Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 11

Clinton drownings 1 was A preview of the LaGrone triple-murder trialMonday Local AM FR ABE Political Watch Questions or comments regarding this section? Contact Night Editor John Reidy at 421-6973 Olive Garden contract on the table iffingham hospital group fries on prom dress sale activity "The theme is James Bond," Maggie Lewis said. "She wanted something slinky," Jill Lewis said. The Lewises were on their hunt for the perfect Bond girl dress Saturday morning at St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital in Effingham. The unusual location was the site of the St.

Anthony's Spirit Committee's First Prom Dress Sale The Spirit Committee plans events to reinforce Girls enjoy variety of styles, prices By SHARON M0SLEY For the Herald Review EFFINGHAM Stewardson-Strasburg High School junior Maggie Lewis and her mother, Jill Lewis, knew exactly what they were looking for in a prom dress. "It's not just the dress; it's the hair, the nails, the makeup, the accessories, the tanning," Westjohn, who has three daughters, said. "Having the sale here might just make it easier for some of the girls and their mothers." More than 270 dresses were displayed on racks, and changing rooms and full-length mirrors were PR0MB5 St. Anthony's corporate core values. "Joy is one of them, and we're having joy today," said Kate Koester, an administrative secretary at St.

Anthony's. Administrative secretary Donna Westjohn said the idea for the prom dress sale came in a spirit committee meeting. Many committee members have daughters and were bemoaning the effort and expense of outfitting a daughter for prom. ST. PATRICK'S DAY CELEBRATION THE DECATUR City Council will vote "very soon" on an agreement for Olive Garden to build a restaurant at a retail center anchored by the Target store on Decatur's north side, Assistant City Manager Billy Tyus said.

"We're just waiting for delivery of the final contract," Tyus said. "Everything has been negotiated." Mayor Paul Osborne announced at Monday's city council meeting that the council agreed in principle with a proposal by Olive Garden to build a Italian restaurant in Mound Center at Mound Road and U.S. 51. "This is extremely exciting news," Osborne said. Olive Garden agreed to a purchase price of $400,000 for space at the site and is "very interested" in getting the deal approved, City Manager Steve Garman said.

No timeline for the project has been announced, Garman said. Construction continues on a Starbucks Coffee store at the retail center. The coffee shop is expected to fill about one-third of a 4,900 square-foot building. The remaining space could be developed for retail or restaurant uses. Project leaders also continue efforts to develop a pad of about 35,000 square feet at Mound Center, which could house a single user or several businesses.

For the Herald ReviewPhil Jacobs DECATUR CITY Councilwoman Betsy Stockard says it's not easy for women to organize their hectic lives these days. Stockard is excited about an upcoming seminar called "Maximize, Organize Make it Fit," from 9:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 18, in the Decatur Public Library's Madden Auditorium. The seminar is part of Women in Action, a community project to develop leadership skills in several areas of life, including the home, neighborhood, school, church, community and government, Stockard said.

The event is free and open to women 18 and older. Advance registration is required by calling 428-9224. "Every time I talk to a woman, it seems like she says, 'You should see my desk it's a and I say you should see mine," Stockard said. "Or, 'I've been trying to clean out this room in my house or this "Organization is not everyone's best trait. You have to discipline yourself to organiza" Topics include how to better organize home and family life, papers, pictures, notes and closet space.

mte on ABOVE: Ashley Bujack of Decatur, who recently returned from Iraq, helped carry the oversized American flag Saturday in the St. Patrick's Day parade. LEFT: Tom Deckard, the mascot of the Knights of Columbus 4th degree group, gets in the parade spirit. paraie Irish people of Decatur area lift up their culture t' I ethnic group wearing green, in good-natured celebration of a fun-loving people, Corcoran recalled that the history of the Irish in America is quite a different story. "The Irish had no respect.

They were the scum of the earth. Signs in the windows of compa- 1 nies hiring workers said: No Irish Need Apply, or just NINA." Somehow Corcoran's great- PRIDEB3 the procession go by. He said he comes to every St. Patrick's Day parade, which was led this year by marching members of the Knights of Columbus, including some of his friends. "Would an Irishman miss something like this?" said Corcoran, who stood at Main and William streets with his wife, Helen.

"This is our national day." A retired manager of the local American Red Cross chapter, Corcoran said he visited Ireland a few years ago, hoping to find records of ancestors and possibly some living relatives. "I couldn't find any," he said. He did find a beautiful country, as green as imagined, with friendly people, stone fences and plenty of Guinness stout, a unique dark beer. "I never had a Guinness before I went there," Corcoran said. "I soon learned to love it." While St.

Patrick's Day is now celebrated by people of every By HUEY FREEMAN Staff Writer DECATUR The grass even seemed a bit greener on Saturday, as those with Irish blood and those who love free candy came out to enjoy the annual St. Patrick's Day parade. Rene Corcoran, a downtown resident whose great-grandfather emigrated from Ireland in 1848, was wearing a Notre Dame sweatshirt with the word "Irish" emblazoned on it, as he watched Truck ride delivers loads of meaning Eric Mueller, left, and Denny Harris, far right, help Troy Briggs onto a rollback lift Saturday to get him into the cab of a MACON COUNTY voter turnout for the first grace voting period in Illinois ended Monday with 23 Republicans and nine Democrats registering to vote and casting a ballot for the March 21 primary election. The Republican ballot total reflects contests in the GOP primary that do not exist on the Democrat side, said Steve Bean, county clerk. Early voting, during which any registered voter can cast a ballot without specifying a reason he or she cannot make it to the polls on election day, will continue through Thursday.

That also is the deadline for requests to be received from persons outside the county that an absentee ballot be sent to them. One final deadline this week is 5 p.m. Tuesday for anyone wanting to be a write-in candidate for precinct committeeman at the March 21 primary election to file their notice of intent to be a write-in candidate. Bean's office on the first floor of the Macon County Office Building, 141 S. Main will remain open until that time to accommodate any last-minute filings.

Bean said several people from both major parties have filed the notices to run. To be elected, a person must file the write-in notice and then receive at least 10 valid write-in votes at the primary election. ODD STATE REP. Bob Flider, D-Mount Zion, has a new office on the first floor of the Millikin Court building, 132 S. Water St.

Flider's office previously was on the sixth floor. But serendipity likely took a hand in the move because his new suite number is 101, the same as his legislative district. Ron Ingram can be reached at ringram or 421-7973 and Mike Frazier can be reached at mfrazier or 421-7985. By SHEILA SMITH Staff Writer DECATUR Troy Briggs' dream seemed simple enough: All he wanted to do was ride in a semitruck. He didn't know what to expect when his wife, Dawn, made it possible for him to ride in a Miller Lite truck during the St.

Patrick's Day parade Saturday. In a wheelchair and suffering from Becker's muscular dystrophy, Briggs, 36, comes from a long line of truckers. "My grandfather, my dad and my cousin were all truck drivers," Briggs said "and that is all I wanted to do." Briggs even went to truck-driving school after graduating high school in Decatur. He kept falling when trying to get up into the truck, and that was when he knew something was wrong. He was diagnosed at the age of 19 with muscular dystrophy.

Becker's is one of nine forms of muscular dystrophy; it deteriorates TRUCKB3 VJ A Lasses For the Herald ReviewPhil Jacobs Shelby Co. Girl Scouts help make crunchy connection to soldiers in Iraq Iraqis Reporter sees nation of resilient people. StcryB2 Shelby DirectTV office seemed fitting. "Make a Soldier Smile," written on a large banner, covered the front own, Kevin Carlen, had a son in the military and wanted to team up with Girl Scouts for a cookie drive. DirectTV is a service owned by Shelby Electric Cooperative.

"Some of the co-op's principles is our commitment to the community, integrity, accountability and innovation," said Kevin Bernson, media and public relations manager for SC0UTSB2 Kevin and Debbie Carlen laughed about the e-mail their son, Martin, sent about his sergeant making him work a little harder for those cookies. The 18-year-old was deployed in Iraq in January and has been receiving care packages. "My son said he misses those luxuries back home that he can't find in Iraq," Kevin Carlen said. That is why the theme inside the Shelbyville, Stew-Stras units sell cookies By SHEILA SMITH Staff Writer SHELBYVILLE OK, so what if Martin Carlen, 18, had to do some extra push-ups to get his care package filled with Girl Scout cookies? It was worth it. of a table, along with boxes and boxes of Girl Scout cookies.

Employees with the Shelby Electric Cooperative knew one of their.