Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 3

Community' Decatur. Illinois. Thursday. June 18. 1981 Airline, park officials plan to discuss contract details Page A 3 By LORI MILLER Herald Ef Review Staff Writer Representatives from Air Illinois commuter airline will be in Decatur next week to discuss a contract to begin service at Decatur Airport.

Decatur Park District board President William Cannon said an agreement to begin service between St. Louis and Decatur by Aug. 1 appears likely. Air Illinois is based in Carbondale, and also operates out of Springfield and Lincoln. Airline and airport officials will discuss details in the airline's proposal, Cannon said.

He said he hopes the final contract can be considered by the park board by its July 2 meeting. The Park District operates the airport. Air Illinois indicated last week it ing, the board discussed projects to be financed with leftover bond issue funds. Approximately $130,000 is available in old accounts and is expected to be used for two projects for the district administration. Already approved is $50,822 for a computer system for the district.

In addition, Executive Director Harold Blankenship said $82,000 is available to construct a new office addition at Mueller Park. The addition would add a conference room to the Park District office and possibly link the buildings housing the Recreation Department and the parks and administrative offices. The computer system is expected to arrive in early September, Blankenship said. hopes to begin daily round trips by Aug. 1.

Cannon said that date apparently will stand regardless of whether Ozark Air Lines decides to reduce, or eliminate service from Decatur. In other airport-related business, Cannon said he met recently with Decatur Aviation officials to discuss gasoline prices charged at Decatur Airport. A survey by the Park District found that Decatur's prices are higher than all others in Central Illinois. Cannon said Decatur Aviation will study its pricing and look for ways to lower the charges. He said the park board does not want to punish the firm, but wants to make fuel prices here competitive with those charged elsewhere.

In its Wednesday luncheon meet Court ruling moves board to offer site recommendation David Pierce, executive director of the Illinois Community College Board, said Wednesday his agency would recommend conditional approval of a north side campus site for Richland Community College to satisfy objections raised by a local court. Richland lawyer Richard Welsh told the college board of trustees Tuesday that he has evidence from the community college board that would reverse the April dismissal of a condemnation court suit designed Sessions set on block grants Lickety lips Meetings to solicit citizen ideas for Decatur's community development block grant programs tentatively were set up Wednesday by the city's Citizen Advisory Committee. Four meetings will be held in separate locations in July and August to draw proposals for the city's three-year program for spending the federal dollars, Frank Pittz, community Three-year-old Matt Cardinal, son of Mr. and cials scheduled for the parks this summer. Next Mrs.

Mike Cardinal of 1440 W. Decatur could week, events are planned for Grant Park on hardly resist sinking his teeth into one of goodies Tuesday night and Kiwanis Park on Wednesday, on the table at Wednesday evening's ice cream so- Music for the socials is provided by the Decatur cial at Baker Woods Park. It was the first of '12 so- Park Singers. (Photo by Doug Gaumon) Step taken toward probe into alleged racial slur education and assigned to an investigator for the pre-investigation. In a related development, the administrative board of DOVE unanimously approved a resolution calling for an investigation of the alleged incident.

The resolution calls for a formal, impartial investigtigation by the school board. Board President Richard Sevier has already instructed Superintendent Robert Oakes to investigate the allegations. Oakes is to report back to the board. Pat Curley, DOVE'S VISTA director, brought the resolution to the administrative board. "I thought DOVE should be on record as being in favor of an impartial investigation," Curley said.

Curley said he sent letters to the district's three state representatives. He said he has received a response from state Rep. John Dunn, D-Deca-tur. Curley said Dunn's letter said that he forwarded the complaint to the state Department of Human Rights. said.

The Decatur School District received federal funds under several titles of the U.S. Elementary and Secondary Education Act this year. The office must also determine whether a request for a remedy has been made, Hegarty said. The women who sent the letters said they asked that an investigation into the incident be conducted. Hegarty said the allegations will be forwarded to the civil rights division of elementary and secondary A photo finish: from 4 by to motor drives Boh 'Scoop9 Strongman to obtain a proposed campus site.

However, Welsh would not comment on the nature of that evidence. Circit Judge Creed Tucker ruled April 1 that the college must have prior ICCB approval of the proposed campus site before pursuing its eminent domain case. The motion to reconsider his decision will be heard by Tucker June 24. The eminent domain suit is designed to obtain a tract in the southeast quadrant of the Interstate 72 and U.S. 51 interchange.

renewal coordinator, said. The tentative meeting schedule set up by the committee is as follows: July 15, Church of the Living God, 400 S. Franklin St. July 22, community center. Phoenix Park.

Aug. 12, Trinity CME Church, 444 S. Webster St. Aug. 19, city council chambers.

the Illinois State Board of Education. A spokesman for the state board said the letters have been received and they have been forwarded to the legal department, buf no decision has been made on whether to investigate the allegations. The May 22 incident involved the alleged participation of two high school administrators in a racial confrontation. Hegarty said the civil rights office, which is a division of the U.S. De been around almost as long as the Welsh also told the board that discussions of other sites already rejected by the board damages the college's eminent domain suit.

He said since jurors for an eminent domain trial would come from the local community, they may have misconceptions about Richland's site needs because of reports and discussions of alternative campus sites. "All this talk of what if such-and-such a site is available doesn't help," he said, referring to news reports. Decatur Civic Center. All the meetings are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. The first three meetings are aimed at collecting neighborhood resident views.

The final meeting is directed to solicit social agency input, although citizens can speak then too, Pittz said. partment of Education, must go through three pre-investigative stages. The office must first determine whether there is sufficient information to conclude that discrimination took place, he said. This may include requesting further information from the complainant. Then, the civil rights office must detemine whether the school receives federal funds.

The office has jurisdiction only if the school district receives federal dollars, Hegarty Photo by Ron Ernst Transfer House. retires after 3 0 years By ALDEN SOLOVY Herald Review Staff Writer Allegations of a racial incident at Lakeview High School have entered pre-investigative stages by the federal Office for Civil Rights, said Dr. Charles Hegarty, director of intake. Hegarty said that three Decatur parents who have written letters to the federal office complaining of the alleged incident will receive a response within a week saying their letters have been received and that the pre-investigation will begin. Similar letters have been sent to Bob Strongman has sstV When he started, newspaper photographers used the bulky press cameras.

Under Strongman's leadership, the newspaper was a pioneer in the switch to 35mm cameras. But most Herald Review readers remember Strongman on the job. "I don't think I've missed any towns in our area," he says. An accident or fire in the middle of the night was usually not complete without Strongman on the scene. A CB radio enthusiast with the handle "Scoop," he used the contacts he made to help him monitor news events.

Even after a night wading through mud or snow, you'd find him back the next morning. "Yes, the adrenalin has always flowed for me," he says. "I can be awfully tired and come into the office and something happens and bang, I'm going. Things start moving, my juices start flowing. "Newspapering is my business and I've always felt it was a 24-hour a day, seven days a week job.

"If something happens, you go cover it. "Sure, there were some days when maybe I would have preferred to stay at home and work in the garden or workshop. "But I can't remember a day when I hated to come to work." A group of Strongman's friends is organizing a dinner program to honor him for his 30 years at the Herald Review. It will be July 24 at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 520 E. North with cocktails at 6:30 p.m.

and dinner at 7:30 p.m. The program will follow. Tickets are $10 (single) and $18 for a couple. Checks may be made payable to Strongman Fund and mailed to 1915 W. Forest Decatur, 111.

62522. Tickets will be received by return mail. By BOB SAMPSON Herald Review Special Writer In the Herald Review newsroom, there's a standard lecture given to all new reporters about to make their first foray into our circulation area. They are brought up to date on the state of Bob Strongman's health. That's because the chances are that no matter where they go, somebody is likely to know the newspaper's long-time photographer and to ask about him.

For 30 years, Strongman has traveled across Central Illinois by plane, train, car and foot, taking photos for this newspaper as a full-time job. His association really goes back 36 years, to 1945 when Strongman began doing assignment work for the newspaper while employed at Pfiles' Photo Shop. After today there will be a simple answer to questions about Strongman. He has retired. Officially, due to accumulated vacation, the date comes in mid-July.

But his last day in the office is today "I'm still going to take photographs," says the 67-year-old Strongman. "I'm going to be a free-lance photographer. In our business, that means you're either darn good or out of work." The road to this point has not been direct for Strongman, the only chief photographer and later photo editor the newspaper has had. After spending his youth working at the YMCA in various programs, Strongman ran a wholesale bread route for 10 years. "I still wake up in the middle of the night ready to jump out of bed because I think I've overslept and missed my route," he laughs.

He picked up photography as a hobby. "In 1945, I decided I'd rather work full time in photography," he says. He joined Pfiles. One of his tasks was taking an occasional photograph for Decatur Daily Review City Editor Jim Beaumont, as well as the assignments of Society Editor Layah Riggs. "I used to enjoy chasing wrecks and getting there before the regular newspaper photographers.

Then I'd hand them my film and say, "That's all you But it was another Strongman activity that led to his being hired. One of his projects was a weekly photo for the Stray Scraps feature. Eventually, people associated his name with the feature to the point of calling the office and asking for him in order to suggest ideas. "Beaumont called me up one day and said, 'Why don't you come to work with us instead of for Strongman remembers. That was in the spring of 1951 and marked the start of a career that would take him to more festivals, ball games, car crashes and speeches than he can remember.

"I photographed every president from that point up to Ford," he says. He rode campaign trains with Goldwater, Nixon and Eisenhower. During John F. Kennedy's 1960 appearance in Springfield, Strongman verbally fenced with future White House press secretary Pierre Salinger. Strongman won' a dispute over where he could stand and produced photographs that took first place in that year's Associated Press competition.

Along the way he helped found the Illinois Press Photographer's Association and was a two-term treasurer of the National Press Photographers Association. Yl cpSt' Jyf 'Y- i.