September saw the retirement of one Illinois Supreme Court justice and the appointment of another. Justice Joseph H. Goldenhersh stepped down from the high court September 12 due to health reasons. On September 15, the court appointed 20th Circuit Chief Judge Joseph F. Cunningham of Fairview Heights to fill the vacancy until the November 1988 general election when voters in the 5th Judicial District in southern Illinois choose someone to serve a full 10-year term. Cunningham, 63, has indicated he will retire at that time rather than seek election to the position. As Supreme Court justice, Cunningham's annual salary is $93,266 annually.

Cunningham was first appointed to the bench in 1965 after 13 years in private practice. He was first a magistrate (a position changed to associate judge in 1971), then a circuit judge — appointed in 1972 and later elected in the 20th Judicial Circuit. Except for a three-year period, he has been the chief judge of the circuit since 1975.

Goldenhersh has been a member of the Illinois Supreme Court for 17 years. He wrote what may have been his most famous opinion in 1984 when the high court upheld the conviction and death sentence of mass killer John W. Gacy. Goldenhersh was also an advocate of allowing news cameras and microphones in Illinois trial courts, a move opposed by a majority of his Supreme Court colleagues. Elected to 10-year terms on the high court in 1970 and 1980, he served as chief justice from 1979-1981. Prior to his election to the high court, Goldenhersh served six years on the Illinois Appellate Court.

Thomas A. Reynolds Jr., a managing partner in the Chicago law firm of Winston & Strawn, was appointed last April by Gov. James R. Thompson as chairman of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, which will finance and operate a 45,000-seat stadium next to Chicago's Comiskey Park. Thompson had made his three other appointments to the authority's board in April.

Reynolds, a Winnetka resident, organized a group to purchase Chuck Comiskey's 48 percent interest in the White Sox in December 1961 and served on the club's board of directors until May 1962. In November 1962 he organized the group that purchased the Milwaukee Braves. From 1962 to 1976 he served as chairman of the executive committee of the Atlanta Braves and represented the Braves in negotiations with financing and construction of a new Atlanta stadium.

The three other board members named by Thompson include Gayle M. Franzen of Wheaton, managing director of public finance at L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin Inc. of Chicago; Perry J. Snyderman of Highland Park, a senior partner in the Chicago law firm of Rudnick & Wolfe; and Gerald A. Stillman of Frankfort, founder and president of Mid-Continent Builders Inc. of Matteson.

Chicago Mayor Harold Washington, who also names three members to the authority, finally made his appointments in August. Thompson's choice of chairman is also subject to Washington's approval. Members appointed by Washington, all of Chicago, include Andrew Athens, president of Metron Steel Corp.; Joan Hall, partner in Jenner & Block; and Albert Johnson of Al Johnson Cadillac.

The positions pay expenses only and the appointments require Senate confirmation.

The Sports Facilities Authority is empowered to issue up to $120 million in bonds to pay for construction of the stadium and can impose a 2 percent hotel/motel tax within the city of Chicago. If necessary, the state and the city will make available up to $5 million per year to pay debt service and other authority expenses, with both contributions to be drawn down simultaneously. The White Sox will pay a minimum of $3.5 million annually in rent. A progressive scale involving attendance and skybox sales could increase the rental cost.

Gov. Thompson in July made two reappointments, Evelyn Kaufman of Chicago and Robert Ruiz of Chicago, and one new appointment, James Garner of Macomb, to the Board of Governors of State Colleges and Universities (BOG). Garner replaces Dr. Lowell B. Fisher of Canton.

Kaufman, a homemaker, has served two previous terms on the board and was BOG chairman from June 1984 to June 1986. Ruiz, senior assistant attorney general and chief of the industrial commission division in the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, begins his second term on the board. Garner is president of Garner and Associates Inc., an insurance and investment firm in Macomb.

The BOG is charged by statute to operate, manage, control and maintain the state colleges and universities system consisting of Chicago State, Eastern Illinois, Governors State, Northeastern Illinois and Western Illinois. Nine public members are appointed by the governor with the consent of the Senate and serve six-year terms. Each BOG university designates a student to serve a one-year term on the as a nonvoting member.

A special task force created by House Speaker Michael J. Madigan (D-30, Chicago) is examining Illinois debt and borrowing laws and considering changes. Rep. John O'Connell (D-47, Western Springs) is chairman.

Illinois laws relating to long-term debt and borrowing have not kept pace with the massive changes experienced in the national market over the last decade, according to Madigan. "These cumbersome and often duplicative laws and procedures have contributed to higher property taxes and user fees for Illinois citizens," said Madigan, adding that changes experienced due to the Federal Tax Reform Act of 1986 make it important to rewrite these state laws.

Members of the task force represent local governments, financial institutions, bonding houses and bond counsels. The task force will be split into core groups to concentrate on various issues.

Ronald J. Gidwitz of Chicago, president of Helene Curtis Industries Inc. and chairman of the Economic Development Commission of Chicago, joined Gov. Thompson and Secy. of State Jim Edgar as cochair of the Illinois Jobs Committee in May. The 43-member committee, made up of Illinois business leaders, was established in 1985 by Thompson and Edgar to work with businesses to discover ways of improving employment opportunities for people with disabilities. An estimated 1.5 million IIlinoisans have disabilities and more than two-thirds between the ages of 16 and 64 are unemployed. Employers throughout the state are encouraged to list job openings or to learn more about joining the Illinois Jobs Committee by calling toll-free 1-800-562-7669.

Department of Commerce and Community Affairs (DCCA) director Jay R. Hedges in August announced appointments: Dennis Whetstone of Springfield as deputy director of the Bureau of Program Administration and Paul O'Connor of Chicago as deputy director of the Bureau of Marketing. Whetstone replaces George Dinges, who left the agency to start his own business; O'Connor assumes the post vacated by Sharon Sharp, Illinois' newly appointed lottery director.

Whetstone had served as manager of DCCA's Job Training Programs Division since 1983, overseeing programs with an annual budget of $230 million that annually train more than 150,000 Illinois citizens for productive jobs. O'Connor joins DCCA after two years as assistant director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. Before joining Illinois government, he served as press secretary and senior adviser to Washington state's governor, specializing in trade and foreign relations.

Christopher G. Atchison of Chatham was appointed by Gov. Thompson as assistant director of the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) effective in August through January 1989. The position pays $60,349 annually, and his appointment requires Senate confirmation. He replaces Paul O'Connor, who left IDPH in August to become deputy director of marketing at the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs. Atchison had served as special assistant to the director of IDPH since March 1985 as well as acting chief of the Division of Epidemiologic Studies since March 1987. Prior to that he served as executive director of the Illinois Republican State Committee from July 1981 to March 1985 and was chief of staff for Lt. Gov. David O'Neal from July 1978 to July 1981.

Leaving IDPH the end of August was Dean Schott, the agency's communications director for the last year and a half. The former Chicago Sun-Times reporter was appointed communications chief at the Department of Public Aid effective September 1. Schott is based in Chicago and receives an annual salary of $56,900. Thomas Schafer, who has been with IDPH since January, is serving as the agency's acting communications director until a replacement for Schott is found.

Members of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy Board confirmed John Court of Sleepy Hollow as its first principal in August. Acting Principal Joe Meyer will remain as a physics teacher and head of the science department. Court, who most recently served as principal at Dundee-Crown High School in Carpentersville, competed against more than 100 other individuals in the nationwide search. His nomination to the post came after a series of interviews by the director, the administrative cabinet and a panel of parents, teachers students. As a member of the academy's student selection committee, he volunteered evenings and weekends to assist in the screening of the more than 760 applications for the academy's first class and returned to assist the committee in the selection of the school's second class this year. Court received his master's degree in education from Michigan State University, and other credentials include advanced studies in curriculum and staff development and teacher effectiveness. He has worked with honors and gifted programs in Dundee Community School District 300 and Glenbrook South High School and served as assistant principal and dean of students at Glenbrook High School from 1970 to 1979.

Effective September 1, the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC), the Supreme Court agency that administratively supervises the registration of and disciplinary proceedings for Illinois lawyers, is no longer an "all-lawyer" commission. Earlier this year the Supreme Court amended its Rule 751 governing the composition of the commission, changing it from five members, all lawyers, to seven members, four lawyers and three nonlawyers.

Newly appointed nonlawyer members are Suzanne Barancik of Chicago, former manager and buyer for Bernhams, member of the University of Chicago Cancer Research Foundation's women's board executive committee and member of the Chicago Heart Association's Women's Council; John P. Clarke of Springfield, publisher of the State Journal-Register and Lincoln Courier, vice president and senior management board member of The Copley Press Inc., secretary and director of Illinois Ambassadors and director and past president of Springfield Central Area Development Association; and Frederick T. King Sr. of Chicago, founder, president and chief executive officer of King Graphics Inc.

Clarke and Barancik were appointed to new three-year terms; King was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Edward G. Finnegan, who was appointed a judge of the Cook County Circuit Court.

A special committee designed to provide death row inmates in Illinois with adequate legal representation was established in July. It grew out of a discussion between Supreme Court Chief Justice William G. Clark and the other state supreme court justices on provisions other states for post-conviction proceedings for defendants facing execution. Clark said post-conviction review is important because the Supreme Court has not yet considered the constitutionality of the Illinois death penalty statute.

Chairman of the committee is Jeffrey D. Colman of Jenner & Block in Chicago. Other members are Madison County State's Atty. Richard Allen; Cook County Circuit Judge James M. Bailey; Cook County Public Defender Paul B. Biebel; 19th Circuit Judge William D. Block; David J. Bradford of the Bradford Exchange; LaSalle County Public Defender James Brusatte; Sangamon County State's Atty. Donald M. Cadagin; 1st District Appellate Court Justice Calvin C. Campbell; Chief Judge Harry G. Comerford of the Cook County Circuit Court; Cook County State's Atty. Richard M. Daley; DuPage County Public Defender Peter J. Dockery; Dennis Dohm, assistant director of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts; and Federal Public Defender David R. Freeman.

Also, State Appellate Defender Theodore Gottfried; Atty. Gen. Neil F. Hartigan; U.S. Atty. Frederick J. Hess; Sidney A. Jones Jr., a former judge now in private practice; Terence F. MacCarthy, director of the Appellate Defender Program; House Speaker Michael J. Madigan (D-30, Chicago); 1st District Appellate Court Justice Mary Ann McMorrow; Cook County Circuit Judge Odas Nicholson; Senate Minority Leader James "Pate" Philip (R-23, Wood Dale); Senate President Philip J. Rock (D-8, Oak Park); Mary Maxwell Thomas of Sulzer & Shopiro; U.S. Atty. Anton Valukas; and 4th Circuit Judge Michael R. Weber.

Cook County Circuit Court

• Resigned: Circuit Judges Paul F. Gerrity of Calumet City, a judicial officer since 1961 and presiding judge of the 6th Municipal District since 1974, effective September 1; Paul A. O'Malley of Chicago, a judicial officer since 1965, effective July 31; and Joseph M. Wosik of Chicago, a judge since 1962, effective September 1.

3rd Judicial Circuit

• Retired: Associate Judge Clayton R. Williams of Alton, a judge since 1973, effective October 5.

6th Judicial Circuit

• Appointed as circuit judge: former DeWitt County State's Atty. Stephen H. Peters of Clinton, effective August 10, to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of William Calvin.

• Resigned: Circuit Judge W.B. Kranz of Sullivan, a judge since 1973, effective October 2.

10th Judicial Circuit

• Retired: Associate Judge Charles J. Perrin of Pekin. a judge since 1977, effective October 31.

Rennard J. Strickland announced in August that he will resign next summer as dean of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale's School of Law to direct an international program on Native American culture. Strickland said he plans to serve five years as project director of "Shared Vision: Native American Painters and Sculptors in the Twentieth Century." The artistic and communications program will be based at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Ariz. He expects to take an uncompensated leave of absence from SIU-C during the 1988-89 school year and to rejoin the law school faculty as a teacher and researcher the following year while continuing to direct the "Shared Vision" project. A national search for Strickland's successor was started this fall.

Strickland, of Cherokee and Osage Indian descent, is an authority on American Indian law and a collector and connoisseur of Indian art. He has donated more than 200 paintings and graphic works to the Heard Museum, some of which may be included in the international traveling exhibit. Strickland came to SIU-C in 1985 as the law school's third dean from the University of Tulsa where he had been John W. Schleppey research professor of law and history.

U.S. District Judge Susan Getzendanner of Chicago, the first woman to sit on the federal bench in the Northern District of Illinois' Eastern Division, resigned the position effective September 30 to join the 80-lawyer Chicago branch office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, a 750-lawyer firm based in New York City. Getzendanner was appointed to the federal bench in September 1980 by President Jimmy Carter and was sworn in that December. Between 1966 and 1968 she served as a law clerk to the late U.S. District Judge Julius Hoffman and in 1968 joined Mayer, Brown & Piatt, becoming that firm's first woman partner in 1974.

Major cases Getzendanner presided over included a political spying case against the FBI, in which she voided the agency's guidelines for domestic surveillance; the Operation Greylord trial of former Cook County Associate Judge John J. Devine; and a 1980 case over the remapping of congressional districts. She recently presided over a bench trial in an antitrust action brought by chiropractors against the American Medical Association.

Five state employees were awarded a total of $1,150 in August for suggestions that will save state government more than $16,000 annually. The cash awards were granted by the State Employees Suggestion Award Board, a 10-member group created by the General Assembly to review money-saving ideas of state employees. The largest award, $475, was given to Lavern Fosnaugh of Springfield, a recently retired civil engineer at the Department of Transportation. His suggestion to change highway bid forms to reduce manual calculations is expected to save the agency $4,800 annually. Christopher Schofield, a records analyst for the Secretary of State's Office in Springfield, was awarded $250 for his suggestion to use telephone credit cards instead of third party billing procedures for long distance calls from field representatives of local records commissions. The state will save approximately $2,300 annually by implementing his suggestion.

For recommending that the Department of Revenue include a registrant's social security number or federal employer identification number on the interstate special fuel tax decal renewal forms, Nanci Cannedy of Springfield, a taxpayer service representative, was awarded $200. This idea is expected to save the state $6,400 annually. John Allen, a fireman for the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities at Alton, was awarded $200 for his suggestion to install a fan that would blow heat from the surface of a furnace into the air distribution duct work, a process that could reduce annual heating costs by $1,800. And Dwight Annear, a supply supervisor for the Department of Corrections at Hanna, got $25 for his suggestion to dispense cleaning supplies to inmates at correctional facilities in amounts sufficient for specific cleaning jobs.

Sen. Howard Carroll (D-l, Chicago), vice chairman of the board, said the board has received nearly 700 suggestions from employees across the state. They include employees of the code departments under the governor and of the State Board of Education and constitutional officers' offices. An additional 38,000 state university employees have recently become eligible for participation in the award program, bringing the number of eligible employees to about 120,000.

• Leland and Joyce Ashby of Golconda were honored for their forestry accomplishments by being named Illinois' outstanding tree farmers for 1987 during the annual meeting of the Association of Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts last summer. The Ashbys, who were selected from a field of 825 current tree farmers in the state, have planted more than 200,000 trees on their Pope County farm since 1966.

• Winners of the "Have to Have Habitat" essay contest were announced in ceremonies at the Illinois State Fair in August. The contest, which was cosponsored by the Department of Conservation's Outdoor Highlights and the Illinois chapters of the National Audubon Society, was open to students in grades four through six. Those winning the top spot in each grade were Beth Blunier, a fourth grader from Davenport School in Eureka; fifth grader Amy Schrepfer from Metamora Grade School; and Darby Ferguson, a sixth grader at Girard Elementary School. More than 1,000 students entered the contest; they were asked to choose an animal that lives in the wild and write an essay on its habitat. Winners received a $50 savings bond from the National Audubon Society.

• Thomas Arthur "Art" McGloon, 75, a retired Illinois Appellate Court justice and a former Illinois Senate minority leader known as the spokesman in the Senate for Mayor Richard J. Daley, died August 8 in Oak Park.

• Former State Sen. Ben E. Palmer, 76, a 40th Ward Democrat and a member of Mayor Richard J. Daley's political organization representing the 12th and later the 13th districts in the state Senate from 1970-1977, also died August 8 in Chicago.