Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 24

24 Decatur, Illinois. Friday, October 7, 1977- DECATUR HERALD Mattoon Wagon Shop, Museum On Spoon River Drive Teachers said, and the two men were inter-dependent the blacksmith repaired and built the metal parts of the wagons Cjj J-5 si i IfJ i Lewistown A blacksmith museum and wagon shop is one of the at tractions on the 65-mile-long Spoon River Country scenic drive and fall festival which continues Saturday and Sun1 day in Kulton County. The Rasmussen Blacksmith Shop Museum and Wagon Shop is located in the county seat. The black- smith shop was started short ly before the turn of the century by Nelson Rasmussen, an immigrant from Den mark. His sons carried on the business until the gasoline en- gine did away with the need for four-legged horsepower.

Elmer Arnett, 89, went to work as a wagon maker in a room adjoining the black smith shop when he was 20 years old. He paid $2 a month rent for the work room, Arnett and machines and Arnett to repairea ana duiu me woouen parts. Arnett began building things out of wood as a child. He recalls a wooden thresh- ng machine, complete with oeus, ne consiruciea ai age He went into more" general carpentry work after retiring; from the wagon shop, and" helped install the 20 window' frames and sills when the: museum was remodeled sev- erai years ago. Arnett conducts personal tours of the wagon shop he worked in, explaining now ne used the various augers and bits, draw knives, chisels, hammers and hand saws.

PMtM by Bob Strongman 1 .7 Wagonmaker Elmer Arnett once worked In the I ii ill Jh J) Ratify Pact Mattoon Mattoon Education Association (MEA) teachers approved a two-year contract with the school district Thursday night by a two-to-one margin. The contract offer was essentially the same contract MEA members rejected by a three-to-one majority on Sept. 21. "i would say they teachers voted to accept this con- tractVoffer because they didq'C. want to go out on strike" said William Van-Keuren? MEA president.

The MEA and board of edu-cations negotiators met Tuesday and again Thursday to finalize several small changes in the contract. Those meetings resulted in what was termed the school board's final offer and the MEA negotiating team fol-lowedwith a recommendation to accept the contract. The contract imposes a salary freeze the first year and doubles the increment step in the salary schedule the. second year. There also will be a pay increase for to of the schedule teachers equal to the double increment the second year, but no increase in teacher base pay.

Other contract details will be released after the school board meets Oct. 11 to officially approve the contract. 4 ll Illinois Scene J. OA The Rasmussen Blacksmith Shop is now a museum in Lewistown. Council to Have Attorney Examine Airport Agreement mmsmmmmnmn miwmmmtmafmmmmmmmummmamammtffmmw uHmmmmBmsmemaw ii Briefly Speaking Effingham County for operation of Effingham County Airport.

The council met briefly Thursday to discuss the' proposal, then agreed to seek help from an attorney for the state Division of Aeronautics. "We want to: find an attorney that knows what we're talking about." Mayor Clyde Martin said. "We don't know-legally what we can do. "Our attorneys are willing to help us." Martin said, "but if we work with one, he could be just working for his agreement, which some had expected would have been adopted by now, would hring the city into partial ownership of the airport. Airport Commission Chairman David H.

Lewis said he was disappointed" by. the council's delay. However, he said the county and city "are not that far apart" and said. the further examination of the contract would not slow the planned expansion of the airport. Right-of-way specialists from the Illinois Department of Transportation will begin negotiating for land around the airport in a week or two, Lewis said.

".4 About 240 acres are needed for a new, larger runway and other uses. Lewis said the land acquisition can continue with or without the city's signature on the contract. Martin said an example of the legal problems the board cannot figure out is whether a simple majority or a unanimous vote is needed to approve the contract. Lewis said some members of the council board still want to have explained how many airport board members the council can appoint. Also, council member Don Eden wants to have the equal ownership status of the airport contract clearly spelled out in the contract, Lewis said.

Lewis explained that the city and county receive equal credit for the $720,000 Keder-al Aviation Administration grant for land purchases. Thus, the city must "buy the airport, with its payments for operation and maintenance, he said. The absolute, "50-50" sharing of ownership "is down the road," he said. Martin said he hopes the attorney from the state can start on the problem "in three or four days" and finish his work in about a eek. The city also is awaiting an opinion from the Illinois attorney general on the legality of different levels of government joining into an operational agreement.

ftMniiniiii inn iil'ii witm riHtifr'iii fjw if-- in UXwf Arnett gives visitors, like Gordon McKee of Indiana, a talking tour mm Talk of Teacher Strike Regarded as Premature By Dick Zaker Effingham The Effingham City Council wants an impartial attorney to examine an agreement it is considering with the State Siepker said Thursday there have not been any further changes in personnel at the bank since he became president. He declined to make any further statement about the bank. Bethany Celebrates Homecoming Today Bethany Bethany High School's homecoming celebration begins at 3 p.m. today with a downtown parade. A fried chicken dinner, sponsored by the student fcmmcil, will be served 5 to 7 p.m.

in the high school cafeteria. The cost is $2.25 for adults and $1.25 for students. The homecoming queen will be crowned during half-time of the football game, whiclv begins at 7:30 p.m. tonight. An alumni dance will start at 9 p.m.

tonight in The Decatur Club. 158 Prairie in Decatur. Genealogists To Meet Clinton The DeWitt County Genealogical Society will meet at 7 p.m. Oct. 11 in the Wallace Business Korms conference room in Clinton.

The speaker will be Christian DeVisser, who will explain how to request genealogical information Irom government agencies. His talk was originally scheduled for the September meeting but had to be canceled. Grain Firm Employes Get Pay Increase Taylorville A wage increase of 41 to 63 cents per hour will be in el-lect when hourly workers return to their )obs today at the Continental Grain Co. Processing Division plant in Taylorville. A total of $1.35 an hour in average wage hikes are included in the new three-year contract approved Wednesday night bymembers of Lo cal 898 of the Allied Industrial Workers.

The vote was 32 to 22. The 55 union members had been on strike at the plant since May 19. Robert Williamson president of Local 898, said the new contract also provides one extra holiday in the second year of the contract, making a total of 10 paid holidays. There also are in the insurance and pension plans, he said. The average hourly wage at the soybean processing plant was about $5.30 an hour before the latest contract.

The new contract raised that average wage figure to about $5.90 an hour. The new contract is retroactive to May 20, 1977. Bhkk of the shop. 95 229 00 428 4393 DeWitt Woman Killed by Car An 18-year-old Dewitt woman died Thursday in a Champaign hospital after being hit by a car in Champaign Wednesday. Deborah J.

Dunlap, daughter of Donald D. and Joyce E. Campbell Dunlap, died at 7:45 p.m. Thursday in Burn- ham City Hospital. The Champaign County sheriff's ofiice said she was struck by a car while cross-, ing Mattis Avenue near a rail crossing.

The driver of the car was identified as Gary Hettler of Elmhurst. Obituary on Page 36 Ohio Woman Killed on 1-57 A 58-year-old Ohio woman was killed Thursday when her car went down an embankment and turned over after a sideswipe collision with a semi-tractor trailer on fti-terstate -57, a mile south of Effingham. State police said Kern L. Ruegsegger, 58, of Massillon, Ohio, was dead at the scene about p.m. A passenger.

Dean Ruegsegger, 72, of Mesa, was treated and released from the hospital in Effingham. The driver of the semi was Donald R. Payne, 28, of Temple, Texas. Car-Cycle Crash at Pesotum A Champaign motorcyclist and two persons from Villa Grove were injured Thursday in a car-cycle crash on U.S. 45 near Pesotum.

Jeffery K. Jones, 22, Jhe cyclist, was in serious condition in the intensive care unit at Burnham City Hospital, Champaign Thursday. William R. Akers, 21, the driver of the car, was treated and released at Jarman Hospital in Tuscola. His passenger, Zelda A.

Akers, 39, was admitted there and reported in good condition Thursday-night. FBI Continues Bank Probe Cowden The FBI is continuing its investigation at State Bank of Cowden, an agent said Thursday in Springfield, but he could not divulge the status of the bank examination. Bank President Thomas A. Moore resigned Sept. 29 and the KBI confirmed then it was conducting a probe of.

possible irregularities at the bank. If the KBI determines there are violations of federal regulations, the evidence would be turned over the U.S. attorney's oil ice for prosecution. Carl J. Siepker was elected bank president to succeed Moore.

UnUOLC NO FROST 18 CU. FT. REFFREEZER FREEZER IN BOTTOM CROSLEY NO FROST 15 CM- FT. REFFREEZER $95 CROSLEY CROSLEY cheft freezer 288 00 1 15 Cu. Ft.

CHEST FREEZER rWTOi KING I uThI6H CSft TRAP Charleston It's too early to talk strike on Eastern Illinois University and Jour related campuses, although union-affiliated teachers there are taking strike preparations, a spokesman tor the Board of Governors said Thursday. faculty members Wednesday completed a vote that may authorize their negotiating committee to call a strike vote, if talks become deadlocked. Talk of a strike is premature, said public information coordinator" William Dodd, who added that the board's negotiators are bargaining in good faith. The latest negotiating session was Thursday and the talks are expected to become daily Monday. The American 'federation of Teachers Local 3500 represents about 1,700 teachers at E1U, Western Illinois University, Governors State University, Chicago State University and Northeastern Illinois Uni' versity.

The 1,700 teachers number more than half of the faculty, but whether or not their strike would close the five campuses "would depend on the length of the strike. "On a purely theoretical basis, we would keep the colleges open as long as pos-' sible," Dodd said. "The board's negotiating team has acted very seriously and negotiated in absolute good faith," Dodd said, responding to a comment made Wednesday by Local 3500 President Margaret Schmid. Ms. Schmid said she felt the board had not been talking seriously at times during the discussions.

The board is not likely to change its bargaining posi tions on certain elements the union considers crucial, Dodd said. Teacher input in such areas as hiring, promotion and evaluations were declared nonnegotiable in the board original collective bargaining guidelines. 3 Arrested, Drugs Seized During Raids Lovington Early morning raids Thursday in Lovington led to three arrests and seizure of more than 1,300 grams of drugs. David E. Carlson.

24, Robert Lynn Smith. 20, and Michael Shasteen, 17. all of Lovington, were charged with possession of more than 30 grams of marijuana. Smith and Shasteen also were charged with possession of a controlled substance. Moultrie County Sheriff Glen Braden said his department is investigating the sale of drugs to grade school children in Lovington.

Several members of the public have complained about the alleged sales and Braden said a tip irom the public led police to the homes ol Carlson and Smith Thursday morning. Kive sher ill's deputies and a Lovington policeman first raided Carlson's rural Lovington home about 3 a.m. Thursday. They lound more than 500 grams of marijuana there, Braden said. Soon afterward, police with search warrants raided Ihe Smith home, 1255 SOUTHSIDE DR.

DECATUR, ILL. PH. Want to answer a Columnist? Write the Editor.