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Continued from page 44

vious appointments to the Water Resources and Land Use Priorities Task Force and the Sunset Task Force on Utility Reform. She has been on the board of directors for the Illinois Association of Park Districts for 10 years.

During her one-year term as president, Beck plans to focus her efforts on meeting the changing recreational needs of Illinois citizens as the demographics of the state change. The association plans to hold a series of focus groups throughout the state beginning in early summer to determine what people want from their parks. Beck will also lead the association in fighting tax caps and opposing restrictions on park districts' capability to issue general obligation bonds.

Gebhards new director for
Illinois pork producers

Mark Gebhards, 34, of Springfield is the new executive director and chief lobbyist to the General Assembly for the 8,500-member Illinois Pork Producers Association. Prior to joining the association, Gebhards was director of marketing for the St.Louis-based American Soybean Association.

The passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the progress with European nations on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade have created access to markets abroad that should increase pork exports and production of pork products in Illinois, Gebhards says. His association anticipates a 22 percent increase in pork exports due to NAFTA alone and more as the European market opens up.

A former Macoupin County Farm Bureau manager, Gebhards grew up on a farm west of Springfield. He received a bachelor's degree from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and a master's degree from Sangamon State University, Springfield.

Woods Charitable Fund Inc. splits into
two separate foundations

The Woods Charitable Fund Inc., a supporter of nonprofit groups in Chicago and Lincoln, Neb., has separated into two foundations. One foundation will serve the Lincoln area under the original name (and retain 30 percent of the $54 million in assets) and the other foundation will serve the Chicago area under the new name of Woods Fund of Chicago (and attain 70 percent of the assets). The foundations will continue to fund nonprofit organizations to research, study and analyze community opportunities and better ways to approach them. Grant programs under the Woods Fund of Chicago will support community organizing, public policies affecting families, a broad range of civic and community issue analysis and advocacy, and limited arts support within the Chicago area.

Police officers
recognized for bravery

Seven Illinois police officers were selected as recipients of the first Illinois Law Enforcement Medals of Honor. Chosen by a committee headed by Illinois State Police Director Terrance W. Gainer, the officers are Jacqueline Healy, James E. Schodtler, Hugh Cahill and Raul Flores of the Chicago Police Department; Dale Underwood and James Klancher of the Joliet Police Department; and Jeff Jolley of the Champaign Police Department.

Officers Healy and Schodtler were wounded in a gun battle during a currency exchange robbery. Their actions saved innocent bystanders from being hit by gunfire and prevented the offenders from getting away with the crime.

Sgts. Cahill and Flores saved an infant trapped in a burning car. The officers, whose hands and sleeves were burned, took turns fighting the intense heat and flames to free the child from its carseat.

Officers Underwood and Klancher were involved in an exchange of gunfire with two armed men leaving a tavern. Wounded, Underwood was able to shoot both assailants. Klancher, running into the gunfire to aid Underwood, caused the gunmen to halt the attack.

Jolley, responding to a domestic violence call, disarmed a man holding a butcher knife to the throat of a woman.

In presenting the seven officers with medals, Gov. Edgar said that they "distinguished themselves by gallantry at the risk of their own lives above and beyond the call of duty."

Historic Preservation Agency mourns death of Frank Mason Frank Mason, 64, a Springfield businessman and charter member of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (IHPA) Board of Trustees, died February 8 at his home in Springfield. Appointed to the Illinois State Historical Library Board of Trustees in 1981 and reappointed in 1984, Mason was appointed as one of the original trustees of the new IHPA that incorporated the

Concluded on back cover

April 1994/ Illinois Issues/47