Names

Corcoran to challenge Percy in primary

U.S. Congressman Thomas Corcoran (R-14, Geneva) announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate on June 13. Corcoran, a strong supporter of President Reagan's policies, is challenging Sen. Charles H. Percy because he believes Percy is not a mainstream Republican. Corcoran who has served in Congress since 1976, will face Percy in the primary in March.

Seith to seek Senate seat

Alex Seith, Hinsdale, announced June 21 that he will seek the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Sen. Charles H. Percy. Seith ran against Percy in 1978, losing by a narrow margin, and lost his bid for the Democratic Senate nomination in 1980 to Alan Dixon.

Cabinet confirmations

Three more members of Gov. James R. Thompson's cabinet have been confirmed by the Senate, all with terms ending in January 1985. They are Allen Bernardi, director of the Department of Labor, on May 12; Bradley N. Evilsizer, director of the Department of Mines and Minerals, on May 19; and David Kenney, director of the Department of Conservation, on June 2. Kenney is the senior member of the governor's cabinet; he was first appointed to the post in 1977.

Kretschmer new member of Illinois Commerce Commission

Ruth K. Kretschmer of Medinah, a DuPage County Board member since 1974, received Senate confirmation June 29 as the newest member of the Illinois Commerce Commission. She was nominated June 21 by Gov. Thompson to fill the vacancy on the five-member commission created by the resignation June 1 of Helen Schmid who failed to win Senate confirmation of her reappointment. Kretschmer will serve a term ending in January 1988; she will earn an annual salary of $39,000.

Schmid takes post in Energy and Natural Resources

Former Illinois Commerce Commissioner Helen Schmid, Glen Ellyn, was named in June to a newly created post in the Department of Energy and Natural Resources by department director Michael B. Witte. As energy resource specialist, Schmid will coordinate DENR's Community Energy Management Planning and Assistance Program (CEMPA), an intensive energy conservation campaign which provides workshops and seminars for homeowners, churches, schools, local governments, etc. CEMPA is funded in part by the federal government, and Schmid's $32,000 a year salary will be paid by the feds.

Just prior to the DENR appointment, Schmid resigned from the Illinois Commerce Commission amid mounting controversy. After Senate refusal in March to confirm her renomination because of her alleged pro-utility stance, Schmid continued to vote on rate cases before the commission (see Illinois Issues, July, p. 34).

Office of the Attorney General

Atty. Gen. Neil F. Hartigan made the following appointments in May: Larry Selinger, Springfield, as an investigator in the attorney general's investigations division, and Beth Bosch, Springfield, as public information officer. Selinger had worked for the Secretary of State's Office; Bosch was previously a public information officer for the House Democratic staff.

The Judiciary

Joel M. Flaum, Chicago, was sworn in June 1 as the ninth member of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Flaum, who served as judge of the federal district court since 1974, fills the vacancy created by the death of Robert Sprecher. Flaum also worked as an assistant state's attorney, an assistant attorney general under William J. Scott and as first assistant U.S. attorney under James R. Thompson.

The following attorneys have been selected as associate judges by their respective circuit judges, effective July 1: Donald R. Parkinson, Champaign, Judicial Circuit; John F. Cirricione, Joliet, 12th Judicial Curcuit; and William R. Penn, Joliet, 12th Judicial Circuit. Parkinson was assistant state's attorney of Champaign County. Both Cirricione and Penn were in private practice.

The following associate judges have retired:

Illinois Humanities Council

The Illinois Humanities Council (IHC) awarded over $175,000 to 15 cultural and educational institutions and elected officiers and new members at its spring meeting in May. Nancy Stevenson, newly elected chair of the council, announced that during the next five years the IHC will give special attention to improving the teaching humanities in secondary schools and to funding programs that relate the study of the state's land and natural resources to the humanities.

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The recipients of IHC awards are:

Art Institute of Chicago: $12,210 for a film and discussion series entitled " The Third World Through Cinema."

Center for Study and Analysis of Puerto Rican Affairs: $4,060 for a poetry workshop.

Court Theatre/University of Chicago: $12,433 for a dramaturgist in residence program

Danville Area Community College:

$6,745 for a Danville area community history fair. The Great American People Show:

$17,500 for a trilogy of plays on Lincoln (production of summer season 1983).

Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences, Peoria: $14,237 for a lecture series entitled "Connections: Developing a Better Understanding of the Human Condition through the Arts and Sciences."

The Mitchell Foundation, Mount Vernon: $3,675 for "World Affairs Forum: Mexico."

The Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago: $23,815 for an exhibit entitled "Wand Beyond."

The Newberry Library, Chicago: $11,000 for American Indian council-conference.

Sangamon State University, Springfield: $14,279 for the Illinois Issues Humanities Essays (third series) and $9,748 for a television documentary entitled "James Jones: Escape and Return."

Stateville Library, Joliet: $14,565 for a series of workshops entitled "The Humanities: Crime and Criminal Justice Services."

University of Illinois, Chicago: $10,325 for a colloquium entitled "Third World Humanism and the Survival of the Arts" and $10,000 for a conference entitled "Wagner in Retrospect: A Centennial Reappraisal."

University of Illinois, Urbana: $19,613 for an exhibit and lecture series, "William Shakespeare: Not of an Age, But for all Time."

Officers elected by the council for one-year terms effective June 1 are Nancy Stevenson, Hanover, as chair; Walter Arnstein, Champaign, as vice chair; and Edna Epstein, Chicago, as treasurer. Stevenson is an historian of Illinois and a member of several cultural and environmental organizations; Arnstein is professor of history at the University of Illinois at Urbana; Epstein is an attorney with the Chicago law firm of Sidney and Austin.

New members elected by the council to serve three-year terms are Cullom Davis, Springfield, professor of history at Sangamon State University; John Gardner, Carbondale, publisher of the Southern Illinois; Bruce Haywood, Monmouth, President of Monmouth College; and Lucyna Migala, Chicago, program director at WCFV Radio.

Illinois Council on Aging

Thirteen new members of the Council on Aging were appointed by the governor in May during Older Americans Month. The Council on Aging has a total of 31 members who advise the governor, legislature and Department on Aging on issues affecting the elderly.

The new members whose terms expire January 1, 1984, are Eusebio Arce, Bridgeview, president of Tropical Optical Corporation; Ollie Baker, Chicago, chairperson for the Crime Committee for Metro Seniors in Action; Bill Bounds, Danville, president of Teamsters Joint Council 65; and Ted Kozer, Royalton, owner of Kozer Grocery Store.

New members whose terms will end January 1, 1985, are Harold E. Boysaw, Chicago, member of the Advisory Council to the Office for Senior Citizens and the Handicapped; Laurence R. Cadwell, Springfield, retired executive director of the Springfield YMCA; Paul Cerniglia, Springfield, insurance consultant; Louis Faletti, Dalzell, retired arbitrator with the Industrial Commission; George A. Stevenson, Danville, past president of the Danville chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons; and James O. Tillman, Chicago, retired manager from Illinois Bell Telephone Company.

Named to the council with terms ending January 1, 1986, were Ernest E. Hanson, DeKalb, professor emeritus, Northern Illinois University; L. Boyd Mclntire, Rock Island, retired supervisor from Deere & Company; and Robert J. O'Connor, Aurora, senior trust officer at the Old Second National Bank of Aurora.

Senate confirmation is not required for council appointees who receive reimbursement for expenses only.

Home Town Awards winners

The town of Wilsonville received the Governor's Silver Trophy for the best overall community project at the May 19 Governor's Home Town Awards Banquet. Learning that hazardous waste stored in a landfill could threaten their water supply, the citizens of Wilsonville raised money to fight a court battle and won when the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in their favor. Cleanup of the landfill began in October 1982.

This is the second year the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs (DCCA) and the Illinois Office of Voluntary Participation has sponsored the program designed to promote citizen volunteerism for community improvement on a local level.

August 1983/Illinois Issues/35

First place winners by population category include: Category I (Population 1-900), Wilsonville, hazardous waste site eliminated; Category II (901-2,800), Hurst, new fire house/civic center built; Category III (2,801-5,000), Yates City/Brimfield/Elmwood, ambulance service created; Category IV (5,001-9,000), Geneseo, community center built; Category V (9,001-13,000), Round Lake Beach, town cleanup program; Category VI (13,001-20,000), Roselle, downtown development; Category VII   (20,001-43,000), Naperville, nature/ recreation area expanded; and Category VIII    (43,001 plus), Waukegan, crime prevention program. Round Lake Beach won first place in the special youth category for its town cleanup program.

Communities participating in the program are required to organize and establish a project which falls under one of the following four categories: economic development, community services, community facilities or human enrichment. A guide booklet designed to aid communities wishing to participate in the 1984 Governor's Home Town Awards program will be available through DCCA later this year.

Other Appointments

Pat McGuckin, Springfield, as public relations assistant on the staff of Senate President Philip J. Rock, by Sen. Rock effective in June. McGuckin, a former Statehouse reporter for the Capital Information Bureau and Illinois News Network, most recently was news director for WJEQ-FM in Macomb. He succeeds Larry Leonard, who joined the staff of the Regional Transportation Authority.

Lowell Bohn, Chatham, as director of the secretary of state's administrative hearings department, by Secy. of State Jim Edgar effective May 2. Previously a colonel in the U.S. Air Force, Bohn replaces Jacqueline Walker, who resigned.

Former state Rep. Benedict Garmisa (D., Chicago) was elected to a one-year term as vice chairman of the Midwest High Speed Rail Compact by the compact's council at its spring meeting in Chicago, effective April 29. The compact is concerned with the development of high speed rail systems in the midwestern states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Garmisa represented the 17th and then the 19th District from 1967-1983. He is currently chairman of the Illinois Transportation Study Commission.

Richard W. Carlson was confirmed as the assistant director of the Department of Insurance by the Senate May 12. Carlson is in charge of the department's legislative recommendations, both for the General Assembly and the U.S. Congress. His term ends in January 1985; his salary is $36,000 a year.

Morris W. Leighton, Coral Gables, Fla., as chief of the Illinois State Geological Survey, by the board of Natural Resources and Conservation (the governing board of the state's three scientific surveys), effective September 16. Leighton had been chief geologist for Esso InterAmerica, an affiliate of Exxon corporation, since 1974. He succeeds Robert E. Bergstrom, who is retiring after working with the survey since 1953 and serving as its chief for the past two-and-a-half years. Leighton's father, Morris M. Leighton, also headed the survey, serving from 1927-1954.

Illinois Department of Public Health Director William L. Kempiners, Shorewood, as a member of the National Advisory Council on Maternal, Infant and Fetal Nutrition, by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary John R. Block effective May 1. The council is studying the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Nutrition Program and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) to determine areas in which these programs may be improved. Kempiners will serve a term ending September 30, 1985.

Dwayne Andreas, Decatur, as chairman of the International Private Enterprise Task Force, by President Ronald Reagan in May. Andreas is chairman and chief executive officer of Archer-Daniels Midland in Decatur. The 18-member task force will work to foster a fuller partnership between the Agency for International Development and the U.S. business and financial communities by acting as a forum through which these groups can communicate information and ideas. The task force met May 2 and is expected to finish its work September 30, 1984.

Illinois Commerce Commissioner Andrew C. Barrett, Chicago, as vice chairman of the Committee on Water of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, by association president Larry J. Wallace effective April 28. The committee has been gathering information on various rate hearing procedures for small water companies.

Thomas F. Londrigan, Springfield, was installed as president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association (ITLA) at the group's annual meeting on June 10. One of Londrigan's key legislative initiatives will be an effort to curtail rising insurance rates in areas such as medical malpractice and product liability. He is a member of the firm of Londrigan & Potter, which he established in 1970, and has practiced law in Springfield since 1962.

The Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies elected the following new officers on May 25: Otis Hillsman, Danville, as president; Charles David Hughes, Cook County, as vice president; Lynne Allen, Mill Shoals, as treasurer; Vincent B. Thomas, Rock Island, as secretary; and H. Brent De Land, Springfield, retained as executive secretary. Hillsman, Hughes and Thomas are executive directors of county community action agencies: Hillsman, Vermilion County Community Action Agency; Hughes, Community and Economic Development Association of Cook County; and Thomas, Project Now. Allen is president of the board of Wabash Area Development Inc. De Land holds his position as executive secretary of the association as a full-time job.

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Jonathan P. Howe, Northbrook, was elected secretary-treasurer of the National School Boards Association at its annual meeting in San Francisco April 23-26 by the association's delegate assembly. Howe is president of the Northbrook District 27 Board of Education and was president of the Illinois Association of School Boards from 1977-79. He will serve a term of one year.

The Illinois Restaurant Association elected officers at its November 1 meeting. Elected for one-year terms were: Chairman of the Board Edward S. Wolowiec, owner of Port Edward Restaurant, Algonquin; Chairman-elect Edward G. Forester, founder of Forseen Inc., which operates three Holiday Inns in Illinois and Ohio; Vice Chairman Mark Levy, president of Levy Organization's restaurant division, which operates restaurants across the U.S.; and Treasurer Hal Binyon III, owner of Binyon's, Chicago. All have guided their companies from infancy into multimillion dollar enterprises.

Resignations

Reed W. Neuman, Springfield, as chief of the southern region environmental control division in the Illinois Attorney General's Office, effective in July. Neuman has been appointed an assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice and will work on cases involving the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's super-fund. He has been assigned to the division of land and natural resources in the department's environmental enforcement section.

Deaths

Don Ramsell, 57, Springfield, on June 13 at St. John's Hospital. Ramsell was a public information assistant in the Attorney General's Office. He had been with the office since 1975, when he was hired as director of public information. Before entering state government, Ramsell worked as a reporter and news producer for WBBM in Chicago.

Honors

Leon M. Lederman, Batavia, received an honorary degree from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, on May 14 in conjunction with NIU's commencement ceremonies. Lederman, director of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, is an internationally known specialist in high energy physics. He is the first person to receive such a degree from NIU.

Maureen G. Law, Palos Hills, was named 1983 Illinois Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration at an official ceremony held April 18 in Palos Hills. Law is president of R. E. Law Instrument Inc., Palos Hills, a high tech firm involved in the manufacture, service and research of temperature controls and electronic and microprocessor-based systems. The firm serves a dozen industries ranging from aircraft to robotics. Law was nominated by the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce (ISCC) Committee of ISCC's Small Business Council.

Jory Lannes, Northbrook, a senior consultant in the management advisory department of Alexander Grant & Co., was named Illinois Accountant Advocate of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration in May. Lannes specializes in helping small companies plan and install microcomputer systems and provides staff training assistance. He was hired by Grant, a public accounting firm, in 1982 as part of the firm's emphasis on serving small businesses in Illinois.

The 1983 Presidential Scholars from Illinois were announced on May 17 by Don W. Adams, member of the Commission on Presidential Scholars. They are Kim Crawford of Chicago, a senior at St Ignatius College Prep; Phillip J. Kerwin of Wilmette, a senior at New Trier High School; and Timothy P. Ying of Winnetka also a senior at New Trier High School.The scholars attended a program in their honor in Washington in mid-June and received $1,000 each from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. The Presidential Scholars Program was begun nearly 20 years ago to recognize the nation's most distinguished high school seniors.

The communities of Brookfield, Carbondale, Chicago, Decatur, Elmhurst, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Lyons, Schaumburg and Urbana were each recognized as a "Tree City USA" by David Kenney, director of the Department of Conservation, in April. The program, which seeks to encourage tree care and planting, is sponsored by the National Arbor Day Foundation, which is represented by the Department of Conservation in this state.

August 1983 | Illinois Issues | backcover