Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 1

A-1 37 THE COURT 2- L-f I Jerseyville 81 Mt. Zion 49 MacArthur 72 Peoria Central .70 44 Mt. Pulaski 79 Tremont 76 Strong 2nd half lifts St. 65-51 StoryCI RoundupC3 m0 Illinois must get guards in gear StayCI fr i' v- I r.v A REACHING OUT: Residents of Gailaiassi, Somalia, seeking food extend their hands to an Italian soldier. On Monday, (U.S.

troops secured their last target of Operation Restore Hope, but violence continued in Mogadishu. StoryA10 AP AP A SIGHTSEEING: Illini football players Steve Feagin, Alfred Pierce, Marvell Scott and Kevin Jackson took some time off from practice to tour Miramar Naval Air Station Monday. Jeff lanpe reports from San DiegoCI i ri Ann Landers C8 Classified Dl-6 Comics C6 Lottery Movies C8 Obituaries A9 Puzzles D2.3 Television C7 TODAY: Dreary; rain early, then cloudy. High of 48. TONIGHT: Fog and mist.

Low 38. TOMORROV: Cloudy, rain. 4634. Details A2 Our 1 20th Year Issue 364 Four sections 1992 Tuesday, December 29, 1992 Decatur, Illinois 50 cents Home delivery: 31 cents rS Art Q0Dl if (j7 As six recover from Club 21 incident, another man shot in back. Arrests draw angry crowd DECATUR Police investigating a report of shots fired in the 600 block of Longview Place were surrounded by a highly charged crowd of at least 100 people at about 8 p.m.

Monday, said Master Sgt. Jack Coventry. Six persons were arrested but no one was injured. Coventry said the incident began when police stopped a car in the area of Morgan and Condit streets and began arresting three male occupants believed to have been involved in the 7:53 p.m. shooting incident.

A handgun was recovered from the car. At least 20 police, state and county squad cars were called to the scene when the crowd began to get verbally abusive, Coventry said. Bottles and at least one large piece of wood were thrown at officers, he said. Police arrested the three men in the car and three persons in the crowd. The crowd broke up as officers left the scene.

By DAVE MOORE Staff Writer Packard and Church streets at 9:40 p.m. He apparently walked to a nearby house to phone for help. Master Sgt. Ward Davis said Thompson says he was standing on the street corner when a car with three persons inside pulled up and stopped. Fearing they would assault him, he ran and was shot.

Thompson was in surgery early this morning at Decatur Memorial Hospital. Two 15-year-old boys were among those wounded at about 1 a.m. outside Club 21 at 650 E. Wood St. Minutes before 1 a.m., a man confronted his girlfriend in the club because he didn't want her there, police said.

When the couple took their argument outside, the man and two or three other men got into a fight, said Detective Sgt. Roy Glick. "Shortly after, shots were fired," Glick said. Police don't know where the shots came from, who fired them, or why. They know at SHOOTINGS Continued on A4 DECATUR A string of shooting incidents continued Monday, with six persons wounded outside Club 21 in early morning and another person shot late at night at Packard and Church streets on the city's near north side.

Police said Marvin Thompson, 19, of Decatur was shot in the back at the corner of Glick Says police received little help from persons involved in Club 21 fight reftii future 4, i Role as Barney's 'body' is a dream come true for former Decatur resident By TONY REIO Staff Writer 1 Mattoon residents offer memorials as relatives console children. By JIM GETZ Taylorville Bureau Chief MATTOON Gerald, Dena and Thomas Christoff visited their relatives in the Chicago suburbs for Christmas. Now, because of the tragic death of their parents in an auto accident Saturday, they may live there permanently. "We don't know yet," Michael Hroza of Woodridge, a brother-in-law to Kurt A. Christoff, the father killed in the accident, said Monday of the children's fate.

"It's a family discussion we still have to have." Kurt Christoff, 40, and his wife Mary Beth, 43, were killed around 3:40 p.m. Saturday on Interstate 57 near Mattoon when a northbound car driven by Alan W. Loy, 29, of Edgewood crossed the median and hit the Christoffs' southbound minivan. The Christoffs were returning to their home in Memphis, Tenn. Kurt's mother, brother and three sisters live in the western suburbs of Chicago.

The brother, Greg, and Hroza 's wife, Lori, were in Mattoon on Monday comforting the children. Gerald, 13, Dena, 12, and Thomas, 9, remained in fair condition Monday night in Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center. Hroza said his wife told him that Gerald has a broken arm ORPHANS Continued on A4 after doing some live shows before the TV program debuted. "It was incredible," recalled Joyner, a Decatur native who graduated from MacArthur High School. "We had to call in security to escort Barney because he was mobbed by these 3- and 5-year-old kids." Joyner became Barney's body after auditioning for the role in September 1990.

The show is made in Allen, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. And Joyner, an electronic engineering graduate, had been working in the state for Texas Instruments before leaving to pursue an entertainment career. Joyner, who lives in Dallas but has been spending Christmas with his parents, said he had no experience doing anything like Barney but gave the audition "all I got." The toughest part remains making that sweaty, 80-pound costume come to life. His future career aim is movie directingproducing. But right now he's happy as a cuddly legend.

And next month Barney will make pre-history. "He's been invited to the presidential inauguration," Joyner said. "He'll perform at the Kennedy Center on the 19th and take part in the inauguration parade on the 20th." DECATUR Barney the Dinosaur eases back in the living room of his Decatur parents and flashes a broad, prehistoric grin. "Being Barney is fun," he said. "The kids just love him." If Barney talking about himself like he was someone else sounds a little strange, some explanation is needed.

The person speaking here is David Joyner, the guy in the giant purple dinosaur costume on the smash PBS television series "Barney Friends" (WILL, 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. Sunday). "If I sign an autograph I sign it 'David Joyner, body of Joyner, 29, said in an interview Monday in the home of his parents, Roscoe and Mary Joyner. "I work with another guy who does the voice and we've got a great partnership we call it 'dinosync' It's a roaring combination.

The TV series uses music to teach simple lessons and social skills to pre-school kids and has won a 1.7 million daily audience. "Barney" toys were Christmas mega-sellers. Joyner first realized how monster Barney was going to be I i Photo by Darrell Goemaat MY LITTLE PURPLE BUDDY: David Joyner relaxes with his good friend Barney the dinosaur. In fact, Joyner knows him intimately: the 29-year-old Decatur native is the man inside the dinosaur costume on the new hit PBS kids television series, 'Barney and pe for the Mure- rises ffroni i ITU By SCOn PERRY Mattoon Bureau Chief ing's basement. "It's strange.

I was just in there Sunday, thanking God for all the good things he had brought to my family and the department this past year," said Brackett, who also is a member of the church. Knowing the structure was a complete loss, firefighters turned their immediate attention to preventing the fire's spread to any nearby structures. Heat damage was sustained by the parsonage and a second neighboring building. The fire was brought under control less than two hours but caused an estimated $200,000 in damage. It left behind little more than the building's brick outer shell.

Stcry leaves friend doubting Pastor Tony Billingsley spent most of the day Monday responding to questions about the fire at the Atwood Christian Church. But part of his time was spent trying to convince a college friend that a fire did occur. Story, phctoA3 The neighbor's second call was to Billingsley, who lives in the parsonage directly west of the church. "Is your house on fire or it it the church?" the voice on the other end asked. Moments later Billingsley's fire pager went off, prompting him to run out the front door and into the street.

"When we arrived on the scene the flames were clean up and out of the roof," said Bart Brackett, assistant fire chief for the Atwood Fire Protection District. Brackett said the fire was fueled by the dry wood used to build the church in 1921. The exact cause of the blaze is still under investigation. However, authorities are certain it started in the build- ATWOOD From the rubble of what was once the Atwood Christian Church, there is hope some good may emerge. "We can sit down, roll over and play dead or we can get up on our feet and run," said Pastor Tony Billingsley, citing the short list of options the congregation has to choose from after its church was destroyed by fire early Monday morning.

"I'm excited about the future. I want to get the healing process started as soon as possible, and get up and run with them," he said Monday afternoon, while standing in the LJ We can sit down, roll over and play dead or we can get up on our feet and Tony Billingsley, pastor, Atwood Christian Church meeting of the 60-member congregation was held Monday night to discuss what to do next. Firefighters from five area departments were called shortly before 3:30 a.m. by a neighbor who had awaken to notice smoke and flames. shadow of the gutted 70-year-old stucture.

A mm.