The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 6

The Pantagraph jjg Thursday, October 2, 1997 Redistricting plans worry Ironwood residents By JOHN BERRY Pantagraph staff HUDSON They may live in Normal's Ironwood subdivision, but many parents don't want to see their children become Ironmen because of Unit 5's proposed building referendum. More than 70 parents attended a referendum meeting at Hudson school Wednesday and let district officials know they want their children to attend Normal West, not Normal Community when they are in high school. The district wants voters to approve a $26.2 million referendum on Nov. 4 that includes building a grade school in north Normal where Ironwood students would attend which has added two portable classrooms to handle the enrollment. The district is trying to reduce overcrowding in its schools.

Between the start of school in 1996 and 1997, district enrollment rose by about 450 to 9,400. They project enrollment will reach 10,000 by 2000. In addition to the new grade school, the district wants to add classrooms at North-point and Pepper Ridge elementary schools, and Chiddix and Parkside junior high schools. The Hudson meeting was one of 17 to explain why residents should support the project, although it was dominated by concerns about redistricting. classes.

Rumors spread through the neighborhood over the weekend that high school students would be forced to switch from Normal West to Normal Community in 1999. Superintendent Robert Malito doused those rumors saying that high school students likely would stay at West. But he couldn't make the same promise for junior high and grade school students, who would feed into the older high school on Kingsley Street. "We are not trying to do something that would disrupt your children's education. We are here to listen to you," said Malito.

While there are no official redistricting Others didn't know if they would support the referendum without knowing the district's plans for their children. One student at the meeting, Jessica, who asked that her last name not be used, said friends have been talking for days about her having to transfer to Normal Community when school starts in 1999. "If they are going to redistrict I want a promise that they will have a grandfather clause," Jessica said. "From what I understand, they didn't do that in 1992 when Normal West opened. They forced people to move." Currently, the approximately 110 Iron-wood elementary students attend Hudson, plans, board member Doug Reeves said they know children will be moved, but where boundaries will be drawn is still months away.

The school board wants to delay redistricting discussions until after the referendum is approved, but one man said "the two issues can't be divorced." That drew applause from the crowd. Ronda Palmgren said the district wanted to talk about the picture without redistricting, but she feels they go hand-in-hand. "Many of us bought homes in Ironwood because our children would attend Hudson, Parkside and Normal West. I feel like we are being used as pawns," she said. Aloha Akaka, you'll be missed them to show how beautifully they could sound together.

"Some of God's people are white, some black, some brown, some yellow," said Akaka, whose daughter, Pualani Akaka La Barre, graduated from IWU in 1971. "God didn't intend for all people to be alike, not even in families. But people were intended to live in harmony as if, when the strings of the ukulele blend." "It's a profound message simply told," Sheldon said. The two men met as fraternity brothers when Akaka attended IWU from 1937 to 1939. Later, Akaka would travel to the Twin Cities The PantagraphMAUREEN CONNOR Rev.

Abraham Akaka church began as a grass and wood structure built by the first missionaries to arrive. Now, an impressive structure built of coral carved from the ocean floor, the church is Hawaii's religious and spiritual center. It was there Akaka first coined the term, "The Aloha State," during a service to commemorate the vote making Hawaii the 50th state. Akaka won many awards and honors. He was Hawaii's Distinguished Citizen in 1984.

He received honorary doctoral degrees from IWU, the University of Chicago, Salem College, the University ofHawaiiandthe University of the Pacific. But despite Akaka's prominence and a schedule that demanded 17-hour work days, he always had time for people in need. Beadles recalls an occasion when he was visiting Akaka in Hawaii. They were on their way to an apartment Akaka kept as a private retreat, where he wouldn't allow even a phone. On the way, they passed a group of young people on the beach, and Akaka said he must turn around and go back.

He had seen a former surfing champion who had become addicted to drugs wave to him as though beckoning him to stop. They returned and Akaka talked with the man several minutes before telling the entire group to turn off their loud music, form a circle and join hands. He then led them in prayer. "He reached all types of people," said Beadles, also a former fraternity brother to Akaka. "And they all respected him.

He was a great, great human being. One of the rarities of our time." Aloha, Rev. Abraham Akaka. Aloha Ke Akua. IWU grad embodied idea of 'God is love' By SCOTT RICHARDSON Pantagraph staff "Aloha" is a Hawaiian word used both as a greeting and to say farewell.

But "aloha" held a much deeper meaning for the late Rev. Abraham Akaka, an Illinois Wesleyan University graduate who died Sept. 10 in Honolulu at age 80. To Akaka, widely revered as the spiritual leader of the racial melting pot of the Hawaiian Islands, the word "aloha" embodied the Christian message of unity among all people. In fact, it was Akaka who first dubbed Hawaii "The Aloha State," a phrase quickly adopted as the state motto.

"Aloha Ke Akua," was his favorite Bible verse. It means, "God is love." 'Aloha' is love," said the Rev. Chester Sheldon of the Twin Cities, a close college friend of Akaka and the retired director of the Conference Council on Ministries for the United Methodist Church in Bloomington. "Abe was always one who believed in the power of love to bring people together. That was the message he brought all along." An accomplished singer, Akaka often used a ukulele to make his point in sermons.

During a 1970 service Akaka held in thanksgiving for the safe return of Apollo 13, then-President Richard Nixon heard Akaka compare people of diverse backgrounds to the instrument's different strings. Akaka strummed them while out of tune to show what happens when people fail to respect and love one another. Then he tuned Attorney Gregory Knapp talked with, from left, Doug Simpson, chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals, and board members Lyle McWilliamson, Wayne Jelly and Bob Harbors Jr. after the meeting. Pipeline zoning petition withdrawn from Chicago where he attended divinity school to visit Sheldon and others like Lena Maxwell and Elmer Beadles, both of Blooming-ton.

Both Maxwell and Beadles echo Sheldon's fondest memories of Akaka. Maxwell recalls him as "a wonderful guy," whose beautiful version of "The Holy City" she remembers more than a half century later. On Sundays, he would appear at the back door at her family's farm outside Clinton, pineapple in hand. "We just loved him," she said. "He became a part of our family." Ordained in 1944, Akaka returned to the Hawaiian Islands, where he eventually became pastor of Kawaiahao, the church of his boyhood.

Located across the street from the Queen's Palace, the erty and remain agricultural. However, the amendment failed to receive the required 4-1 vote when Chairman Doug Simpson and board member Jerry Welch voted against it. After a conference with company representatives, Knapp told the board the request had been withdrawn. We have no desire to go against Mrs. Hartzler's wishes," Knapp said, adding Hartzler had a legitimate protest and the amendment was meant to respond to her objections.

There are better sites in the area for the terminal, said Greenspan. "We hope they don't refile." Steve Hayes of rural Roanoke; who was prepared to speak against the request, agreed. "We just want it to end," he said. "We want TransMontaigne to go back to Arkansas." Part of the plan includes extending an existing pipeline from Marshall County to the facility, which is between Metamora, Roanoke and Eureka. The zoning board received formal protests Tuesday against the project from John Imhoff, who owns property diagonally across the intersection; and from Edith Hartzler, who owns adjacent property across County Highway 1.

Because Hartzler owns property that is adjacent to more than 20 percent of the proposed site, a three-quarters majority, or at least a 12-3 vote by the Woodford County Board was needed. Knapp had proposed an amendment to the original zoning request to reduce the number of acres from 30 to 28. The 2 acres would be used as a buffer zone between the site and Hartzler's prop By ARLENE FRANKS Pantagraph correspondent EUREKA An Arkansas pipeline company seeking to place a gasoline terminal in rural Woodford County withdrew its request for a zoning change Wednesday after adjacent landowners filed formal protests. Most of the over-capacity crowd in a Woodford County courtroom applauded when TransMontaigne told the Zoning Board of Appeals it would not seek the rezoning of 30 acres at Illinois 116 and Illinois 117 from agricultural to industrial. However, the company still plans to refile the zoning request, according to Eureka attorney Greg Knapp.

The zoning change would allow a gasoline terminal for use by tanker trucks hauling fuel to area gas stations. DeWitt County committee continues to slash budgets amounts from $168,000 to the and from $104,000 to $247,000 $136,000. Ex-Colfax mayor guilty of attempted misconduct Michael O'Rourke said the plea The DeWitt County Friendship Center received $44,000 from the county this year. The committee voted to reduce the amount to $40,000 for next year. County Board member Duane Harris said Delores Miller, director of the Friendship Center, had done an excellent job of cutting the budget.

The total budget was not available Wednesday. Connie Keelin, administrator of the De Witt-Piatt Bi-County Health Department, said the department received $247,000 from the DeWitt County public health tax and $136,000 from the Piatt County public health tax as part of a total budget of $713,000 for the fiscal year. The budget was amended this year, increasing those By DON EVANS Pantagraph correspondent CLINTON At a special meeting of the DeWitt County Board Finance Committee Wednesday night, action was taken on the proposed budgets for two county agencies and postponed on a third. Finance Committee Chairman Ed Young said the goal of his committee is to reduce expenditures of local governmental units funded by the county by 13 percent for the coming fiscal year. Shelly Finfrock said the DeWitt County Soil and Water Conservation District, which she directs, received $8,584 from the county for the current fiscal year.

The total budget for the district was $69,524. The committee voted to recommend to the County Board that the county reduce its contribution to $7,000 next year. The proposed budget for next year asked for $180,000 from De-Witt County and $136,000 from Piatt County as part of a total budget of $646,000. The committee postponed action on the budget because the amounts were not reduced from the original budgeted figures for the current year and because of questions raised about the division of support provided by the two counties. An agreement reached last year stipulates that DeWitt County provide 60 percent and Piatt County 40 percent of the total amount received from the public health tax.

plies. The paving was completed in 1995 at the rented home of Chief Mike Walters. The maximum penalty for the offense was a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. In the four counts of official misconduct that were dropped, Webb was accused of using city employees and crews to haul trash from his business and a rental property he owned and ordering sewer work for a neighbor even though the City Council hadn't approved the spending. After the fact and during the controversy, the council approved the bill.

The ex-mayor has no prior record, and. defense attorney agreement spared his client, the city and the county the expense and time required of a trial. Assistant State's Attorney Sandra Thompson said it was important to hold the mayor accountable, even if dollar amounts were small. The $25 restitution reflects a value estimate of the rock used on the chiefs driveway. "Even if it isn't a large dollar figure, public officials owe it to the taxpayers to be responsible with money," Thompson said.

O'Rourke said he would have argued at trial that Webb was protecting a city investment a Colfax police car by fixing the chiefs driveway. By STEVE ARNEY Pantagraph staff The former mayor of Colfax pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempted official misconduct a misdemeanor and the McLean County state's ettorney dropped four felony counts in a plea bargain. James Webb, 68, who did not seek re-election last year amid controversy and grand jury indictments, declined comment after the hearing. He admitted guilt to attempting, for personal gain, to have the police chiefs driveway improved with city supplies. Webb will serve a year of conditional discharge, which means he doesn't have to report to a probation officer but will have a permanent misdemeanor record for the offense.

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