The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 2

A2 THE PANTAGRAPH, THURSDAY, MAY 19, 1983 Board addresses school-closing plan Charges filed against B-N postal worker By SCOTT RICHARDSON Pantograph itaff A Bloomington postal worker was charged yesterday with misappropriation of U.S. Postal Service money, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Peoria said yesterday. David Hoeft, 40, Downs, was charged with three counts of misappropriation, a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $1,000 and a year in Jail on each count. He was the only Bloomington post office worker charged in (he investigation, which led to the suspensions of three Bloomington workers in April.

One of the other suspended workers has died since then. The third was not charged. Bloomington Postmaster Elwin Schau said yesterday he will await official notice from postal inspectors before deciding whether to allow the third man to return; to work. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Stuaan said that In addition to Hoeft, three employees of the Princeton post office and one from the Kewanee post office were charged yesterday.

Two of those were charged Willi multiple counts of misdemeanor misappropriation of funds and two were charged with multiple counts of failure to properly account for st office funds another misdemeanor, he said. Each count against the five involves less than $100, Stuaan said. No court dates have been set, he said. The postmaster of the Henry post office was charged last week with 40 counts of embezzlement. The charges involve more than $17,000, Stuaan said.

By DAVE HANCOCK Pantograph staff Bloomington District 87 school board members yesterday revealed their thoughts about a plan that would close three elementary schools by the fall of 1984. The plan also would send fifth-graders to the junior high and eighth-graders to the high school. Apparently, the board has a lot of work to do before making a decision. At a work session to discuss its options, board members agreed on few matters, including whether any change was needed. Board member Dicksy Baker Smith said a decision on Superintendent George Stimeling's plan should be delayed a year, and board member Carol Fraker said she was hesitant to change a system that is working well.

Without committing themselves to any plan, board members expressed their thoughts on the plans up for consideration. Here are sample comments from each board member: Jack Ingold said some change is necessary, but he said school officials have not considered reduc- ing some "sacred cow" programs, which he did not identify. Carol Fraker called closing three schools a drastic step and said there are probably alternative methods to balance the district's budget. She said the status quo might be the best plan for now. Dicksy Baker Smith said she believes the board is "rushing" to make a decision and that there are too many uncertainties and questions to be answered about all the plans.

She suggested delaying a decision for one year. Norm Jones said he could not get "hung up" about which school students attend. He said the district was in a much worse position a few years ago when it dismissed 78 teachers. He warned board members that the group had to deal with the "reality" of a deficit budget in upcoming years. William Bach said board members "need to stop playing games with one another" and decide if a change is needed.

He said at the last board meeting that he does not see how the district can save a significant amount of money without closing schools. John Robertson also supported change, but did not specify what the changes should be. But he said the board must eventually make a decision on the closing of schools. Roger Joslin said the board should do all it can to keep the district's neighborhood schools open. He said the district is not in a "panic situation," and added the district is in better financial shape than other similar-size districts.

Joslin also proposed a new plan, which would include elementary schools, a middle school, a junior high and a high school. He suggested closing Raymond School and sending the special education children attending Raymond to Sheridan School. In other business The board also: Postponed until its June meeting a decision to sell district property on Emerson Street. The land adjoins the Pine Bach subdivision and is near The Grand Hotel restaurant. Heard from district business manager Darrel Kline on a preliminary 1983 84 budget.

Kline projects a budget deficit of $817,000. Pre I II II Hy Cab company gets reprieve on paving Pantagraph pnolO'BRAO CLIFT owner of Ace High Glass, 306 Wood glass yesterday at the annex to Felmley Hall at Illinois Pontiac Auto Dealer's Association proudly presents By EMILIE KREBS Pantograph staff Circle City Cab Co. owner Wiley Holt got a one-year reprieve yesterday from Bloomington's city code requiring that he pave the parking lot at 607 S. Gridley St. if more than nine taxis park there continuously.

The decision by Bloomington's Board of Zoning Appeals follows nearly a year of informal talks with Holt and city officials concerning the parking lot. The talks began after Holt moved from a building across the street from his current location. Holt leases the building from William Maitland, owner of Maitland Heating and Cooling. Vincent Quevedo, director of Building Safety, said the decision is a temporary delay and does not exempt Holt from paving his lot. His department sent Holt several notices to comply with the ordinance and legal steps were going to be taken if Holt did not respond, Quevedo said.

One reason the city did not act sooner was because it would have been impossible for Holt to pave the lot in the winter, he said. Normal attorney John A. Carlon, The probes by postal inspectors led another Kewanee jiostal employee to resign in March, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Inspectors Office in St. Louis, Mo.

The investigations at the post offices were unrelated, he said. In September, a probe by postal inspectors led a LeKoy postal employee to plead guilty to obstructing the mail by removing money from mail. In litHl, nine Central Illinois postal employees were charged with the same offense. Financed for 36 months Financed for 48 months OF AVERf(E Friday, May 20 3-8 P.M. Saturday, May 21 10 A.M.-7 P.M.

Sunday, May 22 1 1 A.M.-5 P.M. SPECIAL FINANCING Touch of glass Fred Thomas of Heyworth, Bloomington, was resetting State University. 2 found innocent of pool gambling Alen Terry White. 35, and Barbara Lou Dudley, 23, both of 2308 Maysel Drive, Bloomington, were found innocent in a bench trial yesterday in the associate division of McLean County Circuit Court on charges of gambling. They were accused March 24, 1982, with gambling on the results of a game of pool at Jim's Checkered Flag Lounge, 1105 E.

Oakland Bloomington. In other action in associate division, Anthony T. Grasso, 406 W. Locust Normal, was fined $100 and sentenced to six months' court supervision for aggravated assault. Grasso was charged Oct.

3 with holding an object as if to strike Carl D. Harraden in the 600 block of West Cullom Street, Normal. Setting it right FARMER CITY IPNS) It was incorrectly reported in Tuesday's Pantagraph that Tommy Craddock, owner of Scotty's Restaurant, said that a dog show June 3-5 would be canceled unless a Sunday liquor sales ban was lifted. Craddock, who asked that the liquor ordinance be amended, was referring to revenue when he said, 'We're going to lose the whole thing." There will be a charge for dog and cat rabies vaccinations offered in May and June by the Woodford County Animal Control Department. A story in yesterday's Pantagraph said the shots would be free.

The Daily Pantagraph Published by Evergreen Communications 301 Washington Bloomington, IL 61701. Second-class postage paid at Bloomington, IL (USPS 144760) TELEPHONE (Ml) MI-M1I NEWSROOM John Hooper, ed. David Bill, ad. Jim Barnhart, ad. Chris Helser, ad.

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ClestMe Howard Duvali, mgr. Ratal John Hoffman, mgr. CIRCULATION Bill Heritor, mgr. CARRIER1 WKS Daly 4 Si7S Call Circulation for mailmotor route rales an Guilt in burglaries may bring 4-year term who represented Holt, told the appeals board his client received a parking violation notice because more than nine cars were parked on the lot. As many as 19 cars have been counted on the lot by city officials.

Carlon said the violation is temporary and based on seasonal use of taxicabs. In the winter, more people use taxis than during the rest of the year resulting in more cabs being parked in the lot, he said. Taxi drivers also park their personal cars in the lot. Carlon said the cab company is a marginal business and the cost to put asphalt on the lot is too, high. He declined to make a cost estimate.

Carlon also asked that Holt be allowed to put white rock on the lot instead of blacktop. Although Holt is not required to put up a fence separating the lot into a cab parking area and a holding lot for other vehicles, he plans to install a fence. That way he can put the spillover of cars in the holding lot while keeping a minimum of nine cars on the cab parking lot. Quevedo said the fence won't exempt Holt from paving his lot because he'll have to pave "wherever he's going to park." Cochran ington. 1305 W.

Grove Bloom- Griffin was charged after authorities got a tip from a man who became suspicious after buying tools from Griffin cheap. Circuit Judge Wayne C. Townley Jr. ordered a presentence investigation for Griffin, who earlier this month was sentenced to three years in prison for his part in burglaries of two vehicles last November. A policeman arrested Griffin and his sister after observing them near one of the vehicles.

A charge of misdemeanor theft filed against Linda Griffin, who testified against her brother, was later dropped. Warwick was charged in November with obtaining official files of the LaSalle County state's attorney's office from his girlfriend, Becky Mayberry, 22, a secretary in the office. The files concerned activities of a Streator bar owner, Domininc Salvati, who police suspected of engaging in gambling. Warwick was charged with leaking information about planned raids on Salvati's Herb's Cigar Store to the APR API! 8.9) By BOB HOLLIDAY Pantograph staff A Bloomington man could receive four years in prison after pleading guilty yesterday in McLean County Circuit Court to two January burglaries in Bloomington. Gary L.

Griffin, 18, whose address was listed as 1206 W. Olive admitted Jan. 4 burglaries to a garage and a truck. The garage burglarized was owned by Jerry Bryant, 1219 W. Olive and the vehicle by Larry Meredith, 1305 W.

Olive St. In exchange for his guilty plea, the prosecution agreed not to prosecute regarding a Dec. 31 burglary to a garage owned by Morris Come To The Caravan Of Savings at the following locations: Ex-Streator officer convicted Driscoll Motors Olds-Cadillac-GMC 502 S. Ladd Pontiac, Illinois (815) 842-1143 Lynn Chevrolet, Inc. 825 N.

Ladd Pontiac, Illinois (815) 842-3344 Fraher Ford Chrysler-Plymouth 301 S. Ladd Pontiac, Illinois (815) 844-3138 S.P. Bradley Motor Co. Lincoln-Mercury 415 W. Howard Pontiac, Illinois 'OTTAWA A former Streator policeman, accused of leaking information about forthcoming gambling raids to the owner of the targeted business, yesterday was convicted of multiple counts of official misconduct and conspiracy to obstruct the criminal process.

James Craig "Bucky" Warwick, 34, was found guilty by Circuit JUdge Frank X. Yackley. Warwick waived his right to a trial by jury last week. Sentencing is scheduled for June 23. (815) 842-1128.