Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 6

Central no Decatur, Illinois Herald Review Sunday, May 9, 1999 Political Watch Mm Waste 0 v. I Developer works to secure funding for the Decatur property, hoping to move on the project within the year. By BILLY TYUS Staff Writer much activity in relation to the project. After lengthy battles over the property between Decatur City Council member Betsy Stockard whose Youth Empowerment Agency owns the building and the city, officials in November voted to spend $47,000 to tear down the building, which requires expensive renovations to bring it up to city coda The city decided to delay that demolition after Stockard was approached late last year by Cox officials. The officials wanted to redevelop the site, mamteining the exterior of the historic building while overhauling the interior.

YEA had planned to turn the building into a community center. City Attorney Wendy Morthland said the stay of demolition will remain in effect until at least June 30 or until the developers notify the city of whether they received the financial incentives and plan to continue with the project. involved in national deals across the country, but I have been made the point person on this and it remains important. "The city has expressed interest in giving us a small amount of HOME money and our strategy is to find political support for more or to patch together money from a variety of areas, including federal and state sources." Representatives are now working to have the property listed in the National Register of Historic Places, a move that could have a significant impact on whether the building is developed. City Planner Kathy Miller said listing the property could make it eligible for various financial incentives for remodeling the building, which Farina said will make up a part of Cox's proposed development funding.

But until the property is listed and the company is able to secure the money it needs, officials don't expect there will be about $6 million to renovate the building. Farina said he and his partners are prepared to put up $3.5 million and have a commitment for a $1 million loan from First National Bank of Decatur. Farina said the company normally applies directly to the state for federal HOME funds on such projects. But because Decatur has direct control over the allocation of such funds many of which have already been allocated or for which there is strong competition there is very little left for the Webster project. Still, Farina said the company will continue working to secure funding and hopes to move on the project within the year.

He said the company is under contract to purchase the building but would not disclose the purchase price. "Personally, it's a No. 1 priority for me," he said. "I have to honestly say that my partners are a national company and are DECATUR The fate of the building formerly known as Webster Hall remains in limbo while city officials and a developer attempt to work out details that could turn the building into a senior housing complex. Representatives from Cox Development Corp.

with offices in New York, Chicago and California are working to secure funding for the property at 736 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. But the developers say they remain about $1.5 million short of the amount needed to move forward with the project. Cox President Bill Farina said it will take Interactive Learning Zoo hands out key to the animal kingdom 4 I' i System lets visitors listen to facts about animals on exhibit with the turn of a key.

By ARVIN DONLEY Staff Writer 1 rt ii lot about animals." Stinton said 23 animal exhibits will feature the electronic interactive boxes. Rhonda Johnson, 29, of Decatur, said the ZooKey was a big hit with her 5-year-old son, Gage. "He seems really receptive to it," she said. "It's like a story on a tape." ZooKeys can be purchased at the concession stand, gift shop or train station for $2.50. Jerry Furby, Community Bank President at National City Bank, said there was overwhelming support to sponsor the ZooKeys program.

"The board of directors just loved this idea," Furby said. "Some of the things presented to us we did not fund 100 percent, but the ZooKeys we did." Among the animals being added to the zoo this summer are Cotton-top Tamarins small monkeylike creatures that are eight to 10 inches tall and large birds from the rain forest called Scarlet Ibis. Other events on the zoo calendar this summer include Family Fun Day on June 19, Friends of the Zoo and Zoo Parents' Annual Picnic on July 9, Ice Cream Safari on July 18 and the 16th annual Turtle 200 Races on Aug. 7. The zoo, celebrating its 31st year in Decatur, drew 125,000 visitors last year.

DECATUR With the help of a red plastic key, visitors at the Scov-ill Zoo can now unlock the door to all sorts of fun facts about their favorite animals. Insert the key into the box in front of the wolf exhibit and a voice tells you "the largest wolves can eat 20 pounds of meat at one time. Could you eat 100 cheeseburgers in one meal?" ZooKeys, an interactive system which uses musical jingles and narratives to provide information about the animal kingdom, was recently installed at Scovill Zoo thanks to a $20,000 donation from National City Bank. The $20,000 gift was part of a $175,000 giveaway to 10 organizations in Decatur by the bank. During its Zippy Zoo Days celebration on Saturday, 50 free ZooKeys were given to children.

Fifty more will be handed out today as the festivities continue. "A lot of little kids don't take time to read the signs," said Shawn Stin-ton, education coordinator at Scovill Zoo. "This way you just put the key in the box and it plays a cool little jingle and a neat, intriguing narrative. It will help them learn a whole 6 r' 45- 'lsi2ZZ2A Herald 8 ReviewPhil Jacobs mimiiii-mim in'm-inr-mri Herald 8. ReviewPhil TYUS INGRAM Jacobs keeps close tie to city council Former Decatur City Council member Lou Ann Jacobs apparently has been bitten by the city government bug.

Less than a month after ending her four-year council term, Jacobs attended her first meeting as a member of the Decatur City Plan Commission on Thursday. Her appointment to the commission was approved at Monday's council meeting. Jacobs announced in October that she would not seek re-election to the city council in order to spend more time with her daughter. The plan commission meets once a month, not every Monday night as does the council. "I WANTED TO stay involved," Jacobs said following a uneventful first meeting.

"And this is perceived as being one of the most powerful committees below the council and makes a lot of very important decisions." Jacobs actually missed what would have been the last and what many thought would be the most heated meeting of the outgoing council on April 26 because of problems returning from an out-of-town trip. It was during that meeting that the council voted 5 to 1 to ban leaf burning in the city. Jacobs said she, too, would have supported the ban, had she been in town. CONFUSION: Macon County Board member David Williams lamented last week that his phone was ringing off the hook with people asking him why he was suing the county. "People see 'Williams' and 'county board' and just assume it's me," he said.

The problem is one of name confusion on the part of voters who don't realize how common the name Williams has become on the county board. The lawsuit going to trial on Tuesday was filed by Diane Sue Williams in 1997 alleging she was not paid for work done as the unofficial assistant to the county board chairman while the post was vacant for 11 months in 1995 and 1996. At the time, she was secretary to the board chairman. Sue Williams, as she prefers to be known, should not be confused with board members Billy and David Williams, a father-son duo, and Annie Williams, who is not related to any of the others. Sue Williams, a Democrat, won election to the board last year from board District 7.

LONG OVERDUE: Effingham County Republicans will have their annual Lincoln Day dinner on June 13, a tad later than the normal February outing. But the delay was for a good cause, said Bruce Kessler, county GOP chairman. U.S. SEN. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Illinois, will be the speaker.

Kessler said Fitzgerald is making just four Lincoln dinner appearances this year and the Effingham gig is the only one in downstate Illinois. The last GOP senator to visit Effingham was U.S. Sen. Everett McKinley Dirksen more than 45 years ago, Kessler said. Fitzgerald pulled a large plurality in Effingham County last year in defeating incumbent Carol Moseley-Braun, so Kessler expects a good turnout for the event, which is open to the public.

Tickets are $25 a person, which won't hurt GOP campaign coffers if a crowd gathers. The dinner starts with a cocktail hour at 5:30 p.m. and dinner at 6:30 p.m. with the program to follow at the Thel-ma Keller Convention Center. Billy Tyus and Ron Ingram cover politics and government for the Herald Review.

1 mim-iir Z00 KEY: As his father Al looks on, Boston Fleener, 7, of Farmer City uses his zoo key to learn more about an exhibit on Saturday at the Scovill Zoo. Letter carriers c3 elsuer loods -j-iJl J1IIU- si By VALERIE WELLS Staff Writer mf 1. v-xjL, i n. Herald Review file photo COLORFUL CHARACTER: Charles W. 'Honest Pod' Holzhausen poses for the camera in 1981.

Holzhausen was a used car salesman. Decatur's 'Honest Pod' dies Charles W. Holzhausen was hilS: Herald ReviewPhil Jacobs Pod made his living selling used cars known for his love of dancing, and his loud style of dressing. FOOD DRIVE: While volunteers, Jayme King, 8, left, Jayson King, 10, and Dayle Irwin sort canned and dry goods, volunteer Tamme King brings even more food from the mail truck, as letter carrier April Hudson, right, looks on during the annual postal food drive Saturday at 16th and Cantrell streets. By VALERIE WELLS Staff Writer DECATUR Many people do something charitable at Christmas time, such as giving a contribution to a food bank or taking a child's name off The Salvation Army's Angel Tree.

But once Christmas is over, those organizations sometimes find themselves scrambling to meet the need because donations have dried up. That's why the National Association of Letter Carriers holds its annual "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive, asking the customers on mail routes to leave nonperishable food by their mailbox for their letter carrier to pick up and take back to the post office for distribution to food banks. This year's event was held on Saturday. "All donations stay in the community," said Morrie Smith, postmaster for the Shelbyville Post Office, which participated for the first time this year. "That seems like a big draw.

People' are more willing to participate when they know that." Though the United States Postal Service supports the annual food drive, it's the NALC which handles publicity, recruits the volunteers and does all the work, Smith said. Shelbyville hadn't participated before because the carriers didn't realize there was a shortfall in their community. But when Shelbyville area food banks called the post office to say they needed the boost, city carrier Ann Stock volunteered to head up the during most of his working years, and earned his nickname when he and a friend had a car lot together. They called each other "pardner," shortened first to "pard" and finally to "pod." The "Honest" part of the appellation came from a satisfied customer at his Tay-lorville gas station several years later, Pod told the Herald Review in a 1976 interview. And when Pod introduced himself, said C.

Dean Perry, a used-car dealer in Decatur, he always said "Honest Pod, heavy on the "He was a good old boy," Perry said. "He always dressed real flamboyant, you know, always had a big old-model Cadillac and called it his Elvis Machine. We used to call him The Dancing Man." Pod even had a namesake, a trotter owned by Bill Hanna Stables. Hanna told the in 1987, "That horse acts like Honest Pod. He runs down the track, stops and goes in circles." This description didn't bother Pod a bit.

He told the "He's inherited my love for dancing. When he gets a little older, I'm going to take him to Spare Time Lanes and teach him the DECATUR Decatur has lost one of its most colorful characters. Charles W. Holzhausen, better known as "Honest Pod," died Friday at age 89 in Aspen Ridge Care Centre Honest Pod called himself "Decatur's Oldest Teen-ager" and was known for his classic pink Cadillac with the tail-fins, his loud style of dressing lots of plaids in bright colors and his love of dancing to rock 'n' roll. He especially loved to dance to "Wipe-Out," an early 1960s hit for the Safaris that features sustained drum solos.

Pod would stand in the middle of the dance floor and do the shimmy during the drum solos and often said he was the best "Wipe-Out" dancer ever. "He and his little girlfriend used to come out here every week and dance and have a beer or two and enjoy the evening," said Bill Ridge, bartender for the Moose Lodge, one of Pod's favorite hangouts. "He loved to dance, and anytime the bands were playing and he was in here, they played 'Wipe-Out' for Amy Girardi, the AFL-CIO community service liaison with the local United Way. When the additional food is purchased and additional donations are counted, Girardi said the drive likely would net close to the 77,000 pounds it collected last year. This is Decatur's fifth year to participate.

Event chairman Nick Pal-lone estimated that by day's end Decatur's food banks would be 82,000 pounds of food richer. "The carriers use their own time," Pallone said. "They always run over their eight hours, then stick around and help after that. It's all donat- CARRiERS Continued on B3 campaign. "I think most people are glad to donate and glad it stays in the community," Stock said.

About half the houses on her route left food out, and Shelbyville collected 3,013 pounds. Rural carrier Joe Readnour of Moweaqua and his wife Kathy gave up their Saturday to drive along Joe's rural Shelbyville route and parts of two others to pick up food in their pickup truck, while a substitute carrier delivered that route's mail. "We just wanted to help out," Joe said. "It's a good cause." In Decatur, carriers collected 73,000 pounds of food and about $500, which will be used to purchase more food, said.