Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 46

7 HerakMReview SUSAN AEER Sunday, March 11, 2001 Here's a tip: Appreciate hard workers 1 ss- I ft ''7 Clw 1 V7 Herald Review photosPhil Jacobs BEGINNING HIS SHIFT: Lydell Kallenbach fills out a log sheet before starting his rounds as a patrol officer for the village of Harristown. Kallenbach, a detective with the Macon County Sheriff's Office, works some of his off-duty hours for the village of Harristown. MOONL TING By STEPHANIE POTTER Staff Writer Many law enforcement officers work second jobs in related fields, supplementing their incomes while deterring crime. I was a 19-year-old suburban girl suddenly living and working in the big cit" of Chicago, clueless about so many things. I'm wiser now, but my brain still skips beats, baffling people and embarrassing me.

When I was 19, for example, I didn't know that cab drivers expected tips. My editors at the Chicago Tribune would tell me to catch cabs as they sent me off to cover breaking news. I chatted up the cabbies, and we'd laugh, and they'd answer my schoolgirl questions about city life and take pains to deliver me right to the doors of my destinations. I was always in a hurry, though. When I'd give a cabbie $6, say, on a $5.40 fare and hold out my hand for the change, I never noticed a chill.

One night, though, I took a cab home near midnight. The fare was $19.80. 1 handed the guy a twenty and, stepping from the cab, said, "Keep the change." HE EXPLODED. Leaning out his window, he called me a name no one ever had. "Why'd you stiff me?" he shouted.

I didn't know what "stiffing" meant, but within a minute I figured it out and dug more money from my purse. "I didn't know," I stammered. He rolled his eyes and zoomed away. Since then, to make reparations for stiffing so many Chicago cabbies, I tip well. Waiters in particular work harder than I do on their feet, sweating and earning less.

Some don't even make minimum wage and rely on tips to lift them above a subsistence salary. And so, on a recent Saturday night, I didn't hesitate to add 20 percent to a $120 bill. My dad and I had agreed to split the cost of the $240 meal, a rare family get-together in a classic old restaurant in a distant city. THAT NIGHT, we indulged our festive spirit. Our server, Debi, her name stitched to her shirt, carried plates of fragrant escargot to our table, and juicy filet mignon and huge shrimp curled seductively in garlic butter.

We shared three bottles of wine. We licked our plates clean. We wanted for nothing. As Debi picked up our credit card receipts, we thanked her out loud. We were pushing back our chairs when my brother asked Dad and me: "So, did you leave a great tip?" Dad nodded, and I said, "Yup, my usual." That's when my brain, the little devil, decided to redo the math.

I froze in my seat. My family says I threw my hands to my face. "Uh oh," I said. "I think I really screwed up." I searched the dining room for Debi, then frantically waved her over. Too many minutes already had passed in which she had every right to think me a jerk.

"I made a big mistake!" I gasped, and immediately she smiled. "I wasn't going to let you out the door," she said, then winked. "I knew you didn't mean it." SHE LAID the receipt in front of me. I had, indeed, left her $2.40 on $120 a 2 percent tip. My observant brother, who earlier caught a flash of bewilderment in Debi's eyes, slid $25 in my direction, and the awkwardness was over.

But I've since wondered whether Debi would really have approached me, and what she might have said. I couldn't reach her, but her boss told me he's not sure Debi, a gracious veteran, would have said a thing. And I've wondered how many limp-brained diners waiters must deal with, and how many naive riders cabbies must endure, and how many never find the voice or the nerve to get what they deserve. Susan Ager writes for the Detroit Free Press, Box 828, Detroit, MI 48231, or send e-mail to her at agerfreepress.com. -y' --m mnm nlr- deputies is now is just under $29,000.

For police officers, it's around $33,000. Decatur police officer Jon Thomas, who works at First National Bank, said about 75 percent of the officers he knows work extra jobs to supplement their income. For Thomas, the motivation is his two children, rapidly approaching college age. "That's probably the only reason I work off-duty, to be able to afford the things they need and want," Thomas said. While working extra jobs to provide for one's children is certainly not unique to police officers, Austin said police officers, by their very nature, might be more likely to work extra jobs.

"A police officer, for the most part, is a workaholic," Austin said. "If you look at police officers, at least the ones in Decatur that I know, all these guys have extra jobs. It started off, honestly, because of the money, but the pay has come up, and you still have people doing the extra jobs." Some jobs, such as working at Longview, provide other rewards. Sheriff's Lt. Tom Schneider, who has worked in the housing project for 11 years, said he gained valuable experience by working with other officers in the once-crime-plagued complex.

Both the Decatur police and sheriff's departments have policies on second jobs that say the jobs must be approved. Decatur Cmdr. Rich Ryan, who teaches at Richland Community College in his spare time, said second jobs are usually approved as long as they are not in liquor stores or unbecoming of a police officer. "We know there are security needs within the community, and our job is to provide for the safety and security and well-being of the people in the town," Ryan said. Police departments can be liable for actions JOBS04 DECATUR For many police officers and sheriff's deputies, working second jobs is a way of life.

Either as store or bank security guards, or patrolling small towns such as Niantic and Harristown, officers find their police skills can translate into extra cash as much as $15 to $20 an hour. Recently, the Illinois State Police forced troopers who worked as security guards at the Longview Place housing complex to leave those jobs because State Police officials contend the job is too close to police work, and troopers are forbidden by department policy to work side jobs as peace officers. But local law enforcement agencies say side jobs can also benefit their departments, by allowing officers to build good will in the community and deter crime. Macon County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Daniel Burris said he has worked part-time jobs on and off throughout his almost 20-year career so his wife could stay home with their children.

Burris now works at the Hickory Point Bank in downtown Decatur. "There's so much part-time work, and most people like having a police officer as an option to hiring security officers," Burris said. Dale Arnold, president of Hickory Point Bank, said the bank began hiring off-duty police officers to act as security guards about seven years ago after several banks in the area were robbed. "I think it's been nothing but positive," Arnold said. "I think (the customers) probably have a feeling of security also." Gene Gambrill, village president of Niantic, which hires off-duty deputies to patrol its streets in a car owned by the village, said having the officers in town has reduced speeding problems.

ALL SECURE: Kallenbach makes his rounds in Harristown. In his off-duty time, he also works in security at the Longview Place. Sheriff's Office Sgt. Max Austin, who patrols Niantic and also coordinates the police protection program for Long Creek, said he began working part-time jobs when pay was much lower at the department. Austin's salary when he began working as a deputy in 1991 was just under $20,000.

Starting salary for sheriff's GOING PLACES Travelers spend greenbacks for St. Pat's Day i i in. By BRENDA FARRELL For The Associated Press 1 II 0 irriT rr tfl Bostonians claim Irish heritage, so it's no wonder the city has dubbed March the "Month of St. Patrick." On March 17, some 600,000 visitors and 20,000 marchers are expected for the city's 100th annual St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Other significant celebrations include the annual St. Patrick's Day Celebration and Best Irish Coffee Contest at Boston City Hall and The Chieftains in Concert at Boston Symphony Hall. For information, call toll-free, 1-800-SEE-BOSTON or visit the Web site www.BostonUSA.com. Chicago: Just about anyone who owns a television set knows Chicagoans tint the Chicago River green in celebration of St. Patrick's Day.

From March 16 to 18, the Windy City's pubs resound with celebrations of traditional music and food. For information, call 1-800-2CONNECT or visit www. cityofchicago.orgtourism. ST. PAFSG4 natural tourism draw." Evan Smith, vice president of tourism marketing for the Newport County Convention Visitors Bureau, says Newport's significant Irish community is proud of its heritage and enjoys sharing it with visitors.

"The Irish, who were the great stone masons of the age, arrived in Newport in the early 1800s to build Fort Adams," he says. "The second wave came some 90 years later during the Gilded Age, to build Newport's famous seaside mansions. Many of the Irish heritage events we market to visitors today are still very much this community's homegrown celebrations." From Boston's fabled celebrations to the crowds that throng Savannah, San Antonio, Texas, and Kansas City, there's nary an American city that isn't offering a bit of the Luck O' the Irish in March. Some highlights: Boston: Four out of every 10 In cities across the United States, the "Wearing o' the Green" is also a time for the spending o' the green. And that has tourism promoters singing hymns of praise to St.

Patrick. "Americans' ardor for everything Irish means that many cities especially those that aren't the typical collegiate Spring Break hot spots have found a unique opportunity to attract visitors with festive St. Patrick's Day celebrations and bargain-priced lodging throughout the month of March," says Chris DeSessa, a professor of travel tourism management at Johnson Wales University in Providence, R.I. "Take Newport, R.I., for example. St.

Patrick's Day falls right smack in the middle of the value season. Add to that Newport's rich Irish heritage and a schedule of down-home Irish celebrations that are as much fun for visitors as they are for locals, and you have a Associated Press GREEN RIVER: The Chicago River is dyed green for Chicago's annual St. Patrick's Day parade, in this 1997 file photo..