Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 3

Decatur, Friday, July 5, 1985 Page A3 -WorldStateNationCentral Illinois -afj Alan Busey of Richmond, competes in the rodeo Thursday, while the Ed Kraft family of Dalton City enjoyed a quieter holiday picnicking in Nelson Park. Two celebrations give' Decatur a choice Morlock of 1904 E. Prairie Ave. started the rodeo, but said he would go to Nelson Park fireworks display. two celebrations cuts down on the traffic.

be less crowded at the lake," he said. Bloom of 24 5th Drive also planned to fireworks at Nelson Park. couldn't stand the dust at the'rodeo," she said relaxed in the park. "It's nice having (fireworks) here again. I wouldn't have gone to the fairgrounds but I think there are enough people in Decatur enjoy two celebrations." not everyone at Thursday's festivities liked locations.

come out to the lake every year since I was said Vivian Todson of 4123 E. Hickory St. "I better all at Nelson Park." Across town at the Macon County Fairground, an excited crowd filled the grandstand to listen to country music and watch a rodeo. The spectators whooped when they saw a steer wrestled to the ground quickly and applauded as a downed cowboy left the ring. Children talked of joining the rodeo when they are big enough to ride.

Outside the grandstand, vendors sold hotdogs, cold drinks and rodeo T-shirts. "I like the idea of two celebrations," said Bonnie Moore of 3777 Meadowlark Drive before the rodeo began. "You have a choice. You're not so confined." The choice was a new one for Decatur residents. Traditionally, the Decatur Jaycees and the Decatur Park District have worked together on an Independence Day celebration at Nelson Park.

This year, however, the Jaycees decided to take By SUSAN LAURY Herald Rtview Staff Writer For those who didn't mind the clouds and occasional rain, it was a Fourth of July with many choices. At one celebration in Decatur, people sat by the lake front listening to rock music and watching sailboats. They brought picnic lunches to Nelson Park or bought from food stands offering Greek selections, tacos and "Chicago hotdogs." Though alcohol is prohibited in the park, garbage containers were filled with beer cans. Some wandered through the park, others jumped into Lake Decatur and a few put down blankets during the afternoon to stake out their places for the evening fireworks display. their fireworks show to the fairground, combining the activity with the rodeo and other activities that were sponsored by WSOY radio.

The park district, meanwhile, decided to continue a celebration at the lake, calling it "Light Up the Sky on the Fourth.of July." The district noted that people were used to celebrating the holiday at Nelson Park and being on hand at sundown for a lakefront fireworks display. Some stayed at Lake Decatur because of a years-old tradition. Others went to the fairground to discover something new. "I thought the rodeo would be something different to do," said Fig Dial of 2440 Hill Park Ave. "If the community will support both celebrations, I think it's great." 4C- k.

k. k. 4C Americans celebrate people in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776. "It's pretty cool and awesome," said Bob Widman, 11, watching the dancing crowd that stretched for seven blocks from the Philadelphia Art Museum to Logan Circle. "I've never been to anything so big." About 250,000 fans packed the banks of the Charles River near Boston's Esplanade for a Boston Pops concert capped by Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture," punctuated with church bells and cannon, followed by fireworks.

The USS Constitution, the U.S. Navy's oldest commissioned warship, left its Boston Harbor berth for its annual "Turnaround Cruise," which included a 21-gun salute. Among the 400 guests aboard were Secretary of the Navy John F. Lehman Jr. and former CBS-TV news anchorman Walter Cronkite.

The Constitution is turned around and berthed in the opposite direction once a year so its masts and "iron sides." which are made of wood, weather evenly. in the National Mall for the Fourth etly in the White House and had invited a small group of close friends for dinner. They were expected to watch the fireworks from a balcony. While most of the early activity was focused on the concert stage, a gray-haired man walked to a fenced off plot near the Lincoln Memorial reflecting poll. George R.

Zambelli nodded toward the rock music blaring behind him and said, "They're all here, really, for the fireworks as we all know." Zambelli, from is maestro of the.30-minute, show that was scheduled to explode after the concert. A forecast of possible rain by evening had no effect on the party spirit. There was something for every taste. One major attraction on the Mall Alan day at the for its "Having It will Maedean watch the "I as she to But the different "I've a kid," think it's 4 By The Associated Press Revelers celebrated America's 209th birthday Thursday with outdoor Independence Day parties from the Washington Monument to a rain-soaked Texas hoe-down to the beaches of dry California. The nation also reveled in having the 39 hostages of TWA Flight 847 at home.

And for many of them the Fourth of July was a day for homespun pursuits town parades, backyard picnics and quiet times with family. But in California, winds whipped brush fires over tens of thousands of acres, prompting officials to postpone some fireworks displays and to urge that Independence Day celebrations feature only professional fireworks. However, a half-million people flocked to beaches in the Los Angeles County area, where the air temperature was in the 80s, the water temperature was in the mid-60s and the surf conditions were good, according to county lifeguard spokesman Don Rohrer. The Beach Boys performed early in the day for a crowd of about 1 million Thousands of celebrants jam AP Laserphoto The St. Louis riverfront was jammed by thousands of revelers.

Foreign It rained on Willie Nelson's picnic at an outdoor Austin, Texas, amphitheater where one-half inch of rain fell Thursday, sending cars and people sliding around in the muck. The country singer, whose Fourth of July bashes have been celebrated for their disorganization as much as for their raucous good spirits and their crowds ranging in the tens of thousands, was seen singing at South Park Meadows but he was swathed in a poncho. Miss America Sharlene Wells led a parade through Provo, Utah, where 200.000 spectators lined the streets. The Fourth was also a celebration of the offbeat. Folks rode inner-tubes down the Chattahoochee River in Georgia for the Second Annual Tube Parade.

A 61-year-old man water-skied 43 miles down the Maine coast from Booth-bay Harbor into Falmouth, duplicating a similar trip he made in 1953. Edgar Reed II did it "to prove that you don't slow down, ever, if you're in good condition." AP Laserphoto of July festivities. stretching from the Capitol to the Washington Monument was the Smithsonian Institution's 19th annual Festival of American Folklife, which runs through Sunday. Scheduled to be appearing at opposite ends of the Mall at about the same time Thursday night were Mr. T.

of television fame and Leonard Bernstein, conducting the National Symphony Orchestra. Rock concert enthusiasts began camping out Wednesday, staking out good spots for the music extravaganza that featured an appearance by the Beach Boys, who have been a fixture here in recent years, along with Joe Ely, Katrina and the Waves, Southern Pacific, Jimmy Page, the Four Tops, the Oak Ridge Boys, the Bellamy Brothers and Christopher Cross. Mends ter Shimon Peres sent a Fourth of July message to President Reagan saying Israel joined with the United States in "a sigh of relief" over the safe return of the 39 American hijack hostages from Beirut. Peres said that the American and Israeli responses to the TWA hijacking and Israel's raid to free 103 hostages hijacked to Entebbe, Uganda, on the Fourth of July nine years ago "testify to the unity of purpose and common resolve of both our countries to stand firm against terrorism." But hot dogs and baseball, not politics or history, dominated most overseas commemorations of the Fourth of July. In Cairo, Egypt, about 2,000 Americans gathered at an annual picnic at the Cairo American College, where they downed frankfurters, ice cream, cola, and Budweiser beer.

The Geneva American International Club sponsored a party for tens of thousands of U.S. citizens and their friends, who enjoyed a rock band, magicians, baseball, American-style football and fireworks. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, in town to observe the U.S.-Soviet arms talks, imported 50 pounds of salmon, donned a chef's apron and barbequed salmonbur-gers for the crowd. At a U.S.

Embassy bash in Peking, several hundred Americans danced to Beach Boys tunes performed by a Filipino band and munched hamburgers and french fries flown in from Hong Kong. holiday all', attracts llioiuisaiids observe By The Associated Press In Geneva they played football, in Cairo they hoisted Budweisers, in Peking they danced to Beach. Boys music. All over the world, fireworks lit up the skies Thursday as Americans and their friends celebrated America's Independence Day. But even as overseas Yanks cheered the red, white and blue, residents of some countries denounced U.S.

influence in their land. Thousands of Filipinos, many shouting "Throw the Americans out," protested in Manila and the central city of Bacolod against U.S. backing for the government of President Ferdinand E. Marcos. Although Marcos spoke warmly of the United States on the holiday, celebrated in the Asian country as Philippine-American Friendship Day, 6,000 protesters chanted in front of the U.S.

Embassy in Manila and 10,000 rallied in Bacolod, 300 miles southeast of Manila. In other parts of the world, speakers praised U.S. contributions to the fight against fascism and terrorism: Flemming Juncker, a resistance leader during the World War II Nazi occupation of Denmark, told more than at the annual Independence Day celebrations in Rebild that Danes should show gratitude for American help In two world wars. "It is a challenge to dare to side with our friends while it is still time," the keynote speaker told the audience, which included Queen Margrethe II. In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minis Jc JSC WASHINGTON (AP) More than a half-million cooler-carrying Americans-turned the National Mall into the National Patio on Thursday in a marathon of music and fireworks in the granddaddy of the nation's Fourth of July celebrations.

Several hundred thousand of the revelers spent a sun-baked afternoon waiting for the Beach Boys, the Four Tops, Mr. and a long lineup of other entertainers before the mammoth fireworks display. Earl Kittleman, spokesman for the National Park Service, said the crowd topped 500,000 by early evening. There were also about 25 arrests for intoxication or disorderly conduct, he said, and 38 people were treated for heat exhaustion. An assistant presidential press secretary, Dale Petroskey, said President and Mrs.

Reagan were spending the day qui 4.