The owner of Bryant’s Auto Parts and Recycling has started an informational campaign to quell residents’ concerns and get the Danville City Council on board with their plan to add a crushed-car storage area on property on Warrington Ave.
But if an initial meeting with the leader of a neighborhood group fighting the company’s plans is any indication, owners have their work cut out for them.
“They want me on their team,” said Jeanne Scott, who has been the most vocal opponent of a special-use permit sought by Bryant’s to include the 3-acre, fenced storage facility on property it already owns.
“I said, ‘I don’t think that’s going to happen in my lifetime.’”
Bryant’s officials have been frustrated with the process since they mistakenly went to township officials for permission to build a 6½-foot fence designed to block the storage yard’s view from the roadway.
They were given the OK and built the fence, but after a June walk-through by Danville city inspectors were told they were subject to the city’s zoning ordinances. The city is granted zoning powers up to 1½ miles outside of city limits, and vehicle storage is not considered a permissible use within Bryant’s light-industrial district.
The fence remains, but the vehicles they had started storing were removed. Once Bryant’s was cited for non-compliance, owners began the process to apply for a special-use permit for the storage request.
City staff recommended the storage area be allowed, with some provisions like the addition of a paved lot, as did the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission, two weeks ago.
But the entire request was taken off the city council agenda last week after the citizens’ group showed again to protest and it became obvious to city officials the measure would not pass. Bryant’s would have to wait a year before resubmitting the proposal if it were turned down by the council.
Owner Mike Bryant said the outcry about the lot, and word the council had concerns despite full recommendations from staff and the zoning commission, has taken him by surprise.
He said he believes many of the complaints voiced by neighbors are unfounded, and in some cases, outright untrue. He also thinks providing more information and closer scrutiny of his operation will show he is doing his best to be a good neighbor.
“This company is very transparent,” he said from his office last week, inside the renovated corporate headquarters the company moved from its Georgetown location. “We try to hide nothing.” Bryant’s also owns a scrap facility in Tuscola.
In fact, Bryant said the lot was being considered on the east end of his property, and closer to Scott’s home, because it’s impact would be the most minimal to the neighborhood. A fenced-in lot used only for storage (cars are crushed elsewhere on the site as an allowable use within the zoning district) would act as a buffer in addition to a tree-filled ravine that divides the business and residential neighbors.
“Everything I’ve had here are things we’re already zoned for,” he said.
As for some of the issues brought up by residents, he said they have been exaggerated. He admitted some sound does emit from the site when cars are crushed, but added he is already permitted to do that work there. The storage lot would not create any new noise, he said, and cars would not be stacked. The land was even graded to provide a slight rise at the entrance of the facility, making the view minimal from the road. Cars in the lot would be stored until sold and utilized by scrap “peddlers” looking for specific parts, which makes up about half of the company’s business.
“We purposely put the fence back that far because it would have been abrasive (if it were closer),” Bryant said, adding he had no plans to stack cars even though there are no restrictions by law on the height of such piles.
Claims by residents there is anti-freeze on the ground is outright false, he said, based on annual, random Illinois Environmental Protection Agency testing, as well as required independent testing.
“You could eat off this floor,” he said while showing off the main facility where workers separate metals, most of which will be shipped overseas. “I want them (independent testers) to be as hard on me as they can so I don’t have to see the EPA. I wish I knew what their (the neighbors’) problem was.”
Bryant’s total property includes some 200 acres on the north side of the river and another 400 on the south. He said he will comply with whatever rulings the city makes, but residents may not like the alternatives for the storage area, the flattest part of the road-front land.
“There are other things that are not as neighbor-friendly as a car-storage area that I could put in there,” he said. “We’re going to develop it in some way, it’s not going to go away. I didn’t buy that property to build condominiums.”
It is not his intention to infringe on the peace of neighbors, he said, and he was very careful to point out the option was not a threat, just an indication he will utilize the property for his business. He purchased 600 acres of land there in all, 200 of which sits on the north side of the river where the business is. He already has conceptual plans to add a processing building to the west, which will further block public site lines of the allowable scrap pile that now sits behind existing buildings.
“I think we’ve been portrayed as we are going to come in and take over their backyards,” he said.
Bryant said he has gone to great lengths to ensure the entire property is better-looking than a typical junkyard, and he feels he has cleaned it up compared to past businesses who have owned the property. He prefers the word “salvage.” He said he has also offered to send one of his 40 employees out twice a day to clean up any debris, though he said he believes the amount is minimal.
“Our image is very important,” he said. “How many junkyards have a storefront that looks as nice as ours? We want to be the face of Danville when they come off (U.S.) Route 150. I don’t like anything that makes us look like a scrap yard.”
Scott, who has fought other developments at the same site, including a failed moto-cross track years ago in which she had 700 neighbors sign a petition against, said she thinks Bryant will keep expanding his business until it is in her and her and her neighbors’ back yards. She sees the car-storage lot as the first step and said last week’s tour showed her nothing that would change her mind. She said neighbors have had to be vocal about development in their area because they don’t have aldermanic representation. She added, she and her husband do own a business in town.
“I do what I think is right for my neighborhood,” Scott said. “I’ve lived here all my life. We’re not playing a game, we’re trying to stand up for something.”
Bryant said he plans to have more meetings with residents and has offered a tour of the facility to any of them, as well as interested public officials, who want to take a closer look. He said he plans to offer the information and resubmit the proposal. He said aldermen consider the amount of customers from outside the area that come to Danville just to visit his business.
“We want to work things out with the neighbors before we go back to the council,” said Erik Plotner, financial officer for Bryant’s.
He said he felt “emotion” had played a role in the disagreement with neighbors and that the effort at communication showed “good faith” on the company’s part. The fact the commission and council vote were within a few days of each other didn’t help, he added.
“I would love to have our own little town-hall meeting,” Plotner said. “I feel we can foster a line of communication with the neighbors.”
Scott said she will tell supporters the meetings will be held, but whether they attend is their own decisions. She said being turned away at the council meeting last week without getting to voice their concerns to the council had angered several people.
“After a while it gets like ‘crying wolf,’” she said.
Scott said she has seen several business come and go at the site, and even including the former brickworks and neighbor of General Motors across the river, Bryant’s has been the most intrusive.
“Mike Bryant wants to put something in our backyard that he would never put in his own,” she said. “I think the aldermen are smart enough to make the right decision. I’ve been amazed at the number of people calling me and saying, ‘What can I do to help?’”

One man’s move to take back his alley may lead to bigger changes in the Grace Street neighborhood on the city’s east side.
Homeowner Everett Tims last month convinced the city to sell him a portion of the alley that runs beside his property in an effort to reduce unwanted traffic using it to cut through the neighborhood. The alley connects Grace, which his house faces, and South State Street.
“This is a bottleneck up here,” he said. “They drive through here and they throw their empty beer bottles in the alley and in my yard. It’s an everyday thing.”
Tims said the alley has become a destination for customers of a nearby liquor store who were cutting through the alley at dangerous speeds and leaving behind trash he had to collect on a daily basis.
And it’s not just the annoyance factor that spurred Tims to purchase the blacktopped alley for about $1,000.
Tims said the crime rate has exploded in recent years, and the alley has given criminals easy access to the once quiet
neighborhood.
“They drink in that alley, they smoke dope in that alley and they have sex in that alley,” he said. “Then they come over here. These are the kinds of things we have to put up with.”
According to Tims, almost every homeowner in the neighborhood has a story about broken car windows, burglarized houses and general mayhem being perpetrated by people using the alley as a major thoroughfare. He said police activity was a regular occurrence in the neighborhood.
“I can go right down the line” with neighbors’ stories, he said. “It’s been a total disregard for other people’s property.”
Tims plans to block the alley off to the end of his property line with a fence, keeping the alley open for neighbors but blocking it off as a throughway. The purchase price for the alley property was around $1,000.
He said though he knows the fence isn’t a perfect solution, “I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a lot of the answer.”
Ward 3 Alderman Bill Gilbert and the rest of the city council, despite a staff recommendation and three aldermen voting not to vacate the alley, said Tims made a good case for taking over its control.
“I don’t what happened when our forefathers planned this,” Gilbert said, “but that was 100 years ago. He had a very good argument and a very good presentation to the council.”
The Grace Street neighborhood is a labyrinth of alleys, with only two through streets from Main Street to Cleveland Avenue. Grace itself has a one-way, one-lane entrance from Main, but it turns immediately into a two-way street.
Gilbert said neighbors use the alley system to get to and from their homes and that the alley in question, at the north end of Grace beside Tims’ property, is used the most because it has a blacktop surface.
The fact that an alley is even being discussed in a conversation about traffic flow has led Gilbert to seek other changes in the area.
“In that neighborhood, you have to turn down an alley someplace,” he said. “That should be a one-way street all the way down.”
Gilbert is pushing for the change, though city staff has recommended the roadway stay as it is. He said there was also the option of making the street one-way to Utah Avenue, the approximate halfway point in the neighborhood. The city’s argument has been that a one-way street might cause more difficulties as longtime residents use it to backtrack to their homes despite the change.
“I think it’s the opposite,” he said. “There are a lot of kids playing out in that area and a lot of people speeding down it. I’m fighting to get all that changed.”
Gilbert said the council had granted other alley vacations in the past, though not usually ones that have already had city improvements made. He said such requests are usually made to link adjacent properties, provide better access for residents or simply to ensure the property is mowed.
“Most of the people do it for safety issues,” he said. “To me, it’s a case-by-case basis. I always try to ask, ‘What’s the affect to the rest of the neighborhood?’”
Gilbert said very few people in the neighborhood weighed in on the alley purchase, despite a city sign warning of the closure prominently displayed in Tims’ front yard.
David Schnelle, an engineer with the city’s Public Works Department, said staff recommended against the Grace Street change because the alley already had improvements.
“We encourage alley vacations in certain situations,” he said. “This was the preferred route (neighborhood drivers) and had a high amount of use. There was a very mixed review (from residents). That alley is essentially a dead-end now. He owns it, not the city.”
Alderman Gilbert said he is hoping for input from residents in his ward about the other changes he is seeking in the Grace Street neighborhood.
“If you have a complaint, or a suggestion, help come up with a solution to fix it and bring it to us,” he said. “Some people don’t think we listen, but we will listen. I wish more people would call when they have a problem.”
Some of the residents in his neighborhood feel powerless in the face of the crime wave, Tims said. He added, the unsightly, abandoned properties along State are helping fuel the decline, and many longtime residents have responded by putting their properties up for sale.
“(City officials) don’t seem to understand because it’s not happening to them,” he said. “The East End just isn’t getting the attention it deserves.”

The parking areas south and east of the Vermilion County Courthouse annex at 6 N. Vermilion St. closed Wednesday, Aug. 27 and no parking will be allowed until the project is completed.

City Public Works crews will remove and replace the asphalt pavement south of the annex.

For a portion of the project, the outside westbound lane of Main Street will be closed. The sidewalk south of the annex and east of Bresee Towers will be open and the parking area east of the annex on Vermilion Street will be designated for deliveries only.

The project should be completed Friday, Aug. 29.

 

The Labor Day holiday will mean a change in schedules for banks, schools, government offices and other services available to the public.

Danville area offices and services that will be closed Monday include:

n Credit unions, banks and savings and loan associations.

n Westville-Belgium Sanitary District.

n Schools in eastern Illinois and western Indiana.

n Danville Housing Authority.

n Robert E. Jones Municipal Building.

n Danville will not have any garbage collection Monday. Garbage will be collected Tuesday through Saturday, Sept. 6.

n Danville Mass Transit.

n Illinois Department of Employment Services.

n Department of Human Services.

n State driver’s license facility closed Saturday and Monday.

n Social Security office.

n Federal District Court.

n Danville Post Office.

n Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.

n Vermilion County Courthouse and Circuit Court.

n Vermilion County Health Department.

n East Central Illinois Community Action Agency.

n Danville Township Office.

n Danville Public Library.

n David S. Palmer Arena.

n Vermilion County War Museum.

n Georgetown City Hall.

n Georgetown Township.

n Westville Municipal Building.

n The Commercial-News will be closed Monday. Customer service will be available to answer circulation calls from 6-10 a.m.

A public hearing will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9 at Danville City Hall lower level Council Chambers regarding the purposed application by the city for a fare increase.

During this meeting, comments will be sought from the public about the proposed changes, alternatively, a separate public meeting may be held to gather comments about changes.

Any comments received at the meeting or through other communications will be analyzed by Danville Mass Transit staff. Based on the public comment, a revised proposal will be presented at the following City Council meeting for adoption. If extensive changes to the proposal are warranted, the proposal may be modified and taken to the Public Works Committee meeting the following month.

For more information, call Richard Brazda, director, at 431-0653.

Motorists probably didn’t know they helped determine the new posted speed limit along Gilbert Street from Main to Fourth streets in south Danville.
The change, made around two months ago, raised the limit, in place for years, from 35 mph to 40 mph.
“It’s determined by what people feel is a reasonable speed to drive,” said Brian Trygg, an engineer for the Illinois Department of Transportation’s operations, plans and designs department. “We found out how people are driving, in terms of speed.”
IDOT holds the responsibility for maintaining the roadway, which also serves as Illinois Route 150, and setting its speed limit through requirements set out in state statutes and federal recommendations. The statutory speed limit is broken into just two categories, with 30 being the minimum and 55 the maximum speed allowed outside of interstate travel .
“Anything in between that, you need to be looking at an engineering study,” he said.
Doug Ahrens, Danville’s director of public works, said the city defers to the state transportation department when it comes to state routes through the city.
“We do not do speed studies like the state does,” he said, though Danville has collected traffic data for much of its downtown street reconfiguration.
The city will assist residents who feel speeding is a problem in their neighborhoods, something usually addressed through local neighborhood associations. A study can be requested, he said, but most traffic-control problems can be solved by “general observation.
“In general, these are done at the request of neighborhood groups,” Ahrens said.
IDOT conducts surveys on most roadways every several years (every five years is recommended by the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices) and sets limits within those parameters based on the traffic-flow information collected.
Trygg said the last speed study along that section of Gilbert was conducted almost 10 years ago when it was determined a traffic-control device (stoplight) should be moved south from Third to Fourth street.
“Usually, you’re not going to change anything more than 5 mph,” Trygg explained. He said the need for studies every few years is due to the changing nature of roadways, especially ones with an inordinate number of residential driveways or commercial access.
“There are a lot of changes over the years and it changes how people perceive the speed limit,” he said.
To collect information, IDOT engineers used several techniques to get an accurate picture of Gilbert’s ideal speed. The road was split into sections, with workers taking speed samples by radar in the turning-lane space. Sampling information was collected to determine average speed and pace speed. Pace speed is a way to determine how much traffic is bunching up and allows for motorists exiting and entering the highway.
“We looked at all the lanes throughout the zone,” Trygg said.
After the data was collected IDOT produced a report that determined the average speed traveled by two-thirds of motorists, with the remaining third divided into those driving faster and those driving slower.
Determining the wrong speed can cause traffic-flow problems and make getting on and off the highway difficult and even dangerous. A higher speed limit, he said, doesn’t necessarily translate into a more dangerous roadway.
“You don’t want to have a situation where there’s not enough gaps to get out into traffic,” Trygg said.
IDOT’s study actually pegged the ideal speed at 40.4 mph, with an expected violation rate of about 29 percent. The violation rate with the speed at 35 mph was close to 70 percent.
“That won’t help people go a lower speed,” he explained. “If you set it too low you’ll have the police having to ticket two-thirds of the people.”
David Schnell, an engineer for the city, said though the city defers to state-directed improvements, IDOT does usually seek input from Danville officials.
“We have input, and they take that into consideration,” he said. Special circumstances that might call for extra safety precautions are discussed, as well as any enforcement issues that need to be considered.
“We talk to the police department, but we don’t go in and ask them what (the speed limit) should be,” Trygg said.
IDOT also sets the timing for the traffic signals along state routes and Gilbert in particular, though he said the recent change in the section in south Danville involved only some “tweaking.” Making adjustments is particularly difficult because the Fourth Street lights are independent of the ones that start at Main Street and continue north.
“That one’s a very complicated intersection,” Schnell said, noting the city was still responsible for maintaining the lights.
Outside of the independent signal on Fourth, the rest of the system is connected fiber-optically, meaning, “We can communicate between the different signals and adjust the time accordingly,” said Trygg
All of the lights have sensors to detect traffic, making major adjustments mostly unnecessary. IDOT will follow up on the speed change along Gilbert with additional studies, though other roadways are also being monitored for any needed speed changes.
“There’s a lot of zones in the district we need to look at,” Trygg said.

Danville Dans president and general manager for 18 years, and longtime Danville Stadium supporter Richard Kurth, plans on moving the home-run fence deeper.
No, there are no plans to change the configuration of the 62-year-old stadium, built for a Brooklyn Dodgers farm team in 1946. It will still be a 407-foot shot to centerfield and 330 down the lines.
The fence Kurth is talking about is the only thing standing between a healthy community stadium well into the future and the shell it had become before being rescued by the city and a non-profit group formed to save it in the late 1980s.
“Danville is so lucky to have this place,” he said from his office under the bleachers, which also serves as a hall-of-fame showing some of the stadium’s biggest moments. “I think this is the last stadium like this in the country. It’s just a fun and unique place.”
New life
Kurth, who played baseball with the independent Kankakee Chiefs in his athletic prime, said the stadium was in shambles when the group took it over. Entire seating sections had been condemned, the field had been used for moto-cross events, and even the tops of the wooden light poles were damaged by repeated lighting strikes and weathering.
Kurth found it sad that such a prime piece of Danville history was about to turn into dust and founded a group to start working on it.
Since then, through donations, fund-raising, advertising rights and help from the city, the stadium has been transformed into a gem more resembling a diamond.
New concrete walkways are now traversed by up to tens of thousands of paying customers every year, new lights, a new fence, new dugouts, a bullpen and batting cage donated by Danville Area College, and a slew of other of improvements have been made over the years. The tin siding and chicken wire that had been placed on the outside was replaced with wooden planks purchased by the city and installed for free by a local carpenters union.
And they keep adding. New and improved clubhouse space has been finished in recent years, bathrooms have been replaced entirely, four seats from the old Busch Stadium were put in over the last two seasons, and a 10-foot by 10-foot television screen was added to the centerfield wall last year.
“We’ve had an awful lot of people help us,” Kurth said. “When we took over there wasn’t a rake here. Everything we make we put back into the place.”
The quality of baseball has never changed as the Dans have competed for the top spot in the Central Illinois Collegiate League for most of the past 12 seasons. It has sent dozens of players to the majors.
“The quality of the baseball here is unmatched,” he said.
Shifting gears
What changed was the emphasis of the new operators.
Kurth said profit has not been the bottom line, as money has been poured back into the old structure.
“It’s just like having an old house, you’ve got to take care of it,” he said. Past operators had been profit-driven, which made it difficult to make improvements or give fans extra perks that transform a baseball stadium into more of a friendly confine.
New owners came and went and the stadium continued to crumble.
Jeanie Cook, the team’s administrative vice president and assistant general manager, said volunteers have kept the field in the condition it’s in. Each spring volunteers show up at the field and start doing work. Trades people donate time for specialty work and others show up to clean or work on the field.
“On almost any day you can find somebody out there doing something,” Cook said. “It’s a lot of hours and a lot of work, but all we have to do is put out the call.”
Cook said the stadium wouldn’t survive without that help, which also includes many hours donated by herself and Kurth.
“It’s (the stadium’s upkeep) always been a volunteer thing,” she said. “This community is amazing that way. They just step up and do the things needed just to make Danville a better place to live. I’d almost call some of them professional volunteers.”
For his part, Kurth has several projects he’s working on around the stadium, including renovating the umpire’s room and a nearby bathroom. And that’s not to mention the grounds work responsibilities he’s acquired over the years. This is the first year he’s passed the responsibility on to a full-time, paid groundskeeper, a task in
summer’s past that was completed by Kurth and his family.
“We’re out there all the time,” he said. “All of my kids have worked here. There is no advantage to working here. My interest is the field; I want it to be immaculate.”
Long-haul
But what worries Kurth is the long-term survival of the stadium. Costs are high to continually maintain the old structure and he worries that once some of the core volunteers are gone, no one will fill their shoes. He also worries that the funding help it has received from the community could diminish in the future.
“There’s only so much we can do as volunteers, and at some point we’ve got to take it to the next level,” he said. “We try to do as much as we can ourselves. We know the city has enough on its plate.
“I don’t know how much longer I can go.”
The addition of the groundskeeper might cut into the 40-plus hours he already spends taking care of details at the stadium, but there might be a time when more full-timers are needed to make everything run smoothly. And that takes money.
Kurth’s idea is to create a foundation-style funding mechanism wherein people can donate estates or other large sums to the stadium’s maintenance. If the fund were to grow large enough, the annual budget could be covered by the interest the fund accrues.
The need is greater considering there are plans to expand the CILA league in the coming years and the Dans will find themselves competing on a higher-profile mound.
Stadium officials have already had to make some tough decisions when it comes to revenue. Even local high-school baseball teams must pay $85 to use the field, and beer sales were added because of the revenue collected. Kurth said there are plans to start charging $1 for parking in the stadium lot and he would like to see more concerts and other attractions use the stadium as a venue to help maximize the facility’s use.
While the hours are long for volunteers, Kurth said everyone involved receives joy from watching children play on the infield after a Danville Dans game.
“That’s the pleasure we get, watching the kids enjoy this place. Teams have come and gone, but this stadium keeps going,” he said as he surveyed the field last week before a Danville High School game against Centennial. “I don’t want that to change.”
The Dans’ first home game is June 6, the first three-game home stand June 10-12.

It’s less than 12 hours before concert time for a sold-out show and the David S. Palmer Arena staff is starting to get visibly nervous. General Manager Peter Blackmon is worried about missing name tags and leaves his office to find out if staffers have heard anything.
Meanwhile Tracy Larsen, box office and concessions manager, has also stepped out of her office after discovering the concession configuration wasn’t going to be big enough to serve such a large crowd.
The two soon find themselves on the arena’s floor, where Operations Manager Donald Wright is tightening loose floor boards already placed on the ice and the stage crew is hoisting speakers high into the air.
The three meet at the same spot, where they spontaneously drop their personal tunnel visions and start asking each other about other details that need to be finished before the houselights go down and the show starts.
It is not the first, nor the last, time this day they will meet in similar fashion.
“It’s always like this” on the day of a concert, Blackmon said.
“We never really get done,” Wright added. “We’ll find a problem and have to fix it even after the show’s started.”
Good seating
The new year has been a good one for the Arena so far, with several shows having success, and several more events booked for the future.
Last Friday’s concert featuring pop-metal band Jackyl was nearly sold-out, and tickets have been snatched up as well for the WWE RAW “Road to Wrestlemania” event, despite costing as much as $62.
March looks to continue the run, with events scheduled for every weekend. The annual AMBUCS Home Show is set for the coming weekend, followed by international Christian rock act Newsboys, the IKWF Midget State Wrestling Tournament and the USAW Middle School Duals wrestling tournament.
The arena, funded by the city’s hotel-motel-liquor tax, doesn’t make much money from the events. In fact it regularly loses money. The idea behind the arena is that keeping it active means bringing in consumers, and their money, from outside the area.
“We already run in the red annually,” Blackmon said.
It’s also why the arena doesn’t usually serve as the promoter of its events, a position which carries the risk of being the one left holding the bag if a concert is not successful.
Blackmon said the arena recently passed on the opportunity to hold an ice show because it would have cost them $75,000 up front to host it.
“It’s (offering) a public service when you’re losing $3,000 on an event,” he said. “It’s a travesty when you lose $40,000. And that’s taxpayers’ money.”
Blackmon, who has managed the facility for eight years, said he had to learn that lesson the hard way. He said early on he thought the arena might be able to make money off shows if they were promoted heavily enough.
“I’ve had to really reel myself in from wanting to do more shows,” he said, adding that being the “third-party” site also relieved it of a large amount of liability. “We love to host a million shows a year, but we’re not in that position.”
The arena will still offer a few shows a year, but Blackmon points to a recent show featuring the Temptations and Four Tops – a show he thought would be a local, runaway hit.
After getting almost no bites for the concert at $44 a ticket, prices eventually were reduced to $22  – money the arena basically had to eat.
“It was a great show, but nobody showed up. It’s trying to figure what band, at what time, of what day, of what month of the year is best,” he said. “You’re always guessing.”
On the other extreme, he said no one expected the Jackyl show to sell-out.
“All we try to do is keep busy, and we know how to write contracts to protect ourselves,” he said. “It’s the least reward, but it’s also zero risk.”
“Busy” means “filled,” and that’s just what’s been happening lately.
“Youth wrestling has been a godsend to us,” he said. “That’s literally thousands of people coming here. It’s been a real blessing.”
Setting up
Each new event that comes into the arena means hours of setting up, breaking down and trying to get everything to come together in a timely and organized fashion.
Before the arena’s managers had their nervous meeting on the floor before last Friday’s concert, a night crew had already worked until 3 a.m. to set up the flooring, chairs and stage. The sound company was in before 8 a.m. to set up speakers.
Wright said the ice is not taken out entirely for an event because of the cost and time it takes to refreeze the surface. One-inch-thick squares of insulating wood are added to the floor for a dry surface, though the pieces must be pried into better-fitting pieces before concert time.
“We’re trying to make it so nobody trips,” he said. The arena holds 3,000 in the “ring” section and has room enough for another almost 1,500 on the floor.
Wright said many of the details are prepared for in advance after years of trial and error, while some things just pop up at the last minute and need to be fixed. After the floor was finished he planned on checking out some spotlight problems that had been detected.
“We’ve done this a few times now,” he said, “but I worry all the time.”
For example, Wright had already anticipated that despite freezing temperatures outside, the arena would have to turn on the air-conditioning by the time the concert started.
“Each persons puts out about 22 BTUS and it will get hot in here,” he said.
Blackmon said the building structure is still in good shape, but much of the maintenance is ongoing. Regular repairs must be made on the ice-making equipment and the roof was replaced three years ago, though some works remains.
“All of that stuff has to be replaced,” he said.
The future
Blackmon said he and arena staff have been buoyed by the recent surge in popular shows there, but there bread-and-butter events will continue to be local ones.
“People think, ‘If there’s not a concert, it’s dead,” he said. “But how many $30 concerts can the community support every year? You’ve got to fill it in with other things.”
Ice time is still sought after by youth hockey leagues in the area, with Purdue University and Eastern Illinois University teams booking time here, and home shows and other such events continue to choose Palmer because of its size.
But Blackmon said there are plans in the works for more events, with negotiations again on for a different indoor football league than the failed franchise that tried to start in Danville several months ago.
“We’re going to screen this one a little bit better,” he said. “They will be under a lot more scrutiny.”
As for the last league, “Financially, we came out fine, but we’re aware of businesses in town who didn’t.”
Blackmon said the arena has also received interest from a hockey team who is considering making Danville its home and is considering offering naming rights for the facility.
“We’re on a pretty good streak right now,” he said. “If we can maintain this level of activity we will be very pleased.”

Impatience is not a flower, but it is starting to grow among area gardeners and lawn-lovers as winter continues to keep them separated from their snow-covered plots by a pane
of glass.
But with January already endured and February just waiting to be crossed off the calendar, enthusiasts are already watching for even the smallest signs of spring.
“For gardeners, this is the time you get the itch,” said Terry Light, owner of Berry’s Garden Center in Danville.
“At this point in February, any sunny, bright day that’s not miserably cold, you start asking questions,” he said.
For some that means muttering them from inside the house as another snow falls outside. For others, the itch leads them to ask questions about what they’re going to need when spring becomes more than a reprieve between freezing-cold days.
“The worse the winter is, the more itchy they get,” said Nathan Campbell, who owns Danville Gardens with his wife Lisa.
“This one’s just kind of drug along,” he said, “so we’ve been hearing a lot of comments.”
Campbell, whose store doesn’t open until mid-March, said he keeps an “open-door” policy at his greenhouse during the run-up to planting season, allowing those who have run out of ways to scratch the itch to come inside to see the growing plants.
“We’re busy planting and getting ready for spring, so there’s something going on,” he said. “We always encourage people to come out and walk around.”
Campbell’s business grows most of its flowers year-round, but right now is getting hanging-basket plants ready. Due to space, some of the larger items like trees and shrubs are brought in.
Never too early
The official frost date, when it’s supposed to be OK to plant, is May 15.
But for those who already have the itch, that’s a long ways off.
Outside of raking the snow-covered driveway, what can a lawn-and-garden enthusiast do to keep sane during the last days of winter?
“The best thing they can do is plan what they’re going to do,” said Todd Schultz, one of the family owners of Schultz Nursery and Garden Center in Tilton.
He said the nursery offers free landscaping-design work and drawings for customers.
“You can start to think about what you want to put in your yard and your garden,” said Light, “or think about things like color schemes.”
Light said he said it’s a good time to look out the window and start picking locations.
Schultz said he fills his Januarys with
gardening conventions, allowing him to keep up on industry trends his business will likely be facing in the upcoming season, as well as new techniques and products.
Schultz starts growing flowers for hanging baskets in February and then moves to get the landscaping side of the business ready for spring work.
“Right now, this time of year, we’re mainly working in the greenhouse,” he said.
Campbell said the nursery business is fluid throughout the year, with different plants being grown at different times depending on a specific season or holiday. Mother’s Day is the busiest day for flowers during the entire year, though poinsettias are grown for Christmas and geraniums are seeing their time come now.
“Everything overlaps,” Campbell said. “There’s always something to do.”
Family affairs
There are families with green thumbs, but owning a gardening business seems to be a perennial thing for some.
The Schultz family started the business in 1958 and Todd Schultz, third-generation owner, works alongside his grandfather every day. Todd’s been working there for 28 years.
“My grandfather started this and he’s still working today,” he said. “He doesn’t want to stop. I love my work, too. I’m glad I did this.”
Light started working for Berry’s when he was a sophomore in high school and fell in love with the business.
“I needed work and told the high school superintendent I needed a job,” he said.
Most of the work involved hauling 50-pound bags of fertilizer from trucks with a hand cart, but he got into other phases too, leading him to an ornamental horticulture degree from Southern Illinois University in 1971. He eventually purchased the business,
“I realized this is just what I wanted to do,” he said. “I like watching things grow and thrive. Sometimes it’s a problem that needs to be solved and the sense of accomplishment you get from solving it.”
He works the business alongside his three brothers.
The husband-wife team of the Campbells have been growing plants all of their life, with Nathan’s family owning a greenhouse in southern Indiana when he was a kid.
“We learned a lot from trial and error,” he recalled, adding he had earned school certification for operating a greenhouse before they purchased the business 15 years ago. The business was purchased from the Ahrens family, which owned it for 50 years prior.
The Campbells have made a lot of changes since then, adding computerized temperature control inside the greenhouse and diversifying the business to offer many more services. Still, they have kept the original frame of the greenhouse, built in 1924.
“We always feel fortunate to be in this business because it seems no matter how bad the economy gets, people still want plants and flowers,” he said.
A reminder
The three businesses in this story are the main local sponsors for the Keep Vermilion County Beautiful fundraiser, with the prize drawing scheduled for March 3.
A total of 2,500 tickets are being offered at $25 apiece and prizes include a $2,000 store credit from Schultz, a $1,000 credit from Danville Gardens and a $600 credit at Berry’s.
According to KVCB Executive Director Lynn Wolgamot, tickets are still available for the drawing. Proceeds go towards providing KCVB “grants” for countywide beautification projects in the coming year.
For information call 431-2662.

For the Commercial-News

As approved by city council, free Danville Mass Transit fares for senior citizens, 65 years of age and older, will begin on Monday, Feb. 25.
All seniors must obtain a Danville Mass Transit picture identification card in order to qualify for free rides.
Any seniors who currently have a DMT senior identification card do not need to do anything further. Effective Feb. 25, their card will be valid for free rides.
Seniors who do not currently have an identification card may obtain one at the DMT offices, 101 N. Jackson St. in Danville. They should bring proof of age, and a picture ID with them. The process only takes a few minutes and they will be furnished with the identification card before they leave.
With the card, seniors will be able to ride all DMT fixed routes for free, including service between Danville and Champaign.
Senior riders must show their card to the driver each time they board the bus. The card also can be used for free rides on Champaign/Urbana transit as well as on on DMT.
The free fare does not apply to any non-fixed route paratransit service.
The free fares were enacted in conjunction with the recent Illinois law which provides for additional funding for transit operations in the state.
Anyone with questions may call our office at 431-0653. The office is open 6 a.m. until 5:20 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays for obtaining identification cards.

By John K Heckler
For the Commercial-News

Danville officials could not be happier with the growing number of neighborhood groups forming throughout Danville.
The city now has 10 neighborhood associations with a possibility of three to five more in 2008. To further support the movement, the city of Danville will host the Fifth Annual Neighborhood Association Workshop. This year’s event will be March 15 at Harrison Park Clubhouse.
The workshop, this year’s event, will have a different look and feel than the preceding four. The workshop will have the association members participate along with the mayor and other city and area officials.
There also will be several booths set up offering various types of information from groups such as HALO Project, Peer Court and Keep Vermilion County Beautiful. The organizer’s of the event want to make sure the neighborhood groups know of all the outstanding organizations in the community who they could partner with for various activities. We all have a common interest — neighborhood revitalization in Danville,” said Mayor Scott Eisenhauer.
Invitations will be mailed this week to all existing neighborhood association presidents as well as any person who has previously attended the workshop; however this is not an “invitation only” event.
Individuals from any of the established groups are invited to attend, not just the groups official. Organizers would also love to see anyone attend who might be interested in starting up a group in their own neighborhood.
Persons may register to attend the Fifth Annual Neighborhood Association Workshop by calling (217) 431-2321.
The workshop will begin at 8:30 a.m. (doors open at 8 a.m.) and run through about 1 p.m. on March 15. Breakfast and lunch will be served. We look forward to seeing you there.

There is almost always something going on somewhere inside the Danville Public Library.
On a typical night just last week, a library mentor could be found helping two grade-school-age siblings with their homework on the main floor, with members of the Audubon Society taking up business in a room on the other side of the building.
Regular patrons and daily-newspaper readers staked out cozy spots
and computer terminals throughout the library.
Upstairs, a book-discussion group of almost a dozen people went over the finer points of the classic novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” and the accompanying biography of author, and Truman Capote confidante, Harper Lee.
While about 600 patrons visit the library in a typical day, what you are least likely to find inside are teenagers.
Library officials are out to change that.
“We’re trying to give them positive activities and someplace to go, rather than them being loose ends at home or out on the street,” said Library Director Barbara Nolan.
Library staff have unveiled several programs in the past few months they hope will lead teenagers through the library’s electric doors, and Nolan said there are plans to continue the outreach until they find something that works.
One of the programs, the mentoring and homework program aimed at teens, has been slow to catch on, with just the two siblings attending a session last week.
“This is a way to test the waters and see what the needs are,” she said.
Staff members have been trained to help students with everything from homework to technology services by the library. The program is sponsored with money from the Secretary of State’s
office.
“The hope is some of these students will feel like they are getting help and they will tell they’re friends,” said Nancy Huff, a newly trained “mentor” and children’s librarian who is helping with Teen Homework Night.
She said while current students enjoy all of the special attention, she looks forward to a time when she can help a larger group of kids.
“It’s not a bad thing, being able to do one on one,” Huff said. “We just want to help as many kids as we can.”
Huff said the key to successfully providing help is patience and the realization each child approaches a problem differently.
“This is a good way to see what they need, and parents can feel safe because their kids are being supervised,” she said. “We’re trying to find ways to get them to use the library more often, but at the same time make sure they are being supervised.”
Nolan said she realizes the library is at a disadvantage in many areas when it comes to competing against a myriad of activities available to today’s youths, as well other local teen-outreach
programs.
For one thing, Internet stations must be monitored by an adult if a child is under 18, a rule that is strictly
enforced.
“We expect the parents to be the filters,” Nolan said.
While the focus on teens comes from a state effort, a federally funded drive called “Project Next Generation” is designed to help libraries to stay viable in the future. The library is partnering with Danville Area Community College and other groups to cross-promote literary-themed events.
For example, several events have been put together to celebrate the stories behind “To Kill a Mockingbird,” including a planned visit next month at DACC from the author of the Lee biography, a planned showing of the movie at the library and dramatic readings and other events held elsewhere.
The “Big Read,” as it is called, has been very successful in bringing together many groups under a common theme, she said.
“We’re proud to be a part of it and it’s great to see everyone work together,” she said.
Nolan said she thinks such events will expose more people to what the library has to offer, and the teen programs have already generated a buzz. To help things along, the library has begun sending out fliers to local school attendance centers.
“It’s not like there are no teenagers coming here,” she said. “We’d just like to see more. I’ve noticed more teenagers who just appear to be studying. I think the word is getting out.”

By John Dreher
Danville Community Development Manager

Finding the right person(s) for your remodeling job and then having it go smoothly is largely up to you. There are many things you can do to save yourself time, money and heartache when hiring someone to work on your property.
Personal reference is one of the best ways to locate a contractor. Family, friends, co-workers who have had a pleasant experience with a contractor are a great way to start, plus you can view the work to see the level of quality.
Home improvement companies rarely buy a lot of advertising. Yard signs in front of current jobs and yellow page ads are about as far as many home improvement contractors go with advertising. The following steps for sizing up a contractor and entering into a good agreement can help.
Universal laws
There are a few things that are always true when employing builders and craftspersons.
n The contractor is neither your friend nor your enemy, it’s business. Don’t let your personal feelings get involved and you will both be better off.
n Changing your mind about anything after the job has started will cost you money. Make your fundamental design decisions before you call in a contractor.
n We all like to believe we have some innate ability to detect a con-artist, but none of us has foolproof instincts.
The interview
Start your first meeting or phone call with a contractor by conducting an interview. Do it as if you were a personnel director hiring an employee.
Don’t take up his whole day, just a few minutes should do.
It’s good to do this before looking at the work area and it helps loosen both of you up to communicate with each other.
You’re going to need that once discussion of the work
begins.
Receiving calm, confident relaxed answers is a good sign. Beware of braggarts and know-it-alls. Beware of a contractor who speaks ill of competitors or skirts around simple, sensible questions.
References are good, but another thing I like to do is get an address of a current job from either the contractor or building permit records.
Do not bother the homeowner, just drive past and take a look at the grounds.
Is it tidy and organized or does it look like a combination of a lumber yard and a landfill?
Tidiness tells much about a contractor’s level of
 organization.
Expensive custom painted trucks and trailers might only mean the contractor is deep in debt.
However, if the contractor is driving a bomb with no muffler and broken windows, this may be an indication that he operates his business entirely out of his left front pocket and that’s bad for you.
Go with solid clean vehicles in good repair, even if they are old or ugly.
View the work area
If the contractor makes it through the interview, take him to the work area. Describe what you want. If he listens and jots down notes, that’s a good sign. If he points out details or features related to your plans that’s good also.
If he begins dismissing your ideas and inserting his own, thank him for his time and show him to the door. It’s your house and your job.
Anything you can do to help the contractor understand your level of expectation is good for both of you. If, for instance, you have some trim work in one room of your house that you find the surface finish pleasing, take your contractor there, let him examine it and tell him that you expect the new trim he installs to be like that. When he knows what it takes to satisfy you, you are more likely to get it.
Obtaining bids
Always get more than one bid. Ask first to be sure the contractor bidding provides free
estimates.
It is not customary for contractors to charge for estimates, but some do.
If you feel confident to do so, write down each of the things that you want accomplished using straight-forward concise language and put a blank beside each one for a price. Never assume anything will be done that isn’t written down. Following is an example of a good specifications sheet for the replacement of a furnace and a poorly written specification list for the same furnace:
n Good example: Remove the existing furnace and dispose of off-site. Install a new, 86 percent efficiency rated, 90,000 b.t.u. gas-fired forced air furnace according to manufacturers recommendations and all applicable codes. Utilize the current air-return and delivery ductwork with appropriately sized connections. Remove and dispose of the current thermostat and install and connect one new programmable thermostat in the same location.
n Bad example: Install new furnace
Background info
You can inquire about previous consumer complaints against a contractor from two sources, your state’s attorney general (not to be confused with State’s Attorney), and the Better Business Bureau. Each can report the number of complaints that have been filed against a contractor. Be careful how you interpret this information. You will not know whether the complaints were justified, their distribution over time or how they may have been resolved. Even the best business can get a complaint filed against it occasionally.
Make sure anyone bidding on your job provides you with proof of contractors liability insurance, not less than $500,000 minimum. Contact your city or county building codes department to see if they require licensure and confirm that your bidders are in compliance.
Do not ask local code officers to rate contractors or recommend, it is not appropriate for them to do this. Keep in mind many licenses are issued for a fee and do not verify ability.
You also should ask the contractor to provide you with proof of Worker’s Compensation Insurance on his employees. Many people don’t know this, but if a worker falls from your roof while working for your contractor and Workers Compensation Insurance is not in place, you could be liable for the worker’s lost wages.
Also, any so-called contractor who does not have liability insurance and Worker’s Comp is not truly, seriously, in the
business.
He could be someone with no real assets who, after wrecking your house will simply stand before a judge, turn his pockets inside out and smile.
Don’t make it hard
Always remember anything that causes your contractor inconvenience, time, extra effort will cost you more. Even words or actions that cause him to be afraid these things may occur are going to cost you more. Contractors add percentage points to bids to allay their fears. So, save yourself money by letting the contractor know right up front what you are willing to do to help him work efficiently. Here are some cost saving ideas.
n Let him know that while workers are in the house, you will secure pets and children away from the work area. It’s much quicker to get materials into the house if workers don’t have to trip over or worry about accidentally releasing Fluffy.
n Let him know you will have furniture and belongings cleared from rooms to be worked on each day if you have prior notice. If he has to pay his workers to move your stuff, you will pay for it, quite possibly in both cash and nicks and scratches.
n If you can offer him a garage, porch or other secure area to store materials from day to day, this will save you money. Do not offer the use of tools, ladders or equipment unless you just enjoy being sued.

Danville’s Rhodes-Burford furniture store has been the site of many happy scenes in its 100-plus-year history.
It has been the place where newlyweds have purchased their first living room sets and the place they came back to buy furniture for their children’s rooms.
But that happiness isn’t as easy to find these days as longtime owners and employees ready for the store’s final day, which is just weeks away.
“We used to call this store ‘the working man’s store,’” said store manager Shane Darr, whose father started at Rhodes-Burford in 1955.
“The last three months (during the going-out-of-business sale), it’s been like working in a funeral home,” he said with obvious sadness in his voice. “I grew up in this store.”
And it’s the same with most of the employees, many who have been with the furniture store for years.
“We’ve all been here together for a long time,” said 24-year salesman Paul Tevebaugh.
Always here
Owner Richard Van Cleave’s great-grandfather became owner in 1909, mostly because of the store’s debt.
“In those days, stoves and ranges were really important items, especially for fall business,” Van Cleave recalled.
But business had been slow, and Van Cleave’s store owed money to the Buck Stove Company for merchandise that was already sitting on Rhodes-Burford’s floors.
The story is somewhat unclear as to the details, but the two sides traded some assets as part of the debt resolution, and Van Cleave ended up with the Rhodes-Burford store.
“Don’t ask me how that happened, but it did,” he said.
A Van Cleave has been at the helm ever since.
There were several things that made the local store special, and at the height of the company’s popularity there were a total of 12 in the retail chain, including four in Kentucky.
“Things were really hopping back then,” Darr recalled.
Van Cleave said the store is known for being among the first to offer their furniture on weekly and monthly payments, long before Americans became enamored with the concept of
financing.
“We have been in the installment business,” Van Cleave said. “That concept was developed here and was the innovation of A.G. Rhodes.”
Rhodes is credited with implementing the idea in the national Furniture Hall of Fame. Born in Kentucky, he became a successful furniture businessman in Georgia.
“Originally, you could buy three rooms of furniture as low as $19 a week,” Van Cleave said. “We’ve carried our customers’ accounts from the 1960s — until last year.”
That’s when Rhodes-Burford sold off its collection accounts.
“In-house accounts longer than 90 days have just become a thing of the past.”
Darr’s father soon moved to the sales floor, “the best job in the place back then,” and his son soon followed for a 40-year stint.
“I’ve done everything but take a payment,” Darr said.
New era
While the original model of Rhodes-Burford never changed — give customers the highest-quality furniture at the lowest cost, then let them pay for it over time — the consumer landscape has.
Van Cleave, who lives in Louisville, said he started noticing changes in the industry about 12 years ago with the arrival of “big-box” stores and rent-to-own retailers.
But more than that, he said, customers’ needs have changed.
“We don’t have anything cheap, and we never have,” Darr said.
And that is one of the changes as the desire for longer-lasting furniture is not as prevalent as with past generations. People are looking for functional and disposal pieces, not the ones they have to spend a lot of money on and that will last long enough to pass to their children.
“People expect things to last three to five years, no more,” Darr explained.
“The difference between inexpensive furniture and better furniture is almost gone,” he said. “The lines between quality and cheap have become blurred. It’s not as important these days to the customer, but it is to me.”
In addition, increased competition and a waning financing model have left the store clinging to survival for years, Van Cleave said.
“People live in their cars today,” Van Cleave said. “Their habits have changed. The house is not as
important.”
The only room that customers seem to care about furnishing in a quality way these days is the television room, he said.
“I’ve been to expensive houses that have junky furniture everywhere, except for the room where they have the big-screen TV,” he said.
Add the changes in the industry to the general loss of blue-collar jobs in Danville, and the store’s fate was sealed.
The future
Darr, who has held several jobs outside of the store before becoming its manager, said he is currently lining up offers to consider for his future. But he worries he will never find an environment as much like family as Rhodes-Burford.