President's budget includes rural water

President Clinton's 1998 proposed budget includes a request for nearly $1.35 billion in loans and grants to build, expand and improve safe drinking water and sanitary sewer systems in small towns and rural areas, said the state director of Rural Development.

Wally Furrow, director of Rural Development, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said the budget request was about 2.5 percent above the amount invested in 1997. It represents a commitment to a program begun in 1994, dubbed Water 2000, to bring or improve water service to about 2.5 million people, including a million rural Americans who have no running water in their homes at all.

SouthWater Inc., a regional wholesale and retail water supplier headquartered in Dongola, has begun its construction phase. SouthWater received a nearly $3.8 million loan and a $4 million grant from the USDA, and a $2 million Community Development Assistance Grant, for initial development. A not-for-profit corporation created by Southern Illinois Electric Cooperative, SouthWater will provide water to residents in Alexander and Pulaski and portions of Union counties, and may expand into Johnson and Massac Counties.

Land, water expo

The first Midwest Land and Water Expo will be sponsored by the Association of Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts in Springfield on July 27-30.

The expo will showcase the conservation industry's top products and services and is expected to attract more than 2,000 attendees. For more information, call Aaron Kassing with Nessen Company Expositions at (217) 744-9350.

Menard Electric gives wireless new meaning

Menard Electric Cooperative and the Internet provider FGInet are testing a program to provide Internet service to rural residents via a microwave system to allow subscribers to avoid long-distance charges.

"If we can provide another product that someone else doesn't want to because it's not profitable, that's what we want to provide for rural residents," Dave Crosnoe, systems engineer for the Petersburg-based electric cooperative said.

Customers in the Havana area are testing the system for the same $20 fee being charged customers in FGInet's 21-city service area. "We decided a long time ago that it's not fair to the people of Havana to charge them more because they're out in the boondocks," Tom Woodard, president and CEO of FGInet said. Other communities targeted for expansion include Greenview, Mason City, Virginia and Chandlerville.

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Financing to buy, repair homes

Illinois Guaranteed Rural Housing program ranks second in the nation with more than 530 guaranteed loans totaling more than $24.7 million thus far in fiscal 1997. Illinois also ranks first in the nation in Section 504 home improvement and repair loans.

Rural Development, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides guarantees to commercial lenders to enable eligible applicants to purchase homes of modest cost in eligible rural areas. The program provides up to 100 percent financing for moderate income applicants, eliminates the need for down payment and provides a 30-year loan with a fixed interest rate.

Home improvement and repair loans and grants enable very low-income rural homeowners to remove health and safety hazards from their homes and to make homes accessible for people with disabilities. Grants are available for people 62 years old and older who cannot afford to repay a loan. For additional information on any Rural Development activity or project, call (217) 398-5412.

Help for farmers with a beef

Illinois farmers wrangling with the federal government can settle their beefs through a new service offered by the Southern Illinois University School of Law. It's free, and the mediators will travel to the farmers.

The Illinois Agriculture Mediation Program provides trained mediators to help both sides talk through and solve problems. Such talks can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days, depending on how thorny the problem is. The service is free.

"If through this process they can reach a resolution, both parties save a lot of time and money—and they don't have to go through a lot of red tape," said Mary C. Rudasill, who directs the legal clinic in Carbondale.

"It's less adversarial, everything is confidential, and frankly, parties often make concessions in a private forum where they might not do so in a public case."

Legal clinic staff members and volunteers had been serving as mediators for farm-related disputes on a case-by-case basis. A $195,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant has allowed them to create a more formal program.

Legal clinic staff and a trained mediator in Springfield will do most of the mediation under the direction of staff attorney, Alicia Hill Ruiz. Rudasill and Ruiz will look for outside mediators who can fill in service gaps in other parts of the state, because mediators go to the farmers, not the other way around.

"If they had to drive down to Carbondale, that would be the end of it for most of them," Rudasill said.

For more information, contact Ruiz at (618) 453-5181.

Cool free stuff for kids

Is your 5-to-13-year-old interested in preservation, protection and wise use of Illinois' natural resources? Kids for Conservation explores such topics as the need to set aside unique and endangered natural areas, to manage and preserve existing resources, to understand our place in nature and how to take individual responsibility for preserving and protecting nature.

A recent issue of the club's twice-a-year newsletter discusses biodiversity and offers an interview with a forester along with games and puzzles. Send your young conservationist's name to Kids for Conservation, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, 524 South Second Street, Springfield, 62701-1787.

The DNR's web site (www.dnr.state.il.us) also offers lots of links to pages about frogs, birds, elk, aquatics, trees and lots of other sites.

Student partnerships

Involving students in a downtown research project is a great way to draw young people into the community, residents of Flora have learned. A living environments class, in conjunction with the Main Street Flora program, studied the central portion of the downtown and a residential section in the older part of town. The Houses and Homes Research Project was conducted in conjunction with Main Street Flora. (See Illinois Country Living, May 1997, for more information about the Main Street program.)

"The objective of the project is to get students involved in the community while becoming familiar with the past," said John Bry of Main Street Flora.

Participating students in the "Houses and Homes Research Project," learned about downtown revitalization, local and county government, critical thinking and research skills, architectural styles, and local history. Students used the same organizational structure as Main Street Flora, which includes having a chairman, working committees, and a work plan with deadlines and a budget.

"The original portion of the city was founded in 1854 when the railroad was being constructed here. Many of the early buildings were wooden shacks or log structures," said Bry. The research is being compiled into a walking tour brochure of the central portion of downtown Flora.

6 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING • JUNE 1997