Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 3

HeralddReview LOCAL NEWS GEHT ILLINOIS BUS they believe they are being wrongly taxed. The agency can order a repayment going back three years and remove the tax from their bills. Telephone companies collect the money based on lists provided by cities and villages, then transfer the money to the local governments. Previously, telephone companies could not change the lists used to collect the taxes, said Tracy Monko Scholle, external relations manager for Verizon. Scholle said her telephone company serves more rural customers than any other in the state.

Scholle said that under the new law, telephone companies could remove names from the lists if they believe New state law protects rural customers By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN Springfield Bureau Writer SPRINGFIELD When Sheila Maloney of rural Monticello found she was being charged a municipal tax on her telephone bill even though she didn't live in a municipality, she fought back and got a refund. Then she learned lots of other people were having the same problem and that foot-dragging by city governments or telephone companies frustrated their SUMMER AT ITS SWEETEST FROM efforts for a refund. She figured there ought to be a law. "If nobody else is going to do it, that means some times you have to," Maloney said. "I could find no state agency, no consumer group who were going to take up the cause, and clearly the telecommunications industry and the municipalities were not going to take action on their own." Three and a half years later, Maloney's desire became reality.

Legislation sponsored by state Rep. Julie A. Curry, D-Mount Zion, was signed into law last week by Gov. George H. Ryan.

Curry said people can now appeal to the Illinois Department of Revenue if us, in lit Celebrating Freedom Lake Decatur becomes the focus of fun on the Fourth Friday, July 5, 2002 "When you get your phone bill you're obviously overwhelmed by the number of pages," she said. "You have these hidden charges and hidden taxes in there and you're not sure what they're for." Maloney said that in Piatt County alone, the labels for municipal taxes include the "optional infrastructure maintenance fee," the "municipal occupation tax," and the "municipal utility tax surcharge." Maloney said the solution is to ask the telephone company what the charges apply to, and to be persistent. Richard Goldstein can be reached at richardgoldsteinlee.net or 782-4043. take a break from the boats to enjoy the festival food, like gyros and hot dogs. "It's cook's day off," Jan McClelland said.

Amber Williams can be reached at or 421-7985. fu KM people who are being taxed do not live in the municipalities getting the money. Neither Scholle nor others involved in the measure knew how many people are affected by the problem. Scholle also said the tax rate varies from place to place. In Maloney's case, she received a $10 refund after being taxed for three years.

Although consumers can now ask the phone company and the state to remove the tax from their phone bills, they first must figure out whether they are being taxed. Curry said a state tax, which everyone must pay, is often lumped with a municipal tax, which only municipal residents pay. Fourth of July is one of the busiest days at the boat dock, with all her family and friends usually stopping by to chat. "I like the camaraderie," Whitaker said. Whitaker and her group of friends and family usually I II JaWWa GREENUP 19-year-old dies of ATV crash injuries A Greenup teen-ager died Wednesday from injuries he suffered when his all-terrain vehicle hit a tree.

Roger A. Craig, 19, was driving north on River Road, three miles south of Greenup, at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday when he missed a curve and hit a tree. He was taken to Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center in Coles County and transferred to Carle Clinic in Urbana, where he died at 8:18 a.m. Wednesday.

DECATUR Suspects sought in Burger King robbery The Decatur Police Department was looking for two suspects late Thursday who allegedly robbed the Burger King, 1099 E. Eldorado St. Police received a call about 9:50 p.m. reporting an armed robbery allegedly committed by two men, said Sgt. Cody Moora DECATUR WW to dispose of worn flags Veterans of Foreign Wars posts are helping residents properly dispose of flags through July 15.

Customers can drop off their used flag at any Wal-Mart or Sam's Club store at designated stations inside the stores. There will be brochures available explaining proper etiquette for displaying the new flags. VFW posts will dispose of the worn flags. GREENUP Benefit to help pay medical costs The Greenup Fire Department and friends of Travis Henderson are sponsoring a benefit Saturday to raise money to defray his medical expenses. Henderson was injured in an automobile accident May 25 and remains hospitalized.

Activities at the benefit include a hog roast and silent auction from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Greenup Fire Department. Backflash, a local band, will play at the Greenup American Legion that night. For more information, call 923-5680.

DECATUR Officials to speak at Fire Cadet event Mayor Terry Howley, city council member Betsy Stockard and Michelle Bovyn, co-coordinator of the Macon County Safe Kids Coalition, will be featured speakers at the Decatur Fire Department's Junior Fire Cadet graduation program Friday, July 5. The one-hour ceremony is free and open to the public and will begin at 6 p.m. at the Decatur Civic Center. DECATUR RCC to close for holiday weekend Richland Community College will be closed today in observance of Independence Day. The college will reopen on Monday, July 8.

DECATUR Humane Society sets pet expo The Humane Society of Decatur and Macon County will hold a pet expo from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, July 6, at 152 N. Edward St. Kittens from 8 weeks to 6 months of age, including a Siamese mix, and adult cats will be available, along with two Brittany spaniel mix puppies and other puppies. The adoption cost is $60 for cats and kittens, $75 for puppies, including spaying or neutering.

Call 428-3058. Herald ReviewPhil Jacobs COOLING OFF: Brady Black, 16, of Decatur tosses Matthew Joyner, 9, into the water Thursday at Nelson Park Pool, where several other swimmers gathered to beat the heat as temperatures again rose into the mid-90s. r7i-. j7 on his boat by his wife, Jan, and several other friends. McClelland said the boats were the best place to view the fireworks.

Joe Briscoe agreed: "The city puts on a great display. It gets better every year." Barbara Whitaker said the By AMBER WILLIAMS Staff Writer DECATUR The place to enjoy the activities of Free-domfest 2002 at Nelson Park wasn't on land Thursday, but on the lake. Families and friends boarded their boats on the docks at Nelson Park to celebrate the hot Fourth of July with a splash. For Tom McCoy, relaxing on the boat with his family is a good way to enjoy the holiday while still being close to the fireworks and the events. McCoy said he especially likes hearing the Decatur Park Singers performing in the background while he and his family cook out and have fun on the boat dock.

"Everything is real close," McCoy said. Tony Antonelli said enjoying the Fourth of July from the boat dock is something he has been doing for the nine years he's had his boat, and he makes it an all-day affair. "We have the crock pots set up and the radios going," Antonelli said. When the weather gets too warm, Antonelli and his friends jump in for a swim. "There is just something about being out here," Antonelli said.

"It is the atmosphere." Freedomfest is a daylong celebration on the Fourth of July that begins with the Sta-ley Firecracker Run and ends with fireworks from a barge on Lake Decatur. Freedom- Rescue workers ease Roy Dotson, 46, onto a stretcher after cutting open the top of his car. He was driving east on Garfield Avenue when he was hit at 3:25 p.m. Thursday by Gary Lewis, 43, at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

Dotson suffered minor injuries when his car rolled onto its side in the back yard of a home on the southeast corner of the intersection. Lewis was ticketed for disobeying a traffic signal. fest has been put on by the Decatur Park District for more than 50 years. Ed McClelland has spent the Fourth of July on his boat since moving to Decatur in 1981. "This is where it's at," said McClelland, who was joined CAR CRASH Fork producers seek mark of distinction for Illinois meat By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN Springfield Bureau Writer William Worthington, a Pana hog farmer, said a catch phrase for Illinois pork could be a boon to the state's hog producers.

He said it would expand the number of cooperative slaughterhouses operated by the producers. State Sen. N. Duane Noland, R-Blue Mound, who is a member of the Agriculture Committee, said consumers are attracted to brands they recognize He cited Angus beef, which applies to a breed of cattle, as an example Roeder acknowledged that hogs raised in Illinois and surrounding states such as Iowa or Missouri are essentially identicaL "There's nothing different about them other than what we set as a standard for a quality meat product, and only carcasses produced in Illinois meeting these quality standards will be eligible for branding as Illinois premium meat." State Sen. Todd Sieben, R-Geneseo, who is chairman of the Agriculture Committee, noted the difficulty of tagging all the hogs processed in Illinois as Illinois pork.

He said hogs from other states also are slaughtered in the state's processing plants. Richard Goldstein can be reached at richardgoldsteinlee.net or 782-4043. jAl-r SPRINGFIELD It's already a summer grilling favorite Illinois pork producers figure they can sell even more of the "other white meat" with quality control and research into how to raise the best-tasting pork. The findings would be backed by a designation denoting pork that comes from the state The idea is to create name recognition for pork similar to "Florida orange juice" or "Angus beef," said Richard A. Roeder of the Southern Illinois University Carbondale College of Agriculture Roeder, assistant to the dean for research, told a Senate panel the college would set standards for the meat.

"It would be such things as flavor, juiciness, how firm the product should be, tenderness," he said. "While some of that information is out there, no one has ever really taken it and put it into a package and said carcasses of these characteristics will consistently provide a quality meat product for industry," Roeder added, "something that the state of Illinois and Illinois pork producers could put their names on and be very proud of." Herald ReviewPhil Jacobs.