Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 3

Central Illinois A3 Decatur, Illinois Herald Review Monday, August 19, 1996 Mr. Lucky's sellers looking for a bit of luck -fi It will make them a Owners of the often-troubled tavern would rather practice at the bar as lawyers than own one. Genuine rn I I Draft I uLpJ very good living, but it's hard work. Whoever does get it, I wish them well because I don't want tive We got the license back so we could sell it," Waks said. "We're really not trying to build the business.

It's just to maintain the license." There is a "for sale" sign on the front door, and a classified ad in the Herald Review. Waks received several Randy Waks, Mr. Lucky's co-owner By JOHN PATTERSON Staff Writer "We just want to liquidate it and be done with it," Waks said. "The sooner the better as far as I'm concerned." Rowdy crowds, fights and the prevalence of drugs and crime led Waks to close the bar in May 1994. In December of that year Nelapone Chappie signed a contract to buy the bar and its liquor license at 1162 N.

Water St. She promised to clean up the clientele. But in the year that followed, the bar and its new ownership became the focus of criminal investigations. Chappie was charged in Macon County Circuit Court in January 1995 with unlawful use of weapons and possession of less than 15 grams of cocaine. Police said they recovered suspected drug residue in bags, along with a sawed-off shotgun and a Tech 9 semiautomatic weapon.

In June 1995 she was arrested in Decatur for allegedly trying to transport cocaine valued at more than $270,000 from California to Decatur. City Liquor Commissioner and Mayor Terry Howley closed the bar after an Aug. Herald ReviewHerb Slodounik WANTED: NEW OWNER: Mr. Lucky's tavern owners say they have several people interested; but they're going to be picky. DECATUR The good times at Mr.

Lucky's put Randy Waks and his two brothers through college and law school. Waks' father, Paul, bought the tavern in 1948 and the business provided for the family. When Paul died in 1988, the brothers inherited a bar they didn't want. "We want to be lawyers," Randy Waks said. They've struggled with the question of what to do with the bar for nearly eight years.

But now, Mr. Lucky's is for sale. 24, 1995, drug raid turned up 1 ounce of suspected cocaine. Howley was also told by Decatur police that tavern employees sold marijuana. The escalating legal problems for Chappie allowed Waks to repossess the bar and liquor license.

Mr. Lucky's reopened last month in a very limited capacity. Only the drive-through liquor window opens from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday. "It was required to keep the license ac offers, but he's extra picky this time around.

It was Waks who chose Chappie out of several other potential buyers. "We really thought she was going to make a go of this place. I believed her," Waks said. "I don't want to make that mistake again." He realizes anyone with the money and experience isn't going to want Mr. Lucky's.

And there's more to running a bar than knowing how to drink. What Waks is looking for is someone who might not have the financial resources but has the experience and dedication to restore the bar to its glory days. "It will make them a very good living, but it's hard work," Waks said. "Whoever does get it I wish them well because I don't want it" Bikers Bolster Muscular Dystrophy Fight ml mm About 75 members of Prairieland A.B.A.T.E. help raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Assocation.

From left, Don and Brenday Bray of Decatur and Phil Wright of Decatur prepare a Junior high to warn students of dangers By JUDY 1ATHAM Staff Writer Harley-Davidson for the ride. Members rode to Clinton, Lincoln, Pana, Springfield and Shelbyville and back to Decatur. -rr-U: Herald ReviewStephen Warmowski "I wanted to take a pro-active approach before something could get started," Wood said. Viewing it as a community problem rather than an issue for police alone, he contacted school authorities and quickly got their cooperation, he said. Wood compares potential gang difficulties to what happened when drug use and sales started in large cities.

"We thought it was a big-city problem that wouldn't happen here but we found out differently. We want to stop it before it starts." Police officer Mike Having, a school liaison officer who teaches DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) classes, recently trained with the Phoenix Police Department. Some of the same messages used to discourage drug and alcohol abuse with DARE will be applied in GREAT. "The whole idea is to let them know there is nothing positive with gangs," he said. "We want to help them make good decisions." He said role-playing, discussions and perhaps field trips with eventual summer programs will be used.

Wood said occasionally police have observed Decatur residents on Mount Zion school grounds. Records checks show they possibly have ties to gangs. But Birkey stresses, "We are not blaming Decatur for this. We have a safe environment for our students, and we want to maintain a sensitivity to gang activity. We have Realtors bring parents to our schools because that is what the parents are looking for a safe environment for their children." Wood said other than Blooming-ton-Normal, the only other Central Illinois city he knows that is using the GREAT program is Mattoon.

MOUNT ZION No gang problems exist at Mount Zion Junior High School, say Principal Jerry Birkey and village police. They intend to keep it that way. Beginning in October, nine-week classes designed to discourage gangs will be taught weekly in seventh- and eighth-grade health classes. The program was pioneered in Phoenix, Ariz. Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) is aimed at convincing teens that gangs are unnecessary, and affiliation with them can bring bad consequences.

Junior high school administrators have a zero-tolerance attitude toward gangs, Birkey said. If gang symbols are seen on notebooks or classroom papers, parents are contacted and warned that further use of the icons can result in suspension. Birkey, who is starting his third year as principal, said he heard little about gangs from his students his first year in Mount Zion. Last year, "it was more apparent," he said, as some talk of gangs surfaced with disciplinary problems. It was more likely to come from girls.

"I would say it's on the rise. But they (students) are in the initial stages of exploring, and that is a concern." The gang-related talk was from students of varying backgrounds and incomes, Birkey said. "It comes from kids searching for an identity. I would say it is from a very select number. They don't know where their place is yet.

They need something to hold on to," he said. That's why Birkey supports GREAT. It was proposed by Police Chief Paul Wood, who learned of it a year ago during a police chiefs association meeting in Miami. Lake Land hopes for state construction funding By DEBBIE PIERCE Mattoon Bureau Chief enrolled for 15 credit hours), but it now serves about 5,000. Enrollment increased by 62 percent since the last classroom building was erected on campus 12 years ago.

In the past eight years, enrollment climbed 32 percent. And while the college has creatively used its available space through subdivided classrooms, makeshift second floors and temporary sheds the campus is about to burst its seams, officials say. The growth of distance learning technology has helped somewhat. Lake Land will offer 24 long-distance classes this fall, "more than any two- or four-year program in the state," Luther said. But some classes already have filled up for fall, and technology means previously open classrooms must now be used solely for special purposes.

Of the 65 classrooms and labs available, only 20 are left as general purpose class rooms. The college wants $12.2 million to construct a classroomaclntinistration building, a technology building and an addition to the student center. If granted, the state would pay 75 percent of the cost, or roughly $9 million. "If the past is any indicator of the future, we'll be teaching subjects we hadn't thought about and reaching people in ways we haven't dreamed," board President Leland Glazebrook reminded trustees. "I can see where we could grow to 7,500 on a campus designed for 2,200." His predictions might not be far off.

Goble Jessup, vice president for business services, said even if the requested buildings were already built and in use, "we'd still be at capacity." And, he added, with a three-year cycle from building design to completion, "we'll probably be crowded again." MATTOON For the third year in a row, Lake Land College officials have asked the state to help fund capital building projects designed to relieve overcrowding on campus. Higher education officials have approved the scope of the work, and a recently awarded $400,000 from the state's general revenue fund will help with design, but no capital money has trickled down. This year, the college is cautiously optimistic its pleas will be granted. "We believe that what we're asking is modest, meets our needs and isn't overreaching," Lake Land President Robert Luther told the board of trustees last week. "We've tried to do everything we possibly can with what space we have" It's a case of too much of a good thing.

The campus was designed to serve 2,200 full-time equivalencies (an FTE is a full-time student Putting Graveyard Concerns to Rest Remains include Civil War heroes CEMETERY: Board likely to ask public input in project Continued from A1 ing the cemetery. "One of the cemetery board's primary thrusts is some kind of restoration at Greenwood," Potter said. "We need to get some public input and involvement in that. I believe Bradley DECATUR A 6-foot-tall obelisk sits atop a stone monument in Greenwood Cemetery. Weathered lettering on the monument proclaims, "A Country's Gratitude Is the Hero's Best Reward." The monument marks the final resting place of brothers Nathan W.

Tupper and Ansel Tupper, both Union Army officers, who died during the Civil War. Also etched into the stone is "To the Tupper Brothers by Citizens of Macon County" and the brothers' service records. Decatur Township cemeteries Superintendent Harrell Ellis points to cracks that line the base of the monument. "Water gets in those, and freezing and thawing action is breaking it up," Ellis said of the base "It looks like someone tried to smear some concrete on the outside at some point. But that's come off." "I don't know how long it will be until it falls over, El lis said.

Other stones in the cemetery are leaning at various angles because of settling of the graves under them, Ellis said. The stones are extremely heavy and the township doesn't have the responsibility to right them, he said. That sentiment is echoed by his brother, Lisle Ellis, chairman of the township cemetery board: "The township doesn't have the financial resources to rejuvenate stones throughout the cemetery." Lisle Ellis said a lot of local residents don't even know where Greenwood Cemetery is located. The 100-acre facility is at the end of South Church Street. It is shaded by large, ancient oak trees.

"If you go in and wander around, you'll see the who's who of Decatur's past," Lisle Ellis said. "We have more mausoleums in that cemetery than there are in all the other cemeteries in Macon County put together." said. "There are lots of old markers with no one left to care for them. We don't have the responsibility to maintain them but it would be good to do from a historical standpoint. It's a treasure we need to maintain." Greenwood's Civil War memorial is perched on a hill whose retaining structures are weakening, Potter said.

There is a need to shore up the hill or the memorial could be lost, he said. At some point in the past, large sections of utility pole were driven vertically into the face of the terraces surrounding the memorial in an effort to stem erosion. Rock walls about 2 feet high act as facing on the front of several terraces as an additional deterrent to shifting soil. But rocks in the walls have worked loose in spots. The wooden pilings are leaning forward under pressure from the earth behind.

The graves of Civil War veterans can help with that." Bradley is a past president of the Macon County Historical Society, continues to serve on the society's board of directors and has a strong interest in historical preservation, Potter said. "We have Herald ReviewHerb Slodounik MONUMENTAL REPAIR: Gravestones like these, which date back to the Civil War period, are fading and the terrace on which they rest is in danger of eroding. Brian Elliott, a groundskeeper mows the grass. Potter Sees need to maintain 'treasure' many of them unmarked which line the terraces are in danger of someday sliding downhill. Cemetery board Chairman Lisle Ellis said restoration of the cemetery is viewed as a long-term project as a civic group is formed to facilitate redevelopment.

"It will be a gradual thing to talk to people and get something started," Ellis said. "But we believe it will be constructive for the whole community." many mausoleums of prominent citizens from the turn of the century," Potter.