The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 1

www.pantagraph.com THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2002 50 Cents THE PAN GRAPH CONNECTING LLINOIS Huck Finn set to music in ISU High graduate Jim Crews chosen as head basketball coach at Arm Sports production of 'Big River' Get out jrtfP 7 -a 3 iis lit First ware sf pin Bush OKs campaign reform bill Lawmakers: Layoffs necessary the past few days. They are the first of at least 1,000 state workers who are losing their jobs as a way for the state to make up a $1 billion budget deficit. The specialists work daily with inmates in recreational activities, therapeutic counseling and other creative and physical outlets. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees the union that represents state workers does not know who will supervise prison recreation under Ryan's cuts, but union officials say such activities are an essential part of ensuring order and security SEE SLIPS BACK PAGE By Karen Blatter STATEHOUSE BUREAU SPRINGFIELD Lila Wagner, an activity specialist at Lincoln Correctional Center, got her pink slip Sunday after she finished supervising an inmate volleyball tournament. "The warden called me up and said, 'I'm sorry to give you this but, here's your she said Wednesday during a press conference in Springfield.

"The little intro letter said 'because of lack of funds, we basically have no need for you Wagner was among about 120 leisure-activity specialists in the Department of Corrections served layoff notices in necessary evil of the $1 billion budget crisis. "We all hope that these type of actions are not taken," Brady said. "We have to reverse the budget problem. "The drastic actions of layoffs is something we don't want to see, but is the next step we are at. This is the first of many bad tastes to come." SEE LAYOFFS BACK PAGE By Karen Blatter STATEHOUSE BUREAU SPRINGFIELD Central Illinois lawmakers are at a loss for other possible budget solutions as Gov.

George Ryan and members of the state's largest employee union bicker over the rights and wrongs of layoffs. Republican state Reps. Dan Brady of Bloomington and Dan Rutherford of Chenoa said the layoffs are a ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON, D.C. President Bush grudgingly signed landmark legislation designed to limit the role of big money in political campaigns on Wednesday, triggering a rush to the courthouse by critics challenging the constitutionality of the law. "I wouldn't have signed it if I was really unhappy with it.

I think it improves the system," Bush told reporters more than two hours after signing the measure in the early morning quiet of the White House, without the public fanfare often lavished on major bill signings. "I'm pleased that President Bush has signed campaign finance reform legislation into law," said Sen. John McCain, the leading advocate of the measure in Congress and the man who challenged Bush unsuccessfully to embrace the bill during the 2000 GOP presidential primaries. By late morning, as Bush flew south to help raise millions for GOP congressional candidates, two lawsuits were filed in the U.S. District Courthouse several blocks from the White House.

Both of them alleged the legislation violates the constitutional guarantee of free speech. SEE CAMPAIGN BACK PAGE Comedian Milton Berle dead at 93 if! I A Yv- vJ n11 Mitsubishi names new president By Kathy McKlnney PANTAGRAPH STAFF WITH AP REPORTS BLOOMINGTON Rolf Eckrodt, the DaimlerChrysler executive charged with leading a turnaround of Mitsubishi Motors has been named the company's president and chief executive officer. DaimlerChrysler owns 37.3 percent of Tokyo-based MMC, the parent company of Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America. MMMA's plant in Normal employs 3,200. Eckrodt replaces Takashi Sonobe, who will become chairman of Japan's fourth-largest automaker.

The change will take effect after a June shareholders' meeting. Eckrodt now is MMC executive vice president and chief operating officer of car operations. "These moves will ensure the consistency and continuity of MMC's global turnaround," said Rich Gilligan, president and chief operating officer of MMMA. SEE MITSUBISHI BACK PAGE ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES Milton Berle, the acerbic, cigar-smoking vaudevillian who eagerly embraced a new medium and became "Mr. Television" when the technology was in its infancy, died Wednesday.

He was 93. Berle was diagnosed with colon cancer last year and had been under hospice care for the past few weeks. Berle's wife, Lor-na, and several family members were at his side when he died at home after a lengthy illness, publicist Warren Cowan said. "What a remarkable man, what a remarkable career," Bob Hope and his wife, Dolores, said in a statement. "Eighty-eight years in show business, a brilliant comedian, an accomplished actor, a lifelong friend." Hope, 98, and his wife, 93, joked: "We are among the select few who could call him "Uncle Miltie" was the king of Tuesday nights in the late 1940s, and store owners put up signs: "Closed tonight to watch Milton Berle." At 8 p.m., four Texaco service attendants sang the "Texaco Star Theater" theme, and then came Berle, dressed for laughs: a caveman introduced as "the man with jokes from the Stone a man in a barrel "who had just paid his taxes." I Actor Dudley Moore dies from rare brain disorder Page D13 If the audience thought he looked funny in a dress, Berle was happy to oblige, and skits in drag became a trademark.

The NBC program's popularity spurred sales of television sets and helped make TV a medium for the masses. "From the first days of my career, he was one of my comedic heroes," Don Rickles said. "He was always a great mentor. His style of comedy will never be replaced." Berle was called the "Thief of Bad Gags' and even joked about stealing quips. "I laughed so hard I nearly dropped my pencil," he once said of a rival comedian, and he stopped at nothing for a laugh.

"Good evening, ladies and germs," Berle would say to his audience. "I mean, ladies and gentlemen. I call you ladies and gentlemen, but you know what you really are." In his debut season in 1948, Berle's show was watched on four out of every five sets in the nation, and he was the new medium's highest-paid funny man. SEE BERLE BACK PAGE Associated Press Milton Berle was photographed June 24, 1991, before being indudted into the Comedy Hall of Fame in Los Angeles. Berle died Wednesday at his home.

He was 93. INSIDE Pontiac pool could close permanently 'ft- ABBY D7 CLASSIFIED C7 COMICS B8 CROSSWORD D7 GET OUT Dl HOROSCOPE D7 LOTTERY A2 MOVIES D4 OBITUARIES A9 OPINION A12 STOCKS C5 "We don't want to close it (Humiston pool) and we don't want to tear it down. But we have a decaying structure, and I don't like to say it, but we may have to do it." Mike Ingles Pontiac mayor Weather rn in i -L. i-i tint r' 1 1 By M.K. Guetersloh PONTIAC BUREAU CHIEF PONTIAC The decision to tear down the 77-year-old Camp Humiston Pool will be a tough one for the Pontiac City Council to make, but Mayor Mike Ingles believes the pool's end is near.

Ingles talked about the pool Wednesday at the Pontiac City Hall. The pool probably will not open this summer because there isn't, enough time to make the repairs necessary to shore up the crumbling concrete structure, Ingles said during Wednesday's Pontiac Area Chamber of Commerce's Issues and Eggs breakfast. "We don't want to close it and we don't want to tear it down," he said. "But we have a decaying structure, and I don't like to say it, but we may have to do it." The public pool, built in 1925 in Chautauqua Park, is made mostly of poured concrete. Steel reinforcements within the structure are failing, according, to Farnsworth Group engineer Caius Jen-nison.

The city asked Farnsworth engineers to survey the pool after a poured-concrete bench collapsed over the winter. "Kids 'with falling concrete that weighs several hundred pounds is not a good combination," Ingles said. The cost to renovate the pool could reach $2 million, according to Jenni- TODAY'S FORECAST Cloudy with a shower; breezy. High 52 Low 42 For complete weather information, see Today's Weather on the back page. Copyright 2002 The Pantograph hift A PULITZER NEWSPAPER Pantaqraph flit photo The city of Pontiac does not want to tear down the historic Camp Humiston Pool, but it may have no choice.

Mayor Mike Ingles said cost, building codes and the facility's often-flooded location are all working against the pool, which was built in 1925. son's preliminary estimate. Renovation could give the pool a few added years of service, but Ingles said the city will face the same problems again because the annual flooding of the Vermilion River leaves the structure absorbing water, damaging the concrete and steel supports. The pool also is not in compliance with current building and electrical codes. Major renovations would require the city to rebuild the pool to modern codes that would dramatically change its appearance, Jennison said.

"And we don't even know if the state will let us renovate it," added Ingles, referring to state regulations that prohibit building in a flood plain. mi i i dized by the city," Ingles said. "To invest more money in the pool would be the equivalent of an expensive Band-Aid." The council is expected to continue its discussion about the pool at it meeting Monday night. Annual revenue for the pool has averaged about $5,000 a season for the past three years, according to city records. Meanwhile, the city pays about $36,000 a year to open and run the pool for the summer.

"The pool is already heavily subsi 4 sections, 52 pages 7.