Journal Gazette from Mattoon, Illinois • Page 10

A19 (2L) iC'JITIAL CZTTTE FROM PAGE ONE, RECORDS Ky irimiiWI) maim EA.TTr.7EEK: A CCT CF IKE PUOT Board continued from Al oil was believed to have been dumped by an unidentified ship during the New Year's weekend. Leopard panic A wayward leopard, looking for a hiding place in metropolitan New Delhi, caused widespread alarm after it sneaked into a home and curled up in the bathtub. Frightened residents of Faridabad had armed themselves and alerted the police after the big cat was seen in the area earlier in the day. Animal control officers conducted a house-to-house search until they finally tracked the leopard to the bathtub. After shooting several tranquilizer' darts through a ventilator in the bathroom, they were able to get the 220-pound cat into a cage.

Wildlife experts were baffled by the appearance of the leopard in the city, as there are no nearby forests. Some speculated that the cat had hitched a ride into the city in the back of a truck. The five-year-old male leopard will be given a home in the Delhi Zoo. Cole3 County Farm Bureau, asked the board to conduct public hearings on the proposed ordinance once it's revised. He said -that would give people a chance to voice their concerns and ask questions.

"There has been a lot of confusion and a lot erf rumors running around about this ordinance," Phelan said. "I think the best thing would be to take it back for awhile. I think that would be very comfortable for the public." Yow said he discussed the ordinance early Tuesday with representatives of the county Public Health Department, which first requested that the board adopt a nuisance ordinance. He said he got answers to some of the questions people had asked him, and more of that should take place. "We need to clarify it and need to limit it to only what's absolutely necessary," Yow said, adding that the intent of the ordinance was only to respond to complaints about potential nuisances and take action only in "extreme cases." Board member Eugene Sims, Board agreement to raise deputies' pay CHARLESTON Coles County sheriffs deputies will -seepay increases of just more than 25 percent over the four years of a new contract the County Board approved Tuesday.

The board approved a four-year agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police union that represents the deputies. The old contract expired last month. Vice Chairman Mike Genta, who headed the board's negotiating team, said the chief benefit of the contract was that it made the deputies' salaries more comparable to that of other area law enforcement agencies. That should help stop a recent trend of experienced deputies leaving and the. county having to spend a large amount of money to train replacements, he said.

"You are either going to pay people and keep them or hire new people and retrain," Genta said. The contract calls for a nearly pay increase the first v. year, more than 5 percent each of the next two years and almost 4 percent the final year. The last contract took nearly two years to negotiate and almost went to binding arbitration. It was set for three years.

After Tuesday's meeting, Genta said the main reason for the pay increases in the new contract was for the county to try to be competitive with other rshn slides At least 11 people in southeastern Brazil were buried alive when landslides triggered by torrential rains hit a wide area of the region. Accompanying floods in the state ofMinas Gerais forced the evacuation of nearly 10,000 people, and officials declared a state of emergency in 14 cities. The Acari suburb of Rio de Janeiro was one of the hardest hit areas, and two people perished in slides that covered their home. The Maracana River broke its banks and swept away a car and its occu- pants. Winter twisters A clash between unsea-sonably warm weather and a fresh Arctic chill produced a string of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes across the American heartland on the third day of the New Year.

A powerful storm that spawned at least one tornado ripped through Owensboro, Kentucky, damaging a shopping center, homes and a college campus. Six people were taken to a hospital with injuries. Thunderstorms and funnel clouds also toppled trees and power lines in the Mississippi and Ohio valleys. Philippine eruption The towering Mayon Volcano exploded violently with a plume of steam and ash that soared four miles into the skies 215 miles southeast of Manila. No evacuations were ordered, and a second-level alert had already Influenza continued they are getting seriously ill, they should be seeing their physicians." In order to lessen the burden on local hospitals, flu victims should not go to the emergency room unless they have underlying problems, such as cancer, history of strokes, or heart according to Hildebrandt.

"The increased flu cases have gotten to the point where it overburdens the system," said Hildebrandt. "As a result, the wait time in the ER has been really high. A lot of (flu victims) would be just as well off, if they came or not." At least one area hospital is taking precautions against the virus' spread. St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital in Effingham recently issued a statement that visitors especially those with flu-like symptoms should refrain from visiting patients at the hospital.

Although it doesn't seem likely in this day and age, there have been in place for Mayon due to its erratic activity since last June. Residents were warned to stay away from the four-mile danger zone around the crater of the volcano, famous for its symmetrically shaped cone. Lightning deaths An entire family of six was killed by a single lightning bolt in a community near Mount Darwin, Zimbabwe, on New Year's Day. The lightning struck the home, causing it to burst into flames. In October, six people were also killed by a single light-' ning bolt near the city of Gokwe, west of Harare.

Traditional thatch roofing material used in the region becomes impregnated with carbon from the soot of cooking fires, making homes natural anodes for lightning. Officials have issued appeals to Zimbabweans to install lightning conductors what is becoming an alarmingly common cause of death as regional forests are cut down, leaving human settlements more exposed. Earthquakes Bangladesh's tiny island of Moheshkhali in the Bay of Bengal and the nearby coastal city of Cox's Bazar were rocked by a strong temblor for nearly 18 seconds, destroying or damaging at least 100 homes and causing widespread panic. The most powerful earthquake in the region since 1935 hit parts of western New York and southern Ontario, shaking people out of bed and damaging chimneys in the Temiscaming region of western Quebec. Earth from Al been occurrences of worldwide influenza epidemics, or flu "pandemics," according to the IDPH.

The Asian flu caused the death of 70,000 Americans during 1957 and 1958, according to IDPH records. During 1918 and 1919, the Spanish flu killed 20 million people worldwide, and approximately 500,000 people in the United States, according to IDPH records. That outbreak caused in excess of 160,000 deaths in Illinois alone Schafer said. "YJriavetQrememieiml (state) population was a lot lessor back then," he said. "It affected almost every family in Illinois in one way or another.

There was no flu vaccine back then, and when the flu got started, everybody was at risk." A pandemic would still be possible today, if the ''type flu virus, responsible for the annual outbreak of respiratory illness each year, would happen to suddenly mutate into a new "subtype" of flu, according to the Charleston fire Firefighters responded at 9:44 p.m. Sunday to a false alarm caused by a system malfunction at Trailmobile 1000 N. 14th St. Mattoon police Rose M. Kittell, 72, of 813 N.

12th St. was ticketed for failure to yield turning left after the car she was driving collided with a car driven by Jason M. Faller of 2701 Western Ave. at 4:21 p.m. Friday on Marshall Avenue near 21st Street.

Cars driven by William Jones Sr. of 821 Prairie Ave. and Bryce W. Johnson of Findlay were in an accident at 7:57 a.m. Friday on Ninth Street at Prairie Avenue.

A car driven by Michael D. Winnings of Gays struck a curb after being forced off the road by a car making a lane change at 6:30 p.m. Thursday on Charleston Avenue near 13th Street. MARRIAGES Dana Boyd Allen of Dover, and Allison Margret Blume ofLerna 2-93. Little Lotto Here are the winning numbers selected Tuesday in The Big Game: 16-18-28-37-39.

Big Money Ball: 7. Estimated Big Game Jackpot $9 who chairs the Health and Safety Committee, said the only problem the ordinance was originally intended to address was "junk." He said he wanted an ordinance that "can be enforced without going through three or four valleys to get there." Yow also said state laws do deal with many of the things in the ordinance, but it takes a long time to get a problem resolved that way. He also suggested that health department officials meet with the Farm Bureau, the Coles County Taxpayers Association and other groups and individuals with concerns to try to make changes in the ordinance. The health department's schedule would prevent the board from considering the ordinance next month, he added. Members Ray Allen and Robert Webb, who both serve on the Health and Safety Committee, didn't attend Tuesday's meeting.

Yow said Allen told him some time ago that he would be absent, and Webb was ill. law enforcement agencies. The fact that the sheriffs depart- -merit brings hi money from housing out-ofcounty inmates at the jail was also a factor, but a secondary one, he said. "We're losing people all the time," Genta said. "What we're hoping for now is a little more longevity, a little more continuity' No one representing the union attended the meeting.

In other matters Tuesday, the board approved a Chang in the county's landfill siting ordinance concerning the presiding officer at public hearings on landfill siting applications. Trie change means the board will appoint an outside person as the hearing officer instead of the board's chairman automatically taking that position. Chairman Tim bw said he didn't feel comfortable presiding at the hearings when, as a board member, he ultimately had to vote on whether to approve an application. He also noted that he chairs the court- ty's Regional Planning and Devetopment Commission, which would actually conduct the hearings. Yow said the commission Is considering asking a retired judge with experience in solid waste matters to accept the appointment as hearing officer.

Allied Waste Industries Inc. has indicated that it plans in February to file an application to put a new landfill north of the facility it currently has near Loxa. Dave Fbpay Wright said she thinks a fifth-grade only arrangement is bad for students. And Justin Grady, a parent member of the PIE committee, said many parents he's asked favor the K-5 scenario. Following on the K-5 issue, Superintendent Richard Berg presented of building usage if the board successfully asked voters to approve construction of one new elementary school in the November election.

The new school would house about 500 K-5 students. Students from Armstrong would move to Hawthorne school. And Bennett, Humboldt, Lincoln and Washington would be "neighborhood" K-5 schools. Where a new building would be constructed is an unanswered The board needs to finalize a building plan at its February meeting so architects can put together plans in time for an April deadline to submit a grant application to the state. The board also must finalize next month which students will attend various buildings next year.

And the high school is asking for a vote on the closed campus so it can finalize plans for next year and, if the proposal is approved, begin planning the additions to the cafeteria area. itself is fair, courts usually won't interfere. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, whose RainbowPUSH Coalition filed the lawsuit on the students' behalf, said he would appeal McCuskey's decision. Jackson said he planned two upcoming rallies in Decatur and would hold a conference Jan.

25 in Springfield on "zero tolerance" policies. movements were also felt in Maine, the Alabama-Tennessee border area, south-central Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, Sakhalin Island, Taiwan, the southern Philippines, West Sumatra and western Turkey's aftershock zone. Fairy penguin peril At least six fairy pen-' guins on an Australian island have been killed by an oil slick and another 110 of the tiny birds are being treated by animal specialists. A group of breeding terns and a large colony of seals are also threatened by the thick black oil that washed up on Phillip Island near the southeastern corner of Australia. The birds, called fairy penguins because they stand only a few inches high, have been cleaned and placed in specially made sweaters to prevent them from preening their contaminated feathers.

Environmentalists fear that even more of the adult penguins will be affected by the oil slick as they swim out to sea to gather food for their young. The IDPH. If this happened, "large numbers of people, sometimes an entire population, have no antibody protection." Often, the best prevention against coming down with the virus is getting a flu shot some- time in October or November, before flu season begins. The shots are relatively easy to obtain, at either a county health department or a local doctor's office. i yv The standard charge forthej Zschau, communicable' disease investigator for the ''Coles County Health Department.

She said the cost is covered by Medicaid, for clients who have "Part coverage. Zschau said the effectiveness of the shots are "somewhere in the low 90 percent range," and that it usually takes about two weeks to build up an immunity to the sickness. Even people who have already contracted the flu should feel some relief from get A car driven by Mat Keilman of Shelbyville struck a parked car at 1:58 p.m. Friday on Richmond Avenue East near Logan Street Mary F. Harden, 74, of 21 Lafayette Ave.

was ticketed for failure to yield at a stop intersection after the car she was driving collided with a pickup truck driven by Kenneth W. Graven of 1000 N. 32nd St at 4:22 p.m. Monday on Shelby Avenue at North 10th Street Mattoon fire Firefighters assisted an ambulance crew at 8 p.m. Sunday.

Firefighters assisted on a medical call at 8:30 a.m. Monday in the 1100 block of Bell Street Firefighters assisted with a medical call in the 4200 block of Lake Land Boulevard at 12:35 p.m. Monday. HOSPITAL NOTES Admitted Monday Brenda J. Black, Casey Richard C.

Hayden, Greenup Louis G. Hayes, Mattoon Richard W. Hines, Mattoon Alison Hoekstra, Charleston Linda C. Kerans, Charleston Claude William Kurr, Mattoon Nici J. Rose, Mattoon Jody Shambo, Charleston Lee A.

Vandyke, Mattoon Released Monday Siren Report continued from A9 Schools continued from Al ting a flu shot, Zschau said. 1 She brushed aside common belief that the flu shots actually make you sick initially. "There isn't anything live in the flu shot," she said. "You need some kind of a live organism to' transmit a virus. If you do catch-the flu within two to three days of getting the shot, that means the person has been exposed to it pre-' viously." Schafer said over-the-counter medication can be purchased to combat symptoms such as muscle aches, headaches and sore throat' He said people who are frequently coughing and sneezing excessively should stay home from work or school, in order to avoid infecting people around them.

"Usually with a virus, you have to weather the storm," said Schafer. "It's best to spend a week at home and treat the symptoms. For people vhose symp- toms are more severe, they should consult their physicians." I Firefighters responded at the Comfort Suites on' Broadway Avenue East at 5:17 p.m. Monday. The alarm may-have been set off by someone smoking in a room.

Firefighters checked a carbon monoxide detector going off at 921: N. 28th St. at 5:40 p.m. Monday. Firefighters had a smokeodorl investigation at 6:22 p.m.

Monday-at 2813 Walnut Ave. Firefighters assisted with lifting a passenger at the train depot in Midtown at 6:45 p.m. Monday. Firefighters responded to an alarm at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center at 9:54 p.m. Monday.

A system malfunction set off the alarm. Firefighters assisted on a medical call at 601 W. Park Plaza at, 6:55 a.m. Tuesday. Harold E.

Ames, Charleston Doris J. Cameron, rural Neoga Jimmie L. Craddock, Newman Lindsey C. Cutright and infant son, Mattoon Ann Kuhns, Arthur Joyce A. Miller, Charleston Iris Thomas, Charleston Alice M.Tilford, Gays Births Monday To Paul and Melissa Sattler of Mattoon, a son was no clear consensus on either matter, and the board appeared to keep the door open to "other" options not presented, or at least modifying one or more of those on the table.

The reconfiguration for next year is necessary because all sixth-grade students will move to the middle school. The In Education (PIE) committ'e of faculty, administration and community members on a narrow vote recommended next year the district use Bennett, Lincoln, Washington, Ha- home, Hifmboldt and Fr schools as kindergarten-fifth grade centers. That would remove three kinderga ten classes from Columbia 1 but keep special mil classes at Armstrong Centei Board member Rick Hall led the objection to keeping Armstrong open to students. one is speaking up for the group that needs the most change, and that's Armstrong," Hall said. Another option developed by the committee was to retain the current K-4 centers and make Franklin a fifth-grade only building, a move that would help balance claos-sizes and benefit fifth-grade jt vities such as band.

Bonne; t. school teacher Kathy 911 Reynolds Drive, was ticketed for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident Friday after a collision with a vehicle driven by Jennifer S. Shipley of Bradford at Division and State streets. Jason M. Shadowsky, 22, Decatur, was ticketed for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident Saturday after a collision with a vehicle driven by Mary A.

Waldvogel, 1015 Division St. in the 10 block of State Street. Sammy R. Rakow of Charleston reported that between 12:18 and 7:10 a.m. Saturday the entry and interior doors at his apartment building, 1812 Ninth were kicked open.

Shirley A. Pate, 27, Oakland, was ticketed for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident Friday after a collision with a vehicle driven by Sheri A. Paul, 1304 Reynolds Drive, at Douglas Street and W. Lincoln Ave. Melissa J.

13230 N. County Road was ticketed for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident Monday after a collision with a vehicle driven by Kathryn D. Lambert of Litchfield on Fourth Street. LOTTERY SPRINGFIELD (AP) Here are the winning numbers selected Tuesday in the Illinois State Lottery: Pick Three-Midday 2-9-3. Pick Three-Evening 6-4-4.

Pick Four-Midday 1-945. Pick Four-Evening 1- Decatur continued from Al officials to use their own discretion and judgment, even if a court feels they made decisions "lacking a basis in wisdom or compassion." Tom Kelty, a lawyer for Decatur schools, said the district successfully showed that its punishment process provides due process and was evenly applied. He said as long as the process.