“Thin Mints. It’s very good when dipped in milk.”Jacque Young, Glasford

“Thin Mints. I like them nice and cold.”Kirstin

Stroud, 9, Troop 4279 in Bartonville

“Thin Mints. I like the taste of chocolate and mint mixed together.”Savannah Jackson, 9, Troop 4279

“Thin Mints. I really like the fl avor of mints and chocolate, so that combination is really good.”Kaylin Lane, 8, Troop 4279

If you want to talk about Daniel Ruffi n, please stop blurting, “Duke University!”

It’s silly. It’s insulting. It’s irrelevant.

Still, I keep hearing “Duke University!” You hear it on talk radio and at water coolers. You see it on chat rooms and blogs. It’s a desperate rally cry on the behalf of Ruffi n — but one that just doesn’t work.

It’s as if many BU faithful are throwing away their thinking caps, pull-ing their red sweaters over their heads and trying to hide from reality. Like turtles, they pop their heads out every so often, then shout, “Duke University!”

Sigh. Is it possible Daniel Ruffi n’s

accuser is lying? Sure.But that would be rare,

compared to other domestic cases in Peoria County. Accord-ing to prosecutors I’ve talked to, accusers lie — but usually in favor of the defendant, in a weak-willed change in heart after charges are fi led. Rather, almost always the accuser is truthful in the initial complaint to police. In the Ruffi n case, the accuser has not changed her story.

Plus, she is not in the gutter with the Duke accuser — a stripper/prostitute who was intoxicated and possibly high on drugs at the time of the al-leged gang rape. Also, she had a history of mental problems, including bipolar disorder.

In the Peoria case, we have a college student who has had an ongoing physical relationship with Ruffi n. The night in ques-tion, just before their physical confrontation, she was irritated about words he muttered about his current girlfriend. But there is no indication — abso-lutely none — that she is as

DAILY NOTEBOOKTO DO TODAYCelebrate black historyThe John H. Gwynn Black History

Celebration is from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Proctor Recreation Center, 309 S. DuSable. Food and refreshments will

be served. The event is free.

uToday in Central Illinois, Page B6 for complete details and more activities.

COMING TOMORROW

LOCAL&STATESECTION BJournalStar w pjstar.com

IN TOUCH: CITY DESK 686-3114 STATE DESK 686-3153 E-MAIL: news@pjstar.com or state@pjstar.com

file: H:\MONDIR\HIRES\0441480THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2008

Pick Three-Midday: 1-7-6Pick Three-Evening: 4-3-5Pick Four-Midday: 6-9-8-5Pick Four-Evening: 3-7-0-6

Little Lotto: 2-13-28-37-38Lotto: 10-16-26-37-44-45Lotto jackpot: $3.75 millionMega jackpot: $16 million

ILLINOIS LOTTERYWinning numbers drawn in Wednesday’s Illinois State Lottery

SPORTS: Friday action includes big-school girls state, Sweet 16 games among small-school boys and regional fi nals for the metro-area boys teams. We preview all of it. u

YOUPAGE: Area readers sound off on recent news events and issues.

Ruffi n, Duke cases

not the same

Public television station saved from extinction by many

generous donorsBY TERRY BIBOOF THE JOURNAL STAR

PEORIA — Thanks to 6,400 central Il-linois contributors, WTVP-TV, Channel 47, stays on the air.

On Tuesday night, the public televi-sion station still needed $11,000 to sat-isfy its creditors, according to CEO and president Chet Tomczyk. On Wednesday morning, station offi cials headed to Chi-cago Title with the cash to close the deal before the Feb. 28 deadline.

“I kid you not, this morning, from

the Save Our Station campaign, $11,000 came in,” he said Wednesday. “… So we decided to do this a day early.”

WTVP went public with its fi nancial crisis in early December. At that point, it owed $6.9 million on a $10.3 million loan for new equipment and a move to the riv-erfront. Interest was still accruing, and the station had used up its cash reserves to buy more time to fi nd the money.

After more cliffhangers than an entire season of commercial television’s “24,” the station paid $5.25 million on a fi nal debt of $7.2 million. The station now has a $2 million mortgage, which includes $1.25 million from National City Bank and $750,000 from the Illinois Facilities Fund. It paid $1.6 million cash from pledges and matching funds. And it has

a $1.65 million bridge loan for additional pledges, including $200,000 from the Cor-poration for Public Broadcasting.

Bank of America and Commerce Bank wrote off the remainder, which was near-ly $2 million. Bank of America spokes-woman Shirley Norton had no comment.

But WTVP issued a news release and posted thanks on its Web site. It cited Caterpillar Foundation and Bet-ter Banks for matching pledges, and individually thanked major donors Glen Barton, Doug Oberhelman, Don Fites and Jim Williams.

“We would like to thank each and ev-ery one of our ‘Save Our Station’ donors for their pledges — large and small — be-cause they made the difference between success and extinction for WTVP,” board

Chairman P. Joseph O’Neill said in the release.

Tomczyk said he held a staff meeting immediately after the closing, in part to thank them for their support and profes-sionalism through the last few months. When he introduced O’Neill as the key fi gure to concluding the crisis, he said, there was an ovation.

“If we were paying him on a full-time basis, I couldn’t afford him,” Tomczyk said, adding they all felt the biggest news was the thousands of people who donated. “Without that level of support, there certainly would be no need to do anything.”

Terry Bibo can be reached at 686-3189 or tbibo@pjstar.com.

Viewers come through for WTVP-TV

The Barton-ville Ameri-can Legion Hall serves

as a distribu-tion center

for Girl Scout cookies

Wednesday morning, as

Heather Getz and other

troop leaders stack cases

for pickup by troops

in the Illini Bluffs and Limestone area. The

most popular variety is

Thin Mints, with 667 cases, or

8,004 boxes, of cookies

delivered to the hall. “It’s

always the best seller,”

Getz said.

LESLIE RENKEN JOURNAL STAR

PHILLUCIANO

PURCHASE THIS PHOTO AT PJSTAR.COM

Craving Caramel deLites? They’re on the way

It’s time to put New Year’s resolutions on hold and satisfy your sweet tooth.

Local Girl Scouts are getting ready to fulfi ll cookie orders. Shipments arrived Wednesday morning, and deliveries will begin today and continue through March 12.

More than 31,000 boxes were unloaded off a tractor-trailer as American Legion Post 979 Hall in Bartonville was converted into a cookie distribution center. Another ship-ment arrived Wednesday at Federal Warehouse in East Peoria.

Troop leaders and other volunteers spent the morning unloading and sorting boxes.

Scouts began selling cookies in January. Lisa Stroud, scout leader of Troop 4279 in Bartonville, said her troop has sold more than 3,500 boxes of cookies.

DIDN’T ORDER? WANT MORE?Although Girl Scouts are no longer collecting orders for cookies, they can still be purchased at several area locations. Cookies are sold at the Girl Scouts Kickapoo Council offi ce, 1103 W. Lake Ave. Girl Scout troops also will be selling cookies at booths. Times and locations are listed at www.girlscouts-gsci.org. Cost is $3.50 per box.

Let the cookie gorging begin

What’s your favorite Girl Scout cookie?“Cinna-Spins. They’re new, and I’ve only had them once.”

Chloe Lockhart, 9, Troop 4279

“Peanut Butter Sandwich. It’s been my favorite since I was little.”Amy Peterson, Glasford

“Cinna-Spins. They’re kind of like a cinnamon

roll.”Brooke Vielhak, 8, Troop 4279

“Lemonades. When I was little, I used to always suck on lemons,

so I like them.”Samantha Schoedel 9, Troop 4279

“Peanut Butter Patties. It’s a quick sugar fi x that’s not too sweet.”Heather Getz Glasford

COMPILED BY MIKE MACIAG OF THE JOURNAL STAR

Of those in favor of project, 58 percent

would back tax increaseBY KAREN McDONALD

OF THE JOURNAL STAR

PEORIA — Fifty-eight percent of Peoria County voters polled Monday who think the Peoria Riverfront Museum will be ben-efi cial support some sort of tax increase to fund it.

In an attempt to gauge voter support of a tax increase to fund the museum, a telephone survey of 1,000 registered vot-ers — 500 who live in the city of Peoria and 500 who live outside city limits — was conducted Monday. Results show of the 69 percent of people who think a museum is benefi cial to the re-gion, 42 percent of them either do not support a tax increase or are undecided, while the other nearly 58 percent support some form of a tax increase.

Peoria County offi cials, who were asked to help pay for the project’s $24 million shortfall, are calling the results encour-aging.

“There’s been such a lack of real information out there that when people are given the facts, that’s huge. That gives us the confi dence to take that to the next level,” said County Board member Tim Riggenbach. “We’re so far from any of these tax proposals, this just gives us a weather vane to see what the sentiment is.”

Study fi nds support for

museum tax hike

Please see LUCIANO, Page B6

Please see MUSEUM, Page B6