Names

Legislative support service commissions get directors

Seven of the nine legislative support service commissions reorganized under the 1984 commission reform legislation now have "permanent" directors appointed by the Joint Committee on Legislative Support Services as mandated by the reorganization legislation. The newest and 10th legislative support commission, the Citizens Assembly, is now in business, and its director was also appointed by the joint committee. The joint committee, which consists of the four legislative leaders, made the appointments on February 10 and March 5.

The committee named Steve Stalcup, 29, of the House Democratic staff to be director of the Citizens Assembly, which is the administrative office for the new citizens advocacy councils (see "Legislative Action," April 1986, p. 29).

Since July 1, 1984, the directors of the other nine service commissions had been on "acting" status pending action by the joint committee. Reappointed as permanent directors are:

John S. Day, Legislative Audit Commission, who has been director since 1975.

Mai Hildebrand, Legislative Space Needs Commission, who has been director since 1975.

Bruce A. Johnson, Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, who has been director since 1977.

Stanley M. Johnston, Legislative Reference Bureau, who has headed the bureau since 1981, joining it in 1968 as a legislative drafter and becoming deputy secretary in 1975.

John N. Lattimer, Commission on Intergovernmental Cooperation, who has been director since 1971 and before that was a legislative staffer in the Ohio state legislature.

Two of the directors who went on "acting" status in 1984 have left. The new directors appointed by the joint committee include:

Jack Hatcher, Legislative Information Service Commission, replacing George E. Russell, who returned to his post of deputy director, which he had held from 1979 until his appointment as acting director in January 1985 when Walter J. Kesselman resigned. Hatcher served from 1979-1983 as director of BICS, a state data processing center in Central Management Services, and from 1974-1979 was on the staff of the Illinois Senate Republicans.

Paul Vallas, Economic and Fiscal Commission, replacing Marshall A. Langberg, who resigned in February. Vallas had been a staff person for Senate President Philip J. Rock since 1980. He is also a company commander in the Illinois National Guard. Langberg, who has been vacationing in Australia, had been director of the commission since 1980.

Still to be appointed as of April 1 were the permanent directors of the Legislative Research Unit and the Legislative Printing Unit. These units were created in 1984 from the Legislative Council.

Atkins named new DASA director

William T. Atkins of Edwardsville took over as director of the Department of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse (DASA) on March 25. He was Gov. James R. Thompson's choice to replace former director Edward Duffy, who became Thompson's deputy chief of staff for public affairs on February 1.

Atkins had administered DASA's field services division since last September. He was responsible for overseeing the state's funding of local service agencies and for supervising the department's four regional offices in Chicago, Mount Vernon, Rockford and Springfield.

Prior to joining DASA, Atkins spent 14 years with Mental Health Services of Southern Madison County Inc., first as director of the Day Treatment Center in Granite City, from 1971-1975. In 1975 he was named executive director, a post he held until joining DASA. From 1967-1971 Atkins supervised a number of treatment programs at Alton State Hospital.

Atkins' appointment requires Senate confirmation; his annual salary is $52,000. DASA's acting director since the end of January, Roalda J. "Jenny" Alderman, returned to her former post of associate director for policy development.

New task force to study film financing

Gov. James R. Thompson created a Film Financing Task Force in late February to investigate the possibility of using state money to fund motion pictures and television productions filmed in Illinois. The 24-member task force will particularly study the validity of certain provisions of recently signed legislation, Senate Bill 1249, that authorizes tax-exempt financing for film producers in Illinois and preference to projects with a secured position or significant advance sales.

Named as chairperson of the task force was James Reilly, the governor's chief of staff. Stan Goldblatt, a Chicago attorney with Hopkins & Sutter, will serve as co-chairperson.

The other members of the task force are: Charles E. Becker, vice president of treasury administration of Continental Bank of Chicago; John Castle, chairman of the board of First National Bank of DeKalb and the first director of the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs (DCCA), 1979-1982; John Dailey, vice president of Becker Companies of Peoria; Sidney Davidson, a professor at the University of Chicago's graduate business school; Fred Fine, a commissioner for the city of Chicago's department of cultural affairs; Peter Fox, associate director, Bear, Sterns & Company, Chicago, and DCCA director from 1982-1983; John Gilchrist, senior vice president for public finance at the First National Bank of Chicago; Rodney Goldstein, general partner, Frontenac Venture Company, Chicago; Jay Hedges, director-designate of DCCA; William Hogan Jr., president of Teamsters Local 714; Burton W. Kanter, an attorney with the Chicago law firm of Kanter & Eisenberg; Richard Kately, executive vice president of Real Estate Research Corporation, Chicago; Suzy Kellett, director of the Illinois Film Office, DCCA; Shirley Madigan, chairman of the Illinois Arts Council; Robert Meir, commissioner of the city of Chicago's department of economic development; Mel Pearl, a partner with the Chicago law firm of Katten, Muchin, Zavis, Pearl, Greenburger & Galler; Arthur Quern, president and chief operating officer at Rollins, Burdick, Hunter Company and the governor's former chief of staff; Lucy Salenger, Chicago film consultant and director of the Illinois Film Office from 1975-1983; Clark Stalker, assistant to the governor for economic development, Chicago; Howard Stone, a partner with the Chicago law firm of Stone, McGuire & Benjamin; Roxanne Ward, an attorney with the Chicago law firm of Skadden, Arps, Meagherr, Slate & Finn; and Paula Wolff, director of programs and policy for the governor's office.

The task force's first meeting was March 7 in Chicago.

Thompson and Ashcroft appoint St. Louis-Mississippi River bridge panel

Citing the top priority recommendation of a task force investigating the economic redevelopment of southwestern Illinois, Gov. James R. Thompson and Gov. John D. Ashcroft of Missouri announced appointments to the St. Louis-Mississippi River Bridge Panel formed to investigate bridge access in the St. Louis area.

38/May 1986/Illinois Issues

In its final report, the Task Force for Southwestern Illinois Development stated that failure to improve bridge access on both sides of the Mississippi will slow economic development in the short term and reverse present economic activity over the long term.

Appointed to serve on the five-member panel by Gov. Thompson were Earl Lazerson of Edwardsville, president of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and former state Rep. Celeste Stiehl of Belleville, now director of economic development for Belleville Economic Progress, Inc.

Appointed by Gov. Ashcroft were Robert Hyland, regional vice president of CBS radio; former St. Louis Mayor John Poelker; and Ronald Thompson, president of General Railroad Equipment and Service Inc. and chairman of the Southwestern Illinois Development Task Force. All three men are St. Louis residents. Thompson is also serving as chairman of the new panel.

The bridges panel is to report to the governors by May 15 with its recommendations for actions by both states.

Changes at Department of Corrections

A major reshuffling of Department of Corrections employees was announced in February by director Michael P. Lane.

Reflecting the state's increased prison population, two assistant deputy directors of the adult division were named. They are Daniel Bosse, 40, of Lincoln, and George Welborn, 38, originally of Pekin. They replace former assistant deputy director Richard DeRobertis, who accepted a post with the Illinois Toll Highway Authority.

Bosse, manager of the department's capital programs unit since 1982, had overseen construction and opening of the state's five newest prisons and the expansion of several others. Bosse was also involved in initiating construction of the new medium security prison at Galesburg. He joined the department in 1967 as a correctional officer at Stateville and has also served as warden at the Joliet Correctional Center and assistant warden at three other prisons.

Welborn, a 10-year man with the department, had been the warden of the Sheridan Correctional Center since 1984. Before that, he was warden at the prison in Centralia and assistant warden at Stateville.

Replacing Bosse as manager of the capital programs unit was Glen A. Hodgson, 33. Hodgson, who is a registered architect, had been an analyst with the unit since 1981.

Replacing Welborn at Sheridan is Howard A. Peters III, currently the warden at Centralia. Peters, 40, has been with the department for 16 years. He was previously superintendent of the Illinois Youth Center (IYC)-St. Charles.

Centralia's new warden, replacing Peters, is Ron Haws, an 18-year veteran of the juvenile division. Assisting Haws as the new chief of security is Thomas Page, 29, who has been at Centralia since 1980, first as a lieutenant and since 1983 as a captain.

Before coming to Centralia, Page spent four years as a correctional officer at the Menard psychiatric facility. Haws had been superintendent of IYC-Valley View and previously was in charge of the juvenile parole district in Peoria.

Replacing Haws at IYC-Valley View was Victor Brooks, superintendent at IYC-Pere Marquette since 1983. He joined the department in 1977 as a youth counselor.

Ronald E. Davis, 35, replaced Brooks at IYC-Pere Marquette. He had been assistant superintendent there since March 1985. Prior to that Davis spent 12 years as an adult parole agent in the East St. Louis area.

Jerry Gilmore, 36, has been named warden for the new medium security prison in Galesburg which is scheduled to open this fall. Gilmore, a 12-year department employee who started as a counselor at Pontiac, was the first assistant warden in both Danville, which opened in October 1985, and Centralia, which opened in 1980.

New conservation corps created

Department of Conservation director Michael B. Witte appointed two department employees, both 10-year veterans, to run the recently created Illinois Conservation Corps. Named to head the new division was Stephen Gonzalez of Springfield, former supervisor of the gifts and grants section of the department's public lands bureau. Assisting Gonzalez is Ed Wolfenbarger. Prior to his new position as works projects coordinator, Wolfenbarger was the department's trails specialist.

The Illinois Conservation Corps was created to provide summer jobs for young people between the ages of 16 and 18 in the Youth Corps and full-time year-round employment for persons in the 18-25 year age bracket in the Young Adult Corps. This year, 88 young adults and 615 youths will be hired at $3.35 per hour for projects at 84 state parks, conservation areas and other properties owned or managed by the conservation department.

DuPage County gets new public defender

Peter J. Dockery of Roselle was named DuPage County public defender by the county's 10 circuit judges effective February 1. Dockery had been assistant public defender for six months after serving for eight years as an assistant DuPage County state's attorney. He filled the vacancy created by the resignation of Frank Wesolowski in November. Wesolowski had served as public defender for 15 years.

Hammer new general counsel for educational labor board

Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board chairman Martin Wagner announced in March that Randi C. Hammer had been chosen from among a field of 25 candidates as the board's general counsel. Hammer, an associate in the Chicago law firm Vedder, Price, Kaufman & Kammholz since 1981, served as a personnel staffing assistant with the U.S. Civil Service Commission during the summer of 1978. She also served as an intern with the New York Public Employment Relations Board in the summer of 1976.

Vogel new president of faculty union

Mitchell Vogel of Evanston, an educational foundations department faculty member at Northeastern Illinois University, was elected president of the University Professionals of Illinois in recent localwide elections. He replaces Margaret Schmid, UPI president for nearly 12 years. Schmid accepted a post with People for the American Way, a Washington, D.C. based public action group. Other officers elected to serve were Dorathea Beard of DeKalb, as recording secretary; and Richard Higginbotham of Chicago, as secretary-treasurer.

Taylor new president of Operation PUSH

In February, Rev. Hycel B. Taylor of Evanston assumed the presidency of Operation PUSH —People United to Save Humanity — after almost two years of official leave by the group's first president and founder, Rev. Jesse Jackson. PUSH was founded by Jackson 15 years ago; he will remain as chairman of the group's executive committee. Taylor, until recently, administered a program on the church and the black experience at Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston, where he is also pastor of the Second Baptist Church. Taylor plans to continue Operation PUSH'S past emphasis on black capitalism, leadership training for the young and registering and educating new voters. New projects Taylor would like to see implemented include the formation of "think tanks" and the training of ministers in how to effect nonviolent social change.

40/May 1986/Illinois Issues

Three businesses, seven individuals honored for helping the jobless

Bringing jobs to the jobless is the common thread that ties together three Illinois corporations, a business organization official, two labor leaders and four above-average citizens. Gov. Thompson announced in February the winners of 1986's Illinois Partner in Building Better Communities Award. The award was created two years ago by the governor's Office of Volunteer Action to honor citizens and organizations that have taken a leading role in their community, especially in finding jobs.

The three Illinois businesses honored include:

Archer Daniels Midland Company, a giant agricultural products firm, for hiring 15 disabled persons at its hydroponics operation in Decatur.

Illinois Bell Telephone, for its long-time commitment to providing work to employees who become disabled. Bell also opened a communications center at its Chicago headquarters tailored to allow disabled customers to meet with a consultant who works with them to match their special communication needs with Bell's services.

Northrop Corporation, the largest defense contractor in Illinois, for its decade-long effort to employ the disabled, an effort the company has stepped up in the past four years. Northrop also used a grant from the Illinois Department of Rehabilitation Services to work with the Chicago-based Project with Industry Corporation to create a data entry training program.

Individuals honored for their efforts to bring jobs to Illinoisans include:

Shirley Brussel, executive director of Operation ABLE, for helping Chicago's older workers. This program, for those 55 years of age and older, offers a central clearinghouse of job listings and no-cost technical assistance for employers.

Sheila Dunn, director of Illinois Green Thumb for the past 10 years, for helping senior citizens find unsubsidized employment.

Olukemi Ebunoluwa, executive director of the Eugene Washington Youth and Family Services Center in Chicago, for helping to keep hard-core juvenile delinquents off the streets by finding them jobs.

Charles D. Hughes Jr., president of the Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies, an umbrella organization representing 34 community action agencies and 11 affiliated community-based groups, for helping provide human services to low-income people.

John Penn and Walt Petry, two central Illinois labor leaders, for their successful negotiation of a contract between 30 local unions and Diamond-Star Motors assembly plant to be built in Bloomington. Petry is president of the Livingston/McLean Counties Building Trades Council; Penn is vice president of the council.

David Vite, president of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA), for his involvement in Project Chance, a program that, in conjunction with the Illinois Department of Public Aid, will help welfare recipients train for and find new jobs. IRMA developed a special program aimed at training public aid recipients in sales techniques, grooming and interview skills.

Miedema receives intellectual freedom award

Donald Miedema, Springfield superintendent of public schools, received the 1985 Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award in February for refusing to ban Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn from Springfield High School's library.

The annual award, presented by the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science, is aimed at furthering the cause of intellectual freedom. Past awards have gone to individuals and groups who have resisted censorship or efforts to abridge the freedom of others to read materials of their choice.

Rep. Black

Sen. Woodyard

Correction

No, it wasn't an April Fools' joke. It was a mistake. Our April "Names" column led off with an item on new faces in the state legislature, in which we gave one of the new faces a new name. Rep. William B. Black (R-105) of Danville was incorrectly identified as Sen. Harry "Babe" Woodyard (R-53) of Chrisman. Here are the right faces with the right names. Our apologies to both gentlemen.