[Imc-newsroom] Top Ten local stories; News-Gazette
Michael Walcher
solaraycer at yahoo.com
Sun Dec 30 14:30:59 CST 2001
http://www.news-gazette.com/story.cfm?Number=10766
Top ten local stories of 2001
By THE NEWS-GAZETTE
© 2001 THE NEWS-GAZETTE
Published Online December 30,
2001
How the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks affected area residents was the
hands-down choice of The
News-Gazette newsroom staff.
The story was ranked as a
top 10 story on every one of the 24 ballots
cast by staffers, and it was
the No. 1 choice on 21 of those ballots. Two
people ranked it second; one
person ranked it third.
The Chicago Bears' decision
to play at Memorial Stadium next season
was the second-biggest story
in the newsroom's estimation. Twenty-three
of 24 staffers included that
story on their top 10 lists.
The escape of Clayton Lee
Waagner from the DeWitt County Jail and
his recapture 10 months later
garnered nationwide attention. The
newsroom staff chose that as
the third-biggest story of the year locally,
with 17 of 24 respondents
including it among their picks.
Following is a wrap-up of
the year's biggest stories in East Central
Illinois:
1. The Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks that destroyed the World Trade
Center, damaged the Pentagon,
and resulted in a jetliner crash in
Pennsylvania also changed
lives in Illinois.
Travel was down, security
was up and nerves were on edge for a while.
The National Guard was
dispatched to Willard Airport and the Clinton
nuclear power plant. Police
and firefighters were called to schools, post
offices and homes where people
thought anthrax had been sent or spilled.
It inevitably turned out to be
salt, powdered makeup or another harmless
substance.
The attacks dampened an
already weak economy but fueled a wave of
patriotism. American flags
became a common sight, and some stores sold
out of them. Area residents
gave generously to those affected in New
York, with some firefighters
and Red Cross volunteers trekking to the Big
Apple to lend a hand
personally.
Some military personnel
were sent overseas to aid in Operation
Enduring Freedom. A few people
took part in anti-war rallies in
Champaign-Urbana. Thousands
turned out at Memorial Stadium for a
community remembrance of Sept.
11.
Increased security meant
hardships for everyone, some more than
others. The FBI requested
interviews with some international students,
and people from certain
countries faced a delay in the issuance of visas.
Champaign-Urbana's Muslim
community held an open house to help
acquaint area residents with
local adherents of Islam.
2. As if a Big Ten champion
football team wasn't enough,
Champaign-Urbana could have a
Super Bowl contender in town next
fall.
The Chicago Bears, whose
roots run deep in East Central Illinois
(University of Illinois alum
George Halas started the team as the Decatur
Staleys), will play in the
UI's Memorial Stadium for at least the 2002
season and the 2003 preseason
while their regular home, Chicago's
Soldier Field, undergoes a
more than $500 million renovation.
The deal, which required,
among other things, special legislative
dispensation to sell beer at
Memorial Stadium, was finally wrapped up in
October to the delight of UI
and local officials and area Bears fans.
It means increased revenue
to the UI and an opportunity to do some
stadium upgrading. It could
mean nearly $30 million to the local economy
if all the stadium's 70,904
seats sell out and half are filled by out-of-town
fans, according to local
economic development officials.
3. Clayton Lee Waagner, a
45-year-old rural Pennsylvania man
convicted on federal charges
of possession of a stolen vehicle and
possession of weapons by a
felon, escaped from the DeWitt County
Jail on Feb. 22 by using a
comb to jimmy a door. He then scaled a
utility shaft and exited
through the roof.
Waagner, a self-proclaimed
“anti-abortion warrior” with a long record
of felony crimes, was named to
the U.S. Marshals' 15 Most Wanted list
and was the subject of
“America's Most Wanted” in March. In May, a
security camera recorded
Waagner holding a gun as he robbed a bank in
Harrisburg, Pa.
On Dec. 5, Waagner was
arrested in Cincinnati. He admitted in an
interview that he sent
hundreds of hoax anthrax letters to abortion clinics,
including one in Champaign. He
was returned to Illinois and pleaded not
guilty on Dec. 17 to a federal
charge of escape.
4. The University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign got a new
chancellor in 2001, the first
woman to hold the job on this campus.
Nancy Cantor took over
leadership of the campus during the summer,
succeeding Michael Aiken,
after holding administrative positions at the
University of Michigan and
Princeton University. She was one of four
finalists for the job.
Cantor was provost and
executive vice president for academic affairs at
Michigan when she took the job
here. A psychologist, she earned her
bachelor's degree from Sarah
Lawrence College and a doctorate in
psychology from Stanford
University.
Cantor is a believer in
diversity and how it can contribute to education
by providing a mix of
perspectives. She also supports expanding
interdisciplinary programs,
and one of her goals for the UI is to promote
cross-campus initiatives in
several areas.
In her first few months on
campus, Cantor responded to the Sept. 11
tragedies by leading a unity
service at the Krannert Center for the
Performing Arts and
participating in a student vigil on the Quad and a
community ceremony in Memorial
Stadium.
5. Districts for all 177 state
lawmakers and the entire congressional
delegation must be redrawn
every 10 years to reflect population
shifts as measured by the U.S.
Census.
The politically charged
process in 2001 led to some major changes,
including the retirement of
76-year-old state Sen. Stan Weaver,
R-Urbana, after more than 30
years in the General Assembly. Several
area state representatives
decided to run for the state Senate.
At the state level, the
Democratic Party won a tiebreaker drawing after
the bipartisan redistricting
commission deadlocked.
Court challenges to the
lottery tiebreaker process were unsuccessful.
The Illinois Supreme Court
upheld the resulting plan, but cases
challenging the map are still
pending in federal court.
6. For Illini fans, 2001 was
among the best sports years of the past
two decades.
The UI football team
captured its first outright Big Ten title since 1983,
rolling to a 10-1 record and
edging out Michigan for the title.
The football team, led by
quarterback Kurt Kittner, won in thrilling
fashion, forging
come-from-behind victories against Wisconsin, Purdue,
Penn State and Ohio State in
the season's final weeks.
The Illini finished the
year ranked No. 7, in the AP and coaches polls
and ranked No. 8 in the Bowl
Championships Series poll. The football
team's season is set to
conclude Jan. 1 with a Sugar Bowl appearance in
New Orleans, a bowl
championship game, against the Louisiana State
University Tigers, who are
ranked 12th with a 9-3 record.
Times were also good for
the Illinois basketball team. The team went
27-8 and shared the Big Ten
title with Michigan State. The Illini also
reached the Elite Eight in the
2001 NCAA tournament before falling to
Arizona, the eventual NCAA
runner-up.
This year, the basketball
team is ranked in the top 10 in the country, led
by junior guard Frank
Williams. The team defeated Missouri 72-61 in the
annual Border War on Dec. 22
and will enter the Big Ten season Jan. 2.
7. Fatal accidents in a
construction area along Interstate 74,
between St. Joseph and
Danville, claimed the lives of four
teen-agers this spring and
prompted transportation officials to
implement new safety measures.
On April 9, Serena Wilson,
18, of Champaign was killed when her car
struck a semitrailer truck
that had slowed as it approached the
construction zone. Two
teen-agers, Adam Abdel-Haq, 19, of Mahomet
and Tyler Atkins, 15, of
Seymour, died after a May 16 accident in which
their car rear-ended a truck
that had stopped. Traffic had backed up
because of two earlier
accidents that day.
A third fatal accident
killed Carl Comrie, 17, of Danville on May 25. A
semitrailer truck hit the car
he was in, which was stopped in traffic at the
construction zone.
Following the May 25
fatality, the Illinois Department of Transportation
stopped all construction work
along the highway. When the work
resumed June 4, the speed
limit along the 16-mile stretch of interstate was
reduced even when no
construction workers were present. The state
Transportation Department
increased its use of message boards and
flashing lights to warn
drivers of the upcoming construction zone.
8. Bridgestone/Firestone
workers were proud of their craft, but that
didn't stop the owners from
shutting the company's Decatur facility
and leaving up to 1,500 people
without jobs.
On June 27, Bridgestone/
Firestone announced plans to close the plant
by the end of the year. That
came after months of bad publicity from car
accidents blamed on tires made
at the Decatur plant.
The plant was one of
Decatur's largest employers. The area began to
see the effects almost
immediately after rolling layoffs began in October.
The jobs Decatur lost were
among the highest-paying in the area. Many
workers were members of the
United Steelworkers of America.
9. A series of stories in The
News-Gazette during early December
detailed the secretive
decision-making process that went into the
awarding of contracts and tax
breaks for the construction of the
University of Illinois
research park.
The series showed how for
two years, and almost entirely out of public
view, plans were laid and
agreements reached that committed substantial
public resources to private
developers to build the park on public land.
City and university
officials negotiated the smallest details before
elected
officials had a say. Former UI
Chancellor Michael Aiken admitted he
destroyed documents that led
to the decision. A campus committee chose
a Chicago development team to
build the park, but the panel's choice, as
well as the chancellor's, was
overruled by the UI president and a
politically connected board of
trustees.
The result is a project
that moved with the speed of a runaway train. It
holds the possibility of being
a new economic engine for
Champaign-Urbana in the 21st
century.
10. Gas prices continue to
fluctuate, only three months after it
looked as though they would
head up, up, up.
Gasoline hit a brief peak
of $4 a gallon on Sept. 11 – but only a small
number of stations raised
prices dramatically, and one station owner later
apologized for doing so.
Before the day of terror was over, most stations
were returning to prices of
about $1.79 a gallon.
This week, the cheapest gas
in Champaign-Urbana was about $1.16 a
gallon.
Members of the Organization
of Petroleum Exporting Countries this
year have tried to unify
members behind cutting production, thus
increasing prices.
The AAA-Chicago Motor Club
says the statewide price for gas is
hovering near $1.11 a gallon,
down 44 cents from the same time last year.
The national average is $1.07
a gallon.
Prices are being held down
by a price war between OPEC and
non-OPEC oil producers, the
AAA said, which is keeping crude oil
production up, and gas
plentiful.
Runners-up
Other major stories of
2001:
– The election of three new
members to the Champaign school board,
the retirement of Champaign
Superintendent Mike Cain, the naming of
Carol Stack as interim
superintendent and the settlement of a civilrights
lawsuit against the Champaign
school district.
– The choice of Rantoul as
the site of a hog processing plant that could
eventually employ 300.
American Premium Foods plans to build a $25
million plant west of the
Rantoul Industrial Park.
– Clyde Hood pleading
guilty in the Omega Trust & Trading fraud case.
The 66-year-old Mattoon man is
scheduled to be sentenced next year for
conspiracy to commit mail and
wire fraud, money laundering and filing a
false income tax return.
Nineteen people were indicted in connection with
the scheme, which prosecutors
say defrauded investors of at least $12.5
million.
– The Illinois Department
of Agriculture giving a permit to a massive
new dairy near Bellflower.
Stone Ridge Dairy, proposed by George
Kasbergen of California, would
have more than 6,000 head of livestock.
Neighbors worry about the
effect of waste on drinking water supplies.
– The fatal shooting of
Vermilion County Deputy Myron Deckard as he
was transporting a prisoner on
Interstate 72. Daniel Raines of Carlinville is
accused of shooting Sgt.
Deckard, 72, in the head on June 5 while Raines
was being transported from
Montgomery County to Vermilion County.
Raines had been arrested in
Montgomery County for failure to appear in
Vermilion County court on a
traffic violation. Sgt. Deckard was a 30-year
veteran of the sheriff's
office.
Staff writers Greg Kline,
Steve Bauer, Jodi Heckel, Kate Clements,
Mike Monson, Paul Wood and J.
Philip Bloomer contributed to this
story.
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