in a series of. meetings beginning next week ahd vote on it by mail by July 7. Season Closeout Sale! Though it deals with more agricultural issues than Silverleaf 4-H, Silverleaf Let's Go Ag, also has sung at nursing homes and participated in a canned food drive. This year, the club adopted third-grade students from Chicago as pen pals.

"We sent them some samples of hay and corn," Emberton said. Meanwhile, Silverleaf 4-H is involved in an array of activities geared toward helping members gain confidence and leadership abil If they approve the contract, it will go into effect immediately and cover all approximately 730 tenured and tenure-eligible teachers, whether or not they belong to the union. The pact provides each covered teacher with a one-time 3.5 percent payment plus an 8 percent perma Parkway Bloomington, IL BBQ Shrimp Top Sirloin Steak EVERYTHING MARKED LAST WEEK OPEN For A Limited Tune 12.95 HANGING BASKETS 7.95 A 6 oz. center cut of top sirloin steak with BBQ shrimp and vegetable rice pilaf. Served with choice of soup du jour or house salad and Jumer's famous fresh baked bread and cinnamon rolls.

LOTS OF ANNUALS, PERENNIALS, FERNS, VINES, SPIKES, HOSTA, GRASSES, GERANIUMS AND MANY UNUSUAL PLANTS. Available every night of the week in our Dining Room. Call now for reservations (309)362-2525 jyi T7: HEIGHTS FLOWERS ill liUllkJ VETERANS PARKWXX 509 S. Buck Road, LeRoy, IL 61752 309962-5000 1601 Jumer Drive, at Veterans ft 0.