The Vermilion County War Museum will have the following meetings:

 n Veterans will meet for coffee and doughnuts from 8:30-11:30 a.m. Sept. 9 at the Vermilion County War Museum, 307 N. Vermilion St.

Jeanie Cooke, director of Danville Area Convention & Visitors’ Bureau, will speak about Kickapoo State Park.

n Vermilion County War Museum Society Board will meet at 4 p.m. Sept. 16.

Going Green with Evergreens will be present from 1-2:30 p.m. Sept. 30 at the University of Illinois Extension Office, west of Danville at 12190 U,S. Route 150.

Going Green with Evergreens will focus on a variety of evergreen plants suitable for growing in Illinois. University of Illinois Extension Horticulture educator, Chris Hilgert, will discuss many evergreen trees and shrubs that will give your landscape year-round interest, and you will learn about evergreen plants and how to expand your landscape using evergreens.

This “telenet” program will feature color Power Point slides accompanied by the live voice of the instructor as people from all over the state participate at once. You will have the chance to ask questions at the end of the program.

Call 442-8615 to reserve your seat and information packet. Cost for this session is $2.

The Vermilion County Health Department will offer a free, four-week smoking cessation class beginning this month. Classes will meet once a week in the conference room of the Vermilion County Health Department, 200 S. College St.

The classes will be from 5:30-7 p.m. Thursdays, Sept. 18, 25, Oct. 2 and 9.

Those attending the classes can receive four weeks of free nicotine replacement patches. “While the patches can be a help to people who are quitting, we believe they also need the type of counseling help that comes from the classes,” says anti-tobacco coordinator for the county, Linda Bolton.

Anyone interested in attending the classes, should call the health department at 431-2662, ext. 241 or 302 to sign up; or those wanting information or to sign up can e-mail lbolton@vchd.org or mcrome@vchd.org.

The Senior Women‘s Auxiliary of Laura Lee will have its annual vesper service at 5 p.m. Sept. 14 at Laura Lee Fellowship House, 212 E. Williams St.

A social hour will follow. The public is invited.

The Golden Seniors Club at Laura Lee Fellowship House will meet at 10:30 a.m. every Thursday at Laura Lee, 212 E. Williams St.

New members are welcome.

The Reader’s Route needs volunteer tutors, to help adults learn to read better. Some students need help reading instructions on a medicine bottle, or a note from their child’s teacher others want to read the bible or get their GED.

The Reader’s Route is sponsoring Volunteer Tutor Training sessions. Volunteer Tutor Training will be offered

From 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursdays, Sept. 18, 25. Oct, 2 and 16, in the second floor conference room at the Danville Public Library, 319 N. Vermilion St.

There are more than 20 million adults in the United States and hundreds locally who share these problems.

The Reader’s Route, a literacy program offered by the Adult Education division of Danville Area Community College, pairs volunteer literacy tutors with adults age 16 years or older who read below the 9th grade level. The Secretary of State, whose office funds the project, requires volunteers to complete 12 hours of training before becoming tutors.

Refreshments will be available. To register, call Louise Free, recruiter trainer at 443-8868 or e-mail lfree@dacc.edu.

The Tee Pak Retirees will meet for breakfast from 8-11 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 10 at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 728, 8 Pine St.

To make reservations or for more information, call 759-7839.

The Vermilion County Museum Society and Illiana Civil War Historical Society will host “Dinner with the Lincolns” at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 26 at the museum, 116 N. Gilbert St.

Guests of President and Mrs. Abraham Lincoln (Max and Donna Daniels) will be treated to an evening at the White House with this famous couple just before they leave for Ford’s Theatre. Many of the President’s favorite foods will be served at the meal and the 01’ Vermilion String Band will provide entertainment.

There is limited seating. Tickets for the event are $25 per person or $40 00 per couple. All proceeds benefit the Vermilion County Museum Society and Illiana Civil War Historical Society. Tickets may be purchased at the museum 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For information call the museum at 442-2922.

 

 “Creating A Paper Trail" (Beginning Genealogy), last session of the beginner series this year, will be from 1-3 p.m. Sept. 20 at the Illiana Genealoogy & Historical Library, 215 W. North St.

The instructor will be Marjorie (Fox) Block. For information, call 431-8733 (431-TREE). A donation of $10 is suggested. Send check or money order to above address or call genealogy library to make your reservation by Sept. 17.

Sisters Obliged to Serve will have a meet and greet fellowship at 6 p.m. Sept. 22 in the Bremer Conference Center, Danville Area Community College, 2000 E. Main St.

The Circle H Horse Show will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 6 at the Vermilion County Fairgrounds. The show also will be held Sept. 21.

The proceeds will go to the Katie Glines fund for her to participate in a queen contest at the end of September.

You must be a Circle H member to ride in the show. Classifications are mini halter class, 46-inch under halter class, horse halter, pee wee walk trot age 10 and under, open walk trot, jr. western pleasure age 11-18, sr. western pleasure, open poles, pee wee poles age younger than 10; youth poles age 11-18, open barrels, pee wee barrels age 10 and under, youth barrels age 11-8, open flag race, youth flag race and pick up.

 

The Vermilion Heights Neighborhood Association will meet at 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 8 at Crosspoint 210 Avenue C.

Mayor Scott Eisenhauer will be meeting with the neighborhood concerning lights in median along Route 150.

Lights were removed during the summer and have caused a concern with neighbors about darkness and safety. The city would like the group’s input on where lights are needed. With fall approaching, we need to have lights added as soon as possible. Attend this meeting if you are concerned about or have a suggestion for placement of lights.

Larry Moss will speak on the “History of Automation International,” at the Kiwanis Golden K meeting at 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 8 at CRIS, 309 N. Franklin St.

Sue Richter from the Vermilion County Museum will speak to the Danville Lions Club at noon Tuesday, Sept. 9 at Java Hut Vermilion Place, 14 N. Hazel St.

The Vermilion County Health Department will have an evening cholesterol screening clinic from 4-6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11 at the 200 S. College St.

The cost is $7. Call 431-2662 to make an appointment for the screening.

There also will be a cholesterol screening opportunity by appointment from 9-11 a.m. Sept. 17 at the health department. The cost is $7.

The Danville Area Super Singles and Couples Dance will be from 7-10:30 p.m. Sept. 13 in the bar area at the Curtis G. Redden American Legion Post 210, 201 Prospect Place.

Mike’s D.J. and Karaoke will be featured. The dance is open to the Public.

Admission is $5. There is a cash bar and bring snacks to share.

In an effort to promote patriotism, Sunset funeral homes is accepting used or worn out flags to be disposed of in the appropriate manner.

In return, Sunset’s Community and Life Tribute Center and Sunset’s Covington Chapel will have a weekly drawing for a new flag. When used flags are dropped off, names will be entered for the weekly drawing. In addition, anyone can register for a new flag. For more information, call 442-2874.

The Vermilion County Fair Queen Pageant is looking for addresses of all past Vermilion County Fair queens.

A reception will be held at the 2009 Miss Illinois State Fair Queen pageant honoring all past Illinois County Fair Queens. Contact Amy Wright at (765) 585-5945 for more information.

The Moose Lodge 1001 will have a dinner from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4 at the lodge, Route 150 at Interstate 74.

The menu will be baked ham, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, desert, ice tea, lemonade or coffee. The cost is $6.

 

The Moose Lodge 1001 will have a dinner from 5-7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5 at the lodge, Route 150 at Interstate 74.

The menu will be cheesy hamburger macaroni casserole, salad, ice tea, lemonade or coffee. Also Terry Bryant and the Country Classic Band will play from 7-10 p.m.

The cost is $7 for non-members and $6 for members.

 

“We do what we say we do with the money.”
That’s the message from Greg Heath, president of the Vermilion County Handicap Association for the past 15 years, which recently built its 190th ramp for a wheelhair-bound resident Tilton.
“Our volunteers even pay to be a member,” he said, “then they get out of bed on Sunday morning to build ramps. They’re fantastic; we got it down.”
Despite the free labor and membership fees, Heath said the group is in a constant struggle to come up with the money it takes just to buy the lumber for the ramps.
“Lumber is really hurting us,” he said.
That’s where the annual raffle comes in, which is being held Sept. 6 at Gao Grotto, 2400 Denmark Road). It is the group’s only major fundraiser of the year.
This year’s prize is a 2008 Harley-Davidson Street Glide valued at around $20,000 and the night will include food and entertainment running from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Shuttle bus service will be available. Tickets for the raffle, which will be held early if all 1,600 tickets are sold and later if they don’t all go, are $25. Parking and admission for the event are free and winners must be present at the time of the drawing.
“The list of people who need ramps in this county is never-ending,” Heath said, even with the partnership the group has with Provena’s Faith In Action ramp-building group.
Heath said a portion of this year’s proceeds will go towards purchasing portable, metal ramps that can be taken to residents move or who made need them temporarily. One ramp costs around $3,000.
Applicants for ramps must apply for them, meet financial requirements and have a doctor’s recommendation.
Tickets may be purchased at the following locations along Georgetown Road: Gutterridge Harley Davidson, Julee’s Shooting Star, Fat Boy Subs, Stroud Liquor and Gao Grotto.
“It’s always a good time,” Heath said. “I know the economy is tough, but every year we sell out.”

It won’t be long until area residents will be able to get a rough outline of the route the Potawatomis took when they went through Danville on a 660-mile forced-march from Indiana to Kansas.
In recognition of the Fifth Trail of Death Caravan, Danville Township officials are working to erect signage along various streets and roads to mark the 1838 march of several hundred Native Americans — many of whom died along the way.
“If someone wanted to follow the Trail of Death, this will help them,” said Larry Weatherford, a township trustee. “It’s a route you can take in your vehicle.”
Nine signs in all have been ordered, though Weatherford said he wasn’t sure whether they would be delivered in time for the Sept. 23 caravan, which starts in Indiana and snakes its way across several Illinois towns ending in Quincy.
The two-part signs will carry the Trail of Death logo and a directional arrow for drivers to follow.
The exact trail is difficult to locate, Weatherford said, noting that even the location of the encampment is somewhat in question. Diaries from soldiers escorting the tribe indicate Danville was a stopping place.
“It’s the closest we know to help people get to where they’re going,” he said. “Tradition would have it that they went to Ellsworth, but a lot of it is interpretation. It doesn’t make a lot of sense that that would have been a good place for the village.”
A stone marker already exists at Ellsworth near the walking bridge across the Vermilion River, erected in 1990 by three local men, and markers can be found at almost every town along the trail, including Catlin and Sydney.
Weatherford said donations for the signs are welcome, but that the township had agreed to supply the manpower to erect the signs.
“We’ll put them up just as soon as they arrive,” he said.
Tracing the steps
Kevin Young, a professional historian from Rossville, was enlisted by the Fulton, Ind., group that started tracing the trail in the 1980s. The group stages an annual festival to remember the vibrant Native American community that existed in Indiana until they were forced off their land and forcibly moved West as pioneers moved in.
He said there is scant evidence as to the exact location of where the Potawatomis camped at Ellsworth, but there is overwhelming proof they stayed in Danville. In fact, one diary entry from a soldier mentioned four people dying in Danville during the stopover.
“We don’t have a hard grasp on our pre-settler history,” he said. “We just have pieces.”
Other accounts from the time show that 1838 was “Not a good time to be force-marched through here.” It was a year of drought and even settlers were getting sick in the towns the marchers stopped at. One theory has it that typhoid fever from stagnant water was to blame for the widespread sickness.
The fact that Native Americans would have more likely have camped at the top of bluffs, near what is now Logan Avenue, doesn’t detract from the overall story — or the treatment of those being marched, many of whom were elderly and children. Staying in Ellsworth proper would have also meant the Indians and soldiers would have had to cross two river channels, an unlikely scenario in an area that had been well surveyed.
“It would kind of be in the Ellsworth Park area,” Young said.
The general route into Danville would have taken the travelers near what is now Turtle Run Golf Course, he added.
“It’s been really fun to go back and look at this stuff through a new set of eyes,” said Young, who worked for the Texas State Historical Society before returning to his native Vermilion County four years ago. “I’ve always kept an interest in the history of the area. I like the detective work and finding new stuff, then putting that stuff into a story. There’s always more to the puzzle, and the picture gets bigger and better with each piece.”
Shirley Willard, credited with getting the ball rolling to link the four-state route, said this year’s event will be preceded by a festival in Rochester, Ind., recognizing the boldness of Chief Menominee, who would not sign a treaty with the settlers and eventually made the Kansas trip in a jail wagon. A statue commemorating the chief was erected in Rochester in 1909.
She said the route has been approximated, with some cities along it putting up signs in public parks to promote awareness of the event.
“They’re not always in the exact spot, but you can’t be too nitpicky,” she said. “This is a historical journey and each caravan is a spiritual journey.”
She has made the caravan trip each time and helped organize the trail through four state legislatures after the idea was turned down to put the trail on the National Historic Registry. Almost all of the towns have some kind of marker now, and areas like Danville are starting to add route signs to guide travelers.
“You really need to understand your past to make good decisions about the future,” said Willard, a former history teacher. “I got interested in history sitting on a bale of hay listening to farmers tell stories.”
The festival in Rochester is designed to honor families in Indiana with Native American bloodlines, and to remember the way their ancestors were treated in an effort show the indignities they were forced to endure.
“I know I’m really sorry that it happened,” she said. “That doesn’t mean it was my fault, but we apologize because it happened. I guess God wants me to do this. It feels like the American Indians had the answer to world peace. I’ve learned you can’t be bitter about everything that happens, but I’d like to see my state apologize to the Indians. They literally drove out all of the Indians they could, but there are still Indians here. They were not stamped out.”
That was the message at the last celebration in Rochester, where Chief White Cloud, an Iroquois leader who dedicated a “tree of peace” there in 1988:
“My thanks, O Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds and whose breath gives life to the world, hear me. I call to you from the Four Directions that my message be carried to the world. Hear me, O Great Spirit. Plant these tiny seeds of friendship and hope for World Peace and Brotherhood. Grant that the Earth, Air, and Water be free from pollution forever. Let love and harmony grow. Peace and joy begin within us and what our own hearts show. Amen.”
It’s a message that hasn’t been received by everyone, but there are those still trying to deliver it.
For more information on the Indiana festival, the caravan, the exact route, and the history and research behind it all, visit http://www.potawatomi-tda.org/.

In the late 1980s, Danville’s Paul Quick started making amends for the brutal murder of his great-grandmother, a Native American woman killed by early settlers more than a century earlier for the trophy of her scalp.
Quick’s grandmother, just 3 years old at the time, witnessed the carnage, holding the memory with her as she spent the rest of her life on a reservation.
“He got $50 for her scalp,” he said, “and back in those days they didn’t even have an inquest or anything.”
The memory never left his grandmother’s mind, and the story she told a young Quick lodged deep within his heart.
A contractor who had always loved history, Quick and his wife in 1988 set out to travel the famed Trail of Tears by covered wagon to get a glimpse of the way early Americans treated the North American natives — and the members of his own family.
“I retraced that trail just for my grandmother,” he said. “She saw it (the murder of her mother) and she remembered it. We killed a lot of Indians and I still can’t understand it — that this happened in my country.”
The 1,200-mile Trail of Tears, where as many as 4,000 Native Americans died on a forced march from Tennessee to Oklahoma, reminded Quick the treatment was not limited to his grandmothers.
“People were upset when Hitler killed people,” he said. “We killed Indians and he killed Jews. What’s the difference?”
On a mission
Quick has spent much of his adult life trying to answer that question.
He not only traveled the Trail of Tears, he became an educator to ensure the death of his great-grandmother would not be in vain, eventually sharing the story with some 60,000 school students taking the trail.
“It was wonderful because I taught them real history,” he said.
He also became a member of the Society of Indian Lore, immersing himself in 19th century history and even learning Native American words. He has been a leader in encouraging communities across the country to treat Indian remains with respect, even offering advice when a group of Native American leaders set out to close down the Dixon Mounds display that featured skeletal remains.
Quick said he was surprised to find, after talking to one of the Native American chiefs involved in the Dixon closing, that Illinois was considered by them to be among the worst offenders in the nation when it came to protecting the graves of their descendants.
“He said, ‘You live in the worst state in the union,’” Quick said. “I suggested they get some shovels to dig up another white grave to see what ‘they’ look like when they’re dead.”
The tribal leaders publicly threatened to do so and the ensuring media attention led to Gov. Jim Edgar’s administration decision to close the gravesite display, which featured a mother giving birth.
Local trail
About the same time Quick was making his pilgrimage to the Trail of Tears he was contacted by a woman in Indiana who would bring his quest for education closer to home.
The Trail of Death, a forced march of Potawatomi from Indiana to Kansas, was not a place he had to travel far to see. In fact, he found, it ran right through Danville.
The Indiana organizers had put together a festival commemorating the march and were working to place markers along the entire trail. They had plans to make a pilgrimage of the trail every five years.
Quick and fellow history buffs Hubert Powell and Hugo Zeiter didn’t hesitate.
The three found a large, fossilized stone, convinced the owners of Thomas Excavating to donate it, then spent the winter of 1989 carving it for a 1990 dedication. The stone still sits at Ellsworth Park near the walking bridge that crosses the Vermilion River, complete with a plaque describing the Trail of Death, which goes north from Danville to Catlin and then on to several other Illinois towns ending at Quincy. Plaques and markers appear along the way.
Along the 660-mile trail, traveled by a just few hundred Potawatomi after they refused to sign a peace treaty offered by newcomers settling the land, several dozen died from what was believed to be Typhoid fever from drinking contaminated water.
The stone will be the center point of the Trail of Death caravan, which will make a stop Sept. 23 in Danville. Quick, who has had recent health problems, said he will not miss the event. Lunch will be provided by Quick’s son, who owns Charlotte’s restaurant, after Quick had previously fed the travelers by cooking them ham and beans.
“It’s a pretty special stone,” he said proudly last week as he stroked its weather beaten surface. “I cut that stone myself and helped set it with those guys. It will last a long time here.”
Maybe even longer than the memories of a 3-year-old girl who watched her mother die so someone could have a trophy.

Standing inside the Gutteridge Harley-Davidson dealership in Tilton last week was almost like being at Disneyland.
Not because of the rides, which came in the form of “Hogs” parked all over the store’s lot, but due to the fact you could meet someone from just about anywhere.
Indeed, it was a small world after all as motorcycle enthusiasts from across the country stopped by the shop on their way to the celebration in Milwaukee commemorating Harley-Davidson’s 105th Anniversary.
“It’s been a nice mix of people,” said owner Roger Gutteridge, “and that’s always part of the trip.”
Open-roaders from all over the country stopped by all week to browse, meet fellow travelers and get their bikes tuned for the last leg of their trip north for the weekend. Big-name entertainment, including Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters and Lynard Skynard, was expected to bring in a half-million people.
“Most people have just been taking a break from the highway,” he said. “Once they start talking, they realize they’ve been to the same events and the same locations. With Harley-Davidson it’s about the history, but it’s mostly just about taking the trip in the first place.”
Enough employees wanted to take that trip that the dealership was closed during the weekend.
“I don’t want to close, but everybody wants to go. It’s going to be a lot of fun,” said Gutteridge, who left Thursday morning with wife Linnette. “There’s just so much going on and it’s been crazy around here this week. There will be people there from all over the world.”
The couple rode to Wisconsin with Roger’s brother, an employee at Harley’s testing center in Naples, Fla., who came back to Danville just to make the trip.
“The whole family is here,” said Gutteridge, whose grandfather started the dealership in Pontiac in 1936, and whose father took it over in 1979. His wife serves as the public relations head and a son manages the parts department.
Seventy-five-year-old Ken Smith, a Harley-Davidson dealership owner who rode his bike from Virginia, said the tries to stop at as many shops as he can along the way.
“There’s just a mystique that no other bike has to offer,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s the rumble or what, but there’s nothing else like it.”
Smith, who has been riding a Harley for almost 60 years and owned the dealership for 35, said he has watched as the motorcycle enthusiast has become an accepted member of society. He said there was a time in the 1950s and 1960s where motorcyclists weren’t accepted in the mainstream because of their association with gangs, drugs and organized crime.
“But we survived all of that,” he said.
Smith said he was surprised when he stopped in Tilton and met the Gutteridge owner in person.
“There are very businesses today where you can actually talk to the owner,” he said with a drawl. “You don’t see that personal touch anymore.”
Jimmy Wallace, riding with two friends from North Carolina, said the group tried to stop at as many Harley-Davidson dealerships as possible on the 850-mile trip. They stopped at Gutteridge to get a tune-up on one of the
motorcycles.
“It’s pretty amazing,” he said. “You meet new friends everywhere you stop. Everybody treats you with respect and there’s camaraderie.”
While being on the open road appeals to Wallace, he said being on a motorcycle doesn’t come without its difficulties and dangers.
“First of all, you always have to watch out,” he said. “People driving cars aren’t always watching for us and there are lots of blind spots.”
The group also had to endure a leg of the trip where it rained for almost nine solid hours near Memphis.
“You can’t stop those things,” he said. “Yesterday we were on the road and my boots were full of water. Now, it’s sunny and I’m sitting here waiting.”
Safety always is a top concern for bikers, said Dick Becker, also from Virginia and a member of that state’s governor’s motorcycle-safety council.
He’s been riding motorcycles since the mid-1960s and has traveled every contiguous state and Canada on regular 4,500-mile trips.
“People just aren’t getting enough preparation and giving thought in advance,” he said, noting about half of all motorcycle crashes are alcohol-related. Many accidents are single-vehicle, with riders either falling asleep on long rides or not effectively handling curvy roads. He said the rising number of motorcycle riders has led to great increases in the number of accidents nationwide.
“The data is really shocking,” he said. “When I teach the safety course I preach this: Don’t leave it here, go practice it. There are three things you have to have to be safe: Practicing the techniques, using them and good luck. If you don’t have the first two, what do you have left?”
Linnette Gutteridge said the dealership was recently contacted by the Illinois State Police to help disseminate the safety message after several area motorcycle crashes in the past year, as well as the increased traffic due to the Wisconsin event (See Page 2 for recent state police data on Vermilion county motorcycle crashes).
“You definitely have to ride defensively,” she said. “I’m not scared when I’m driving, but I feel it more when I’m riding on the back.”
Linnette, married to Roger for 14 years, said she started riding her own bike seven years ago because, “I got tired of sitting on the back and dodging his head.”
She said she hoped drivers of other vehicles were paying attention to the safety announcements.
“You’ve got to start seeing motorcyclists,” she said. “These are our friends and family and we don’t want to see them get hurt.”
And while safety is always a concern, none of the bikers were letting it stand between them and a good time in
Milwaukee.
“You meet a lot of nice people along the way,” she said, “and you get to hear stories about where they’re going and where they’ve been.”
Becker, who called the 1,000-mile trip from Virginia “One of the short ones,” said safety is important, but the adventure makes it worth it all.
“If you buy a Harley to sit and be a bookend, you’re not a rider, you’re an owner,” he said. “That’s two, distinct,
different groups.”

Associated Press photos

The year 1968 marked the end of the old-school presidential nominating process with the chaotic Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Riots in the streets, a backroom battle about which candidate to choose and television cameras broadcasting the spectacle to millions of Americans made both national parties change the way they picked a presidential candidate.
“Fifty years ago you could have a heck of a fight at the convention,” said Bill Black, the 104th District’s Republican state representative from Danville, who has himself attended three conventions.
“Leaders of either party don’t want that anymore,” he said. “Most of the deals are cut by the campaign chairs before anyone even gets to the convention. They work out comprises and (the conventions) are tightly scripted. Even the colors are picked by experts.”
Still, Black was planning to attend his fourth convention this week as GOP delegates were scheduled to rally around John McCain as their candidate in St. Paul, Minn.
He said he liked the old method, replaced by the primary system, because it allowed a “dark horse” candidate to receive the nomination late in the process.
“Now they’re feverishly working to not have a roll call, because some of them (delegates) might not be so kind,” he said. “Today it’s about money: It’s designed primarily for TV and they don’t want any embarrassment.
“They’re not what they used to be, but they’re still exciting.”
The excitement
Mike Frerichs, Democrat state senator representing Danville from the 52nd District, was certainly feeling the excitement last Wednesday.
Frerichs earlier had attended the Illinois’ delegation’s breakfast reception with local precinct committeeman Scott Kair and was walking to Denver’s Pepsi Center to hear former President Bill Clinton’s keynote speech when he contacted the Commercial-News to report on the scene.
“There’s been a lot going on,” he said. “I might be a little biased, but there seems to be a lot more excitement this time around.”
Frerichs, whose first convention was in Boston before the 2004 election, said the events are important for bringing fellow party members together, even though there isn’t much actual business being conducted. It’s also a chance to hear good public speaking and attend political workshops.
“There are more seminars and training sessions than anyone could ever go to,” he said. “There’s been a lot.”
Frerichs said the best part of the convention to date was the speech given by Ted Kennedy.
“His showing up was a big surprise,” he said. “Love him or hate him, Ted Kennedy is a big individual. I imagine Barack’s speech will be the most exciting.”
By accident
Rep. Black, a Rudy Guiliani delegate, almost didn’t make it to this year’s convention.
“Normally, you do run as a delegate, and it’s just like running for office,” he said.
He said he was surprised when he got the call from the state’s McCain campaign coordinator to fill an open convention spot from the district.
“I was just sitting at home about two months ago and (they) called,” Black said.
In addition to the valuable seminars and discussions, Black said, “You get to network with a lot of party officials. I’ve gotten to know some state legislators from other states. You can find anything you want at the convention.”
And the parties aren’t just of the political variety, he said.
“If you’re so inclined, you can go to a party every night,” he said. “You could go to three or four, though that’s never really been my thing.”
Conducting business
While the public face of politics is media-driven, both politicians said there is still important business discussed, usually as state delegations spend time in a room together other than the state capital.
Frerichs found that out firsthand at the breakfast reception, where longtime state political foes Michael Madigan, speaker of the Illinois House, and Gov. Rod Blagojevich were seen in — this is not a misprint -an embrace.
“Even with the problems the state has, whether we’re unified or not, we’re all unified by Barack,” he said. “At the end of the day we realize we’re on the same team.”
Frerichs said he hoped the Madigan/Blagojevich embrace was a sign that the unification would reach clear to Springfield.
Some of the state business conducted included discussions over who would replace a retiring Illinois Senate president.
“They (politicians) are all out and trying to lobby their colleagues,” he said.
Black agreed that the conventions, though heavily scripted, are not without value.
“There’s still lots of politics to discuss,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed all of them that I’ve attended.”
Black said the Illinois Republican delegation’s focus this year will also likely be about party battles that have stifled the state legislative progress.
“Both Democrats and Republicans will find out more about their platforms,” he said, “And they will try to create momentum. One of the questions we’ll be trying to answer is, ‘How can we make this gridlock disappear in the Illinois General Assembly?”
Both state legislators plan to report their experiences to constituents in precinct meetings conducted later this month.

Sign-ups for participants for the Danville-Tilton Self-Help and Research Exchange food program have been set. The unit is $16 plus trucking fee of $2; add $1 trucking fee for extra item. No checks.

Meat and vegetable-fruit box is $18 and vegetable-fruit box is $9. No checks.

n Monday through Friday, Sept. 8-12, 9 a.m. to noon and 1-3:30 p.m. at The Salvation Army, 855 E. Fairchild St.

n Thursday, Sept. 11, 9-10 a.m. at Westville City Building, 201 N. State, Westville.

n Thursday, Sept. 11, 1-3 p.m. at the United Church of Tilton, 520 W. 5th, Tilton.

For more information, call 354-4832, 431-2990 or (765) 294-2858.

The food distribution will be Sept. 27 at the Cornerstone Christian Church (formerly Hooton Church of Christ), 1607 Greenwood Cemetery Road.

St. James United Methodist Church will sponsor a blood drive with Community Blood Services of Illinois from 3-7 p.m. Sept. 10 in the community room at the church, 504 N. Vermilion St.

Donors will receive a T-shirt and carry out barbecue pork dinner.

For questions, call 1 800-217-GIVE.