Indian Creek Newsletter

Indian Creek Newsletter

February, 2006

on the web at frontiernet.net/~indiancreek

50^th Annual Towanda Scouting Organization’s

Pancake and Sausage Supper

Saturday, February 11 - 8:00am to 3:00pm, at the school

Advance tickets $4.50 (12+); At the Door, $5.00

Children $2.50 advance; $3.00 at the door

Contact Scouts, Read's, Grain Co., 728.2631 for tickets

Towanda PTO

Annual Chili Supper and Basket Raffle

Thursday, February 16 – 5:00-7:30pm, at the school

Chili, hot dog, dessert and drink

Adults $5.00; Children $4.00.

and

Themed Basket Raffle, Tickets $.50 each; 12 for $5.00

No need to be present to win the basket raffle. On each ticket, select the specific basket you would like to win. Baskets will be displayed and tickets sold at the Pancake and Sausage Supper. Grand prize...2 roundtrip AirTran tickets to anywhere AirTran flies. Tickets: $1.00 each; 6 for $5.00

There have been many generous donations for the basket raffle from local businesses and regional sports teams (including the new Bloomington Extreme and Peoria Chiefs). Contact Martha Rients with Basket Raffle questions at 728-2178 or Judi Doubet with Chili Supper questions at 728-2463.

Garage Sales

Towanda Area Garage Sales are scheduled for

Thursday, April 6 – Saturday, April 8

Thu, 4-7; Fri. 9-6; Sat. 8-2 (or other hours desired)

$5 fee for area-wide advertising

Please call Gail Ann Briggs, 728-2187 with your questions!

Indian Creek Home Owners Association Meeting

The annual Indian Creek Home Owners Association Meeting will be held Tuesday, March 7, 7:00pm at the Towanda Community Building.

The agenda will include, but is not limited to:

· Filling of open board positions

· Treasurer’s report

· Water report

· Board member terms of office

· Tractor shelter alternatives

· Plan to re-gravel the nature trail road to the well head

· Appropriate use of common areas

· Mowing of common areas

· Nature area restoration

Please contact VP/Secretary, Brian Krause (email briankrause@frontiernet.net), with additional items you would like discussed at the annual meeting. An updated agenda will be distributed a week prior to the meeting.

Towanda Area Historical Society

News Contributed by Pres. Gail Ann Briggs

Our October fundraiser was a huge success; almost $1,000 was raised. The support of the community is much appreciated! It is estimated that $35,000 will be needed to publish a history (based on similar projects). Grants are being sought to help underwrite the expense and planning for other fundraisers is underway. We are looking for ideas for a logo and slogan to be used on publicity and fundraising materials. Please send a sketch and/or phrase, your name and contact information to: TAHS, P.O. Box 217, Towanda IL 61776 by Feb. 24th.

The resignation of Jack Jenkins as President has been accepted with regret. His leadership in organizing the Society is acknowledged with appreciation and Jack has pledged to remain an integral part of the work of TAHS. Gail Ann Briggs has accepted the leadership position, along with Treasurer Pat Pulokas and Secretary Mary Pasek Williams and the Core Committee. Minutes of meetings and flyers are available at the library. Meetings and events are publicized through posters, newsletters and newspapers. To volunteer and/or receive a mailing or email please contact Gail: 309-728-2187 or rgbriggs@frontiernet.net

Future generations will not know about the past unless it is documented. Please help preserve the history of this area so it can be shared with those who come after us! Memories and items to be scanned may be left at the library and written stories emailed to Robin Gould rkgould@ilstu.edu. The next Core Committee meeting, open to anyone interested, will be held on February 28 at 7:00 p.m. at the Towanda Community Building.

Towanda Library News

(on the web at towandalibrary.org)

New at the library web site:

The TumbleBook Library Collection contains great animated stories, quizzes and puzzles for children. TumbleBooks are created from existing picture books licensed from children's book publishers.

MyMediaMall is an online 24/7 library of downloadable digital audio books. Check out digital books using your Towanda Library card.

FEBRUARY IS COMPUTER INSTRUCTION MONTH at the library!

Does computer terminology have you confused? Are you still stuck in the pre-computer days? If so, don’t worry because If you would like to become familiar with computer terminologies, with using the Internet or if you simply want to learn how to do basic word processing, please call Mary Williams at the library at 728-2176 to set up two instructional sessions.

Teen movie nights 4th Friday of the month, 6pm (2/24, 3/24, 4/28) , 6:15 pm

For students 7th grade & up. Registration is helpful but not required. Movies are carefully selected and will be G, PG or PG13. Movies are selected with teen input, so stop by the library and talk to Dawn to give your movie suggestions. Come an enjoy – there are always snacks and drinks.

Family movie nights (no registration is necessary)

Fri., Feb. 17, 6:15pm: ‘National Teasure’, rated PG.

Fri., Mar. 17: 6:15pm: ‘Millions’, rated PG

Fri., Apr. 11, 6:15pm: ‘Wallact & Gromit: The curse of the Were-Rabbit’, rated PG

Spring break movie (no registration is necessary)

Wed., Mar. 29, 1:00pm: ‘Zathura’, rated PG.

Friends of the Towanda District Library Wed., March 15 from 5-6pm

Next regular meeting at the library. All are welcome!

TOWANDA READS book discussion group Wed., March 15 from 6-7pm.

Children's Blizzard by David Laskin, published in 10/05.

January 12, 1888, began as an unseasonably warm morning across Nebraska, the Dakotas, and Minnesota, the weather so mild that children walked to school without coats and gloves. But that afternoon, without warning, the atmosphere suddenly, violently changed. One moment the air was calm; the next the sky exploded in a raging chaos of horizontal snow and hurricane-force winds. By Friday morning, January 13, some five hundred people lay dead on the drifted prairie, many of them children who had perished on their way home from country schools. In a few terrifying hours, the hopes of the pioneers had been blasted by the bitter realities of their harsh environment. David Laskin has produced a masterful portrait of a tragic crucible in the settlement of the American heartland.

Historic Route 66: A Geographic Journey

By Fred Walk

Looking for something to do to beat the winter blahs? Get out and experience the 2 1/2 mile stretch of Historic Route 66 right in your own back yard. This stretch of road in Towanda has been converted into linear parkway by numerous volunteers right here in Indian Creek.

It didn't always look this way. For many years this historic stretch of 66' was barricaded and very unsightly. In 1998 the idea was born to turn an eyesore into a public walkway. This undertaking was made possible through the help of many community members, students and faculty from Normal Community High school, Towanda Elementary school, and Illinois State University. Many local organizations and individuals contributed funds to defray the costs of the split rail fencing, murals, sidewalks, shelters, picnic tables, trees, shrubs, benches, historical markers, flowers, markers, and brochures.

Volunteers staining the bridge

This beautiful parkway is a classic example of how community members cooperate to enhance their local cultural environment. This ongoing project epitomizes the spirit of community service. People from all over the world (Brazil, Germany, France, Japan, Australia, the Netherlands just to name a few nations) have visited our local attraction. Get off the couch and go out to the Parkway and take a closer look and get your kicks on Route 66 right here in Towanda, Illinois.

Visitors walking the Route 66 highway

Many individuals have donated trees in memory of relatives and friends. Please contact Fred Walk if you would like to have a tree planted along with a marker to acknowledge a family member or a friend.

Any donation for the upkeep and expansion of the Route 66 Parkway would be greatly appreciated.

College Scholarship

Applications for the 2006-2007 General Assembly Scholarship are now available. Anyone who lives in our Senate District and will be attending a state university next fall may apply for the scholarship.

Applications and instructions are accessible at state senator Dan Rutherford’s website: http://www.DanRutherford.com. Completed applications, along with letters of recommendation, must be returned to Senator Rutherford’s district office no later than April 1, 2006.

The General Assembly Scholarship is a one-year tuition waiver to a state university in Illinois. To qualify, applicants must live in the 53rd Senate District, which includes all or parts of Champaign, Ford, Iroquois, LaSalle, Livingston, McLean, Tazewell, Vermilion, and Woodford counties. Rules for eligibility are posted on our website.

Beaver in Indian Creek

Signs of beaver have been noticed along the creek, with the most extensive tree damage behind the north end of Candle Ridge Road. If you live along the creek, you might want to check for signs of beaver damage.

Interestingly, beaver were all but extinct in Illinois around 1900. They are a protected species and have rebounded to the point where they are as numerous today as in the early 1800's. Beaver have caused their share of headaches for humans by cutting valuable trees and building dams that flood farm fields, roads, rail lines and even septic systems. On the other hand, beavers have also done more to restore wetlands and tame floodwaters than people could ever hope to accomplish.

Tree damage by beaver

Dams are usually built in a narrow place in the stream, often where logjams or rocks already constrict the flow of water. Sticks, weeds, rocks and other debris are lodged together then backfilled with mud dredged up from the bottom. More sticks and mud are added as the water level rises. Dams 4 to 7 feet in height are common.

A likely site for a dam

To help control the population, there is an open trapping season from early November through the end of March. The state does sometimes give permission for off season trapping of beaver that are creating a nuisance. Beaver can also be trapped and moved to a new location. However, traps used on beavers generally result in their death.

To protect your trees, you can wrap the trees with chicken wire, several wraps, to persuade the beavers to go elsewhere. Destroying their dams and houses is another way to get them to move.

The subdivision grounds chairman, Jim Russell, suggests that, "It's too late to wrap with chicken wire any trees that are completely girdled but I saw several that were only partially gnawed and those could still be saved as well as any others they haven't started on. I didn't see any evidence of dam building along the portion of the creek that I walked but I did find several large entrance holes along the bank behind the corn field south of Eastwood." (Jim walked the creek from behind the north end of Candle Ridge, along the nature area and Eastwood Court to the beginning of Bent Tree Lane.)

You can read about beaver in Illinois by going to http://dnr.state.il.us/orc/wildlife/furbearers/beaver.htm and http://dnr.state.il.us/orc/wildlife/virtual_news/releases/070104_beavers.htm

Pink Flags

Have you noticed the pink flags tried around many of the trees in the nature area? These were put up last fall to mark oak and hickory trees that the nature area restoration group will most likely want to clear around. That's not to say that everything without a flag must go - it was just a way to identify the oaks and hickories.

Watch for an announcement of the spring work day when we will continue the woods restoration work that we have been doing – perhaps in late March or in April.

Blue Jays

Has anyone noticed how few blue jays we see these days? A few years ago they were among the most numerous of the visitors to our bird feeder. Last winter I saw none, and this year just one. I heard that we have the West Nile virus to blame for the loss of our beautiful friends. But I also heard that the jays are starting to make a come back.

4^th of July Planning

Suggestions are needed for Towanda’s 4^th of July, 2006, parade theme and grand marshal. A list of former themes and grand marshals is posted at the Community Building, Post Office and Library.

Theme: Please include: