TAMPICO AREA LONG RANGE PLANNING COMMITTEE
Minutes for April 15, 2010
The Tampico Area Long Range Planning Committee met April 15, 2010 in the back room of the Good Times at 12:30 PM with Terry Gaskill, Shirley Lester, Alice Grimes, Jerrie Schindel, Judy Jacobson, Bertha Driessens, Andy Hinton, June Spencer and Joan Johnson in attendance.
SECRETARY'S REPORT: Approved by motion of Shirley, 2nd Alice; Carried.
TREASURER'S REPORT: Total accounts totaling $2,331.10. Approved by motion of Judy, 2nd by Bertha: Carried.
COMMUNICATIONS: None
OLD & NEW BUSINESS
Farmers Market: This community project is once again underway. Linda Brown and others are starting the garden located west of the Methodist Church. The group is looking for others to help in setting up and organizing the tables for the Saturday sales. They also welcome others in the area to set up individual booths for sales of their handicraft or baked items.
Community Building: Mexican Train Domino nights are still being held on Thursday nites. According to a Whiteside County board member, a Senior Citizen Grant should be available again. If this is received, the Building committee will entertain ideas for a bus trip.
Community Club: The representative from Hospice spoke at the April meeting. Plans for the May 3 meeting include Noon meal at Good Times, with program (possibly concerning Lets Feed The Children) following at Community Building.
Library: A summer reading program is being planned. Children will have special reading times and get credit for each book read. Credits will then be used towards items which have been donated for the children to enjoy.
Women's Social Club: A Pot Luck luncheon is being planned with each member bringing a guest. Plans are underway to go to the Pines Theater to see Oklahoma. Following a summer break, the September meeting will be at the Dutch Diner, with a game of Whoopee following lunch.
Tampico Area Historical Society & Museum: The group served refreshments including Birthday Cake on Feb. 6, in honor of Ronald Reagan's 99th Birthday. His son, Michael was in attendance, along with close to 250 visitors for the day. The February program was by Carol Chandler of Dixon who gave a very interesting report about the “Orphan Train”. The March program was Terry Gaskill's video presentation of Michael Reagan's visit and the Birthday Party of Feb. 6. The next meeting will be April 27. This is the annual meeting at which time dues are collected and refreshments (including left over Birthday Cake) will be served.
The Historical Society has been contacted by the Illinois State Historical Society to place a “State Marker” in Tampico. Cost of the marker for 150 words is $3,000. The state group has offered to pay up to 2/3rds of the cost. Joan has approached the Village Board and they have given permission to put the marker in Reagan Park and will see to getting the post and putting it into the ground according to specifications. Joan has sent letters to various businesses in town for donations to cover the cost of the marker.
Plans are underway for selling floral arrangements to decorate the graves in the local cemeteries.
Reagan Birthplace & Museum: A great time was had when Michael Reagan came to celebrate the 99th Birthday of his father. A bus from Eureka College came with 50 notables from the college and California Reagan Legacy group, plus many representatives of the news media. The Birthplace was open during March on weekends and now is open daily. We are very grateful for the volunteers willing to help out. Cub Scouts visited and several tours are scheduled. Over 400 visitors from many states & 3 foreign countries have already been here this season. Shirley & Joan continue to attend the monthly Dixon Commission meetings making plans for 2011. The Illinois State Commission held their monthly meeting on April 9 here in Tampico.
Christmas in the Country:When the drawing was held for the Royalty, the Brown Twins names were both put on the same application, so we have 2 Princesses this year. The little boy chosen as Prince was a member of a new family in town and they moved away soon after our celebration, so we will not have a Prince this year. The Fire Dept. made a donation of $100.00 towards the bonds for the Royalty and the Ambulance Dept. also donated $25.00 towards the fund. Since we had no information on the Prince, the additional $25.00 was put into TALRPC treasury. Home decorating winners were Larry Specht; Dennis Morath & Ed Morgan families.
Giving Tree: Not sure how it will be handled for 2010 season.
Lions Club: New members are being sought. The sound bus was here recently and 19 people had their hearing checked. The annual pancake breakfast was a success with over 240 people being served. There were over 300 dozen roses sold for that money maker.
Food Pantry: Jerrie reported serving 23 families and 81 people. The stock where they get their goods is very limited, so she is purchasing items from the local grocers. Post Office annual food drive will be May 8 (which is a good source for stocking the pantry).
Feed the Children program starts June 1 thru Aug. 12. Helpers are needed for preparing the lunches. Mothers Day they will be asking for donations of Peanut Butter & Jelly at the Churches. They are no longer receiving the bread donation, so monetary donations will have to be used towards bread as well as the other items. Last year 2122 lunches were served in Tampico and a total of 30,712 served in the local area. The Back to School Bash will be held Aug. 14 from 10 – 2, at Booth Park with jump tents & games, etc.
School: No report.
Churches: St. Mary's Catholic Church is having a special fund raiser at Arnies in Deer Grove on June 19. There will be a dinner/dance and special auction.
Monty Fox has been reassigned to the Cherry Valley United Methodist Church and will start serving there July 1. A farewell Pot Luck is planned for the family on June 6.
Tampico Ambulance/Fire: The Volunteer Fire Dept. held their Fish Fry last Saturday Nite. Beth Etheridge is planning to teach a CPR Class – lasting 3 – 4 hours for a cost of $25.00 Anyone interested is asked to call her at 815-438-3535 for more information or to sign up.
SOS: Plans continue. Someone has been contacted with a fork-lift to take the sign down, then it will be sanded, worked on and lettered before being able to put it back up in the park.
Homecoming/Festival Days: There will be no carnival this year, but plans are continuing for Game Nite on Thurs – June 24, THS Alumni – June 25, the Annual Beer Garden, bath-tub races, bed races, games, food stands, plus Parade on Sunday June 27 and Firemen's water fights.
Other: Town Wide Garage Sales are scheduled for June 26. Sandy Milnes has offered to organize it.
Andy Hinton spoke on working towards a “sister/brother city” with Privolnye, Russia. This is the city where Michal Gorbachev was born. He will continue to pursue the logistics of this project. He is contacting the Sister City International Group.
Jerrie brought up the subject of starting a Love Lite Tree. She has contacted the Prophetstown group and has several ideas of organizing the project. A sponsor is needed to get the project underway, plus a tree needs to be found, along with people to advertise it and do thank yous and see about getting the lights and power source and place for it.
Next Meeting was set for May 20, at 12:30 PM at Good Times.
There being no further business, Meeting was adjourned at 1:30 PM
Respectfully submitted,
Joan Johnson, Secretary Pro-tem
