By Eugene Berghoff

Starting with this issue, I will attempt to keep our entire membership up-to-date on staff activities and items of importance.

New members enrolled for 1973, as of March 1 are:

Coloma Park District, Mason City Park District, West Chicago Park District, Winslow Park District, Savanna Park District, Tinley Park District, Dunleith Park District, Chillicothe Memorial Park District, Carthage Park District, City of O'Fallon, Limestone Park District, City of Palos Heights, City of Belleville, Tri-State Park District and North East Park District of Evanston.

If you would like a copy of the "Public Pool Case Study" by Lloyd Hubbard, write to the National Swimming Pool Institute, 2000 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20006.

President Nixon's freezing of Federal Funds will affect many present and future projects of our membership. I would suggest you write to your congressmen and United States Senators Charles Percy and Adlai Stevenson requesting their support in restoring these programs.

I appreciate those courtesies extended to me on my visits to the Pekin and Carthage Park Districts.

The Vermilion County Conservation District is to be congratulated on its "Outdoor School Program."

Should the present Tax Freeze Act become law, your association has offered the legislature a program to allocate districts a share of the State Income Tax or a portion of the Federal Revenue Sharing monies allocated to the State.

The State of Illinois collected in 1972 State Income Tax of $1,136,164,498. Refunds allocated to cities of $71,128,473.97 and to counties, $13,216,803.10 for a total of $84,345,277.07. Also, out of this source of revenue, the State was able to increase its school aid program by 713 million dollars.

The Department of Local Government Affairs reports that their 1971 property tax statistics show park districts, conservation and forest preserve districts levied 98 1/2 million dollars on real estate and 24 million dollars on personal property. So, when the personal property is abolished, we would need 24 million dollars to replace that source of revenue.

On a state-wide average from each property tax dollar collected, schools received 59.9¢, cities, towns and villages received 19. 8¢ and counties received 7.8¢. The 4.8¢ from each tax dollar received by park, forest preserve and conservation districts amounted to $105,491,222 of the total $2,708,400,132 levied in the 1970 tax year.

IAPD and IPRS believe that the democratic process functions best through frank and open discussion. Material published in this magazine, therefore often presents divergent and controversial points of view which do not necessarily represent the views of policies of the two sponsoring organizations.

By Kay Kastel

This new column will appear in each magazine to keep the members informed as to what the officers, board, & Executive Secretary have been doing.

President Ernie Nance held a meeting for all committee chairmen and the Executive Secretary. Committee goals, accomplishments and recommendations to the board were discussed. This meeting was a first in IPRS history and it is hoped that this will continue to bring the committees together to provide more services to the members.

Committees have begun work on several large projects. Membership is designing a society membership brochure & researching the societies services.

Ways and Means has planned an evening of games, entertainment, and fun with Las Vegas nite on May 11 at the White Pines Golf Course in Bensenville.

There was an excellent turnout for all three workshops. Congratulations are in order to Ron Dodd and the workshops committee for providing pertinent topics for discussion. Revenue sources public relations, pool management, teen programming, and senior citizens were just a few items that induced communication between workshop participants.

The Therapeutic branch participated in an excellent regional symposium held at the University of Illinois. Our state ITRS branch is one of the leaders in the national society. Congratulations to ITRS for their excellent participation and help with the growth of our Society.

The students gathered at the University of Illinois to elect officers for the coming year. A full report will follow in the next issue. The student branch has shown great progress in the past year and have become a strong force in IPRS.

The following members have passed the requirements for certification: Ray Hancock (Adm), Jerry Handlon, Naperville (Adm), Dave Markworth (Adm)-Des Plaines, Douglas Moody (leader)-Skokie, Richard Novy (leader), Karen Ristau (Supv)-Franklin Park, Stephen Settecase (leader), and Don Wirth (Adm)-Evanston. It is our hope that departments recognize the accomplishments of these members.

The annual Charles K. Brightbill Banquet was held at the University of Illinois to commemorate a great man and to honor outstanding students and alumni in the field of recreation and parks. Joe Curtis, Commissioner of Recreation in Boston, Massachusetts, gave an inspiring speech on the quiet crisis and changing field of parks & recreation. Congratulations to Jan Bergman (student), John Bailey (student) for their coordination of an excellent banquet.

The Glenview Park District recently opened a new million dollar ice rink. Franklin Park Park District passed a bond issue for $1.25 million dollars for an indoor ice rink and improvement to existing parks. Congratulations to these districts. See you next issue.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 3 May/June, 1973