Some gardeners are approaching a busy time of year, so if you didn’t clean, sharpen and ready your tools this past winter — do so now. As weather permits, try and fit in the following:

Begin general cleanup of your lawns and garden beds now, but don’t be too anxious to remove protective mulch, especially from your roses. Cut down perennials that were left standing over the winter — except slow starters like mums and lavender — wait until you see new growth on these and then cut back.

This is the third of three articles explaining the financial situation of Washington Grade School District 52, including Lincoln and Washington middle schools. In the previous articles, I outlined the impact that the state financial crisis is having on D52 and described the current deficit spending in the district. To sum it up, D52 is spending more money than it takes in — about $750,000 more per year. But the district has an ample fund balance. i.e. savings, for the short term — about $5.2 million. To further compound the situation, the State of Illinois is sending a clear message that all Illinois schools could lose significant state revenue over the next two years — about $700,000 for D52. This shortfall will further reduce our savings.

I know I said in my last column that watching “drunk people struggle to say the alphabet backward while standing on one foot” was not my idea of a good time, but, I have to admit, last week’s citizens police academy class was extremely entertaining.

State trooper Mike Connor, a 22-year law enforcement veteran and a former technician and breath alcohol instructor, gave a presentation explaining how police officers are trained to determine if someone is under the influence of alcohol or drugs when they are pulled over.
As a police officer, specializing in and training other officers for DUI detection and field sobriety testing was a natural inclination for Connor, who grew up in Streator and has, pun intended, alcohol in his blood.

This is the second of three articles explaining the financial situation of Washington Grade School District 52 (Lincoln and Washington Middle schools). In the first article, I outlined the impact that the state financial crisis is having on D52. To sum it up, D52 could potentially lose around $700,000 of state revenue over the next couple of years. Ouch! Also, in the article, I mentioned that the district has started deficit spending in the last two years.

How many classes exist that actually offer students a chance to shoot guns, witness drunk people submit to a sobriety test, see a trained K9 unit in action and put themselves in the position of a police officer?

“The one thing everyone wants to know the first day of class is, ‘When do we get to go to the shooting range?’” Officer James Fussner, the community resource officer at the Washington Police Department, said at our first Citizens Police Academy class Jan. 26 in the Washington Fire Department’s training room.

District 52 Superinendent John Tignor looks at the district’s financial situation in his series of articles as a guest columnist.

Washington Grade School District 52 (Lincoln Grade and Washington Middle schools) has enjoyed many years of financial stability, thanks to the efforts of the previous superintendent and past board members. These individuals made wise and prudent decisions that resulted in many years of balanced budgets and savings for a rainy day. Unfortunately, the rainy day is upon us.