The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 3

Pantagraph A-3 Bloomlngton Normal, HI. July far Sc' jr- Combined firefighfing efforts tl Damage at least $250,000 in downtown Clinton blaze a.m. in the basement of the Singer Sewing Center and spread through a wall to the Quimby Drug Store. When firemen arrived, Ward said, a heavy curtain of smoke filled the area, hampering firefighters' efforts to extinguish the blaze. Ward said the floor of the sewing center fell through, trapping the fire in the basement.

An air hammer was used by firemen to knock holes in the wall of the drug store to allow firemen to flood the basement. The firemen battled the fire for nearly 6 hours before bringing it under control. nOliny III r. 471 Clinton Firefighters used air hammers to knock boles in the walls of the Quimby Drug Store In order to reach flames in the basement of the building. Heavy smoke hampered efforts to locate the source of the fire.

sexually assaulted and did other stuff to fellow prisoners in the overcrowded, maximum-security institution. The jury heard testimony that an inmate threatened to harm a Blooming-ton man serving a sentence on a bad-check charge unless the. Bloomington man gave the other prisoner a $1,100 "protection fee." Kelvin D. Burton, 27, was indicted on charges of intimidation and attempted felony theft, after the grand jury was told Burton held a knife to the Blooming-ton man's throat and forced him to sign a voucher form transferring funds from his bank account. Burton is charged with forcing Steven J.

Isaacson, 24, formerly of 1206 Black- For instance, IOE figures show District 87 getting more than $1,250,000 next year under the present law. With the new education funding bill, the district would supposedly get almost $1,700,000. But District 87 officials have predicted that their district would get only about $1 million in state aid. In other matters, the board learned that the advisory panel appointed to study annexation disputes between District 87 and Unit 5 will give its final report to state school superintendent July 17. The report will then be given to area school officials, said R.

Bruce Holcomb, superintendent of the McLean County Regional Office of Education. The report will contain several alternatives, Holcomb said. His sister, Renee, 5, was in "satisfactory" condition at the Pekin hospital. His father, Randy 24, was treated at the Pekin hospital and released. The occupants of the second car, Herbert D.

Holmes, 23, and Jo Ellen Holmes, 18, both of Pekin, were not injured. Pekin police said the car driven by Randy Fuller hit a light standard and broke in half after colliding with Holmes' car. Holmes was charged with illegal transportation of alcohol. U'V 1 Inmate indictments revea unpleasantness at prison owm the building, estimated the damage at $250,000. No one wai in the building at the time and no Injuries were reported during the fire.

(Pantagraph photos by Bob Ringham) and Buck's Appliance store prevented the fire from spreading to other stores in the square. Although none of the events for Clinton's Fourth of July celebration have been canceled because of the fire, a meeting Thursday of the Myrtle Chapter of the Order of Eastern Star has been rescheduled to meet in Lincoln. Another major fire hit Clinton April 1 when Clinton Imperial China Co. was heavily damaged by a fire and explosion. Two employees of the china company and a Clinton firefighter were injured in that incident.

That fire apparently began when a cardboard box fell onto a hot kiln used by the firm in making lamp bases. Hart, 6, of 1306 E. Croxton Ave. sharp- ened his archery skills Monday after-, noon at a day camp at the park, which is near Miller Park. (Pantagraph photo) state study Firemen from Clinton, Wapella, Maroa and Kenney combined their efforts Tues- day to fight a fire on the weit tide of the square In Clinton.

Paul Adams, secre- tary of Clinton Masonic Lodge, which Additional fire fighters from Maroa, Kenney and Wapella were called to the scene about 3 a.m. No one was in the building at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported. Lyle Quimby, whose drug store has been in the building for 22 years, said all the contents in his store were lost. The owners of the sewing center could not be reached for comment, but accounts at the scene indicated it too was a total loss. A barbershop and a beauty shop at the rear of the drug store received only minor smoke and water damage.

A firewall between the sewing center German group in 1975 for two Wayne County tracts totaling more than 7,500 acres. The Northern Bank and Trust Co. of Chicago, acting on behalf of an Italian family, reportedly aid $17.5 million for the 12,000 acre Norris Farms in Fulton County the following year, Percy said. The letter to Staats was sent Wednesday and made available by his staff over the weekend. The senator said the subject of alien ownership of farmland is of great interest in Illinois but that little is known about it.

The GAO recently produced a report titled "Foreign Ownership of Farmland Much Concern, Little Data." It has been asked by the Senate Agriculture By Rick Baker PONTIAC Recent indictments returned by a Livingston County grand jury seem to indicate that the state prison here is a bad place to be unless you enjoy being stabbed, beaten with pipes, homosexually raped or kicked In the face. After hearing evidence from inmates and investigators, the grand jury said there was probable cause for a myriad of charges against inmates in the prison where law is supposed to guarantee prisoner's a safe and humane existence. Despite the legal warranty, the grand jury heard evidence that prisoners stabbed, beat, intimidated, extorted, By Adrian Harless CLINTON Damage estimates have been set at at least $250,000 from an early morning fire that destroyed two businesses on the Clinton courthouse square Monday. A state fire marshall said probable cause of the blaze was an electrical short. A spokesman for the Clinton Masonic Lodge, which owns the structure where the two businesses are housed, set the quarter of a million dollar damage estimate for the building.

According to Bill Ward of the Clinton Fire Department, a fire started about 2 stone and previously from El Paso, to sign a form calling for movement of $1,100 from Isaacson's account to another inmate's. Prosecutors told the grand jury that happened Feb. 23. just a few days after Isaacson entered the prison on a conviction of writing a bogus check that another man cashed at Washington Square IGA Foodliner, 509 W. Washington Bloomington.

Prison officials wouldn't reveal former addresses of inmates Indicted. Three prisoners were indicted on charges of aggravated battery for beating and stabbing a man April 16 inside prison walls. Beaten and stabbed was James King. Prison officials said they could not reveal his former address. Accused of beating and knifing King are Tony Tims, 21; Greg Bowden, 19, and Dwayne Gordon, 21.

In the indictments, each man is accused of wielding a knife, and each is charged with kicking King in the face after he was stabbed. The grand jury gave no inkling of motive in the stabbing, but similar incidents in the past have usually had gang connections. There are several powerful gangs in the prison. When gangs don't like something somebody is doing, or if somebody isn't paying them enough money, giving gang members narcotics or consenting to sexual demands, sometimes a "hit" is ordered. Gang members go out and stab the person the gang not getting along with.

Sometimes gang members don't stab the person. Sometimes they set the person's mattress on fire while he is sleeping. The prison hierarchy doesn't sell knives to inmates. Inmates aren't allowed to have knives. Occasionally a.

knife is smuggled in. More often, inmates make their own knives out of metal uinsils, plumbing or pieces of In another incident, Olen Bell, 28, is acc. ed of beating another inmate over the head with an iron pipe. Bell is charged with aggravated battery. The grand jury said he beat Michael Nevers on the head.

The grand jury heard testimony that a prisoner threatened to harm the family of a fellow inmate unless the inmate consented to perform deviate sexual acts in the prison. Robert Evans, 21, was indicted on charges of intimidation and deviate sexual assault against Albert Wills. The indictments of inmates at Pontiac prison came on the heels of several indictments from the state's only women's prison at Dwight. School aid increase revised downward School districts will not be getting as big a windfall in new state aid as was predicted by figures from the Illinois Office of Education, officials said Monday. Members of the McLean County Regional Board of School Trustees expressed concern Monday that an education funding bill passed last week by the legislature will not result in increases of between 10 and 88 percent in McLean County schools as was earlier thought.

IOE figures were based on attendance figures estimated by school superintendents in February, said Darrell Elliott, of IOE's division of budget and finances. Those figures are higher than those being sent in now, he said Monday. 'Twasn't Sherwood Forest, but Forest I Park, so no Friar Tuck could be seen I OKI HQ QIITI sitting under a tree. John Winstead, 8, left, 1010 Folsom watched as Mike Sen. Percy wants included in farm Jff years old Crash kills Pekin boy WASHINGTON (AP) The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, has been asked by Sen.

Charles H. Percy, to include Illinois in a study of foreign-owned farm land in the United States. In a letter to Comptroller General Elmer B. Staats, Percy asked the GAO to make a separate study of foreign-owned farm land in Illinois if it proved impossible to include the state in the current survey. Percy said he has received reports of two large purchases of Illinois farm land by foreign interests in the last three years.

He said the Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co. reportedly paid some $6 million on behalf of a Committee to study in particular the situation in the states of California, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Penny slvania, Texas and Washington. Because of the importance of Illinois in agricultural production, it also should be included, Percy He asked the GAO to seek to learn the amount of foreign-owned acreage -m Illinois, which counties have the largest amount of it, in which nations most' of the foreign owners live or' have citizenship, what procedure is generally used to make the purchases and the impact of such activity. Percy said that the use of blind trust land holding companies may hide the identity of foreign owners of Illinois farm property. PEKIN-A ltt-year-old Pekin boy was killed and three members of his family injured Sunday night in a two-car collision in the 1800 block of Court Street.

Tazewell County Coroner Robert Haller identified the victim as Vincent F. Fuller, who died at 9:35 p.m. at Pekin Memorial Hospital. The crash occurred about 9 p.m., Pekin police said. Haller said he will conduct an inquest.

The infant's mother, Kay, 24, was in fair condition Monday night in the intensive care unit of Methodist Medical Center, Peoria..