Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 11

POLITIC: Raising awareness Teams compete in a 3-point shooting contest to raise money to fight cancerMonday mm Questions or comments regarding this section? Contact Night Editor John Reidy Lean budget offers little new money for some important needs They say public schools continue Governor hopes to avoid raising taxes SPRINGFIELD (AP) Even a budget of $53 billion isn't enough to address all of Illinois' problems. The state budget Gov. Rod Blago-jevich proposed last week offers little for guards working in crowded prisons, people taking care of the developmentally disabled and students stuck wu.h outdated school equipment. Blagojevich promotes his plan as a way to avoid raising income or sales taxes wVile dealing with soaring state costs and slim revenues, and he points out that it still provides an extra $140 million for schools. But many interest groups say the governor has left a long list of needs unaddrcssed.

to fall behind while trying to meet stricter academic guidelines, and the governor's extra $140 million for schools is far DGudna less than previous years. Universities have had to raise tuition as their budgets have been cut. Drafting foster parents State budget includes some items for Eastern Illinois University's fine arts center. Story32 has become more difficult because financial support has not increased. And legal experts who help the poor say they aren't getting enough state aid in fact, they aren't getting any under the governor's budget plan.

The answer, some say, may be taxes. "The state needs new revenues if it's going to meet its obligations," WATCHING THE FLOCK 9: Opinion64 at 421-6973 said Marianne McMullen, spokes woman for the Service Employees International Union, which represents state workers. "There's no budget with the current revenue flow that will work for any of our members or any working people of this stata" Becky Carroll, a spokeswoman for Blagojevich's budget office, said with the continuing fiscal crunch, "We can only spend what we can afford." The governor's budget blueprint also will need the General Assembly's approval. In his first year, Blagojevich got most of what he asked for, but last year, a $10 billion chunk of his $53.6 billion budget proposal for state construction projects was never approved. "This is a budget proposal, a starting point, it's a place in which we can now begin the discussion and debate about the choices we feathered.

Decatur. "I think they don't realize the importance of counting the birds," Worley said. "In doing this, the scientists can (compare data) from year to year." If they see a drop in chickadees one year, they can try to find out why. "It maybe can't bring them back, but they can help find out why the things are the way they are," she said, citing factors such as weather or pesticides. Vickie Warner, owner of Backyard Birds in Decatur, said the extra BIRDSB3 i "i have to make," Carroll said.

"Our budget is designed to provoke questions about whether or not we're going to move the state in the right direction by making tough decisions and instilling fiscal discipline." Blagojevich has sounded a theme of doing more with less as the state has faced deficits of more than $1 billion each of the three budgets he's prepared. But for more than a year, many interest groups have argued that the Chicago Democrat already has cut to the bone. The 13,600 prison employees the governor's budget office says will be on staff at the end of the next budget year is down from an average 16,770 in 2001. The governor's budget plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1 would give the Corrections Department a BUDGET82 Workshop teaches how to hunt for treasure By THERESA CHURCHILL Senior Writer DECATUR People interested in finding historical treasures might not have to go too far from home. At least that's what participants at the 10th annual Old House Workshop discovered Saturday when they attended sessions on how to research the genealogy of their houses and salvage noteworthy pieces of architecture.

Cheryl Yoder of Oakley, for example, came away with some new avenues of inquiry in piecing together the history of the farm she and her husband, Edward, own four miles east of Decatur Airport. She knows the land was first given to a New Yorker as payment for his service in the Revolutionary War and that James Millikin and Albert Arthur Hill owned it before her former landlord, Ralph Yakel, bought it in 1949. What she doesn't know is when her two-story farmhouse was built, nor the details of who actually lived in it over the years. Presenter Karen Kummer, an architectural historian from Champaign-Urbana, suggested Yoder contact the Decatur Genealogical Society, check census records and look up obituaries and wills. "This has been very interesting," Yoder said as she made notes in a three-ring binder containing some of her research.

Yoder was among 65 people who attended Saturday's workshop, sponsored at the Masonic Temple by the city of Decatur's Historical and Architectural Sites Commission, and one of several who crowded around after Rummer's presentation to use the city directories, maps and other resources she brought. Kummer said the property abstract is one of the best HUNTB2 GOUGUYS News from Central Illinois Eariy voting reform Absentee voting as Illinois voters know it today could end by next year. House Bill 1015 still is in the process of being drafted, but its intent is to make voting easier and thus increase election turnout. Currently, voters must declare they cannot get to their poll on election day to receive an absentee ballot. The most common reason is being out of town or state.

Under the proposed bill, voters would not have to give any reason for wanting to vote early. If the law passes, and Democratic leaders in the Illinois House and Senate claim to support the change, anyone could show up at a county clerk's office to vote prior to Election Day. The Illinois Association of County Clerks and Recorders has pushed for the change to bring Illinois more in line with reforms in other states. One proposed provision would allow anyone who voted early, then changed his mind, to show up at his poll on Election Day and ask for a new ballot, said Steve Bean, Macon County clerk. The early vote ballot would be destroyed and a new ballot issued, he said.

The proposed bill would have early voting begin three Saturdays prior to an election and end the Saturday prior to the election, Bean said. "It's something we've asked for, especially because of senior citizens," Bean said. "Some of them have problems getting into and out of polling places. Bad weather often keeps people home on Election Day, and we've had lots of complaints in the past about having to stand in line to vote." Early voting also would help people who work 12-hour shifts vote, which seems to be a more common occurrence, he said. A recent change in state law allows people to register to vote up to two weeks prior to an election.

Bean said early voting would mean anyone who came in to register at the last minute could decide to vote then, too. One thing not included in the proposed bill is central tabulation of early votes, something the county clerks would like to see to save time and labor on Election Day, Bean said. Now, clerks have to deliver absentee ballots to the proper precincts on Election Day for election judges to include in their tally at day's end. Ron Ingram Davis endorses LaHood John L. Davis issued a parting endorsement of U.S.

Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Peoria, for the Republican gubernatorial nomination after stepping down Wednesday as Macon County GOP chairman. The county Republican Central Committee seldom endorses candidates for statewide office, but a county chairman may do so, expressing a personal preference, Davis said. "LaHood is the best candidate I can see," Davis said. "He's got political sawy.

But he's got work to do. He has to get himself known around Chicago. And he's facing some big money." LaHood has not formally announced as a candidate for governor. But he recently formed an exploratory committee to gauge his strength for a run for the GOP nomination in 2006. Ron Ingram National Paries honors U.S.

Sen. Dick Durbin, and U.S. Reps. Lane Evans, D-Rock Island, and Tim Johnson, R-Cham-paign, have received the Friend of the National Parks Award from the National Parks Conservation Association. The award is given by the watchdog group to members of Congress who defend national parks as demonstrated by their voting records.

Johnson also was recognized as the "National Champion" of the American Institute of Architects. Ron Ingram CORRECTION The Macon County clerk's office was open Saturday and will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 21 contrary to information contained in the story "Presidents Day schedules" in Saturday's Herald Review.

Other county offices will be closed Monday In observance of Presidents Day. Herald Review photosLisa Morrison A sparrow stops for a drink of water at the bird feeders of Linda Worley on Saturday morning. Worley was one of the birdwatchers participating in the nationwide Great Backyard Bird Count. There were red bellied woodpeckers, cow birds, grackles, gold finches, sparrows, house finches, blue jays, mockingbirds, starlings, downey woodpeckers and morning doves among the feathered visitors before the snow arrived. residents participate in scientific bird count 1 spy so By BETHANY CARSON Staff Writer DECATUR By 7 p.m.

Saturday, Decatur tied for seventh in the state among cities sighting the greatest number of bird species reported to the Great Backyard Bird Count. Individual bird-watchers had reported seeing 25 different kinds of birds, mostly northern cardinals, during the weekend-long event that invited the public to keep track of birds seen in their own back yards, local parks or natural areas. The event lasts until Monday. The Canada goose Decatur notched the The entered database monitor Decatur said their 75 count. But science, 'Sassy 3 the most sightings, with 6,400 around state.

information is into a national and helps researchers at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology migrating patterns. Ross Thompson, chairman of the bird count committee for the Audubon Society, people who know birds could dig out species during the even the novice bird-watcher can offer a significant contribution to according to A blue jay takes peanuts from one of Linda Worley's feeders Saturday. Linda Worley, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Worms: Will work for food organic waste, not including paper, makes up 11 percent to 13 percent of all material found in landfills and is one of the biggest problems facing the solid waste industry. Sarah Bush is still in the opening phases of researching the benefits of vermicomposting, but after six months, Nichols is pleased with the worms' recycling More information about vermicomposting can be found at www.illinois recycles.com or www. worm woman.com.

By KRtSTA LEWIN Staff Writer MATTOON Jeff Nichols doesn't mind sharing his office space with a few hundred worms. The worms, housed in a dark tub with a secure lid, silently consume food waste while Nichols, manager of custodial services at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center, researches ways for the hospital to continually help the environment through recycling. After a food waste audit was performed at Sarah Bush, Nichols said hospital staff wanted to find an efficient way to decrease the amount of food waste they disposed of in landfills. Nichols learned one option was recycling the food waste by feeding it to worms, also known as vermicomposting. Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity officials report I -Tli i air abilities.

"One pound of worms will eat half a pound of food waste each day," Nichols said. Worms are efficient at recycling, he said. The worms eat the food waste, and W0RMSB3 Herald ReviewChase Agnello-Dean Long Drive team members Dustin Haile and Steve Nickerson look at a broken tee as they wait for the start of the long drive competition Saturday afternoon at the Decatur Golf Expo at the Decatur Indoor Sports Center. A 378-yard attempt by Josh Mulligan, who competed in the men's open division, was the event's longest drive. The expo continues today from noon to 4 p.m..